[Asaren? What is this!] Eirlathion looked between me and Mr. Adderson in panic as he saw our prisoners.
[The queen sent them to watch us, so we captured them.] I told him. [By the way,] I said, turning my attention to the small man in my hands. [Does this world have a name for the kind of job you do? The one which matches my training in my former world.]
[Yes.] The small man, Sagle, said. [We are called ‘engisam’ in the language of the elves.]
[Engi…] Eirlathion stammered. [No, that is not important. Asaren, what did you just say? What do you mean when you say former world?]
[You have not told him?] Sagle asked.
[Up until the village was attacked, we never saw a need. After it was attacked, everything started happening too quickly for us to find the opportunity to tell him. I think now is likely a good time since we must talk about things anyway.] I said and looked to Eirlathion.
[Mother, Eirlathion, I was not completely honest when I let you know we retained memories from a past life. I allowed Eirlation to assume we had incomplete memories. It was because we did not wish to explain that me, Tia, and even Levin and Rolwen all came from the same world. Master Adderson comes from the same world too, and there are also more than the five of us. Sagle here can tell you that there are a number more like us within the capital.]
[Yes.] Sagle said, catching his cue. [On the day of the heaven fall, like a gift from the creators, eleven great fairies with a tremendous base strength of soul providing power to the spirit were all born at the same time. Despite the great energy, they had minds that suggested they were very young in the past lives they lived. When we asked, not a single one of them were over forty cycles in age.]
[What? How?] Mother suddenly spoke up in shock. [I… I’m sorry.] She said, shrinking back and looking ashamed of her outburst.
[No, I agree. How is that even possible? Even if they were humans before, they might as well be children.] Eirlathion said.
This information must have been quite a bit more shocking to him than I would have given it credit for. He seemed to have just about forgot about the shock of seeing a bunch of fairies tied up and held captive, and was even demanding answers from the one I held in my hand.
But still, Mr. Adderson was one of eleven, huh? He had never directly said there were others, but I had caught implications of it in the way he talked about things. Now I knew the actual number of others he had arrived with.
[It grows even more incredible than that.] Sagle said. [The youngest of the group were children even in the eyes of humans, each less than ten cycles, and yet they still possessed a power on the same level as the rest.]
My mother’s eyes nearly bulged right out of her head when she heard this. Eirlathion, on the other hand, became very introspective. Despite this difference in reaction though, it was actually mother who arrived at the answer first.
[Could they have gotten energy from the fall?] She asked.
[That is what those of the court thought too.] Sagle said.
[That is wrong though.] I interrupted them, drawing all attention toward me. [This is really more of an area that Tia knows about, but according to her it is quite the other way around. The level of power Master Adderson and the other great fairies show is actually natural for everyone naturally living in the world we come from. The very air where we live is filled with a very thick spirit energy so dense that it actually suppresses mana and makes it impossible to use any magic. This energy both strengthens the souls of humans and is also created by the souls of humans. Over many incarnations, the humans of the world we came from came to be what we are now.
[This is the true identity of the heaven fall.] I continued. [It was the result of a hole being created in the boarder around the world we lived in. At that time, a large amount of spirit energy burst out, taking with it a number of souls of the recently dead. What was nothing but the normal density of spirit energy in the world we come from was enough to become a destructive blast from the heavens when it reached this one.]
The silence that followed in the wake of my explanation was so intense that it almost had physical substance. Levin and Rolwen were even looking in my direction, although their expressions seemed more lost like they were wondering what they could or should do with this situation I had created. Mr. Adderson was kneeling down next to Tia furiously demanding in a whisper for her to tell him what I just said. She was made rather uncomfortable by him getting close to her like that, but she still answered and filled him in.
“Oh.” He said. “Wait, so… you didn’t tell them that before? Ehhh… hehe, well.” He looked around. “I guess that could explain all this.”
This bit of rambling seemed to break a few people out of their tension as they glanced toward Mr. Adderson.
[What is he talking about?] Eirlathion asked. A question that actually made me want to face-palm.
[He’s just asking what I was talking to you about.] I said, which caused nervous laughs all around as everyone else appreciated the ridiculousness of the language barrier situation we had going.
[Ah, yes… well…] Sagle was the next person to speak up and he nervously glanced between me and the grown-up elves as though he was looking for signs that maybe they might save him from being the one to ask the obvious question. [Is, umm… all that you just said true?] He finally asked.
[If we were not lied to by Tia when she told us, then it is all true.] I said with a glance over in Tia’s direction.
[Yes, it is all true.] She said.
[How amazing.] Sagle said as he went limp in my hand. [To think there would be such a story behind the heaven fall. Another world with such power?] He shook his head. [Wait! Then…] His head shot up and he glanced and Levin, then Rolwen, and finally me with his eyes occasionally flickering over to Tia.
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[Be careful. You have a face that has betrayed what you are thinking.] I told him.
[My apology.] He said. [So, if magic does not work in that world, where is it you learned the spells you have been using?]
[When I received my training as a… spy(engisam)? Yes. As a spy, the training also held some ancient techniques that we practiced more for tradition without really understanding the purpose. It would seem these techniques were a special form of magic designed to still function even with the weight of spirit energy suppression that we had in that world. Or, it would have worked hundreds or even thousands of years ago. When I learned it, the suppression had progressed to a point it no longer worked]
[I see it.] He said. [This would explain why the magic you use has so little preparation time and sends out power in such a brief burst of mana. It must be that this is the only way possible to have gotten past the suppression.]
Oh? What an interesting theory. I never would have expected such insights from someone who has never seen Earth, but in retrospect it seems such a bias was pretty foolish.
After that comment, things went silent again. In the few heavy moments of stillness, I considered several things, wrestling over a few ideas in my mind. Finally, I arrived at an uneasy conclusion.
I bent down, and then I gently set Sagle's miniature human-like form on the ground and then let go of him. He suddenly turned and looked at me in shock, like he really didn’t know what to make of what I’d just done.
[Well then, you would like to give this information to the queen, correct?] I asked.
He drew back in even greater shock at those words.
[Actually… I would prefer to send one of my fairy subordinates in my place. We have still yet to fully accomplish our mission.] He said.
[And we would prefer to keep them where we can be certain of what they are doing.] I said.
He gave me a doubtful look for a rather extended period of time before finally getting a resigned look. After that, he sighed and began physically growing in perfect sync with that exhale of breath. When he stopped growing, he was perfectly at eye-level with me.
“Hey, Asaren?” Mr. Adderson cut in. “What are you doing? Are you sure this is a good idea?” After this, he bent down to look at Tia. “Hey, what’s going on?”
[If it’s alright with you, would I be permitted to stay a short while longer for the sake of a complete report?] He asked.
[No problem at all.] I said, not even missing a beat and keeping my demeanor as relaxed as possible.
“I… don’t know.” Tia said in response to Mr. Adderson’s question.
There really were confused looks all around. The changeling himself was now the least upset about my sudden action here, and even he seemed completely mystified and kept looking at me like a puzzle he simply couldn’t figure out.
[Well, this conversation took a very unexpected side-trail.] I said. [It was important for you two to know.] I indicated Eirlathion and mother. [But, there is something more immediate we need to talk about. It is about what these guys said they were sent to do.] I indicated Sagle as I was speaking, causing the changeling to stand immediately to attention.
[Ah, yes.] He said, falling very quickly into a professional demeanor. [The mission we were sent on was this. We were to track the outworlder great fairy in hopes he would lead us to these two girls. Based on the performance they had against a great fairy noble, the queen was very interested and wanted to mend relations with the children. She hopes we can build a positive relationship moving forward.]
Mother, Levin, and Eirlathion showed faces of relief as they visibly relaxed. Somewhere along the line, Rolwen had run around and was now standing next to Mr. Adderson giving him a running break-down of the gists on everything that was happening. He also seemed to freeze up for a second when he heard the news though and was excited to report it, to which Mr. Adderson could only give a ‘yeah, I knew that one’ comment with just a touch of venom on it for anyone with keen ears who knew what they were looking for.
Now, it was my turn. [This is good news.] I said. [However, after what we were just put through, I do not feel we can build good relations so easily.] Gasps of disappointment could be heard all around, but Levin and Rolwen seemed to pretty quickly go into some morose form of agreement with my statement. [I am not saying we would try to be hostile, but I cannot trust the intentions of a group that is only stopping in these attempts to kill us because they found out we are strong and potentially useful to them. I feel we should adopt a policy of cautious distrust and keep a distance from the forest and anything related to the queen and the power she holds for a while.]
This got an even more shocked look from Eirlathion in particular. It seemed he was the only one to grasp the implications of what I was saying. He very quickly ran up to me and crouched down as he made placating gestures.
[Ah, yes. Asaren. I do understand how you feel, but… I believe you should at least still consider travelling with the Hidan riders. If you will not consider going back to the fey lands, you would have to find the care of some form of god child, and around here there are only humans. The Hidan are the only humans who are likely to treat you well. Others would shackle you in iron and make you a slave.]
[I do not remember ever saying I agreed with that plan.] I said. [I did not say anything because getting out of the forest was more important. The truth is, I always had doubts about this plan of going to the Hidan. The Hidan view the fey queen as the ruler they submit to despite being human. I planned to have this discussion with you as soon as we were out of the forest even while we were making the plans to escape the village. Now, I have even more reason to be against this.]
I gave an impassioned argument. The truth of the matter though is that I had every intention of allowing him to convince me. I just had to make him work for it. More importantly though, that changeling had to see him having to work for it. If I can get him to join Eirlathion in the attempts to “convince” me then it will be a home-run.