Fantasy Unlikely Partners

[Flutterby]

Ilaria moved silently alongside Rex, keeping her stride short enough to stay beside them. As much as she loved this particular form, it was hard to pull off in North America, so she didn't get to use it often. They arrived to find a much smaller battle than Ilaria had assumed they would find, considering how quickly Chris had gotten them here. But, it was only the second time she had seen demons in their true forms, not snaked inside a human form. She watched with surprise as they let each other get torn apart, reminding herself that they were as far from creatures of the light as possible. Even though she was a moon child, she was still considered a creature of light, as were just about anything but demons and a very select few groups of witches.

Ilaria stayed in the chosen form as they approached a man dressed a little like a Hollywood Roman soldier, and he addressed her. The small flash of light signified her change of form, and then she stood in the human form. Her ash-blonde hair, silver-tinted eyes, and her aura would give her away as a Moon Child in an instant to the Golden Flame. She herself felt a little giddy, the way the sun magic permeated the very air here. She could live here forever and never need to eat or sleep. This is what humans feel when they say addiction.. She chided herself, and chose to focus on the man in front of her. He seemed important. She glanced at Chris, waiting for him to introduce her. She had promised to behave, which meant she should talk as little as possible.

 

[Tharivle]

Chris glanced over at her when she changed. "This is Ilaria. As you can see she is a Moon Child, and she came to help. She also has a book that we should show to Seth, it is very old and demonic, might have some clues as to some of the activity lately."
Felix nodded and smiled and held his hand out to her. As she took his hand he lightly kissed the top of her fingers in a formal greeting that one would have seen in old times of knights and castles. "How do you do Ilaria, welcome to the Golden Grove."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria took his hand, and was surprised that she was surprised by his greeting. A man dressed the way he was, how else would he greet a female? Like I said, Golden Flame are a strange bunch. She thought to herself.
"I would be better if there wasn't a bunch of demons running around in their true forms," She said quietly, keeping the usually edge out of her voice. It was almost painful to be so polite, and not make sassy jokes. "Thank you, for allowing me here."

 

[Tharivle]

"I agree." Felix said with a tired sad look. "Chris will show you to Seth to see about your tome, I have prisoners that need questioning." Felix walked down to where the two demon were being held, now tightly bound by a willow.
"Lets go." Chris said as he walked back towards the center of the grove. They passed a plum tree on their walk to go see the old scribe, and the trees branch moved and reached out. Chris stopped and plucked a plum from the branches and said, "Thank you." Chris took a bite and the trees branch moved towards Ilaria. "You'll hurt its feeling if you don't take one." Chris said with a smile, then turned and started walking again.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave a small nod, and then hurried after Chris. She jumped a little when the tree moved; she had grown so accustomed to living inside the entirely human world, that such innate magic took her by surprise. She looked at Chris, her eyes wide and showing a little bit of wonder. She nodded mutely at his comment, and reached up and carefully plucked one. "Thank you," She said to the tree, and followed Chris as she took a bite of the plum. It was the best plum she had ever eaten, no wonder.
"Is Seth going to be like Felix?" She asked quietly, as they walked along. It didn't really matter, since this whole place was odd, but she was curious.

 

[Tharivle]

"Felix is about 450 years old, and he is dressed in the same manor as he was when he was a guard in a royal palace." Chris took a few more bites then tossed the plum pit into the shrubs. "Seth is from a similar time. He is so old that he is actually starting to age. I think he is somewhere in his 520s, and he is the most knowledge person in our order. If he can't reed that book then nobody in the Golden Flame will be able to."
They walked along for bit, once they passed one of the medium willows they started seeing buildings. Groups of little trees that would grow sideways and wrap together to form walls, or the big trees would have staircases made out of branches leading to a room that was in in the middle, like someone had blown up a giant balloon inside a tree then put a staircase under it.
now they seemed to be walking down the main path. "That is the forge." he said pointing to a hut with an open front. "The actual forge is a tree that was healed as it burned until it was scorched to the point of being able to withstand the cools and the smoke. So it is an anvil, forge, and chimney all at the same time, then other trees make up the building around it."
They walked for a bit more, "This is our garden." pointing to a tree that looked like a spiral staircase. It had a ladder going up through its center and a pulley system to lower things down, but for 100 feet it was a five foot wide platform that spiraled up the trunk that was the ladder. "We only do vegetables in the garden, and if we want fruit then we go ask the various trees around the grove."
They walked for a wile longer, all the wile Chris talked, pointing out places and key buildings and explaining how over the years they were able to make the trees fit their needs. Then they came to the library. "This is the library." Chris said as he took a small path off the main one. It opened up to a small clearing with 5 large tall trees evenly spaced, but there were no buildings in front of them. Chris placed his hand on one of the trees, "Can we come up?" At his request the bark of the tree he touched opened up, revealing a platform. "Go play Rex." Rex turned to leave. "Come on in." Chris said to Ilaria.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria nodded quietly, mentally bracing herself to encounter another person even older than she was. It wasn't often that she met those, obviously. She listened intently to the things he said, taking notice of each thing he pointed out and nodded quietly. He seemed really pleased to be giving her a tour, and share each piece of history. Almost couldve said he was geeking out.
Ilaria stepped onto the revealed platform, a little nervously. She had never been inside a tree-elevator before.

 

[Tharivle]

"It'll be ok." The bark closed in front of them and a faint creaking could be heard as branches underneath the platform were moving it upward. When the bark opened up again it opened up to a large room. It was a circular room about 100 feet in diameter, 10 feet tall, and wall to wall, ceiling to floor with books. The bookshelves were in 10 rows, with one continues shelf that went all the way around the room. There were two doorways other than the one they just walked out of. The first door led down a few steps into a small room with a few tables and chairs. And the second led to a personal study. They walked in and they heard a little padding from one of the shelves. A fat raccoon came waddling around the corner. It was very old, the black on its face was gray from all the white hairs that sprinkled his face. It looked intently at Ilaria, then padded around behind her and put his feet up on her back leg to get his nose closer to the backpack. He plopped down then waddled around in front of them again. "You have quite the book in there. Mind if I see it?" The raccoons mouth moved and little gold flames leaked out as his jaw moved.
"Now what have I told you about bugging new people looking for help with a translation. You will get a look when I take a look. Now go on." The old man was not at all sounding serious or mad, just friendly banter between very long standing friends. The old man moved slowly and was dressed in long robes that were purple with golden trims. He appeared to be about 80 years old, but he was not hunched or week in any way. Even though he moved slow it was obvious that he did so by choice.
"Now." He said turning his attention to Chris and Ilaria, "How can I help you today? My name is Seth, I am the librarian of the Golden Grove."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave him a look, but it was lost a little in the darkness as the tree began to move. It was more like a real elevator than she thought, which was a good thing. When it stopped and opened again, she stepped out and took a look around.
It was the most magnificent library she had ever seen. There had to be thousands of texts in it. She was distracted by the sound of little feet, announcing the presence of a raccoon. It looked like a fat little old man, especially when it peered at her. Not a real raccoon, a companion, she realized from the intelligence in its gaze. It waddled around her, and took a sniff at her backpack. Ilaria glared a little at Chris, but didn't move or complain. When the raccoon spoke, her jaw dropped open a little.
Before she had to think of an answer, the human side of the pair appeared and chided his companion. Despite the very old robes, she felt instantly at ease with Seth. She smiled a little at him, and stepped forward, taking the book out of the backpack.
"I'm Ilaria. And just as you said, we were hoping for a translation." She held out the book, with only a little hesitation. "Its in a Romanian-based dialect. There's a lot of binding and protection magic on it, so." She didnt really feel the need to finish that sentence; a man of his age and experience would know to be careful with something like it/

 

[Tharivle]

Seth took the book carefully, nodding in acknowledgement to her apprehension. He looked at the cover for a second, then at the spine, then the back, deliberately being carful. Seth then closed his eyes and held the book in his left hand wile resting his right on the cover. "You are correct." He sais as he opened his eyes and shifted to hold the book with both hands. "This book has powerful and dark magic within its pages. I only have three books with this much dark power and have only seen a handful past the ones that I have. Come we must go to my study to discover this tomes secrets." Seth turned and started walking toward his study. He led them into a small round room. There was a bean like table with a very lavish and comfy looking chair in the arch, as well as two smaller less fancy but still very cozy chairs on the outside of the desk. To one side there was writing materials and the other was a few books. The room had a continuous bookshelf around the entire room save for an opening for the door and a window. There was also a book cabinet with shaded glass, and a padlock keeping it closed.
Seth sat down in his chair and gestured for them to do the same. He placed the book on the table between them. "How did you come to have this book, and was it used around you, for you, or did you use this book yourself?"

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave Chris a glance, when Seth agreed with her, but didn't way anything before following the man into his study. She took a seat, glancing quickly around the room, and wondering briefly how easily the window opened if she needed to run. Not that she would get far.
She shifted a little before answering his questions.

"When I was young, still within a human lifespan, I spent some time in Europe. I.. fell in with the wrong crowd, after some very poor decisions. Eventually, I ended up running with a coven of witches. They were quite demonic, probably would be outside of the parameters of 'creatures of light.' I was young, stupid, and usually drunk. As were they. I managed to convince them that I was a witch, mostly because they had very limited knowledge of other supernaturals outside of other witches. They didn't known shapeshifting could be done outside of witchcraft. They gave it to me. It is my personal copy of their sacred texts."

She paused before answering the other question. "This copy.. this copy specifically has never been used in a rite except for the binding and protection rites done before it was given to me. I am somewhat familiar with the magic it details, I was able to lend my energy to some of their magic, but I'm not able to do any of it on my own." She glanced at Chris very briefly, and then added. "This copy is identical to the books that the rest of them carried, the ones that were actually used. But.. the coven was destroyed shortly after they gave it to me. As far as I know, this is the only copy that remains."

 

[Tharivle]

Seth listened intently, showing no emotion or reaction either good or bad in response to her words as she explained. "I see...." He said slowly when she finished, "Matters not young one. Nothing can't be undone and I see that you have no intent on continuing with such practices. Lets see just what you have here though, shall we." Seth gave a small encouraging smile and then opened the book up.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave a small nod, but stayed silent.
Seth leaned over the text, and his eyes skimmed the first few lines. He gave a small humph, and turned to pick up some paper and what appeared to be a quill and inkwell. While he was turned, the raccoon leaned over from where he perched and read a little bit. He looked up at Ilaria, and she could have sworn he waggled an eyebrow at her. But he quickly leaned away, as Seth moved back over.
Slowly, he flipped through the pages, making notes on his paper as he went. Sometimes his expression was neutral, but as he drew towards the end of the book, his expression grew worried. After many minutes, he reached the final page, and then careful shut the book, letting it rest on the desk while he finished writing.
At last, he set down his quill and cleared his throat. "This is not simply a spell book, as you have assumed, Ilaria." He glanced between her and Chris, hesitating, and then handed Ilaria the notes he had made. "It is not a complete translation, just the important parts." Then he continued with his explanation. "This text is a plan to release the power of demons on the Earth, to destroy the creatures of light. I-I do not know why a group of witches would desire this, but their research was extensive. They uncovered knowledge thought to be only known by the Golden Flame. I dare say we are all lucky this coven was destroyed." He eyed Ilaria for a moment, and then looked at Chris. She glanced away, down at the notes.
"These witches knew of the shards, and of the ability to possess and use them as an individual. They wanted to use the power of the shards to summon demons, and then empower the demons to use the shards' powers. I doubt the world would have survived it, if they were successful."

Ilaria had been flipping through the pages, and stopped on one near the end.
"Seth.." She said softly, interrupting the old man. "They were getting ready to do this part." She said, pointing to the page she was reading. "When they were attacked by another coven, they had been preparing for this summoning for weeks. They sent me for the salt. That means they had a shard, correct?"
Seth nodded gravely, "This, perhaps, is why they were attacked. And I fear that a shard is what is giving the demons enough strength to manifest and attack now. Demons have grown aware of the shard's existence, and there is one near Mullbrook that they are using to manifest, but..."
"But they don't know how to possess it," Ilaria finished softly, as she turned to that page of his notes and began to skim it. Seth nodded slowly in agreement, and then looked almost expectantly at Chris.

 

[Tharivle]

"Is there anything to suggest that Ilaria is somehow bound to this book, or hobbled in any way by her former participation with the coven." Chris seemed a little worried, because he knew that witches often served demons and if a master came looking for some results and found two dead covens, he might just take the shard and do it himself. "And what is going to happen with this book, it shouldn't be allowed into witch or demon hands."

 

[Flutterby]

Seth seemed to have to think about it first. "Bound to, yes. Hobbled by, probably not."
Ilaria gave the old man a look, and he chuckled softly. "Bound to, in the sense that I do not think it wise for any other being to take permanent position of this text. It is temperamental magic, you see, but if you were to try to give this to someone, it could hurt you. If someone were to take this book, with the intention of permanent possession, with or without your permission, it will destroy itself." He considered something again, and then continued. "I say you are 'probably not' hobbled by it, because the coven was, hopefully, destroyed. I believe that if you were to betray that coven by physically attacking its members, you would be injured greatly by the binding magic on this book. But, if they truly no longer exist, you are probably fine. For you sake, I do hope that the remaining texts are destroyed. There is a chance, that if a being were to come across a remaining text that had been separated from its owner and use it, that the being would be considered a part of the coven, and you would be unable to attack them." He paused, and then added. "But they would also be unable to attack you, without serious injury. That is the nature of these so-called loyalty spells."
Seth gave a small shrug and pushed the text back toward Ilaria. "As for what should happen to it, it would be detrimental to separate it from Ilaria, and it cannot be given away or stolen without destroying it, so I see no reason why it should not go home with Ilaria and remain on her bookshelf." He smiled at Ilaria a little, and added, "A souvenir from your time in Europe."
Ilaria gave a small smile back, appreciating that he seemed to be trying to make her more comfortable. Seth looked between them again, and asked, "Do you have any additional questions?"

 

[Tharivle]

"Not on the subject of Ilaria and the book, but there was an attack on a civilian earlier today, and with this attack on the grove. Is it possible that they were powered by a spirit shard?" Chris asked.
"It is a very likely possibility." Seth replied, "I would guess that a group of demons found a shard and are all taking little bits of power. This will allow them to manifest in their true demonic forms. Which will allow them to attack humans singularly or make them feel up to attacking the grove."
"Thank you for your help, I'll keep you posted if anything happens." Chris said as he stood.
Seth stood as well, "I'm glad I could help." He said with a smile
Chris bowed just a little bit then walked out back towards the door to go back down.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria listened quietly, and then stood along with Chris. She was a little put off by his little bow, and definitely did not want to copy that. After half a second of consideration, she just gave a little wave. and scampered off behind Chris. As she caught up to him, she was tucking the book and the translation into her backpack and securing it back over her shoulder.
"So.. is that it? Is it time to leave?" She asked softly, as they moved back toward the elevator.

 

[Tharivle]

"Yep, back to life as we know it." The bark opened as they got close and once it shut around them Chris continued. "I asked Felix to give me any info he get from the two prisoners, but until then it is just watch and wait to see what happens next."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria nodded quietly, and then grimaced when she realized that probably meant repeating the whole eagle thing. The thought made her stomach feel funny. Or maybe she was hungry..
Ilaria looked down at her watch and realized that they had been gone for hours. It was about time to have dinner. She glanced over at Chris, and then said quietly, "Hey, do you want dinner when we get back?"

 

[Tharivle]

"Sure, I could go for some food." Chris said. He smile at her a bit. "You want to get dinner here or back in town. It'll be about 20 minutes here but it is a half an hour drive back plus a fast flight back to the car." The doors opened and he lead the way back out to the main path wile he waited for her to answer.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria hesitated, thinking about it. "Well, I guess I don't really mind which." She said, glancing up at him. "I had chicken marinating for tonight, but I could cook it tomorrow instead, so.." She gave a small shrug, and looked up through the tree branches. "So, its up to you. I just know that I need actual food. I haven't had a good meal since.. early yesterday morning." She hadn't realized she had skipped that many meals until she said it, but now it made sense that she actually felt hungry. Feeding off of him had kept her going for the day, but now her body was getting a little upset.

 

[Tharivle]

"Well you can get the best of really anything you want at the great hall." Chris started walking back towards the main drag. Rex meet them just as they were coming up to the end of the library path. Chris turned back the way they came, but instead of going all the way through he turned right and started walking towards a very large building. It looked like it was built by regular means then trees grew up through it and on top of it. "This is the only building that still stands from the time that we built our settlement around the shard. Over the many hundreds of years they either fell apart because the trees grew up through them or we took them down to help a tree grow.
The building had an open arch for a door and it stood about 30 feet high and had a domed roof. Like most of the building it was round, but one could tell that it use to be an octagon, for there were remints of wood siding amongst the vines and trees that were growing up around it.
It was now about 6:30pm and music and happy shouting could be heard from inside as they approached. But the smell of food was the best. As they walked in it was like a zoo. There were several buffet tables scattered evenly around the room as well as circular tables of various sizes scattered around as well. But the most shocking thing was the two trees with vines strung between them. Wile about two hundred men and women were laughing and eating in an organized chaos kind of way, there were about two hundred animals above them as well. Every creature one could think of, there were cats, birds, snakes, a few big creatures like a lion, a rhino, a bear. The vines were stable enouph to hold small to medium mammals and along the walls and trunks of the trees were platforms for all the companions to be. There was some kind of meet at every buffet table but most of it was veggie and fruit, and other things that one would gather.
"Don't let the chaos scare you, the food is great and literally everyone is friendly. And they won't run out of food, so eat all you want." Chris waved his hand and Rex trotted off to a ramp that lead up to the first set of platforms and vines.
Chris chose a smaller table towards the side as to try to lesson the shock and sensory overload of the building for Ilaria. He took off his tactical vest and police belt, picked up a plate that was in front of the chair he selected, motioning for her to do the same and headed to the nearest food table and started selecting food.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smiled a little bit. She had had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to resist the chance to show off a little bit more of the Golden Grove. Not that she was complaining, she would've just slept all day. She followed him silently, her face a little distant. She could tell that being in a sun-powered place was getting to her. She felt giddy and hyper, but also jittery and on edge, like she had downed several espressos at once. Food would help that.
The feeling did not get any better when she stepped into the great hall. She could barely focus on how beautiful the room was, with all the noise and people and animals and smells. She looked up at Chris, her face showing a little annoyance, but followed him without complaining. She kept her backpack on when they walked toward the food, but otherwise she copied his actions and took her plate toward the buffet. Ilaria stayed relatively close to Chris, trying not to stray more than a few feet away, without staying too close. There was just so much going on.
Without really thinking about it, and without having to look very hard, she had heaped her plate with her favorite green vegetables and a nicely sized piece of steak, and then waited for Chris to walk back to the table. As they sat down, she said spoke to him, just loud enough to be heard. "Are you all always like this? Outgoing and loud and.. loud?"

 

[Tharivle]

Chris looked around a bit as if counting the people in the room. "Noooo, this is a light group today. Usually there are about another 100 people in here with their accompanying companions." Chris smiled at her a little devilishly as he sat down and took a bite of diced mango. "Beer and wine don't come out till after 9. And then it really gets rowdy for those that stay, but most go to bed after they visit the Sun Tree." Chris continued in a more serious tone. You are welcome to stay the night here. And we can head back in the morning if you want. You could nap a little then wander around. If you thought this place was beautiful in the day you should see some of the trees at night." Chris smiled a bit, "Or we can catch a flight back right after dinner and ill drive you home.... Up to you."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave him a look as he teased her, and started slicing her meat. She glanced up, surprised, when he brought up staying the night. The Moon Child thought carefully for several seconds, taking a bite of her steak and chewing it before she looked at him and spoke.
"I really appreciate the offer, and I would really like to see more of this place." She paused, and seemed to be chosing her words carefully. "But, this place is steeped in sun magic. It.. it has a weird effect on Moon Children. The moon and the sun are closely intertwined in some ways, but they're opposites in others.." She paused to take another bite. "I think it would be best if we left after dinner. We can come back another time, maybe, if you want to show me more. But I can already feel it, and it's not the best feeling ever.." She reached over and touched his forearm lightly, smiling, "Thank you though." And then she removed her hand, and her eyes went back to her plate.