thehauntedfrequency | fairyland fun! (your levels of fun may vary)

[As they travel along, Emery has a distinct sense that they're not alone. Not in a menacing way, like they're being watched, but in a similar sense to knowing there are other people on the street with you even if you're not directly interacting with them. Perhaps that's just the animals though. There is the occasional rustling that indicates some bird or small mammalian creature is going about its usual business, as well as various bird songs. And sometimes those high avian trills and croaks almost sound like words- Emery thinks he catches one singing "Where are youuuu, Frederick-Frederick-Frederick?" at one point.

But since neither he nor Zel are Frederick, he figures it's safe to ignore.

All in all it's fairly peaceful and their first obstacle proves not to be bandits nor beasts, but a fork in the road. There's no sign indicating which direction they should go in, and both roads look like they see the same amount of traffic.

Emery glances at Zel, he who carries a sextant even inland.]

Got any ideas?

[Zel frowns, hand itchy for a map.] At a glance, they're angling in similar ways. [but that may not be the case further down. but if it is...why? is there a significance to the space separating them? inquiring minds want to know!!!

but standing there doesn't solve puzzles.

he steps out of Emery's grasp a pace.] I'll have a look up top and see.

[he quietly casts levitation and floats himself up over the tree line, shading his eyes with a hand to peer out and try sketch out where the roads are winding toward.]

[Up top?]

A-?

[Ah, right, the rock boy can fly.

Emery watches Zel float up for a moment, then takes his own look at their surroundings. It's not a very educational look- he vaguely notices that the foliage is thicker around the path to the left but that could mean nothing.

Oh look, a butterfly.

After another moment he tilts his head up and calls out:]

How's it look?

Edited (html) 2024-07-10 13:46 (UTC)

[Zel frowns, surveying. the forest is more lush here than the curated landscapes of roads between towns in the countries he frequents, so even as he tries to paint over some of the scene with places he knows, it's not a one-to-one fit.

they're meant to go this direction, toward water, right...?

he floats back down, rubbing at his chin.]

Left may get us on rockier terrain, but right might be overgrown and easier to get jumped. It's hard to tell if both are heading to the same destination or splitting off more.

[he looks over at Emery.]

Did your contact have suggestions?

[Emery shrugs.]

Nope. She didn't mention this might come up.

[Which could be for any number of reasons. Calanthe's a bit spacey so Emery wouldn't put it past her to forget little problems like this, but neither had the bookseller mentioned anything when Emery asked about a way to the Ganaranth River.

Maybe they didn't realize it would be a problem? Maybe it isn't, for a fairy- creatures adept at finding paths between planes.

Looking thoughtful, Emery steps towards a tree sprouting between the roads and sets a hand on the bark. He's got the blood of the Field Lord running through his veins in multiple senses, surely he can do something if he tries.

Emery tilts his head forward and murmurs.]

Won't you speak to me...?

[Zel's brow lifts, watching Emery in curious quiet. can he communicate with all the nature here, or is it special sorts? is there a limit - a tax of energy of sorts?

many such questions bubble up, but he keeps a lid on it for the sake of Emery's concentration.]

[Those are questions Emery himself would like answered, honestly. Or at least, answers he could be sure of.

Still keeping his hand on the tree, Emery takes a step back and looks slowly from one side to the other. Whereas in the past when he's done this kind of fey wayfinding he's been hard to look at, right now he seems very present.]

...

[Sap flows through the tree, which anchors itself in the soil with roots that absorb the contents of the surrounding soil, mingling with the roots of other plants, stones, mycellium, insects and burrowing animals, and the network spreads around the roads...

Emery stays in a trance for a few minutes, his eyes wide and bright and his head cocked as if he's listening to something far away. He's not totally unresponsive- he'll make an acknowledging hum if Zel says anything- but he's definitely absorbed in what he's doing.

Breaking out of the trance is a slow, subtle process. A few blinks here and there, a thoughtful sound, and then he takes a small step back and lets his hand slip from the tree. Then he turns to Zel, brow slightly furrowed.]

I think... Both roads are headed North, but if we go left we'll eventually reach another village. Or a spring? It sounds like there were things living there, so I think there's a village, but I might have just been confusing it with animals.

Are...you alright?

[aside from some faint attempts to prompt some of those responses, Zel's tried to stay quiet, but the longer it's gone on, the more anxious he became. that Emery is coherent at all after that is a relief.]

[Emery stares at him for a beat, clearly surprised by the question.]

Yeah, I'm fine. [And then he laughs a little, in an attempt to clear the mood.] What, did that look weird?

[he hesitates.]

It was...a strange atmosphere, I guess. I don't think I've ever seen you do a meditative spell like that before.

[beat.]

...Was that a spell?

[Emery also has to think about that for a moment.]

...I mean, sort of? I was trying to communicate with the forest, and that's what most spells are at the core. [Communicating with other forces to achieve a desired result, that is.] Although I wasn't asking it to do anything, I was just trying to have it tell me about itself.

I don't think I ever saw you in that state before. I guess it just caught me off-guard. [it has that same kind of air as sitting in on a cleric or shrine maiden performing some communal rite, just...without all the pomp.

another beat.]

...Left, then?

[In a good way or a bad way? Emery wonders. But he says instead, with another little laugh:] I contain multitudes.

[Just maybe not as much as the guy who's three things at once.]

Sure, let's go left. It's probably safer, right?

Unless the living things want to eat people like us. [which is never completely out of the realm of possibility, least of all here. he's not supremely concerned about it, given his magic still works here.

that said, he nods and starts toward the leftmost path at a pace to let Emery catch up.]

I take it you've not gone out to this particular region before...or recently, I guess.

Heh.

[Emery really wishes he could entirely dismiss that possibility.

Ah well. Emery is also confident they can handle any people eaters that might show up. He cheerfully moves on to Zel's side.]

Yeah, we're pretty far from the Field Lord's territory out here. That's where I spent most of my time before I was assigned to the mundane realm.

[Mmmmostly inside the Field Lord's manor on top of that, but Emery doesn't need to mention that part.]

Were you always in this realm? Or did you find your way here through magic or someone else?

[stories of fairies stealing or replacing humans are common, after all.]

[There's a bit of a pause on Emery's end as he considers how to explain it.]

Calanthe took me here, shortly after I turned eighteen. I spent a year on the Field Lord's estate doing odd jobs and entertaining the guests until he decided my familiarity with the mundane realm meant I'd be more useful elsewhere. And a few months after that I joined a merchant caravan that was going through a rough part of Elmekia, and they hired a handsome, mysterious mercenary to escort everyone. You know the rest from there~

[Emery convinced Zelgadis to let them travel together after his shapeshifting powers were revealed, on the grounds that fellow oddballs best stick together, and then set about getting to know Zel/seducing him.]

[Zel doesn't think to hide his frown when he hears "entertaining," wondering on what that can mean for a fae lord. is it the same degeneracy that regular lords get around to? worse?

would it be bad to kill the Field Lord? would that bother Emery? maybe? much to think about.

the corner of his mouth twitches at mention of the mystery mercenary (whomever could that be truly it is a mystery), keeping his eyes ahead.]

...What about your family before? [did he have any? or was it not worth mentioning?]

[If Emery notices that frown he doesn't deign to comment on it. And he actually expounds on his backstory easily enough.]

I grew up in Stoyard Valley! Have you ever heard of Hill & Dale Printing? My dad's one of the Dales. I grew up with access to all the little chapbooks I could get my grubby mitts on. And I don't have any siblings, but I've got a fair amount of cousins that lived nearby, so I had them to play with as a kid. Though even when they weren't around, I had my friends to play with too.

[Shocker of shockers, the attractive, confident kid from a well-off trade family was pretty popular.]

Oh, and every auntie and granny in town absolutely doted on me. I'm astonished that I never got any permanent marks from having my cheeks pinched constantly.

[This is accompanied by a woebegone look cast in Zelgadis's direction and a forlorn touch to his own cheek.]

[that seems such a charmed life to lose...Zel can't help but feel confused and even a little anxious in a second-hand way to hear it all in the backward sequence it's being delivered in.]

Do you still keep in touch with them? [or was that a completely removed point of contact in his life? how did all this fey business work with someone who already had a life well lived?]

[Emery looks forward, and very firmly shoves down any pangs at the question.]

My dad knows I'm travelling, but I think it's better if he doesn't know about all the fey stuff.

[And before Zel has time to maybe prod for more detail, Emery whips out an uno reverse card.]

What about you? You've never really told me about your family besides Rezo. For all I know, he could have found you under a cabbage leaf.

[...Or built him in a lab, but the cabbage leaf is a nicer mental image.]

[Zel looks askance. what about him? don't pivot the focus on him!]

...Blood relatives? Just Rezo. My parents died when I was young. Don't remember them.

But Rodimus and Zolf were more family than that priest ever was.

[slight embellishment due to emotional scars, okay? sure - Rezo never starved him, always kept a roof under his head, got his lessons in academics and magic covered...

but it's Rezo.]

[Emery's tempted to ask about how his parents died (Random accident? Illness? Victims of earlier Rezo experiments?) but decides that would probably be a bit of a bummer. And also rude to pry into. So instead:]

Rodimus and Zolf? They were your former teammates, right?

Yeah. Rezo hired them to lead his mercenaries. They worked under me after I was changed.

[he keeps his eyes forward, his tone a touch rigid, the way it does when he's talking around things that he's sensitive about.]

They're dead, too. [thanks Rezo.]

So, no. No family to visit.

[Emery remembers Rodimus and Zolf being mentioned briefly when he was first getting to know Zelgadis better, and Zel was explaining the broad strokes of how he'd gotten to know Lina Inverse the Bandit Killer. At the time, Zel hadn't referred to Rodimus and Zolf as family, and it's likely a measure of how close they've gotten since then that he's made that admittance.

Emery wants to reach out for Zel's hand, but a stony chimera walking brusquely on isn't easy to get a grip on. Still, Emery doesn't back off either, staying close to Zel's side and his voice remaining calm as he asks:]

What were they like?

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