B2 – Chapter 1: The long road ahead

“I’m boooored!” Felicity groaned as she sprawled atop Tristan’s head, lazily batting at one of his long ears. She had flopped herself onto the top of his skull and was acting like a very grumpy, bored house cat.

Tristan just shook his head, “What? Bored of doing the two-direction spin for your Essence Crucible?”

She nodded and flopped onto her back, making another groaning noise. “It’s been a week! Plus, it makes my stomach super rumbly.”

Tristan chuckled and leaned over as he ran a hand along his black destrier’s neck. “You don’t mind this, do you, Onyx?”

The horse whinnied in response, and his companion, Midnight – his grandfather Hurvun’s steed whom was unnamed until recently – neighed as well.

“See? It’s just you that doesn’t like travel,” Tristan stated.

“Tomorrow, I’m just going to stay in the Fey Realm!” Felicity said as she continued to pout.

“But then who will watch my back?” Tristan asked. “Or go scout ahead to see if other travelers have ill-intent?”

“Someone else!”

“Would a joke make you feel better?” Tristan asked.

“Your jokes s-u-c-k.” Felicity grumpily replied.

Tristan had been thinking of several jokes to tell her as they kept traveling, and finally had one he had landed upon in the past few hours. “Why don’t fairy dragons like serious conversation?”

Felicity groaned, “Why?”

“Because they would rather have a pun-derful time!” Tristan replied with a small grin.

Felicity giggled just the slightest bit, “Okay, that was decent. But not as good as one of mine.”

“Yours have been fairly raunchy as of late.”

“Those are the best kind! Okay, my turn!” Her demeanor had shifted almost immediately as she got into the spirit of exchanging jokes. “What’s a fairy dragon’s favorite position in battle?”

“What?” Tristan replied.

She cackled, “On top! Because they get the best view.” She began making small paw-claw biscuits on his head, and Tristan chuckled at the joke.

But then it hit him, “Wait a minute! That one has multiple meanings!”

“Duh,” she said with a grin. Both horses whinnied, and Felicity pointed at them, “See? They loved it!”

The two had been traveling on horseback – with Tristan swapping between Onyx and Midnight – for the past week. Five days of travel, four nights of staying in the Fey Realm. Tristan had taken to a new routine at night – spending an hour upon his arrival sparring with The Matriarch to keep improving his skills with the two-handed hammer known as a maul.

He would then visit the half-breed Broxtar that had elected to stay; thirty of them. They did not show any signs of change, or sickness, but all were extremely grateful for the chance to stay in the Fey Realm. They had taken up residence in some of the newly-crafted tree houses – quite literally, shaped and bent trees formed with essence-weaving – which surrounded the Queen’s Wood.

And, just to ensure they had capacity for more refugees or guests, Tristan expanded the project. The fairy dragons who could use the flora spell type and the Third Order spell set to work, turning the surrounding several miles of forest surrounding the Queen’s Wood into houses made from the living substance.

The half-breed Broxtar had shown themselves quite capable smiths, which made perfect sense to Tristan, as mining was the main trade of the Gredo Expanse. More of the weird flame-infused trees that acted like furnaces were brought from the Summerbalm Springs – a section of the Fey Realm that was to the south-east of the Queen’s Wood – and the new residents had begun toying around with using metallurgy on the Adamant Wood that grew only in the Fey Realm. A substance that could be shaped with essence-weaving but was just as shapeable with heat and hammering, if not more magnificent in the end.

After his visit Tristan would rest up, and Felicity had taken to sleeping on the same bed – either in her fairy dragon form on a pillow near his head, or sometimes in her elfanoid form under the covers with him. It was comforting, to Tristan, and a few times in the night he found himself waking up as the sorrow of recent events overcame him, and he sought solace in her comforting embrace.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The recent death of his mother, Gertrude, the chef who was like an aunt to him, and his grandfather’s injury all ripped through him in tumultuous tides of sadness. But Felicity’s soft reassurances would help quiet the sorrow and helped him sleep once more.

After waking, he would prepare to travel, see if any new developments had occurred that he needed to be notified of, and travel back to the Mortal Realm with his mounts. They had been traveling towards the Sapphire Coast to the south of the kingdom of Bhant; going to the next closest Pathfinder Company lodge. Those were only present in capital cities, so he would be traveling for at least a full Season to get there.

“What day is it?” Felicity asked as the day dragged on to the late afternoon.

“Fifteenth of Building Season,” Tristan replied. “It’s just going to get hotter over the next week, but we should be approaching the edge of the kingdom’s border soon enough.”

“More mountains?” Felicity asked. “I haven’t been outside of the kingdom’s borders.

“Me either,” Tristan replied. “From the maps I had to study, the mountains are a small range – maybe a half day to get over. We should be coming into sight within the next day or so.”