B4 – Chapter 18: Regrouping and recovery

It took a few hours, but eventually Felicity had fixed up the mountain, and both she and Tristan had enough essence to use their Otherrealm Retreat stored spells. They both appeared almost simultaneously in the infirmary, and after quickly re-using Mark the Breach from another amulet to re-establish the teleportation point, they re-acquired their Citadel Pins from one of the staff members.

“Back to the room?” Tristan asked.

Felicity nodded and vanished with a pop. Tristan spun his crucible and pushed the essence into the pin, teleporting just outside the door leading to his quarters. Felicity was already in the process of opening it in her Elfanoid form, and he followed her in, shutting it behind him. She looked back at him, “I want to take a bath.”

Tristan was about to reply when he heard a knock on the door and quickly opened it. Eloise was standing there, staff in hand. “Hey…” she said softly. “Thank you for rescuing me. Did you figure out what happened?”

Tristan smiled and gestured broadly into the room, “Come on in, I’ll tell you everything that happened.” He glanced at Felicity, “Go and do your thing, lovely.”

Felicity grinned and gave him a little air-kiss before dipping into the restroom and shutting the door. Eloise walked past Tristan and sat at the end of the bed near the trunks for storage, setting her staff off to the side which stood upright on its own with nary a wobble. Tristan took a seat next to her. “Well?” she asked expectantly.

Tristan frowned, “Tell me why you got captured first.” He pulled his gauntlets off, grabbed the ring, and Eloise handed back the amulet which he put back onto his belt.

Eloise sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers, closing her eyes as she made small circles to alleviate whatever headache he assumed she was dealing with. “I got to Avonal easily enough. I even was able to talk to the captain of the guard – that’s when everything went to shit.” She pulled her fingers away, put her hands behind her on the bed, and leaned back as she looked up at the ceiling. “He doubted my intentions immediately. Used a spell on me – I should’ve seen that coming. Forced me to talk and tell about my true purpose in trying to ally their House to take down Duberceix.”

“And you told him what, exactly?”

“Nothing about you,” she replied hastily, her eyes dashing over to meet his as she tilted her head to him. “The spell only forced me to speak of the intentions behind why I was there. He captured me-”

“Wait,” Tristan interrupted. “You could have still used spells, right? Why not use one to flee?”

Eloise looked like she was barely holding back tears, and she bit her bottom lip slightly as she shook her head. “It…” She looked away and to the wall, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I cracked. Everything I learned, everything I studied – it went right out the window…I froze…” She looked back to him, wiping one of her tears that had escaped from its confinement from her cheek. “The spell didn’t do that…just my lack of training. I’ve never done essence weaving in that type of situation. I panicked, and they got those shackles on me.” She shook her head. “I didn’t come out of the fugue until I was in the cell, and by then, no spell I had memorized would have helped me escape.”

Tristan slowly nodded in understanding, having experienced something similar, but in a different situation. “Back when I was in Bhant,” he said softly, “I had a nearly identical experience.” Eloise perked up slightly as he continued. “It’s rough when you’re shown to be so out of your depth that you freeze,” Tristan continued, as he vividly recalled the first time that his father had him face off against a living, breathing creature. A goblin he had paid for from a traveling circus. A beast, no smarter than a dog despite its stature and humanoid appearance. The first thing Tristan was told to kill, as goblins were steadfast servants of the Elemental Realm dragons. And he couldn’t do it. He was frozen in fear. Tristan spoke at a whisper as he stared into Eloise’s eyes. “Now that you’ve experienced that feeling, I hope you won’t lose your edge next time.” His voice hardened slightly as he finished. “I didn’t, and you have centuries more experience than I do.”

Eloise had kept her mouth shut but slowly nodded as he concluded. “I hope not.”

Tristan lay back on the bed. “Well, here’s what happened…” he went into detail about the events directly after he had saved her. She stopped him at several points during his story about fighting the Starsworn, and prodded with a few questions when it came to his conversation with Clova Parslile, the Demon Lord of that House. “…We should figure out our next move,” Tristan finished.

Eloise stood up and grabbed her staff. “I agree…you did well, Tristan.” She smiled as she looked back at him. “Really well. An alliance, plus some underhanded efforts to sabotage something you have already put into motion? It does make me curious…” she turned to face him fully, crossing her arms as she rest the staff in the crook of her elbow. “Why do you care so much about the Mortal Realm? Especially when you have the whole Fey Realm?”

Tristan pushed himself up onto his elbows. “I don’t think that realms should invade each other. Or take each other over. We can all just get along, stay in our lane, keep to our own, but mingle amicably.”

She smirked in response, and let out a laugh. It took a moment to quiet, then she spoke with a chipper tone. “You are already making inter-realm political plays. Like it or not, you are quickly becoming a player in this game.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“It’s not intentional. If anything, my plans for the Mortal Realm regarding my warning to the empress…that’s just me keeping a possible rival faction in check.” He smiled. “I am just trying to live up to what my mother raised me to do. Be a good person…as best as I can be.”

“Commendable.” Eloise turned as Felicity left the bathroom and walked down the hall. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you two to your devices.” She spoke to Felicity, “Shall we reconvene tomorrow? Or would you like a day or two?”

“A day or two,” Felicity replied with a grin. “Could use a little rest, Tristan’s gear needs repairs, and I need to learn more transmutation spells!” She hiked a thumb back and pointed it at her chest. “I have just cracked Fourth Order for my crucible!”

Tristan grinned. “Congratulations.”

Eloise nodded in agreement. “Well, don’t take too long-”

Felicity waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah yeah. Just going to talk to some professors, have them write down some spells for me, and then put those in the Omnitome.”

Eloise walked past her and called out as she reached the door. “Two days!” She opened it, stepped through, and shut it behind her.

Felicity hopped onto the bed and pushed against Tristan’s chest. “Come on! Get out of the armor and get into the tub! You stink!”