Snapping my mouth closed to arrest any further flames, I look around quickly. The big man on the ground isn’t getting back up. No questions there. But as she enters my vision I see Lilly execute a flourish against the lapin she’d been tying up this entire time. The rapier sings its song as the tip strikes the blade itself with a metallic scrape — deftly knocking his dagger out of his hands and leaving a bleeding trail across the back of his hand.

  He immediately backs off and throws his hands up. Handled.

  Ignia still coursing in my veins, I try to clear the battle fog from my mind and promptly remember Olly; a cold hand grasping my heart as I do. I spin and look down at him, still convulsing periodically as coruscating arcs of Fulmina seem to dance forward and back through his body repeatedly.

  The spell appears self-sustaining, I think, and as I watch, I see heavily aerated, red-tinted foam leaking through Olly’s clenched teeth with each pulse. I have no idea how to attack an ongoing magical effect. How long can he last like that? To test, I reach out and carefully bring my hand near Olly, only for a jolt of Fulmina to leap at me and shock my hand. I jump up and away, nursing my hand while trying to think quickly as I hear Lilly’s duel come to an end

  Looking over, I see Lilly menacing the lapin with the tip of her rapier, holding it just under his chin and looking furious. I step over and shove the blade aside and grab him by the collar, shoving him backwards into a crate. Towering over him, I spread my wings wide, simply and purely a threat display.

  “What did he do to Olly? And answer quickly.” Ashes and embers emit alongside the words, landing on the man’s garb and smoldering.

  He looks appropriately cowed, and despite the situation, that feels good. “I-it was a spell used to pacify monsters normally. Lots of Fulmina and a spell tattoo on his palms to shortcut shaping.” When the word monster leaves his mouth, I visibly grit my teeth to stop myself from roasting him — instead the Ignia glowing behind my eyes sends the message. “I can probably stop it if you let me.”

  I resist the growing tide of Ignia as best I can and nod. “If you hurt him, you won’t leave here. Understand that.” Not a question. A statement of fact that sees Lilly look at me with a tacit agreement. I stalk after the lapin after releasing him, wanting to keep him in arm's reach.

  He kneels next to Olly, keeping a little bit of distance between the two of them. I feel the air pressure change as he starts to call. It’s unfamiliar, so he must be using a compound of some kind. I resolve to watch closely.

  Starting to make elaborate hand gestures with one hand while drawing a sigil in the air with the other, he incants quietly. I catch preciously little of it aside from a few more stridently spoken words: “Crown,” “Forget,” “Duty,” are the ones that stand out the most, and they paint a confusing picture of this man’s magic. It pulls my Ignia-sodden mind back a little bit and awakens the Smart Ayre to push down Angry Ayre for a few moments.

  There’s no reason to use sigils, somatic gestures, and incantations. None that I know of at least. Is he trying to obfuscate his magic? Why?

  I watch more closely, expecting a trick or some sort of trap. But as he presses the sigil forward and into Olly’s chest, I see some currents of Fulmina jump into his body. He resists the effect, impressively, and after a few seconds of sustained contact, the regular pulse abruptly ends. With a staggered exhale, he slumps forward-looking dizzy and confused for a few seconds.

  I move forward quickly, sliding to kneel next to Olly and delicately flipping him onto his back to look him over more completely, entirely losing track of the lapin in my haste. I am thus shocked when I feel a gentle touch on my shoulder that I fight down the reaction to strike at. “Set this in his mouth and make him bite down on it. It’ll work on any internal injuries. Turin did a number on him before he activated whatever imbuement gave him that metal skin.” He shoves a phial into my hand, something powerful. I can feel the essence concentration through the skin, and it’s considerable.

  I nod, feeling a sense of some degree of ease and trust settle over me as I look at his face. Calm, almost erudite, with a gentle and disarming smile. I do as instructed. The phial swirls like a captured rainbow, easily dozens more shades than my own few healing phials. I place it in Olly’s mouth between his back teeth and work his jaw to make him crack it, causing it to break down into its readily absorbed form. I watch with interest as it slides down the back of his throat in a way that seems deliberate and controlled, despite him not actively swallowing. Olly coughs and sputters a couple times, but the fluid continues undeterred after he stops. My own phials require I swallow them, but his moved with purpose -- it must be something high end.

  The lapin opens his mouth to speak, but Lilly steps forward, holding her rapier low, but pointed forward. Ready to snap up at the drop of a pin. “Why weren’t you trying?” Her face looks the most skeptical I’ve seen her be.

  He steps back, standing up fully again and raising his hands. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m not much a fighter. They brought me on t-” He gasps as her blade materializes under his chin.

  “You won’t lie to me again.” Bits of essence peel themselves off Lilly’s agitatedly shuddering wings, making discordant chimes as they do. They race over to the man, making him flinch back again as they settle on his garb, sinking into the clothes and him beyond.

  I watch with awe. I’ve never seen this side of Lilly. “Alright. Won’t do that again. I didn’t want to hurt you or your friends. That’s the simplest answer I can give. Trying to keep it simple, long sentiments can hide intent.”

  Lilly relaxes fractionally, which tells truth to his words at least. “Why not? You hurt Olly badly. I saw the aftermath. Is it just because you saw the outcome coming and didn’t want the big guy to see you give up or betray him?” Her words carry open disdain. While she is more trusting of his words, he clearly hasn’t escaped her skepticism entirely.

  The lapin’s ears droop, looking ashamed, but he hesitates, clearly thinking and weighing his options. In the lull, I look over at Olly just in time to see one of the floating ribs under his skin snap into position. Olly grimaces and squirms as it happens, and I feel a massive weight of responsibility settling on my shoulders. This is my fault, right?

  “Okay. I can explain everything if you would like. It’s going to be a long explanation, though. No lies, but for me to do it, I need you to promise that you won’t reveal what happened here to anyone. It would put my and a great many lives at risk.” Lilly narrows her eyes at him before answering in an exacting tone. Acting every bit the part of the royalty she is.

  “If I’m satisfied, and when Olly wakes and is okay, I won’t divulge your secrets unless it becomes necessary for me to do so for my own or others’ safety.”

  “Lilly, he gave me a potion to help Olly, we can cut back the third degree, right?” I offer, feeling like her reaction is a bit exaggerated.

  “No, Ayre. I can’t. When he was working that spell to help Olly he was shaping a different spell at the same time and released both.” She responds coldly before staring at the tawny-furred man. He visibly blanches at the claim, which sets me thinking back. I’d also been treating him with just as much suspicion until after he stopped the spell effect on Olly…

  “That was me trying to protect myself. It will wear off…now.” He makes a sharp gesture with a finger, and I feel my anger and suspicion come crashing back in. It makes me doubly angry. “Okay, full truth as straightforward as I can say it. I was here operating to bring these people to justice. I’m of the Eldaran Crownsguard.” He hesitates, pointing at the still titankyn man. “You’ve made my job notably easier. Thrice, even.”

  “What’s a Crownsguard?” I ask with interest after Lilly lowers her weapon abruptly, dismissing it with a sharp word. Her decision apparently made.

  “Um.” He hesitates, “I…would not have expected anyone to not know. We work for the sovereign within the borders of the nation to deal with matters of public safety.” After another brief silence, he looks more earnest. “I had every intention of intervening if Turin was seriously going to kill him, for what it’s worth. I’ve been weaving layers of spells into Turin over the last few weeks and was ready to put him down if it got any worse. I just needed to protect my identity until I had no other choice. Our job is to protect people, and I wasn’t going to stand by and watch someone innocent and entirely unrelated die for the actions of others — mission be damned. You made that much easier, though.”

  Lilly flips back to her normal buoyant self, fixing him with a bubbly smile. “An undercover knight infiltrating a gang of criminals to bring them down from inside? That’s a good story. You do look the part.”

  “Thanks, I think. So, am I fine to relax? I won’t work any more magic without permission. I have no interest in offending the fae, nor making an enemy of an elemental serpent.” Both Lilly and I nod. “Can we go upstairs, then? Turin smelled poorly even on the best of days. “Char” isn’t doing him any favors. Your man should be fine to move. I’d offer to help, but, uh, “strong” isn’t in my bag of tricks.”

  Both Lilly and I nod along, agreeing. After he points it out, I am entirely unable to ignore the smell, which is made infinitely worse by my senses being enhanced by all of my Ignia exposure. Looking down at Olly, I notice that his breathing has stabilized and that his eyes are fluttering rapidly behind his eyes, like someone in deep sleep.

  Hefting him, I gesture to the stairs. “How is he, Ayre?” Lilly’s voice is fragile, and over the course of the conversation she probably hasn’t gone more than two or three seconds without looking at him.

  She’s putting on a strong face, but it’s abundantly clear that she feels responsible for all of this. I resolve to talk to her about it later, but just nod with as much confidence as I can muster. “Seems fine. What he gave Olly was a really high-grade healing phial of some kind. He’s probably just mentally recovering from that attack.” I squeeze her shoulder in support with my free hand, and she smiles meekly. It makes me realize how tired she looks, and at some point she lost her nice hat and didn’t replace it. Probably entirely out of essence, then. “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine, Lil.”

  She tries to put on a wan smile and nearly succeeds as she turns to go upstairs. I follow before long, looking around the space one last time with contempt. Willing to kill people over a stupid glaive and some pearls. What a joke. No wonder my parents decided to leave this all behind…

  “Come on in here, might as well make use of what food remains in the pantry. Feel free to lay your man on the counter or table. He’ll be easier to keep an eye on that way in case he needs anything.” The lapin is moving around fastidiously, opening cabinets and drawers and pulling various things out and onto countertops. His composure seems to have returned entirely, and he’s exuding an air of confidence and command that I feel myself inclined to go along with.

  Not due to any compulsion, but just from the display of competence and self assuredness and the implications of his role. Having Lilly around to tell the truth or lie to someone’s words is a wonderful boon like that.

  I settle Olly onto one of the counters and look for what I can do to make him comfortable. The room is a fairly large kitchen that was probably once very expensive if the dark polished stone countertops are anything to go by. Similarly, there’s several cooking apparatus in here that have simple runes of heat and cold adorning them. Along each wall are floor-to-ceiling cabinets that appear sparsely stocked as the Crownsguard moves around gathering things. He always fails to close the doors after walking away. This needles me to no end, and eventually, I have to walk over and close them.

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  In doing so, I find some rolled up blankets. They’re rugged things with some holes, but they’re better than nothing and Olly won’t know any better in his current state. I return to his side, tucking two bundles under his head and draping a third over him more fully.

  “So what were these guys doing?” Calling it good, I look Olly over one more time for good measure and then turn to the others.

  “I really shouldn’t say anything…But, I suppose you aren’t the sort to go looking for trouble, yeah?” I nod, but Lilly seems too distant to really respond. Her face is guardedly neutral, but her eyes tell a very different story. “Well, these pearls are being used by monster ranchers to empower their creatures before they harvest them.” He makes a face that looks like he smelled something terrible.

  “Monster ranchers? Harvest?” I have a guess, and I’m not sure I really want to know, but the curiosity gets the better of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lilly working her way around the room and busying herself with nothing in particular along the way and keeping her back to us. Always in the general direction of Olly. “Actually, first. What’s your name, anyways?”

  “It’s Vari. No surname.” He turns around from whatever he’s been preparing and leans against the counter. “You must not have spent any time around people, have you?” When my face darkens he waves a hand dismissively, “I don’t mean it in a bad way. You’re asking questions that anyone with even a basic formal education would know. Like being in this country and being entirely unaware of the existence of the Crownsguard. It’s not a problem, just trying to get an idea of where I should start with this stuff.”

  I relax, mollified for now. Maybe I’m being unfair at this point… “Just assume I grew up alone in a cave in the middle of nowhere with nothing but dated history books, scholarly texts, and novels to learn from.”

  “Noted. I will also assume that’s a fairly exact description of the circumstances.” Drawing in a deep breath and releasing it, he begins, “So, the short version is that monsters can have cores of solidified essentia. Those are used extensively for advanced enchanting, alchemy, and magitechnical machinery. They afford an enchanter the ability to draw on external essence to perform their work — rather than being strictly limited to what they can naturally call and process and all of the limitations that come with that process, such as poisoning. They’re tremendously valuable.”

  I nod along, remembering the core I have in the bag that I left in the room and what Nyssa said about it. “‘Ranchers’, as they’re known to most, capture monsters and repeatedly expose them to huge amounts of essence to force an evolution of the monster into one that could bear a core of the desired type. Then they’re killed and harvested for their parts and the core usually to be sold at market. Nobody would turn down a core, and they come around often enough through the works of freelancers and groups like the Order of the Eternal Vigil that most people wouldn’t assume they were gotten in a less than legal way.”

  Listening, I have a thought burning in the back of my mind, “What did those people want with me, then? How does that tie in? I know some people view us as monsters, according to my ‘Ma, but we don’t form cores that I’m aware of. If all it takes is essence exposure I’m pretty sure I’d know.”

  That elicits a grimace from the man and makes him look away from me. “If rumors are to be believed, you possess a Gate, right?” Before I can respond he makes a cutting motion with his hand, “Actually, don’t answer. I don’t want to know. But suffice it to say that having someone with permanent and more or less unrestricted access to the Seas would prove valuable in the process of exposing monsters to massed essence.” There’s a pregnant pause before he speaks again. “My understanding is that the practice of using gate-bearing creatures for this has always been the dream for these types in ages past, and for people who practice this sort of operation, finding a gate in any form is more or less their golden ticket. Even a temporary one like a nexus.”

  While I process that, Lilly chimes in, sounding confused. “But didn’t he want Ayre dead? What use would that have been then? It’s not like they would have known how to use it.”

  “Sure. But she does. And you saw what happened to your strong-willed friend over there, right?” Seemingly as if on cue, Olly groans but doesn’t quite wake. “These are people who are used to “taming” ogres. You killing those two just told him that you were capable enough to be worth capturing. It’s why he brought your man here. As bait.”

  Lilly covers her mouth, finally putting together the pieces I’d long since figured out. “I guess I know why my parents left society. I’ve read about things and had some ideas of the value of a gate for personal power. After all it’s why we’re so capable, but…I never really considered that could be a likely outcome…” My voice trails as my heart pumps ice into my veins.

  “Not likely, no. The people who would even recognize what you are are preciously few nowadays. I’ve only heard of one other dragon in my entire life-” He stops himself abruptly, smoothly rolling a different direction. “Outside some scholars and classical fiction, the word “Dragon” isn’t really even a common parlance anymore. Most people would assume you’re a beastkyn or serpentkyn hybrid and maybe ask you questions, but that’s about it.” He steps over, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I can tell you that while you’re in Eldara or most other nations, you will be safe from these things happening. The practice of hunting down elementals for…the reasons people used to…is outlawed in every country I’m aware of. I don’t know how long ago your parents left society with you, nor how old you are, but things are different now.”

  Looking at him, I really want to believe that. More than anything. He seems sincere, almost…fatherly in a way. It makes me wonder how old he actually is. I’ve read that Lapin live long lives and show age slowly. Lilly speaks first, stepping closer for the first time. “And how can you say that? We’ve been “in society” for two days and this happened.”

  Unphased, he responds, “Because we’re aware of every single one of these groups operating in the country and most of the ones beyond. What they do is dangerous in the “thousands die if they make a mistake” way. Because of that, dealing with people like this is the highest priority. Turin had given me all I needed over the last couple months, and I was planning to solve this problem permanently soon. It’s not something you go to the dungeon to rot for.” Venom leaks with his words as his face hardens. “Monsters are incredibly dangerous to the average person. Empowered monsters are dangerous to skilled fighters. Empowered, core-bearing, monsters can pose an existential threat to a city or town. We don’t do half measures in this regard. So, yes. I do promise you that this was the definition of an exception to the rule.”

  I nod, swallowing hard. “Alright. Thanks.” Looking deeper into his eyes, I see a hardness there. Seriousness. They remind me of Pa’s in a lot of ways.

  "It seems kinda foolish to share the information that you’re aware of all of these people so openly. Usually, it happens in the stories that all it takes is one loose lip to sink a ship, and you just shared a whole bunch of secrets, right?" Lilly sounds calculating, like she’s considering every story she’s heard. “With strangers, even. Strange strangers. Don’t you mortals typically distrust fae as a rule anyways? You also don’t seem terribly surprised by us, why is that?”

  The rapidfire questions seem to throw him for a loop for a moment. Lilly has that effect on me sometimes, so I imagine someone who is entirely inexperienced with the thought processes of the fae would get it even worse.

  “I think I can answer most of that with a single answer, gratefully. I told you, and trusted to tell you, because of what you did to save your friend here — and what he was willing to endure to try to protect you in return. Everything you’ve done since your pretty dramatic entrance — clever trick with the illusions by the way — was pretty obviously done to help someone. People who put themselves in harms way to help others aren’t going to go blabbing secrets to ranchers. Especially someone who is of special interest to those ranchers.” He shrugs nonchalantly, “And why am I not surprised? I am. I did not expect to meet fae royalty or a dragon at the start of the day. I’d started mentally preparing to meet a dragon after this morning, but fae was right out. I’m terribly shocked, I just see no reason to treat you any other way than I would other kind people. Are you actually a princess? Or was your man being clever to unsettle Turin?”

  Lilly looks over at Olly with a soft smile before answering. “You’d be correct. And you remind me that we haven’t introduced ourselves after you did.” She gives a half bow-into-a-curtsy with a flourishing spin at the end and a scattering of dust. Ever the showman. “I am Lilidh O’Ceilidh, daughter of The Traveller, and sole heir to the Court of Tale and Song.” I have to roll my eyes, as along with her words a series of pleasant accompanying music chimes in from the entire room around us. Enough essence for extreme theatrics, evidently.

  Vari's eyes open wider at the mention of Lilly's father, which strikes me as particularly odd. How would he know about The Traveller?

  “And I’m Ayre’A’Khana. No titles. Aside from maybe “Sole remaining member of the A’Khana clan”.” I add bitterly. Hearing what people would do to our kind, even if it's in the past, has ruined my mood and my outlook for this entire excursion.

  “In that case, it’s a pleasure to meet both of you. All three of you, I suppose. Anyways, I was going to make an off-”

  Olly groans and starts to sit up, holding his head in his left hand while bracing with his right. Both Vari and I turn to look at Olly, but before either of us can make a motion, Lilly seems to effectively teleport to his side to begin fussing over him. She quickly starts to bombard him with questions, and incants a few things in quick succession that I can’t catch. Each one leaves her visibly more tired until I’m worried she’s going to knock herself out with the effort.

  Each spell seems to bolster Olly, though. When she’s apparently finished, he rises the rest of the way and swings his legs to the side to sit more comfortably on the counter. “How are you feeling, Olly?” I hear Lilly’s exhausted sounding voice. She must be about three motes of essence shy of passing out. I’ll almost certainly have to carry her back.

  Blinking his eyes rapidly to clear a haze, Olly finally focuses well enough to take in the room. “I feel a bit like someone threw me off a cliff and then beat me with hammers before throwing me off another cliff with hammers at the bottom. But mostly in a dull, indirect way. Beat me with the idea of hammers, maybe.” He gives a coy smile down to Lilly, who wilts at it, turning away and looking utterly disinterested all of a sudden.

  “Olly, this is Vari. He helped us stabilize you…”

  Over the next fifteen or so minutes, we catch Olly up on the conversations that have taken place since the fight. He seems to be entirely unsurprised by any of it, so I have to assume that he must have been conscious enough to be processing everything around him in the uncanny way that he does.

  “So, what now? Thanks for stopping him from killing me in the grove, by the way.” Olly offers.

  The tawny-furred lapin shrugs deeply, causing his floppy ears to shift around. “Well, there’s a massive bounty for these criminals. One that I wouldn’t collect even if I had been the one to solve the situation.” His, soft, fatherly eyes trace over all three of us, “And I have a distinct feeling that the three of you do not want the extra attention that would come from turning in the bounty to collect your due reward, right?”

  A chorus of nods follow. “Then in that case, I will turn in proof of the bounty’s completion to the town mayor myself, as well as a somewhat accurate description of events, and if you tell me where you’re staying, I’ll drop off your earnings and then be on my way out of town.”

  We all exchange glances and nods, so I answer. “We’d certainly appreciate it, but I think I can speak for all of us when I ask for you to not pass along information of us being around to anyone. If that’s acceptable.”

  He shakes his head, and rolls his eyes with a smile. “Of course. I suspect you’ll become the talk of the town wherever you go, you won’t need a Crownsguard gossiping to accomplish that. The only people I will pass information about your existence to is my superior. And I can assure you beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have nothing to fear from him.” He takes on a thoughtful look, tapping his lightly furred chin with a single finger. “In fact, if you ever make your way into the capital, if you visit the Spire of the Crownsguard, say that I was the one who sent you and that you need to talk to Gehrmann and Aen. I think they would like to meet the lot of you given the opportunity.” He rises from sitting on the counter, which makes me realize that he’s pulled out all of the non-perishing goods and left them on the counter. “I have to be on my way. You should get out of here quick. There’s no way that that fight will have been entirely unnoticed, so take what you need and beat feet, yeah? Take as many of those pearls downstairs as you need or can carry. They’re already written off as lost.”

  “We’ll keep it in mind. Thanks, Vari. For everything.” I offer as he steps out of the room. Watching him go, he sends a single wave without turning around and strides out the front of the building.

  With us left alone, the room falls quiet. There’s a lot of tension in the air that was being contained by the presence of the Vari. With him gone, the air in the room feels heavy — as if the fight had only just ended now, rather than a half hour ago.

  Nobody else seems inclined to start, so I do. “I think we all need to talk. But not here. He was nice enough to leave us things to help us out, so let's get them all gathered up and get out of here.” Olly and Lilly both cast glances at one another — a look that almost makes it look like the two of them were having a conversation I wasn’t privy to somehow — but we all set about gathering things up as Vari suggested.

  By the time we finish up, we probably would look like robbers ourselves if we didn’t have the storage bag and Lilly’s glamours to obfuscate us. Bags full of pearls, lots of long-lasting traveling supplies that the smugglers had been using to avoid interacting with the town as much as possible.

  A brief, and worryingly quiet, walk later, we’ve acquired food from a couple stalls according to everyone's tastes and made it back to the room. After settling in we all go to our respective beds or desks and eat.

  Also, quietly. Just us quietly eating. I find the silence companionable, but as I watch, Lilly looks like she’s either going to explode or cry. I’m not certain which.

  We’ll see.