Aerien’s POV

 

What is the thing I hate the most about this queen? The one thing that really gets under my skin? Since she’d called me to meet with her and decided to simply confess about Sagal’s spying, I’d managed to do some thinking on that exact subject. I was unable to come up with just one answer to that question. Once I really got to analyzing her actions and what they meant toward her thought process, it became all too clear what governed her actions.

 

It was a creed that could build a powerful kingdom, but at the expense of all of those who lived in it. I would be very interested to talk to someone like Eirlathion about how the queen is viewed by those who live in the kingdom, because if my impressions are correct then while she seems like a wize and noble ruler when she speaks to those she keeps near, the people she actually rules over probably see her as an absolute tyrant.

 

Well, regardless of my opinion on her, there was a more important matter in front of me right now. I knew I would be unable to hide my thoughts from Sagel long enough to mull over how to approach my confrontation with him. I did not return to my room. Instead, I went straight to that smaller room I’d gone to with Gaerien before, and now I was sitting on the couch with my changeling familiar standing at attention before me with a grave look on his face. Yeah, he definitely knew something was up.

 

“I don’t think I need to explain what the queen and I talked about.” I addressed him.

 

“I… would normally think not your highness.” Sagel responded with a very difficult look on his face.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, your highness, I am really not sensing the response I would expect from your mind if she told you what I think she did.”

 

I had to smile at that. “Were you expecting me to be more angry at you?” I asked him. Indeed, the majority of my anger was directed at the queen, while my thoughts toward him were mostly that of pity. The changeling man nodded, and then regarded me with a curious gaze. “Well, don’t get me wrong. I do not feel very good about having the queen’s spy attached directly to my soul, but it is very hard for me to be angry at someone in such a miserable position as you in this moment. The master you served just sold you out, putting you in a very bad position with the master you pretended to serve.”

 

Sagel simply looked down to the floor in response to my words. I could sense through our link that his mind had become clouded and heavy as a sense of hopelessness washed over him.

 

I regarded the man for a while. He definitely seemed like a pretty competent person, but when I stop to consider it, he was also just as much rail-roaded into this situation as me. He was also put into a position very much like the one where I was fooled into making that oath. Similarly, he was aslo forced into a contract with me, and he was even told a lie about what I had said in order to make it happen.

 

“Well then,” I said. “I would like to hear it from you. In the best words you can, I would like for you to justify your actions to me. And I do not want to hear any convenient excuse like you were doing your duty. That is a shortcut for your own mind. Think deeply about this, I want to hear the core of your thought process, the thing that made you instantly consider to report to the queen rather than being loyal to me.”

 

“It… it’s just what changelings do, your highness.” He said. “It is our very purpose for being, we are the queen’s agents, even when we have a familiar contract with someone else.” I furrowed my brow, I imagined the expression must be quite distinct on my child face. This was an answer almost the same as the one I just told him not to give, but at the same time, it was also still close to what I had asked for in it’s own way. “I… I’m sorry your highness, I really cannot come up with much more than that.”

 

“No, I get it.” I begrudgingly responded. “Well then, how about this. Did any part of you want to serve me over the queen?”

 

“That is…” He hesitated. “To tell you honestly your highness, I have served several human masters over my lifetime. It was not the most common, but there were several who were competent and kind to levels that could meet up with the wisdom of the fey, just as it has been with you. I do not mind serving masters of this sort, but I have seen it before, and I have served the queen far far longer than I have served you.”

 

Somehow, hearing that actually hurt like I had taken a knife to the gut. I understood it. I had suspected him before this. I knew he was the queen’s agent. But, he was also such an overall good person otherwise. A part of me wanted to think he was going to be someone to fill that void of family for me, but he was just one more betrayal. I should have known when I’d asked the question that I was not going to receive a favorable answer, but hearing the blunt truth like that really hurt.

 

“Sagel.” I spoke in a gentle and sad voice. “The queen has advised me to take complete control over you in order to prevent a repeat of these actions. To infiltrate my soul into yours and take total dominance.”

 

“If that is her majesty’s wish.” He responds and bows his head low to me. The irritation just builds up in me even more. How can this man be so complacent about being used as a tool by the queen!? As I looked at him pathetically bowing before me, it just filled me with contempt for him and even greater rage at that dragon! But, I had to realize. My emotions were mostly coming from the fact that I’d wanted him to be more than he was. I was angry at his failure to measure up. The truth was, he simply never had the ability to do the things I wanted him to do in the first place. It’s just as he said before, it’s simply in a changeling’s nature to serve the queen. I did not believe that, but after serving her for millennia it would become as good as true for him. Therefore, going against her in any way would simply be impossible for him.

 

“I am afraid I am not emotionally prepared to follow her advice at the moment.” I told him. “I will be taking more actions from this point forward fully aware of the fact you are reporting to her. There will be times I ask you to leave the room. Give her an update on the dissatisfaction I feel toward her during these times if you must. I will be needing these periods to be more free in my actions and to express the things I do not want her knowing about.”

 

“If… if that is your highness’ wish.” He accepted with a note of bitterness in his tone.

 

“I heard that a familiar who has full control taken from them also gains a great deal of power in exchange.” I commented. “Tell me, were you hoping for that? Or was that harsh tone I just heard in your voice for some other reason?”

 

“I…” The clouds in his mind grew more dense. I could feel him actively seeking an answer to my question. It was pretty clear he really didn’t know himself why my words made him feel this way.

 

“You are very honest with yourself Sagel, I like that.” I told him as I slid off the couch and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have enough self awareness to seriously consider your own thoughts and emotions on a subject. It is a sign you are well on the road to mastering your own mind. Although, I also suppose it is inevitable someone who has lived as long as you would reach that point.” After saying this, I walked past him and toward the exit wall. “I would like you to continue sorting through your own feelings for a while, I know you have what it takes to do so. Perhaps you can pull a strength from this greater than loosing your free will to my service could ever give you.

 

-

 

Terlu’s POV

 

One morning, Terlu got to see the outside of his cell for the first time in his life. Once he had finished breakfast, and before he could finish capturing the rat that had been delivered with it, a woman came into the cell.

 

[Boy! You will be coming with us today!] She said, grabbing his arm. He was dragged off his bed with so much force he could swear his shoulder had nearly dislocated, he had no choice but to scramble and find his feet just to keep up.

 

[What!? What about!]

 

Terlu was stammering, trying to ask about the rat, the other children, anything at all. But, all he got from the woman was a harsh [no questions] response. He was dragged with no regard for his own well-being, until he was finally thrown into the arms of what seemed to be a girl. A child, but several years older than himself. He only came up to just over her waist. Well, it was an improvement on the adult woman on whom he just barely reached her knee.

 

[Alright, teach him like I told you.] The woman said. [I will be going back for his (“di’thang”) so they can be taught how to properly act like they should. He’s been getting far too familiar with them, they need to be taught their proper place.]

 

[What!? What are you going to do to them!?] Terlu reached back to the retreating woman, but the girl he had just been thrown to had a powerful grip on his shoulder.

 

[As you wish mistress.] The girl said with a bow. The next thing he knew, she pulled him tight into her legs, and then he felt the ground shift under them. They sunk straight through the floor as it moved out of their way, and then closed up above them. He was cut off from the outside, and his senses were overwhelmed by the sound of constantly shifting stone crinkling and crunching all around him.

 

He did not know how long they descended straight down for, but eventually they stopped. Terlu was staggered by all that had happened so suddenly, he could only look around the small sphere of stone on all sides. Now that the descent had stopped, the sound of rock crunching was no longer present and the only sound was the sound of his rapid breathing which echoed almost painfully off the walls.

 

[Wh.. what?] He stammered and looked around and over his shoulder, up at the girl. She shoved him to the side of the wall and glared down at him.

 

[Alright kid!] She snapped at him, [I don’t know why the priests want to have you trained when you haven't taken the blessing yet, but here’s how it’s going to work. If you cry or back-talk to me at all, I’m going to bury you to your neck and use your head as a chair. I don’t want to hear any of your complaining, and I hate kids. Do you understand me!?]

 

Terlu was stunned. After everything else that had happened, just one thing after another, he didn’t even know how to respond. His mind was still on his friends who that woman was probably going after right now, but he now had who knows how many layers of stone over his head separating himself from them, and it was just made incredibly clear the only person who could get him back was not going to be on his side on this at all.

 

[Hey!] The girl patted the side of his cheek and then snapped her fingers. [Hey kid! Did you hear me!?] Terlu numbly nodded his head, he realized his powerlessness in this situation, and the last thing he needed was for this girl who obviously had all the power in the situation to get pissed off at him. [Alright, that’s good.] She said. [Now, hold on tight to me, we are going to be moving (“tandore-una”) now.]

 

This was Terlu’s first time hearing the word “tandore-una,” but it was not hard to guess what it might mean from the context, so he complied immediately. In matching with his guess, as soon as he was secured against her chest the girl braced her feet against one stone wall and her hand against a stone in the other wall, and then the stone her hand was touching seemed to begin shoving all stone ahead of it out of the way while the stone on her feet propelled her forward. As he was clutched to her chest, he noticed her breasts seemed a lot bigger than they ought to be for her apparent age. They were not huge or anything, but they were definitely not something that matched the body of the 10 or 11 years of age he would have guessed her at.

 

They did not move horizontally for anywhere close to as long as they had moved vertically. After a short time of traveling in this manner, Terlu found himself being dumped onto a surprisingly smooth floor. They were just surrounded by rough rock, but as he looked at the surface beneath his hands and knees he realized he was suddenly on polished marble.

 

[Úrdes!?] Terlu herd another female voice. He looked up to realize that the two of them were surrounded by a whole bunch of other children, all looking to be around the same age as the girl who brought him here. They were all looking in confusion between him and the girl. [Who’s the kid!?] The new girl demanded toward the girl who brought him here.

 

[He’s got a crazy strong (“fea”)] another kid used the same term his mother and some of the jailers would use. [We all thought a Nirodgir was coming! We were all scared to shit and trying to arrange a greeting party!]

 

[Nope, just this kid.] The girl who brought him told the others. [The Iuutel priestesses say they want his training to start even if he hasn’t had the blessing. The acolyte who summoned me said he’s supposed to be some kinda genius kid for his age, and of course we can all tell he should probably be stupid powerful.]

 

[Well THAT certainly sounds like a bad idea!] One of the kids said. [Well, doesn’t matter to me if those bitches want to unleash a monster in the middle of the temple, I just hope they don’t ask us to restrain him if he freaks out during the ritual.]

 

[Nah, I bet they’ll ask the Nirodgir to play guard duty.]

 

[Hmph.] The girl who brought him here scoffed. [Apparently they say they are going to use one of his (“di’thang,”) seems he’s all sentimental about them and became attached to one of them in particular.]

 

Wait!? Is she talking about Sam!? He looked up in horror at this girl’s words. What were they going to do to Sam!?

 

[Hey, hey!] One of the kids said. [You sure you should be getting him worked up by saying something like that? You DO realize you are going to have to teach him to meditate, right? I think you just screwed yourself on any chance at making any meaningful progress on that anytime today.]

 

[Ah, it’s fine.] The girl who brought him scoffed. [Another thing the priestesses wanted him to learn was how to toughen up. I’ll just consider this lesson number one on that front.]

 

Toughen up. In other words, stop being so nice. Yeah, if the message was that they were going to hurt the ones he cared about, that probably does count as a lesson. But still, what were they about to do with Sam!? He was starting to get sick with worry about her. All he could guess is that it would be nothing good.