Eirlathion’s POV

 

The trip back to the wagon was relatively quick. The idea of an elf his age becoming disoriented just from a little run around in the deep woods was absurd, and the effects of his movement spells stayed in effect far longer than combat based ones. He might as well have arrived at the wagon the second he started moving.

 

He could hear his own ragged breath as the white ribbed linen cloth covering the wagon came into view, and he caught Sagel’s attention immediately. The changeling had a deep frown on his face as he approached, much to Eirlathion’s confusion.

 

“Hmm.. Ok, that looked worse from a distance.” Sagel said, breathing a sigh of relief.

 

“Huh?” Eirlathion looked behind him for a second to see if he had been looking at anything in particular, and then when he saw nothing he realized exactly what it probably was that had gotten the changeling’s attention. He looked down at his still wooden hand and dismissed the spell. At this point, if something were to show up, Sagel could likely take care of it easily.

 

The gore and grime from the crushed wolf skulls fell to the ground as he flicked his wrist in time with the spell’s dismissal, along with some of the bark exoskeleton before it faded into particles of unspent mana and small amounts of arcane energy waste. This left his hand completely clean, at least until he used it to rub his chin where the wolf’s tooth had caught him.

 

Eirlathion let out a hiss as he felt his finger run over his wound, and when he looked it was covered with his own blood. “Eh-heh, I guess I messed up a little.” He said. “I must look like a bit of a mess.”

 

“Well, the injury itself does not look bad, it’s just bleeding a lot. You might want to clean yourself up a little before going in the wagon or else you’ll scare everyone. Hmm… that could pose a problem though. I don’t think we brought along any spare linen to use as a rag.”

 

Sagel seems to think for a moment, and then he transforms into, of all things, a wolf. Not one of the dire wolves like the ones he had just fought, but a wolf none the less. “I am told the wolves' saliva has some very weak healing properties. I will clean your wound.” Sagel somehow talks even in his animal form. The voice has changed to be low and gruff, but it is still perfectly understandable and he can hear it without Sagel even needing to do much more than open his mouth and keep it open for a while.

 

It must be some strange trick of the changelings to talk in any form they become. He decided not to be bothered thinking about it too hard, and he obediently knelt down. It was a little strange allowing a wolf to approach his neck like this after having just fought for his life against an entire pack of dire wolves, and he could feel his heart rate instinctively quicken as he was approached, but he had to remind himself this was Sagel under that fur. He was not going to be trying to bite his neck out.

 

Eirlathion shivered as the wet wolf tongue passed over the skin of his neck, and then hissed in pain as it licked the cut on his chin. He noticed the curious eyes of Túeth peering out from around the edge of the linen canopy. “What model of healing magic do you use?” Sagel asked after he had finished cleaning Eirlathion of his own blood.

 

“Well, I use enchanted berries.”

 

“Hmm... that’s good.” Sagel begins, half way through his transformation. “If I remember correctly, that magic disperses the spell across a large number of berries. It won’t go to waste to use it even on such a small injury. Do you have any berries appropriate for the spell available?” Eirlathion, unfortunately, could only respond to that by shaking his head. “I see, that’s a shame. I will keep an eye out as we continue. In the meantime, I suggest you study that book your dryad wrote for you last night. I understand there was a permanent enhancement spell in there that could allow you to heal from sunlight. They specifically told me about that one when I asked about it. Said I should probably make sure you hear about it because that’s only one of the benefits it offers.”

 

“What!? Really? How is that even possible!?” Eirlathion demanded in surprise.

 

“You haven’t even looked in the book, have you?”

 

“Well..”

 

“Look, I understand you have your moral issues about accepting things that dryad gave you after everything that’s happened, but we really are going into some very dangerous territory right now. You have a serious weapon in this staff right here, but the spells and magical knowledge in that book can probably change the world. You would be a real idiot not to make use of it.”

 

Eirlathion sighed. “You’re right. I need to be focused on right now a lot more. Ha. This staff, it’s even more amazing than you know. Dryad only told us half the story in regards to what this thing could do. I found that out just now as I was using it.”

 

“Oh? You found something good about it?”

 

“Yeah, it shortens spell chants by an entire line.”

 

“Oh-ho! That IS interesting. And, how many lines are your spell chants?”

 

“Well, with the exception of hand of the woodlands, I use the full one line per spell rank plus the trigger phrase. I’ve been using my magic in a village up until this point.”

 

“I see. Well, there's nobody with a weak spirit around anymore, and we are going into an area that already has high arcane energies anyway. You should honestly consider shortening those chants.”

 

“Hah,” Eirlathion sighed. “I guess my whole world really has changed now.”

 

“Haha! You’re pretty soft Eirlathion, but don’t worry. It seems like you’ve got enough life still in you to afford you the opportunity to turn that around.” The changeling gave him a hearty clap on the back and went toward the front of the wagon.

 

Eirlathion sighed and climbed into the back, stepping past Túeth and considering his original reason for getting out of the wagon in the first place. A realization struck him. Sagel had said he was soft. Well, he wasn’t wrong. He had only ever left the forest for a brief amount of time when he was young, and that was only to aid the forest in claiming a piece of land abandoned by the humans. Compared to Sagel who had lived out in the human lands, Eirlathion’s thousand years might as well only be a hundred. There is an entire world of difference between experiencing a safe life and experiencing a life like Sagel had in terms of the sharpness of wisdom it will give you.

 

Even with that being the case though, Eirlathion was disgusted with himself for how he had been in the last 24 hours. When a real crisis hit, he was useless. Dryad had implied that if he had stood up to them and called them out, they might have been persuaded to use their powers to stop the fighting of last night.

 

Perhaps that was why he couldn’t bring himself to look at Dryad’s book. They had instigated that whole mess, and then cruelly tried to make him share in some of the blame by playing some little game. He was still too weak to step forward, he had still hidden from the truth until it was thrust right in front of his face, but he could have possibly saved some people if he had played Dryad’s unspoken game.

 

Perhaps he felt some guilt over that weakness. That was why he had a hard time just using the tools he had received, regardless of the source. Shame and guilt had been holding him back. That same shame and guilt had kept him from speaking his mind to Dryad later, a role that was taken up by Sainel later when she showed such strong leadership.

 

Eirlathion shook his head in disgust at himself for having been so weak. It was completely unbecoming of his 1,000 years and role as the founder and magus of a village. It was no wonder Túeth had descended into such a state. It was his job to rescue his apprentice from themselves when they descended into a state like this, and he had failed her as well.

 

He had hoped for an easy fix by going to Gaerien before. He was counting on her previous life intelligence making things easier, but that whole thing fell right on its face. He wasn’t going to get an easy solution. He was going to have to do his duty and tackle this issue head on. He could study Dryad’s stupid book after he finished fulfilling his obligations as this vulnerable young woman’s master.

 

He set his staff down and then approached Túeth. She seemed to have calmed down since he last saw her. This was good. There is no better time than now, and the sooner he gets her straightened out the better. There might not be time after they descend deeper into demon territory. He had to steady himself as he felt the wagon start to move. It seemed Sagel had gotten himself yoked up and back in his Ox form, and now they were moving again. Well, whatever. Whether they were moving or not did not matter for this.

 

Eirlathion let out a sigh and strengthened his nerves for what was to come. “Rolwen, could you please move aside for a moment?” He said, kneeling down near the boy and looking him in the eye.

 

“What!? Master! What about...”

 

“It will be fine Túeth, this will only be a moment.” He said, cutting the woman off. “Well then, Rolwen?” At this second prompting, Rolwen quickly separated himself from Túeth’s side, looking a little glad to be away from her. It was pretty clear the woman had been terrorizing these children ever since she brought Aerien back in this state. It’s a real shame. They would probably be quite ready, willing, and happy to make certain Aerien was safe. It was Túeth’s insistence on holding Aerien and forcing them to be by her side that had put them in such a state.

 

Now then, time to begin. “Túeth, can you let me see Aerien for a moment?” She seemed reluctant, but she trusted him enough to loosen her grip on the comatose child she was holding to her chest and allow him to pick the baby up and place her in his own lap. This had to be done first. There was no way she would allow him to do this after the conversation they were about to have started.

 

“Levin, come on over here.” He said. Levin eagerly scampered over Túeth’s legs and ran around to Eirlathion’s opposite side. At this point, Eirlathion held Aerien’s limp body up and realized something that shocked him. That could wait for later though. Drawing attention to it now would make his conversation with Túeth impossible.

 

“Here, how about you head over and sit next to Gaerien.” He said, standing up with Aerien in his arms. Rolwen was quick to follow, and the two boys received Aerien as he laid her down in their laps. Eirlathion looked over to Gaerien at this point and confirmed his suspicion again. He shook his head. It looked like this was going to warrant further attention after he was done with Túeth. For now though, he was sure Gaerien would be glad to have the opportunity to be close to her sister again after not being able to get close to her erratically behaving mother who was holding Aerien all this time.

 

Now then, all the obstacles are out of the way. Time to go back to Túeth. “It is probably better for Aerien to be in the boy’s laps instead of yours.” He says. “It is probably better for you as well.”

 

“Wh-what do you mean?” Túeth responds.

 

“I mean that you are beating yourself up way too much over what happened to Aerien. You have been obsessively holding her ever since she went into that state. You are also terrifying those boys. They care a lot about the girls and would gladly stay with Aerien every second in order to make sure she’s Ok on their own, but you yelling at them every time they just try to move around a little has made them resent it.”

 

“That’s...” Túeth looked like she wanted to object to something but then thought better of it. It was probably something to do with how he was talking about Rolwen and Levin.

 

“Yeah, we’re not going to go down that road right now Túeth. For now, we are focusing on you. Right now, we are about to go into an area where there is going to be a lot of demons. I don’t expect you to fight or anything, but I’m going to need you fully alert. I’m about to tell you something that is going to shock you. I didn’t want you to find out about this, but right now I think it might just be the best thing to get you out of the state you are in right now.”

 

Eirlathion sighed again as he allowed his mind to sink back into his own problems. “Last night, after the incident with Aerien, Dryad... well. I don’t know exactly what they said, but they said something to the villagers that triggered a darkness inside of them to wake up, and they began fighting each other. I know Dryad did it on purpose, knowing what was going to happen. Over 75% of the people in the village died at the hands of one another.”

 

“What!? No! And, they did this because of Aerien!?”

 

“It does not matter why they did it Túeth, all that matters is the fact that they did it. That’s not all either. Dryad tried to come up with a way to make me share in the blame for it. Tried to say that, if I had confronted them, they would have stopped it. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I’m realizing now exactly how twisted Dryad’s words and actions really were. I had made the mistake of thinking up until now that Dryad, or rather, Nymph was my friend. I forgot one of the most essential rules about tree spirits. Tree spirits are not the friends of the elves. We only live in a symbiotic relationship, and they are glad to accept our mana. However, when it comes right down to it, the tree spirits actually do not care about us at all. We are only a source of nourishment to them.”

 

“M... master, I..”

 

“Don’t Túeth. It’s Ok. This was not my point. The point is, just like you, I have plenty of reasons to feel sory for myself. I should be in the exact same kind of state you are. Do you know why I’m not? It is because I do not have the time or the luxury to feel sorry for myself and beat myself up. I am way too busy taking care of you and the children, and I also have to be thinking about how to help Sagel fend off the demons who will be attacking us more and more frequently as we get closer to the capital. I just can’t afford to feel sorry for myself, and right now you can’t either.”

 

Eirlathion stared intensely into Túeth’s eyes as he drove his points in. She seemed to be shaken by his words, but he would need more to clarify his point. “You are not ready for combat, but if you are paralyzed with fear and uncertainty as we are trying to deal with the demons then it really could be the difference between life and death. If you are keeping watch out the back of the wagon, you might be able to spot something before it can attack. If you are ready to act at a moment’s notice, you can move the children someplace safe in case the wagon gets attacked. You being alert and able increases our chances of survival Túeth, we simply cannot have you making yourself weak by telling yourself a bunch of harmful things.”

 

“O... Ok, I understand.”

 

Eirlathion sighed. This whole confrontation had taken a lot out of him emotionally. He was glad it seemed to have all worked out though.

 

“Uhh... just one question though.” Túeth said.

 

“Yeah? What’s that?”

 

“Uhh... you said ‘the boys’ when you were talking about the humans?”

 

“Yeah, what about it?”

 

“Well, uhh... isn’t one of them named Rolwen?”

 

“It’s a human name Túeth, don’t expect them to follow the same rules as ours. I was around when they were young enough to need their diapers changed. I can tell you for certain Rolwen is a boy.”

 

“Oh. Ok. That’s… kinda weird.”

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Subscribers quotes of the chapter.

"Hahaha our names are stupid."

                                                  -meowingLexi

"I noticed only after I came up with Rolwen's name that "wen" was a suffex in the Elven language for a female name. Instead of fixing it, I decided to keep it and spring it sometime later, just like this."

                                                                                                                      -Jemini

"grandpa became a manly man flicks blood and brains away like a boss."

                                                                                                                      -Roy

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