A few days later, I was starting to realize just how meticulously Mela had prepared things for me, as I found myself heading for the first in a series of lectures regarding the history for the Fae rift. I doubted that Mela was in any need of such a thing, considering the extent of the dedication that the entire Tannel family had put into knowing everything that there was to know about said anomaly. For me, it seemed like it might be a good way to start catching up on what had happened over the last three centuries, on exactly the subject that had been most bothering me.
Overall, I had few complaints with the classes she had chosen for me. A lot of them seemed a little basic, but often what I was lacking was exactly in the realm of what was considered elementary knowledge in this new age, whereas the notes that Mela had collated was where I could find a lot of the advanced research. If anything, I wished that Mela had paid a little more attention to helping me adjust to all the other things that had changed, but she had clearly been focused on magic and its mysteries to the exclusion of most other things, no different from me.
"Before we address the primary subject of this course, we first need to discuss in some length what we know of the fae and the Faerie themselves. Ordinarily such a subject should be the focus of series of lectures on its own, but unfortunately one of the key takeaways will be just how little our knowledge amounts to, so for now it'll serve as the primary subject of today's lecture."
Our instructor for the lecture was surprisingly young, but she didn't fail to imbue her words with a sense of gravity. The slight sense of absurdity that I still felt towards the idea of discussing such subjects in an academic setting was slowly quelled by the weight of seriousness with which she uttered every word. I was at once disappointed to hear such a pessimistic estimation for the sum of the academy's knowledge, and eager to finally be introduced into the academic view on the subject.
"Today we'll deal mainly with what we can glean from mythology and ancient records on the fae. In later lectures, as we get to the Fae rift itself, we'll talk more about the encounters in the modern period that have resulted from its opening. Unfortunately, it's the mythical accounts on which we must rely more often, simply because they still offer a much larger pool of examples for us to examine. Even after the passing of millennia we are possessed of more ancient knowledge, from the mythologies across the world, than we have accounts to draw from encounters in the past centuries."
My apprehension about the subject threatened to win out again when I heard her words. It seemed that in this new age instructors at the academy were prepared to give the same level of credence to fairytales as the most superstitious country folk three centuries previous. But it had also been at Altrel academy that I had previously learned to regard such subjects with scorn, so I forced myself to give due consideration to the instructor as she rushed to dissuade her listeners from such worries.
"We are of course forced to regard all such ancient accounts as invariably and inherently unreliable. Each and every tale, if they even found their beginnings in the age of myths, will inevitably have been twisted in countless ways in retelling over such a period time as has passed since. Beyond the age of myths, the few surviving first hand accounts we have to draw from date from later periods, when any claimed sightings of the fae had already become a rarity. In either case, we are dealing with people who would have been more likely to regard anything that appeared fantastical in superstitious terms than we hopefully are. But with all of these considerations in mind, we have a lot of reasons to believe that encounters with the fae and the Faerie used to be far more common in the ancient past."
I wished that she'd thought to elaborate on exactly what those reasons were, though the supposition certainly made sense to me as well, if the Tannels had been correct in identifying so many of the old paths to the Faerie and possibly other worlds as well. The instructor then gestured for one of the students arrayed before her, who'd politely raised his hand, and the man asked a question that had been pertinent in my mind as well.
"If our human sources are so unreliable, then shouldn't we be asking the fae themselves?"
"They are even more unreliable. Whatever the purpose you have in mind, there are always several important considerations to account for, when one tries to communicate with the fae. This goes to what I'll talking about more in a moment, but these issues result from the character of the fae, as it's been observed both in ancient times and more recently."
She put it rather bluntly, but her estimation matched the general wisdom about the fae that I was used to. If there was a defining characteristic to every tale where a human was forced to deal with the fae, it was that they never got away from it with what they'd wanted from the encounter, even in the cases that they survived without seriously endangering themselves. In the first place, to intentionally approach the fae was always foolhardy.
"Of course we've made attempts to talk with them whenever a fae finds reason to visit the academy. Or at least my less careful colleagues have. Occasionally our guests have even been generous enough to give an answer, but by my estimation those answers are roughly as useful as the more common refusals."
It seemed that our instructor had a fair amount of concrete experience to work with. It was an odd thought, but it made sense that anyone considered to hold any measure of knowledge about the fae would be called on when one of them actually decided to visit the academy. As for what reasons they even had to visit, our instructor's following words gave me the impression that she probably didn't really know either.
"There's every chance that a fae will get bored far before you can get something useful out of them, but it's hardly better even if they appear to answer you seriously. Perhaps they think its funny to sound mysterious, but whether it's another one of their pranks on us mortals or not, most of the time any answers they give about themselves or the Faerie are essentially unintelligible."
I thought that I detected a hint of actual frustration and genuine distaste towards the whole topic from her, as she continued. I wondered why someone who didn't appear to even enjoy talking about the topic was teaching about it, but unfortunately I could also foresee that I'd eventually have use for her warnings, as long as I continued researching the rift, even though I doubted that I'd particularly enjoy dealing with such entities personally either.
"As for anything that actually appears to make sense, we'll be discussing all of these cases in detail over the course of these lectures, but I'd suggest that you apply an extra dose of skepticism to them. I personally subscribe to the theory that one of the few things that most fae have in common is exactly the desire to keep us humans from understanding them. It's also possible that the fae and their home are even more strange than we think."
Seeing that no one had further questions, our instructor then went on to describe what was told about the fae during the age of myths or shortly afterwards. The divines, and their role in the closing of the age of myths, were mentioned as well, but they played a noticeably lesser role in our instructor's telling than in the theories devised by the Tannel family. Neither did she show any sign of religious reverence like I was used to, but instead she referred to them with the same admirable academic scrutiny that she seemingly regarded everything else she talked about.
To our instructor the divines appeared to be just another fixture of the age of myths, alongside things like dragons or demons, that, unlike the fae, hadn't since been confirmed to be real. Whether or not she believed that they could still have existed, she mentioned them simply in regards to how they'd interacted with the focus of the lecture, the fae. The divines thus received a mention mainly for how, in closing off the paths between the Faerie and our world, they'd angered the fae who'd been left stuck on our side, which were likely the sources of the sightings that had occurred after the age of myths.
These tales were for the most part quite familiar to me, from both my religious upbringing or and the folktales that had proliferated three centuries ago. The telling wasn't exactly the same though, with the former because of the lack of religious reverence, and with the latter perhaps because the stories had changed between then and when they'd finally been recorded down. Or it might have been that I was simply hearing slightly different versions, just like you could have heard when traveling from one town to the next.
The understanding that the fae are native to an entirely different world was a familiar enough concept to anyone, though how exactly that world related to ours, and how exactly there could be connections between the two, were obviously not very well understood matters. And unfortunately, tales about the Faerie itself were even rarer than those about its inhabitants, and every single account seemed to describe something different, with the single constant being just that the Faerie didn't conform to the same laws of reality as our own world.
The fae themselves also came in numerous different forms in the tales. Some were probably pure invention, whilst others might have described unusual animals from our own world, and yet others could have been other inhabitants of the Faerie. But which were which, and what tales best described the entities that were known as the fae, was of course nearly impossible to decipher. Whether the fae themselves were a single species that could have had wildly varying appearances, or if the word perhaps described several types of creature with some commonality was another question. And even further, one could question whether the concept of a species even could apply to the creatures of the Faerie.
That part of the lecture gave me a chance to think about how to approach the entity made of mana, that appeared to be inhabiting a certain green scarf. What I had found might have been a spirit perhaps, judging by the quick description that our instructor rattled off whilst listing creatures from the Faerie, that our ancestors appeared to have considered to be distinct from the fae themselves. The part about not having any sort of body, but possibly possessing inanimate objects, certainly was a match. In contrast, the fae did appear to be described to at least have some sort of physical forms, if not necessarily particularly constant ones.
Another characteristic of the fae was that they were intelligent, and capable of communicating with humans. The latter part, when one gave it thought, was quite notable. The matter of language seemed to not really be a consideration for them, according to how the instructor described it. They seemed happy to communicate through speech, even if sometimes a lack of shared concepts between them and humans got in the way. As for the entity possessing the scarf, I'd been at a loss how to deal with it, as it seemingly either didn't want to answer my attempts at communication, or perhaps just couldn't understand them.
"Beyond that, you shouldn't expect the fae to be humanlike in any other ways. They can appear to be the most nightmarish monstrosities, as much as they sometimes can seem alike us. I suspect that some among their kind have a habit of deliberately imitating us in form and behavior, but I think that to probably be mainly an expression of the curiosity that they feel towards us. If one appears in the form of a beautiful woman, then I think it's because they are entirely aware of what sort of an effect such an appearance can have."
I just smiled wryly at the dry tone that she took when regarding her audience with the last comment, even if I might have been considered, at least previously, to have been part of the demographic she was particularly eyeing. The male form did seem less popular among the fae in the tales, for one reason or another, but when the fae did take human form, it was almost invariable that they appeared somehow attractive to humans. But what was more interesting was the implication that it had, if she was correct that they were actually capable of changing their physical form with such purposes in mind.
It appeared that the relationship between the fae and humans during the age of myths had been a complicated one indeed. To our ancestors the fae may not have been counted among their many oppressors and many enemies, but certainly they had been seen to be unreliable to be considered as allies either. Neither did they count among the creatures that were happy to mostly ignore humans. Quite the opposite in fact, as they seemed to hold a great deal of personal interest in humans, if only for their own amusement.
By my estimation, the fae in the stories were helpful more often than they intentionally acted caused harm, but the times that they simply acted out their natural role as childish pranksters were often most dangerous. Whether it was genuine or manipulatively cruel, the playful nature of the fae seemed to be one reasonably constant characteristic. In many cases it seemed to be suggested that just going along with their play was the best course of action, and especially avoiding getting angered enough to lash out at them, to at least avoid the risk of annoying them and adding a vindictive streak to their play.
The problem was that their idea of play, even if it wasn't intended to cause harm, was also often times beyond human comprehension. Simply failing to amuse them was likely to get you in increasingly troublesome situations, and worse was the fact that the fae did not seem to comprehend their own powers and how easily they could cause harm to the fragile humans. Or perhaps they simply didn't regard any harm that they ended up causing as something bad or unfortunate, as it was rather unclear what sort of significance concepts like moral good or bad held for their kind.
Fae interest, fleeting and dangerous as it was, towards humans did show that they were not entirely unaware of the thoughts and feelings of humans. It seemed that they did possess a capacity for sympathy towards humans in some cases, but their shows of concern still had to be treated with suspicion. Rejecting their good will out of hand wasn't a good idea, because rejecting a genuine intent could cause anger. Yet, the contradictory creatures that they were, they could be delighted and shower you with favor if you were to successfully call out their deceptions or showed enough wit to avoid falling victim to their pranks.
"I don't know if these creatures are capable of feeling actual kinship towards us, but it's worth remembering that in the ancient times they seemed to regard humans at best as pets, and at worst pests to be exterminated. Even if they rarely show genuine malice – and I'll soon get to what could cause that – the fae can be incredibly cruel, in a childlike way. They may not even understand it, but they are capable of easily hurting humans completely at a whim. And that brings me to the most important part of the lecture."
The instructor's tone hardened, immediately cutting short the bits of laughter that her previous comment had elicited. It was time for the warnings. I didn't know if the course might have had some practical magical component later on, perhaps relating to warding off the dangers of the fae, but even if it turned out to be purely theoretical and not concerned with magic, it wouldn't have been a course at Altrel academy, if the sheer danger of dealing with things that couldn't be fully understood wasn't emphasized.
"The fae don't think like humans. They are incredibly unpredictable and can be outright volatile, and whether that is because they are simply arbitrary by nature, or because they act on a logic that is different from ours, doesn't ultimately matter. What is important is that, even if you take nothing else from this lecture, you are to be careful if ever have to deal with one of their kind."
It was the lesson of every story that she'd recited as examples throughout the lecture, and I didn't know if the other students there had the understanding to take it seriously. It wasn't like every student was smart enough to understand the warnings about magic either. She could only do her fiercest glare to emphasize the point. For my part, it was the one part of the lecture that I didn't even momentarily question.
I'd seen, or rather sensed, enough to know that she was right. I'd felt the overwhelming energies of the Faerie entirely burn out the body that I had previously inhabited. Whatever the fae were, they were definitely creatures that had been shaped by the Faerie and its mana. The tales that involved visits to the Faerie rarely saw the visitor leave the same as they'd entered, and I didn't think creatures born in that world could have escaped the same influence. Even just the plants that I'd seen running wild in the town by the rift seemed to show that anything that existed in the Faerie had to be powerful and uncontrollable.
I had a hunch that any intelligent being from the Faerie had a potential for magic that outstripped that of any regular human. Even if I distrusted the tales about the magical prowess of the fae, they would have had to have a far stronger flow of mana to even survive in that world. The instructor had yet to touch on the subject, but it seemed like the magic of the fae was also quite different, seeing that the concept of a spell array never even came up in any tale that described fae magic. But then, it was hard to think of what to say, if they simply disregarded the only method of magic that humans had discovered.
"Most important is that you are always very careful with your words, when before a fae. They may take your words very literally, and any time you speak of your intent, even if you happen to be making a jest, a fae may take that for a promise. And to the fae, a promise must always be kept, or else you will suffer the consequences of truly provoking their ill will."
It was impossible to not to notice the glances coming my way when the subject of making deals with the fae came up. Apparently whatever dealings Mary and the Tannels had with the fae were public knowledge, at least as far as their existence, whereas I still didn't know what all of that was about. Asking Celine was probably my best bet, but if the contents of the deal were secret then she might not know either, considering her apparently precarious position in the family.
And I'd have to wait until I next saw her in person before I could ask anyway. We'd already exchanged a few messages, but I'd taken to heart her warning to not to mention any potentially sensitive subjects. Thus our exchanges had ended up honestly being rather awkward and empty of substance, mostly because I still didn't know what to make of our relationship. She'd continued to refer to me as her sister, but I couldn't fully convince myself that it wasn't for the sake of pretense.
"Even the fae themselves, deceptive as they can be, will absolutely stick to their word, if you somehow manage to bind them to a promise. If you are into gambling, a promise extracted from a fae may be valuable indeed. Though they'll take it to be their right to interpret the meaning of the promise, just like they'll expect a human to deliver on a promise according to their own fae standards. Again, I can't say whether it's their bad character or simply different understanding, but chances are that a deal never ends up quite the way you'd imagined."
The instructor, of course, wasn't concerned for my internal struggles, and continued on her subject, though I couldn't help but feel that her eyes might have also briefly stopped on me with her last warning. It was starting to feel like the prejudice towards the Tannels was also coming into play in those wary looks aimed at me. I wasn't excited about the idea of upholding some contract with the fae either, but if it was what was stopping the rift from swallowing this entire part of the world then I felt that they didn't have room to complain.
Fae history, fae hostility and the consequences of fae curiosity, a lecture
I'm starting to realize that this chapter was mainly the result of me just wanting to describe how I like the fae to be in my fantasy.
@SootShade that's fair nyaa