Realm of Wings

Kallan, wondering where they are going:

Jade was still stoically looking in front of her, letting Poseidon fly wherever he wanted. She was probably still mulling over all the things she had experienced with Neil, trying to find some solace in it as she was butting her head in with guilt.

‘If only…’ she had whispered several times now and it was eating at me.

Her sorrow was devastating to see but we couldn’t just keep flying in a meaningless direction if we didn’t know where to go next. She wasn’t responding to our questions, she just didn’t care to answer us, she just turned her head away and even laid down on Poseidon’s back once, trying to ignore us.

“Poseidon, land here please.” I asked the creature, at which he stubbornly neighed and just kept going.

“Poseidon, I know you understand me and I know you care for Jade, so if you treasure your own life, land down and let me care for her!” I finally shouted to him and made my hands full with my energy.

Jade didn’t even respond to what I was commanding her creature to do, but eventually, after a few more threats she whispered to him to listen and finally he went downwards. After landing, she dismounted him and I stood in front of her.

“Jade, which direction is the next orb? Where is your compass?” I asked her.

She reached from within her jacket and pulled the rusty trinket from the little bag without saying anything. Jade scrunched her brows and looked confused, she then turned herself around and I looked over her shoulder to see what she was getting at.

Charlie jumped out of the saddlebag as soon as Jade opened it and he squirmed himself around her neck while eating a big nut.

Then, Jade pulled out the bag with fruit and nuts and held it in front of the compass, and with each movement she made with the bag, the pointer of the compass kept pointing towards it.

“What the…” I whispered wondrously, curious to know what was in the bag even though I would have an inkling of an idea of what it could be.

Jade sat down and put her hand in the bag, pulling out hands of nuts and fruit at which Charlie jumped off her neck and happily rolled himself in his food. Strange creature.

But Jade wasn’t done, as, after a few more hands of Mandibore food, she finally pulled out the old and worn teddy bear from Miria! Again, the compass pointed directly towards the dirty thing and Jade ripped it apart at the seams to only find out that another orb fell out of the old stuffings and fell on the ground!

The little girl had tried several times to give this thing to us, even telling us that it might help us, but we wouldn’t want to listen. We didn’t want to understand that this little girl might have been right as she was still so little! So the girl, as smart as she is, had hidden the creature inside the bag of food for Charlie, while we were talking to the parents!

I know that this would help us, just like the girl had predicted, but also I was hoping that it would help Jade too. With healing for her loss I mean, as this orb was the one of ‘healing’.

“Smart girl.” Jade whispered and even a small smile crept on her face.

“Yes, indeed she is.” I agreed and put my hand on her upper leg as I came to sit next to her.

“You know Kallan, how cliché this might sound, as your thoughts are filled with hope for me, I might actually believe this to help me.” She said while leaning her head against my shoulder.

Tears started to brim at the edges of her eyes and when she closed them, the drops rolled down. I picked her up and put her on top of my lap, her legs straddling my waist and her head was against my chest now. She just let it happen and didn’t feel opposed to being this close to me. My heart was burning deeply for her, hoping to embrace any difficult thoughts she might have, to lessen them in pain and sorrow.

“Yes? How will it help?” I asked her gently.

“Neil’s last thoughts.” She said at which she sighed. I waited for the rest of the story, of what his last thoughts were while giving her the chance to tell me herself, should she want to. “He told me that it was alright for him to die and that I would heal soon.” She whispered while still holding her head against my chest.

“And now finding this orb, the one for ‘healing’ specifically, it must be a sign from him. Neil must have pushed the little girl to give this orb to us. Miria must have felt it somehow and that can only be if Neil sent her a message, right?” She asked me while pushing her head in the crook of my neck.

It couldn’t ever be possible to answer that question in truth, but she must have been thinking about this, about him guiding her in a spiritual way or something, otherwise, she wouldn’t ask me this. Besides, Gail never said what their talent truly entailed, so it could have been anything ranging from being an empath to being able to sense or even make contact with spirits. Whatever the reason behind it, Jade believes it and so will I.

“If that’s how you feel then I’m sure he did.” I answered in all honesty and kissed her on the top of her head.

Trixie took the reins from Poseidon and signalled me that she would take a walk for a few minutes or so. Grateful for her gesture, I smiled gently towards her and put my arms around Jade.

If she would let me, I would sit here the rest of the day, just holding her, letting her cry and letting her know that she isn’t alone in this. But she pushed herself a bit back, facing me, scowling. “Don’t think you are going to get it, now that we are alone for the first time.”

“Get what?” I asked her in all stupidity at which she rose one brow. “Oh…” I smirked, realizing what she meant. “Well Jade, as soon as you are ready, let me know.” I said while pushing her waist down onto mine.

“Pervert.” She said while turning her face away, but she didn’t leave my lap, so I know she was smiling as she said that. “Just hold me a little longer.” She then whispered as she burrowed her head against my chest again.

“Anything for you.”

“And stop being so mushy!” She yelled, muffled by my shirt and jacket while slapping on my back, which made me chuckle.

It turned out for Trixie to have taken a two-hour walk as she had given us time to talk about nothing, yet everything. Jade talked about Neil and I listened carefully as she went through several moments that were dear to her. We also talked about our situation, as in, me accepting, leaving and accepting her again as my love. And for now, we settled with the deal that we would let this grow and see how things would end up for us. Of course, I couldn’t let the moment slip by when she had come close to my face, so we had been kissing, and it was great, but we didn’t let that lead up to sex. Not yet.

And now, as Trixie gently sought our attention and approval to return with us, we were talking about everything that we still had to do. Or, better to say, Jade has to do and we have to help her with it.

“Yes, about that.” Jade said while reaching for one of the other bags on Poseidon’s saddle. “There is one thing you guys should know.” She continued as she sat down with us again and held the orb of healing in her left hand while she poured the other orbs from the satchel next to it.

My brows furrowed as she squeezed the bag, letting us know that it was empty. Yet it couldn’t as there only was the orb of ‘healing’ and ‘animal’ now. Where is the one of ‘protection’?

“Did you lose it?” I asked her perplexed.

“Well…” She hesitated to answer.

“Where? We need to go back!” I shouted.

“I know exactly where it is, but you are not going to like it.” She said while rolling the two orbs in her hands. “I thought, that as we would be going back to the palace anyway, you know to get to the tree, it wouldn’t have hurt to…”

Trixie gasped and Jade bowed her head in shame, knowing probably that what Trixie was thinking, was true.

“So, that’s how we could get away from the palace that easily!” Trixie shouted at her. “She gave it to the King! She kept this a secret to not be judged by us!” She now yelled towards me, while pointing towards Jade and I was shocked to hear it.

Jade muttered something incoherent towards Trixie, about her calling the kettle black? I don’t know what she was referring to, but it implied to me that Jade wasn’t happy about Trixie’s outburst.

Anyway, I stood up, anger lacing my eyes. “Is it true?!” I asked Jade accusingly. “How could you do that? What if he destroys it? What if he uses it for himself?! It’s an item with a lot of magic, he could use it for god knows what!” I said while she stood up as well.

“Oh, now you are getting angry with me? Where were you when I needed you in that room, where all those innocent Fae were forced to do things they didn’t want? I could’ve used that anger against all those elitist assholes, but no! You decided to put your anger away just because Echo told you to, and decide to get angry now? About this?” She fumed while holding the marbles up. Fuck!

“That was different! We couldn’t have handled all those people just with the two of us!” I countered.

“Yes, I know.” She suddenly slumped down and stopped her anger, making me a little confused.

“That’s why I did it. I wasn’t able to read the King’s mind, but I could tell that he wasn’t going to let us go that easily. We needed the bargain to get us out safely, with all the things that we needed, otherwise this whole journey wouldn’t have been able to happen. That’s when I gave him the orb, stealthily, and he continued the act to be angry at us. I made a silent pact with him.” She explained.

“A deal with the devil.” Trixie chimed in and Jade nodded. Again, Jade looked some sort of accusing towards Trixie, probably because she was the one that caught up to Jade’s secret in the first place.

I put my hands through my hair, sighing while several thoughts roamed through my mind. How are we going to get the orb back? It probably will be guarded by a lot of men now or even behind magical walls or something, so it wouldn’t be an easy task.

Besides, how is she going to use that power now? It could have come in use to create big shields in times of danger… wait…

“How were you able to create that honeycomb shield, when we fought the willow then?” I asked incredulously.

“I think that Neil’s wisdom was true. I can tap from the roots of the original tree, so when the skill was unlocked with the energized orb, all I had to do was to be in reach of the magic of the tree. Which I am, always, as it seems.” She shrugged.

“So, once you energize these two orbs, they don’t have to be near you?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, that’s what I believe.” Jade replied.

“But you didn’t know that upfront, did you? You couldn’t have been sure about that theory until it actually had to be used.” I asked her and she nodded. “But it probably would have been indeed the only option to get us out as we did.” I sighed again, letting myself sit on the ground.

The King wouldn’t have let her go without a punch or two as her behaviour towards him had been repulsive, even with how much she had been right about everything she said though. If it were only him and her in a room, she wouldn’t have thought a single second to attack him head-on. No matter who would have won that fictive battle, she would have told him that this way of ruling wouldn’t be the right way.

But at that moment she couldn’t have won the battle, as the room was filled with Fae, strong ones too. Besides, no one would stand at her side, as they all would be frightened by the King’s threats. So instead, she chose to let her anger go for that moment and play a dangerous game. Her only playing card was shown and dealt, but we got out safely.

“It wasn’t my only playing card, Kallan.” She followed my thoughts. “Ren, only thinks that I’m an Etunadain with two markings on my arm, as those are the only ones I’d shown him. None of them there know that I have actually four. That was another reason why I chose to give up the orb, as I knew there were three more to gain.”

“Risky choice though.” I muttered.

“Yes, it was.”

We’ve all had a long day behind us and some troubling and head-breaking information that we had to process, so we decided to end the day. Trixie started a fire as the light was getting dim and we ate the food we had brought with us from the family where we had spent the night. Then, she created her shards and created a ring around us to guard us against any danger that might come at us and we all snuggled under some blankets to sleep.

In the middle of the night, a noise woke me up and I went to sit up, to try and see if there was something there. But while yawning and trying to rub the sand out of my eyes, I couldn’t detect anything.

“Don’t worry, that’s just Zeph.” Jade whispered and pulled me down. It was a solid explanation I thought, so I snuggled back under the blanket and pulled her flush against my chest again, warm and cosy.

…

Wait, what??

A/n: But how, right?!