Turning the Wheel (Mature Content): Dec. 9th, 2009

[The Librarian]

Mei brought the notice to Sage, a warning of changes in Yew. A new council had been formed, and new laws... more laws being created. Sage understood well the desire to keep the Undead and other Banal beings out of your home... the peace of Roses was just over a year old. Making laws didn't keep the Undead and other disruptive forces out, shutting down the tavern did. It wasn't until there was nothing to visit that the cry's of the Balefire were calmed, that her suffering was relieved. Laws... and their upkeep could be just as banal as the Ancient One. Mei explained that the vote wasn't unanimous, political contention could be just as sickening as an Elder Vampire... and not the best environment for changing seasons, thought the wilder Ghille Dhu.

Sage had hoped to go through her change outside the Freehold, to draw on the glamour of a natural surrounding instead of her own balefire. There was no time to find some place new... Taking new parchment Sage wrote three letters, one to Beleg Megil thanking him for the offer of his elven retreat, but that circumstances had changed and Sage wouldn't be able to use it. The second to Aedon Durreah explaining that with the uncertainty in Yew she wouldn't be able to keep up her part of their arrangement, Sage would leave him everything she'd gathered but could no longer help with the Celebration. Roses for the first time in many years would not host the community in celebrating Yuletide this year. The last to Viktor letting him know of a change in their arrangement, that Sage would need him at Grey Manor at dawn, that he would act as her guardian in the Freehold.

Sage sent each letter off, then made her rounds of the Freehold one last time, she checked each lock and ward to see they were sound. There would be no unauthorized access to any part of the Freehold... unless you were banal enough to break the magicks in place... Sage's mind turned to Lord Azrael, and the conversation she was still too intimidated to have with him, she knew it had to happen eventually, she just wasn't ready, maybe as a grump in her Autumn season she would be.

All that was left was to talk to Ian... and let him know about the reports she'd received from the Aegis and that she'd be away.

[The Librarian]

(Mature Language)


Sage padded softly through the snow her bare feet feeling the flakes pack beneath her, she made her way to Winter Guard and Ian's room where she hoped she'd find him alone to speak to. The Ghille knocked softly on his bedroom door and waited for a reply.

“Come in?” came the muffled reply from behind the door.

Sage began to enter the room quietly, pressing the thumb latch on the heavy door. She smiled softly at the mailbox set up outside his bedroom door as she entered the room. In bold black letters in a slanted calligraphy was a sign on the box that read, “M I N E” and in smaller letters as though in an afterthought the words “send rum.”

The box looked out of place in the common room of Winter Guard but it fit in readily within the Freehold; Roses had an affinity for Pooka and anything out of place was usually normal. She closed the door behind her, making sure not to catch her soft green linen robe or her heavy rust wool cloak.

Ian lay stretched out on his bed, with his head propped up, and dressed in his dark leather pants, without shoes or shirt. It was his common attire for “lounging around the house” as he usually put it. In one hand, propped on his stomach, he held a book open. The Sidhe’s other arm was propped up and back behind his head, and on the dark wood nightstand sat a half-empty wineglass that filled the room with the scent of elderberry. Ian’s eyes were a bright shade of amethyst as he smiled gently to her.

He spoke with a curious tone, glad to see her, “hey there.”

Sage turned to him looking pale with tired eyes, with a soft trill she responded, “heya.”

“Mind an interruption?” Sage asked softly moving towards the bed.

Ian shifted slightly and sat up a bit more, feeling conflicting emotions radiating from her. His long Sidhe ears perked slightly. “You are never an interruption,” he offered gently.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed she tucked her cold toes under his thigh as she sat facing him.

“What’s on you’re mind?” he asked

“The Freehold of Dragon's Icefall,” Sage answered quietly.

"What's a Dragons Icefall?" Ian responded.

Sage explained that a Dragon's Icefall was Queen Silvara's newest Freehold on Sosaria and that a Duchess, Selora Kesori had been sent to oversee it; Ian already had begun to smirk as she asked, “do you know her?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” he said as he closed his book entirely and sat it next to the wineglass on his bedside table still grinning, “but since this is the first I’ve heard about Silvara being alive, that’s probably why. She obviously stayed off the map as it were, in the Dreaming.”

“I got a report a few weeks ago that Silvara was alive, Mei heard a conversation in the Knights Rest after Alyssia Kanath received a letter from her.” Sage told him, then continued outlining how they had been granted buildings in the Northern part of the Aegis.

Sage had received reports from the Sluagh who resided at Roses as well as others in the community about Selora making the rounds of town leaders, but the Duchess hadn't sent word to her they even existed. “Aedon visited me and told me of her arrival, he shared some of his concerns and asked for an explanation of things he'd encountered,” Sage explained. That was the first official notice I'd received of Selora's arrival, otherwise I wouldn't know.

Still grinning, Ian began derisively; “You didn't know?” he nodded and continued, “This is what noble Sidhe do. They descend into the throws of depression, stew in the tragic froth of banality…” he lifted the back of his hand to his forehead and continued, “and then emerge when their mood swings back to some semblance of good to take what is ‘rightfully theirs’.”

His long Sidhe ears twitched and his amethyst eyes burned fiercely with the cynicism of his Grump Seeming, despite his perpetually youthful ethereal features.

Sage blinked at him then asked, “are you being serious?”

Ian nodded with a an expression of poisonous amusement, and years of experience, as he said simply, “half-.”

Softly Sage responded, “I am not Sidhe, can she lay any claim to our Balefire?”

“She ‘can attempt’ I suppose,” he answered thoughtfully, and added “I’ve seen my kith ‘attempt’ some very foolish things.”

Sage whispered more to herself, “she can impose her will on the rest of us too....”
Looking to his violet eyes she added anxiously, “Ian, I need some time away and I am afraid to leave the Balefire.”

For the first time since the conversation began the smirking sarcasm of the Doomsayer’s expression seemed to sober briefly as he studied the young woman’s features, and the anxiety in her voice resonated in him.

Ian spoke gently as he said, “This is really bothering you, huh?” He frowned at himself in a brief introspective moment of clarity. It was difficult at times to keep in check the cynical nature of his age; for him to even notice his severely Unseelie invectiveness consciously.

His violet eyes refocused on the young woman, and he began once more in a consciously softer tone, “If you are afraid to leave the fire unwatched, then consider naming a ward, and arrange an oath so that the fire will pass to them should anything happen to you.”

Pulling at the hem of her cloak Sage spoke softly without looking up, “I've never asked anyone for an oath before.”

Ian smiled gently, “you might be surprised what a person will offer, without having to ask.”

“I can't live forever, that is more evident right now than before. I thought I would pass the fire to Nyx when she got old enough,” Sage replied.

Ian nodded gently listening to Sage's concerns. Rumors had reached Sage about Selora enchanting men in the Aegis, demanding oaths from one of them. Using her glamour to control those around her. Sage then asked looking up to meet his gaze, “Can she make me give her our fire?”

The Archduke shook his head slightly and offered a reassuring smile, as he said, “No Like Solitaire, Glamour can tell when you are cheating. A Fae, being a creature of Glamour, and having to appease the wildness of Glamour to use our powers, would tend to catch themselves red-handed.”

His voice carried unmistakable resentment for Glamour as he said, “Glamour loves and requires us to play ‘the game’ without shortcut.”

Ian’s expression faded from amusement to thoughtfulness once more as he continued, “On that note though, ‘can she exploit your fire without taking outright possession of it?’ Yes.” He said honestly.

Sage asked blinking, “how can she do that?”

Ian’s brow arched as he explained, “If it were me and I were Seelie, as most nobles are, then I’d use the Art of Sovereign to manipulate you into creating Dross for me from the Glamour you garner from your fire…”

He added in all seriousness, “…then I would slit my own throat for being Seelie.” The slightest vestiges of a sarcastic grin slowly crept to the corners of his lips.

“I can't counter that...” Sage said almost defeatedly

“It can be difficult to counter, legally speaking, among our kind,” he said. His thoughts focused immediately on the High Treasonous Arts of Contempt and Delusion that he, as a member of the secretive Unseelie Shadowcourt, guarded fiercely. Though he added simply, “…without some knowledge of the Art of Sovereign as defense.”

Sage nodded gently, “we the common are supposed to kiss noble ass when asked...”

“You, as a Ghille Dhu, are far from common. But yeah, Sidhe generally expect a great deal of lip time shared with their ass.” His grin broadened.

“You know what I mean,” Sage quipped, “I am not even allowed to learn the art.”

The Doomsayer retorted with mock-indignance, “Of course not! It’s severely restricted so that the Sidhe alone can continue to subjugate the rest of the Fae like soil beneath the plow.”

Sage nodded frowning, “I don't want anyone answering to Silvara to be able to make decisions for our Freehold, or to be forced to back down from her because she doesn't like what I have to say!”

“Aw, I was being an ass. I mean, it’s the truth, but I was being an ass,” he said, noting her frown.

Sage could feel her fire burning deep below the Freehold, the bond she and it had built coursing through her. “I've spent the past year building every protection for the fire I can. Learning from ‘her’, working with our fire...” Sage felt strength from the fire as she continued, “I would never ever turn a Fae away from this freehold unless they wouldn't live by the common laws we all share, but it makes me paranoid wondering why they've avoided us,” Sage paused feeling herself begin to rant.

The Unseelie Sidhe grinned slowly, “it sounds like she’s had her hands full, making sure she has a stake in what the humans and elves spent their whole lives building without her. I wouldn’t trust any Sidhe I didn’t know though, myself included. We are usually up to something.”

Sage blushed a deep rose and quietly added, “I don't' trust any Sidhe.”

Ian nodded resolutely as his long Sidhe ears laid back defensively, and with a spitting motion to the floor uttered a phrase that had made certain he had been either loved or despised for his many long years throughout the Dreaming, “Fuckin’ Sidhe.”

He grinned as he said, “They’ll be the death of us all.” As usual, Ian meant every word of it.

Sage trilled softly with a grin, “I am never sure of any Noble anymore. You, I expect to tear things down and cause havoc... but at least you speak to me.”

Ian smiled a bit, “ I learned a long time ago something most of the nobles never will.”

“What is that?” Sage asked.”

“That the title means nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“My fondness for you has nothing to do with your title, but that doesn't stop other Sidhe from wielding it like a sword.” Sage responded.

He nodded as he said, “Fortunately for me, my Arch-Duke-ness in the Dreaming means I am entitled to two things in this mortal world, just like this Selora woman…”

“And that is?” The Ghille Dhu asked, smiling.

Ian raised his index finger as he said “Jack,” which was quickly joined by it’s neighboring digit, “and shit.”

Sage laughed gently as he added, “everything just sort of falls into place after that.”

Sage looked up to Ian holding his gaze, “Ian, can you help me... is there anything I can do to stay out of her sway?”

He sat up and leaned forward to hug her warmly as he spoke, “I can show you a few things about countering Sovereign, beyond that, I wouldn’t worry much.” Sage rested her head on his shoulder listening as he continued, “The Balefire loves you, and what’s more, you love it.”

Softly she whispered, “I really do,” with her head still resting on his shoulder.

Ian continued, “ It’ll never choose another over you, and it has to –choose-. Glamour doesn’t bow to any Fae.”

She continued to hold him as she spoke softly, “We built Roses, all of us that remained. I just want to protect what is ours.”

He nodded, “All of –you- built it, yes. I didn’t have much a hand in it, and I honestly didn’t want a hand in it. This Freehold should belong to the Fae of this world, not to some Noble from the Dreaming. Including me.”


Sage looked to his eyes, “The fire here burns with the glamour of the Fae who remained after Mirage fell. I am just glad you were here to remind us we could keep building,” she finished.

Ian looked to her, “The most banal idea in all of existence is that any one Kith, group, or individual has any more right or responsibility than another to rule. The logic of noble subjugation, divine right; kills a dream and destroys a person, more readily than any creature, or thought, ever will.

Gently laying her head on his shoulder once more she asked, “How does the Dreaming remain intact?”

The Doomsayer spoke softly but with certainty one of the few things he still truly believed, “Because, Glamour is free.”

Nodding gently Sage responded, “that was one of the first things you taught me.”

[The Librarian]

Reposted from Viktor:

To his surprise it felt natural.

This was the only emotion he could render in the twilight of the depths of the underground caverns. A feeling that his whole life spent on finding a place he belongs and a duty he could enjoy was slowly coming to and end and a life of meaning could be just beyond the horizon. As the shadow of the giant bear danced on the cave wall in the fairy like twilight, his mind wondered back to how it began.

As with most things in his life, it all started at a bar, the Knights Rest to be specific, Viktor had just gotten done with a charge of chopping and delivering wood for a land owner to the Abby; the last job he had lined up for the rest of winter.

So with coins in his bag and his mouth and stomach both hungry for ale he barged into the tavern with his usually grin and demeanor. This night though he didn’t find the usual crowd of drinking friends, but only a sole woman sat at the bar.

A bit downhearted by the lack of companions Viktor walked to the bar and sat at a seat next to the clocked figure and smiled giving his usually conversation and cheesy pick up jokes.

It turned out fate had pushed him to meet Sage that evening, a woman whom explained to the man she was drinking Sap from a tree, after a few words they went their ways.

A few weeks later he received a note from the same lady, asking for him to meet her at the Manor within the Freehold.

The Freehold, he had seen it before, and knew only that it was home for those known as the Fae, and for all he could figure between gossip and the antics of James, was they where a people strongly tied to dreams, fairies and the like.

He of course went, when a lady of Sage’s beauty asks a man like Viktor to come see her, there is little argument about the decision to go or not. It was at this meeting Viktor would find his new charge, and perhaps his new life.

His eyes widened as Sage stood before him not as flesh, but as leaf and bark a full grown tree; and explained to him what she was, and how that she was in need to “take root” and change into another form, and how she had wished him to be her guardian during this process. The price to be paid was food and drink, and of course the enjoyment of the Freehold.

A few days later he met her at down.

Sage meet him with her usually friendly grin as they passed back and forth greetings and other such formalities, Viktor trying his best to get a few laughs out of her before they departed for the task at hand. To his confusion though Sage handed him rock climbing gear, and explained that she had chosen a cavern under the freehold to perform her changing
Then was the compass, made of silver and it’s arrow a small little hand which would point the direction to the ritual grounds. Sage had explained to him by taking it he would see the secrets of the freehold and see as she and the other Fae did.

He was unprepared for what came next, when he had awakened the world had changed to him, he could smell things a mile away and the entirety of the world seemed different, and himself an eternal part of it; but the eyes of the Fae saw even more.

He looked to see a world of lucid dreams and stone, shadows of moving exotic patterns, and his sense of smell, which already powerful beyond normality could smell things he didn’t even know was there, hidden things in the world, secrets long buried from the mind and eyes and men.

And so they climbed, and he saw the world anew, as he listened to the voice of Sage behind him, telling him of the Fae and the nature of the Freehold, Viktor was not a man of extreme intelligence, and never had cares of schooling or such noble privileges, but when Sage spoke he found himself oddly interested in learning more.

After sometime they came to the vent which would take them underground and with a little effort they slowly and carefully made their decent down the giant wall of ice. Though it was no normal ice climb, to Viktor it was like the scene from a dream, as wisps of light flowed around them to light their path, and a elder dragon rested on the rocks below unmoving in its slumber.

At the end of the rope they found themselves hanging in the darkness of a huge chamber within the mountain, suspended over a dark pool of water. Sage soon summoned a stone path from the murky depths upward, allowing them to walk to the edge of the lake and down into a long dark tunnel, wisps hovering around them to give them enough light to see their path.

They found themselves soon at a small chamber, its walls and floor covered in moss and other vegetation, and in its center a single pool of water. That was where he found himself now, with Sage, now in the form of a willow tree by the pools edge. His snout pointed towards the opening of the dark tunnel leading out, if anything came though that opening, it would have to contend with the bear guardian, and the terror of the Gurahl.

And in this charge he felt at utter peace and focus.

Source: freeholdofroses.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pubstory&action=display&thread=843