41: Aite the Way

"My name is Aite," the spirit master of indeterminate gender said, beckoning me to follow them down the path with a graceful wave of their hand. “And no need to be so formal. I am far too old for bowing and scraping.”

I was still really struggling to squash the annoying animal part of my brain that was trying to assign a gender to them. They just straddled the line between the binary so perfectly that they had to be some sort of divine being. Quietly, in the back of my mind, I took the misbehaving little shit out behind the shed and shot it. If it'd wanted to control things, it should have fought harder to keep humanity from evolving past its ridiculous base instincts.

"Nice to meet you, Aite," I said, smiling up at h— them.

Goddess damn it, a zombie! Always double tap, friends. Always double tap.

Aite had been speaking while I was busy painting the back of the imaginary shed with the liquified brains of outdated thought patterns, and I think they might have noticed I was spacing out.

"Huh?" I asked gormlessly.

Their smile was both kind and very very amused. "Are you alright there, little one?"

"U-uh, yeah. Sorry. Um, I'm listening now, sorry," I said, my Canadian upbringing bubbling to the fore.

They laughed and nodded down the path we were following. “I am taking you to the crossroads. It is where you will choose which path you will take to improve and specialise your class.”

“Ah, yeah!” I said, agreeing like they’d just made an excellent philosophical point. “Wait, can you tell me what my options are, or do I have to find out when we get to the crossroads?”

“I can tell you now,” they replied. “There are three ways that you can take. The first, is the way of the Troubadour Squire. Those who follow that path will take up an instrument to compliment their blade, and they will use both to inspire their allies and strike fear into their enemies. They have also been known to weave magic into their songs that can have more than just a psychological impact.”

“They aren’t just skilled with music, however. Their prowess with a blade is just as potent. If you choose this path, you will learn advanced techniques and then channel the arcane nature of our species into your body. Those who travel far down the way of the Troubadour Squire are some of the fastest and most deadly of all the martial orders. I have even known some who can coat their blade with their music, giving it some truly odd properties.

“The first part sounds like my best friend,” I mused, thinking of Paisley. “She's a gnome who learned bardic necromancy. The second part sounds fun, too.”

Their expression turned wistful when I mentioned Paisley’s class. As off balance and flustered as I was by them, I knew enough to keep quiet when someone had that expression.

I wasn’t bored while I waited for them to finish their train of thought, though. The forest around me was… enchanting. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before, not even in pictures. It was alien and familiar at the same time. Kind of like the fae next to me, actually.

One tree we stepped under had a symbiotic vine that had gently wrapped itself around almost every surface. The fern fronds that sprouted from the vine glowed ever so slightly blue along their stems. It was beautiful. Until, that is, I noticed that the ferns were watching us. Not with any eyes, but the fronds traced our path under the tree just the same, some even tilting slightly like confused puppies. It was eerie, but instinctively, I knew that they wouldn’t harm us so long as we didn’t harm them.

“I’m sorry for that,” Aite murmured, once we were a few steps past the tree. “I was remembering an old friend of mine. A dwarven boneweaver by the name of Maedrid Stonebarrel. She died long ago, but when she lived, she was one of the best of their dark paladins. I hope your friend can learn to quell the dead like mine did.”

With a considering noise, I looked up at them. “Yeah. Sorry I brought up bad memories.”

“Oh, they were not bad,” they smiled. “Just old. Regardless, let us continue to talk about your training. The next of the three paths is the way of the Arcanalite. Those who follow that path will remain proficient with a sword and glaive, but their way is one that excels in the realm of fairy magic. The forest becomes their ally, the stars their eyes, and the very light that falls from the sun will become their weapon.”

“I… have no idea what that means,” I said, chagrined. It was a whole lot of flowery language though. Like, what the hell did any of that actually mean?

Aite tripped slightly on the path and burst out into musical laughter. “Oh, my dear Keiko. Yes, it is a lot of nonsensical poetry, isn’t it? Arcanalites will become masters of illusion, the forest, and whatever other aspects of fae magic they set their hearts to. If you somehow manage to find an Elysian who can teach you, you might even be able to twist an opponent's soul to your will.”

“A what to teach me?”

They frowned, like they’d just licked a very sour lemon. “The more… contemporary Ascendants might call them Unseelie. Just as they would brand our ancestors with that ridiculous seelie moniker.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. “An unseelie would teach me? I thought Ascendant and Unseelie hated each other?”

“Elysian, and yes some might consider it,” they shrugged. “Especially if you used their actual racial name instead of those given to us by ancient humanity.”

Now it was my turn to look sour. “Ah. I see some things don’t change. So we’re like… the sun, and they are like the moon?”

“I would say that we are the sun and the moon, and they are the stars and the void between,” Aite corrected me.

“Oh. Sweet,” I said, relaxing slightly. “I really like the moon. The sun is all gross and hot and— well, you know. Anyway, what was the last option?”

“The third is contingent almost entirely on factors that you may not be able to control,” they told me slowly. “I myself follow the way of the Arcanalite, and I know of one who would teach you the way of the Troubadour Squire. The Faerym Seekers on the other hand, are all but extinct. When the Faerie Hegemony collapsed, the Hish were quick to exterminate the faerym. With the source of their power gone, the Seekers and their Cavaliers died too.”

“Okay, okay,” I groaned, pulling to a stop. “First off, there were like… eight different words in there that meant literally nothing to me. Second… well, there was actually only that one thing. What do all those words mean?”

They just chuckled and ushered me forwards in the direction of the Wild Way crossroads. “That is not for me to explain. I can, however, tell you what the Seekers stood for. They were, in a nutshell, Fae Wanderers who bonded with the faerym so completely as to take on many of their characteristics.”

“Okay, but what is a faerym?”

“A category of dragons that call the faelands their home,” they said, almost offhandedly.

To me, though, it was like someone had electrified my future. Fairy dragons? “Do they like, get to ride the dragons?” I blurted, almost vibrating with excitement.

Something that very few people knew about me, was my fascination with non-european dragons. Especially ones with feathers and stuff, or fur. Please let them be ones with fur!

“Oh dear,” Aite said, rolling their eyes with obvious amusement. “I see your mind has already latched on to that. Let me tell you a little more before you go galavanting off down the Way of Teeth and Feathers.”

“Feathers?!” I squeaked.

“Yes, the faerym come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but one think most have in common is that their wings are adorned with feathers. Not in the same manner as birds, though, mind you,” Aite explained. “The Seekers, and the more advanced Kinriders, learn to harness the more wild abilities and magicks of the faerym. At first, they must utilise the discarded feathers, scales, or fur of the great beasts to enhance their powers. As time goes on, however, they will begin to take on characteristics of those ancient creatures, along with having their magic more closely align with them.”

“That sounds like so much fun,” I said with a wistful sigh. “You said it’s hard to find a faerym these days?”

“Yes. Extremely difficult. Ever since they were targeted by the Elysian fae, they have gone into hiding.”

The trail widened while they spoke, until three paths were clearly marked and visible through the alien forest. One had a bunch of wind chimes strung up above it, hanging from the trees. Another was more glowy than the others, and little wisps of light danced through the branches of the canopy. The third, and the one I was most interested in, was just a path. It was a little overgrown, and animal claw marks were gouged into root, bark, and dirt.

“I want to try being a Seeker anyway,” I blurted almost immediately. Something about this place had me all bouncy and silly, even spontaneous, but I couldn’t help it. The Way of Teeth and Feathers may as well have been a beautiful siren, the way I was already gravitating towards it.

“If you go that path, I cannot guarantee there will be a guide at the other end,” Aite warned me. “The Way of the Arcanalite is my domain, and the Way of the Troubadour Squire is the realm of a somewhat eccentric friend of mine. The Way of Teeth and Feathers has long been silent. The old master of that way… he left our wilds and sought to help the faerym in their plight, but he never returned.”

“Still, that way seems like… it’s so… alluring,” I said, staring down the dark, shadowy dirt pathway. I did like Aite, though. It’d suck to not get to learn from them. I mean, they made my sword after all.

“If that is the way that calls, little one, then I am not one to block the path of fate,” Aite sighed, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Do be careful, though, won’t you?”

“Careful…” I grinned, glancing back over my shoulder to meet their sparkling eyes. “I like to have a plan when I go into things, usually. Does that count?”

The strange fairy just shook their head in weary amusement. “Normally, I would say yes, but something tells me that would not be accurate in your case.”

“Probably accurate,” I giggled. Careful plans were boring, and more importantly, way less cool. I liked to impress, and to do that, you tended to need to go big. I guess now was one of those times?

Stepping towards the path, I smiled, “Thanks for your help, Aite.”

“I will be seeing you again soon, I expect. Keep your senses sharp while you walk the trail, and when you reach its conclusion, seek me out where we first met. I will do my best to teach you. I may not be a Seeker, but I am still a wanderer. We will figure this out together.”

My smile went right back to a grin. “Yes! I was kinda disappointed that I wouldn’t get to learn from you.”

“As was I,” Aite said serenely. “As was I.”

QuietValerie