The Chained Watcher

Talking With the Heroes

~~~

Some of the scholars monitoring the spaceship had sent her a message, saying that a low sound had started coming from the engine area an hour ago. She had had to drop everything she was doing to go make sure it wasn't about to blow up or something.

At the same time, a change was noted in the World Tree. Pulses of light had traveled up the veins of the great tree, and the amount of flowers blooming had doubled with no warning. All of the plants felt more vibrant, and a strange expectant feeling filled the air, growing by the day.

As the queen, it was her job to make sure none of these changes were problematic for the citizens living in Sanctuary, so now she was traveling through the Living Woods. Even the woods held that feeling of anticipation, overwhelming the foreboding atmosphere they usually carried.

Arriving at the gates of Castle Town, the guards bowed to her with a smile on their faces. "Welcome back to Sanctuary, your highness."

"Oh stop that, you know what I always say. No-"

"No bowing or kneeling in Sanctuary, we know. On another note, you usually like knowing when someone new arrives, right?"

"Yes, is there a newcomer? Who guided them?"

"That's the kicker, they had no guide. There's two of them, both avians, and they got dragged off for a tour by several of the kids about an hour ago. If I know Tim, he's showing them all his little shortcuts, so they should be approaching the fountain right about now."

"I'll go greet them on my way to the lab, apparently there's been a change in the spaceship."

Sweeping off down the street, the queen of the beastkin greeted all the stall owners selling their handmade goods as she passed. By the time she reached the fountain, she had a large basket filled with various foods sold by the vendors, probably more than she would eat herself. Ah well, the kids never turn down free food, and the new people shouldn't mind fresh food.

She could hear several children loudly asking questions about the outside, along with the voice of one of the heroes somewhat closer. Rounding the corner, her eyes fell upon two eerily familiar avians, ones she had never thought she'd see again. Her basket fell to the ground, forgotten in favor of confirming what her eyes were telling her.

"Faella?" The black-winged avian spoke, surprise lacing his tone. Her eyes started filling with tears, hearing the name she never shared with anyone but those like her. It was really him... 

Phil, seeing her starting to cry, rushed over to comfort her. Having been an orphan for as long as she could remember, he had filled the spot of a father figure for her. The depth of the emotional attachment she held was deeper than she had realized, only truly showing when she saw him again.

The children who had been eagerly questioning him about the outside were watching on in confusion, forgotten for now. Grian smiled, speaking to the Hero next to him.

"Well, I think you can guess who we are with that."

~~~

Phil and Faella had gone off to catch up on what had happened while they were gone, which left Grian now stuck talking to the Hero party.

The rest of the party had shown up at some point, and were now asking about as many questions as the children had previously. It made sense, seeing as he had shown knowledge of things from their world, but there were still a lot of questions with them all speaking over each other.

"Can you lot ask one question at a time? I don't know how you expect me to answer any of them when you're all speaking over each other."

"You know the queen?"