Summer Garden

Astrian

Astrian looked at the injured mage and then to her mistress' sister, "I'm afraid I don't know of anything that the master valued more than anything else."

The mage paced back and forth, thinking, loudly and mostly repetitively. Astrian rubbed her temple subconsciously, and the mage froze mid-step. "You, Fae, you can hear thoughts?"

She curtsied briefly, "I am Astrian, caretaker for the Lady Summer. I do possess extraspiritual abilities."

The mage walked over to her, taking her hand in two human hands that felt as rough as those of a miner, "Then I need you to focus. We may not have the means to drag his soul back here, but we do have the means to reach him, through you."

Luna tsk'd loudly, "Slow down. You're a mortal. This is Fae territory."

Astrian flinched as she saw the aura around the woman rapidly fluctuate, "Lady Luna, don't antagonise her. That is not a mortal."

Luna stared in surprise and Astrian sighed, "Perhaps there is time to tell us of the danger facing the one we all... The ghoul."

The mage smiled at her, "Yeah, suppress those emotions. That'll help. We need them, right now. The Fates have broken the tie between his soul and his flesh. In most Fates, this would cause the start of their rebirth cycle. They'll spend a few aeons in the void, learning to control fundamental magics, before the embark upon what is supposed to be their greatest triumph, the construction of an eternal physical shell to dwell in. But he's not a Fate. Not even partly. That's a flat out lie. He is more than mortal, but he always was."

Astrian frowned, "She speaks truth, Lady Luna, or at least believes she does."

Luna clenched her fists, "Yio and the Fates cannot act against Lady Summer. Acting against him, acts against her."

"Unless they plan to sever her connection to him." The mage shrugged, "Which I believe they're currently doing, unless Yio has another reason for dwelling in the voiden cosmos?"

Luna glanced at Astrian, "Can we trust her?"

"She would not endanger Tre-... The mortal." Astrian swallowed, "She loves him. Wholeheartedly. Her greatest regret in her... Exceptionally long life... Is his death."

The princess sighed heavily, "What do we do, Queen Vastras?"

"Feel your love for him." The mage replied quietly, "Astrian, open your mind to me. I'm sorry, I'm about to invade it. It will be... Unpleasant."

Astrian sat down, tucking her dress under her knees and breathed slowly, stilling herself. She put the palms of her hands against each other, her fingers pointing to the sky and felt the doorway to her soul flare as her magic touched its own source. She cracked the door open slowly, a task she had not done since the early days of the Fae. Days when she was barely beginning to understand the nature of magic, before she'd understood that the random flashes of light and sensation were a person's aura, or that not everyone had the gift to see them.

She felt the force invade her. A will stronger than her own thrust through the crack and into her. She gasped, struggling to breathe as the memories of who they were washed over her, becoming a part of her. Every death. Every discovery. Every ounce of self hatred. Astrian groaned painfully as she saw the wars, and ordered the deaths of her own people. Thousands, for a slim chance. She felt feint, her mind being overwhelmed as she saw the lengths that a young woman had gone to. For a chance at peace. The way she had butchered her soul, twisting and corrupting it, just to stay alive long enough to bring the dream to fruition.

Astrian felt terrified tears run down her face as she realised how close that dream of the last thousand years was to falling apart.

"Stay with me." Vastras growled, a hand clamping down on Astrian's shoulder tightly, "Turn your thought to him, now Astrian. Become a light to guide him home. Feel. Your love must shine."

She wasn't worthy. She still wasn't worthy. Nothing about her deserved him. The hand on her shoulder clenched ever tighter. How could the warrior who had twisted the very fabric of the world think she should let herself feel this? Wasn't Luna enough? A princess, and probably the most powerful mage mortalkind had ever seen. Were they not enough?

"Say his name!" Vastras yelled angrily.

Astrian looked at the floor, feeling her heart stab with agony, and she whispered to the air, "Trei."