Summer Garden

Alphege

Alphege slipped out of the log house and out into the quiet of the garden. Things had begun to get out of hand in there, and she didn't particular enjoy watching Fae lose control of themselves. Mortals either, for that matter. There was nothing appealing about watching a drunk slowly lose the inhibitions that kept their relationships intact. To watch them break down, and reveal just how broken they really were.

She let a hand drift in the breeze, closing her eyes and breathing deeply as the garden spoke around her. Every tree, every flower and every blade of grass. There was a voice here, unique and quiet, but there if you took the time to listen. To breathe, and be still. If you just let yourself fade away, and listen to the world around you speaking.

She paused, opening her eyes slowly, feeling more centred as she turned to see what had felt... Off.

The elf approached, curiosity overwhelming her, as she saw the man sitting cross-legged, meditating as the wind spun around him in fractal patterns. She paused, considering him. He didn't seem to have noticed her approach. He was vulnerable, as he was born to be. Born to be the tool that would distract the queen into letting down her guard. Born to be the other part of her soul.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

Alphege felt her cheeks redden as he whispered, and froze as she saw herself in a fighting stance. He hadn't reacted. His aura hadn't shifted. When had he noticed her? How had he? She'd moved silently.

Trei sighed, leaning back on his elbows and looking up at the sky, "Summer... She made this place. Not for a home for the people who wanted to follow her, though there was that in part. The garden itself... It hasn't got a practical purpose. It was just a piece of art. Her life's work... Is just an expression of what she felt. This place is... Eternal. The idea of it will persist long after it fades and dies."

Alphege nodded silently, and then wondered if he'd noticed. She was barely within his range of vision now. But she couldn't get the guts up to speak. He'd taken her completely by surprise, and now she wasn't certain of who she was, or what he was. Was she a threat to him? Or was he a threat to her? Did he pose a risk to Alfheimr? How could a mortal be a threat? Yet, he wasn't mortal. Not anymore. She didn't know what he was.

Trei smiled sadly, "My purpose is complete. I was born to kill the woman I loved."

Alphege felt a stab of pain in her heart, and she wished she could just fade into the background. She didn't want to be part of this conversation... Yet, she was. And she couldn't just abandon him when he was trying to figure things out.

"I should feel... Empty and broken." Trei sighed heavily, "But I don't. It doesn't feel real to me yet. All of this feels like a dream. As if I'm about to wake up for work. To beat the iron, preparing it for the master. To go back to being an apprentice for a man I could never succeed. Like I'm going to walk back into a life where I mean... Nothing at all."

The elf considered him, "What do you feel, mortal?"

"Mortality." He replied easily, shrugging, "I feel mortal. Even though I'm not. I feel like things will come to an end. That all of this is about to make sense, and that will be over... But nothing ever truly ends. All actions beget the next. The sun doesn't stop shining just because you wish it would. Even if we win in the end, tomorrow will still come creeping in."

Alphege took a timid step towards him, "You feel clarity. You begin to see how events fit together."

"Yes." Trei nodded sadly, "Yio. She tried to separate me from Summer, to protect her. The Fates are not allowed to move against Summer. Now we understand that they weren't. And Summer killed Yio for her efforts. A Fate who... Knew that meeting me would bind her soul to mine. She did it anyway, in the hope she could avert this... Crisis. Whatever the effects will be."

"Magic is dying." Alphege replied simply. It was the truth. Even now she could feel the lifestream slipping away, the source of mana fading. Magic wasn't gone, but it wasn't being replaced either. All it would take is time.

He lifted a hand over his head, as if he were trying to grasp the moon, "This body... It isn't human, and it isn't Fae. It wasn't even mine. I stole it... But the only reason I could work out how, was that Yio stole mine from me. She prepared me for this. As if it were important... As if she knew she might fail."

The elf said nothing. Of course a Fate would know the outcome of her actions. Even this understanding that the mortal was stumbling across was contingent on a series of events. The Fate may have foreseen them, and set the wheel turning. That, at least, was hope.

"Elfkind was created by a Fate, weren't they?"

Alphege sighed, "We do not discuss it with outsiders, mortal. Suffice it to say, that your understanding is incomplete."

He shrugged, and lay back into the grass, watching the stars. "Yet, elf, you know the Fates. Better than I, anyway. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a decent relatio
nship with any celestial, goddess, Fate, or otherwise. I never mattered, so I guess they never had a reason to pay attention to them."

She sighed heavily, giving in. The elf walked over, and knelt down beside him, "Don't be so foolish, mortal. You were engineered so that all celestials would fall in lov
e with you. Astrian, Luna, Summer... All of these have had their lives irrevocably tainted by your touch, because of their celestial presence. If any god were ever to lo
ok upon you, they too would feel this inner conflict. No god could allow their judgement to be so horribly tainted. No god favoured you, mortal, because no god could ris
k paying attention to you. They all felt heavy hearts."

He glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, "Is that guess?"

"F'rir loved you, also." Alphege replied stiffly, "A source of confusion amongst my peoples."

Trei smiled briefly, turning back to the stars, "I wish I could say it meant something to me."

The elf crushed her own desires, "You are you, mortal. There is none who controls your destiny, not anymore. Vastras may have cursed you, to carry the burden of your love's death with you until the end of days, but now, you can be something more. Something else."

"And what am I?" He growled angrily, "Am I a mortal, elf?"

Alphege sighed heavily, "If that is your desire, it shall be yours. If the end of your life is what you seek, you will find it."

Trei looked at her directly, "Now there's something. What are you hiding?"

"Much." Alphege replied coyly, "I am the Guardian of Alfheimr. All the secrets of elfkind are my own. I defend our knowledge, and I keep our secrets."

He rolled onto his side, "Don't do that."

She sighed heavily, "Fine. I do not believe F'rir wished for you to know."

"Are you oath-bound to protect that secret?" Trei insisted, and she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. This man, whoever he was, learned things far too quickly for his own good. She could not deceive him, only keep him ignorant, and perhaps frustrated with her. The thought of his eternal anger burning against her was not a pleasant one.

"I am... Elfin." She said slowly, "Please. Let me tell you of my people. There is not much I can say without jeopardising who we are, but a little can be known by an honoured outsider. I will treat you with that respect."

Trei rolled back, frustrated but quiet.

Alphege sighed, "Mortalkind are... Mortal. Limited lifespans, from which they pass into a new life, one which is prepared for them by their gods and their deeds. Faekind are eternal, and longlived. When they die, they rejoin the lifestream, before returning to the world they have left. They follow a cycle of reincarnation unless their soul is corrupted. An eternal soul."

She smiled sadly, "Elfkind are similar to that, in some respects. Our souls are eternal, yet so are our bodies. We do not die of natural causes. We live, as we have always lived. Created by F'rir once, a very long time ago. She created a pairing. A mortal with the soul of an eternal, who mated with an eternal, with a mortal soul. The mortal was our Father, whose body wasted away, but he did not. Remaining as a spirit to guide his descendants. The eternal was our Mother, and though she died from her mortal life, her body remained and became our realm."

Trei smiled sadly, "That sounds like a terrible love story."

"It is." Alphege smiled sadly, "Tragedy is one of the lasting themes of the history of Elfkind. We are accustomed to pain, and loss. I have buried three husbands, and ten grandchildren, mortal. I have known love, triumph, and death. That is the way of our people. We do not have the taboos that Fae have against our mingling with your kind... But the heartbreak is inevitable. We know that you will die. It is nice, for a time. But it cannot last. We know it, as we always have."

Trei winced, "I'm sorry."

"As am I." Alphege spoke softly, "I carry their loss with me, as I have for four hundred years. I swore that I would never again fall for a mortal. That I would be free. That I would serve as Guardian, as the warrior who has no need of a heart, but need of fire. Until I crossed your path. F'rir warned me that this would happen, and what I would feel. She saw that I would become drawn into the life of an eternal soul with a mortal body."

Trei's eyes widened, "Like your... Mother."

"Not strictly speaking my mother." Alphege teased, "But yes, my ancestor. The founding mother of all elfkind."

Trei sighed, "I think I begin to comprehend. I resemble something... Sacred, to you. To elfkind."

"More than just that." Alphege smiled, "This is F'rir's work. Her weapon against Vastras' plans. Plans she failed to disrupt. If my goddess could not stop the actions of the mage, then she would have the last laugh in the end. F'rir ensured that you are the Heir of the Elfin Mother."

He sat up slowly, "The Heir."

Alphege bit her cheek. She hadn't meant to say so much. He had a way of making her drop her guard. To make her forget her responsibilities. She was not certain how her people would react if they knew what he was. Who he was. Would they accept that he had a right to know? Or would they demand punishment for her? She could not say.

Trei sighed heavily, "Elfkind have magic, don't they? Most mortals don't... But Astrian was able to teach me. She said it was a skill anyone could learn... But I didn't even remember ever meeting a mage until Rendi brought it up the other day. And the only mage I've ever met is the one who planned my birth."

Alphege laughed quietly, a sound like glass moving in the breeze, "Astrian did lie to you. The only mortals who may use magic are those of mixed bloodlines. Diluted through the ages, but occasionally a resurgence leads to the birth of a mage. There was a time, in ancient history, when all peoples lived in harmony, upon the mortal world. It wasn't always the mortal world. The realms were created... After your kind rejected the gods."

Trei turned in surprise, "We rejected the gods?"

Alphege cocked her head, "You do not know your own history?"

He shrugged, "It isn't something I've ever heard. Maybe a priest might know."

The elf shivered, "Your kind... Rejected the celestials. Waged war against them. Fractured all worlds. Caused each species to seek out a new life in a new world... And it isn't common knowledge? The guilt from that fallout... What was done, was an unforgivable sin. It is why your kind are called mortal. You were once like elfkind. Deathless, ageless."

Trei swore suddenly, and Alphege leapt to her feet, ready to fight. The irritating man just shook his head, "No danger. I just realised something. Sumner created the Fae... And F'rir, elfkind... Our gods created humanity... To try and recreate what mortals were, before that war."

Alphege smiled and nodded, sitting down slowly, "Yes. That is why. It is the reason that Drak'tur created orks, and what the mage Danren was attempting when he forged goblins from the dead of your peoples and mine. It is this original sin that the Paladins of the Lady attempt to absolve by serving their goddess and fighting against magic, the tool that was used by your people to kill the gods. It was this war that lead to the treaty between Fae and Fate."

Trei screwed up his face angrily, "And it's why I was born. Vastras is trying to finish the job. To wipe out the celestials, once and for all."

She didn't say anything, hiding her emotions behind a serene mask, but inwardly Alphege wept at the words. Trei truly hated his existence, and it was justified. He was born to bring about genocide, to complete the original sin that had caused the world to be so broken. The man she felt so deeply for, a man she wished to wrap her arms around, a man she wished would just hold her quietly as they stared at the stars together, it was this man who wished he had never been born. It was this man who grieved so deeply for the woman who had died just because she cared for him.