Aurora's Vision (Arc1:Chp7)

Arc 1

Chapter 7 - The Last-Born Fae

When Emma reached the top, she flew behind one of the tree's thick branches, peeking over it to note the guard patrols. Too many to slip by unnoticed, she thought. She flew down to Jatyr and ground her teeth in annoyance.

“Damn,” she whispered, slapping the bottom of her fist against the palm of her hand. “I would have thought Castyr would ease up after his ritual was completed.”

“There were complications,” Jatyr explained nervously. “Castyr wants to keep the rumours to a minimum until they decide what to do.”

His eyes drifted away from hers as he spoke, clearly omitting some important key information. She also noted that his tone was a little pointed when he said the word ‘they’. It seemed he disliked Soluna. A rare achievement for anyone to acquire. She didn’t blame him, though. The Lumeni were arrogant and intolerable. Even if this one deigned to mingle with the filth that wallowed in the material plane, her bearing indicated that she was no different from her kin. She would wear on Castyr’s severely limited patience soon enough.

Emma squinted at him suspiciously. “What complications?” she said slowly.

“You’ll see soon enough. Hang on a second,” Jatyr said, pulling back his shirt sleeves.

He stretched out his arms, readying to summon magic. The gem on his brooch glimmered and his clothes became blurry with a translucent aura. His fingers disappeared as they turned invisible. Then it spread to his hands and up his arms until it covered his whole body as the aura absorbed and reflected the surrounding light. He touched her foot with his thumb and index finger, sharing its effect with her as well.

“I borrowed Myrrah’s power,” he said proudly. Emma pictured him with a lop-sided grin.

“Borrowed?” Emma asked, raising a brow. A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. She knew Jatyr hated being accused of stealing powers.

“She’ll get it back when it wears off. It’s the only way I could sneak in,” he pouted.

“Why are you sneaking around anyway?” Emma asked, finding it strange that he’d stolen Myrrah’s power in the first place.

Jatyr was one of the highest-ranked Sileni Tree Guardians, apart from Castyr and Ajanefe. Hiding her in pixie form on his person while he strolled in would have been the easiest method.

“Come, I’ll show you and explain everything,” he said, moving from his cover and silently manoeuvring through the guard patrols.

As they moved closer to the chamber, they heard a baby crying. The sound was a long, distressed scream.

Did the tree give birth? Emma thought, her heart racing. In its condition, it could have died.

They entered the chamber, only rustling a few vines in the entryway. An unnatural black aura emanating from a flower crib floating in the birthing pool darkened the room. What the tree had given birth to felt monstrous as its shrieks echoed against the chamber walls. What was Castyr thinking, bringing such a creature into their world? she thought.

“The Birthing Bud!” she gasped in panic, transforming into her human form and climbing into the pool.

She pushed the crib away gently as it floated close to her and rushed through the water to the bud. It was wilted, its petals dry and dead and what was left of it was barely clinging to life. She summoned her healing magic and brushed her hands over it.

“It was damaged in a ritual,” Jatyr explained, bending at the pool’s edge and tapping his hand in the water to bring the crib closer to him.

“The bud would take years to heal and recover. Decades could pass before another Fae is born. What did they do?” she muttered angrily through her ministrations.

 “The ritual forced The Great Tree to give birth to a new Fae, channelling the Darkness that was killing it into the newborn. This is that Fae,” he explained, grabbing the edge of the crib when it floated within reach.

“Jatyr, don’t do that, it is evil.”

She rushed to his side and tried to pull the crib away from him. It tipped toward her, and she saw the baby inside. Just a child. The baby’s bottom lip trembled with sadness as she wailed. Emma froze, unable to trust herself and her feelings. The child felt like a demon but looked like a fae. Emma’s hands shook with fear and indecision. She had seen it so many times during the Shadow War. With Ruby, with Solaris’ followers and with others. It was easy to get waylaid by demons. Jatyr reached inside the crib again.

“Jatyr!” she said uncertainly, grabbing his hand.

“It’s fine, look,” he said, shrugging off her loose grip and reaching for the child's hand. Her tiny fingers curled around his instantly, almost desperately. The fae stopped crying and the dark aura faded. She opened her eyes to look at them curiously.  One eye was demon-red and the other tree-green. “She’s not evil, just scared and lonely.”

With the heavy aura gone, tree vines curled down from the ceiling. One caressed Emma's cheek. Emma held it against her face, euphoric at having the connection to the Great Tree back.

 “I have missed you, Mother,” she said, her words choked by tears.

The vines pushed the crib towards her as others reached into it. A pair of purple Spotted Swallowtail butterfly wings fluttered down to land on the child's nose. The baby sneezed, blowing them off. The wings fluttered over her before landing on the fine feathers of her hair.

In her mother, she would trust, Emma thought resolutely. If she deemed this child worthy, then so would I.

Emma reached into the crib, picking the baby up to rock her gently and letting her tiny hand curl around her finger. She flinched when the burning returned to her wounded arms. She moved to give the baby to Jatyr while the pain ran its course. She stopped suddenly as a white mist appearing from the baby’s hand swirled around the forearm she was latching onto. The effect was cool and refreshing, soothing the burning until it stopped altogether. Her wounded skin didn’t feel tight anymore. She jolted.

“Jatyr, remove my bandages, please.”

...

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