Yazadril’s home was formed in the side of a great oak tree that was over one hundred and eighty meters tall. After a quick stop at the top of the pass, Yalla flew him to his balcony, sixty-four meters above the ground. She bade him a quick farewell and flew off, stifling a yawn.
The senior wizards of his people were waiting in his home when he returned. All twenty-four of them were gathered in his central room, chatting brightly about the human and speculating imaginatively about him. Yazadril’s wife and daughters bustled about, serving refreshments.
“Were you not informed that I wished you to keep these matters confidential?” Yazadril sternly and loudly asked, and the group suddenly fell silent. “And yet the moment I return I find you in my home, and two of you discussing how the human passed the Wards, right in front of my wife and daughters! Thus, you are needlessly endangering them, and ultimately all of us!”
“Calm yourself, Yazadril.” Theramin smiled, smoothing his graying beard down over the front of his blue satin robe. As always, the stout little horticultural wizard was unperturbed. “It was necessary in order to maintain a semblance of normality. The fact that we have a great secret is itself a great secret, and if we act like we are trying to conceal a secret, the fact that we have one is revealed. Thus we meet here, as we would if the human truly were unimportant, rather than in The Council Hall or the Hall of New Magic, where we would be expected to meet if the danger he represents were more immediate. And since we are meeting here, it was necessary that your family be trusted with this, as it would have been impractical to exclude them.”
“Yes, yes, I see your reasoning, though you should have consulted me before endangering them with this knowledge!”
“I am sorry about that.” Theramin smiled, not looking sorry at all. “At least you know that your home is absolutely proof against eavesdropping, be it intentional or accidental!
“Now please, tell us what you have learned, we are bursting from the suspense!”
“In a moment!” Yazadril snapped, then his manner softened completely as he turned to his wife. She had set her tray of appetizers on a shelf and moved to his side, where she stood patiently waiting for his attention, her light blue eyes glinting with the little smile of amusement that she gave to no one else but him.
As always, his heart soared as she flowed into his embrace, and he knew he was the most fortunate being in existence.
“Ahh, Nemia, I love you so.” he crooned into the thick, curly blond hair just above her ear.
“As I love you, my husband. You are well?” she returned.
“Very well, my lovely wife. Though these developments do bring unknown dangers, they bring unknown opportunities as well.”
His twin daughters, Talia and Dalia, were practically identical, and very similar in appearance to their mother. Rather than approach their parents upon their father’s return, they continued unobtrusively serving cordials in tiny crystal stemware, but they shared a warm smile with their parents by way of greeting. After all, their father had been home only yesterday, and there were guests. And of course, this strategy lessened the chance that they would be sent from the room before the interesting news was delivered!
Yazadril quickly related the gist of the day’s events, finishing with his decision to invite Alilia to join him in studying the unique phenomenon that had manifested in their new guest.
There were dubious looks exchanged among the assembled, and again Theramin spoke. The rest, as usual, were content to let others take the initiative in anything that was out of the ordinary.
“That was well done, though you take a risk in revealing so much to your new pupil.” Theramin nodded. “But, I think you did not do so well in your negotiations with him. Five years is not so long.”
“True, but his wants are modest, and he was resolute. It is difficult to bargain well with such a person.” Yazadril conceded. “I gained the right to study him for the rest of his life, and that was the most important thing, even if it means being out in the world.”
“Granted.” Theramin agreed. “But you may wish to reconsider having Alilia assist you in this learning. The work she does here, with yourself and others, is valuable, but it is also well known that she comes here to do such work because she considers it a welcome vacation from the stresses and tensions of her role as Princess of the People of Life.
“And Yazadril, I can assure you that the majority of the stresses and tensions in the lands of the forest elves are caused by humans. As I am sure you know, Alilia’s folk are bordered by three ethnic groupings of humans, each with their own kingdoms, language, culture and customs, who have each hated and mistrusted the others for millennia, with petty wars and feuds unending. This has had a disastrous effect on their cultures, which have become cruel, excessively restrictive, and at times reprehensible. This has been reflected in their dealings with The People of Life.
“Because of this, Alilia’s feelings toward humans in general are not kind. To put it bluntly, she despises the lot of them.”
Yazadril considered. “You are right in that her opinion of humans will not make this work any easier. But given a few hours in which to get to know Markee, she will see that he is not like that. And she will be able to see the importance of this research. What one can do, others can learn to do, and she will not like the thought of humans walking unimpeded through her Wards, any more than I do.
“More importantly, she is the only one who has the qualities I need to assist me in this, beyond one or two of the wizards of the plains elves, and I must admit that I am unsure that those are entirely trustworthy anymore, since they have embraced living among the great empires of the humans.”
“That is all true enough.” Theramin agreed. “So I suppose you must ask her, though she may refuse.”
“I think I can convince her.” Yazadril smiled, and turned to the group of wizards. “Do any of you have anything to add?”
None did.
“I will serve as barber and tailor to your young friend, my love.” Nemia smiled. “I will gather the supplies for such a task. And Theramin here is the obvious choice to supervise the construction of a house.”
“I am.” Theramin agreed proudly. “Though I will not grow him a tree outside the valley. I will consult with him as to the style of architecture he would prefer.”
“Excellent, and thank you both.” Yazadril smiled. “I will cast a Speaking to Alilia now, while we are all still gathered here. She is more likely to control her temper before such a group, I think.
“Alilia?” he called.
Rather than answer his Speaking, Alilia responded by casting a Projection of herself. Her image suddenly appeared before him in all her glory, her bright white hair flowing from beneath a slim gold and diamond tiara, and cascading down over her white silk robe, which was belted with a sash of woven gold thread. These were contrasted by her warm brown eyes and her peaches-and-cream complexion.
“Yazadril! What a surprise to hear from you! And in such august company, too!” she laughed. “You know I am not due there until next spring! There is not a problem, I hope?”
“A potential problem, and a potential opportunity as well, dear Alilia.” Yazadril replied, and quickly outlined the developments.
“Kill him.” Alilia stated flatly when he had finished. “Kill him now, before he can escape, before the human wizards can learn of him!”
“It may be too late for that. His entire people were horribly killed by magic most foul, and while I think they were merely caught in the crossfire between two distant wizards, we cannot know for sure until we investigate those events.” Yazadril stated. “Besides that, even if I were willing to destroy the knowledge and research opportunities he represents, I have sworn that he will not be harmed or impeded by me or mine.”
“Which does not include me! So I will kill him!” Alilia insisted.
“I have placed him under my protection, Princess.”
“But have you sworn to it?! Damn it Yazadril, I love you like a brother, but you are being as gullible as an unfledged duckling! Can you not see that he was probably sent to breach your Wards, whether he realizes it or not? Can you not see the danger here, the danger to us all? Imagine if this spreads, and suddenly anyone can breach our Wards! We will be engaged in warfare until the sun burns out, simply to hold our lands!”
“I do see the danger, Alilia, and I am not quite as gullible as all that.” Yazadril exclaimed patiently. “I can assure you that no one has sent him here by Compulsion, or by any other magical means. Given his condition, such a thing is impossible. You can trust my knowledge on that. We must understand this, so that we can strengthen our Wards against a repetition of it, if nothing else! And it is within my jurisdiction, so it is my duty to deal with this as I think best, for my people, and for all of us.
“And beyond that, he is truly a gentle and honorable person, and so young he is barely adult. He is my friend, Alilia, and I am sworn.
“You see that I need someone of strong power to assist me in this, so that we can completely test his limits, and that assistant must be an intuitive, someone who can act instantly without calculating first, in case one of our experiments goes awry. And I need someone I can trust to keep our findings confidential, should they prove to be as dangerous as we fear.
“You are my dear friend, Alilia. And you are uniquely suited to this task. I will not ask it of you, if you can honestly recommend a suitable replacement for yourself in this project. Think on it a moment.”
Alilia’s timelessly beautiful face clouded as she considered, her warm brown eyes squinting in concentration. Finally she shook her head. “Damn you Yazadril, why must you be right about absolutely everything absolutely all of the time?” she asked in quiet frustration. “Yours is the best course of action, and I am the best possible choice to help you.
“Give me an hour to prepare things here for my absence, and to assign a regent.”
She suddenly turned her head, obviously listening to someone at her location who was beyond the range of her spell. “Yes I am, it is Yazadril. I am off to The Nine Valleys, and it is likely that I will be gone for five years. Yes. Take my travel case there with you, for I will have enough to bring without it.”
She turned back to Yazadril. “My young son Bezedil wishes to come visit for a time, as he has never been to The Nine Valleys. He will be there shortly.”
As she said the word ‘shortly’, a young adult elf appeared beside her image, accompanied by the soft ‘poof’ of a Translocation that had been accomplished with less than perfect atmospheric displacement. Like most forest elves, he was dressed in cotton-lined mottled brown silk trousers and tunic with deerskin boots, and had dark brown hair and eyes. He had appeared in a slightly bent over position, maintaining contact with his hand on an ornately carved wooden trunk. The effect of his presence on the magic field showed him to be a wizard of serious power.
He straightened and glanced around, then bowed with a smug smile. “Greetings, you must be Yazadril! My apologies for the error in displacement, I am afraid that I had slightly miscalculated the volume occupied by Mother’s travel case.”
“If you have truly Translocated here from your mother’s tree in a single step, while carrying that luggage, then you are being overly modest. It was magnificently done, my fine young fellow!” Yazadril exclaimed. “How did you target it, since you have never been here?”
“I followed Mother’s Projection, actually. That was the challenging part.”
“And it was foolishly done!” Alilia’s image snapped in anger. “You know what would have resulted if someone had been occupying that space!”
“And I know that no one would have the audacity to stand so close to you, Mother, or even so close to your image!” Bezedil laughed. “Besides, you could see that the space was clear, and I picked that up from you when I encompassed your Projection as a targeting beacon.”
“And you were showing off!” Alilia stated angrily.
“Yes I was, and I wonder where I might have picked up such a trait? Perhaps from a dear mother who would use a full-body Projection to answer a Speaking?”
“Bah! Be more careful, or you will find yourself stuck in the middle of a mountain some day!” Alilia scolded, and turned back to Yazadril. “I will be on your central room’s balcony in an hour. Be sure it is clear.” And with that, her Projection abruptly ended.
Yazadril realized his Speaking was still active, and ended it.
“Well young fellow, allow me to introduce you to the senior wizards of The High People!” Yazadril grinned, and began making introductions.
An hour later Alilia appeared on the balcony, along with a tall wardrobe full of clothing and several boxes and baskets of personal possessions. She knew the size and shape of herself and her possessions to the thickness of a hair, ensuring that they exchanged places with the air that had filled the space they now occupied without a whisper of sound.
“Be welcome as always, Princess Alilia, to my home, and to the lands of The High People!” Yazadril said in greeting as he stepped out onto the balcony, and they exchanged a warm embrace.
“Thank you, Yazadril. As always, it feels good to be within the tranquility of The Nine Valleys.”
Nemia had followed her husband out, and she also exchanged a warm embrace with Alilia as Yazadril stepped back. “Welcome, Alilia. How is your husband?”
“Thank you, Nemia, it is so good to see you.” Alilia smiled. “And my husband is a drunken stud with an eternal erection, as always. I will call him here when I desire his presence in my bed, but until then it is best that he stays out from under my skirts. How are your young twin daughters?”
“They are well. Talia is as shy as always, and Dalia is as bold as ever. In fact, one could almost see the sparks flying when Dalia met your young Bezedil, and as we speak, she is ‘showing him her room’!”
“Ah, that would be a good match, I think!” Alilia chuckled as they entered the central room and sat. “Of course, at their ages, it is almost certainly nothing more than youthful dalliance, but I thrill to think of the children those two might produce in a century or three!”
“Yes, it is good that our girls inherited their mother’s strength with the power, as well as her beauty!” Yazadril chuckled.
“And their father’s incredible intellect!” Nemia laughed as she poured cinnamon tea for the three of them. “The thought of our blood being joined with yours through our children is a profound and joyful one!”
“Indeed. Your Bezedil certainly does you proud.” Yazadril commented.
“Yes, he is my son through and through!” Alilia laughed. “Luckily, he inherited nothing from his father, beyond his handsome looks. And perhaps his eternal erection, if I can judge by his popularity with the young females, and with some not so young!”
They shared a laugh at that.
“You know, he did not show it from birth like I did, but he is as much a wizard now as I was at his age!” Alilia continued proudly.
“I am not surprised.” Yazadril chuckled. “Even if he has less inherent power than you, he has had you for a teacher.”
“Perhaps, but his style is different from mine. He can work intuitively, but he enjoys knowing the theory behind what he does as well. Perhaps you could give him some of your time in that regard while he is here?” Alilia inquired.
“I will be glad to.” Yazadril nodded. “Though I am unsure of how much time I will be able to give him. I am already committed to teaching my girls and Markee, and this research project is of great urgency.”
“That is truth.” Alilia agreed. “You know, I simply cannot picture you being friends with such a… person. What is he like?”
“Well, he is well educated, for a human of his age, and very respectful, in his way. Not deferential, mind you, except when he first met me, for then he thought I was a god! But he is respectful.”
“A god! You? Why would he think that?” Alilia giggled.
“He said I was glowing. I believe he can see my power, somehow. But he is a good youth. He trapped some small game, a rabbit and some squirrels, and said a prayer to apologize to their spirits for their deaths.”
“You refer to his youth. How old is he?” Nemia asked.
“He is sixteen years old, though one would never guess it to look at him.” Yazadril chuckled. “Here, let me show you.”
He cast an Illusion of Markee, and the young man’s image appeared in the center of the room, or at least his image from the chest down appeared, since the ceiling was only two meters high. “That is how huge he is. I will move the image down, so you can see what he looks like.”
The image moved down, its feet and ankles disappearing into the floor, until the top of the head was below the ceiling.
“By the Source! He is a monster!” Alilia exclaimed.
“Hardly a monster!” Yazadril laughed. “He is simply more in need of a barber than anyone else I have ever seen! Nemia has agreed to perform that service for him, which I am sure will leave him in a far more presentable state.”
“His body hair is disgusting!” Alilia said with a shudder, and pointedly looked away. “You should shave him from the neck down when you shave his face, Nemia! He is probably infested with lice and ticks and vermin of every variety!
Suddenly Nemia stood and screamed: “Dalia!”, and Translocated so hurriedly that she made no attempt to compensate for air displacement. The sudden implosion of air that resulted sucked both Yazadril and Alilia from their seats to their knees on the floor.
Then Alilia screamed: “Bezedil!”, and she also disappeared, though she compensated for displacement perfectly, without even considering it.
The horror and terror in their voices struck Yazadril’s heart with a lance of panic. Though he was risking his own life and the lives of others to do so, he Translocated to follow, targeting his wife’s unknown location without taking the time to project his consciousness there, aiming to appear a meter behind her.
His aim was understandably off a bit, and he appeared a quarter of a meter above the ground below his home. He fell to his knees in the grass, just as Nemia looked straight up and screamed: “Talia!”
He looked up, following her gaze, to see his daughter falling directly toward them!
Nemia cast Levitate on her daughter faster than Yazadril would ever have believed possible, but Talia was then only six meters above them and falling sickeningly fast. Nemia had more than enough power, but it could not be in time! But someone else was also throwing their talent and power into Nemia’s spell, and Yazadril thought for a fraction of a second that it might be enough.
Then his shoulder was seized in an iron grip and he was thrown forward to his hands and knees, and Alilia’s voice was screaming in his ear: “Read him!”
There before him, close enough to touch, were the twisted, shattered and bloody bodies of Dalia and Bezedil. He gaped in shock.
Beside him, Talia impacted Nemia with a sickening thud and drove her to the ground, as his wife physically caught his remaining daughter. Even with another to boost her, Nemia had been unable to cancel all of Talia’s momentum without hurting her.
Yazadril did not even have time to consider whether either of them lived.
“Too late for Dalia! Read him!” Alilia screamed in grief and rage, and she roughly seized Yazadril’s head with both hands. Her immense power and will flooded into him, and he had no choice. He cast the Reading, and merged with the sickening remains of Bezedil’s dying mind. Less than a twentieth of the young elf’s brain still lived, and it would be dead as well in a second or two, but the power that Alilia poured into him was of such immensity that he was able to Read the last few seconds of Bezedil’s life. He was later to learn that everyone in the valley was forced to experience it with him, so intense was the power and projection of the Reading.
For those few seconds, he was Bezedil. He was in a dim room, and Dalia was in his arms, her lips soft beneath his in a loving kiss, their bodies about to join, his heart filled with love for her. There was the sound of a door opening, and sudden light from the doorway. He looked up in surprise to see Dalia in the doorway, her face struck with the grief of betrayal. He looked down at the girl in his arms, and realized to his horror that it was not Dalia he held, but Talia. He looked back up as Dalia ran across the room and leaped through the curtains and out the open window. He tried to scream “No!”, but his voice could only make a hoarse croak around the lump in his throat as his mind filled with guilt and horror and grief. He sprang from the bed and ran naked the three steps to the window, leaped through without slowing, saw Dalia’s sickening and fatal impact against the ground far below. Hopelessness overcame him, and he made no effort to save himself.
Alilia wrenched them both out of the vision before they could experience Bezedil’s impact, as the last of the young elf’s mind died.
Alilia released Yazadril, and he slumped to the ground as he was overcome by a blinding headache. He vomited violently, and barely managed to avoid choking on it.
Then he was overcome by panicked concern for his wife and Talia. He forced himself to his hands and knees and looked to them in time to see Nemia finish Healing his daughter and herself. Then they both began to cry, with great wracking sobs of utter grief, Nemia on her knees holding Talia, who lay utterly limp and naked in her mother’s embrace.
He looked to the shattered bodies before him, and his own eyes flooded with tears as the reality of Dalia’s death struck him fully.
“You caused my son’s death! Now you will die!” Alilia suddenly screamed, her face awash with tears as she seized a fistful of Talia’s hair.
“NO!!!” Nemia screamed as she knocked Alilia’s arm away from her daughter and imposed herself between them.
Talia simply lay there limp and crying, and did not appear to have noticed that Alilia had ripped a handful of her hair out when Nemia had knocked the arm away.
“If you kill her you had best kill me too, Alilia, for you will make a Death-Enemy of me!!” Nemia screamed, her sudden rage matching Alilia’s.
“SO BE IT!!!” Alilia yelled, spraying the other with spittle, and gathered her power.
“Have mercy!” Yazadril croaked, and spat out the remains of a mouthful of vomit.
“She raped my son by trickery, and because of that he is dead!!!” Alilia screamed as she turned on him. “Why should I have mercy on her?!!”
Yazadril swallowed hard and shook his head to clear it of lingering stars as he struggled to his feet. He forced himself to speak with a semblance of calm. “Have mercy on me, Alilia! I have lost a child this day, as have you! Please, do not take my remaining daughter as well! Do not take my wife! I am begging you, Alilia, for the sake of the friendship we have shared these last four thousand years!
“Talia has lost her twin sister, and her love as well, for she could not have done such a thing if she did not love your son! She obviously did not mean for this to happen, and could never have foreseen such a horrible consequence! She will have to live with this result for the rest of her days, and it hurts her enough that she tried to take her own life! Has she not suffered enough?”
“I cannot let this pass!!!” Alilia yelled as she shook tears from her eyes, and her power gathered to her so strongly that the magic field seemed to boil around her. In a split second, so quickly that Nemia could not impede her, all of her power concentrated in her right fist and she spun and struck over Nemia.
“I CURSE YOU!!!” she screamed as she punched Talia in the face, breaking the girl’s nose even as all her gathered power was passed into Talia with a bright flash at the violent contact.
Alilia was left completely drained, both physically and magically, and she slumped to the ground.
Nemia quickly Healed Talia’s bloody nose, though her daughter’s inherent healing had already begun.
Talia had suddenly stopped crying with the blow, and stared in utter shock at her mother’s face as she was Healed.
Yazadril also stared in shock. As overwhelmed as he was by events, he realized that he had never heard of any curse being delivered with a tenth of the power Alilia had used. A tenth?! Not even a hundredth!
Alilia crawled to her son’s bloody remains and slumped upon them, crying piteously.
Talia screamed. Her scream was louder and more horrible than was physically possible, as she involuntarily augmented it with her power.
Nemia cast Sleep upon her daughter, to no effect, and the scream went on and on.
Yazadril staggered over and cast Sleep upon her as well, and again, and finally the scream ended as Talia lost consciousness.
He realized that a few of his people had gathered, and four of them were huddled together five meters away. The rest stood about in shocked sadness at what had occurred.
Dilimon rose from the four who were huddled, his tears flowing freely, and walked over to Yazadril. “He will be all right.” he stated.
“Pardon?” Yazadril asked in confusion.
Dilimon indicated the three who had been huddled with him, who were now rising to stand, one of them holding a very young elf in her arms. “It is little Jinimin, only twelve years old. He drained himself almost to death boosting Nemia’s Levitation spell with his own, to help save Talia. But we reached him in time. He will be all right.”
“Oh. I did not know.” Yazadril said, almost unable to think. “I… I owe him much, then.”
“Yes.” Dilimon nodded gravely. “I think he arrived here just before you did, and acted in a panic. An amazing thing, really. At his age, he should not even know how to attempt such a feat yet.”
Theramin arrived in the shape of a great eagle, and assumed his own form as he landed. He looked around for a moment, taking in the scene. Then he walked over to Alilia and cast Sleep upon her. She was so drained and grief stricken that she did not even realize he was doing it. He gently rolled her away from her son’s body, and straightened her now bloodstained white robe.
He stepped to where Nemia was quietly sobbing as she sat and rocked her unconscious daughter in her arms, and cast Sleep upon her too, catching her as she slumped backward and lowering her gently to the grass.
He straightened and turned to Yazadril and Dilimon.
“Thank you, Theramin, that was kindly done.” Yazadril said quietly. “No need for them to watch while the children are… are… By the Source, I cannot even say it! My poor Dalia!” He covered his face in his hands and wept again.
Theramin nodded sadly. “Dilimon?”
The young Sentry nodded, and deftly caught Yazadril as Theramin cast Sleep upon him as well.
Yazadril woke late the next morning in his own bed, clad in a white cotton nightgown. Talia slept fitfully beside him, similarly clad. The tears had been washed from her face, her blonde hair brushed and tied back with a blue ribbon. He could see from the state of the bedding that Nemia had been asleep on the other side of Talia, but had already risen.
He found Nemia in the kitchen, still in her own nightgown. She stood before an empty teapot, the tea leaves spilled on the counter beside it, her head bowed, quietly crying. He moved to her, and she turned into his embrace as his own tears flowed anew.
“Oh Yazadril, how could this have happened?” Nemia sobbed.
“Ah my love, young hearts are wild, and their emotions are strong and sometimes overwhelming.” Yazadril told her softly. “And it is not so surprising that Talia and Dalia should fall in love with the same young male. They were so exactly alike in so many ways.
“I have suffered the death of my children before, but the pain is so much greater this time, as Dalia was so young. Her life had only just begun.”
“Yes. She was barely out of childhood, and now she is gone. What will we do, Yazadril? How can I live without her? How can I live with this horrible grief?”
“We will cling to our love for Talia, my dearest, and care for her with all our hearts. She will need all the love we can give her. And we will hold to our love for each other.”
“What will happen to her?” Nemia cried. “I have never seen such a curse as she has suffered! And I cannot believe that Alilia was ready to kill us both!”
“Alilia was driven to madness