Book 5 Chapter 18

Joan wondered if she’d ever truly get used to being ignored while the Chosen were fawned over.

She supposed the important thing was Korgron was able to negotiate the aid of the ruler for the Autumn Court, the archfey vowing to return all the was lost to the village, and more. She certainly had more than enough power to protect them through the winter. She’d easily be able to ensure that the village would thrive for decades.

Of course, the fae could be generous when their guests were worth it. In this case, preparing a massive feast for those of the village who had lost their homes, as the damage was repaired. Granting other gifts to them as well. Even she had to admit there was very little that could properly compare to a ‘fae’ party. She smiled while she watched the glimmering balls of light zooming over the burned remains of the village, using their magic to undo some of what was lost.

While the fae and the appearance of the Chosen had most of the village focused on them, it meant she was mostly being ignored. Already she’d been hearing people muttering about how ‘lucky’ they were that the Chosen had come. Never mind the fact that the Chosen wouldn’t have been here in time if not for her. That she had stood up to the fae and held them off long enough. That it was her plan that saved them. It was all thanks to the Chosen in the end and she was just another ignored piece in their legacy of being amazing. Not that she was annoyed by it or anything.

The only ones who seemed not as lured in by the fae were Bauteut, Zorn, Lyndis and Rab, who were sitting with her for the feast.

“I can’t believe we slept through all of that,” Lyndis said, a look of annoyance on her face when she eyed Joan. “Or the fact you didn’t.”

“I wasn’t a mercenary or obvious,” Joan said. “You were the ones wearing Crystal Phoenix emblems, what did you expect to have happen?”

“You think we should have prepared for a bunch of fae attacking us and putting everyone to sleep?” Rab asked.

“Well, not quite,” Joan said. “But you know, maybe not everyone should advertise what they are.”

“We’re never going to hear the end of this when we return,” Lyndis said. “Nobody will believe what happened.”

“Who knows? There will probably be a song or two about it before you return,” Zorn said with a light chuckle. “I hear the Golden Minstrel has already started.”

Joan gave a low groan, struggling to resist the urge to slide under the table. “Oh. Really. Great. I can’t wait,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You don’t approve?” Lyndis asked. “I imagined you’d be overjoyed to know you were going to be immortalized in bardic song.”

Joan gave a shrug. “They tend to focus on a lot of my mistakes. At least this one can’t, I didn’t make many mistakes. Though, knowing my luck it’ll focus only on the fact I was running and that the Chosen saved me at the last moment, not all the cool stuff I did. Will probably make it sound like I was just lucky.”

Rab gave a light chuckle. “My my, aren’t you the picky one? Here most of us would be grateful to even be in a song with them and you are just upset they outshine you.”

“It loses its allure, trust me,” Joan said. “Like right now, actually.”

“Jealous they’re not focusing on you?” Bauteut asked.

“A little, yeah,” Joan said. “And yes, I know. I shouldn’t be.”

“It’s okay,” Bauteut said. “I’m sure anyone would be.”

“I thought you were really impressive,” Zorn said.

“Thanks,” Joan said. “And I know, I can’t really compete with the envoys of the gods and I shouldn’t try.”

“Speaking of the Chosen,” Lyndis said. “Where is Lord Hardwin? I figured if anyone would come to rescue you, it would have been him.”

“No idea,” Joan said with a shrug. She imagined he was still dealing with his little quest. She glanced back at the Chosen. Korgron, Searle and Thalgren were, of course, at the head table and all but being swarmed by the villagers and even some of the fae admiring them. Andreas was nowhere in sight, but that didn’t surprise her much. He’d likely escaped the moment he could. She turned back towards her plate and nudged a few of the berries around. “Chosen matters, I imagine.”

“I’m sure he’s--” Bauteut started to say, but stopped short and stared over Joan’s shoulder. “Uhhhh…”

“What?” Joan asked. In fact, the others were all staring past her now. She sighed and turned around, wondering what the Chosen were doing now to draw such focus. She only looked away for a second, how impressive could it be?

Except it wasn’t the Chosen who were drawing the focus.

It was the Archfey of the Autumn Court.

Who was now standing directly behind Joan and looking down at her like a lion that had found a stray sheep that walked into its den.

Joan gave a soft little squeak and stared up at the archfey, her heart pounding wildly now. There wasn’t any reason for her to be here. Except here she was. Smiling down at Joan with that knowing smile. “Joan, correct?”

“Yes,” Joan said. “Can I help you?” She wished she could say something more impressive, but in the moment that was the most complex sentence she could come up with. In fact, now that the archfey was standing here, she couldn’t think of anything she wouldn’t do for her. Everything about her was so radiant, so beautiful. The fact such a dazzling creature was even able to appear in such a pathetic land as her own was--

She quickly shook her head and shoved those thoughts aside. “Archfey Jinxwin,” Joan said. “A pleasure to meet you.” It was just like interacting with the Nameless One. A being that seemed so impossibly beautiful, despite her best attempts to suppress it. But just like that archfey, it wasn’t real. Just her magic. She just had to keep reminding herself of that and she’d be fine. She hoped.

“You know my name,” the archfey said. Joan couldn’t be sure, but she swore the smile on her face wavered just a hint.

“Yes,” Joan said quickly, mentally yelling at herself for that. “The Chosen told me.”

“Oh, but of course,” Jinxwin said before she leaned down, staring into her eyes.

Joan quickly looked away. Staring into the eyes of an archfey was not something that would ever have good results, she suspected. “I was just--”

“I heard of what you had to endure, Joan,” Jinxwin said. “Yet, despite all those challenges, you decided to use your trophy to buy aid for those of this settlement.”

“It wasn’t really my prize to begin with,” Joan said softly, keeping her eyes lowered. “I stole it, it was the villages. That’s all.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Of course, spoken like I would expect,” Jinxwin said before standing up straight once more. “Joan, would you walk with me for a moment?”

“Uhhhh…” Joan said before looking to Bauteut. She had a bad feeling. “I’m not sure--”

“I insist,” Jinxwin said and, Joan couldn’t be sure, but she swore she felt the world itself twitch then. The fae around the feast certainly did, and the brisk air seemed a little colder.

Joan gave a light nod. “Sure. Let’s have a little walk.” She slowly got to her feet and saw, to her relief, that Bauteut was already on her feet and heading towards the Chosen. At the very least she knew she wouldn’t be being kidnapped. Probably.

Jinxwin gently guided her away from the others and Joan quickly realized that there were a lot less humans over here than there had been. In fact, most of them seemed to have ended up near the Chosen. She started cursing internally. This wasn’t going to be good, was it?

“So, uhhh, what did you want to talk about?” Joan asked softly.

“You seem afraid, Hero, you need not be,” Jinxwin said soothingly. “If I meant you harm, you wouldn’t even know I was here.”

“That’s not exactly comforting,” Joan said sheepishly. “Also, hero might be a strong word. Joan is fine. The Chosen were the ones who did the saving and all. I was just a distraction.”

“I would need to be blind to not know what you are, Joan,” Jinxwin said. “Though the Hero has rarely been one for tact and subtlety in my experience.”

Joan barely caught herself from tripping on her own feet at that. She quickly glanced back towards Bauteut. Unfortunately, she was still trying to get through the crowd. “I don’t know what you--”

“I was quite surprised that you didn’t come to me directly,” Jinxwin said. “Instead having the Chosen do it. Or perhaps you didn’t believe I would believe who you were?”

“Uhhhhh…” Joan said before idly focusing on her hands. “Then the Nameless One…?”

“Isn’t the only archfey in our realm,” Jinxwin said. “But they are correct. There is power in a name. For example… Jinxwin isn’t the name the Chosen know me as.”

Joan jumped a little, her eyes going wide. “What? But, but that’s--”

“The name I gave you? Most likely, yes,” Jinxwin said. “But there is power in a name. In an archfey’s especially. We guard them closely. Forever closely.”

Joan’s eyes went wide. “Wait, so that’s your real name? And you never--”

“Of course it isn’t,” Jinxwin said with a light laugh. “You are just this world’s hero. An amusing distraction, granted, but nothing more.”

Joan tried not to deflate too much to that comment, but she wished the archfey could sound just a tiny bit less smug and condescending with that. “Thanks. I guess. You know, if you only wanted to speak with me so you could tell me how unimportant I am, the Nameless One did it better. He made a whole bunch of threads and stuff. Very big display.”

“I never said you were unimportant,” Jinxwin said. “Just not to me. You are amusing. So naive, so clueless. So blind to what is happening around you.”

Joan blinked a few times and gave another sigh. She really hated fae sometimes. “So this is just going to be an ‘insult’ session, isn’t it? Wonderful.”

“Not quite,” Jinxwin said. “Rules have shifted. How we’re allowed to interfere, to act. So I’m here to offer you something.” She then held her hand out.

“Your hand is empty,” Joan said.

“Is it, though?” Jinxwin asked.

Joan rolled her eyes and reached out, pushing the hand down. A jolt went through her body and she let out a yelp, jumping back. “What was that? What did you do?”

Jinxwin just grinned a little wider. “A small blessing, little Hero. May it serve you better in this life than it did your last.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Joan said. “And you didn’t give me a blessing when I was the Hero.”

Jinxwin just smiled at her and Joan wondered what the penalty for kicking an archfey in the shins would be. It couldn’t be worse than this constant annoyance.

“You know I hate you? All of you? Archfey?” Joan asked.

“Undoubtedly,” Jinxwin said.

“Is this funny to you?” Joan asked.

“I did say you were entertaining,” Jinxwin said before she turned around. “It looks like the Chosen are coming, I think it’s time for me to go. You’ll likely thank me, eventually.”

Joan sighed and watched the archfey leave, the annoyance only growing in her heart. She didn’t know what was more annoying. The fact the archfey would never give her a straight answer, the condescending way they ALWAYS talked to her, or the fact she suspected that Jinxwin was correct. Eventually Joan would likely thank her for whatever she did.

Once she found out what it was, at least.

“Joan? Are you okay?” Korgron asked.

“I have no idea,” Joan said before glancing towards her hand. “Apparently I’ve been blessed. Whatever that means.”

“Where is she?” Korgron asked.

“She’s right over there,” Joan said before looking back up. Sure enough, Jinxwin was gone. “I hate archfey. All of them. Can you find out what she blessed me with?”

“Yeah, come along,” Korgron said before taking her hand and trying to lead her away from the crowd. After a few moments she flicked her wrist and a wall of ice form between them and the more persistent people who couldn’t get the hint.

------

“Well, I found out what it is,” Korgron said, a rather wicked smirk on her lips.

“What?” Joan asked, a knot of dread in her stomach. “I’m guessing it’s something you’ll find amusing, judging by that smirk.”

“Oh, it’s wonderful,” Korgron said. “It’s a blessing alright.”

“Well? What is it?” Joan asked.

“A blessing,” Korgron said.

“That does?” Joan asked, struggling to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

“Not a clue,” Korgron said. “Definitely a blessing, though. Probably something to give you good luck or make you have an excellent singing voice when you grow up. Or maybe it’ll just make you pretty. Fae love doing things like that.”

Joan felt her annoyance only growing. “That doesn’t tell me anything. What do you mean it’s just a blessing? What does it actually do?”

Korgron stared at her for a moment. “You haven’t heard a lot of tales of the fae, have you?”

“No,” Joan said. “What does it mean? I just want that. That’s all.”

“I don’t know,” Korgron said with a shrug. “But it’s a blessing of some kind. Probably some minor, inconsequential thing. Like making your hair easier to manage. Well, obviously not that because look at this thing.” The demon lightly moved a finger through her hair, tugging out a knot.

“I was running all night!” Joan said, her cheeks burning. “I was busy! Is it at least not dangerous?”

“It’s not dangerous,” Korgron said. “Probably.”

“Well, at least that’s something,” Joan said, though it didn’t make her feel that much better. Just what she needed, some vague blessing to follow her around. Knowing her luck, it’d probably be something that just made her hair longer when she got older. Still, she supposed it was better than a curse of some kind. “I hate fae. I really, really do.”

“They really seem to like you,” Korgron said with a light chuckle. “Maybe you remind them of themselves.”

“Great,” Joan said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Hags, fae. Maybe next I can get a demon to--”

“I’ve already blessed you,” Korgron said before lightly nudging her forehead. “With my presence. And I did it first, as well.”

Joan couldn’t help it, she smiled at that. “Thanks. At least I know your blessing won’t backfire on me.”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s a blessing to help you with love,” Korgron said in a teasing tone.

“Right, because romance is what I need,” Joan said with a roll of her eyes.

“You are getting to that age,” Korgron said. “I’m sure Hardwin will have offers made for--”

“Nope, no, NUH UH!” Joan said quickly, shaking her head. “Not talking about this.”

“But—”

“Can’t hear you!” Joan said before putting her hands over her ears. “Caaaaan’t hearrrrrr youuuuuu!”

Korgron just laughed and shook her head.