Chapter 311: End of an Era

We all spent a moment in silence after the Guildmaster’s news.

“Meeting?” Ocean asked.

“Meeting.” I agreed.

“I’m coming along.” Artemis stubbornly insisted.

We looked to Night, who frowned a hair.

“I’m going to be involved one way or another.” Artemis correctly read Night’s look. “Might as well involve me in the planning.”

“Agreed.” Night settled. “Hunting, Brawling. Please acquire the rest of our comrades. Dawn. A number of us are currently indisposed, if you could please fix that? The rest of us will be at the meeting room. I will be moving to my archives, and retrieving a number of stories about the fae for us to consult.”

With that, we moved onto our respective tasks. The party had been winding down, but more than half the members leaving completely killed it.

Auri was one of the indisposed members, having indulged herself in burning and eating things until she collapsed from sheer joy and excitement. A quick flicker of thought pulsed [Sunrise] through our connection, waking the poor sleepyhead up.

“Brrrrpt?” She asked.

“Party’s over. Got a mission.”

“Brrrpt…” She sleepily processed, then what I said registered.

“Brrrrpt!! Brpt?”

“Maybe. Come on.”

Neptune found me as I was getting everyone else sobered up and awake. Didn’t make me popular, but a tense “Meeting. Now.” forgave all sins.

Fifteenish minutes later saw us all in the Sentinel’s meeting room, including the few Sentinels that hadn’t come to my party. No judgment, we were all busy people.

Night handed a stack of scrolls to Nature, who took one and passed the stack on. We each grabbed one, and I skimmed a story about a fae who granted a woman the power to spin her hair into gold – for the price of her firstborn. Auri carefully read over my shoulder, and I made sure to go slowly enough that she could keep up. She was working hard! She really wanted to come.

“Thank you all. I am aware that the hour is one in which most of you would prefer to be sleeping. However, we have just received word regarding Commander Julius’s disappearance. It is possible that time is of the essence, but more practically, nearly all of us were awake and in the same location. Now, here is what we know…”

Night gave a – I hesitated to use the word quick – recap of the events, from Julius and his escort going missing, to Hunting tracking down the location, to the various stakeout teams that had been present.

“Former Ranger Artemis is here with us due to a close personal connection to Commander Julius.” Night concluded.

She cheerfully waved, seemingly lounging on one of our nice chairs. I knew her well though. It was a lie. She was tightly wound, ready to explode at any moment.

“Nice digs.” She approvingly looked around the room. “Beats a wagon by a mile.”

I was convinced that Artemis was good enough to be an entry-level Sentinel, and I wasn’t quite sure how or why she never got promoted. My personal bet was a combination of how damn twitchy she got in the field and the sheer lack of an open role for her. Almost anything she could do, Destruction could do better.

Regardless, this wouldn’t be a good time for one of her students to go “boo”.

“I know this isn’t super important.” Ocean said. “But I do want to note that adventurers got the news to us before our own Ranger Trainees did. It’s worth investigating how and why they were able to outperform us.”

“Agreed.” Night said. “My initial assessment has me believe it is a matter of motivation and following the normal chain of command. News was not flagged as urgent, report at all costs. I believe we will find it waiting for us in our normal morning briefings. A topic for another day. For now, let us discuss Commander Julius. First, I believe there is no question that we shall attempt a rescue operation. Correct?”

We looked around the room at each other, and Bulwark gave a great big dramatic sigh.

“I’ll say it. We should build a small outpost there, use it as a base for forest exercises, and simply wait. If Commander Julius was taken by the fae, he will return, and there’s no sense in throwing more people into the mix. Given what little we know of them, where does it stop? Does Night attempt to go in, and when he doesn’t return, we send in Ocean? Should Maestrai and Nature go in after them? If we do this wrong, we can lose more Sentinels here than we lost in the Formorian war.”

Bulwark had excellent points, and I found myself nodding along. Most of the room was also nodding along, with a few frowns.

“Agreed.” Night settled on. “Only a single Sentinel–”

Artemis loudly coughed.

“–or team will be sent.” Night smoothly finished. “If that team fails to produce results, we shall fall back to Bulwark’s plan. Objections?”

There were none.

“Right. Before the next step, who is unfamiliar with the rules of the fae?”

Most of the Sentinels acknowledged they were unfamiliar.

“Let me?” I offered, and Night nodded.

I recited verbatim from the long-ago memory of Night teaching me the rules.

“Strike no deal with them, make no bargain.

Take nor offer a gift.

Be nothing if not polite and courteous. Give no insult.

Do not lie. They can not lie, but never think they speak the truth.

Keep your word.

Do not give them thanks.

Do not partake of their food or wine.

Do not spy or violate their privacy.

Do not give them your full name… a task you might struggle with. Give them a moniker if you must.

Do not violate their rings.

These things seven may grant protection against the Fae, each in its own manner.

Cold Iron, pressed to flesh.

A four-leaf clover, to grant vision.

Wearing clothes inside out, to confuse, amuse, and befuddle.

Salt, sprinkled around in a circle.

Arcanite, pulsing with mana to blind.

The Symbol of the Five Gods, worn sincerely.

A wreath of holly, a crown upon your head.”

“Brrpt…” Auri didn’t like all these rules.

“Excellently done.” Night praised. “Now, let us tackle some generalities before we decide who must go. Your title is perfectly acceptable to use with the fair folk. You both recognize it as something you are called by without it being your true name. Now, information on the fae is spotty. As far as I can tell, the name the System grants you is the name that should not be given. Gifts are both easy and hard. Something you might not recognize as a gift may seem like a great boon to these most wily and clever of tricksters.”

“How are we supposed to eat?” Artemis asked, cutting in through Night’s lecture. I shot her a horrified look, but she looked at ease.

Right.

She’d been Night’s mentee and was probably familiar enough with him to be casual and flippant… even though I wasn’t.

“Like. No deals, no gifts, and don’t eat their food. How do people not starve to death in fairy land? Even with those stories we hear.”

Night cocked his head at her.

“The worst stories we hear, the ones where terrible things happen to people, are the ones in which they violate the rules. Follow them, and your time will be short. Break them at your own peril.”

“Bring a backpack of food, got it.” Artemis loudly muttered under her breath. She got a few smirks for that. Nobody contradicted her though.

“The logistics of this mission will be reviewed, as it does not conform to the norm.” Night agreed. “Their idea of manners can be entirely different. What is normal here may be a grave insult there, and what looks like a grave insult may very well be a compliment. Naturally, the fae do not tell you which is which until you have either caused offense or passed whatever inane test they choose to put you through.”

Night paused, letting us all digest.

It was so late as to be inhumanely early, and honestly this wasn’t a great time for it. Then again, disasters and the like didn’t operate under normal business hours.

“As for keeping your word, Acquisition is the only one here who might struggle with such an issue.”

Oooof. Shots fired. Acquisition looked vaguely embarrassed, but didn’t say anything. It was a hazard of his line of work, and none of us faulted him for it.

“As for violating their rings, it is a task we will need to do simply to access their realm, which is the most likely spot where Commander Julius is to be found. Questions?”

There were a few clarifying questions, and we moved on.

“For protection. Cold Iron is entirely out of the question. One wearing or simply possessing a small fraction of the material makes one entirely unable to be touched by the fae, no matter the provocation. A similar issue occurs with a Symbol of the Five Gods, and I have reason to believe that other divine symbols confer similar levels of protection. I do not have solid information on that front, but it is best to be safe.”

Brawling raised his hand, and Night acknowledged him.

“Dumb question. If it’s so good, why don’t we want to bring it?”

Good question. I was wondering a similar thing.

Night gave him a curt nod.

“If you do, you will not be able to enter the land of the fae, to attempt to rescue Commander Julius.”

Ah yeah, that made sense.

The pieces of a puzzle clicked.

The voice that had said they found me? The voice that had sounded like autumn incarnate, a season full of colors in words?

I’d heard it right after the spinosaurus had destroyed mom’s pendant. A pendant made out of iron, hammered into a religious symbol. It had been for “bringing good luck” and “protection” when mom had given it to me, a small little family heirloom.

Little had I guessed, it was protecting me. I should’ve put the pieces together years ago.

Had that been the fae looking for me?

Why had they been looking for me?

Questions for… well, not quite another day, now was more appropriate, but I had no way of getting answers.

“Any reason we can’t issue four leaf clovers to the team?” Hunting asked. “I know I’d want a dozen.”

“None. We shall acquire enough for everyone to have some. On that note, for the next year or so I will be issuing Cold Iron for all other Sentinels.”

“Why don’t we normally have it?” Brawling asked.

“Because wearing Cold Iron for the explicit purpose of warding off the fae as a long-term organized solution tends to… irk them.” Night said.

I remembered getting the expanded version of the story from him. Nasty stuff.

“In addition, salt will be issued. There is an argument to be made for wearing normal clothing over our standard-issued armor. It is possible to turn a tunic inside out, but it is not possible to do the same with our gear. However, there are conflicting reports. Occasionally, a survivor of the fae realm will claim that no System was present, but the vast majority agree that there is significant magic in their world. Armor would be a boon. At the same time, one hopes that no fae would attack without provocation, and that none of you would give them reason to take offense.”

Hunting loudly snorted, and I agreed with him. Destruction spoke up.

“It’s not like we get sent to deal with the reasonable people who’ll just talk it out.”

Night tilted his head in acknowledgement.

I was totally bringing my armor.

“Arcanite is acceptable if it is kept hidden, although it can be worth revealing it at the right moment if needed. Lastly, a crown of holly. I believe it is worth bringing, however, keeping it hidden and well-preserved until a critical moment that it can be deployed is something of a challenge. One that I am sure you are all up to take.”

Yeah, touching on the pride bone was a great way to get all of us to straighten up.

“The question is. Which Sentinel do we send?”

Almost all of us raised our hands. Only Toxic and Bulwark kept their hands down.

None of us would be in the room if we didn’t all jump at things like this. Just part of our nature.

Heck, none of us would’ve become Rangers if we didn’t jump at things like this! Toxic and Bulwark both had their own reasons why they weren’t volunteering, but that didn’t change the fact that they volunteered for things they believed they were even slightly suited for.

“Hunting.” Night stated.

“Tracking and finding people, monsters, and things is my entire kit. It’s my job. It’s who I am, and it’s my title. I should be sent.”

Damn good logic.

Destruction put his hand down.

“Ocean.”

“Flexibility is my entire kit, and I’ve been playing the political game for the Sentinels. Water is everywhere, in everyone, and I’ve had my chops sharpened on the word games from the Senate and Command for decades. The fae are all about trickery and careful application of words, and I’d navigate that better than anyone else here.”

More good points. My hand wavered, but locking eyes with Artemis helped me keep it up.

“Acquisition.”

“With respect to Hunting. You’re about finding and killing things. We’d like Commander Julius back in one piece, and retrieval is my entire domain. I’ve also spent an untold number of years with the worst of humanity, and I know all about careful words and bloody oaths. Hunting’s better at finding people than I am, Ocean’s better at diplomacy than I am, but I combine both of those into a single person. We don’t want to send too many people, it’d harm our operational readiness.”

“Nature.”

“We don’t hear about the Fae building grand cities now, do we? We hear about them in nature. In the woods. Gods, we’re talking about a fairy ring made out of mushrooms. I’ve found my fair share of monsters in the woods, and every story of the fae has them in forests, glens, groves, or generally places bursting with life. That’s me. While the rest of you are playing fancy word games with the fae, I know the real secret. Shut up and don’t chat with them. They can’t trick you and you can’t break your word if there are no words traded.”

Brawling and Senti-null put their hands down.

“Dawn.”

I’d been thinking about my own arguments.

“I’ve got a close personal connection to both Artemis, who’s going, and Julius, who we’re looking for. I’ve got a deep wellspring of stories, both of the fae and that can be told to the fae. I’m one of the hardest Sentinels to kill, and I’ve got something nobody else has: time. My Immortality skill makes it such that even if the fairies decide to keep us trapped for a hundred years, I can have all of us emerge at the same physical age, even if the mental age is different. If someone else goes, they might get trapped and die of old age before they’re able to escape. That’s not a concern for me, and with how long Commander Julius has been gone? I believe we need to start being concerned about how long he’s been in there and what he’ll emerge as. I’m also the only one of us with significant non-human interaction and diplomacy.”

Brawling gave a great big snicker at that, and Hunting coughed “Pastos.” into his fist. Ocean raised an eyebrow.

“If we wanted someone to either end up destroying their civilization, or we wanted to declare war on the fae, you’d be first in line.” He teased me.

“Dawn is not only the only one who’s lived for over a year with other species, but she also has an entire realm of knowledge and interactions stuck in her head. The elves favored her, and the dwarves liked her so much they didn’t want to give her back.” Toxic loomed behind me, the giant defending me.

Not that I needed it, but I appreciated it.

“Enough. We will discuss the merits of each Sentinel after all cases have been presented.” Night said.

Mirage’s hand wavered, but he gamely kept it up.

“Mirage.”

“I… honestly, I’ve got nothing better than what anyone else has already said.” He said with a nervous chuckle.

“I vote healy-bug.” Artemis quickly jumped in. “We know how to work together, and I know she’s got my back.”

She tossed her hair defiantly under the gaze of the highest-leveled fighters and mages humanity had to offer.

“Hunting. Ocean. I believe that Acquisition has made excellent points that make him a better candidate than either of you. Do you object?”

Hunting did, and it was pointed out that he was one of the premier Sentinels, and had a mission history a mile long. It was also pointed out that he was one of the most-deployed Sentinels and having him go on a potential multi-year mission would be devastating to every other problem Sentinels had to deal with.

It came down to me, Acquisition, and Nature.

There was no animosity in the selection process. We were professionals, trying to decide which skill set best suited an unusual situation, even by Sentinel standards.

“I’m going to withdraw my candidacy.” Acquisition announced to our surprise.

We looked at him, nobody needed to ask him to clarify.

“I’m poorly suited for long-term wilderness survival.” He admitted. “I’m used to dealing with civilization being nearby, but civilization I’m familiar with and welcome in. At the same time, we can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to barter with them, and I realized that my usual methods of acquisition might be easily seen through by the fae. Should be Nature or Dawn.”

“I’m going to stay withdrawn.” Ocean added in. “Too many irons in the fire for me to be gone for potentially that long.”

I frowned at him. We all had lives. None of us wanted to vanish for possible years!

Then again, he was probably talking about political issues, not family ones. And I’d use that to make my case stronger.

“I hate to say it, but I’ve got a bit of a track record for being on long deployments without everything falling apart.” I drily added, to a round of chuckles. “Plus, my seat’s new, and my mission log is one of the worst. I’m rarely deployed, in spite of having one of the highest levels. Not sure if it’s because Rangers rarely remember to send word of plagues and the like, or what, but it’s not like we lose a critical seat if I’m gone for an extended period of time. Might as well earn my pay.”

Nature leaned back and looked at me with an unhappy bend to his face.

“Fine. I’m convinced. Dawn should go. She’s right, she’s not deployed enough, and it’s senseless to have me go when we know something will come up in the next moon for me.”

With that it was set.

Artemis and I would be stepping through the fairy ring.