“SILAS!” her voice boomed, my beautiful fae holding me tight, and I cradled her on the ground. I held her head to my chest, speechless. My heart was racing, and I couldn't believe we were finally together again.
I didn’t even question how she recognized me in my elf get-up. Could be her great sense of smell.
She looked up at me with those bright yellow eyes and smiled. “I see that you got some new metal!” She giggled. “And, you look different!”
I had chills...
I stared at her starkly before it finally hit me, and I grabbed her in my arms again.
“You’re alive…” I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking.
We stayed like that for a while, just holding onto each other. I had never felt more alive than in that moment, with her in my arms again. It made stomaching all this bull shit that’d just happened easier, and with Jezz back, I just knew things would get better from here.
“I missed you so much…”
“I did too, Silas. You have no idea…” she whispered softly, snuggling into me. I strummed my fingers through her hair as I felt wet teardrops on my top. She tried hiding that she was crying as she wiped them away, but as I inched back to see her face, I realized they were tears of joy.
She chuckled, and I did too, before I looked her over, trying to understand what she was wearing.
“Jezz, what do you have on?!” It was a black and white showgirl sequined tuxedo leotard. I’d known her to wear loose or tomboyish clothes, so this little ensemble took me by surprise.
She giggled. “We made a pit stop to this edgy thrift shop along the way. I didn’t have many options. But screw how I look! As long as it fits!”
“Wait a minute, did you come here with Gerald?”
She looked up to the tall giant casting a shadow over us as he stood straight and looked out to the horizon, and then she turned back to me. “Yeah… It’s a long story. He actually saved me. But after we escaped the dragon kingdom, we went trekking about, I got this strange signal and I teleported all three of us here. I had no idea it’d lead me to you!”
So Rufian wasn’t bullshitting me after all. That spell he casted brought her here…
“H-hold on, did you say three of us?”
She nodded. “Yeah! Red is here, too!”
“Red? As in Redfeur? Gavori’s boyfriend?” I heard foot-steps approaching, the object Gerald was looking at approaching us. It was in fact Redfeur, Madam Mystic’s son, in the flesh…
I squinted, noticing his outfit as well. “Do you both have the same tailor?”
“Haha, very funny,” Redfeur said as I got up on my feet with Jezz. It was a spiffy black and white magician’s suit, don’t get me wrong. I just felt like I had to toss a cape on or something to fit in.
He walked up to me with a beaming smile and a handshake. “It’s finally nice to see you in person. Jezz told me a lot about you.”
“Heh not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” I teased, taking his offer. “It’s really great to see you well, Redfeur. Gavori had me looking for you.”
“I’ve been told. But we have a lot to talk about.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately we can’t talk now. We have a crystal shard to fetch.”
Jezz gasped. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“A source gave me the exact location of the fae crystal shield…”
“Ekkk!!” She squealed, bouncing on her toes. “I hope you’re not pulling my leg!”
“Heh, I wouldn’t joke about this, Jezz.”
“Wait a minute, is the source a fae?”
“Yes, but I trust the source.”
“Who?”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” I said, avoiding bringing her brother up. “Let’s just say we have a mutual interest in sabotaging the High Order.”
She smiled. “Silas, I am impressed! Sounds like you know more about fae than I thought. But, you traveled in Mavriel by yourself? You don’t have a team? What about the scouts?”
“No, they are needed in PP. I couldn’t leave our people vulnerable like that.”
“But fae are usually higher leveled than humans. And the disguise charm isn’t that great among fae.”
“This isn’t a disguise charm working right now. It’s a plum from a forest.”
“I know what forest you’re talking about. Jeez, you got pretty busy in fae country, didn’t you? Your level! You’re almost at 100!”
“You’re giving me too much credit. Most of this was the goddess’ doing…”
“Huh?”
“Long story.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her a wholesome smile. “When we go back home, we’ll set time aside to talk about our journeys. For now, we’ve got work to do.”
