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Tyaethe's further musings on the Wild Hunt went ignored as Fionn scratched irritably at his left hand. He could only imagine that it had started itching the second that Gertrude had begun the actual work of summoning Fiadh...the itch had subsided, somewhat, but in the place of the worst of it had set in a dull throbbing sensation. Maybe pulling, off towards whatever room his particular fairy had been summoned to. Luckily, he was rapidly given a reprieve in the form of Renar's own gathered information.

"Why do you insist on calling her that?" he asked, furrowing his brow over at the noble-born knight. "Look, if the relationship bothers you, you can just use her name..."

Truly, it was baffling. But, he rapidly shifted over to the much more pressing topic of Duke Thedric's current madness, frowning and scratching at his beard in thought. "I feel like Niyar would be too well-known to go without being called as such, especially in a duke's reminiscences...or at least to go without the greenness being mentioned. The odd friendly Nithyr, maybe? If he said something about wishing he could go back to those days, but then rejected her offer to play with him, she might have thought she was doing him a favour muddying his senses and making him act like this, no matter what he said against it. Could be something more unique, like, but a friendly Nithyr causing problems is about as expected as an unfriendly one deciding to turn a poor traveler into their newest game piece..."

He glanced over at Tyaethe.

"Well, we may go see what Fiadh has to say, unless Gertrude bursts through the door right now with some news. You don't think I should've gone with Gerard and Rolan, do you?"

Renar's information was… interesting. Although, perhaps it was to be expected? The fey could rarely do something this extreme on someone without their assent in one form or another, even if this was merely by entering into their domains… but since they'd got the duke back, it was unlikely to be simple rambling. Fionn's assumption that it was word games seemed likely, although that raised the possibility that it was only agreement from the perspective of the fairy in question. Still, at least one thing was clear—

"I doubt it would be a Niyar, or Nithyr, even if the fairy behind this once was. They could make you forget a thing or two pretty easily, or cause some confusion… whatever drove the Duke to this lasting madness is quite stronger than that. Perhaps we'll be dealing with local nobility twice-over."

She hopped to her feet, giving a shrug, "I'm sure they'll be fine, they're good boys. Let's go see what your wife has to say."

"... A-aren't knights in shining armor supposed to be heroes?! I-isn't that what humans do!? Uwaaaah..."

The voice sounded somewhat frustrated, but more panicked then anything.

But then she revealed herself.

It was not the pitch-black, bare form of the unpredictable and dangerous nithyr. Nor was it the green and less threatening form of a niyar.

Instead, it was what was in fact a far more common sight, as fairies went.

The aessyr was miniscule, easily able to stand in in the palm of a human's hand. Her hair was a pale blue shade, and her tiny body was clad in a dress made from yellow flower petals, sewn together using spider silk. There was a faint thrum as her insect-like wings blurred, carrying her towards the assembled knights.

Rather then mischief in her eyes, she looked more frantic then anything as she flew right up to the assembled knights.

"A single aessyr?" commented Caulder, his armor clanking slightly as he leaned towards the diminutive girl, "Hmph, normally they come in swarms and try to sell you cursed goods. Or steal your valuables, they're good at that as well."

"I-I don't sell anything with curses!" protested the aessyr immediately, her miniature hands balling into equally small fists, "... I don't think so, at least..."

She paused for a moment, as if trying to recall any specific incidents, but then the look of panic quickly returned to her tiny features.

"There was a monster! It smashed up my house and swallowed Enfys and chased everyone else away!" she cried, waving her small arms up and down, "Knights kill monsters, right?! Cut it open so she can get out!"

While aessyr were known for playing pranks, the frantic tone of the tiny fae's voice made it come across as genuine. And, given their size and nature, the possibility of an aessyr surviving being swallowed by some kind of creature wasn't completely ridiculous.

So it was possible she was telling the truth.

Or, perhaps, she was merely a good actor. Regardless, something was going on, and the aessyr was a fae regardless of her motives.

Given they were looking for clues on a particular fairy's location, this wasn't the worst lead.

@Eisenhorn@HereComesTheSnow

Gertrude frowned, but her cheeks pinkened a little. This Niyar certainly knew how to get under her skin, or at least had a natural propensity to do so.

"I don't want anything from you but information. It would be a contract of convenience and nothing more, and furthermore, what part of me seems nice to you? I'm not a nice girl at all, I'll have you know," Gertrude over-explained, getting perhaps a little weirdly defensive. She pouted and crossed her arms beneath her chest, but continued after gathering herself for a few moments.

"So... powerful faeries end up being pretty unoriginal? You'd think it would be the opposite, but at least it's keeping in theme by being utterly baffling to mortals. Anyway, all we really know about her is that she's met the duke before, she's recently met him again, and around this meeting, the codger lost his lot. My own thoughts are that he made some sort of bargain with her a long time ago and recently came to collect for some reason, but I'm open to other theories."

Gertrude glanced at the door, and then to Arken.

"The lout will probably be by soon, he's married to this one and will likely have felt a pull. Any questions of your own, Arken? You've been here longer than I have, and it seems we finally have a line."

Rolan glanced back at the voice as the fae rolled in, seeing the palm sized aessyr flit out after complaining about them not being proper knights in shining armor, or something. Technically only one of their number met that description, the one that chimed in based on past experience most likely. He himself did not pretend to have as much dealings with them as the others present, deferring to their expertise on the matter while considering what was going on currently. Apparently her friend got eaten whole, home destroyed, and the rest scattered. Big beast was just about as vague as one could get. Big for such a small fae could have been anything, from wolf to bear to anything else, and that was just assuming naturally occurring creatures. Fae involvement could lead to who knows what moving around the woods, though this was about as good a lead as any that they had right now. He didn't bring up that, by this point, this Enfys had probably been digested. It wouldn't accomplish anything, not really, so rather he asked a rather simple question. It promised nothing, but would help narrow down what they might end up hunting down. Assuming they wouldn't be poaching on fae territory, or accused of such.

"Can you describe the beast any further than just 'monster'? This seems to be the best lead we have, though I am concerned about being accused of poaching on fae territory." Rolan was blunt and to the point after his question, already thinking on hunting down this 'monster'. Tracking a beast large enough to swallow a fae whole, small as they were, in such a way as to not immediately kill the poor thing did mean it had to at least be on the larger side. A larger wolf, perhaps, and he was already running through his mind the most expedient way to track the monster down. He'd have to aim for the head, not ideal as he preferred the heart, but he did not want to risk a stray shot, even by a few inches, possibly perforating the would be rescued fae within the thing's gullet. Depending on the details of the so called monster, he could plan a better approach to bringing it down in one swift strike. Cut the trapped fae clear, assuming it yet lived, and then clean the rest of the kill to be returned for use.

Just because they hunted it for other reasons didn't mean he would not let the rest of the beast, whatever it may be, go to waste. Hide, meat, bone, every part of the kill was of value. Enough fur and he might reline the inside of his cloak, it wouldn't hurt to get his cloak in a bit better shape. Fae might be outside his expertise beyond how to avoid them, but hunting was right where he was most confident in his capabilities. Still, he kept a careful watch on their surroundings as he listened and planned, as it wasn't on him to make the decision quite yet. Though the old instinct of slipping off on his own to sort out the problem was in the back of his mind again, especially since Ser Caulder was about as well suited for hunting as a combined war party, but he had stated he wouldn't go wandering off without good cause. Tempting as it was, this was not good cause, not yet.

@VitaVitaAR@HereComesTheSnow

Gerard Segremors

@Eisenhorn@VitaVitaAR

"Aessyr. Dawn's rays, had me worried." the lupine knight murmured, before drawing up alongside Caulder and Rolan to get a gilded look at the tiny fae, nearly bawling. Where he had often been warned of their impish nature and mercurial approach to trading, as their more heavily armored comrade had already noted, Gerard's mind registered her pleas as... genuine. Genuine enough.

He didn't get the feeling there was the usual mischief her folk might ply at play this time. She would have been hiding it too well, were that true. He shared a glance with his fellows, then placed a hand on Rolan's shoulder as he and the woodsman switched positions between interrogation and watch. They couldn't quite split off and deal with this, for however compelling her plight seemed on its' face— At the very least, they needed more information.

And even that would be presuming he would be able (or willing, which at this point wasn't really the case) to convince half of their quartet to carry word back and leave him, or Rolan, to their own devices. Were he a more suspicious type, he'd have decided Dame Yael spoke a conundrum like this into existence.

Taking a breath, he tore off a healthy chunk of the pastry he had pilfered on the way out— some kind of cherry tart at a glance, and offered it to the diminutive girl hanging at roughly brow-level, speaking in a slow, controlled tone— not dissimilar to the one he used when trying to calm down his little sisters, back in the day.

"Here. Take a breath, and have some of this. My friend here is right— we do need to know more about this before we go cutting things open." As far as he knew, they didn't have much to worry about if the monster was mundane and material— presuming this friend of hers was also Aessyr, no harm would come to her outside the realm of magic. Neither the beast nor the Roses' weaponry would endanger her rather than inconvenience. "After his question: Can you tell us how long ago this happened, and roughly where it was? There are others in the area we may need to inform, in case they run into it or come looking for the four of us."