---

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."

"Mmmm..."

Arken let out a heavy sigh.

"It's not as if I'm unaware of the Moonlit Queens," he said, finally, "I had my suspicions when I heard the name used. It's less like they're unoriginal and more like it's a coveted title."

He fell silent again, looking thoughtful.

"Niyar, if this is a fairy who has maintained the Moonlit Queen title for herself, then do you think it's likely she's also created a fae realm?"

"Fae realm?"

Fanilly paused. She'd followed along to the summoning room, feeling it was best if she knew the details first hand and thus could plan for what happened next. But the term 'fae realm'...

It wasn't that she'd never heard of it, not really. There were plenty of tales of fairies, both seelie and unseelie, inhabiting their own layer of reality. She certainly knew that this was somewhat the case in the real world, that certain locations were gateways to this strange fairyland that few returned from.

"Isn't that to be expected?" she asked, "I know that powerful fairies tend to be found in their own realms instead of out in the open."

"There's more to a fae realm then simply being a fairy's personal closed-off space," answered Arken, crossing his arms, "If she has her own fae realm then this is a much more dangerous prospect then merely dealing with her and whatever entourage she might have accumulated."

There was more to this then Fanilly knew from the stories of her childhood, that much was certain.

"What do you mean?"

She had to know. For her knights' sake, as well as the duke's. Any potential obstacle towards mending the duke's mind, or something that could harm her knights, had to be out in the open. While she knew that venturing into a fairy's domain certainly would be a dangerous prospect, this went beyond what she knew from those children's tales or the later novels she'd read.

"A fae realm isn't just a space that a powerful fairy can close off from the rest of the world," replied Arken, "It's a layer of the world divorced from both the mortal and spiritual realms. A sort of pocket space birthed from a fae's desires and dreams. A dreamland that only the fae who created it can control. A fae realm twists to its creator's desires, and so does everyone within it."

Fanilly's hands tensed. It wasn't just that they could end up sealed outside or trapped inside, or that fairy magic would be more potent in such a domain. Instead, it was more like the reality within the fae realm was dictated entirely by its creator's whims?

How---

How did they even begin to approach such a thing?

---

"A monster?" questioned Dame Yael, placing a hand to her chin, "Hmmm..."

The aessyr paused for a moment, eyes widening and shining as she was distracted by the cherry-filled pastry. Her miniscule hands shot out and grasped it, and she was almost immediately burying her face in it.

It took a few moments before she returned, cherry filling clinging to her cheeks. Despite one of her friends having seemingly been swallowed by some kind of creature, it seemed as if eating something sweet had lifted her spirits considerably.

"Yaay! Thank you Sir Knight!" she declared, brightly, flashing a wide grin, "It's really tasty! And---oh, Enfys...!"

She lowered the pastry, the worry returning to her face. Aessyr were childish and easily distracted, but that didn't mean they would so easily forget something important like the life of a friend being at stake.

"It's... big!" she raised one tiny hand, attempting to illustrate a tall scale, "With big, long legs, and a really wide mouth. It's all dark---"

A shudder ran through the tiny fairy's body, her gaze now drifting away from the knights as she tightly clutched the chunk of pastry in both of her little hands. When she spoke, her voice trembled.

"I-It feels bad, really bad. The air wasn't right even before it appeared and started smashing everything up. It felt like everything was getting sick, a-and heavy..."

"That doesn't sound like a natural creature," commented Dame Yael, a small frown on her features, "The aessyr it swallowed could be---"

"She's okay!" insisted the aessyr, firmly, snapped to attention "She's definitely okay! Even if she got swallowed up, she'll be okay!"

Dame Yael didn't respond, but it was clear what she was thinking.

Explaining that concept to a creature that likely didn't understand it wasn't a prospect she particularly liked. At the same time---

Aessyr were fairies. Even if the creature was an unnatural one, Enfys's survival wasn't impossible.

"A Queen without a realm wouldn't be much of a queen, now would she? And everyone knows you have to approach royalty properly, you can't just go up and be rude and violent." Fiadh asserted, pausing, "Well, unless you're also a Queen, then maybe you could have a competition over it. Or if you really wanted to be one and were desperate!

At the feel of a hand on his shoulder, Ser Gerard's, Rolan shifted back and let him be the more readily diplomatic of the two of them. Likely of the four, given the response to the offered pastry, he started musing on the information given thus far. Large, long legs, gaping maw, incredibly dark in coloration. He would have kept attempting to match it to wildlife he knew existed in the woods but the next bit of information took him off that train of thought completely. The things very presence spoiled the air, and its impending arrival was foretold by something being off in the area. Whatever it was seemed to be poisoning its surroundings by existing, and that was before it went around devouring things whole. An unnatural being devouring a fae might change matters, something Dame Yael seemed to clue in on before the protests and assurances of aessyr cut her off. Rolan started going through his supplies, taking stock and considering the circumstances. Alchemist fire was out, torching the aessyr trapped within was as good as letting it digest, he wasn't certain the caustic smoke bombs would do much more than blind the knights and cover for the monster. The poultices and supplies he had for treating injuries and ailments weren't worth a damn in a fight, and given the lack of enchantments or the like on his weapons, effectively wounding, let alone killing, a monster could prove tricky if it was resilient to mundane means. If.

"Under ideal circumstances I would take time to study what we know about this thing to properly prepare, before considering hunting it down, but if we are to do this, time is not a luxury we have. If nothing else, having something that taints the very air and surroundings it passes through wandering the woods cannot be beneficial to anyone involved." Unless they benefited directly from such things being spread, but if that was the case curing the Duke's affliction would be far more complicated than he had initially thought, and that was after seeing the actual farce going on back in the keep. At no point, however, had he agreed to go hunt this thing down, though he would very much rather do so at this point. They had their original goals in mind, after all, and it wasn't like they had set out ready to hunt something unnatural devouring fairies and tainting it's surroundings. Right now he would have to hope, should they set out, that it was susceptible to mundane means of wounding it, otherwise they would have to withdraw and replan.

"Not solely my decision to make however. Someone should at least inform the Captain and the others what has been found out so far, should we pursue this beast." Rolan knew where he stood at this point in time, even though he was still waiting on the aessyr to even answer where the beast originally was struck in the first place. Might be waiting for an agreement to help before leading them off the path, but that was a risk no matter what. While he was inclined to agree with Dame Yael on the unlikely nature of the aessyr's friend, he didn't comment on it in front of the as of yet living aessyr. It wouldn't do them any good to distress her further than she already was.

@VitaVitaAR@HereComesTheSnow

Gerard Segremors

@Eisenhorn@VitaVitaAR

Long legs, a wide mouth, all dark, and large. The last descriptor didn't mean terribly much from one so small as an aessyr without further context, but he'd take the rest into account as best he was able. It seemed all of them present had already arrived at the conclusion that this was more than mere flesh and blood. Carried a miasma around it too... he searched his mind for anything that matched. While doing so, though—

"I find myself in agreement. That said, we can't abandon the situation either. Whatever devoured her friend might be close by still." he said, glancing back to the others for a moment. "Of the four of us, you two ought to be best suited to covering ground and getting word back to the rest the quickest unless I'm very mistaken. Sir Caulder and I can hold position and keep gathering intel— Speaking of, little one, do you recall where and when this happened?" he asked, turning his focus back to the faerie. If the others had any objections to voice, they were of course free to— as he understood it he was still technically juniormost among those assembled within the Order, Rolan's erstwhile expeditionary assignments notwithstanding. "Like I said, we have some friends back at the castle who should know of this."

Inwardly, he thanked his lucky stars that this wasn't his first time having to repeat a question he asked of an easily-distracted kid.

He suppressed a grimace, feeling his mental catalogue of myth and monsters come up indistinct with the description he had to work with— this could be any number of things. Though, at least he'd have an early warning system in the feeling of the malaise if it drew close earlier than they were ready for, he supposed. They'd be able to grab the aessyr and run if they kept their wits about them... probably. Really, one of the most unsettling things he could imagine was maybeeee... a rogue Knight of the Hunt, but that was out of the question twofold.

Firstly, he was pretty sure they didn't even have mouths.

Second, and perhaps more pointed, was the fact that he didn't believe that this aessyr wouldn't recognize her fellow fae, even if they were Unseelie. More questions than answers, then. They'd have to play this as by the book as they reasonably could until they had real experts on-hand.

"It doesn't bother me, so much as I just find it patently ridiculous." Renar shot back to Fionn with no real heat or malice in his words. Just incredulity. With that little bit of side repartee out of the way, he turned back towards Arken and Fanilly, paying close attention as his mind switched right back to business. The fae as a subject of lore in general was unknown to him, so every little bit would be of use in this sitatuion.

"That...hm." Renar murmured to himself in thought as Arken finished his explanation of Moonlit Queens and fae realms, taking the new information in stride. "Any sort of direct intervention is out of the question, then. Fine, if we can't assault the realm, we'll need to target its overlord's mind. Or rather, be in speaking distance."

"In the best case scenario, we could simply treat with this Moonlit Queen and negotiate. In reality, I doubt things will be as simple." He finished dryly before continuing on. "Fionn, Sir Arken, I don't suppose there would be any other fae of similar or equivalent power that would have some sort of vested interest in seeing this particular queen brought down a notch? As I see it, our best chance is to make inroads with any sort of rival or peer if we wish to confront this issue."

@The Otter

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri listened closely to Arken's explanation of fae realms. It was becoming very clear that the problem afflicting Brennan was not something that would be solvable by force of arms. If the Moonlit Queen was residing within a fae realm, it could prove difficult to get into contact with her unless they entered the realm. Doing so, however, would be extremely perilous, placing them entirely at her mercy.

"If we are to negotiate with this fae, I would suggest we try to get her to come out of her realm and meet us on more neutral ground," Fleuri spoke to Fanilly. "Within her realm, she would be negotiating from a very, very advantageous position, even if we were to do as Fiadh and Renar are suggesting and find someone who could approach her as an equal or rival."

Fortunately, they had someone in their midst who was evidently familiar with both the etiquette of addressing a fae "queen" properly, and with the navigation of a fae realm.

@VitaVitaAR

---

"Really, though, you have so much trouble with it when Tyaethe doesn't have a single issue. Isn't that backwards?"

They had stepped into the room where the others had gathered just in time to catch the end of what Arken and Fiadh had to say, Fionn wisely pulling up the rear so that she didn't cut herself off in excitement on seeing him. At least to Renar's benefit, it kept Fionn from speculating that the illegitimate nobleman's unwillingness to acknowledge the reality of the situation was based in his desire to play the expedient, opportunistic matchmaker for his fellow knights—although the odds were good that Renar wouldn't have any problem admitting to such, anyways. He'd never been particularly shy about his various schemes and plans for advancement.

Fionn's attention immediately fell to the circle scribed upon the floor, which Fiadh had been as yet unable to pass, glancing over at the...

...Surprisingly blushing Gertrude. He frowned. "Didn't I tell you to behave yourself? Why would you pile in all of these sweets and not even let her get to them, anyways..." His frown deepened looking at the circle again. "I should be able to just smudge some of these lines and she'll be good to get out of it, right?"

It appeared that Renar's question had been missed entirely.

"I don't think there's anything much we can do on that front, the usual procedure for when we negotiate with the fey is to enter into their realms…" Tyaethe mused, continuing to walk forwards, "It's too obviously manipulative if we want to pull a queen to somewhere safer. Oh, you might be able to find some other fey of considerable power, but you still have to negotiate with them. No, better to just send those with the authority to negotiate on the behalf of the church or the crown… give the fey some reason to meet with you."

With that, the vampire knelt down in front of the circle, looking blankly at the complexity for a second before just shrugging and running her hand right through the lines, a corona of crimson light around the appendage. "Fionn's right, why are you even keeping her in there? She's as much of an ally right now as a fairy can be… no offence meant."

"Darling!" Not that the fairy seemed to care, having attached herself already quite firmly to the knight in question, now that the circle was disrupted.

"Impressive circle, though," Tyaethe added after a moment, "Normally, that level of magic would fry the entire thing. This one grounded it and didn't fail catastrophically."

---

As Fiadh immediately latched onto one of his arms, after listening to Tyaethe draw them back onto the actual topic of the day, Fionn started pulling at his beard thoughtfully. Heavy brow drawn down, frown still remaining on his face, thickly built, and stroking his facial hair in contemplation, one could be forgiven for imagining that he was trying to find a way to just break through the metaphorical wall that the problem presented them. Especially as it seemed unlikely that Fiadh, being from northern Velt, would have any clue who this particular Moonlit Queen was, or what to expect of her realm.

Unfortunately, not every problem was a door that could be kicked down or a window that could be smashed in—

"We still want to come from a position that demands some respect, don't we? The duke is a duke, and she didn't seem to have much concern, like..." His eyes slid over to the green fairy hanging off his side. "Fiadh, you could be a noble lady, couldn't you?"

He knew she was going to object. Fae hated to lie if they could avoid it, after all, so he had to fight back against any objections before they could come up.

"I mean, you live in a castle now, and since Tyaethe hasn't had to kick you out and we haven't had any other clergy knocking on our doors it seems like Mayon and Reon don't really have much of a problem with you making your residence there. You've got important folk in here who specifically asked for your counsel, and you have a knight. Sounds convincing, like."

—And yet perhaps that was what his mind was going to attempt, regardless.

"Getting scared, mistress?" Gertrude asked Fanilly, grinning, "I don't blame you. If we go in, we may leave babbling inanity like that dotard, or we may not leave at all. Not all of us have methods to defend ourselves. What we do from here is your call, but the wellbeing of both the Duke and our order depends on your command."

Gertrude frowned at Fionn as he opened his big, stupid mouth.

"The woman is daffy, won't stop talking about patting my head like a small child or confusing convenient contracts with marriage certificates. I'll let her leave if you promise she won't touch-"

But Tyaethe was already breaking the circle, and Gertrude clicked her tongue as the Niyar flopped out of the containment area and onto her husband.

"And what exactly do you know about magic, you wee mosquito?" she growled at Tyaethe, "aside from brute-forcing your whims onto reality? Might as well be a little fairy princess yourself, the way you treat the subject."

She looked back to Fionn, then back to Tyaethe, then shrugged and grabbed a couple of tiny fruit tarts. She popped one into her mouth, and offered another to the Niyar.

"I won't say it's a terrible idea, lout, but if this Moonlit Queen sees Fiadh as competition, it may not end well. If we bring something or other as tribute, however, we may find her amenable to a noble alliance. Faeries are fond of gifts, after all," she demonstrated, offering more sweets to Fiadh.

(and Tyaethe)

"Oh, thank you!", the fairy said, taking the offered pastry and chewing away at it, thinking about Fionn's offered suggestion, "Oh, I could be a noble, but I'm not one, and if I was one then I would be a lot stronger. If I was stronger I could be a noble, but I don't know how you could do that for me, darling."

"I know a lot about how magic goes off when you disrupt it. Rogue summoners or mages aren't that rare," Tyaethe countered, raising an eyebrow. Well, if she didn't want the compliment…

"Maybe Fiadh could be a diplomat? It's her or the captain," she suggested. Best to put forward everyone else, she didn't enjoy the idea of having to directly represent the crown when there were better options. Somehow, she doubted a fairy queen would treat her with any more respect than Fiadh did… or Gertrude, come to think of it.

"Oooh, I can do that!"

"What's a diplomat?"

Fanilly took a deep breath.

She couldn't exactly deny Lady Gertrude's words, as frustrating as they were. She was scared. They had to do something, but a fae realm sounded far beyond anything they'd encountered before.

At the same time---

This wasn't a battle. At least, their approach to the fae realm and this 'Moonlit Queen' wouldn't be. It was obvious this had to be approached not with violence, but with diplomacy. They would have to negotiate for the return of the Duke's wits, as opposed to fight for them.

If they tried to approach this in the wrong way, there was no telling what could happen. Stories of dangerous fae told of disappearances, strange transformations, the replacement of memories or simply mass confusion and scattering across the wilds.

None of that could be allowed to happen.

The Knight-Captain took a deep breath.

"We have no choice but to approach this as diplomats," she began, pushing her fears away into the back of her mind, "I agree. Perhaps... Sir Fionn and myself should take the lead in that regard."

While Sir Fionn did not have any sort of diplomatic training, his knowledge and relationships with the fae(exemplified by Lady Fiadh) seemed like a wise choice for some form of negotiation at the very least. As for herself, Fanilly recalled the more diplomatic side of her training fairly well.

Between the two of them, maybe---

"Er..."

Lady Fiadh herself... maybe she could work as diplomat?

"It's... a sort of person who helps one group talk to another so the situation ends favorably for both of groups."

It was the best simple explanation she could think of for the term.

Arken cleared his throat.

"While diplomacy is surely the right course, Sir Renar brings up an excellent point," he began, "The assistance of another fae of somewhat suitable power would be greatly preferred to trying to break into a fae realm on our own."

Of course. The diplomacy hardly mattered if they couldn't get into the fae realm in the first place.

"Of course, that necessitates finding such assistance, and convincing them to help," he continued, "All of which are, of course, incredibly easy tasks."

---

Though the look of concern was plain on Yael's face, she didn't say anything else after the aessyr's insistence.

The fairy paused for a few moments.

"It's... back that way!"

She turned, pointing back over her shoulder, towards the grove that she'd emerged from.

A metallic sigh emanated from beneath Sir Caulder's helmet.

"You may know your way around the forest, aessyr, but we certainly don't," he said. Despite his initial hostile reaction to the fairy's appearance, a hint of a more gentle tone could be heard underlying his somewhat gruff words, "It would help if you could tell us if there were any landmarks nearby, perhaps. Something we might recognize."

The tiny girl blinked, then her gaze drifted downwards.

"Um... u-um..." she fidgeted in the air for a few moments, her wings humming, "Um... o-oh! It's... it's... That Sleep place! Humans call it the sleep place! It's right by there!"

'That sleep place' was probably not particularly helpful.

However, there was a location that wasn't so distant from here that could potentially have been where the aessyr meant. Thomlin's Rest was a well-known location within Brennan Forest, known for it being the resting place of Duke Thomlin, who perished from his wounds after slaying an orc chieftan.

Rolan considered the situation as it was presented. Divide their already limited numbers, so that two may return to the Captain and inform them of what was going on. The idea was all fine and well, however, without a landmark or destination, just saying 'we should return to this particular point in the path' would be no better than simply abandoning them to the wood. Of course, he did not have the chance to bring up the fallacy of this consideration as Ser Gerard resumed questioning the Aessyr and continued repeating himself, at least he had the patience to repeat himself over and over as needed. One advantage of heading back as the messenger might be in that he could have a few moments of hastened research and preparation while the Captain rallied the rest of the knights to march out and form a single, cohesive band. That would loudly announce themselves, intentionally or not, and keep an intelligent hunter well and truly out of sight of them. That being said, it had to be done all the same. He would have suggested he go alone to return to the Captain but they finally got more information out of the fae.

That Sleep place would not have done them any good if it wasn't for Ser Caulder being far more direct than the others had been so far, getting the name of a local place of importance. Now then, that was a far better idea to meet at a local landmark, and strike out from there. That was something they could work with, and he felt more confident about being able to relocate them again and proceed from there.

"That gives us a much more certain approach than 'return to this point in the path'. If we are agreed, I can depart immediately. Dame Yael, I leave it up to you whether you'd rather remain here or return with me." Rolan had no intent on forcing Yael to act contrary to any intent she might have in her mind. He would not insult her capabilities with a concern about her swiftness of foot, she would not be a member of the Roses if she was incapable. Depending on the agreement he would be ready to depart immediately. Retracing his steps is not difficult, but he could not let his guard down just because it was easy in theory.

@HereComesTheSnow@VitaVitaAR

Gerard Segremors

@Eisenhorn@VitaVitaAR

"Perfect. We'll take the direct route." Gerard nodded, fine with this arrangement and hearing nothing in the way of objections. Time was of the essence if they wanted to make this save, this Enfys's survival being an open question or otherwise. Additionally, provided they could preliminarily scout out the sight of the attack, the main party on their heels could be quickly brought up to speed and act effectively.

It'd be a more agile stance to take than delaying the information until all fourtysomething of the knights present were on-site, at any rate. Plus, even this small division of theirs was noisy enough simply by way of their armoring— two or three harnesses could move with the wind and minimize jangling passably, provided their skill levels were all roughly equivalent. After a dozen or more, it was much, much further from feasible.

Really, another reason he'd brought Sir Rolan's name up in the "return to base" part of the division of labor was that he had to work with what he was given— Ideally, he and the other scruffy black-haired knight would push out ahead, known quantities to one another and both at least servicable in their bushcraft. If the goal was simply to prowl the forest to try and get the drop on this beast, Gerard had plenty of cause to suspect their pair the strongest.

But putting it as simply as possible, he didn't for a moment believe the other two would let them get away with that.

So he had to work within that frame.

"We have a fair idea of which way Thomlin's Rest lies from this point per the briefing— There should be a split in the path that would take us there. I intend to just keep things to an 'investigation' and not an 'engagement' unless a fight comes upon us first— though with that said, we're burning daylight. Move well, Rolan, and Reon guide you. We'll do the same."

He shifted his gaze back to the buzzing little Aessyr, another torn-off fragment of pastry on offer.

"You'd best stay with us if that monster you speak of still prowls nearby. Safety in a pack, right?"