Chapter 11

Part 2

“I have placed him under my protection, Princess.”

“But have you sworn to it?! Damn it Yazadril, I love you like a brother, but you are being as gullible as an unfledged duckling! Can you not see that he was probably sent to breach your Wards, whether he realizes it or not? Can you not see the danger here, the danger to us all? Imagine if this spreads, and suddenly anyone can breach our Wards! We will be engaged in warfare until the sun burns out, simply to hold our lands!”

“I do see the danger, Alilia, and I am not quite as gullible as all that.” Yazadril exclaimed patiently. “I can assure you that no one has sent him here by Compulsion, or by any other magical means. Given his condition, such a thing is impossible. You can trust my knowledge on that. We must understand this, so that we can strengthen our Wards against a repetition of it, if nothing else! And it is within my jurisdiction, so it is my duty to deal with this as I think best, for my people, and for all of us.

“And beyond that, he is truly a gentle and honorable person, and so young he is barely adult. He is my friend, Alilia, and I am sworn.

“You see that I need someone of strong power to assist me in this, so that we can completely test his limits, and that assistant must be an intuitive, someone who can act instantly without calculating first, in case one of our experiments goes awry. And I need someone I can trust to keep our findings confidential, should they prove to be as dangerous as we fear.

“You are my dear friend, Alilia. And you are uniquely suited to this task. I will not ask it of you, if you can honestly recommend a suitable replacement for yourself in this project. Think on it a moment.”

Alilia’s timelessly beautiful face clouded as she considered, her warm brown eyes squinting in concentration. Finally she shook her head. “Damn you Yazadril, why must you be right about absolutely everything absolutely all of the time?” she asked in quiet frustration. “Yours is the best course of action, and I am the best possible choice to help you.

“Give me an hour to prepare things here for my absence, and to assign a regent.”

She suddenly turned her head, obviously listening to someone at her location who was beyond the range of her spell. “Yes I am, it is Yazadril. I am off to The Nine Valleys, and it is likely that I will be gone for five years. Yes. Take my travel case there with you, for I will have enough to bring without it.”

She turned back to Yazadril. “My young son Bezedil wishes to come visit for a time, as he has never been to The Nine Valleys. He will be there shortly.”

As she said the word ‘shortly’, a young adult elf appeared beside her image, accompanied by the soft ‘poof’ of a Translocation that had been accomplished with less than perfect atmospheric displacement. Like most forest elves, he was dressed in cotton-lined mottled brown silk trousers and tunic with deerskin boots, and had dark brown hair and eyes. He had appeared in a slightly bent over position, maintaining contact with his hand on an ornately carved wooden trunk. The effect of his presence on the magic field showed him to be a wizard of serious power.

He straightened and glanced around, then bowed with a smug smile. “Greetings, you must be Yazadril! My apologies for the error in displacement, I am afraid that I had slightly miscalculated the volume occupied by Mother’s travel case.”

“If you have truly Translocated here from your mother’s tree in a single step, while carrying that luggage, then you are being overly modest. It was magnificently done, my fine young fellow!” Yazadril exclaimed. “How did you target it, since you have never been here?”

“I followed Mother’s Projection, actually. That was the challenging part.”

“And it was foolishly done!” Alilia’s image snapped in anger. “You know what would have resulted if someone had been occupying that space!”

“And I know that no one would have the audacity to stand so close to you, Mother, or even so close to your image!” Bezedil laughed. “Besides, you could see that the space was clear, and I picked that up from you when I encompassed your Projection as a targeting beacon.”

“And you were showing off!” Alilia stated angrily.

“Yes I was, and I wonder where I might have picked up such a trait? Perhaps from a dear mother who would use a full-body Projection to answer a Speaking?”

“Bah! Be more careful, or you will find yourself stuck in the middle of a mountain some day!” Alilia scolded, and turned back to Yazadril. “I will be on your central room’s balcony in an hour. Be sure it is clear.” And with that, her Projection abruptly ended.

Yazadril realized his Speaking was still active, and ended it.

“Well young fellow, allow me to introduce you to the senior wizards of The High People!” Yazadril grinned, and began making introductions.

An hour later Alilia appeared on the balcony, along with a tall wardrobe full of clothing and several boxes and baskets of personal possessions. She knew the size and shape of herself and her possessions to the thickness of a hair, ensuring that they exchanged places with the air that had filled the space they now occupied without a whisper of sound.

“Be welcome as always, Princess Alilia, to my home, and to the lands of The High People!” Yazadril said in greeting as he stepped out onto the balcony, and they exchanged a warm embrace.

“Thank you, Yazadril. As always, it feels good to be within the tranquility of The Nine Valleys.”

Nemia had followed her husband out, and she also exchanged a warm embrace with Alilia as Yazadril stepped back. “Welcome, Alilia. How is your husband?”

“Thank you, Nemia, it is so good to see you.” Alilia smiled. “And my husband is a drunken stud with an eternal erection, as always. I will call him here when I desire his presence in my bed, but until then it is best that he stays out from under my skirts. How are your young twin daughters?”

“They are well. Talia is as shy as always, and Dalia is as bold as ever. In fact, one could almost see the sparks flying when Dalia met your young Bezedil, and as we speak, she is ‘showing him her room’!”

“Ah, that would be a good match, I think!” Alilia chuckled as they entered the central room and sat. “Of course, at their ages, it is almost certainly nothing more than youthful dalliance, but I thrill to think of the children those two might produce in a century or three!”

“Yes, it is good that our girls inherited their mother’s strength with the power, as well as her beauty!” Yazadril chuckled.

“And their father’s incredible intellect!” Nemia laughed as she poured cinnamon tea for the three of them. “The thought of our blood being joined with yours through our children is a profound and joyful one!”

“Indeed. Your Bezedil certainly does you proud.” Yazadril commented.

“Yes, he is my son through and through!” Alilia laughed. “Luckily, he inherited nothing from his father, beyond his handsome looks. And perhaps his eternal erection, if I can judge by his popularity with the young females, and with some not so young!”

They shared a laugh at that.

“You know, he did not show it from birth like I did, but he is as much a wizard now as I was at his age!” Alilia continued proudly.

“I am not surprised.” Yazadril chuckled. “Even if he has less inherent power than you, he has had you for a teacher.”

“Perhaps, but his style is different from mine. He can work intuitively, but he enjoys knowing the theory behind what he does as well. Perhaps you could give him some of your time in that regard while he is here?” Alilia inquired.

“I will be glad to.” Yazadril nodded. “Though I am unsure of how much time I will be able to give him. I am already committed to teaching my girls and Markee, and this research project is of great urgency.”