Sophie shakes her head, "incorrect. Everyone can change, if they choose to. It doesn't matter what plane they are from. To believe otherwise implies a lack of imagination."
She adds, sharply, a sound of frustration edging into her voice, "and, as I said, I do not intend to force anyone to do anything. I do not wish to capture the wind. I wish to provide the wind a safe space, if it wants it." She sighs. "And Imbrix and Magdh would have words with anyone who claimed order was anathema to the first world."
Sophie stuttered slightly at the word Magdh.
"For that matter, if they only follow their own 'nature,' they're as much slaves to this underlying behavior pattern as they would be to any rules of the material plane."
She pauses, and looks tired, rubbing her temple, "It's almost like we're talking past each other; let's just drop it. You don't seem to be listening to my actual words, Annalla. We can keep spinning this wheel, but it'll come to the same place." She looks frustrated again, a face that Chyrsa remembers, quite obviously, when she had a similar conversation.
"I wasn't trying to ..." Annalla begins, frustration showing in her voice. She stops and takes a breath to calm herself. "I'm not saying fey don't understand order. I'm just saying that trying to impose an outside order upon them is difficult. I'm trying to give you an inside viewpoint. If you do not wish to hear it, I will discontinue my efforts."
The woman's expression turns sad.
"I am being unnecessarily confrontational. I apologize," she says and turns away.
Isabella listens as Annalla and Sophie goes back and forth, frowning when the conversation takes a turn for the worst. "Alright, alright. Everyone's emotions are a little wild right now, justifiably so. Let's just take a deep breath and move on for now, hmm?"
She turns to Sophie first and says "Sophie that sounds like an incredibly difficult task. So far from what I have seen of fey, they do everything but follow the rules." she smiles and puts a hand on Sophie's shoulder with a smile "Still, this is a valiant goal. I applaud your lofty ambitions and wish you the best."
Moving to Annalla, she looks around the room and holds out her hands wide "This would be an amazing place to live. To see the beauty from these heights. What could be more blessed!" She places a hand on Annalla's forearm and says "Maybe once all of the lands are cleared and divided among us, you will claim this tower in your lands and may reside here and rule, justly."
Chrysa has settled painfully on the floor. "I HATE the fey" she mutters venomously at the end of the others conversation "They do nothing but whatever they want all the time. From binding hair in knots, stealing underwear, kidnapping a GIRL from her parents for weeks, to wanting to EAT you. All because it is is their nature, like that is an excuse!" she wraps her arms around herself, in obvious pain, souring her normal 'sunny' disposition. "They can't even die without being an ass about it."
Once the group reaches the ground floor, they find Teorlian's body lying lifelessly on the ground. It would seem he died of his injuries despite managing to escape out the window.
"Birds must fly. Fish must swim. Fey must be what they are," Annalla says as if reading a line from a poem. "I'm sorry that you've suffered such afflictions, Chrysa. All I can say is that not all fey have such natures. Many more are capable of great acts of kindness, generosity, and sacrifice."
She looks back up at the fortress.
"Humans, similarly, are capable of such things. I have suffered ... mistreatment ... at their hands, but I don't hold all humans responsible for the behavior of some."
Annalla turns to smile at Isabella. "Maybe I will claim this tower. Although I would have no desire to rule ... alone."
Orri is busy looking over all the various stuff they found trying to see what things might suffice as elven art for the one who sent them on this task in the first place and misses most of the back and forth. Once they have everything gathered up he notes "We should probably get this stuff back to the trading post, some of it is pretty heavy and will be difficult to lug around with us while we travel through the wilds."
He pauses as he considers for a moment "Though I suppose we could leave the heavy stuff here for now and just come back for it on our way to the trading post the next time if you all want to keep exploring for the trolls hideout."
Fair warning notice: any abilities/spells not on aliases at the time of combat will not be counted from this point onward.
"They do nothing but whatever they want all the time. From binding hair in knots, stealing underwear, kidnapping a GIRL from her parents for weeks, to wanting to EAT you. All because it is is their nature, like that is an excuse!"
A reminder of her stolen undergarments and the antics that followed make Isabella harden her jaw and just shake her head in dismay.
Annalla turns to smile at Isabella. "Maybe I will claim this tower. Although I would have no desire to rule ... alone."
Isabella smiles and nods to the sorceress. Such a logical statement was expected from her. "Of course, Annalla. I can't even imagine the burden of ruling, so it only makes sense that it should be shared among two."
He pauses as he considers for a moment "Though I suppose we could leave the heavy stuff here for now and just come back for it on our way to the trading post the next time if you all want to keep exploring for the trolls hideout."
"Let's keep looking for the hideout. How is everyone doing? Do we need to rest the night first?" she asks, surveying the others.
Annalla turns to smile at Isabella. "Maybe I will claim this tower. Although I would have no desire to rule ... alone."Isabella smiles and nods to the sorceress. Such a logical statement was expected from her. "Of course, Annalla. I can't even imagine the burden of ruling, so it only makes sense that it should be shared among two."
Annalla's face brightens visibly.
"So you would ... join me? Rule with me?" she asks, clearly excited about the prospect.
"Oh. Uh." Isabella stammers, clearly caught off guard.
That's not what I meant!
Pursing her lips, she continues "You see, I'm not sure that I'm going to be ruling yet. I've given it a little thought and I was thinking perhaps I would be better suited in more of a serving capacity. I don't know how to lead anything other than a charge, Annalla."
Sophie pats Chrysa on the shoulder, giving her a little rub, and smiling "now you and I understand each other, better, at least. So it was worth talking about this, right? We're both on the same page, but you've been abused, so you're a little more skeptical. I give you credit for not being more skeptical."
She adds, "people choose to be what they are, sapient beings at least. What happened to you was their fault, and not yours."
Ignoring the dialogue mostly, Sophie interjects, "Isabella, recall that I also would love your assistance, but not as a servant, but as an advisor. In whatever space I endeavor to create, there will be no servitude."
"You would be free to stay or go, depending on if you believed my decisions to be just. And if we speak, I would take your decisions into account - your advice is valuable. However, if you insist on swearing fealty to someone, then it will not work out, I suppose." She glances at Annalla skeptically, "I am not certain what claim Annalla could advance to take control over the stolen lands anyway, no offense." She smiles thinly towards the android.
Annalla seems to deflate at Isabella's response. And when Sophiel adds her thoughts, the wind seems to completely fall out of the android's sails.
"Sapient beings? How human-centric of you. Although, yes, you are probably correct. I'm not sure what I was thinking. My place isn't to rule." She looks once more over the elven fortress before turning her back on it to assist the others as they prepare to leave. "You would do well to swear fealty to one such as her, Isabella. She will be a powerful ruler."
"Yes, Bella, I believe I need to rest the night at least." Chrysa winces as she rises. "The hag's magic hopefully will be gone by tomorrow." listening as she does to each word and response before herself answering she shakes her head at Sophie's word "I do not blame myself for any of the things done to me by others. You never need to worry about me in that regard, Sophie." giving the half-elf a brief smile.
Then she addresses the other topic popping around "As for who rules what parts of the stolen lands, nothing has been decided and will more than likely stay that way until the threats are cleared out." she hobbles toward her donkey "Can we go? Or are there other topics needing to be aired somewhere other than the road?"
She listen to Annalla's suggestion about swearing fealty to Sophie and nods, remembering that she unsuccessfully tried to pledge herself to Sophiel once already. What did she want? She wasn't sure she even knew right now. Sophie's claim about Annalla not being able to stake a claim caught her attention, though she didn't bring it up to discus in this venue any further.
Isabella was a little weakened herself from the fey that didn't survive their fall from the tower, but she wasn't going to speak up to say halt because of her weakness. She clasps a hand to Chrysa's shoulder and nods "Let us be on our way so you can get your rest, my friend. We need you at your best."
Sophie laughs, "human-centric? My dear, what about me makes you think I'm human." She smiles at Annalla, merrily, and then continues to chuckle.
The expressions on Sophie's face is very fey-like, and her laugh is a little alien - though perhaps not to someone from the first world.
Sophie nods, "well put. A few minutes please, to leave a message for the quickling." Sophie doesn't bother destroying the fey as she had intended, but has Bjorn bury each of the slain creatures outside of the walls of the fortress. She then takes a piece of parchment and a stake, and after writing something, stakes the parchment into the ground.
The parchment reads, in Sylvan: Rigg? Tha mi a 'smaoineachadh? Tha an tùr againn a-nis. Ma tha thu airson fuireach ann an sìth, is urrainn dhuinn àite a thoirt dhut. Air neo, gluais air adhart gus daoine eile a shàrachadh.
Rigg? I think? The tower is now ours. If you wish to live in peace, we can accommodate you. Otherwise, move along to harass other people.
"Everyone can change. I'm going to hope this one can too." She says, talking to herself as she dusts herself off. "Ready to depart."
Annalla reads the parchment in silence. She frowns slightly but keeps her opinions on the abilities of fey to change their nature to herself now.
She turns and nods at the half-elf.
Orri, now caught up in the midst of the woman bickering just keeps his mouth shut as he tends to the the loot. When things seem to have settled a bit he finally chimes in "Uh, so are we heading back to the trading post or deeper into the wilds?"
"The trading post... for a night's rest. Did you find an elven trinket for your... lady friend?" Chrysa asks.
Orri rolls his eyes She isn't my lady friend, she just had a job and we had a bit of fun." He motions back to the loot as he notes "Looked like there was all sorts of elven stuff in what we found, so I suppose we will just need to decide what we want to part with."
On your way out of the woods, you hear what sounds like an argument in the distance. It sounds very heated, with threats of violence being tossed about. The voices seem to be between a group of men and at least one woman.
As usual, Sophiel would like to interject and help. "That doesn't sound good. Does anyone have any objections to helping them?" Sophiel will wait for confirmation from the others.
"I feel like an elderly woman who has been beaten by bricks..." Chrysa complains but then adds "But not knowing what it is about, we have to."
The young woman gently urges her donkey forward toward the group of shouters.
Sophie frowns, "hmm? It didn't pass? I wonder... perhaps we could research what happened. How did she do... that as she was dying?" Sophie looks over Chrysa, and there's nothing obviously broken about her.
The river makes a sharp bend here, widening into a deep pool dotted with lily pads and fringed with waving reeds. Several freshly felled trees lie beside their stumps on the shore of the pool, their crowns dangling in the water among fading tendrils of mist.
Standing near the felled trees are six loggers gathered behind their apparent leader, facing off against two more loggers standing at the waters edge. Floating in the water with just a head above water is a blue-green skinned woman, staring angrily at the lumberjack.
As soon as he notices you, the lead logger turns to you and says ”Hey! You there! How about you give me a hand with this slimy b@@@%, eh? This f#%~in’ fey attacked me and my men, who were mindin’ our own damned business, and magicked two of my boys into her f!*$in’ slaves! How’s a man to earn a living with all these damnable fairies and their ilk running about the woods!”
The woman in the water replies calmly ”That is NOT what happened. I politely asked them to leave first. But then this hothead threatened to hang me from the nearest tree to, how did you put it? ‘Drip dry?’ These trees have been growing here for over two hundred years and did NOT deserve the fate of being some grubby peasant’s slip table!
Chrysa rolled up her sleeve, showing her elbow, which was swollen "All my joints are like this, like an old person. Her magic whispered in my mind as she died... I figured I'd try and research it when we get back but first, more problems to deal with."
She sighed heavily at the mess at the river, just shaking her head, before looking to Sophie and waving her hand forward in a 'you are welcome to deal with this one'.
Ordinarily, Isabella would eagerly move to assist resolve a dispute or dilemma such as this, but it was the damnable fey all over again.
Bella sighs, letting her shoulders slump as she reluctantly marches forward. It's not hard for the rest of her traveling companions to read her body language to tell this is the last thing she wants to be dealing with right now, but yet she moves forward.
"Alright, let's let the lady out of the water so we can talk this out in a civilized fashion. Not violence, not spells." She looks to both parties to make sure they both agree.
Sophie runs her hand through her hair, and straightens herself out. With her hands folded in front of her, and Bjorn behind her, unarmed and nonthreatening, she approaches, trying to subtly stand to the side, equally spaced from each of the adversarial groups.
Sophie cocks her head, "hmmm? Bella, I'm fairly certain this young lady prefers the water." Sophie smiles at the woman, and then the woodcutters, "good day to you all, and you miss." She nods at the fey in the water.
"Perhaps you would all do me the honor of allowing me to assist you both with your argument." She smiles, eyes open wide, and a slight flush to her cheeks as she speaks, more prominently to the woodcutters, but with an eye on the fey. Her voice is a little breathy, but soothing.
The lead logger relaxes a good deal, and the woman in the water even seems a bit less on edge, after Sophiel offers her initial placating words.
The lead logger looks to Sophiel and says ”The name’s Corax, ma’am, I don’t want any trouble. I just want my timber and that witch to release my men!”
”And I want this bonehead to leave my glade and restore what he’s destroyed!” the water woman says in retort.
The two immediately begin bickering with one another again.
Sophie nods at Corax, and says to him, "it's our pleasure to meet you, Corax. As you and your men have all this physical strength on your side," She gestures at his muscled form and " If it's not too much to ask... can you give me a moment to speak to this woman? I would like to hear her description of what happened. Your friends here, are in no danger as long as my friends are around," She approaches Corax, and looks up at him with a sad smile, her eyes filled with gentle earnestness, searching his own for signs of something similar. She extends her hand gently, extending it, palm open upward, for Corax to take.
She then approaches the woman. She kneels down at the water's edge, and sits with her legs folded under her. Sophie nods slightly at the woman, saying genially and in a low voice "I'm listening, tell me what happened. And, my name is Sophiel, what's your name?" She cocks her head, and holds the woman's gaze, listening intently.
As Sophiel begins engaging in effective diplomacy, Annalla watches the men warily. She has a nagging feeling that she's met men like these before and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Not taking her eyes off of them, she moves closer to the fey to hear her story as well.
Chrysa stays on her mule. The young woman is very aware if she tries to dismount she'll groan and moan like a cranky granny, spoiling any attempt at maintaining an aura that she deserves respect.
To distract herself and the gentlemen, she'll chat with them (from muleback), asking about general bits and bobs, attempting to gather information as part of a conversation instead of interrogating.
"Do you lot work for a particular logging company or are you all freelancers?" and "We're from all sorts of areas ourselves, we do you all hail from?" so on.
Corax shrugs. ”Talk wit’ ‘er all ya want. She’s a crazy swamp fairie, ye can’t talk sense with them!” he says, which causes the little woman in the water to stick her tongue out at him.
He steps away and over to Chrysa as she engages him. ”We work for ourselves, ma’am. Rode north out of Mivon ta get us some wood ta haul back and sell.”
Meanwhile, Sophiel turns to the fey in the water. The two enchanted lumberjacks step to block her from getting too close, and the halfling-sized woman calls out ”I am Melianse. I’ve lived here for ages, and pricks like these come and go and hack and smash and just think they run the place! And I’ve had enough of it! They cut down five of my favorite trees without so much as asking! And then had the gall to refuse to return them!”
Sophie nods, her hands out to show she is unarmed, "may I please approach? I mean you no harm, Melianse. I am a druid.", and adds in druidic, "Tá mé den chéad domhan, freisin."
While she waits, she tries to think of what she knows about other forested areas, perhaps those with better quality trees that are younger.
Unable to not say anything, Annalla moves closer to the loggers.
"May I ask you a question?" she says to Corax. "If you had a farm and a bunch of orcs came and began killing your sheep, what would you do in response?"
”I’d have ‘em fenced in and staked out proper! These woods don’t belong to nobody! And you can’t spit in this wood without hitting some damned fairie saying they live in this tree, rock, bush, whatever!” Corax replies in frustration.
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"And the orcs would say that they don't recognize some stupid fence that humans make. And that they can't walk through town without running into some stupid rule about stabbing men or raping woman so they don't have to follow any ridiculous human rules," Annalla counters, growing more agitated. "Don't you see how silly your argument is? Just because you don't recognize the boundaries, doesn't mean that they don't exist and that others aren't going to defend them."
Isabella isn't sure how to handle Annalla's diplomacy. She makes a point of mentioning to her when trying to be nice to people to not use stupid so many times. She decides to move to her side and smile politely, ready to pull out her blade to prevent anything stupid these men might do.
Orri is just about done with the fey after the day they just had, he doesn't wish them any ill will particularly, he is just done. When Sophiel hops down and takes charge of handling things he rides over close to Chyra just in case things go wrong, knowing something isn't right with her after the last fight. He just sits there, his hand on his whip and watches as things unfold.
Sophie sighs when she's prevented from approaching, and says under the armpit of the apparently charmed lumberjack, trying to speak so only the water woman can hear, "it's terrible when the ones we love are taken away. I understand. The problem is that folks like Corax don't. They understand less when made to feel stressed or foolish. It's a failing of both the uh... " her eyes searching for the word, "masculine persuasion, but perhaps even more, a lack of balance of the spirit. To this end, these lumberjacks cannot return them. I expect I cannot return them, either - regrowing trees like this would take a long time. Can you think of any alternatives to having them returned? Perhaps if they were replaced"
She then asks, "but it doesn't solve the problem in the long term, even if we replace what was lost. It may be the case that I can convince them to do their work elsewhere, perhaps where the trees are not so old?" She cocks her head inquisitively "if I recall correctly, coachwood is a fine material, and there is a grove of young trees to the north, far from the old growth. Could they have those?"
Chyrsa cocks her head to the side impressed as hell with Anna's argument, though she is unsure if the lumberjacks have the mental capacity to understand it. More than likely they will just hear 'rape women', take it as a threat completely out of context, and start shoving out their chests talking about how they would never let that happen.
Still, it was impressive.
The horned woman takes her eyes off the discussion, to see if Sophie is having any progress. It doesn't look like it yet, speaking under the armpit of a lumberjack as she is. Still no yelling, or fey evil magic going on yet. No one trying to eat anyone.
Then she notices Orri siding up to her, which makes her raise an eyebrow. He is usually at Bella's side at every potential conflict. She wonders...
”Yeah, sure! But my trees need replaced and soon,” Melianse says sternly. ”Tiressia has some magic tokens that will do the trick. Go talk with her and see if she will part with them! Then I’ll consider letting these dumb dumbs go!”
Sophie nods, "so it shall be. I am friends with Tiressia, so I will go speak with her. Please, give me a moment to see if the lumberjacks will agree to this. Thank you for being so magnanimous." She smiles at the woman, and turns away.
Sophie hadn't been paying much attention to Annalla's conversation with Corax, but she sees Annalla getting agitated and standing near the head lumberjack.
Sophie twitches slightly as she sees that the android has interceded, and her face looks as if it is concerned.
Sophie relaxes slightly and exhales when nobody is getting assaulted, or screamed at, and approaches Annalla, smiling, "Annalla, these men can get their lumber from another grove that has been unclaimed. It is about ten miles away, and is a better quality wood." She turns to Corax, "it would be a terrific favor, for me, if you'd consider moving your work there. Melianse will also free your men and leave you be if our group can replace the trees you felled. As I don't think anyone here can do that quickly, would you mind waiting a bit for us? All you need to do is guard your charmed men, and just relax. We're going to help you, okay?" She reaches over an pats his arm, while looking up at him, and says this in a soothing voice.
"I think some of us should stay here to keep heads both calm and above water." Chrysa adds to Sophie's plan. Not just because she would like to not move for a while or that she'd rather not go back to that Fey place where they try to screw you literally at a drop of the hat.
Sophie nods, "it isn't far, I may be able to fly there and come back quickly."
"Very well," she responds, her agitation not really abating. "I will leave it in your capable hands. I apologize for interfering."
She steps away from the lumberjacks, her frustration visible in every movement of her body.
Sophie nods, and does something that hasn't been seen before. She steps away from everyone, and her form diminishes, her limbs distorting into wings, feathers covering her, and her nose turning to a sharp beak. Her equipment diminishes and disappears into her form, the effect occuring over about three seconds, until she ends looking like a golden eagle with lavender eyes. She nods at everyone and emits a sharp cry, like an eagle, before taking flight, and flying quickly towards the woods towards Tiressia.
After what must be only a few minutes , she returns, and alights upon the ground, breathlessly returning to her previous form, and stretching a bit. "I should do that more often," she says, smiling, and cracking her neck, as she rummages in her bag and retrieves five tokens made of feathers, with markings on them indicating they will grow a tree. She approaches Melianse with her hand outstretched. "Will these work? By the terms of our accord, will you release these men from being charmed, to let them go on their way?" She smiles at the fey in the water, reaching under the arms of the guards she's entranced to show the wondrous items.
"I will stay if needed." Isabella volunteers.
She looks over at Annalla an frowns, her frustration evident. She moves over and whispers "I applaud your attempt to diffuse the situation, Annalla. I am very impressed with how you seized the moment and tried to reason with those men."
"I almost wish that she had just drowned them and be done with it," the sorceress whispers as she gestures towards the fey. "Men like that contribute nothing to the world. They only take with no regard to the damage they inflict on the woods or ... or to those that dwell within them." She eyes the men with eyes filled with fury. "They only know how to destroy."