Chapter 122: 121. Enlightened

"And now you know the truth," Taralynn said with another little smile. "You know the source of our gift, and you know a little more about the origins of our clann. And you know that you can count on the fingers of one hand how many generations separate you from Ruad Rofhessa."

She added after a moment, "You are also the only fae alive to know this Tegan. And I suggest you keep it to yourself."

I was silent, my eyes were wide and my jaw slack as I stared at my great-grandmother. She hadn't actually explained who Ruad Rofhessa was, but every indication in her tale suggested he was a God. She was telling me that her father was a God. That I was the great-great-granddaughter of a fae God.

It seemed unbelievable, and in fact I wasn't sure if I did believe it. And I knew absolutely nothing about the fae Gods. I was pretty sure there were some books on the subject in my mom's study, but I'd never read them. I read all her books on magic, but little else.

I started to think I needed to remedy that. I needed to check out a few books on fae mythology. And it suddenly struck me that some of the names I might find in books on fae mythology could well be part of my family tree.

After another minute or so I finally took my eyes off Taralynn and glanced around. Tempest Merryweather was standing nearby watching me, and by the wide smile on their face I realized they probably already knew the story Taralynn just told me.

They continued smiling up at me as they said "Lady Tegan, you told me earlier you didn't know why this Duma Dé was so important to Lady Taralynn. Now you know the truth of it."

I nodded slowly, "Yeah..." I didn't know what else to say.

My attention returned to Taralynn as she stated, "Tegan it will soon be dawn. Have you any other questions, before I take my leave?"

I thought quickly. I wanted to know who her father really was, but I figured I could find that answer in books. Saoirse recognized the name from legends so I just needed to read up on the legends to get that information.

Instead I came up with two other questions that I figured wouldn't be found anywhere else but here.

"What exactly is our gift?" I asked her. "I mean, I know it means I'm a powerful mage, but how exactly does it work? Is my power truly unlimited, or is there something else going on?"

My great-grandmother smiled, she seemed to approve of the question. "A fae's strength in magic comes down to two factors, Tegan. How much power they're able to store within themself determines what number or types of spells they may cast. Some fae command vast reserves of magic and can cast many demanding spells, others have only modest reserves and can cast only a few simple spells. The other factor is how quickly those reserves are restored after a fae has exhausted themself. Some fae take in magic quickly, others replenish their stores more slowly."

She continued, "You have tried once or twice to 'find your limit' Tegan, but you haven't yet discovered it. That is because our gift allows us to draw magic in from the world around us faster than we can use it. You've never once had to call upon your own internal reserve, you simply tap into the power of the world around you."

The pixie spoke up again and added, "Or put it another way, your limit is literally all the magic in the world. You won't run out until there's no magic left in all Otherworld."

My eyes were wide and my mouth hanging open again as I looked back and forth from Taralynn to Tempest.

It took me a little while to process that, but it eventually led me to another question. "So I'm truly helpless in a place without any magic? Or if a magic-suppression collar is put on me? That would block me from accessing the world's magic."

"Perhaps," Taralynn replied. "Since you've never had to make use of your own internal reserve of power, you don't know how much is there. It's possible you have none since you've never needed it. It's also possible your internal reserve of power is greater than any other fae alive."

"I was in a place with magic-suppression spells on it a couple years ago," I said with a frown. "There was no magic there, I couldn't see auras, I couldn't feel any magic."

My great-grandmother asked, "Did you try and cast any spells?"

I shook my head, "No, because I couldn't sense any magic."

She smiled, "Then you still don't know the answer. You may well have had all the magic you needed at your fingertips."

"Crap," I sighed. That whole situation with Lord Aengus would have been a lot easier if I'd known I could still use magic. Keira almost died because I assumed I was helpless.

Taralynn asked "Was that all Tegan?"

I realized I was running out of time with her and shook my head, "I have one more question. What are the Duma Dé? I mean, what are they really?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"They're special, important, legendary," I replied. "They're where you speak to me, they're where your mother came to seek help. This one is where you were conceived. They're obviously something special, something important to the Gods. I want to know what they really are."

I added, "I've already heard the legends, what I want to know is the truth. Places become legendary for a reason, I want to know what it is."

The pixie was looking intrigued now. I was sure whatever the answer was not even they knew it.

Taralynn appeared thoughtful for a few moments, then finally she gave me a slight knowing smile. "Very well Tegan, we have time for another little story..."

• • • • •

The pixies kept circling the top of the Duma through the night, but they all went back into hiding when the first hints of dawn appeared in the grey clouds overhead. Now the sky was starting to get lighter as I finally headed back down towards our camp.

I had my answers, and with Taralynn's guidance I'd made my decision. And I had a gift my great-grandmother and the pixies gave me, but it was currently rolled up and stuffed in my jacket pocket. It would remain out of sight for now, until the time was right.

As I made my way back to our camp I saw my five companions were all up, all watching me with a mix of worry and relief.

"Are you ok?" Kelly demanded as soon as I was in earshot. "Did you get what you came for?"

I nodded as I got to the base of the Duma and rejoined them, "Yeah I'm fine. And I got my answers. Why, is everything all right here?"

Keira stated "Something woke us last night, and we saw the pixies were circling."

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"They only do that when they're upset," Siobhan explained. "It's like a threat, it meant we couldn't approach at all. We couldn't see what was happening, or if you were under attack."

"Oh," I blushed. "Sorry. I'm fine, I wasn't under attack. And I don't think they were actually upset. Excited maybe, but I don't think they were angry."

"Yeah trust me," a small voice near my left ear stated. "If we were upset, you'd have known it."

Everyone else took a couple steps back as they stared wide-eyed at me.

Siobhan warned me, "Don't move. Don't panic, just stand still."

I glanced at my shoulder and asked "Uh... Tempest? What are you doing there?"

The blue-haired pixie was sitting on my left shoulder looking fairly relaxed.

"It's Merryweather," they stated. "Tempest is my family name. My name is Merryweather."

I blinked a few times then apologized, "I'm sorry I didn't realize I had that backwards. So um, Merryweather, what are you doing there?"

The pixie rolled their eyes, "Waiting for you to introduce me to everyone?"

After a moment they added, "Oh you mean why am I riding on your shoulder? It's so I don't get stepped on or swatted at. It's also a lot more convenient than flying. There's no way I'm going all forty leagues back to your castle under my own power, any more than you fae plan on walking that distance yourselves."

I continued to stare at them for a few moments, then finally looked at the others. Kelly and Keira looked wary but they seemed less alarmed after overhearing the strange conversation I was having with my unexpected passenger. Laoise looked about the same, wary but not worried. Perhaps even mildly amused. Siobhan and Padraig both still looked worried, if not slightly scared.

"Uh, ok." I took a deep breath then announced, "Everyone, this is Tempest Merryweather. Merryweather, that's Kelly and that's Keira. They're my girlfriends, or perhaps my wives depending on who you talk to. And that's Siobhan, she's captain of the guard. And Laoise, a retired lieutenant. And that's Padraig, a corporal in the guard."

The blue-haired pixie stood up on my shoulder and bowed slightly as they said "Hello Kelly and Keira and Siobhan and Laoise and Padraig. I'm Merryweather."

Siobhan and Padraig stayed quiet as they continued staring nervously at the pixie on my shoulder.

Keira seemed to recover first, she bowed her head and replied "Hello Merryweather, it's nice to meet you."

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you." Kelly said as she bowed her head too.

Then Laoise added, "Sorry we all acted so shocked Merryweather. None of us were expecting to meet a pixie."

While I didn't think the situation would go bad, I was still a little relieved that it seemed to be going well. Everyone was a little surprised and a little taken aback, but it looked like nobody was going to do anything rash or say anything to offend the pixie. Until Padraig spoke up.

His alarm had given way to confusion, and as he continued staring at my tiny passenger he asked "Are you a man or a woman?"

"Neither," Merryweather replied with a frown as they sat back down on my shoulder.

Padraig looked more confused and asked, "Huh?"

Kelly asked "Sorry if this is offensive Merryweather, I don't know very much about your kind. Do pixies not have different genders?"

The pixie gave Kelly a baffled look, "What?! Of course we do. There's men and women, same as fae. I'm just not one of them."

I commented, "On Earth they call that 'non-binary'. Or 'enby' for short."

My passenger's eyes lit up and a wide smile appeared on their face. "Ooh I like that! I had no idea humans were so enlightened."

Kelly and Keira and I all sort of fought to suppress eye-rolls at that comment. Granted some humans were enlightened, but unfortunately not enough of them. Still, I was actually glad that question had been answered, and even happier someone other than me had asked it. I was also a little pleased with myself for having guessed correctly, even if my guess was based on an incorrect assumption.

At long last Siobhan spoke up. She didn't address the newest member of our group, instead she stated "We need to get moving. I know we're all tired, nobody got enough sleep last night. But our supplies are limited, so we need to break camp and get going now."

With that we all got to work. Merryweather finally moved off my shoulder and just flitted around watching while the rest of us packed everything up.

Siobhan and Laoise were about to leave an offering of food and wine when the pixie darted in next to them and said "Ugh don't bother! Nobody likes that sour wine and salty meat. If you really want to impress us, bring us some mead and sweets next time. And don't just dump it on the ground like garbage, leave us a bottle or a skin of the mead, and put the sweets on a plate or something."

The captain sort of froze as she stared at the little enby fluttering in the air in front of her. Laoise bowed her head slightly "We will do that next time, Merryweather. I'm afraid we haven't got any mead or sweets with us today."

Kelly looked at me and smirked, "Now I'm wondering if you're part pixie, babe. You've always had a sweet-tooth. And we should get you some mead instead of trying to make you drink wine."

I just blushed at Kelly's comments.

As for the captain, I could see she really wanted to leave some sort of offering, though she clearly didn't want to offend the pixies by pouring out some wine or leaving food on the ground, now that she knew they didn't want that.

Instead, I dug into my backpack and pulled out a gold coin and a hundred-dollar bill from Earth, and I set them both down on the ground. I had no idea if the pixies liked gold, but I figured it was the thought that counted. And they might like the Earth money, it was definitely something they wouldn't have seen before.

And with that, the six of us mounted our horses and set out on the long ride back home. Merryweather was still flitting around in the air but quickly darted in and landed on my shoulder again. I felt a little tug as they grabbed a handful of hair to keep them steady, since I was sort of bouncing along with the movements of the horse.

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