[It's calm and quiet. It's noisy and chaotic. Nobody's talking. Everybody's talking. They're in a forest. They're in a city. They're in crumbling ruins of the Old World. They're anywhere, everywhere, always.]

[Well… not everywhere, always. There were parts Nova couldn't reach no matter how hard they tried, that they could never manage to see. Then… there were those settlements.]

[The antithesis of their being.]

Voice: (hard and masculine) "Just carry them. You and I have both slept, and they still haven't woken up—we have no idea when they will, much less if it'll be any time soon."

Nova: [face twitches]

Nova: [takes a slow, deep breath as they shift, still half-asleep. Turns their head to swap the cheek they're laying on, then—]

Nova: [winces as light shines directly on their eyelids, painting their vision red]

[It's calm and quiet. They're in the middle of a wide forest plane, surrounded by wild woods. The make-believe sun filters through the leaves, beautifully shading the area. birds chirped and fae-creatures idly attended to their business, giving Nova a wide berth as they most often did. All in all, it was a perfect day.]

[… and, without them looking or even trying to move it, a branch far above shifted to shade Nova's eyes, sparing her from the blinding light]

[Still, despite how pleasant Talamhdé was today, there was something that wasn't quite right…]

Fae: [scoffs, then hesitates… and finally sighs]

Voice: (soft and feminine, quietly) "fine."

[Two stronger concentrations of essence—indicative of a faerie or powerful monster—hovered near Nova's body. As she focused, their forms became clearer: one stood several feet away, their arms crossed, and the other was closing in on her]

Nova:

Nova: [freezes, breath catching and eyes flying open—]

Nova: [blinded by the sudden assault of light, but doesn't need her eyes to see, anyway. Warps themself several feet away, turned to face their aggressors, and threateningly emitting waves of flame]

[One of the faeries freeze, but the other quickly darts to shield the other's body with their own. That one was the stronger of the two—with a powerful, expansive domain. Alongside their shielding the other with their body, creates a strong barrier of wind behind themself]

[Smart. Because if they'd dared to attack…]

Voice: (startled, desperate) "wait!"

Nova: [at the same time, snarling, demands) "what do you want!? Who are you!? Don't you know—"

Nova: [but freezes, squinting and letting his flames die away, as his vision somewhat clears. Only somewhat, but enough for them to make out the faeries in front of him]

[They were two air faeries: both with sky blue skin painted with patches of white, resembling clouds. They both had white hair, though one's was long and wispy while the other's was an afro that dissipated into clouds... and were quickly darkening as rain sprinkled out of them]

Nova: [doesn't quite remember yet, but recognizes the faeries were familiar… even if it puts a pit of dread in his heart]

Faerie#1: [more accurately a celestial faerie, they are the taller, masculine of the two. They have sharp but thin features, a hawk’s beak for a nose, long white hair reminiscent of cirrus clouds, and two sets of fae-ears tipped with pale feathers.]

Celestial: [eyes narrowed on Nova's; face twisted with an expression somewhere between hate and fear]

Faerie#2: [more accurately a faerie of the clouds, is the smaller, effeminate of the two. They have a small-but-chubby face, a cloud-afro for hair currently drizzling rain, and are currently floating forward, pressing against the barrier their friend had formed]

Cloud: (desperately) "it's us! Don't you remember us from yesterday? You helped us leave Kilrey!"

Nova: [blinks in confusion, struggling—]

Nova: [and, finally, remembers the rest of the prior night. Before they'd taken down Kilrey, before the archfaerie had rushed to close in on him, and before that tavernkeeper had left to alert Kilrey of his presence]

Scamall: [face twisted in pain, her fae-ears drooping and brow furrowed in worry]

Spéir: [half-glaring at them, his jaw tensed. Has one arm raised slightly away from his chest—his essence threateningly arced around him in preparation for a fight—and the other held out in front of Scamall]

Nova: [face flushing, awkwardly stands up straight—having shifted into a battle-ready stance themself—and wraps their arms around themself as they look at the earth beside their feet]

Nova: [ears drooping, awkwardly) "… I thought I told you to go without me."

Spéir: [despite Nova dropping their offense, doesn't remove his wind-barrier protecting Scamall or drop his aggressively-positioned essence]

Nova: [tempted to swipe it away, but… eh. Figures that would only frighten him and make things worse between them] 😅

Nova: [… also suddenly noticing they had a lot more essence than they usually would after fighting off a belligerent archfaerie]

Scamall: [drifting forward, gently) "yes, but—"

Scamall: [pauses as she once again hits Spéir's barrier, then turns a glare onto him]

Scamall: [hair grey and flashing with lightning, irritably) "Spéir. Let me through."

Spéir: [flexing his jaw angrily, spares her a glance over his shoulder]

Nova: [awkwarrrrrrdddddd] 😅

Nova: [glanced up as Scamall spoke at first, but quickly looks away during their exchange. Instead, awkwardly rubs her outer arms and shifts in place, uncertain about what to do]

[Or if they'd realized What She Was.]

Scamall: (voice hard) "you know they were just scared. They fainted after fighting an archfaerie!"

[Well. She hadn't realized, at the very least.]

Nova: [ears still drooping, awkwardly looks up to eye Spéir cautiously]

Spéir: [still looking back at Scamall; lets out a slow and angry sigh, but drops the barrier. Finally, crosses his arms and turns to look—]

Nova and Spéir: [accidentally lock eyes]

Spéir: [lip curls, hate clear in his eyes, and quickly looks away again]

Nova: … there's no way he'd act that way if he actually knew What I Am…? 😅

Nova: [finally, can't help a weak—yet pained—smile as a wave of relief floods through her body. She's safe. For the first time in a long time, she's around other fae and they're safe]

Scamall: [smiles back at Nova as she quickly crosses the distance between them, then takes Nova's hands in hers]

Spéir: [on the other hand, had quickly stepped forward behind Scamall, trailing her with his arms crossed like a bodyguard]

Scamall: (all the while, voice gentle and kind) "you tried to sacrifice yourself for us. Fae you didn't even know. And then you fought off an archfaerie. There was no way I'd leave you behind."

Nova: [heart skipping a beat and face emptying, unfocuses her eyes to look more closely at Scamall's aura]

Nova: 'no way I'd leave you behind'…? Because I'm powerful—?

Scamall: [but her aura is idle, not subtly sapping Nova's essence away]

Scamall: [brow furrows, a sad look crossing her face as she looks down at Nova]

Scamall: (gently) "fae? Is everything alright?"

Nova:

Nova: [taking an unsteady breath, drops his eyes and awkwardly takes his hands from Scamall's to press them against his legs]

Nova: this fae… they're not like Art. They're not—

Nova: [makes himself look up at Scamall, forcing a smile… though his furrowed eyebrows give him away]

Nova: (faux-cheerfully, voice cracking) "of course!"