[M] Angel of the Night (Holey & Angel) IC

[Holeypaladin]

Harold was used to traveling light, maintaining only the essential possessions to survive on the road. This typically involved camping supplies in order to survive away from town, as many expeditions and adventures took him far from civilization. Food was also essential in order to survive, of course, and while certain types of conjuration magic could summon it, conjured provisions tended to be of poor quality, and there were times when he used up so much magical energy in combat with a dragon that he lacked the magical endurance to waste on provisions.

He thought over her question, and gave a shrug. "I don't really have a place to call home..." he said. "Home is where family is, and that ship has yet to sail." Though he had no problems attracting the attention of human girls, he also tended to get bored of the ordinary, and humans were nothing if not ordinary. An angel, of course, was far from ordinary... though he had only met this particular angel recently. Smirking at her reaction to his touch on her wings, he said, "Would that we had a bit more time..."

He nodded once he had gathered the essentials, making his way back towards the manor where the gold dragon guardian of Genvese resided. Escorting the angel back to Varvara's residence, he was greeted by the beautiful golden-haired lady at the entrance, but the dragon had a somewhat grave expression on her face. "Come," he said, showing them to a room that was properly warded against Divination magic in order to provide for some privacy.

"I have acquired a new piece of art to add to my collection," she said, nodding towards a painting that had a cloth draped around it. "I believe we shall find it to be... revealing." Walking over to it, she pulled the cloth off to reveal the finish painting of Fleur and Leandre locked in a pose of aerial combat. It was a rather impressive looking portrait, but the somber look on Fernanda's face implied it was quite serious.

"I fear the goddess Varvara has already seen this painting... the artist who drew this portrait had his memory wiped after being returned to Genvese. And I also believe that Hailan is not to be trusted. Although he provides some service to the non-human residents of Genvese... he would do anything to assume the full mantle of Divinity from the days of long past, even if it involves betraying a fallen angel back to a goddess who has forsaken her. And it is most definitely not in his best interest for anyone to acquire the ability to kill a god such as himself."

Glancing over to Fleur, the knight remarked, "If Varvara knows you're alive... then we've lost our advantage of anonymity. There's no longer any point in drinking the draught... since the only reason to do so would be to hide the fact that you're still alive... a fact that has already been revealed to our enemies." He thought for a moment. "However..." Glancing towards the gold dragon, he realized something. "We also have an ally with the power of a lesser deity on our side. I'm guessing our generous hostess has her own idea how we can get to the Imperial City, yes?" He looked at the dragon woman who began to smile, knowing full well that her intelligence was on a level far exceeding even the most brilliant of human wizards. Of course she would have a plan... a plan which she had waited until they were away from prying eyes and ears to relay to them.

[AngelDellaNotte]

“Family.” Fleur said, solemnly. “I thought I knew what that was.” She never knew her mother and her father was a dragon. They usually were anything but parental. She had thought her family was among the angels and Varvara. Fleur had truly thought she loved the goddess and likewise but Varvara had proven Fleur was expendable just like the rest of her angels. She shook her head pushing the thought from her mind then gave Harold a small forced smile. As they walked to the door she sent her wings away so not to be seen while walking through the city.

When they made it to Fernanda’s estate she noticed the look on the gold’s face right away. Something was wrong. At seeing the painting she knew something was definitely wrong. Varvara knew that not only was she alive but so was Leandre. “I don’t trust Hailan either. It could be my newfound bias against them but something about him wasn’t right. However if Varvara knows about this painting then she knows about Leandre as well. Fernanda could I trouble you to send him a message after we’ve left the city? He should know that she is aware of him.”

Looking away from the stunning painting Fleur stared really into nowhere. Would Fernanda hang it next to her mother’s painting? Fleur was about to ask looking over to the gold dragon who merely nodded seeming to read her mind. She could have been nodding about sending a message to Leandre but the way she looked at Fleur felt like she could read her mind. Her thoughts drifted next to what Harold said about the draught. She was relieved and disappointed at the same time she wouldn’t have to give up being an angel but she had also been curious about learning more about her dragon nature. It was always just something there, over shadowed by the angelic side of her. “So where do we go now? The Mid-grounds?” She asked.

[Holeypaladin]

Harold wasn't sure how to respond to Fleur's comment about family. Though he was intelligent and rational when it came to logic and reason, emotional intelligence and empathy often eluded him. Thankfully, the dragon lady caught on quickly, and said, "I'll make sure to hang this portrait next to the one of your mother," she said to Fleur with a soft smile, reaching out to take her hand tenderly.

Nodding at the angel's suggestion, Fernanda went on to say, "I'll make sure Leandre knows that he is in danger. Goddesses can be quite vindictive towards slaves who have the audacity to turn on their masters, as they see them." Harold knew that gold dragons opposed slavery in all forms, so it was no wonder that she was willing to help the two who showed enough individually to seek freedom.

At the mention of mid-grounds, Fernanda gave a wide smile before slowly shaking her head. "The Astral realm, or mid-grounds as you call them, can be used as a shortcut between distances on the material plane... but it is not the only parallel plane that can be utilized in such a manner. As Hailan is aware of your plans to traverse the mid-grounds, he would be the first to inform our enemies of such so that they might set up an ambush... and so, we shall use this to our advantage."

Gazing up and down the angel, the dragon lady spoke some words in her native language, "Regpos di beli yobolat." The way she spoke them in such a commanding way was as if she was forcing the world itself to heed her call, which it did, as flakes of snow rapidly coalesced into the form of Fleur, before the image became completely indistinguishable. Then, it began to move of its own accord, mirroring the movements of the angel.

"This is a Simulacron," the dragon explained. "All that's left is to imbue it with some of your... essence. I'll leave it to your knight to assist with the extraction process. What we will do, is send the simulacron into the Astral realm to deal as much damage to Varvara's ambush as possible, while the two of you will instead traverse through the Fairy realm, following this map." She handed a map over to Harold, which detailed a rather complex route in, out, and through the fairy realm... a route undoubtedly full of quite a bit of danger of its own. "This should get you to the Imperial city within three days, give or take. Any questions?"

Harold was familiar with the fairy realm from his own education at the Arcane University, but he understood that the angel might not be quite so familiar, as she was young and may never have had any such cause to visit such a realm. Thinking over this plan, however, it was... brilliant. The genius dragon lady had come up with a rather impressive idea in such a short time, and made it look effortless.

[AngelDellaNotte]

She nodded her thanks to Fernanda for hanging her portrait with her mother’s portrait, it seemed fitting. She was grateful for her passing the message on to Leandre. The fallen angel had been her mother’s lover and had been nothing but kind to her. She didn’t fault him for working with Hailen, and didn’t have any reason to distrust his loyalty. She figured if the god did betray them he wouldn’t let the angel know, he would do it behind his back.

Traveling through the fairy realm would be smart in that if Hailen did turn on them they wouldn’t know they were there. Although Varvara did have several pixie spies in her ranks most didn’t live most of the time in the fairy realm, choosing to reside in the heavens instead or wherever else she placed them. Varvara cared little for the fairy realm, most fairies had their own gods which they worshiped and it was an unspoken agreement among the gods to not meddle in the other’s realms. Fleur had never been to the fairy realms but she had studied them quite a bit.

When Fernanda made the Simulacron, Fleur walked around it, also familiar with them as well. Toward the end of her training she had fought several of them as the Simulacrons acted and responded much the same as those they were created from. It was the ultimate test of your fighting skills to literally fight yourself. Though as it stood this was just a copy of her. It would mirror whatever she did until it was given her essence and a task. Fleur didn’t need Harold’s instruction on imbuing her essence onto the Simulacron she had done it many times before. There were several methods that could be used but there was one she was most familiar with.

Calling her wings out Fleur stretched them and flapped them a couple of times. Her wings were a part of her and she could feel them just as much as she could her fingers and toes. The feathers were much like hair though different in their own way. Shaking her wings a couple more times she could feel a feather that was coming loose. She reached up to her wing and gently grabbing the base of the feather she pulled up. There was a slight pinch as the feather came the rest of the way free. Thankfully it was loose enough that it didn’t bleed when it was removed and the others around it fell into place to cover where it had been.

She held it in her hand twirling it around, angel feathers had the same structure as a bird feather but there was a magic to them that made it seem like they were shimmering. Looking up at the Simulacron it was still mirroring the image and holding a feather as it looked at her. If Fleur had never seen a Simulacron it would have been a startling thing to see. Turning away from the Simulacron she held the feather out to Harold, “I believe you will need this.” She said.

[Holeypaladin]

Harold thought over the words of the dragon lady as he glanced over in the direction of Fleur. It was no surprise that such a highly intelligent creature such as Fernanda would think up such a brilliant plan. When the more intelligent of the dragon species put used their brains, humans were essentially like cattle in comparison, with angels not being all that much smarter, yet more limited in the scope of their thought. A gold dragon of Fernanda's age and power could even rival a goddess such as Varvara in power, though he doubted they'd ever have a chance to test this.

As Fleur plucked one of her feathers to hand to the dragon, Harold chuckled somewhat at her choice. "Not the most fun method of extracting your essence, but it'll work," he remarked. There were, of course, other means of imbuing the simulacrum with Fleur's essence... blood being one of them, and his personal favorite being a liquid of more... intimate nature.

He was surprised that Fleur didn't have any questions, so it fell upon him to come up with some. "Any words of advice for dealing with fairies? And is there anything you'd like me to tell this Godslayer, if we should happen to find him? What sort of dangers are we likely to face within the fairy realm?" While he knew somewhat about fairy lore from tales, he decided it best to rely on the experience of the wise dragon rather than test his own theories.

"Of course..." said Fernanda with a smile. "When dealing with fairies, it is important to know two things. Never make a deal with a fairy, and never trade with one. You've no doubt learned to never make a deal with the dragon... and the same applies to a fairy. If you trade with a fairy, it means that they own you. As for the dangers... not all fairies are the pretty pixies you hear so much about."

"The fairy realm is divided into four seasons, rules primarily by two courts: The Seelie and the Unseelie. The Seelie represent Light, and are known to be honorable and emotional, though they can be quite dangerous. The Unseelie represent Darkness, and are known to be underhanded, cold, and cruel. Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient time to teach you of the different types of fairies and their dangers. Most have an allergy to cold iron weapons, however... they may be your best weapon."

"As for the Godslayer as you call him..." she said, smiling somewhat at the mention of him for some reason. "If you do wish to relay a message from me, tell him I still haven't found a suitable mate, after searching for more than a thousand years. You can go on to say any other flattery that you might wish on my behalf, if you like."

Harold couldn't help but laugh somewhat at the personal message she had for the Godslayer. He glanced over to Fleur and said, "You're much better about singing praises than I am, so I'll leave that to you." He found it amusing that the thousand year old virgin would show such interest in a man, though from all accounts of legend and lore, the Godslayer was every bit as immortal as she was, so it could work out in a strange way. "I think we're ready," he said with a nod to the dragon.

"If you would open the rift to the Astral Mid-ground, I'll take care of the portal to Fairy," said Fernanda to Fleur before turning to walk into another nearby room full of portraits. These particular portraits were landscapes of worlds beyond and between the mortal realm, though they also tingles with a magical aura, indicating they were more than mere paintings.

"This one should lead to the Astral Mid-grounds," she said, gesturing to a portrait which would likely look familiar to the angel. "You should be able to open it easily and command the simulacrum to walk through." She then turned to another portrait resembling a verdant landscape full of otherworldly vegetation, the flowers in full bloom of spring. "Nif^open," she commanded in the Draconic language, causing the surface of the portrait to fade, opening a portal between the mortal world and the fairy realm of Spring.

Harold approached the painting, sticking his hand somewhat through and meeting no resistance. The portrait had become a portal, allowing travel between worlds. Turning to Fleur, he said to the angel, "Ladies first," before gesturing towards the portal in a courteous manner.

[AngelDellaNotte]

Opening the portal in the portrait was a little different than she was used to but she still managed to open it. Closing her eyes she thought of the simulacrum willing it to walk through the portal. Before it was completely through she mentally gave it instructions to head in the opposite direction they were headed so when Varvara tracked it she would be looking in the wrong place. A moment later the portal closed and she looked over to Harold taking his offered hand and walking through the second portal. She held her free hand out ready to call her spear should she need it when they crossed over. The art study disappeared and they were standing in an open field. Fleur looked up at the sky seeing that while it was blue it had a purple tint to it. This wasn't unusual with other realms, they tended to differ just a little. Like how Varvara's realm was an eternal darkness always being some sort of dusk, night or dawn.

“So where now?” Fleur asked. She had never been to the fairy realm and didn't know where to go. She figured it was similar to the mid-grounds in that traveling a mile in the realm could be a one hundred miles in the mortal realms. It would be best to get their bearings first to make sure they headed in the correct direction.

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Sitting in her throne room Varvara paused in taking a drink of her wine. She closed her eyes focusing on what caused her distraction. It was in the mid-grounds in the corresponding location in Genvese. Scanning the area Varvara caught a glimpse of what ha caught her attention. Fleur started walking heading away from Genvese toward the Uria Mountians. “Foolish girl.” Varvara said, opening her eyes and taking another drink. She waved her hand causing a viewing portal to appear showing the simulacrum walking through the mid-grounds. “Jarrah” She said, causing a pixie to fly over landing before the throne.

“Yes, mistress.” Jarrah said, holding his bow until Varvara acknowledged him.

“Travel to the mid-grounds and follow Fleur. Do not be seen and report everything she does.” Varvara said.

[Holeypaladin]

With the simulacrum sent on its way, Harold no longer needed to worry about Varvara's underlings pursuing them or learning of their destination... but instead, the fairy realm held its own dangers, which were not to be taken lightly. Finding himself in an open field, in a realm different from that of mortals or angels, the knight reached out to take Fleur's hand in his own. "By the looks of it..." he responded to her question, "We're in the Fairy realm of Spring."

There was little he could say about the fairy realms that hadn't already been explained by the dragon lady, who had centuries of collected knowledge upon which to impart on them with her parting words. Instead, he pulled out the map that had been given to him, studying it for awhile. "Looks like we'll be traveling through the realms of Autumn and Summer on our way to the Imperial City... as well as through some exotic eastern kingdom in the mortal realm. The map seems to serve as a key to opening the necessary portals, so we just need to keep hold of it."

Glancing over to two spring fairies who were going at it in the bushes, making loud sounds of pleasure, he sighed a bit. "I suppose that sort of thing is to be expected in the Spring realm," he murmured, noting how unlike mortals, the fairies seemed to have absolutely no shame about such things... though there were a few winged pixies who began to show an interest in the foreigners, keeping their distance for the time being but obviously quite intrigued.

"Let's go, shall we?" he said, getting a bearing of the terrain before wrapping an arm around Fleur's waist, walking off in the direction of a path leading through a tranquil glade of flowers and other exotic plants not native to the mortal realm.

[AngelDellaNotte]

They walked for a while the two pixies following them. The landscape was beautiful almost reminding her of parts of the divine realms. She heard that the fairy realms were divided by seasons and times of the day. Knowing that Varvara employed pixies the two of them following them unnerved Fleur though wasn't sure why the were following them but if they were spies they wouldn't be so obvious about it. One of the pixies finally broke the distance and flew up to them. He circled around Fleur a flew times seeming to examine her. The second pixies rushed up to the first berating him about being reckless. Fleur stopped walking and looked at the two of them arguing.

“Are you daft Timon?” The female said, smacking Timon on the head.

“No, just curious Zora. I told you it wasn't a giant pixie.” Timon said, dodging another blow from his mate. “Look at her wings they are feathers just like a thought.”

“I knew it wasn't a giant pixie I was just indulging you. Now you've had your look lets get out of here before it eats you.” Zora said, tugging on Timon and trying to pull him away. “Probably a harpy.”

“I'm not a harpy and I promise not to eat you.” Fleur said, while Timon flew closer landing on one of her wings and looking at her feathers. He brushed his hands through them and even rubbed his cheek against it testing the softness. Fleur let out a light giggle as the action tickled a little.

“Fine then what are you?” Zora asked, once again flying over to Timon and pulling him away with a few more harsh words.

“I'm an angel.” Fleur said, a little amused at the couple's behavior.

“Bullshit. Angels don't come to the fairy realms, the gods think it is beneath their slaves.” Zora said, stopping to look at Fleur.

Fleur's smile turned into a frown at the mention of angels being slaves. A short while away it would have made her angry thinking of angels as slaves, taking it as an insult. No now she was upset because she knew it was true. “I'm not exactly in good standing with my goddess.” Fleur said, not knowing how much they should say.

[Holeypaladin]

It was no surprise to Harold that some of the local residents of the fairy world would follow them. Most likely they were curious who these foreign intruders in their realm were, but he was also aware that fairies tended to make some of the best of spies. The Seelie were no friends of the night goddess, though, since they represented light and warmth... but the same would not necessarily hold true of the Unseelie. Thankfully, he doubted the Unseelie would know to keep an eye out for a wandering angel, though it would likely strike their queen as quite curious indeed once she learned of it... by which point Harold intended to be long gone from the fairy realm.

He chuckled as he heard the exchange between the tiny pixies and their confusion as to what Fleur was. Wrapping an arm around the angel's waist, he tried to think up some kind of excuse as to why she was in the fairy realm. As he did so, however, she ended up admitting to the both of them that she was an angel, which blew any hope of cover.

"We're just passing through these lands on our way to our destination," he told the pixies. "Our goals are aligned with those of your court in this matter, so it is in our mutual best interest that we reach our destination." He was very careful not to request anything of the pixies, nor offer anything to them, as the ancient gold dragon had advised him against making any sort of deal or trade with fairies.

[AngelDellaNotte]

She thought of conversing with fairies as they walked however Harold's hand on her waist reminded her again they should be careful with the information they gave. She probably should not have revealed her angelic nature but it was too late now. The mortal realms still confused Fleur, she wasn't used to all the half truths, lies and deceit even if it was necessarily. It went against her nature, angels tended to make poor spies as lying didn't come easy to them as Fleur had proved when she first met Harold. She bid farewell to the two pixies and they continued on their journey through the fairy realms. They walked for most of the day through meadows neither really saying much instead merely enjoying the beauty of it all.

When they finally stopped the sun was beginning to set turning the sky a purple haze that reminded Fleur of Varvara's realm. Despite knowing that her life was a lie and she was used by the goddess it reminded her of home and reminded her that it wasn't her home anymore. She was an angel without a home or a god. What was her purpose in life now? Fleur honestly didn't know. When this quest was over and they had found the godslayer then what? Kill Varvara? What would come after that? She had found herself sitting on a fallen tree staring at the dusk sky not noticing that Harold had been setting up a camp for them.