Paths upon paths upon paths. Some intersect and lead us back to a new start. Others lead to an eventual end. But no path cannot be retrod back to its start should we realize our mistakes.

Words to the Wise by Seer Shun

Reane kneeled in the bushes. Her vantage provided a partially obstructed view of a sizable encampment of Imperial troops. Like a hive of buzzing bees, soldiers were everywhere. The barricades erected along their chosen route back to the Oracle and Fimmirra were an unwelcome inconvenience.

Her eyes took in everything she could see while her mind traced through the thoughts of as many of the soldiers as she could handle at once. Thankful these men were unaware that someone capable of such was in their midst.

There wasn't as much information useful to their predicament to be gathered as Reane would have liked. But what she gleaned was helpful, even if minor. The attacks by the Dark Elves along with this attempt to seal off the southern border of the Elven Kingdoms were all being carried out in conjunction with something else. What that "something" was, these soldiers didn't appear to be informed about. But whatever it was, rumors spreading through the ranks were that it was a major undertaking.

Reading and sorting all these thoughts was more strain than it should have been to do so, however. Just moving the Oracle during their flight from Catersburg alone had left her with psychic scars that were taking longer to heal than Reane anticipated. Coupled with the wave of anger that pierced her mind from the archeon, and both attempts to break in to Anthony's thoughts, she was still not at back at her full mental strength.

"Wouldn't you know it," she grumbled as Sheala moved through the brush to take up a position beside her. Wearing all black, her friend looked every bit like the thief she was on the streets of Catersburg. Forgoing any of her formal clothing, she was dressed for comfort, not diplomacy. And certainly not for making good first impressions. "We're hardly outside of the elven borders and this has to happen."

"Looks like the scouts weren't joking when they said there was trouble ahead." Sheala's fingers fiddled with the hilt of her sword.

"If we backtrack, it'll take four extra days to get to the Oracle. We don't have the supplies for that." Watching as the soldiers in the encampment moved about, Reane noticed heavy activity from one tent in particular. She figured it was the commanding officer's quarters. "Looks like Lord Hedric is getting ready to put the squeeze on. If there weren't so blasted many of us, it would be nothing to sneak around this."

"Well, with the extra escorts and guards Sayra and Ittan brought? Looks like we'll have to go through them." Sheala's lips cracked into an eager smile.

"I'll hold off on that decision until everyone reports back."

"You won't have to wait," Sayra's voice chirped as she emerged back into reality from behind a nearby tree. "There are at least fifty or sixty more soldiers east of here." Sheetah, perched on her shoulder, bristled.

Ittan also materialized. "Another five dozen or so patrolling the west. Our choices are limited. What's worse is I suspect there are probably more soldiers on the way."

"Options?" Reane checked the blade of her sword, one acquired before departing the elven lands.

"Backtrack and go around. Or attack." Ittan pondered at the encampment. "Just like the Ambassador proposed. The coach needs a road to travel on. So we're not going to make it far taking a cross country route. Nearest alternate route south is several days out of the way. And who knows if that way is also blocked already or not."

"There is another alternative," Sayra thrust herself into the conversation. "A combination of both through and around."

"Sayra, no."

"Why not, Ittan?" She asked with genuine curiosity, although knowing beforehand he would object.

"Because, they are not elves."

Reane's sword found its way back into its sheath. "You mean using the Fairy Ways? Don't you?"

"Yes. The carriage could not go with us though. Horses yes. What is transported must be an individual entity with an essence; a soul if you will."

"But clothes go," Sheala pointed out, noting the elves never appeared out of thin air naked.

"Yes. Items in the immediate proximity to the body will be transported. Our souls extend a short distance away from our bodies. This allows things like our clothing and weapons to also enter and traverse through the Fairy Realm."

"I still say we fight," Sheala added two more of her coppers to the discussion.

"Not an option." Reane nixed that idea, "Too risky. And the odds too great. We're outnumbered at least four or five to one. That we know of." She could see how heart fallen her friend was at being told no. Plans for revenge were growing prominent in Sheala's mind, and Reane worried about them becoming a dangerous distraction. "Trouble with your plan, First Daughter, is some of us don't have an item linked to the Fairy Realm to access the Fairy Ways."

"Not a problem." The silver-haired elf waved her hand with a dismissive note. "All that's necessary is a small piece of my cloak for each of you. And Ambassador Stormband has her necklace."

"What?" Sheala spoke up again.

"Your medallion," Sayra reiterated with a point. "It is infused with the magic of my people. As such, it allows you a direct link to the Fairy Realm."

"You mean to tell me I've been walking all this time when I could be floating magically through some alternate reality?"

The First Son added his council. "There are side effects to non-elves using the Fairy Ways, Sayra."

Both Reane and Sheala raised an eyebrow at that comment, but the First Daughter tried to ease any concerns. "Yes, if they stay in there too long, there will definitely be some nausea. I wouldn't suggest making the excursion any longer than needed. I would say a minute should put us sufficiently south of this Imperial blockade. Do you concur, my beloved?"

Ittan pondered the situation. "It should. But I would still recommend against it. At least in normal circumstances."

"And what about in these circumstances?"

He paused. "These circumstances are not normal."

"Our course is settled then. My beloved, would you please return to the caravan and coordinate with Esse to make sure everyone is ready? Unhitch the horses and gather anything necessary from the coach."

From the moment Reane entered the blue haze, floodgates opened. Not just to Anthony's mind, but to those of all the elves. And it was literally all the elves.

Reane was sitting in the center of a spiderweb, sensing the pulsations of thousands of strands of silk. Combined, they formed an avalanche of thoughts, feelings, and emotions from not only those in her immediate presence but also elves in far-off places. Even beyond the boundaries of the Elven Kingdoms.

The missing link to the connection she had long sought was finally in her possession but, caught off guard, she erected barriers the moment it was clear what was happening. As she was working to maintain her own sanity, other things started to pull on her. While Sheala and the rest began phasing out of the blue haze, Reane found herself distracted by what she could only describe as eddies in the fog.

She realized she shouldn't linger here, but the movements called to her to investigate. One in particular possessed a disturbing sense of raw emotions. There was a familiarity to it, almost as though she had sensed these sorts of crude passions before.

A gentle hand on her shoulder tore her thoughts on the strangeness back to what was going on around her. Sayra was there with her, Sheetah staring at her as well, but the others had all gone from this place.

"What bothers you, Child of Prophecy?" the First Daughter asked.

"There's so much here." Reane refocused on the eddy that was disturbing her.

"You see them? Don't you?"

"Yes."

"Ask me, and I will answer."

Reane turned her attention to the silver-haired elf, also looking off in the direction she had been. "What are they?"

"Doorways. Doorways to far-off places." Sayra touched one, sending a reverberation along it and striking a tone inside Reane's mind. "Anywhere where a Vessary Blossom grows, there is an easy to follow path."

"Like a portal?"

"Yes. Some were planted on purpose." The First Daughter let go of the stand she had connected with. "Others by the hand of the Greater Goddess who has seen fit to transmit seeds upon the winds which are her hands."

"That one there," Reane pointed. "I know that place. I've been there."

"It is a dark place." Bowing her head, Sayra imparted information Reane already had gathered.

Reaching out, Reane wanted to connect with the path that commanded her interest. Yet even before her thoughts touched it, the emotions were becoming too much to bear. They clawed at the scars on her mind, trying to rip them open anew and overwhelm her. Just as the talons of the beasts they belonged to would do to her flesh if she stood before them. "The Telowian Islands."

Reane was sure of it. The monsters no longer slumbered in their hibernations. Not as they were when the Oracle had almost been destroyed in the winter storm after evading Captain Corsair's ships. Fingers twitching, the seer ceased reaching out to it, choosing to protect herself from things she couldn't control or defend against.

"It calls to you?" Sayra asked.

"In a way, yes." Reane decided once more to try and couple her thoughts to those on the other end. She used some tricks she had developed over the years, setting up a mental maze within her mind to trap and confound the vile intentions that would invade her conscious once she did.

The contact initiated, the anger and hate from the monsters beyond became confused and lost within the labyrinth from the moment they entered. That gave her enough time to explore their thoughts without worry. What became known to her was shocking too; intelligence. It was clouded and drowned out by the more primal instincts; however, there was no denying it. Not in the way the creatures behaved.

Her mind connected to that of one in archeon in particular; a mother, protecting a calf of not more than a few months. Her mate was dead, killed by a pack of six other archeons who had invaded their lair. With a roar, she proclaimed that she would not go down without a fight. But the struggle ended shortly after it began. She was overcome in moments and her child did not last long after.

Reane started to weep, absorbing the mother's last memories of pain, sorrow, and the overwhelming grief of not being able to save her child. That was when the maze collapsed and the thoughts of the other half dozen primal beasts blasted her. She shut her mind off in an instant, dropping the link to protect herself. Frozen, she could not tear away from the portal.

Sayra's expression cast downward. "We do not go there. Come, Child of Prophecy. We have lingered too long. The others are waiting."