OTA

[willysilver]

Beltane was fast approaching. Beltane heralded the season of war. But of late Will's skin had begun to crawl. Magic he was familiar with, magic he had not felt for many years, magic strong and dark haunted him. It was not the strange magic of the Trooping fae that Fin possessed. No, this was familiar.

An old foe.

It wasn't simply a matter of the Unseelie whom Will and his brothers would battle and defeat, as was tradition. This was something he'd defeated with great cost long ago.

The Milesian.

He was keen and watchful as he knew they prowled the Earth. Somehow they had come back from banishment. And the strength of them had grown. Will knew the battle this year would be so much more weighty. There would be no need for a mortal on the field against the Milesian. They came from the Land of the Dead and would take as many lives as they could, fae and mortal alike. Today Will had heard tell of several people dead in the tube. Of course the authorities had their theories and suspicions, but Will knew. He just knew and so tonight with the initial investigation wrapped up he gathered his strength and descended into the tube stop. Magic crackled in the air. Dark magic. Dark as could be.

He reached for the neck of his guitar on his back and to those who could see such things his hand closed around the hilt of a broadsword. A few people waited for the train and Willy wasn't about to let them meet the same fate as the earlier travelers. Those hadn't been killed so much as claimed.

The Daoine Sidhe prince wasnt about to let his city fall to the enemy. Not even if he had to defend it all by himself.

Comments

[akatawitch]

"Why was there a war in the first place?" Sunny asked, for the moment ignoring her own drink. Not that she couldn't make a few guesses, but given fairies literally had ritual wars for reasons she didn't really understand, she had to ask. Even without that, it seemed like it might be important.

[willysilver]

"Because when they came they banished my kind to the mounds. To live in the dark without sunlight. We retaliated. The war was long. Many died on both sides," he explained. "My mother was quite cross and wanted them all anhialated. But my sister wove the spell to banish them to the Land of the Dead and then the war was over," Will explained.

[akatawitch]

"Okay. So they want revenge for being shoved onto the wrong side of the veil. Which warped them. And now instead of going after who did this to them, they've given up on being discriminating." Sunny took a drink. "Any idea how they've been getting out?"

[willysilver]

"Not the faintest clue," Willy replied. "Which is deeply troubling. I should go speak to my mother, I think."

That was a prospect he did not relish and his entire demeanor made that much clear.

[akatawitch]

Having had discussions with her brothers about which one of them got to break bad news to their parents, Sunny almost felt bad for him. She even winced a little, just because she couldn't imagine the queen was remotely pleasant to talk to.

"Someone might be holding the door open for them, so to speak," she mused. Masquerades, the strongest ones at least, could only come through when summoned.

[willysilver]

"That is a dismal thought. Perhaps the Unseelie are using them. Perhaps they plan for this year's battle to be more than tradition," Willy said, staring into his cider. It was not an idea he wanted to entertain, but now that he thought it it clung to him.

[akatawitch]

"And what would that mean exactly?" Sunny barely understood the ritual wars of Seelie and Unseelie. Given the always political shitstorm and sometimes active warzone that parts of Nigeria were, the idea of regularly scheduled wars was nothing short of madness.

So she didn't know what the consequences of an Unseelie victory were, not exactly.

[willysilver]

"It would mean the world would fall into a malaise and slowly wither," he replied. "My mother's power keeps the world green and growing. If the Unseelie take over there will be drought and famine and death to mortals around the world. All the light will be extinguished."

[akatawitch]

Sunny frowned faintly, thinking. "So what is their role?" The word that came up again and again when anybody asked why fairies did anything was 'balance' but what balance was being maintained she didn't know.

[willysilver]

"They keep the balance, as do the Seelie. For part of the year the world basks in the light of the sun, and then the sun abbs and the season wears people thin. That is less to do with the weather and more to do with the magical forces that blanket the world," he explained.

[akatawitch]

"My part of the world doesn't do that," Sunny couldn't help observing. "Winter isn't really a concept there."

[willysilver]

"Ah, but you have times of plenty and times of strife, do you not?" he asked.

[akatawitch]

Sunny resolved that she was going to treat that as a rhetorical question, or else she'd have to start laughing and never stop. "Well, yes, but if you mean in any cyclical and predictable way that doesn't have to do with shit post-colonial governments, I guess there is a dry season and a rainy season."

[willysilver]

"Ah, colonials. I have seen many. The Romans. The Normans. And I know of travels and subjugation of people all over the world. It was the Iberians that brought the Milesian to our gates," Will replied thoughtfully, sipping his drink again. "I think mortals like to infest all the places they can. It is one reason the fae guard their realm so much."

[akatawitch]

"People in power, definitely. Most of Africa only got its independence from European powers sixty years ago," Sunny said with a shrug. "And by that I mean white people threw together countries based on their boundaries and not anything to do with us and then they get confused by all the upheaval and civil wars when the basic concepts of shared identity that form modern nation-states just weren't there."

She shook her head. "Anyway. How do Fin and Pippa's kind factor into all of this?"

[willysilver]

"That is a very good question," Willy said. "I fear the Trooping fae are being pulled to London to their new royalty. I know Fin has felt them. But they have never been part of the wars. They're role is an uncertainty I am not comfortable with."

[akatawitch]

Sunny took a moment to turn that over in her mind. "So Pippa is inadvertently gathering forces for a fight she doesn't understand and has no stake in besides."

[willysilver]

"It would seem so," he said softly. "And she will not listen to me if I were to try to warn her. She would rather have my head on a pike."

[akatawitch]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if she actually gets an army, its sole purpose is going to be ending you." She didn't say this either with regret or relish, it was just a fact. Pippa was pissed, and focused on how pissed she was to the point that Sunny didn't want to see very much of her, either.

[willysilver]

"That is such a small issue for an army," Willy replied with a sardonic, small laugh. He turned to look at Sunny and shrugged. "But if she does, then she does. Though with the Milesian she may not get the chance. Which I am certain would much displease her, robbing her of the satisfaction."

[akatawitch]

"I didn't say it made sense, I'd just put good money I don't have on that being the chosen course of action. She doesn't know her own power yet and she wants your head on a pike right now."

And since they were on the topic of killing him (since she'd literally had to watch Pippa remind herself that that was a thing), she had to ask, "Any progress on breaking that bond yet?"

[willysilver]

Willy was quiet for a long moment, taking a sip to fill the space of it.

"Yes," he finally answered.

[akatawitch]

Having quite honestly expected a no, Sunny's breath caught. The words "thank God" came out on a sigh when she released it.

[willysilver]

"I am torn. He says he does not want me to try to undo our binding. And I must abide by his choice. But I know how to do it now. I will continue to ask," Willy said.

[akatawitch]

Sunny opened her mouth to say something blistering about how incredibly stupid that was, but she snapped it shut and drank her cider instead. "No, I don't want to know." She was almost entirely sure that the answer would just piss her off.