On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Sixty-One

Clutched in my arms, Shaeula began to speak, her voice faltering. “My Father, Shaetanao Gar Shae Dannan, is indeed a noble prince of the Seelie, lord-lord of one of the seven remaining branches of Fae Royalty. So I am definitely a noble princess.” Her voice regained some strength as she looked at me, eyes expectant.

I rubbed her back gently, reassuring her. “I’ve never doubted that for a moment. So, remaining branches?”

“Indeed. We are from the branch of the Beastkin, though that itself is a consolidation of other branches, some of which are lost-lost…” she paused for a moment, before stealing herself to go on. “…and others became Unseelie, the traitorous scum-scum.”

“So the Unseelie are mortal enemies of the Seelie, from what I’ve gathered?”

“Indeed-indeed. In the distant past, before even my noble father was born, all Fae lived in harmony, not only with each other, but with you primitive humans-humans. The Material world was closer entwined with the Boundary and deeper Astral, and many Fae would live in the forests and mountains, in deep hidden places-places.”

“I guess that would explain where tales of faeries, gods and other mythical beings come from. But there seems to be an issue if we compare that to what Exposition-san told me.”

If the world was already connected to the Astral in the past, then why was the world not destroyed then? But I doubted Shaeula would lie to me… Exposition-san was only with me a short time… while their help set me on this path, there was definitely a lot they were keeping from me…

Seeing me lost in thought Shaeula pinched my cheek, which hurt! “Ouch, I’m listening, I promise!”

“As you should-should.” She continued. “Back then there were many other branches of the Fae, and not all were satisfied with the world. Most Fae love trickery, us weaselkin are such, and over time the tricks escalated. Stealing shoes or souring milk were common pranks-pranks, but eventually leading humans over cliffs to their deaths, or stealing children and replacing them with changelings grew more common-common.”

“Yeah, quite the escalation there, from harmless to deadly.”

“Indeed-indeed. Even so it did not threaten our cohabitation. Fae were usually living away from most humans, who had built villages and towns, taming the wilds-wilds. But then, as the Scotsman told me when I was young…” she looked at me, her eyes serious. “… the humans started to hate us. Some say it was the Gods, beings who had little to do with the Fae, that turned humans against us-us. Though none knows for certain. Any mortal who knew Fae-craft or arts using aether were outcast, or worse, tortured and slain-slain.”

Has she mentioned the Scotsman before? Before I could ask Shaeula spoke. “The Scotsman is one of the old mortals, one who knows the way of power. He lives in the timeless realm of the Seelie Court, aging not-not, and is one of the advisors to the king-king. There are other rumours too…” Shaeula flushed then, I could see red running down even to her collarbones peeking from her yukata. “… but we have no time to speak of them here-here. In any case, once the humans who trafficked with us were gone-gone, the others turned their gaze upon us-us. Many Fae perished under blades of cold iron and fire-fire.”

“Did you fight back?” I asked, holding her tighter. The tale was both thrilling and sad.

“What could we do-do? While there were Fae of great power, their numbers were few-few indeed. You humans breed at an inexhaustible rate, so even if we slew all in a town, within a few short decades there would be more than before-before. And we have children but rarely, so each Fae slain left us weaker.”

“But you still survive to this day, so something must have changed.” I posited.

“Indeed-indeed. Though the Fae were weak as a whole, there were those who were not, and other beings of spirit walked the Earth-Earth. One such were the giants, beings of massive size and power. While their numbers were scant-scant, a single giant could raze a town, fearing not the iron weapons that mortals wielded-wielded. Wyrms too, and other beings from other lands. The Court took them in, and we fought back, only-only to secure a place for us free of human persecution.”

“That’s fair. Everyone has a right to defend themselves.”

“Indeed-indeed. But it quickly went too far. Many races of Fae, such as the Trolls, Goblins, various Beastkin, and others… they grew to love-love the bloodshed, far more pleasing than cruel tricks that killed the odd mortal here or there-there. With our new allies, the Giants and others… they massacred until the very lands died, choked with blood-blood.”

So… why doesn’t any of this show in the history books? I know the Fae are real, hell, I’m hugging one right now. So the war probably was too…

“The King and Queen rebuked them, saying they had gone too far… when the daughter of the Queen, the most noble and radiant of the Fae… turned upon us-us, leading those who were joying in brutality to rebel. She, whose name we do not speak-speak, wounded her father the King gravely, and even now-now he remains on his throne in the Court, tended to by the Queen-Queen while the surviving Seven rule in their stead-stead.”

“So, she leads the Unseelie?” I interjected, and she nodded.

“Yes, the traitors slew many of our kin, though the war ended in a bloody stalemate. The Unseelie fled to their dark Court of Pandemonium, and those that remained were driven into hiding-hiding. Humanity grows so fast-fast, and villages and towns became cities and nations, and swords became bows became these… guns…” she spat. “and worse, the Astral was becoming distant from the Boundary, which was weakening-weakening, leaving us spent-spent. Our time was over-over.” She sighed. “That is why Grulgor and his Lord, Duke Formor, are so… mistrusted. Duke Formor and his kin are the few giants who stood with the Seelie, and most of the Trolls left us too. Several times the Unseelie have plotted against us since, and each time we have defeated them at painful cost-cost.”

“So, they will become our enemies then.” I said resolutely. “If they are your enemy, then they are naturally mine. And Grulgor can be trusted, as he swore three Oaths to me for three Boons, right? As for Duke Formor, we will decide that when we meet, all right?”

“You are always so resolute, my master, nothing phases you-you.” She approved, eyes bright, amber in the dark light of the Rhyming Tree. “Over the ages, the Seven Noble Bloodlines have managed to keep the Seelie safe, though we have had to withdraw into dwindling lands, starved of the aether that we need to survive. Now opposing the mortals is but a foolish dream, for your weapons of war-war can raze the world to ashes-ashes should you wish. But still the Unseelie remain bitter and unsatisfied, skirmishing with us whenever they can. This led the Seven and other lesser bloodlines to split into three major factions-factions.”

Faerie politics. A month ago who would believe I’d be hearing about this, and that it would matter to me greatly…

“My father is a member of the Royalist faction, one who wants to maintain the rule of the King and Queen, looking for a way to hasten the recovery of our King-King, so he can rule us alongside the Queen once more. They are opposed to the Aggressor faction, of whom Duke Formor is one of the leaders. In addition Duke Vulpatrius, the leader of the fox-Beastkin, who is my father’s most bitter-bitter rival for the Princedom of the Beastkin bloodline, is also an Aggressor. He hates me especially, for my mother… is not a Seelie.” She looked down, her face falling.

“No matter your bloodline, you are still the best!” I assured her again, almost crushing her with a hug. Don’t look so sad. It makes me feel… unhappy. “Like I said before, you will always be the princess to me.”

“I know-know, I am fine, I swear it.” She sniffed, wiping at a tear with one hand. “Anyway, my father is a lusty one-one, as all beings of power and nobility should be, and he has many wives, and many children for a Fae-Fae. I have three older brothers and an older sister, and they treat me well, if somewhat overbearing in their care-care. But my birth… the Seelie Court dwells within the Astral, touching the Material through the Boundary. Thus it moves with the phases of the moon and the tides of the Astral-Astral. One moon, when the Court was residing in this land, my father met a being here, a noble woman of great spiritual power and long lineage, as noble-noble as anyone. They fell in love, and I was born. However, my mother could not join the Court, as the Aggressor faction holds too much sway and hates all that are not Seelie, remembering the past betrayal-betrayal.” 

“But if that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense that Duke Formor and Grulgor are in that faction?” I asked, puzzled.

“I did not say they were rational, did I-I?” Shaeula snorted. “Anyway, I still am descended from royalty, two lines in fact-fact, yet there are some that feel my blood is filthy. My brothers and sister have tried to look out for me, but in the end it was decided I would come to the land of my mother-mother, and find my own path to glory here.”

So that explains why she is accompanied by Kamaitachi, who are definitely Japanese spirits. They must be from her mother…

“So, where’s your mother?” I asked. “If I was a worse person, or you weren’t smart enough to surrender, you… well, you’d be dead now, let’s not hide it.”

“My mother has many duties, she has no time to coddle me, alas-alas. She did assign me some of her kin as guards, and surely she could not have foreseen the changing tides that led you to me-me. Still, indeed-indeed, I have been poorly served by both my father and mother, in terms of protection. No doubt-doubt they have their reasons…” her face fell as she considered it, so I held her tighter, as if to drive away her sadness.

“That’s fair, I guess. So what does the Aggressor faction want? You also mentioned a third major faction, right?”

“The Aggressors seek to punish the Unseelie traitors, as well as reclaim the lands we used to hold before you mortals drove us out-out. A fools’ errand if you ask me-me. The other fools are the Isolationist faction. They seek to leave everything behind and venture into the upper Astral, to find a new world to make our own, free of the Unseelie and mortals who persecuted us alike-alike.”

“Yeah, I guess even if that was possible, the chances of finding somewhere better at the other end of the journey seem slim.”

Shaeula nodded. “I feel the same-same. So… do you now understand why the Raven Knight hates me so-so?”

“Because he’s a total moron.” was my answer. As she looked at me I smiled. “In human terms, it’s like the Princess of The United Kingdom married the son of the Japanese Emperor. The child born would be of noble blood indeed. Just like you. A princess of two royal bloodlines is surely twice as good as one.”

She opened her mouth to speak but I continued. “Let the idiots mock you if they want. We both know I’ve promised to always have your back. Grulgor is already bound to us, and the Raven Knight talked big, but we sent him scurrying away ruined and broken. And this is only the beginning. Stick with me and we’ll go all the way to the top!”

Shaeula giggled, her sorrow blown away. “You certainly talk a good battle, Akio-Akio. But I, as the princess of both the Seelie and this foreign land, will remain by your side until the end-end.”

Now that Shaeula was feeling better, we could move to the task at hand, which was deciding the direction of our Territory. Still, I had learned a lot of new information, and it did not fit with what I already knew. I need to find out more. Growing stronger is great, but if I am misinformed about how everything works, strength alone will not be enough… I would try asking the White Snake kami to see what they knew, as Grulgor would no doubt be useless in this regard…

Seelie factions and the Unseelie court. I get the feeling I’ll be more involved with them in the future. Shaeula’s mother and her group too… It looked like busy times were ahead.