Season 8: Blood Feuds, Ancient & Modern

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Sleepy forget-me-not blue eyes ringed with gold slowly drift open. A bright light shines through green leaves, casting hypnotic patterns across blurred vision. The small woman groggily rolls over on a downy bed of grass and into the arms of the one she loves, pulling herself in close to the scents of cinnamon, cloves and honey. A warm breeze brushes her nakid form making her tremble with remembered pleasure. She presses herself closer to the aroma of warm spices and furred legs twine with hers. Lips press against her forehead and she smiles, knowing there is nowhere else in the world she would rather be as hands draw her in.

A soft familiar melody floats around the satyr and halfling, soothing them to sleep just a little longer…

Merla and Kruxeral spent a number of days in the Court of Joy, Euphoria speaking in her strange way to both of them, but sometimes to just Merla. Saem had been avoiding them initially, but either through their own observations or because the angel of Lliira spoke to them, the faun eventually came round. The fae-bard could tell her relationship with Kruxeral’s old flame would take time to build but she was determined to make it work.

Late one afternoon, Astra had spotted an overgrown temple dedicated to the goddess of Joy, noticing hardly any denizens of the court seemed to frequent it. She had told Merla who had then mentioned it to Kruxeral. He had gotten a look in his eyes which sparked a release of heat that started deep within her. She took his hand and he whisked her away. The two had spent the night there together, making love over and over again in all the ways they could.

Entwined together, the air starts getting hotter and Merla shifts in Kruxeral’s arms, trying to find the blissful peace she had awoken from. But something isn’t right, she feels it like a white noise in the back of her mind. She moans as something twists in her gut, like a sudden feeling of taking a step only to find the ground not there. Kruxeral opens a bleary eye but is nearly blinded by the bright light emanating from the gem in her circlet.

Then Merla’s eyes open completely and she bolts up, gasping.

“What is it?” Kruxeral asks. He is trying to blink the spots of light from his eyes so he does not see Merla’s distant look like someone is speaking to her through magic.

When she doesn’t answer, Kruxeral grows concerned.

“Has something happened? Merla, talk to me.” He rests a hand on her back between the talon-like scars.

“We must return home, immediately,” Merla says, slowly looking around for her discarded clothes. “Something dreadful has happened…”

Kruxeral comes around to face her. He holds her face in his hands, making her look at him.

“What’s happened?” he asks again.

She looks at him, hands shaking as they reach out to grab onto him.

“The Court of Glory – it is… no more.”

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Merla and Kruxeral make their way through Perihelion Palace to the guest quarters where Amber was being kept. A retinue of the Duchess’ loyal retainers guard her chambers and it takes some convincing to at least let Merla through. Before she goes, she asks Kruxeral to inform her Queen Mother of their success in recovering Commander Mardum along with lost legion of se’akhrua*, and the inclusion of Llirra’s Enclave to the Summer Court.

What Merla sees when she is escorted into the Amber Duchess’ chambers is not encouraging. The mighty, spear wielding fighter who’s skill once managed to reduce the fae-bard to unconsciousness with a single strike is awake and alive, but completely unresponsive. Amber is a ghost, a hollowed out shell of her former self.

She spends hours with the Duchess, singing song after song, anything to help her rest, to help her heal. But it’s not doing as much as Merla would like. It was like there was a hole in Amber’s soul that went so deep even Merla’s songs could not fill it. When she finally came out, the Green Knight was waiting for her.

“What happened to her?” Merla asks the seelie knight

“I warned her that it was a trap – I told her it was so. The Lady of Silence would not challenge Amber to a duel without a hidden plan. It was too simple, too good to be true!”

His hands are clenched into fists, shaking at his sides. It was the first time Merla had ever seen the stoic knight so emotional.

“Green Knight, steady yourself and tell me what happened,” Merla says, her tone firm but not without letting him know she understands his emotions. His salet covers his eyes, making it hard for her to read his face, but he straightens up a little, as if he were giving a report.

“At first I thought they were Advents of Silence, the Winter court’s spies, but then I saw their faces…” he begins darkly. “It was a party of adventurers from the Material Plane, your own backyard, led by the one named Elias. They made their way to the roots and poisoned the Bloodwood Tree with Lady Silence’s blood as she fought Amber in the arena. I tried to stop them before it was too late.” His shoulders tremble as hot tears stream down his face. “Her stupid pride got in the way. I grieve for her. But what the Winterlings did there was heinous. This cannot stand.”

Merla feels that sickening twist in her gut again, the one that had so violently woke her up only that morning and she knows with terrible certainty the full extent of what transpired.

The Bloodwood Tree and Amber had a unique, blood bonded connection, much akin to a soulmate/child/mother/lover. When Elias poured their mother’s blood onto the tree’s roots it violently severed that connection, causing serious trauma to both of them. It was why Amber was currently catatonic – she is feeling unspeakable grief for the loss of her soulmate/child/lover. It may be that Amber will recover in time. But it is also quite possible she may never come back from such depths of loss and agony.

The Tree would be alive. But where the Duchess had the ability to leave the now no longer Court of Glory, the Bloodwood Tree is trapped where it is. It will be forced to adapt to a very different climate, experiencing winter for the first time in its existence. It would hunker down, hardening itself to those around it, whilst nursing its emotional wounds. Merla could only imagine how isolated it must feel, cut off from all it once knew. Lady Silence’s blood would not have created a new bond though and she thanks the stars for that one, small blessing. Where once the tree gave its sap and branches willingly to aid the war effort and participate in the glory Amber pursued, it would now be used, for Winter is a cold and calculating Court, preferring to make trade based on mutual utility. The part the Tree that loved would have withered away, just like Amber sits withering away in her chambers – possibly to never recover.

“You are right,” Merla says, her voice trembling as she also becomes overwhelmed with emotions. “What was done is terrible, unforgivable even. But Green Knight,” her tone makes him look at her and though Merla is much shorter than the seelie knight she commands his attention, “are you saying I should have known what was to come because the people responsible for this heinous act are from the community I have been spending time with? I have been here, doing my part to help restore Balance to the Feywild by spreading our Song and healing the hearts of those we have taken in.”

He deflates a little and looks crestfallen at her words.

“You are right, of course, please forgive my words spoken in anger. These wounds are still fresh…”

“We are all affected by this,” she says, laying a comforting hand on his arm. He looks from it to her face, feeling a warmth seep into him that goes beyond touch. “Your feelings come from a place of genuine concern and hurt. I understand your anger. It is in me as well. But we must try to see past it. Amber needs us, as do the people from the Court of Glory who are also victims of this underhanded attack.” Merla pauses. “I assume you have spoken to the Queen already.”

He gives a pained look. “I have provided my report to the Queen as soon as I returned with the Amber Duchess. The Queen is… not pleased.”

Merla takes a breath. “I will speak with the Queen, see what is to be done… and how I may help.”

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Merla finds her Queen Mother in the war room. As she steps around the doorframe, Merla sees a glint of sword and the edge of a tabard as two commanders leave via a secondary door. Titania’s golden gaze falls on her and Merla sees a wellspring of emotions play across their radiant surface. As the door closes behind there is no mistaking the heavy presence in the room.

“Femaer, I came as soon as I could. I have spoken with the Green Knight.” She pauses as she comes around to her Mother’s side. Though she does not say it, Merla’s expression shows Titania her own grief at the news. “What are we going to do?”

Queen Titania places her hands on the large shifting map table carefully. The tension in the toned muscles of her arms stand out very obviously when she does so, her silvered breastplate shimmering. The Archfey takes a slow, deep breath.

“I would ask you, Daughter. You run with mercenaries, and I do not begrudge them their work – though perhaps you may consider who you trust.” Her eyes fall down to Merla and she is rooted to the spot by the heat in their gaze. “Elias is a problem, and has done something… cruel. I do not believe I can ignore that.”

“I have wondered for some time if Elias still considers me a friend,” Merla begins softly. “I am not insensible enough to not understand what motivated them to do this act. They honestly believed their home to be in danger. Mortal, fey, there is no difference – when one’s home is perceived as being threatened, people will fight tooth and nail to protect it. Even going so far as to retaliate in an almost Unseelie way.”

“This… Pieni character is also a concern – he fought for the rebel Jack if my information is correct. Wherever their loyalties lie, they are certainly not with you, Merla. An old friend of mine is in a grave situation and the Green Knight saw the perpetrators with his own eyes. What would you do?”

Merla feels her face flush at her Mother’s question, the weight of it settling over her shoulders. She takes a moment to gather her thoughts before she responds.

“I know Pieni less than Elias, but for someone who claims to be a pacifist they acted in a very aggressive way. They have said in no few words that they do not trust the Courts or any Fey Monarch for that matter…” Her brow furrows under her circlet as she thinks. “Though it is concerning what you say about him having fought for Jack before. Could this not be the first time Pieni has been used as a pawn by another? For all they claim, he certainly doesn’t seem very wise… On the other hand it could mean Pieni is not the person I and our allies of Daring have thought he is. Is it possible he knows about the connection between Jack’s escape and Queen Sarastra’s murder? Is this just another ploy to allow the Unseelie a greater foothold?”

Queen Titania straightens up, towering over her Daughter, studying her.

Merla is still but her eyes are stormy. Thoughts swirl and she knows her Mother is waiting for an answer. When she feels she is ready, she looks her Mother in the eyes, the gold ring in her forget-me-not blue a reflection of the Archfey’s own eyes.

“I would not seek to punish the many for the actions of a few. To seek retribution against all of the adventurers by attacking the Material Plane would only prove to colour us as villainous and I would not fight against others I still consider my allies. We have sought justice before on behalf of Daring against the River King, perhaps we do so again.” She shifts a little, the certainty wavering for her lack of knowledge. “There are many things permissible in the Games Fey Play. You know them better than I, Femaer. Is such a thing possible?”


Merla lets out the breath she had been holding very slowly.

“Then, if not a duel, something else.”

She pauses, considering the threads she knows of and those that have been left untouched for some time. Her concern increases.

“When you say more direct methods could be employed, what do you mean? Would retribution be brought to those the Green Knight saw? Or to those that were the puppet masters?”

“I mean this is war, Merla. You win battles, you lose battles.” She gestures to the shifting map. “You make a plan, hit your targets where they’re weak and you’re strong, you try to predict what your opponents will do but always know that they will do something unexpected. The loss of the Court of Glory is significant, but it does not outweigh our gains so far – your efforts at consolidation have helped ensure that.”

Titania looks down at her Daughter and smiles even as her eyes glow a brighter, fiercer gold. It is a brief moment but Merla feels its importance. Then the Great Seelie Queen turns back to the map, eyes focusing on the place that once was the Court of Glory. Merla sees a familiar snowflake emblem floating above the once blooming Bloodwood Tree and her stomach drops again as she reads the Sylvan underneath it.

The Court of Silence.

“If the Snow Queen wants to provoke us with the underhanded manner of their attack, to provoke some reckless response, she will not have it. We cannot let it go completely without response however.”

The Warrior Queen waves her hand, indicating the vast lands that are part of Summer.

“We have raw might, surgical strikes, diplomacy, subterfuge and many more assets at our disposal. I will be making plans to take something high profile from Morinn – not what she expects, but something that will hurt. I do not have time to take care of a singular agent of Winter.”

Titania lays a hand on Merla’s shoulder and it’s like being touched by the sun, radiating warmth and burning drive wrapping around her.

“Stop Elias, Merla. By any means necessary. I don’t care if you stab, steal or sing to do it. I have more revels for you to plan, but if you need to pursue this Elias takes precedence. They’re an unpredictable element on the battlefield – just like you.”

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“What will you do?” Kruxeral asks her later in their grove, holding her close as he runs his fingers through her hair.

“I don’t want to hurt them. I won’t,” Merla says, tracing light circular patterns on his toned stomach whilst she listens to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

“Perhaps you could trick them?” he offers but even he sounds doubtful.

She shakes her head. “They are too clever. Any charm I cast on them would have a high chance of not working.”

Merla sits up, eyes filling with the glittering light of a thousand stars. It’s not often that the sun sets in the Summer Lands but when it does it’s still very bright out.

“So… what will you do?” Kruxeral asks, sitting up with her.

“I think… I have to see them.”

His eyes widen, appalled. “Why? What Elias did was monstrous, Merla. Surely you see that.”

“Of course I do!” she shouts, a hurtful rage bursting forth to run rampant in her. Merla stands up and takes a few long strides away from Kruxeral, trying to collect herself again. “But that doesn’t mean I will hunt them down and kill them! That’s not who I am.”

“I know that but- Surely you must feel it too?” he asks, following her whilst still allowing her space. “There’s just something different about the Court now, an unease that is setting my nerves on edge.”

Of course she feels it. Merla has been doing her best not to acknowledge it, as a matter of fact. But now that Kruxeral mentions it, it is all she feels and she does not like it. This isn’t what her home is supposed to feel like.

“I am sorry,” Kruxeral says softly. “I know you are not that type of person.”

She wraps her arms around herself, desperately trying to sort through all of her roiling thoughts and feelings.

“I have wondered if Elias was once again not told everything, that Lady Silence knew exactly what would happen and was using Elais’ love for her and their home to do this monstrous act. I know it’s not my place to come between them and their mother but…” Merla sighs, shaking her head. “I will not be able to look at them – at any of them – the same way ever again.”

Kruxeral comes over, folding her into his arms and kissing her neck.

“Make sure Astra is close when you speak with them.”

“I will.”

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When Merla proposed the idea she and Elias agreed upon Queen Titania had not been keen about it. Still, Merla had kept true to the task – by any means necessary was she to eliminate Elias from the playing field.

It just so happened that this method also removed her – for a time.

There had been other conversations following that discussion, namely the Merla sharing her thoughts and research she has done over the past several moons into all the threads and plots that have been weaving together since Queen Sarastra’s death; about her theories pertaining to Corellon and the consequences of Sunday’s refusal to accept the gift of the Wyld Suffusion; about her confrontation with Elspeth and how she could have been her Mother’s sister, the Queen of Air and Darkness.

“Someone clearly was up too late with the wine, Daughter,” Titania says, an amused look on her face when Merla finally finishes telling her everything.

Her Mother concedes that the Queen of Air and Darkness could have been Elspeth, however…

“It would be surprising and unusual for my sister to take any sort of corporeal form. As for Lord Corellon, you’re not wrong. Their absence is felt in the Feywild, and whether it precipitated events or was just a stroke of fortune for the Unseelie, they are surely using the situation to their advantage. I have not been Queen an aeon however just to let a brief sabbatical upset all that we have built.”

As for Merla’s thoughts about the Wyld Suffusion, her Mother is thoughtful but does not say anything in particular.

“Seems odd,” Kruxeral says to her later.

“It wouldn’t be the first time my Mother keeps her own council,” Merla says.

“Hmm, still. She didn’t say where it was kept, did she?”

“I didn’t think to ask but perhaps I should have.”

“No, it’s probably best you did not.”

“Why?”

But Kruxeral would not elaborate.

“We will be leaving shortly to go to the Spring Court but before I do, I would ask a favour of you, Kruxeral.”

“And what could the Princess of Summer want from an old goat like me?” he teases.

Merla gives him a look even as she tries not to smile.

“She would see you continue healing the hearts of the many with our Song as we have been doing.”

There’s a beat of silence as the brief levity slowly fades to solemn earnestness.

“For you arael’salif**, I would move mountains,” Kruxeral says, taking her hands in his. He raises them to his forehead, then kisses her fingers, his eyes looking deep into hers.

“Let’s hope these mountains are a little less stubborn than Mount Karrvarzt,” Merla says with a smile as she feels a warmth blossom within her.

“If he can become a pillar of strength for our court then I’m sure anything is possible.”

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*se’akhrua – Sunflower Warriors
**arael’salif – Heartsong (said to someone you love deeply)