Fel turned out to be surprisingly normal, considering he was a thousand year old being of primordial chaos. He had a job, a home and a family, albeit one organised a little differently from human custom. That said, there were some things that stood out.

  For example, he seemed to take great pleasure in slowly morphing his features until they were completely different, changing at a pace so glacial that you didn’t even notice. Over the course of our conversation, his entire colour scheme went from blinding white to black and purple, and I somehow only noticed near the end. When I asked, he just laughed and waved me off.

  It did point out to me that his clothing was just part of his body, which I promptly asked about. Apparently that was one of the big differences between our shapeshifting abilities, namely that he had a lot more freedom.

  Where I was limited to biological material, albeit while circumventing several rules, he could be just about whatever he wanted, including manifesting clothing. Apparently the previous leader of the Wild Hunt, who Fel had replaced, had preferred to take the form of a stormy cloud shaped vaguely like a horse-drawn carriage.

  I was a little jealous of this, but at the end of the day I already had plenty. I was more jealous of the ability to stay genuinely stable at will. Of course, when I asked about this I didn’t exactly receive the most helpful answer.

  “I haven’t a clue, young one,” Fel responded to my question. “All I can say is that I haven’t personally heard of such a problem. Normally the unconscious reactions are easy to quell, if present at all. Then again, I’ve only known one or two changelings in my time.”

  “Oh,” I muttered, crestfallen. I’d really been hoping that when I finally managed to track down someone that was, for lack of a better term, like me, I would be able to get some help with the whole issue.

  “I could ask around, if you wish?” He offered. “I am far from the oldest or most experienced member of our Court. I’m sure someone will have experienced such an issue before.”

  “You would? For me?” I asked, a little taken aback. Maybe it was just because he wasn’t exactly around, the reasoning for which had been explained already, but I struggled to imagine him going out of his way for me.

  “Of course! I haven’t much to do, if I’m honest. We of the Hunt aren’t especially active when we aren’t riding, and I’ve never really found the pleasure some of my colleagues and siblings do in tricking mortals,” Fel explained. “Really, it’s no bother.”

  “Well, that would be nice then,” I requested of him. “Thank you.”

  “It’s no issue,” he waved away my thanks. “However, I am afraid I must be going soon.”

  “What? Why?” I questioned, surprised. I’d only just met him, and now he was going again?

  “I know, I know. I wish that I didn’t have to, but this plane is so… rigid. It takes it’s tithe just to be here. Honestly, I don’t know how you stand it.” He stood and leant on a cane which I didn’t remember him having. Another undetected change, I guess. I wondered how many I had missed.

  “Wait, is it hurting you to be here?” I worried, standing with him.

  “Not at all, no. It is rather tiring though. If I were older and more powerful, then it would be fine. As it is though, we’ll both be a few millennia in before that’s the case. I’m afraid we’re limited to brief visits for now.”

  Something caught in my head. “Wait, who were you visiting? You said you were all let out about five hours ago, right? My visit here was completely unplanned, and only happened after that anyway. Obviously you weren’t here the whole time, but you couldn’t have known I would be here either.” The pieces were coming together too quickly to stop now.

  Fel, for the first time, appeared somewhat embarrassed. “Ah, quite. Very perceptive. I… well, I was here to visit your mother, actually.”

  “You were!?”

  “Please keep it down, she’s only one room away. My intentions were nothing untoward, I assure you. Yet, I kept coming back to our single meeting these past few years. She showed a great strength of spirit back then, and she certainly hasn’t lost it.” Fel got an uncomfortably dreamy look in his eyes, which began to literally sparkle.

  “Ugh,” I groaned. “Enough, I get it. Just go say goodbye already.” I desperately wished that Cassie and I never talked about each other like that.

  “As you wish, Julianne. I shall be around, I can promise you that. I’ll be visiting more often from now on, but if ever you need me, you simply need to visit a fairy circle and ask for me. I shall be along as quickly as I can.” After a quick bow, Fel quickly strode into the adjacent room to bid my mother farewell, barely giving me a chance to think of how to say goodbye, let alone actually say it.

  I sat back in my chair with a sigh, my mind racing. I’d finally met him. The man who saved my life only a few days in, before vanishing without a trace. The man who had been a persistent question mark ever since I learned of him, who literally made me who I was today, or at least what I was. It was more than a little surreal.

  I heard the muffled sounds of conversation through the wall, but I had learned my lesson about eavesdropping, so I nestled a bit further in my chair. Maybe I could get my nap in now...

  I heard a bang as the door shot open. “Hey!” Cassie called out when she saw me.

  Nevermind.

  “Hey, Cass.”

  She bounded over to me before pausing and looking me over. “You okay? You seem… tired, somehow.”

  I gave her a quick smile. “Oh boy, do I have a lot to tell you.”

  --------------------------------------

  By the time I had finished retelling the events of the last hour or so to Cassie, it was pretty late in the afternoon, bordering on evening. She seemed excited to meet Fel, but when we checked the other room was occupied solely by my mother, who was sipping her tea with a satisfied smile on her face. I decided that it was in everyone’s interests that their conversation remain private.

  With the day slowly coming to a close, I sat with Cassie and Noren outside my old house. So much had happened today that it felt weird it was almost over. When I’d woken up this morning, visiting Vernal after fleeing the city, albeit temporarily, was the last thing I had expected to happen. I’d thought that Cassie and I would go and fill out some formality with Simon and Gerald, get discreetly excused by Noren and then we would go back to doing quests.

  Now it turned out that Simon had already forgotten about us, Gerald may have never existed in the first place and Noren was secretly a teenaged dragon. That thought did remind me of something, though.

  “Noren?” I turned to where he and Cassie had been chatting, waiting for a lull in their conversation to jump in.

  “Julie?” He responded.

  “So uh… the whole dragon thing,” I started, although the moment I spoke I immediately felt a bit embarrassed about my request, especially given how I’d reacted to his big reveal earlier today.

  “What about it, my dear?” Noren replied easily.

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  “Well, I was wondering if… actually, I was hoping that, um,” I faltered.

  Noren arched an eyebrow and turned more fully to face me, with Cassie peering over his shoulder. “Would it be easier to ask me if I wasn’t here?”

  “No, sorry. Um. I was wondering if I could see you again. As a dragon, I mean. Only, I was hoping to get some ideas for myself. Wouldn’t it be great if I could fly! Or something else, I mean,” the words tumbled from my mouth all at once in a combination of embarrassment and excitement.

  Before today I had never been particularly attached to the idea of flight, but having experienced it, even briefly, I found myself contemplating it more seriously. I imagined it was harder when I was the one doing it, rather than being carried by a creature of myth, but I felt like it was worth it.

  There were, of course, practicalities. The power of flight opened up all kinds of traversal options, whether I was considering combat, travel or simply day-to-day living. It granted me the freedom of choice. Far more importantly than that, however, it seemed really fun.

  “No,” Noren answered simply.

  “Than- Wait, what? Why?” I asked, shocked. It may have been embarrassing to ask, but I hadn’t thought he’d say no. It cost him nothing but time, which we were already wasting doing nothing because he insisted that we not return to Meria until tomorrow.

  “I am not a show animal, thank you very much,” he sniffed. “I shall not be paraded around or examined just for your sake.”

  “Please?” I begged. “I promise I won’t take long. I just want to see how your wings work.”

  “Then go catch a bird,” he retorted. “My mind won’t be changed on this, Julie. I am not here for your study.”

  I glanced over his shoulder to Cassie, hoping for some support. All I got in response was a shrug, which really wasn’t helpful. “...Fine. I guess you have a point,” I admitted reluctantly. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” Noren answered, settling back into a more comfortable position. “You were just excited, I understand. Flying is rather good.”

  “Not helping,” I pointed out.

  “Quite.”

  “Hey, guys?” Cassie asked, prompting both of us to turn to her. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but is there someone over there?”

  She pointed behind me, and we both turned to see that yes, there was a figure standing quite far away. From what I could see, they were spinning on the spot like they were searching for something.

  This in itself was not strange, but what was weird was that they were standing in mid-air. It was hard to gauge their height, given that they were so far away I could just barely make out their silhouette, but they were a decent ways above the treeline, pretty far away from Vernal.

  We watched them for a few minutes. Their spinning, which had at first seemed erratic, had slowed and seemed to be focusing mainly in our direction, which seemed rather worrying. After another minute or so, the figure simply vanished.

  “Oh,” Cassie sounded a bit disappointed. “They’re gone. I was kinda hoping that they would actually do something.”

  “What Did The Child Of Storms Expect From Us?” The Revenant asked.

  I jumped, taken by surprise. Cassie didn’t fare much better, and Noren just raised an eyebrow. Since when was the Revenant here?

  “We Have Only Just Arrived.”

  “Wait, can you read thoughts?” I asked, pushing my surprise aside to get an answer to my question.

  “When They Concern Us.” The Revenant was being as cryptic as always.

  “You can’t just keep showing up, big guy!” Cassie complained, regaining her own composure.

  “There Has Been A Development In Our Task. The Necromancer Requested We Update You. Thus It Was Not Our Choice To ‘Just Show Up’,” they argued. Their logic was… almost sound?

  “You could have warned us though,” Cassie retorted. “You always just appear out of nowhere. Teleport behind a wall or something, at least.”

  “Your Suggestion Has Been Noted, And Ignored, As It Has No Connection To Our Task. The Necromancer Sends Her Regards, And Wishes To Convey A Message.”

  “...You gonna share that message?” Cassie eventually prompted them.

  “We Did Not Agree To Share The Message, Only The Information Pertinent To Our Task. The One That Kills Has Been Chased Into Hiding Due To Persistent Combat And Disruption. This Is Not Preferred, As It Necessitates The Tracking Down Of The One That Kills After The Task Has Been Completed, But It Also Grants Access To The One That Lies,” the Revenant explained in what may have been the longest continuous speech I’d heard from them.

  “Okay, that’s a lot,” Cassie admitted. “So, Dusk is gone, right? Not dead, but not likely to pop up and kill us all?”

  “Correct. However, We Do Not Know How Long The One That Kills Will Remain In Hiding, So We Urge You To Cease All Frivolities And Return To The Task.”

  “Fine, that’s fair,” Cassie agreed. “Who is the One Who Lies, then? More importantly, how do we get to them?”

  “Unknown."

  “...Great,” Cassie muttered. “Is that all we get?”

  “The One That Lies Gathers Influence To Serve Their Master. That Is All We Know. We Cannot Reach Them Alone. You Will Perform This Duty In Service to The Task.”

  “Gathering influence, hm?” Noren spoke up for the first time. “Sounds like someone in the nobility to me. I would be happy to help, my dea-”

  “Silence, Vital One! Your Presence Is Tolerated Only Because The Consequences Of Removing You Could Impact The Task,” the Revenant’s voices grew strained when they addressed Noren, backed by a high-pitched squealing, like the scraping of two pieces of metal.

  “As you wish,” Noren conceded immediately, falling silent again.

  “Noren could help us,” I tried. “He’s the only person we know that has access to that world.”

  The Revenant turned to me, but they said nothing. Their silence lasted for several increasingly disconcerting seconds, a complete lack of motion taking over their body. Eventually they seemed to arrive at a decision. “We Will Have No Contact With The Vital One. The Methods You Use To Aid In Completion Of The Task Are Immaterial. You Have Been Informed Of The Relevant Information.”

  Just like always, the Revenant waved a couple of limbs and vanished, not bothering to say goodbye or explain half of what they were saying. Still, I had a feeling about their parting words.

  “I think,” I began, turning back to the other two. “We just got the go-ahead to include you, Noren.”

  A wide smile broke out on the dragon’s face. “Wonderful, my dear. I knew you could do it.”

  “Why don’t I believe that for a second?” I wondered aloud.

  “Because you haven’t enough faith in your compatriots!” Noren answered confidently. “Now, how about a celebration? Where do you keep your wine?”

  “...We don’t,” I answered flatly.

  “Ah,” Noren faltered, the wind thoroughly removed from his sails. “Perhaps your scotch, then?”

  “Nope,” Cassie chimed in.

  “Port?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Brandy? Gin? Hells, an ale will do.” Noren seemed to be getting a bit desperate.

  Cassie shook her head silently, a tiny grin on her face as Noren fell into a deep despair. “However did you live here?” He asked, crestfallen.

  “As children, mostly,” I responded drily.

  “You do know that there are adults living here, correct?”

  “Where are they meant to get alcohol from?” Cassie spoke up. “The only distillery within a thirty mile radius closed down years ago. I remember, my Mum was ecstatic.”

  Noren shook his head. “I’ll never understand you small town folk.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why not? I’m envisioning you growing up on a mountain somewhere. Not exactly the centre of the social landscape.”

  He scoffed. “As if! We were introduced to all of the mortal societies in the area. Honestly, I prefer the elves, but humans are far easier to blend in with.”

  “Thanks,” Cassie grumbled.

  “You’re very welcome. Now, how about we head inside? Who knows, I may still be able to find something of value in this gods forsaken village.” He stood and began making his way to my old house.

  “Heh,” Cassie chuckled as she turned to me. “How about we let him spend some time with himself for a bit?”

  “Why?” I asked her, a bit confused. I was pretty sure that letting Noren loose on our poor, unsuspecting hometown was a dangerous idea.

  She nodded over my shoulder. “Sun’s gonna go down soon. It would be nice to see it again, don’t you think?”

  As I remembered the last time we’d watched the sunset again, when I’d realised my feelings for her, my mind changed in an instant. “Yeah,” I said, a little more softly than I’d intended. “Yeah, it would. But something’s missing.”

  “Really? What?”

  I smiled and opened my arms. “Wrong positioning, I’m afraid.”

  She grinned and took me up on my offer, shuffling into my embrace. “This is nice,” she said after a while, gazing upward as the sky slowly turned pink.

  “Agreed,” I murmured. “We should watch the sunset more often.”

  “I disagree,” Cassie started. “I think we save it. Make sure these quiet moments are special.”

  I considered this idea. “You know what? Yeah, I agree. This deserves to be special.”

  “Mhm,” was her only response before falling silent. We watched in quiet comfort as the day faded into twilight, seated where it had all begun.

  When today had started, I wouldn’t have foreseen even half of today’s events. I probably wouldn’t have wanted most of them to happen, were I given the choice. Now that I had, though, I was pretty happy. As I smiled softly and watched the sunset with Cassie, I decided that I stood by my words from the other day.

  I could live with undead knocking on our door, frustratingly mysterious father figures and near constant excitement for one, simple reason.

  Right here and now, life was really good.

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