"All the elements deserve respect, but never forget that fire is to be both respected and feared. It is the only element that seeks to consume all things simply by existing."
-Evokers' proverb
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No! For the love of all the gods of every race please stop asking that every five seconds!" Azalie nearly screamed, doing her best not to sprint down the alley and away from her interrogator.
She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as she did everything in her power not to immolate her new friends. Well, one of her new friends anyway. Pinkie Pie had spent the last thirty minutes asking if they were 'there' yet, and the mage didn't know how much more she could take before losing her mind. It probably didn't help that none of the ponies knew where they were going, but Azalie pointedly ignored that in favor of hating every minute of her life spent with the pink ball of energy.
"I'm sorry about Pinkie, dear, but I'm sure you could placate her if you at least tell us where it is we're going," Rarity chimed in, doing her best not to look sick. The alleyway wasn't quite agreeing with her sensibilities, or so the mage assumed, seeing as she was doing an admirable job of keeping up whilst dodging every puddle or errant drop of sewer water they passed. She looked up at Azalie with a friendly smile tinted with a slightly greenish veneer. "There really is no need to be so secretive, is there?"
Was there? Did ponies know about the Circle's regulations or the High King's Law? Probably not, but to avoid trouble in the future Azalie decided discretion was the wiser choice given the many unknowns surrounding the strange creatures.
"Before you all showed up I was headed to a friend's place to pick up a few... things. And now, I guess I'll call in a favor or two to see if I can get you ponies somewhere to sleep while I'm there," Azalie explained as she rounded another corner in the back alley maze, "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling none of you know where you are, and I imagine not many inn keepers will be happy to rent you a room, all things considered."
'Best not mention I want to keep them to myself so I can get credit for the discovery.'
"And why would an inn keeper be unhappy 'bout rentin' us a room?" Applejack asked, showing absolutely none of her friend's concern about sewer water as she trotted through a puddle, causing a messy splash. "We won't raise no fuss or nothin'."
"On the contrary, no innkeeper with a sliver of good sense would even associate with you. None of them want the thieves’ guilds or slavers making late night ventures to their place of business, if you know what I mean."
By the looks on their faces, they didn't. Except Discord, who was hanging back and watching the exchange with a crooked smile.
"That's stupid," Rainbow Dash fumed, "What's a 'slaver' anyway?"
Azalie resisted the urge to groan. "Someone who keeps or sells slaves... Have you all been living under rocks for the last thousand years or something?" Considering unicorns, and apparently ponies in general, hadn't been seen in thousands of years, the possibility did exist. The mage made a mental note to investigate that as well.
"Well dear, since the Crystal Empire's seal was only recently lifted, slavery has not been thought of in our culture for... well, a thousand years give or take. Not that it's a popular topic, mind you. But a thousand years does tend to dull the memory," Rarity explained, shooting a disapproving look at the prismatic mare. "Honestly Rainbow Dash, did you pay attention to Twilight at all during our trip north?"
As Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a lecture on the importance of paying attention, Azalie's mind was doing flips trying to wrap her head around what was just said. According to the white unicorn, ponies had founded entire countries. Apparently under all the races' collective nose. Of course, the elves could have known and just not shared the knowledge, but even so, the act of hiding an 'empire' was just implausible.
'Or maybe I'm just making too many assumptions. I don't need more guess work. I need information.'
At the back of the group, Discord let out a loud groan. "Oh, just ask already. If you keep it bottle up in that little head of yours any longer, it's likely to pop."
Azalie stopped in her tracks, dumbstruck by the patchwork creature's accuracy in which he read her thoughts. She unconsciously bit her lip as she prepared to get some answers.
"Okay then, where are you all from? Where have you been? Why are there more races in your species than just unicorns?" The mage rattled off, unable to stop herself now that the dam had burst. "How many of you are out there? Why haven't we seen any sign of your species for thousands of years? Of all the places to appear, why here? Why now!?"
Discord took the mess of questions in stride, smiling as he crossed his arms and waited for her breathing to slow. "There is a perfectly good explanation to all of your questions, my dear." Azalie sighed in relief at being given answers to the many queries jumbling around in her head. "And that explanation is..." Discord announced, pausing for dramatic effect. The mage held her breath in anticipation of some ground breaking revelation that could change how humans understood history, only to have the chimera place a claw over his lips and grin almost wickedly. "... A secret."
It was Azalie's turn to let out a long suffering groan as Discord chuckled to himself.
"Fine," the mage growled, pointedly looking away from the patchwork creature, "Can you at least tell me why you’re keeping it a secret?"
Discord's chuckle died down, but even as he spoke, the amusement was thick in his voice. "Why, the same reason you're keeping your destination a secret; because we're not sure who you would tell that information to. On your own, you're a small, if insignificant threat to be sure. But if you told others... I would rather humans not go sticking their noses where they shouldn't be stuck- no matter how amusing it might be."
"Don't take it personally, Besty~!" Pinkie Pie chirped, "We Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony our secrety-secrets or else everypony would be frowny faced forever!"
Azalie cringed at the way she butchered the common tongue then paused in thought.
"Besty?"
Pinkie Pie's smile became uncomfortably wide. "It's your name, silly willy! I couldn't come up with anything for Azalie, and Bestandeel is wa~y too long, so I shortened it. It's super cool 'cause you're best human, Besty!"
The mage shuddered, but she made it her mission to let the pink pony's antics slide off her.
'Calm, Azalie... Your pride is not so fragile as to break at being given a nickname.'
Despite Azalie's obvious annoyance, Pinkie stood upright and clopped her fore hooves together in excitement. "Ooooo, you know what this means?" she asked enthusiastically, "We should have a 'congratulations on your new nickname' par-!"
"Oh, would you look at that! We're here!" Azalie hastily interrupted, motioning frantically to a simple oaken door she stopped in front of.
Like the rest of the alleyway, the door was a little grungy and sported rusty hinges along with a hint wood rot. The group would have walked right past it if it weren't for the single lantern hanging above its frame. Grey, the proprietor of the establishment, went to great lengths to stay out of the larger guilds attention, especially the Circle of Sagecraft. They tended to be more interested in the High King's Law than the various thieves' guilds working the Undercity.
Though Azalie herself was a journeyer enchanter of the Circle, that didn't stop her from being one of Grey's regular customers.
She turned to the ponies and rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously. "I, uh, think it's best you all stay outside and let me explain the situation befo-"
Before Azalie could finish, Rainbow Dash rapped her hoof against the unassuming door as she hovered in place. The mage didn't even favor the brash pony's wings with a thought for fear that she would overload. So many questions...
"We're closed!" came the irritated replay from a familiar voice. "If you'd like to place a special order, slip a note under the door and I'll have it in a few days, and if you're here about the bloody Nirn crystals, bugger off! I don't deal in fairy tales!"
Forgetting her plan to ease Grey into meeting her new friends, Azalie gave the door an impatient huff. "Grey, it's Azalie. Open up."
There was a long pause that stretched on for several minutes before the sound of a latch being undone could be heard. The door cracked open just enough for Grey to stick his face out and confirm her identity.
While not a young man, Grey's age was almost impossible to tell. Mainly because, like his name, the unruly shoulder length mess he called his hair was a solid grey. Adding that to the lack of creases on his face that would normally come with age, the dubious peddler was something of an enigma. What she, and the rest of his customers did know was that if you needed any trinket or item, whether it be mundane or magical, Grey could procure it with little effort.
"Azalie," he greeted with cautious smile, "What do you need my services for this time? Some rare tomes perhaps? Or more materials for your experiments?"
The mage placed her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow. "Can I at least come inside to discuss my business, or are you going to make a lady stand in the middle of an alley while you cower behind a door?"
"One can never be too cautious when dealing with you magical types," he said with a quick laugh, "But you can't really blame me can you? The city's in an uproar. You heard the news?"
Azalie gave the shady peddler a morose smile, "I've heard the rumors. Though I am interested to hear your take on it. May I come inside?"
With a nod he opened the door to let her in but froze when it opened wide enough to see Rainbow Dash hovering just in front of him.
He didn't scream or jerk away. He just stared at the cyan pony with a deadpan expression, switching his unamused gaze between the two visitors before he attempted to quickly slam the door in Azalie's face. The mage was faster, shoving her foot in the doorjamb as Grey tried his best to crush her foot.
"No! Just no!" the peddler declared loudly, "I'm not stupid, girl! Remember the last time you got me mixed up in your crazy experiments!?"
Azalie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Grey. I said I was sorry, didn't I?"
"This is a place of business," he spat, eyeing her from the crack in the door, "Not your personal laboratory for forbidden studies. I lost three fortnights worth of profits in bribes the last time you roped me into your insanity!"
Losing the last of her patience, Azalie focused her will on the lantern above the door and forced the flickering flame within to flare up, breaking the glass of its housing. Not wanting to burn her favorite shop to the ground, she took only a portion of the heat into her open palm, and with a practiced application of will the heat compressed until it was fit to burst.
"Grey, please open the door, or I'm going to lose my temper and do something you'll regret," she said sweetly with a strained smile.
The sweat was visibly running down what little could be seen of Grey's face as he stopped trying to force the door closed. "Please, don't break my door."
"No."
Azalie slapped the flat of her palm against the faded wood and released the growing pressure in her mind, freeing the compressed heat in a controlled explosion that made her pony friends duck and cover their ears. The oaken door was blasted off its hinges, through the entryway, and into the adjacent room, taking Grey with it.
When the dust settled she looked over to the group of shell shocked ponies and an unruffled Discord with a tight smirk. "Shall we?"
Rainbow Dash was the first to recover. "Whoa! That... that was so cool!" she gushed before coughing and readjusting her expression to one of indifference, "I mean, not as cool as me, but it was pretty alright."
"Y-you don't... think he's hurt do you?" Fluttershy managed to squeak from behind Applejack.
With a brief glance inside to survey the damage Azalie shrugged. "If that could really hurt him, he would have gotten out of the way. He's more slippery than you could imagine."
From inside the building came a few weak coughs and a groan. "Damnit girl, that's coming out of your next purchase..."
"See?"
"So, what's Kaldoon like?" Twilight asked, trotting beside Morenth at an easy pace. Occasionally, she would be forced to slow down as the paladin wasn't yet fully recovered and tended to stumble every once in a while. Even though he showed marked improvements each day, the process was taking too long by the paladin's reckoning. Any normal poison would have worked its way out of his system within a week, and yet, his malady lingered still. "You said it's a 'duchy'. What does that mean exactly?"
The change of scenery from the Grey Flats to the forest they now traveled through signaled that the end of the caravan's journey was near, and Twilight had become full of questions when he told her such.
Morenth sighed, an act that was quickly becoming far too commonplace, and kept his eyes on the bramble ahead of him to avoid the embarrassing act of tripping over flat ground. "So the topic of today's discussion is politics, is it? My favorite subject..." It wasn't. In fact, Morenth hated both politics and politicians in general and did his best to avoid them whenever possible, but when Twilight's face lit up at what she had mistaken for enthusiasm, he swallowed whatever misgivings he had of the subject and prepared to at least humor her. "What forms of government are you familiar with?"
"Well, Equestria was a monarchy until a few years ago. Then, Princess Luna returned from exile, and it became a diarchy again after a thousand years of having only one ruler," Twilight explained, grabbing Morenth's attention at the mention of a princess instead of a king, "There's also the Griffon Kingdoms and the Zebra Tribes, but zebra culture is so decentralized I don't think they have an overreaching form of government. Oh, and the Crystal Empire, which only appeared recently."
"That raises a few questions of my own. Exactly how long lived is your race?"
Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin in brief thought. "As a general rule ponies live about eighty years, though some can last well past a hundred depending on the situation."
"So about the same lifespan of a human. Interesting..." Morenth mused before getting to his real question, "Then what about this Princess Luna? Was she exiled in a form of stasis or is the title inherited?"
The lavender mare stifled a giggle. "Oh no, Princess Luna is an alicorn. She doesn't have to worry about age like the rest of us ponies," she explained with a smile in the face of Morenth's confused look, "Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are immortal."
Morenth tried to work his mouth into forming words, but it failed him as nothing came out. After several seconds of complete silence, the words finally came. "When you asked me if Yuelith was the ruler of Soulis, it wasn't a joke, was it."
"No..." Twilight's head drooped lower to the ground. "In Equestria, the Sisters ruled justly since the close of the pre-classical era almost three thousand years ago. Well, minus the incident with Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago."
Despite Morenth's relief that the conversation was leaning away from politics, he couldn't help but feel distressed by the depression in Twilight's every movement. "That sounds like quite the tale, but if you'd rather not talk about it, I'll understand."
"No, I'm fine. It's just..." She struggled for the words for a moment. "...I miss them. I miss Equestria. And every time I think about how I may never get home, I just feel..."
"Lost?" Morenth supplied, his expression softening. He hadn't believed his terrible joke or promise to stay with her would expel the lonely doubts she'd revealed to him in the Alu'thiade's realm, but he still felt he had to say something. "As long as you don't lose sight of who you are, you'll never be lost."
Twilight looked up at him with genuine surprise written across her face. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Morenth? You know, the broody one?"
The paladin couldn't stop the grin before it came to his face. "If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't me who originally said it."
"Then who did?" she asked.
His rare mood couldn't last as he thought back to the one he referred to. "I... don't remember."
The lie burned like acid as he said it, playing off both his hatred of lying and the pain of having to deny his memory. The verdict of the White Council was absolute, and Morenth was sworn to uphold their judgment. It didn't help that the more time he spent with Twilight the clearer his memories of a time before his ascension to paladinhood became.
"Probably a traveler I met on the road or something of that nature."
By the look on Twilight's face she didn't believe him, but before she could voice her thoughts a hand ran gently through her deep blue mane, shifting her attention.
"Good morning, Twilight," Wynn greeted softly, slightly bent over in the act of petting as she walked beside the lavender mare who seemed to enjoy the attention. She glanced up at Morenth and realized they'd been having a discussion. Fumbling over herself, the seamstress managed a hasty bow. "And to you as well, your lordship."
Morenth tried to make his expression as unintimidating as possible as he waved her off. "There is no need for formalities out here on the road, Lady Wynn." The only times the paladin cared to have his title recognized was during those occasions when foolish dullards kept him from his duty. Mostly, he preferred to go unnoticed as long as there were no delays.
"O-oh my," Wynn muttered, blushing behind her auburn bangs, "I'm no lady, milord. I've not the quality of nobility."
Morenth scoffed at the mention of 'quality' and the nobility in the same sentence. "I've eyes of my own, seamstress, and I see more quality in you than any courtly lady I've come across."
Her blush becoming deeper by the second, Wynn began stuttering almost incoherently in an attempt to respond.
She never got the chance to as a call from the front of the caravan was echoed back. A boy standing on the driver’s bench of a wagon up ahead of them turned and cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting back, "It's the Sea Spire! We're almost to Kaldoon!"
Twilight looked up at Morenth questioningly as the refugees around them began to cheer. "What's the Sea Spire?"
"The Sea Spire is the name of the Archduke's keep. It's called as such because the foundation was built off the coast, making it utterly impossible to attack from the land," the paladin explained, picking up his pace as much as he could given his state, "We should be able to see it in a moment."
Just as he promised, the trees of the forest gave way to the rolling plains of Soulis' eastern coast, offering a clear view of the Sea of Dawn's Passage as it stretched across from one end of the horizon to the next. Morenth smelled the crisp salty air of the ocean as it washed over him, and even with the lazy clouds offering only patches of sunshine, the coastal water sparkled in the distance.
Against the breaks and cliffs of a prominent cuspate stood a tall redstone spire with sharp architecture and gold accents. Even hidden mostly beyond the limestone cliffs, the red keep cut a striking silhouette against the sea's blue waves.
It took a moment for Twilight to find her voice again. "I thought you said it was a city."
"Oh, it is, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise," Morenth replied with the ghost of a chuckle, "We'll be entering from the south so you'll be able to see what travelers call 'The Fairy Falls'. I haven't seen them in years, myself, so it should be a treat for both of us."
The mood of the caravan was one of elation as it made its way over the open hills and fjords. The road was no longer dark and filled with hidden dangers to the folk of lost Hollodrum, and for every expression of relief from the elderly and every smile from the young, Morenth thanked Yuelith. He thanked her for seeing them through the depths of Tarturus and for giving him the strength to stand beside them, but most of all he prayed for her continued vigil to last until the darkness was forever banished from the world.
On a similar trail further south a pale faced figure moved with great purpose, her macabre walking staff scaring any passersby into silence despite her beauty.
Melondra Viersith couldn't contain her mirth at making such good time circling south through the Bloodwood. In a matter of days she would be at the gates of Kaldoon and within striking distance of her target. Her lips twisted into a sweet smile as she imagined the horrors she would inflict on the paladin for his crimes. All it was going to take was some silent observation to find his... weaknesses, and then the fun part would come.
"Excuse me, miss?" someone called from behind her.
The necromancer turned to the speaker, still wearing her smile. "Yes?"
The speaker was a middle aged carriage driver going the same direction as her, and though what he transported was a mystery to her, Melondra saw opportunity in the chance meeting.
"Well, I saw ya walkin' all alone and wondered if ya might be needin' a ride."
Her tongue licking the inside of her lips, Melondra favored the unfortunate driver with a serpentine grin. "Oh, that would be... wonderful."