Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (7 page)

Her silver eyes and cool manner were a little intimidating.
 
I felt a little shy, which is a weird sensation for me.
 
My connection with The Green was kind of personal in a way, so it was difficult for me to just start blabbing away about it.
 
I didn’t want to brag, but it was hard not to feel like that’s what I was doing when I talked about it, because it was so friggin cool and amazing.
 
It’s almost like I didn’t want to say anything because it was so private and so good.
 
I didn’t want to cheapen it.
 
I was unable to make sense of it in my head at that moment, so I just sighed loudly instead of talking.

“I sense a reticence in you.
 
Why do you not wish to discuss this?”

I shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
It’s like, private or something.
 
It’s personal.
 
Between me and them.”

She cocked her head to the side.
 
“Them?
 
Them who?”

I gestured around me.
 
“
Them.
 
The trees.
 
The leaves.
 
The plants.
 
The Earth ... Them ... The Green.”

“The Green.”

She said it as a statement, not as a question, so I said nothing.

“You said The Green.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why did you call it that?”

I shrugged my shoulders again.
 
“I don’t know.
 
It just seemed to fit.
 
Why?
 
Is that wrong?”

“No, not at all.
 
It’s actually correct to say that.
 
It’s what the green elves call the forest area.”

“Well, when I say ‘The Green’ I’m not necessarily talking about the forest area.”

“Explain, please.”

“The Green, for me anyway, is not just the forest area ... it’s everything in it and all the energy that flows out of and through it and around it – the energy that comes from the plants, the creatures, the air, the ...
shit,
I don’t know.
 
All the stuff out here.”
 
This is stupid.
 
I threw my hands up and let them drop down beside me.
 
My fingers unconsciously dug themselves into the soil.
 
I felt the responding glimmer of The Green, waiting for me to connect.

Céline’s eyes dropped to my hands.

“Why are you doing that – with your hands?”

I looked down at my hands, confused.
 
“Doing what?”

“Putting them in the earth like that?”

I let out a burst of frustrated air.
 
“
Damn,
are you going to ask me why I do every little thing?
 
Look!
 
I’m rolling my eyes now, do you want to know why I’m doing that?”

Céline gave me an indulgent smile.
 
“I apologize.
 
I am treating you like a lab rat.”

“Yes, you are,” I
said,
only slightly mollified since she got my sarcasm and wasn’t offended by it.

“I should have explained some things to you first.
 
Let me begin again.
 
Do you want to hear what we know about you and what we don’t know about you?
 
That might make my questions easier to manage.”

“Sure, go ahead.
 
Gimme the scoop.”
 
I was more comfortable right now with listening instead of talking

Céline clasped her hands together in her lap.
 
“Okay.
 
So, our current working theory is that you are an elemental.
 
An elemental is a fae that has ties, through the magic, to one or more of the elements – the elements being Earth, Air or Wind, Fire, and Water.
 
Some include Spirit as an element, but for purposes of our discussion that is not relevant.
 
Because you have shown to have a very strong and uncommonly close tie with The Green, we suspect that your elemental strength comes mainly from the Earth.”
 

She glanced down at my hands that were once again digging themselves into the ground – I couldn’t seem to help myself.
 
I pulled them out and shook them off, laying them in my lap.

She smiled and continued.
 
“Some particularly strong elementals have ties to one other element.
 
The Siren, the one you know as the Lady of the Lake, suspected that you might have a tie to her world, the one that includes the element, Water.
 
Once I get a feel for your Earth connection, after lunch, we will go see if she is correct about your connection to the Water element.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“That has not yet been fully determined.
 
We who are on the council will discuss it during the lunch break.
 
So, to continue ... we have not had an elemental with the Light Fae for several hundred years.
 
Some of us were around when the last elemental was alive, but none of us really knew his magic very well.
 
He was a private individual, choosing to stay with his element more than other fae.”

“What was his element?”

“Air.”

I frowned, trying to picture how that would work.
 
“How does a guy hang out with air?”

Céline sighed.
 
“He would connect with the air and disappear into it.
 
He essentially
was
air.
 
Eventually,
he was air so often
,
he was never fae anymore
.
 
His spirit faded away until it was gone.
 
It was sad, really.
 
It began, maybe seven hundred years ago, or more ... ”

“Well that sounds completely messed up.
 
Is that going to happen to me?”
 
What?
 
Was I going to turn into a tree or something?
 
How old was I going to get?
 
Was I going to go crazy eventually?

“No.
 
We know the dangers of wallowing in the magic.
 
We will train you, to the best of our abilities, to manage your ties to the elements.”
 
She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, continuing, “You may have noticed the strong reaction from the fae when Anton announced you were an elemental.”

I nodded.

“This is for a couple of reasons.
 
First, you are the only Light Fae of your kind.
 
Your powers, if you can learn to harness and use them properly, are nearly unrivaled in the fae world.
 
Even the witches are second in power only to an elemental.
 
This is both a good thing, and a bad thing.”

“How so?”
 
I was trying not to feel all badass about the idea that I was going to be able to kick some serious butt soon, but it was hard.

“It is good because as we said, there is a war coming.
 
The Dark Fae
are
building their numbers.
 
We do not agree with their philosophy, but they do not care.
 
At some point, they are going to force us into a confrontation.
 
Having powers like yours on our side would be extremely beneficial to our cause and to the cause of the humans, whether they know it or not.”

Hmmm.
 
Savior of the human race.
 
Do I rock or what?

“It’s a bad thing though, because even among the Light Fae, there will be some who are jealous of you, who are threatened by you, and who will want to do you harm.
 
Fae can be vain and arrogant.
 
It is a natural condition for those who are supernatural and can readily compare their superiority to a world full of weak and fragile humans.
 
But obviously, vanity is dangerous.
 
It clouds good judgment, encourages rash behavior, and in general causes antagonistic feelings.
 
We of the fae are big believers in both positive and negative energy.
 
Unfortunately, your unique powers will cause some degree of negative energy to enter our carefully guarded Light Fae world.”

“Great.
 
So I have enemies before I’ve even earned them.”

“Well, to some degree this is true.
 
But we believe that our fellow fae, the ones who we feel are most apt to be jealous – I’m including witches and some others – will eventually come around to our way of thinking and see you as the ally Anton, I, and others think you could be.
 
If you decide to be, that is.”
 
She raised her eyebrow at me in friendly challenge.
 

Did I want to be their ally?
 
I wasn’t sure that I even had a choice.
 
If I weren’t their ally, then I’d be with the Dark Fae.
 
I didn’t know much about them, but the idea of Tony or my mom being eaten by an orc?
 
No way, man.
 
Not
gonna
happen.
 
Now, my mother’s boyfriend ... different story.
 
I’d put some freshly chopped parsley on his head if I thought the orcs would like it more.
 
Fucker
.

“I don’t plan on going over to the Dark Fae, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“No, not at all. What I’m saying is that you can put your best efforts into learning to use and control your powers and thereby earn the respect and admiration of your peers.
 
Or, you can put in minimal effort, learn a few things, and then either be killed or get someone else killed when we eventually have a conflict, thereby earning yourself an early grave, disrespect among your peers, or both.
  
It is entirely up to you.”

I looked at her with my mouth agape.
 
“Well holy shit, Céline, don’t sugarcoat it for me or anything.”

She laughed.
 
“There is no point in lying to you.
 
You are an adult in our world.
 
You make – and live with – your own choices.”

“No sense in lying to me
now
, you mean.”

Céline leaned over and took my hands in hers, staring me right in the eyes.
 
For the first time I noticed that her irises weren’t still, like normal people’s eyes.
 
The gray was swirling, moving, twisting around
itself
.
 
It looked like ... the
wind,
the way artists sometimes drew it.

“Jayne, I am not going to apologize for what we did to you and your friends.
 
I am fighting for the survival of my race, for my people, for my family ... for my
species
.
 
We used the most respectful methods we could devise to awaken the magic within you, and we left you with your freedom of choice to become a changeling or not.
 
Your friend Tony is proof of this truth.
 
You have to let go of your bitterness and anger because it does not serve your purpose.
 
Release it; I beg of you.
 
Please look in your heart and ask yourself if you would have done any differently, given what you know about our people and our situation now.”

I don’t know how she managed to keep doing this – making me feel immature and stupid.
 
Dammit
.
 
She was like the most freaky-powerful parent of all time.
 
I thought my mom was bad, but this fae lady, she was friggin’ scary.
 
Maybe that’s what silver elves had as their special magical talent – mad parenting skills.

“What does a silver elf do anyway – I mean, what are your powers, other than laying on massively powerful guilt trips?”

She released my hands and sat back up straight, smiling proudly.
 
“We are servants of the wind.
 
We are fast, we can fly, and we are pretty handy with a spear.”

“Now
that
is crazy cool.
 
Flying.
 
How do you do that, without any wings?”

“We ride the wind.”

Oh, yeah.
 
Once again clear as mud.
 
Friggin’ fae.
 
I didn’t bother asking for a better explanation because I knew I wasn’t going to get it.
 
Maybe she’d show me later.

“So the green elves ... what’s their deal?”

“You have already seen what they can do.
 
They are the servants of The Green.
 
They are hunters, trackers, archers ... they serve as our ground troops in the Green Forest.
 
They also know forest herbs and medicines much like your American Indian
shaman do
.
 
They make excellent healers.”