Time to Go

Aurora had noticed the cat's leaps to be longer than any jump. That made sense if they were not jumping and were instead flying easily to their target. 

The Keeper and fairy both nodded. 

"Those things have nasty teeth and scary fast reflexes," Reyan shot the Keeper a dirty look. He was the one who let the cats loose on the fairies every season.

"Except for Zeru, have any of you ever been harmed by my helpers? They are meant to scare you off. If they wanted to eat you, they would have by now." The Keeper straightened his cloak. "There is one more thing. With the removal of the Seed, the flower is severely weakened. Probably only one transport will happen before we need to give it time to regenerate. Besides that, I do not think the other Fates will take kindly to a bunch of people traipsing through their house of knowledge. I do think sending only the three chain-bearers is the best course of action." 

"Devrim will come too. He has been in the Storehouse many times and the Fates have never objected." Aurora clung to her husband. Brinn and Reyan would certainly help her walk, but the Emperor was who she trusted the most to help guide her. 

"I think four is manageable," the Keeper responded with a nod. "Let us head out and send you on your way." 

-----

Zan kept vigilant watch both of the door and of the leopards dotting the landscape. He was rightfully wary of the powerful creatures. Thankfully, some of his strength had returned and he could almost feel the grey streaks in his hair returning to their normal, dark hue. 

He had been more worried than he cared to admit about the loss of the magic. Everyone had something at stake, but he could feel age beginning to catch up with him. His joints were beginning to creak and his body ached.

Although he tried to hide it, his back had also been starting to curve. before entering the hurricane, Zan feared that he would wither away entirely all too soon. 

Drawing near to the Seed had invigorated him significantly. He wasn't back to normal, but he could at least try to defend the Empress of Valiant. 

"How long do you think they will be in there?" General Nurlan shifted his stance to gaze at the metal door. 

"It better not be too much longer, or I will go in there myself," Alvar grunted from the base of the stairs. Gandr placed his hand on his cousin-in-law's shoulder. He felt the same. 

"No need to be hasty. Extracting a Seed that has been there for thousands of years cannot be easy." Zeru stood squarely in front of the entrance. 

"Have you seen the Seed?" Zan asked the plump creature. 

"No, the Keeper alone handles that. I wouldn't dare go near it. It's very fragile, I'm told. If it is jostled.." Zeru stopped suddenly and grasped his chest. 

The leopards also seemed suddenly unsettled. They shifted restlessly around the humans, setting everyone on edge. 

Zan, Alvar, and Gandr felt it too, though to a lesser degree. "What is happening?" 

It was like the world was shifting. Power was moving.

"I think they have the seed!" Zeru furrowed his brow.

"Then why do we feel woozy?" Alvar felt like Brinn when she was back onboard the ship.

"I don't know. Maybe the Seed is unhappy?" Zeru shuttered.

"The Seed can feel?" Zan tried to understand.

"I've no idea, but…" Zeru stopped. His worry disappeared as things settled. "I think everything is alright now." 

A while later, the doors finally opened and the five people who entered were shown to be fine. Aurora held the bloom carefully in front of her with a big smile on her face. 

"We have it," she said proudly in the human tongue. "Now it's time to take it to its home." 

Hearing her words, the soldiers cheered! The sight of their Empress safe and sound had already buoyed their morale and hearing that she was successful made them beam with pride. 

"My sailors will be glad to hear it," Schwinn said with a clap. "I promise we will give you and that Seed the smoothest ride that ever there was. Don't worry, I am sure the rudder is fixed by now." 

"I am glad to hear it, but alas, we will not be using your ship to go home. At least, four of us won't." Aurora looked at her husband, the fairy, and the elf in turn. 

"Are you about to do something crazy?" Alvar furrowed his brow as he looked at Brinn. It was very obvious that she was included in the four while he was not.

"I am taking a shortcut home," the elf pressed her lips together. "I am a chain bearer so we are going to head to the Storehouse and get the magic restored as soon as possible." Brinn saw the crestfallen look of her husband. "I don't want to leave you. I will stay and let Zan..." 

Alvar hugged his wife tightly. "No, you should go. I know you won't stop until the job is done. Take care of yourself until I get back to you, understand?" 

"I will," Brinn promised. Her eyes suddenly felt wet. "I'll try not to offend the elven court too much until you return." 

"Offend them all you want. It will give me a challenge to smooth over when I get there." Alvar kissed the top of his wife's head.

Zan and Nurlan both looked quite solemn. 

"It seems we are not in this travel party either," Zan hid his disappointment well.

"The Keeper has made it clear that he is uncomfortable with trying more than one transport with the Seed not planted. If I could take everyone, I would in a heartbeat," Aurora assured the Councilman. 

"Of course, you must do what you think is best," Nurlan bowed to the Empress. He was clearly distraught by the news, but he would not go against his sovereign. "I guess that means I will get some extra time with Scooter. There are worse ways to spend a voyage," he shot his old friend a teasing grin. 

"What about you?" Reyan asked Zeru. These people can provide a way home for you that isn't portalling. Are you ready to return to our kin?" 

Zeru opened his eyes wide. "I...I hadn't thought about that. The Keeper once offered to try and send me through the Agate back to our people, but there was a genuine concern that Agate might reject me as foreign. I wasn't willing to risk it. And every other location choice was a death sentence for a magic-less fairy. I assumed I would spend the rest of my life here." 

"You didn't answer my question." Reyan crossed his arms impatiently. "All that sounded like was a bunch of excuses because you are afraid." 

"What if our people reject me?" Zeru voiced his real concern. 

Reyan shrugged. "Then we can both move to the magic-less human world and eat all the food we want at the palace." 

"I don't remember inviting..." Devrim stopped as Aurora elbowed him. 

"You won't know until you try." Reyan nudged his friend. "I'll see you in the Land of Magic?" 

Zeru thought for a moment before nodding. "I'll see you in the Land of Magic." 

"We will see you all on the other side, assuming all goes well," Zan took a deep breath. "I only wish we had an easy way of knowing if it worked. It is very possible that we will be wondering for quite some time if we have residual magic from here or if the waterfall has been restored." 

"If I still had it, I would give you my mirror. Mairwen has the other. When the magic is reactivated, we would be able to contact you." Aurora sighed, thinking once again of all her things that were lost in the hurricane.

The Keeper reached inside his wide sleeve. "Are you talking about this?"