Chapter Ten: The Watcher's Tale

Babble broke out at Giles' announcement and the Watcher simply let the voices wash over him and he sagged against the pillows at his back. Finally, one voice broke through the rest to dominant his attention.

"Why didn't you ever tell us about this? About what you are? Why didn't you tell me?" Buffy's voice held a hint of betrayal and the man flinched a little at the unspoken accusation of deceitfulness.

Giles sighed, "You must understand, Buffy, it is a dangerous thing to be a Faerie in this world. And you didn't need me as a magical creature, you needed me as a Watcher. There was no reason for you to know."

"But!"

Deciding to step in, Ethan roared, "Enough! Ripper is exhausted and he's been through an ordeal. Can't you let him rest before you badger him with your selfish little questions?" He started to rise from the bed, to use his height as intimidation, not really thinking that it was no use to try and intimidate a Slayer.

"No." Giles lay a hand over Ethan's and his eyes silently asked him to remain seated. Ethan did so, but with an air of great effort. Giles almost laughed at the sulky expression. Ethan was almost pouting, but his voice carried his concern. "You shouldn't have to deal with this yet. You have to heal, rest."

"Ethan, I am already healing. You know I heal fast and I can feel those spells you used. They're helping greatly. And I don't have time to rest. I told that demon about the prophecy. How long do you think it will take for that Master Vampire to try again? He desperately wants the bracelet."

"The demon's dead, mate, you don't have to worry about him." Spike's uncharacteristic expression of concern earned him a few wide-eyed glances, which he shrugged off, though he glared around the room at everyone for good measure.

"Unfortunately, Spike, I doubt that will affect things. Even if he does not know everything I told the Nathlar about the prophecy, I am still his only source of information about it. He will be back and I want everyone prepared for when he comes. That means I should tell you about my secrets." He glanced at Ethan and clutched his hand tighter. "I've dealt with this kind ofbefore and I'll deal with it now. They need to know, Ethan, and I suppose I was wrong to keep it from them for so long."

"You don't owe them anything!"

Giles nodded, "Yes, Ethan, I do, I owe them the truth."

Looking around at the group, all of them staring at him, waiting, he took a deep breath. "Well, I suppose I should ask how much you know? You figured out most of the prophecy, yes? And you know that I'm a Faerie. Is there anything else?"

"Just what the demon did to youum, I mean" Willow's voice faded as she blushed in embarrassment and ducked her head down. Giles simply nodded, "I know what he did," he said gently. "Thank you all for rescuing me. Is there anything else?"

"I told the whelps about the rumors I know about Faeries, but that isn't much. Just that you have powerful magic and are hunted for slaves." Spike lit a cigarette and Giles didn't protest, though Buffy and Xander both frowned at the bleached blond.

"All right, then. Let's start at the beginning. Faeries are near immortal magical beings who live in a world only a few planes removed from this one, where it is always summer's twilight. Near immortal, because we can be killed, but after a certain point, we do not age. Our magics are strong and inherent within us. Glamourie and deceiving spells are among our specialties and prophecy seems to be in our blood. It might not be often that one of the Fae makes a prophecy, but when we do, it is always true. And as truth is something that can be rare or fleeting in our world, that makes them all the more powerful.

"This particular prophecy is one of ours, I think it may be close to a thousand years old, but it is difficult to tell. Very little changes in Faerie and that includes the language. And time is something that is much more fluid to us than to humans.

"Faeries have several problems. We are highly sought after as slaves, though we will often try to kill ourselves rather than be taken. But this means that our population is dwindling. As immortals, we never had many children, but in the last thousand years, children have become so very rare. Only one Fae child has been born in the last three hundred and fifty years, to one of the noble families in the Queen's court.

"This child was well-loved, but one day his mother took him with her into the forest. This was not unusual, as she often went into the forest to dance and sing with the forest denizens. Many Faeries do the same. But this time, something happened..." Giles faltered and the Scoobies watched as Ethan gently rubbed his thigh, soothing him, encouraging him to continue.

"That day, and no one knows how they did it, but several demons had managed to breach the magical barriers protecting our world and enter it. They saw a Faerie woman and a young Fae child and wanted to take them both. Young children are coveted because they are easier to train, but we have so few that all of Faerie mourns when even one is lost. The woman felt she had to protect her child and so offered herself to the demons as a distraction. They were unable to resist someplaytime before stealing their prizes away and while they were busy with her, the woman managed to magically conceal her child in a tree. It was, after all, in her homeland where her magic was strongest.

"When the demons could not find the child, they took their anger out on the woman. Before they could take her with them out of Faerie, she managed to kill herself. By now, the missing mother and child had been noticed and many search parties were in the forest. This was, after all, the only Fae child and was therefore highly valued. The demons were found and bound but not in time to save the woman's life. The child, hidden in a tree, had watched it all."

Giles cleared his throat and there was a shimmering in his eyes, speaking of unfallen moisture. His tone became more impersonal as he continued.

"The child grew, his father always quite protective of him. He called his son his studious rebel as the boy loved to read and learn, but also kept sneaking out and getting into mischief. When the boy became a young man, it was decided that something more needed to be done to protect Faerie from the demons who hunted us. We no longer visited earth as we once did for fear of what might happen. It was decided that a single Faerie would be sent to learn of demons and how to defend against them. The young Fae, being the curious lad he was, volunteered to be the one to go."

Everyone was quietly listening to the story, keeping their thoughts to themselves until Giles finished, but they all had their own ideas about who this child was. The watcher confirmed their suspicions as he continued.

"Since he was not of age and was still quite protected by the rest of the population, it was quite a struggle for the young man to convince everyone that he was the right choice. Of course, the fact that he was so curious and that most Faeries did not have the temperament required for this kind of study, acted in his favor. Finally, it was decided that he would be the one to go.

"There are places in this world that arecloser to Faerie, that are easier for us to get to through the portals. Though the portals have been closed for many years as traffic between the Mortal plane and Faerie stopped, they are still there. Some of the easiest places for us to reach are on the British Isles. There's Wendel's Mound, several Faerie circles still unbroken, a few others. So it was decided that this Faerie would go to England. He would take on the appearance of a human and since names have power and he would give no one in this world the power of his true name, he took a human name as well.

"It was a convenience that the group of humans the Faeries were going to approach had among them a member who had recently lost his son to a tragic accident. The son had been just the right age to start training to one day join this group so the Faeries, in setting up a history for the young man, had him take the son's face and name, and they altered enough memories with magic so that people forgot the son had ever died. The father, of course, knew what was happening and agreed. We might have proceeded without his support, indeed, there are many in Faerie who would have willingly changed his memory too, but the young man did not like the idea of falsely giving a man his child back and so they asked his permission to continue the charade.

"Now, you know that the language of Faerie is quite different from any language of earth, but Destiny walks twisting paths. The name of the son the Faerie was impersonating was very similar to the nickname his father had always called him, studious rebel. In English, Rupert Giles."