Chapter Twelve: Past Tokens

Eyes twinkling, Ri'par waited until Ethan got over his shock. "This? This is what all the fuss is about? But you gave it to me years ago!"

The Faerie dipped his head in acknowledgement. "As I said, I was unaware that there would ever be a great search to find it. It is mine to give and I wanted you to have it. A keepsake." Ri'par and Ethan stared into each other's eyes, words unspoken as something deep and meaningful passed between them. The moment was broken all too soon.

"Mates?" Spike's voice was filled with tension. "I think you'd better start explaining things."

The men looked up, startled out of their private reverie, and found all eyes upon them. Those eyes reflected confusion, suspicion, and once again, no little anger. A resigned expression stole over the Faerie's face. "I didn't think I'd have to explain quite so much today, but I seem to keep throwing out surprises. All right, we'll do it this way. Ask your questions, as I know you have them. I'll answer and we'll go from there."

Buffy nodded tightly, trying not to let her anger get the best of her. She'd just let go of her temper and then was confronted with this! This highly important magical object that Giles was supposedly the protector of was in Ethan Rayne's possession. And Giles had given it to the man! There had to be a reason though. The man she knew, and Giles had just told her that he was still the man she knew, wouldn't just give a powerful amulet to his enemy for no good reason. And that line of thought provided her with the first question.

"Ethanisn't your enemy, is he? I mean, you told us a little and we assumed the rest from watching you two fight, but there's something more to it, isn't there?"

The Watcher beamed with pride at his Slayer, who smiled brightly in response. It felt great to please Giles. He was her mentor and sometimes she didn't even realize how much she looked up to him, how much she cared about what he thought of her.

"You are correct, Buffy, our relationship is much more complex than what I let you believe. Let's start with the few times you've met him before. He's caused immense trouble each time and you've seen me get angry with him. You thought that my anger was due to his actions, but that's a simplification. Tell me, what actions in particular did you think I hated?"

"Well, that's easy." Ri'par quirked an eyebrow at Xander, who continued. "Well, he was doing nasty things. Evil magic. Right?"

A headshake and a small smile were the first response. "First of all, magic is neither evil nor good, it just is. Magic can be aligned in certain ways, depending on who is doing the casting and what their objectives are, but magic itself is simply aa form of energy, I suppose. Now, before you say it, yes, Ethan is a Chaos Magician and a great many people think that Chaos equals evil. It certainly does tend to be part of mischief, both big and small. But Chaos is a part of the universe, just as Order is, and there must be a balance between the two. If the balance tips to one or the other, that is what is likely to bring evil."

Willow's brow furrowed as she processed what Giles was saying. "But, isn't order good? I mean, I don't see how it can be bad"

The man on the bed nodded understandingly, "The most common example is the Nazis. They desired order and went to great lengths to obtain it, but would anyone say that what they did was good?" Everyone but Spike, who was just listening with an amused expression, shook their heads.

"No, they are thought to be a great evil and this is because they tipped the balance too far to the side of Order. Now, because of humanity's natural inclination to think that Order equals good, to maintain the balance, Chaos sometimes needs a bit of a push. At least, that's true in this particular plane. There are others where the opposite holds true, but that's getting into a bigger discussion than we want right now." He smiled ruefully at his own tendency to turn a lecture onto tangents.

"Ethan, as a Chaos Magician, simply helps maintain the balance and I cannot object to that. In fact, there's a deeper reason I cannot object."

Spike broke in then, "Cause of what you are, right? I know the stories."

"Stories?" Buffy looked confused but comprehension was dawning in Tara's mind. "Faerie stories. Faeries h-haven't always been depicted as cute little pixies. Th-they used to be great mischief-makers, oftentimes to the point of cruelty. There are stories about ch-changelings, grand illusions, and there's that famous one, P-Puck. Robin Goodfellow."

Nodding, Ri'par elaborated. "The magic of the Fae folk is much more inclined to Chaos than to Order. We're drawn to it. Which is why so many Faeries play pranks and cause a great deal of trouble for Mortals. Some more than others. For example, Robin Goodfellow is real, though he hasn't visited this plane in hundreds of years."

"So why'd you object to the wizard here? Seems to me you'd be applauding him, what with being drawn to Chaos and all."

"Yes, Spike, I am drawn to him. Ethan isa good match. But he's a bit of an idiot sometimes." Ri'par gazed affectionately at his friend. "The one place on Earth that does not need more Chaos energy is the Hellmouth. We have quite enough as it is. Plus," he turned his eyes fondly towards Buffy. "He was hurting you. I couldn't let him get away with harming you." His voice was soft and filled with emotion.

Buffy blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't tearing up. This hadn't been what she expected when she'd asked her question. But he hadn't explained everything yet.

"All right, so that explains the way you act whenever Ethan's in town, but why'd you give him the armband? For that matter, when did you give it to him? There was that mess with Eyghon and then you didn't see him again until Halloween that year. Right? At least, that's what you told us"

"No, I didn't lie, Buffy. But neither did I tell you the complete truth, which is mixed into my being Fae. I met Ethan in the first few years of my living in this world and we were immediately drawn to each other. Eyghon wasa tremendous mistake. Besides being foolhardy in its own right, summoning a demon when my entire purpose for coming here was to learn how to fight them was"

"Effing bloody stupid, you ask me."

"Yes, quite. Thank you, Spike, for thatinterjection. Anyway, the point is, after Randall died, not only did I realize that what we were doing was extremely dangerous and wrong, but I was in quite a bit of trouble."

Xander held his hands up and shook his head, "Wait, wait. You were in trouble? With who? The police? The Watchers?"

"My father, actually. It took a great deal of persuasion for him to allow me to remain in the Mortal realm. One of the conditions was that I avoid further contact with Ethan"

This time Willow interrupted him. "You got in trouble with your father? Butyou were an adult! You said you were twenty-one."

Ri'par blushed, a charming bit of color that spread from his cheeks to his pointed ears. "The human I was, am, posing as, Rupert Giles, he was twenty-one. But Faeries age differently. I am currently ninety-seven years old which means that I was seventy-three when we first raised Eyghon. While for humans, this is old, for Faeries, it is very young."

Ethan rolled his eyes at his friend. "What he's trying to say, kids, without actually saying it, is that he's not technically an adult yet. For the Fae, one hundred is the age of majority. That is why his father was involved."

With a snort of laughter Xander grinned, "You mean you're a teenager?"

Ri'par blushed again, "Um, well, I suppose you could say that, yes. I believe that the comparison could be made. But the point is that my father stipulated that to stay in this world, I must continue my studies and not be involved with Ethan, whom he saw as encouraging my foolishness."

Ethan's voice was prickly when he added, "This coming from the man who thought I was a perfect match for you when you first introduced us."

"Yes, well, I suppose having your son involved with a demon and the death of one of his human friends is bound to change one's opinions about said friends. The point is that I still loved Ethan, but had to leave him. So I gave him the armband to remember me by. I never told him what it did precisely, just that it was a protective amulet of my people."

Blowing out a puff of smoke, Spike smirked, "Never pegged you for the romantic type, Ripper."