[ - Author's Note - ]

Well this took a bit longer then it needed to; the Final Fantasy Fourteen grind is real folks... And then it grew to over twenty two thousand words as I typed it. Go figure, huh?

Joking all aside, poll time! Let's go over it, shall we?

So, starting the Best Geofu Banners results we have at the bottom of the pile... House DeSagesse with one vote (1.67%). Yeah. To be fair it's not my best one, but I wanted it to be a magic based one with the lightning bolts added in. Not much to say on it...

Next is House Bludhorn with two votes (3.33%). For this one I wanted a brown shield to stand out among all the other and came up with the idea of a bull's head on the front. The stars were added after to fill some space with 'Bludhorn' added at the bottom to do the same and add some flair.

Up at three votes (5.00%) is House Calloway. This is an emblem that was designed to be simple and straight forwards, but also showing a hint of militarism. The red, gold and splash of white also should stand out among the other banners.

Following that we have a three-way tie with four votes each (6.67%) with Houses Caesarea, Zigmund and Erotique. For Caesarea I wanted a banner that could be turned upside down and still look exactly as it was while also having the roman/greek symbolism. House Zigmund's inspiration should be honestly clear; coming from the 'Z' in the Legend of Zelda title arts. The small wings were added for some flair and to make it a little different. And House Erotique was designed to be over sexualized in it's own way, without any sort feminine imagery.

At fourth with five votes each (8.47%) is House Hawkeye. For the banners I used clipart of shields as a base at first but House Hawkeye was the first where I made it myself; wanting an angular and pointed shield. It came out well, I think. I also added the dark gray and large chevrons to also give it another military feel.

At third is the Seal of the Three with six votes (10.0%). As for this one I wanted something that, visually, expressed the three leaders of Geofu with it's three segments with each panel being almost it's own emblem. I honestly think it came out very well.

At number two is House Rexvenandi with nine votes (15.00%). This is the third shield I made and of those three is my personal favorite. The shape, the Celtic circle the fox head... It just came together, more then the others. Had I not been set on the mage route I would have gone with them.

And finally crushing the competition with twenty-two votes (36.67%) or more then the next three places put together is House Adelle. For this one I had an idea of the Adelle's first and came up with the banner second; using the skull as a macabre symbol and then adding the hearts to it's eyes as a means to showcase their good, honest nature.

Anyway with the poll done with, let's get on with the chapter. Last time we left off with Aeris' father interrupting the journey and declaring Aeris was to be wed off to someone. What happens? Have to wait and see.

And I suppose I need to offer a slight content warning for something a tad dark... But it only lasts for a moment, I assure you so just push on through. Trust me, it'll be over before you know it and be rewarded.

Anyway, enough chatter, let's get on with it.

[ - Act II - Chapter XXV: To Deal with Elves - ]

Formed by the Seven Crowns of Sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst, Jasper, Emerald, Topaz and Diamond and led by the Rainbow Throne the United Elven Kingdoms are a nation in the far west of Sererus. Flanked with mountains to their west and a massive lake to their south with wide rivers along their north they are highly isolated from other kingdoms and nations; something they prefer. Indeed, the High Elves often look upon other races as 'lesser' and 'dirty', often scorning those around them. Indeed they are often disliked by humans for their haughty attitude and only tolerated because unlike their Dark Elven cousins they never attempted a war of genocide on humanity; an effort they deem 'beneath them'.

That said they are a highly advanced society and have been for thousands of years. Closed off as they were the kingdoms and nations of men could only guess what laid in their vast lands with only a few elves leaving the region to human lands; most notably those who are of the Goddess Reborn. It was only when the New Dawn arrived in Eostia and settled in Whitewell that a better picture of the inside of the United Kingdoms could be made out and what was found was shocking; stagnation.

A two thousand year old elf remarked that he had seen nothing new made from within the kingdoms in his lifetime. Indeed, the realms rulers seem to think they have achieved a form of perfection and have refused to advance, adapt or change in all this time. Further more they claimed that while human magical advancements still lagged behind on a purely technological level we are close to parity and in some cases superior; the elves have not made the printing press as an example and have no gunpowder based weapons or even fireworks.

Indeed, a more recent immigrant from the United Kingdoms have said that current magical progress is much closer to parity then it had been and was shocked at how far humanity had come in the last two thousand years, claiming we might match elven knowledge in centuries. I am sure that over the past two thousand years their leaders must have heard of our progress; they must simply not care enough to heed what they hear.

The New Dawn's appearance in Eostia has caused the Seven Elven Crowns to pay attention to us, however, if only to try and draw the settled High Elves back to them. However it means that humans from Eostia are the only ones permitted to, if rarely, enter the United Kingdoms although never the Diamond Kingdom which serves as their main seat of power and home of the Rainbow Throne, not unlike Ken and Skyguard City I would think. In fact I am one of the few who had visited their lands with gleaming, ivory walls and towers that reach the sky. Another book of mine 'A Man Among Elves: A Historian's Journey into the United Elven Kingdoms' has much more detail so I'll spare it here but their cities are works that mankind has yet to emulate.

I stress yet; the elves are not as far above us as they seem to think, nor are their youth (Even if some of their youth are older then I) as cocksure about their traditions as their elders. At least not according to, how shall I say, two elven maidens who were happy to keep me company.

~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia

[-]

He took a long, drawn out sigh while giving a face. "Very well. At your insistence I shall be brief. I have chosen a groom for my daughter and need her returned to me; ending the contract of apprenticeship with Merlin Noxdecus."

"I beg your pardon father?" Aeris let off, tapping her staff to the road as she gave him a firm look. "By the Valued Traditions of the Seven Regal Crowns you cannot simply end an apprenticeship until the teachers either is satisfied with the student's learning all they can or they willingly end it." She said with a firm look to him. "I am quite certain that my master Merlin would not end it abruptly."

"Never the less, I was capable of convincing him of such; that it was in the best interests of all involved." Falos said, grinning with his hands spread.

"I can't help but note that you make your approach rather far from Mungale and the Good Baron Merlin." Celestine let off, with a tilt of her head. "Such a claim would need confirmation; it would be best to speak with him and ensure the contract has been ended."

"While I would rather take the time to engage in the usual traditions you would forgo I have not the time to traverse to Mungale or await you to do so." Folas said with a huff. "I have intent of wedding her to Theodmer Forestshine."

"Theodmer Forestshine? Didn't you once called House Forestshine of the Sapphire Realm to be little more then an unimportant house of bickering children?" Aeris let off, crossing her arms under her best, letting her staff go so it could hover by her.

"Situations change and, lowly a House as they maybe, a union is required." Folas let off firmly. "The Regal Queen of the Sapphire Crown and the Regal King of the Emerald Crown have dictated that our houses needs to be more united in balance. The Rainbow Crown has agreed and had personally arranged this matter. As your father I have the duty to see you wed to whomever they choose and demand your return."

"Unless I am apprenticed, in which case you would need the approval of Grand Magus Merlin of the Noble House Noxdecus to allow it." Aeris let off. "And until I have heard from him directly tradition dictates your ability to demand my return void."

"Firstly you give that... human too much praise, Daughter." Folas said as he gave Aeris a stern, annoyed look. "Secondly I've not the time for us to go to Mungale to confirm the truth of my words."

"Oh, that won't be needed." I said, cutting in and reaching for my voxlux, pulling it out. "We can confirm it with him now."

"I've not the time to await a letter; human spell paper is... What is that?" He let off as my device started to ping for a moment.

"A long range communication device." I said as I waited for a reply. After a moment my father's face appeared over it as I smiled. "Hey dad. Sorry to bother you."

"Oh, it's fine, my son. What can I help you with?" He asked as I turned it about to aim the device to a surprised Folas. "Folas Willowglow, Regal Lord of the Emerald Throne. It's been awhile. Is Orist still reading that book I gave him?"

"What!? How!?" Folas let off as he and his escort gawked at the device in my hand. "What is this contraption!?"

"This is the reason we are traveling; to promote and better the use of the voxlux to connect the realm." Celestine said before looking to my voxlux and Merlin's face. "His Regal Lordship has claimed the two of you have agreed to end your apprenticeship of Aeris."

"Well I most certifiably have not." My father had let off with a huff. "In fact, Folas hadn't even seen fit to come and visit me to speak on any topic, let alone over Aeris." Folas sneered deeper as my father glared at him through the voxlux. "Explain yourself, Folas."

"Indeed. I find it rather telling you have lied directly to our faces, Regal Lord Willowglow." Celestine said with a hint of steel entering her voice. "Irregardless of your wants and wishes, Aeris has her own agency and your own traditions dictate that you cannot remove her without the approval of her current master. And do understand I have good cause to inform the Rainbow Throne of this event." Folas glared at her, giving a 'tsk' and narrowed her eyes. The amount of information I had about the politics and structure of the United Elven Kingdoms was sparse but I knew a bit.

The structure of the Kingdoms was similar to Eostia; seven kingdoms under one leadership. In Eostia it was the High Throne, in the Elven Kingdoms it was the Rainbow Throne. Ignoring the small state the Rainbow Throne sits on each kingdom had exactly four states; so twenty eight 'Regal Lords', seven 'Regal Crowns' and the Rainbow Crown. However where it differed was the control each, individual lord had.

In Eostia each lord had a lot of leeway; they could choose to make their lands be slave states, abolitionist states or limited states. They could decide how to structure their own economies, armies, defenses and laws. They could have their own unique sub-cultures, traditions and customs found no where else in the realm. Hell, we had a BDSM paradise in Classa, a democracy in Pulca, a near free-use state in Forestside, the... thing that Hakla was... In short there was a large amount of freedom given to each state and variety of cultures. Additionally respectfully questioning one's lord was expected and encouraged, at least to a point (And varied on the lord, of course) because when you spend seven hundred years at war with someone having a flaw pointed out before it was exploited was a good idea. Freedom of speech was commonplace as well and wiser lords listened to what was said of them if only to gauge the feelings and temperament of the population at large. That's not to say some lords hated these customs and would rather end them but it was still common.

The Elven Kingdoms were more strict; culture was dictated from the top down and the Sapphire Kingdom had little differences to, say, the Ruby Kingdom. It was more relaxed in the rural areas, or so I'm told, but only when eyes of the Crowns weren't watching. In reality while I said there was twenty eight regal lords and seven regal crowns there was just one ruler in the United Elven Kingdoms; the person who held the Rainbow Crown. In reality the seven regal crowns merely enforced the Rainbow Throne's decisions on the lords under them who then enforced it on their people under them. If the Rainbow Crown said every man, woman and child had to wear panties on their head then that's what would happen on threat of punishment. Backtalk was forbidden upon the threat of punishment. Questioning the Rainbow Crown's decisions, even with superior logic, was punished. Not carrying out the will of the Rainbow Crown was punished. Saying anything about the Rainbow Throne and whoever sat on it with anything less then glowing praise was punished.

In many ways Gottes Verlangen, the Evil Emperor of the Brazen Empire, was a more tolerant and understanding ruler in comparison; terms that you wouldn't normally apply to the man.

"I have no need to explain myself to lessers, let alone their lovers." He snarled out yet somehow managing to sound somewhat elegant about it. "The Seven Crowns and Rainbow Throne's will exceeds Eostia's."

"Within it's own realm it does." Celestine said as she stood firm, keeping an even look as she stared him down. "This is Eostia; it's will comes first here. And as of now, you are no longer welcome in this realm. Take your people and leave or I will have you detained and then deported on my leisure."

You could see his hands clench and unclench for a long, long moment as he glared harder and harder; as if offended someone would stand up to him for human beings. He made no other moves to show off anger or rage but you could tell he was reaching a point that the Hulk would tell him to calm down a bit. Something nagged at me for a moment and then I realized that getting Aeris back might be more then just a sense of entitlement on his part; if this was dictated to him by the Rainbow Throne and he doesn't come back with a bride for the man...

I'm not saying the man's life is on the line, but his House's standing likely is. And there's a good chance he can see his place as a Regal Lord ended for someone else with a daughter to marry off. This was meant to be a milk run for him, I had to assume, since he didn't think anyone would stand up to him or have a way to call him out on his lies. The long, drawn out and raging silence was getting too tense so I injected.

"In the end what happens isn't our choice; it's Aeris'." I stated firmly while keeping my voice as calm as possible. Falos' escort was around levels twenty to twenty six; nothing to scoff at. Still, we heavily outnumbered them, the Dawn Templars were at their level or higher and Celestine was anything but a joke; a straight fight would end poorly for them. That didn't remove the chance of something we didn't see coming, of course. He could have a Plan B at the ready so being on guard wasn't a bad idea. "Aeris, your thoughts?"

"Her thoughts are not required-"

"And you wonder why I jumped at the chance to go to Eostia..." Aeris let off, cutting his words short. He was still glaring but had a moment of surprise. "Always what the House needs, always what you need, always this, always that, always tradition, elven pride, ambitions... Do you know how depressing it is when you have so damned much asked of you but get less or nothing back for it?"

"You have had the best education and upbringing one could ask for, daughter."

"Oh yes, fine education and foods and clothes and trinkets." She huffed out. "And no ability to share tea with friends, or make banter or to even put that education to good use. No books beyond ones for learning, no theater plays, no arts beyond a few paintings, none of the joys of life."

I had a feeling things were getting a little out of hand.

More so then before...

That said I started to wonder just what exactly was Aeris' life before she came to the manor? According to my memories I had asked, more then once, but was brushed off or given not much of an answer. It was just under the subject of 'things to not talk about'.

"We are the most long lived people on this world; we have all the time to enjoy the pleasures of-"

"When is the last time you enjoyed any of those pleasures?" Aeris let off, cutting him off. "Frankly it's little wonder why the New Dawn ran to Eostia; where else would you find ice cream?"

"What... What in the Kingdoms is ice cre-"

"Exactly!" Aeris said, crossing her arms as she glared at him. "You have not seen what I have seen in these lands, what humans are truly able to do. The voxlux is merely the newest thing humanity has created and I dare you to name something out people have made like it in the last thousand years."

Folas glared firmer to her for a long moment as he leaned his head back a bit, looking down over his nose to us all as he looked about. "What, your master has made something? In the middle of his short life?"

"No, he did." Aeris said, pointing to me... Still holding the voxlux with my father watching on. I imagined he'd be munching on popcorn from this sight if Eostia had it. ... Maybe I can figure that out too... "James Noxdecus, the son of Merlin Noxdecus."

"Hnnnnrnnn..." He let off in frustration as he looked to me closer, our eyes meeting... As his narrowed further. "I see... That look of your eyes... How frustrating..."

Shit... He knew... He didn't seem to elaborate further nor did he blurt anything out, but he knew.

"I will remain in Eostia and learn under the Good Grand Magus; for as long as he would teach me." Aeris said with a huff.

"And I would keep her as a student, for as long as she wished to learn." Merlin said through the voxlux with a nod. "That was the initial agreement and as a student Aeris has been a fine one; not because she is an elf but because of her own ability and potential."

"... I see... That is how it is to be..." Folas said as he took in a deep, long breath before letting it out. In spite of the situation he was calm... Too calm. "Then I can do naught more... then force the issue." I was bringing up the shield in my glove the moment he said that only for him to lift both hands up as rock surged from under the ground directly behind Aeris before the two, robed mages dual casted spells. They must have pulled their mana subtly enough that not even Celestine caught on as we were hit with a combination of a wind and ice spell from both knocking the lot of us back and off our feet, my voxlux knocked from my hands as my father shouted something from it.

It took me a moment to note that Aeris, instead of being knocked back like the rest of us would have been pressed into the rock that rose behind her. I fought my way back to my feet, shield up as I used a Fireball held in my hand to warm up from the frost covering me. Celestine brought up a shield to block more magical attacks; coming from the mages and the elven escort aimed at us, allowing us to recover. "Shit!" I let off, ending the fireball spell and casting a Scatter Bolt as I saw what was happening...

Folas had just took out a pair of magic-suppressing cuffs and slapped them on Aeris' wrists before she could recover; still shivering. My own spell was blocked by the escort with physical shields or weapons save one who's helm I knocked off. Folas barked off something in a language I didn't know (Elvish, if I had to guess) and pulled out a small, glass orb as the two robed mages moved to grab him by the shoulder. He crushed the orb in his hand... And he, the mages and most importantly of all Aeris were gone, just vanishing into the air, their forms collapsing in a second as they were transported elsewhere.

One of the escorting soldiers held a hand out and as light came to it I knew what was coming and covered my eyes before a bright, sudden flash of light came out, stunning everyone... except me; I knew that trick after all. The elves dashed to their mounts, each one facing away to quickly get onto them... but I ran after them, using Reflex Boost to move that little bit faster as I used Arcane Weapon to make a lasso. After nabbing that Harpie in Alterun I took some time to practice my skills with it and threw it as they started to take off, snagging the man who's helm was knocked off around the face. In fact when I pulled the rope tight as the flying peacock took off it slipped into his mouth and between his teeth, letting off an undignified yelp as he was yanked off his mount which flew off without him. It took a long moment for his buddies to notice as I used Adrenaline Rush to help drag him closer

The rest of the escort was about to turn back for him but banked away to flee; part of it was Celestine had moved her shield over me and my captive who the Dawn Templars quickly rushed and dog-piled while the Mungale escort (Plus the one man Erogus escort) kept at the ready for a potential attack. I ended my lasso spell and moved to recover my voxlux, my father's concerned face there. "Sorry..."

"It's not your fault." He said with some sadness as I walked back to Celestine who ended her shield. Soon the lone Kingdom elf was on his knees and bound with a blade at his neck as someone moved to grab spell suppressive cuffs of our own.

"Where did they take her!?" Commander Keen barked out to him, glaring down as Celestine stayed behind her, letting her do the work. As she did that I used my magic on the voxlux to access another function; my father's image shifting to the side as a new image popped up.

"I've no need to tell you, wench, but the device should take them half way to the Kingdoms!" The solider let off as I snorted.

"I am aware of the device he used; that sort will not reach outside of Eostia." Celestine said firmly. Keen nodded and snorted.

"Do not take us as fools! Where did they take her?" She repeated as she glared harder.

"...I shall not talk." He let off with a huff. "But far enough to be beyond your reach. Even if I told you you would take far too long to find her; they'll be beyond your reach! Out of your range of influence! She is-"

"In Dawnrise." I cut in as the elven escort gawked and Celestine looked to me with raised eybrows. "I might not have added ways to listen in on people using the voxlux but I made sure to be able to track their locations." I looked at the second image being projected; one addition I added was a primitive GPS like system; it only worked inside the influence of the boosters and the overlay used the image of a hand drawn map semi-common in the realm so it wasn't exactly one hundred percent accurate but it also added a compass direction and distance which were much more accurate.

"Countess Silverglade has a voxlux; I know she ordered a series from your manor shortly after you started your quest." Celestine said, nodding to me. "If you can send the directions to her we can be ready to act when we arrive."

"Can we keep tracking them?" Keen asked as I nodded.

"So long as they have her voxlux, yes." I replied, as Celestine gave a short chuckle.

"They'd keep it, if only to try and improve on it."

"Of course we'd improve on a lowly, and barbaric-" Anything else the elven escort was about to say was cut off as Keen decked him in the jaw.

"But beyond that we should arrive while they're still there." Celestine finished as the elf was dragged away.

"What makes you say that, Celestine-sama?" Makoto asked... As the High Queen bit back a chuckle.

"He'll not want to rush away; the Kingdoms have traditions they'll wish to engage in tonight and Folas will want to do it in Eostia as an extra bit of pettiness." She said as she smiled a bit. "And in my experience... When things don't go as expected, when humans show up elves even a bit... Well, Regal Lords like Folas and his lot enjoying whining about it... And being as long lived as we elves are, the elves of the Kingdoms can whine on for hours..."

[-]

Unknown Location
Inside Dawnrise City
County of Whitewell

"What do you mean you can't figure out how it works!?" Folas bellowed at at his best mage. Upon teleportation away from Celestine and her lackies things were done in quick order; the location was the basement of a local manor owned by the United Elven Kingdom's ambassador to Eostia that had been converted into a small theater and auditorium with rich, red curtains, seating for fifty men at full capacity although only a dozen chairs were not in storage.

Aeris was on her knees in the middle of the stage, nude with each wrist locked behind her in cuffs with a short chain between them with her ankles bound likewise and ropes tied to keep her on her knees as a trio of elven maids attended to her body; softly combing her long hair with a trio of brushes as she blushed and glared at her father, her ears lowered slightly. Had James been on hand (And the situation not been so troubling) he would have claimed she had the look of a highly annoyed, pissed off cat. She knew what she had to look forwards to; three hours worth of combing, washing and re-combing of her hair, another three of her body being washed, scrubbed, rinsed, washed and scrubbed, scrubbed once more and finally rinsed and then fan dried, rinsed, fan dried once more, rinsed and fan dried yet again before being considered 'clean of the humans' with the maids working in one hour shifts for the whole thing.

Her father, the two mages who teleported with him as well as her 'fiance' and a number of various hanger-ons had found her own voxlux and were studying it and trying to figure out how it worked... Only to find themselves fully baffled by it, unable to come up with a good theory on it's operations which led to their long and annoyed conversation.

"A human made this!? Impossible! He must have stumbled over some lost knowledge of ours!"

"We are elves; we do not lose such knowledge!"

"Well he couldn't have made it himself!"

"I do not understand how this work! Insanity... Insanity, yes, a human could only make this through his own insanity!"

"Indeed, otherwise we would have made it already."

"Even insanity doesn't explain this!"

"Perhaps it's based on something our Dark cousins had made?"

"That makes more sense, yes..."

Aeris did her best to tune them out and not huff. Embarrassment over her nudity, the maids combing over her in such a manner and Theodmer trying to rape her with his eyes (And readying to rape her with his body, no doubt) was overridden by anger, betrayal but also the fact she knew rescue was coming. After all as he made, refined and crafted the voxlux James had asked her of for her own magical knowledge. While enchanting wasn't her specialty she knew enough to offer suggestions but more importantly assist him in it's testing. She and her master were the two who knew the most about the voxlux outside of it's creator and she was well aware of the tracking spell in it. He had even told her to hide her own voxlux and used his to find it within minutes.

And humans, being such short lived creatures, didn't waste time. While she suffered an hours long ritual they would be riding to her; she knew what city she was in if not exactly where and knew they would be riding to her. The question was would the ritual be done first or would they arrive first?

And if nothing else, what could she do to stall them or fight back? No doubt her father expected her to accept the position he demanded of her... Like a good elven daughter should.

Comparing her life in the United Elven Kingdom and Mungale was like night and day... In the Kingdoms the food was as perfect as could be, the clothing the softest, the bedding like clouds... But she was expected to be up at six in the morning, bathe for an hour, eat and then be at the academy at eight... For eight hours, not counting the hour long lunch. Perfection was expected; a failure could see you belittled or smacked with a pointer stick on the wrist or shoulder, often not gently. Tests were common and even on subjects they never studied for yet they were still expected to know. What little time she had between five and six in the afternoon was hers, assuming a teacher didn't ask her to stay behind to berate her. At six she would be subjected to learning things like dance, matters of the court, politics, traditions and even further schoolwork... And she would be finished at ten at night.

If she was lucky.

And then a small amount of Eostians were allowed into the Kingdoms... Including one Merlin Noxdecus...

[-]

Flashback - Nine Years Ago
The Regal Academy of Grandspire
Within the Emerald Kingdom
United Elven Kingdoms

"And here we are at the magical arena of the school; aside from matches it allows us to teach more dangerous magics to the students here with little risk." The Academy Headmaster let off, guiding the Eostian detachment into the circular room. A circular pit surrounded by seating with a sizable gap between the two. The room's walls and floor were made of marble that was colored green, the seating a golden color and the pit was red with a soft covering of sand to allow use of earth magics; or at least some of them. For the students they were standing between the pit and the stands as directed by their teacher, Elluin Sparkweaver.

Aeris, like every girl there, stood at attention while standing in one of two lines in a long, white skirt that reached just short of the ankles, white shoes with black treads, white socks, a matching shirt and followed by a short robe of the same color; all trimmed in gold with a broach colored from the Kingdom they came from; most of those broaches being green. The boys wore the same thing save white pants in place of the skirt.

Elluin, by contrast, wore something not unlike the boy's uniform save it was a deep green, a longer robe, fully black shoes and no broach, rather he had an Emerald set into a golden pendant that hung around his neck. The man himself was tall, some six-one, waist long hair tied back in a ponytail and colored the same sort of blue you'd see on a calm, summer sky. His eyes were a deep amber and a lot of the girls in the school swooned over him. He was one of the foremost teachers of magic in the Kingdoms, after all... Although in Aeris' opinion she felt his stick smack her arms far too often to swoon in such a manner over him.

The Headmaster wore an outfit not unlike Elluin's, save a blue pendant as opposed to green, while the Eostian contingent were much more... colorful.

Blues and greens, reds and oranges, yellows and purples... Many wore shield shaped emblems; the signs of what were the so-called 'noble' houses of humanity. Oddly the one that caught her eye the most was a man with a beard, elves couldn't grow hair on their faces to start with. Hell, she heard humans grew hair over their genitals! How could anyone have sex with that and produce a half-elf?

The man bore brown hair and a beard, wore blue robes and black pants and a odd, pointed hat with the tip pointed forwards with it's brim shading his eyes slightly. He stroked his beard with a thumb as he hummed softly.

"Why are we bothering to impress such lowly beings..?" Elluin let off with a huff under his breath as the Headmaster spoke to the collected men.

"Surely to remind them of their station?" One of the other girls, Burolia Skybreeze let off; a cyan haired woman a hint taller then Aeris and with her hair pulled back in a braid.

"Know your own place; you've not permission to speak." Elluin hissed back at her, Burolia flinching and returning to the formal stance they all had to take; arms behind their backs, chest out proudly (Very proudly, in Burolia's case) as the humans asked questions now and then of their hosts. "But still... Yes, reminding them of their place would be a fine idea..." He mused to himself.

"As you can see our students are well disciplined. We sort of expect that; unlike humans we have a couple of decades to ensure such." The Headmaster let off, bringing the humans close to the students letting them be looked over. "We are able to cover topics quite well." He said proudly with a grin on his face.

"Hmmm, well an education does need to reflect a lifespan, does it not?" The blue robed wizard said as he chuckled. "Regardless, there is a rather good bit we could learn from each other; given the chance."

Aeris could almost see her teacher's grin widen in response to the man's words. She could almost see the gears in his head turn as he considered ideas before striking on one. "I would think our own range of knowledge far eclipses what you would have, with due respect..." Elluin injected, with the word 'due' spoken with a thick layer of sarcasm.

"You'd be surprised, I'd imagine." The human said with a chuckle. "You can learn something from anyone; provided you keep an open mind and wit."

"Wit. Of course..." The teacher let off with a huff. "Perhaps we can have a little match to see what... wit and learning you can offer?" He said, gesturing to the small pit.

"Hmm? Well, that's unexpected, but a friendly match wouldn't hurt, I imagine." The man said with a smile as most of the students resisted the urge to give a cocky grin at the human. "Ah, forgive me. I am Baron Merlin Noxdecus of Mungale... May I have your name, good sir?"

"Tsk. Elluin of the Grand House Sparkweaver, Teacher of this Regal Academy of Grandspire." The elven man said with a mixture of a grin and smirk as he spread an arm outwards in a grand guesture. "As a bit of added stakes I'll even allow, under the traditions of the United Elven Kingdoms, you to take an apprentice from among my students, should you win."

"Hmm, I see. And what would you ask of me should you win?" Merlin asked, tilting his head to one side as he set his hands behind his hips.

"Oh, I'll ask of something later, I guess. I'd think there's not much you'd have I'd want..." Elluin chuckled as more then a few students giggled or chuckled as well at the human. By contrast the human, in Aeris' estimation seemed relaxed and casual; unthreatened by the far more experienced and knowledgeable elf. It was intriguing to her; how could he be so calm, knowing what he fought?

"If we may, Headmaster?" Elluin let off as the Headmaster nodded. He even moved to the edge of the pit to act as referee. Elluin and Merlin would take their spots on opposite ends of the pit with it's shield wrapping around the pit to keep the spells from escaping, with the Headmaster listing the rules; although truncated a bit for brevity. In short; no physical attacks, magic only, nothing lethal and so forth. Both men drew wands; Elluin a golden mythril one, capped on both ends with twin, blue spell stones that were attuned to one another over the course of most of a century. The human's wand was much different; made from some sort of wood it looked like a branch that extended out, split in half with the ends twisting around each other before holding a red spell stone at the end with metal bands at the bottom of the handle and around the branches end around the stone, likely simple steel.

The human bore a lesser wand... Yet seemed calm and relaxed as he awaited the start of the battle, taking a stance with both hands raised and pointed forwards, the wand held loosely in his right hand. The teacher stood with his right arm behind him, left hand extended with his wand in a tighter grip; Aeris knew he was right handed and that this was meant to be an insult to the human. Both would draw on their mana and she had to focus to even feel her teacher's mana moving to his hand and into the wand; the human must have been unaware of what was coming.

"And... begin!" The Headmaster let off as Elluin launched a blast of fire to the human with a grin. Perhaps this Merlin had enough time to dodge, or cast a shield she thought... Neither happened, however...

Rather he casted a wind spell that kicked dust up onto the air and forced the blast of flame upwards and obscuring the view of the man... Who seemed to just vanish into thin air. She never even felt him draw on his mana, not even a hint of it!

"You think you can best me with a mere illusion?" Elluin let off with a huff, glancing straight ahead.

"I rather think I can." Elluin jerked in surprised and turned to see Merlin standing behind him. Aeris wasn't the only student to gasp; how did he get there!? Elluin swung his wand about, sending a lash of lightning through the human... that seemed to fade away... before the elf had chance to react a spell slammed into his back with enough force to launch him into the shield around the arena, face first. He'd collapse to his back and groan, unmoving save his head moving a little side to side and an arm trying to lift up his wand which he had dropped.

The student body gasped then went silent as Merlin seemed to reappear from thin air and casually cross the field with a relaxed gait and moved to lean over his foe, wand pointed to his forehead. "My victory then."

"In... Indeed." The Headmaster let off in surprise. For the first time since they entered the room she paid attention to the other Eostians. They seemed to be a mix; some acting exasperated, some starting to clap and offer the wizard a congratulations, one seeming annoyed and others pleased... But none were impressed... As if they were confident the man, the mere human could best an elf of Elluin's expertise. And they were right!

As the shield came down one woman of the group moved in to heal Elluin and help him recover, although the teacher refused help to stand, just looking to Merlin with shock. "But... how?" He hissed out.

"A spell to cast my voice behind you, and an illusion to cement what you heard." Merlin said as he set his wand away and adjusted his hat. "You trusted your eyes and ears that I had moved behind you more then your magical senses which told you that I had not." Elluin glared at him but soon his shoulders slumped and his gaze dropped.

"... Very well hu... Merlin. I underestimated you, clearly." Elluin admitted; Aeris thought he was in pain given the tone but she didn't know if it was physical or now. "I offered a student as your apprentice if you won. I will honor that bet. Who do you pick?"

"Mmm..." Merlin said as he moved out of the pit and looked to the line of students one by one... Most of whom looked about nervously. Aeris was the only one to keep her eyes on him, more curious then nervous. "Well... I cannot well take away someone in an unwilling manner. If I am to take a student as an apprentice then I would take those who are willing only. After all; I will have to take them to my home in Mungale to teach them. So then... Who among you feels adventurous enough to volunteer?"

No one moved to show interest; most seemed relieved to know they wouldn't be forced to go with him. No one stepped forth or raised a hand... And then...

Aeris took a step forwards and raised her hand. Her peers turned their heads to look to her, shocked... But lowly human or not, she was curious... he could best her teacher... How much had he learned in a life, shorter then hers more then likely, that she could learn? There was also something else she wanted to know...

What did the world look like beyond the borders of the Kingdoms? What were the people like? What was there to see that she couldn't learn from books and teachers?

What was the world like in the lands humans reigned in?

"Ah. Seems I have my apprentice." He said, moving to walk before her, smiling as he clasped his hands before him. "Pleasure. As I said earlier, I am Baron Merlin Noxdecus. May I have your name?"

"Aeris of the Regal House Willowglow, Student of the Academy of Grandspire... And... Well, your student now as well."

"Indeed. We'll sort the details out later, but I look forwards to having you in my home, Aeris."

[-]

By contrast she had more free time to herself in Mungale... Lessons were shorter and most every test she was given she was prepared for. The few she was unprepared for was treated as a means to understand her knowledge of a subject. Failure was not punished; it was considered a part of the learning process as to being apart from it. The selection of books she could read ranged from spell books, history, theory... and fiction. She had never read a romance story before arriving in Mungale but found herself enjoying a small selection.

She was pulled into the simple joys of life beyond just reading; music, art, theater, games, talks and discussions... More over she could ask questions to Merlin, talk back, debate, oppose his logic and wisdom... And rather then be punished or talked down to he would answer to the best of his ability, give comebacks, debate right back or humor her opposition. Under him punishments were rare and only designed to combat any misbehavior. She had learned more in the near single decade under him the the two decades she studied at Grandspire...

Sure the clothes weren't as soft but allowed for more individual expression (Even if skimpy things were the order of the day... Well, give the humans something to gawk at, at least), the food wasn't as fine but was still tasty and filling... And left a warmer feeling in her. She didn't eat at a table with her father on one end, her mother on the other and with ten feet between her and either one; she ate close to others. Conversation over dinner was more then discussing her failures or faults; it was a chance to talk about what was done in the day, who was doing what, what needed to be done in the manor and if talk ever came to her performance it was often praise. At worst they discussed her struggles as something she would overcome with persistence rather then disappointment she hadn't already overcome it.

Half a continent away from her place of birth and Kingdom of origin and she found a home... A home with people she would have called lesser not long before. It would be Sora that summed it up best. 'Humans lack the luxury of our lifespans so they make it up as best as they can; to make life worth something.'

That brought a question to her that she never really considered before; or at least only in brief moments before dismissing it...

Would she ever want to go back to the United Elven Kingdoms? Before it was something she assumed was the case but now... Now when the issue is forced... If she rejected her father's demand (And found a way to escape of course) she might not even be welcomed back; not without her life being dictated to anyway...

And she'd never be able to return to Eostia in that case either... To her friends...

To her master in Merlin, the kind teacher.

Makoto, the odd but honorable warrior.

Riri, the small but strong maid.

Miria, the best friend and somewhat-sister she never knew she needed.

Gregory, the mighty knight with a heart of golden mythril and arms to match.

Saxon, who would mother her if given a chance and ensure she had all she needed.

James, someone she could talk to about magic and even acted as a tutor to him before he grew up.

And Sora... despite her rather whorish tastes showed her what humans were... And what they could be yet...

So that begged the question...

What could she do?

[-]

We pushed the horses harder then usual to get to Dawnrise on time; the sun was on it's way down over the horizon as the gates came into sight. The current Countess, Roshia Silverglade, had reported into us already; she had agents watching the manor Aeris was being held at from the outside. In addition she had a person on the inside; apparently she expected potential trouble from the ambassadors of the United Elven Kingdoms and kept an agent within their walls and issued a voxlux to them; we had eyes on Aeris and an idea of what they were doing. Sure enough, it was a long, convoluted, traditional ritual coupled with a lot of whining. Celestine called it, what can I say? My guess was they planned to hunker down and wait until we exhausted ourselves searching before using the peacocks to fly out of Eostia. Frankly, Eostia had little to match that mode of transport currently.

We rode up on Dawnrise City as the sun started to set. Whitewashed double walls around the city, a castle off in the distance with double walls and a moat. Usual. Hanging over the gate was the local banner of House Silverglade. The wide shape had a curved dip on the top, giving the top corners points. The sides went straight down most of the way before curving at the bottom, moving horizontal for a moment before turning down to a point. The edge was a thick, purple line with cyan sandwiching it with a white background.

As for the imagery on the shield; the top bore a set of butterfly wings made up of three shades of pink, three yellow circles each and cyan outlines. At the bottom was the image of a high elven woman's head facing the left with purple eyes and blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, the end swinging under the head bearing a cyan tiara with pink designs on the front. Between the image of what was supposed to be Elyon Silverglade was a pair of purple fairies, facing inwards with a hand extended, pal upwards. Finally was three, pink, cyan outlined, eight pointed stars with the bottoms extended a bit placed in the middle of the top and bottom corners.

Normally we'd be going to the castle, a local manor or the Adventurer's Guild but this time we took a turn towards the nobility district, although stopping short of it within the merchant's district. We'd leave the carriages, drivers and a pair of our Mungale escort with the local stables before moving off to the side. From there we proceeded to a nearby warehouse with Keen knocking on the door. It would open and show off a collection of at least thirty five odd soldiers and one elven woman in a dress.

"Celestine. Welcome my friend. If only circumstances allowed us more time to speak." She said. She stood some five foot nine and bore long, blonde hair that fell just above the knees in a pair long, twin tails and a golden butterfly hairclip over her right ear. She had slight bangs around her face with sea blue eyes and soft, pink lips. Her hips were covered in a segmented, cyan skirt with points going downwards with the ones at her sides and back stretching to the floor with gold colored trim and slight, and a white under skirt and straps of some sort of white underwear showing from under them. A belt that moved diagonal from right down to left held a white and gold metal panel over her left thigh. Her hands bore short, white gloves and her shoes were blue with a golden design reaching up to the ankle that looked like a single butterfly wing.

Her outfit's top bore a wide length of cloth going from around the neck to the waist, connecting to the skirt that wrapped about her C-Cup chest with a cyan, butterfly-like wing design over it with gold outlines and an amber colored gem in the center with extensions wrapping around her upper arms and a set of what looked like golden mythril pauldrons. In her right rand was a white shafted short staff with a golden colored, pointed bottom, capped with a long, golden extension that let to a single butterfly wing design with a cyan inside that turned pink at the edges. Nestled in the top of it was a single, off white and rounded spell stone.

"Roshia. Thank you for responding so quickly." The High Queen said with a smile as she stepped up to the Countess who moved her staff to her left hand, the two women shaking hands.

(-)

Name: Roshia Silverglade
Title: The Butterfly Countess
Class: Scholar
Level: 27
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 43
Status: Healthy, Thoughtful, Worried

Romance Rating: 78
Corruption Rating: 9

Known Traits
[Mana Draw] Draw mana from the world around you to refill your stores

[Wise Scholar] Any healing spells have their potency increased by 25%

[Robeclad] You wear any sort of Mage Robe and Arcane Robe like it was weaved just for you! Increase Magical Resistances to any such robe by 10% and any Mag or Mnc stat boosts by 20%

Third Countess of Whitewell from House Silverglade, Roshia is young for an elven leader at one hundred and eighty three years old. In spite of this she's proven to be a magical adept and enjoys alchemy and it's study along with employing healing and defensive magics. She knows well the old traditions of the United Elven Kingdoms and sees many of them as a waste of time.

(-)

Huh, that's new. [Olivia, Arcane Robe?]

(-)

Armor Type: Arcane Robe
Slashing Resistance: Light to Moderate
Piercing Resistance: Light to Moderate
Blunt Resistance: Light to Moderate
Magical Resistance: Moderate to Very High
Weight: Light
Agility Penalty: None
Other Bonuses: Bonus to Mag & Mnc - Light to High

Arcane Robe is a type of armor used mainly by spell casters.

Like Mage Robes it's formed by soaking a fabric in liquid mana, however the sort required is highly condensed. In addition the types of fabric are more limited; silk from Alchous Silkworms fed a specific, mana rich type of plant, silk from the cocoon of the Aurora Caterpillar as it transforms into the Aurora Wing Butterfly or Red Footed Spider's silk which is more common in Garan.

For higher quality results the liquid mana can be condensed further to a mana syrup and/or be mixed with powdered, high quality spell stone. The result is the most expensive fabric that can be used for a user of magic and will draw ambient mana from the air around them to further empower their spells and even shield the wearer, to a degree, from physical attacks and much more for magical attacks.

This type of armor is much rarer and more expensive then normal Mage Robes.

(-)

Well, guess that's a thing.

Celestine was introducing us all as I did my scan and question as Roshia nodded. "A pleasure to meet you all. You most of all, James. However we haven't the time to waste on further pleasantries."

"You've a report?" Commander Keen asked as the Countess nodded.

"Yes. Their ritual to ready Aeris for her groom-to-be is nearing completion." Roshia said looking to the Dawn Templar. "The Manor's lord, Ambassador Dayweave, keeps a few eyes and ears around the nobility district. Of course there is a path there that's out of their sight; a small tunnel used to evacuate the district in case of a siege. We can use it, however, to go inside and we'll appear not far away. The gate is not well hardened to magic; forcing our way in will not be difficult. Of course this could cause issues with the United Elv-"

"They abducted someone under my escort." Celestine said, interrupting her. "The issues currently exists; we are merely addressing them."

"As you say." Roshia said with a nod, looking us over before turning to a back, stone wall in the room. She extended a hand and used a spell of some sort, causing the stones in the floor to shudder and drop into a set of stairs "You have five minutes to finish whatever preparations you require. Once we head out there is no turning back."

[-]

It took less then one minute to head out; after all we had a whole, day-long road trip to get ready. Celestine withdrew her staff out from her storage and walked at the point with the Countess; although it was less 'walked' and more 'brisk jog'. As much as I wanted to run full tilt the fact was we needed to be ready to fight once we arrived. As we marched down I opened the old Menu up and spent what Regular Stat Points I had; dumping all eight into Constitution bringing it up to fifty eight. I needed it at sixty for my class upgrade, but it was also my lowest stat aside from Luck and I was worried I might need to take a hit, for better or worse.

The tunnel bore small spell orbs along the top to offer light but dear lord was it claustrophobic. It was dull, gray stone and with a musky, odd smell of a place that hadn't aired out in decades at best. The whole thing was a mere five feet wide so we were moving in mostly single file but we were moving along.

It took almost a full half an hour before we arrived and moved out and up onto the street. The small building we stepped out of, as it turned out, was a guard post although a currently unoccupied one. Riri quickly moved to the door and cracked it open, looking outside as the rest of the escort and soldiers caught up. It got a bit crowded, to be frank, but we knew we'd be outside soon and not so bunched up and pressed into each other.

Once everyone was in the post, or rather as many as could fit, Roshia stepped out with her own guard commander, an elven man in quality armor, and the pair took point as they guided us to the manor in question. The nobility district was getting dark as the sun dipped further down over the horizon and highlighted the manors of the place; many with human based construction but also some with spires and rounded towers at the corners. I didn't spend much time looking at them until we arrived the one Aeris was at; the voxlux pointed right at it.

The manor bore a three story, tower like room at the front with windows being the bulk of surface with a spire on the top. The building behind it spread out to the sides with the ends dipping upwards and connecting into the tower-like, window filled designs. The walls were pure white, the roof a cyan color and trims for windows and doors were all in a light, gold color.

Two guards were posted outside of the manor and at first seemed to be relaxed; possibly even a hint lazy which was understandable. They were guards in one of if not the most secure district in the city. Then they noticed us and gave each other a confused look that started to look nervous and confused as we approached closer and closer. As we stopped before the gate the pair of elven guards looked to each other and gestured to us as if saying 'you do it'. Finally one of them found his voice long enough to bring his hand up and bark out a single word. "Halt!"

"We are aware of someone who was abducted being on the premise." Celestine said before either could add more then that single word. "We're going in to get her. The question is; shall you be in the way?" The pair of guards fixed her with a look before glancing to each other. One inched his way to the side and gently pushed the gate open wide before stepping aside as his counterpart did the same. "Thank you." We moved onto the manor grounds proper and walked inside of the unlocked manor doors as maids looked to us and backed away. It was clear to them shit was about to go down and it was best not to stand near fans.

[-]

Meanwhile
The Basement Theater of Dayweave Manor

Aeris wondered how much of the Traditional Vows of Union she drowned out. Like many elven things it was drawn out longer then it needed to be to impart a sense of scale and importance to it. True, her father was going through the speech faster then usual, but when the vows being repeated required a one hundred page book to contain them all it said something; even if that book was of a small size and the font wasn't shrunken. She only had the ritual to gain a sense of time about her and if she were right James, Celestine and the rest were already in Dawnrise and if not they would be shortly. While she knew James had preferred to not deal with people like the Mandevilles on a permanent basis and was cautious in his dealings with them because of the political ramifications ending them could have but she wondered how true that would be for her father...

As... abusive as he was being in the moment (And for most of her life to be honest, although she realized that was common in the Regal Elven Houses and uncommon in the Noble Human Houses once she had some distance from the Kingdoms) he was still her father and she didn't want to see him dead. Even if the urge of never wanting to see him again was growing.

"And now let the unions of these grand, noble and regal houses be commenced proper; that she may service you as a bride, carer of your home, mother of your children, warmer of your bed, hostess of your guests, decoration upon your arm, center of your lust and yours forever more, centuries long servant and lover." Folas let off. "And with that we may begin."

"Finally... I've had to contain myself for so long, it feels..." Theodmer let off, rubbing his hands together with glee. She supposed he was good looking; tall at about six-three, long dark blue hair that fell to his mid-back, boyishly handsome face, fit, athletic build... Easy on the eyes... Now if he didn't twist his face into that of a lustful ape that would help. Somewhat.

"Funny, I've been to a human wedding before." She let off in bemusement. While not happy about it she had long since become numb to her own nudity; it helped that she had about a dozen other indignations to address at the moment. "Really those vows were more profound despite being far shorter. And consent was asked on both parties."

"Given how your attitude has been since your retrieval you have spent far too much time among humans, my daughter." Folas let off moving to stand over her; still bound, still tied in a manner that forced her to kneel and glare up at him. "That they would treat you as an equal... How absurd. You come from the greatest kingdom of the continent, nay the whole world under this sun! We are the most advanced, cultured and powerful people on the face of the earth! Humans the land over revere what we have built and tremble at the magnificence of..." Folas caught himself ending his speech short, interrupted by Aeris but not with her words...

It started with a small shake, a shudder followed by a quiver. Then a few sounds, snorting at first, then small, tiny giggles followed by barley contained chuckles and finally full blown laughter as she leaned back in her binds, almost falling to her sides. "Is that what you think!? You think humans are impressed by you!? Oh my goddess!" She let off as her father and Theodmer shared a look before the various onlookers looked to each other as well, all confusion. "Ohhh... my deeeeeeeear father, you say I have spent too much time among humans, but you have clearly not spent enough."

"What are you babbling about?" Folas demanded as she finally got some measured control over her own laughter, even if a wide, bemused smirk remained before she spoke.

"Ooooooh speculation and questions about the Kingdoms pop up now and then, I assure you... But most people only ask me because I came from there. Among themselves they're more concerned with their own lives, their own town or state. They're worried about their fellows, their own improvement, their own station... And when they talk among themselves about kingdoms outside of Eostia it's Dominious, or Balanar but mostly Garan because they are active threats. And they talk about Rycall or Camafran and Roxford because they are friendly or willing to trade with them. But they never talk about the United Kingdoms among themselves... Because it doesn't matter to them. You, the Seven Regal Crowns, the Rainbow Throne do not matter to these people! You are as much in their thoughts as a shark cares about an apple. You are over half way across the continent from these people!"

She grinned wider to her father and chuckled once more. "But the humans... They're in your thoughts all the time... How often have you or I or those we know told of what humans are, what they think of us, how we should see them, how we should treat them... Hells, the reason I had the option to study under Merlin was because Elluin wanted to show up the humans visiting, to put them in their place and was shocked that they didn't fit where he thought they should go. And every letter you and mother sent were constantly stating how in awe they had to be of me... Like by simply being an elf they'd be impressed... Yet you forget just how many dealings they have with our northern, dark cousins."

Folas clenched his hand but she kept speaking on instead. "And they fought them thousands of years ago and once gifted knowledge of simple iron and a child's understanding of magic pushed them back. And when they returned with a field humans couldn't cross and from which they could safely attack from the humans pushed them back into that field again, and again and again. Those you consider our peers in magical knowledge and prowess have waged war for seven centuries on Eostia from a place no human could function in... And they've failed to conquer it. They haven't conquered more then one human nation. Among dozens. Dozens!"

"Oh, humans have their share of flaws, to be sure." She giggled out to him. "But they're not impressed with you or the Kingdoms. In fact, they're quite convinced that the gap between human and elf is closing more and more... And in some ways they're right. And it's our flaws that prevents you from seeing it. And yet you and the Regal Lords are so dead set on lording over them... Why is that? Is it because you want someone to lord over? Is it because that's what you feed off of; the imagined envy of another race? Or perhaps... you envy the things they have we lack like joy, lo-"

"Enough!" Folas barked out. "I have had enough or your rambles and insanity! It will be corrected when we get home, be assured. Theodmer, claim her with your seed."

The young, male elf chuckled and quickly stripped himself of his robes. He was nude under them, highlighting his excitement and his seven inch cock pointed out fully hard as he moved to stand before her, smirking at her glare. "Accept your place. It's where you will be forever more. What do you say?"

"I'll give you a very fair warning, Theodmer. Put that thing in my mouth and you'll regret it quickly." Aeris said as the man chuckled and pressed his cock head to her lips as she clenched her jaw shut.

"How cute... Now, now... It's time to join the houses..." He said, prodding at her mouth as she turned her head, never opening her mouth, even to retort. Finally he pinched her nose and wrenched her face forwards and covering her mouth with his other hand. He waited until her felt her try and breathe before moving his hand, pressing his cock into her now open mouth and thrusting in, chuckling as he pressed deeper into her mouth.

"And soon it will be done, Daughter..." Folas said with a saddened sigh. "Although your unwillingness pains me, and that this will seem possibly painful, even traumatic know that with this our grand traditions and ways of The United Elven Kingdoms shall carry on through this comb-"

"ARRRRRRGGHHHHHHH! AHHH! AHHH! AHHHHHGHHH! STOP! STOP! LET GO!"

Folas's regretful tone changed hard to worry and concern as Theodmer tried to pull his hips away from her before punching his daughter in the temple to his confusion as well as anger to the injury he was causing his little Aeris... At least until he saw something red dripping down her chin needing only a moment more to realize what was happened, if another two to respond "Stop her! Stop her before she causes his penis too much harm!" He let off as two of the maids moved to the pair, responding by grabbing his daughter by the hair and pulling her head back... Only for Theodmer's anguished cries grow louder.

"No, no! Force her jaw open! You'll cause more damage like that!" One of his aides let off as he and another moved to the stage, one grabbing her by the chin and forehead, the other by the chin and hair before both men pulled to separate the jaw's top and bottom from each other, dismayed as more blood flowed, dripping to the floor. Theodmer panted in pain before howling once more, hands now off his daughter and moved to his groin, doubling over as his pained cries were supplemented by whimpers.

"Stop her! Stop her!"

"I'm trying!"

"This has never happened before! Goddess, oh goddess!"

Folas clenched his hands as he gritted his teeth, the people around him starting to panic. Why... Why couldn't she just accept this? Finally the face of Aeris and groin of Theodmer separated, one of the mages started casting a healing spell on the man's penis who seemed to turn white. "No! Stop! Not yet!" He let off to the man's confusion... until his hands spread to show his groin...

And the now healed over stump where a penis once had been.

Shock hit the room, overfilling it as Aeris made a choking then gagging sound before everyone in the room turned to her in a horrid fascination. Her head rocked back and forth for a moment, now no longer held before she spat out a fleshy, shrinking thing from her lips; a dismembered penis. She was left spitting blood out of her mouth for several moments more as realization started to come to them... They had healed Theodmer's groin without knowing his penis was bitten off and that not reattaching it first made doing it now... difficult at best; even for their advanced and regal healing magics such a reattachment was daunting. It was fully possible that if this difficult task was left undone for too long Theodmer would be unable to have children at all... And it was done at the hands (Or teeth, rather) of a member of House Willowglow. "Daughter... What have you done!?" Folas let off; one part angered, one part humiliated, one part dismayed and two parts worried. Nothing like this had happened before, or at least he'd never heard of it. If House Forestshine decided to petition the Crowns for compensation or worse justice for this he knew well which head the axe would fall upon.

"Well... I did warn him." Aeris said spitting more blood out. "Uggghh, disgusting..."

"What... what do we do?" One of the aides let off as he helped Theodmer to his feet. "Can it be reattached?"

"It has to be!"

"Yes, do! Fetch a healer! Fetch a fucking healer!" Theodmer let off. Elves did not, as a rule, swear. That he had signaled the level of distress he was in as two men ran for the doors of the room...

Only for the double doors to be blasted off their hinges by a massive blast of wind revealing... Celestine, the Noxdecus heir and a lot of soldiers.

"That was excessive." Celestine said, clearly chiding the human 'noble' as Folas glared at them as they filtered into the room.

[-]

"No, I think it was warranted. Very..." I paused and blinked at the sight of the room and had some... interesting observations. Aeris was nude and bound which would normally have me going from zero to 'Angry Video Game Nerd in a room full of nothing but newly discovered LJN games' in less then a second until I saw her bloody chin yet uninjured face... And then noticed the dickless elf. Yes, that man had no dick.

Two plus two equals four.

Aeris with a blood covered chin plus a man with no dick equals...

"Holy shit Aeris!? Did you just bite his dick off!?" Miria let off, gawking at her.

"You know I was hoping you'd all say something a tad more heroic and dashing." Aeris deadpanned at us, her eye twitching; I think she was trying to contain her own emotions with her tone and humor. "Your books seem to enjoy that when damsels are saved and, much to my chagrin, I rather qualify at a moment." In spite of the casual air she put on I could see the relief in her eyes as she gave us all a small smile.

"Woman..." One of our escort from Mungale let off loudly. "That's for damsels in distress, not for damsels who cause distress." I couldn't help but snicker at the situation as the troops either did the same or outright laughed. Even Celestine's lips twitched, although she managed to contain herself before she spoke.

"Folas, you have abducted someone against their will on Eostian land." She began. "Regardless of the reasons and Kingdoms of origin that is a violation of Eostian law as well as dishonorable. Surrender yourself to justice. Quickly I would prefer; I would like to help the man reattach his... ummm... dismembered penis." She, umm, couldn't help but blush at that last bit, by the way.

"Breaking in here and interrupting our traditions rituals will strain relations with cause an impact between the relations of our Kingdoms." Folas let off, glaring at Celestine.

"To quote an old, departed friend of mine..." The High Queen began. "Frankly, my dear sir, I don't give a damn." Folas' entire face turned to shock as he looked at her.

"Neither does the County of Whitewell." Roshia let off, stepping next to Celestine and tapping her staff to the floor twice. "To be frank I find your ambassador to be more of an ass then anything else. We are not the ones who desired embassies and relations; your crowns did. We only agreed to do so to try and show you your own faults. Not that we claim perfection nor love of everything the humans do."

"To be blunt, Folas, if this is the tone and action I can expect from you and yours, and this is hardly the first time your people have flirted with such non-sense here, then perhaps formally ending relations would be for the best." Celestine told him bluntly as he looked almost white and dismayed. I could only imagine why but if I had to guess it's because he had his initial plan blown apart by a new, human made device, his back-up plan had just failed in the same manner (If he knew it or not), his daughter wanting nothing to do with his plan and going so far as to bite a dick off to make that point... "Now I repeat, surrender."

Folas was glaring and clenching his hands but had another look in his eye; panic. Controlled panic, but panic. Aside from all the above if the relations between Seven Kingdoms Alliance and the United Elven Kingdoms broke apart... Well it would be on his head and while I've no idea how important relations were to the rulers of the United Elven Kingdoms I'd bet they'd likely be... unhappy about it. And as mentioned before the whole United Kingdoms are very... strict about things.

Finally he looked at me and hardened his eyes for a moment. "Under the Agreement of Two Dawns I invoke a Right of Contest with the Noxdecus boy."

"Right of... I fail to see how that applies on this situation. Let alone to James." Celestine let off, as if taken off guard. I had a bad feeling about this...

"Beg pardon." I spoke up before Folas could spit anything else out as I looked to her. "Right of Contest?"

She sighed softly and looked to me. "It was a part of the treaty that allowed the embassy in Whitewell; a representative of the United Elven Kingdoms is allowed to contest certain laws application to their representatives on grounds their Crowns own via trial by combat." I imagined the manor counted but didn't have a moment to ask as she looked back to Folas. "But that only applies when the crime in question is committed on owned grounds. You were well away from that when you absconded with her."

"We are here now and I will have it!" Folas bellowed out as he snarled. "I have been dishonored by you, this kingdom, that boy and now my own daughter!" He let off as he barked at us. "I demand the right to reclaim it from this farce I've been subjected to!"

"To be blunt that requires having honor to start with." I shot back as he seemed to do his best to give off a snarl. "And frankly you've provided no reason for me to accept thus far."

"Then you will be provided with one." Folas said, snapping his fingers and pointing to Aeris... Before one of the mages moved to her and withdrew a knife from his sleeve, holding it to her throat as she looked to her father with shock; I assumed I had a likewise look as my heart sank, even as I did my best to keep calm and avoid showing it. Even so I stomped a foot forwards.

"You wouldn't dare when it's your own daughter." I said as calmly as I could; even so my tone was very forceful and expressive my anger in the moment. I was already drawing mana into my hands to prepare an action as Folas huffed.

"...Our traditions maybe beyond your understanding, boy, but surely not the position I've been placed into." He told me, huffing a second time as he moved to the end of the stage the United Elven Kingdom's contingent stood on. Celestine said nothing but from the side of my eye I could see her own look harden as she narrowed her eyes but stayed silent as he kept speaking. "Needless to say I must take responsibility for my daughter's... resistance to our traditions. And while I care not for your little kingdom and would be happy to end relations my peers and betters think otherwise. If I merely surrender she will be exiled, my Regal House will be blamed and lose a great deal of standing. She will be, effectively, dead to me; regardless of my own wants and wishes. So, this is my only recourse that you and yours have pushed me to. You have yourself to blame, human."

"I'd rather blame the guy willing to sacrifice his own daughter to cover his own problems." I shot back, resisting the urge to step forth.

"That's semantics. Either way my hand is forced." He replied, looking down over his nose at me. I hate to say it; but he has a point. A point I very much disagreed with, but a point nonetheless. I gave a soft growl but gave Celestine a look from the side of my eye, one she returned with concern.

"The choice is yours... Sadly it's the only way to ensure her safety." She said with a sigh. "I apologize. I should have anticipated such a move and done something to prevent it."

Figures. Okay, time for me to take stock. There was a five level difference between us and he was a Mage Knight; an advanced class of my own. This isn't the worst level difference I've been stuck in (Which is saying something), but unlike Halbert and Blood Caller he seemed a lot calmer; or at least more in control of himself. That said he was the single best equipped foe I'd fought to date; dragon scale armor was no joke, I was willing to bet that the circlet he wore was also a piece of mana armor, or bore a spell enough like it to qualify. I didn't know what his blade was made of but mythril or golden mythril was a sure bet. Before I had been at least at a level of parity with my opponent's in terms of equipment; in terms of armor that wasn't the case and in terms of weapons it also might be lean to him; at least I was confident the Unicorn's Horn wouldn't be a horrid weapon against him still.

I was going to have to get creative, sadly. "Guess I don't really have a choice then, now do I?" I asked half sarcastically as I stepped forwards, drawing my rapier out with my thoughts racing as I came up with a basic set of plans. I could also use Dark Flare to break the mana based shield around his head but Dual Casting the Dark Flare spell wouldn't be enough; there was more then likely three layers to it so I'd need a third strike in relatively short order. I had an idea for that, if worse came to worse, but I would use it as a backup plan as I wasn't sure I could pull off the last hit of it. I kept my own emotions in check as Folas stepped off the stage, mana in one hand as he swung it out to one side; sending the chairs on that side of the room scattering to the wall with a wind spell before doing the same in the other direction.

Celestine would cast a shield over the small area we'd be fighting in to contain the potential damage; given the situation it was the best she could do given it would be a one on one duel. He would draw his own weapon; a mythril High Elven saber as I suspected, as my view zoomed in on his face as he pointed the weapon straight at me as the good old boss music spun up. "It's time to remind you of your place, human." He let off as the view panned back.

_Regal Lord of the Emerald Throne_
Folas Willowglow

My view returned to normal as he took a stance; blade pointed forwards at me with his hand to his side. I could feel a faint hint of mana in it so I knew he had a spell at the ready as I prepared to cast while I brought my rapier up as well in a likewise fashion, although with my off hand raised higher up. For the first few seconds it was the pair of us sizing each other up as I made a slow, cautious approach that was less walking forward and more shuffled forwards. I wriggled my left fingers a moment as I readied to move while Folas kept still and unmoving; only his eyes adjusting to look at me. He looked confident and relaxed although confidence and arrogance were twins in appearance. Even so I took a shallow slash at him, testing his reflex... And he ignored my blade to slash at me.

I managed a deflection before thrusting at him and getting a good, solid hit on the left side of his chest and... nothing. As I predicted his armor just tanked it; I didn't hit him with everything I had, but I didn't pull it either. Folas took another couple of swipes at me; neither serious not half-hearted. I dodged the first, deflected the second and thrust a second time with full force; this time casting Blessed Weapon mid attack for extra power and... nothing. His armor took the hit with no damage save pushing him back a half step.

Well... Okay then.

He gave a hint of a smirk as he attacked now; I gave ground, readying a Dual Cast as well as Heroic Leap. He followed and I waited for the right moment... And his smirk vanished as I used my foot to cast Arctic Orb, freezing the ground and having him start to slip up before hopping upwards, Heroic Leap giving me more height then usual as I cast Gale Burst at near point blank range. The effect knocked me back to land on my feet and slammed Folas into the floor roughly; back first and head slamming down a moment later. He grunted and shook himself off before starting to rise.

I didn't give him a chance to recover; only letting him get to a knee before sending out a Hammer of Smite at him as I charged. He was in the middle of rising to his feet as the spell connected with his head, rocking his head back although not as forcefully as I had hoped; his circlet's defensive properties likely. Even so it stunned him enough that I was too close for him to respond as I started baseball slide into his shin; unbalancing him further before casting Vortex Tunnel from my back with a hand, upwards into his chest and launching him upwards into Celestine's shield with a solid thump to it. He started to fall to the ground but caught himself with a Levitation spell, shaking his head out as he stayed over the floor for a long moment.

I wanted to press my attack but it seemed like a bad idea as he was at least on guard and looked ready to bring up a shield as he frowned to me before finally lowering to the floor, standing on his feet. He glared at me firmly as he retook his stance. "What was the point of that?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the smarter one?" I shot back, giving him a firm glare. I wanted to smirk back and goad him a little but I was still a bit too upset to do that. He groaned in annoyance but rather then reply or retort he charged; thrusting at my chest. I deflected and focused on defense for the moment. I resisted the urge to break the shield in my glove out; it was an ace in the hole I wanted to keep there for the moment. As I started to lead him in a large circle as I backed up from his attacks he was putting in some effort to attack but was mostly relaxed and lacking force. Why attack like this?

Either he was in an arrogant 'superior elf' mode (Doubt it) or he wanted to drag the fight out and let me exhaust myself. I was sure it was the second and as a test I slid back further and threw a Fireball straight into his chest. He merely braced for the impact and took it head on; knocked back a step but otherwise unharmed; that was the effect of dragon scale as armor with the spell stone set in his chest further hardening it. He was, effectively, invulnerable to most of what I could throw at him.

For the most part; I still had some tricks to use after all. But it was clear; he could take his time and wait until I made a mistake or wore myself out. He stepped in and thrust as I side stepped and jabbed my blade at his eye, the circlet's shield making the point deflect off to the side without him even flinching. I waited for a moment and once I knocked his sword to one side I stepped in, Dual Cast spells ready as I swung my rapier's D-Guard upwards with Dragon's Fist in a Shoryuken style attack under his chin. It was, of course, blocked by the shield around his head (Complete with a smirk from him) but I followed up with a Dual Casted spell from my left hand (Tricky but I had practiced it) combining Vortex Tunnel and Frost Thrower; generating a small but powerful and swirling blizzard into his chest and blasting him back off to impact the shield Celestine put in place; I had used Dragon's Fist to lift him up enough to make it easier to blast him off and combined it with Frost Thrower to cover his body with ice to hold him in place.

He shook his head out as I charged; he was trapped from the collarbone down in an uneven block of ice as I combined Adrenaline Rush and Reflex Boost with Rapid Strike to thrust my rapier into his head as hard as I could and as fast as I could. This wasn't about breaking into the shield on his circlet but I wouldn't complain if that happened. Indeed, there was a fair chance I was doing good damage to the first layer of his circlet's shield but that wasn't the point. The point was that I was knocking his head back into Celestine's shield with each thrust I made and making it bounce off. This was my Plan A; his shield could protect him against a hammer trying to cave in the skull but it couldn't protect his brain from trying to break out of it. In short I was trying to give him a concussion.

Steam rising up from his body showed he was using fire mana to warm his body to break out but even so I kept up my efforts, at one point stepping in to slam his head with Focus Punch with my left fist before returning to Rapid Strike, coupling it with Physical Boost to hit harder, as I stayed as relentless as I could; at least until I felt a spike in mana from him causing me to use Heroic Leap and Steel Skin to put some distance as I jumped back and guarded myself as he broke free with a massive blast of fire around him. I would have been scorched if I hadn't moved back. I ended Physical Boost and used Minor Heal to try and help deal with the strain of it as I took stock.

Folas was aiming his weapon to me but clutched his head with his free hand, eyes wide as he panted. "You... bastard..." He let off; clearly he was understanding what my plan was now. My understanding was magically healing concussions could be done, but not instantly. Of course that was for humans, elves could be different on that. Glaring he drew his rapier back as his mana raised up making me dodge as a bolt of fire struck the ground where I leapt from. I started to move into range only for him to swing his left hand out as a whip of lightning slashed out; I wasn't able to dodge it in full as the tip slapped my shin and send jolts up my body as it convulsed fro a moment; had it been longer I would have failed to dodge the follow up Arcane Spear aimed for my chest; instead I took a gash to my left bicep.

"James!" Aeris let off as I attempted to charge once more, moving in from the right side. Once more his lightning whip lashed out and while I was ready for it this time he used a wind spell to create a powerful swirl of air around him that expanded outwards as I was forced back from it as I clicked my tongue. Clearly he was disinclined to let me close ranks now that he knew my plan. For better or worse he knew that he was very much not invulnerable to my attacks and had no desire to repeat what I'd just done.

I needed an opening but I was worried about what being over aggressive could cause. I charged again, but opened with a Fireball aimed at his leg as I did forcing him to dodge, allowing me to get a bit closer when he used his lightning whip once more... And coming from my left, as I had planned. I turned my glove's shield on and swung it into the spell, deflecting it as Folas' eyes went wide as I thrust my blade at his head. Unlike before he actively moved to deflect my blade with his own; clearly he wasn't going to just let me keep concussing him.

Naturally, I had no intention of letting him stop me.

I waited for him to start going on the offense and I didn't need to wait long as lightning coated his blade as he swung for me. I was already prepared; leaning back and dropping to my back and using Steel Skin to avoid injury as I used a pair of Dual Casted Gale Burst from my feet into his shins and knocking his legs out from under him making him squawk as he half fell, catching himself with Levitation before he hit the ground.

His eyes widened as I simply moved my heel to aim at his chest and used a Vortex Tunnel once more; sending him off into the shield once more; although he turned and moved his left arm up to protect his head. I got to my feet as he landed, shaking his head out as I frowned. Sadly it seemed my Plan A wasn't going to work as well as intended. Okay then.

Plan B.

I dashed in before he could recover fully and started a offensive pattern with my sword thrusts and strikes; I didn't put too much force in my attacks yet to save energy as I waited for my moment. My earlier efforts had an effect as he more actively defended himself before half stepping back, taking a stance and stepping back in, now pressing the offense. I gave ground slowly, deflecting his attacks mostly well; he still earned a cut to my right shoulder despite my efforts. Still, that cut seemed to embolden him as lightning came to his blade once more as thrust his blade, giving a loud grunt of effort...

As I leaned to the side, left arm lifted as I moved in, I clamped my arm down over his own arm before using Focus Punch, Adrenaline Rush and Physical Boost to slam my D-Guard to his head although he brought his left forearm up to block it with his armor... Not that I overly minded as I stomped on his right foot with my left before twisting my torso to the right with my arm placed right over his elbow and his forearm to my back as I tried to wrench on his arm, aiming to hyper-extend it now; after all his armor didn't protect against that either.

This is what I do when I have to get creative.

With my boosted strength I kept wrenching his arm as he grit his teeth, refusing to cry out as I kept punching at him with my D-Guard as he blocked with his free arm, glaring as I tried to cause enough damage to his arm to render it unusable. Even so I still got a punch on his head; it didn't rock his head back as much as I liked from the shield around it but his wince told me I was having an effect.

And then fire came to his free hand and my eyes went wide. I let go of him and used Heroic Leap to hop back, ending Physical Boost and brought the shield of my glove up as the blast went off in his hand. The physical impact knocked me back still, but I stayed on my feet as he knocked himself back as well, but not off his feet either; his armor leaving him unharmed but he was shaking out his left hand and right arm. He was still glaring at me as he retook his stance but brought more mana into his hand.

"Insect!" Folas let off, glaring at me. "You are making me exert far more effort then you are worth!" A new Fireball came to his hand as he glared harder to me.

"You really haven't caught on, have you?" I replied with a snort. "You really haven't."

"Caught on to what?" He barked out.

"You see yourself facing something that's beneath you and unworthy of respect." I said, glaring back. "I see myself facing an equal and a challenge that's worthy of bringing my all to bear. You're losing because you decided to underestimate me and I decided to take you seriously."

"... Insect... You want me to become serious? Serious!?" He let off as he drew his hand back. "'ll show you serious!"

I think I made him mad.

I threw an Arctic Orb at his Fireball as he threw it before lifting my glove's shield up; the spells detonated into each other and casted up a blast of steam that I used to hide my movements. It was smart of me as a powerful Scatter Bolt blast out where I was before being forced to dodge another round of it by leaping to the side. I was forced to roll under an Arcane Lance then roll to the side to avoid the blast of a holy spell I didn't know before hopping over another lightning whip.

This was a mixed bag; on one hand using powerful spell after powerful spell one after the other meant he was going to burn through his mana stores quickly without a moment to let them recharge and refill. If he ran low enough that would give me a hell of an opening. The downside was obvious; I had to survive the onslaught first.

I used the shield as I ducked down to block another Scatter Bolt, my device holding under the multiple strikes before leaping away from another bolt, this one a holy spell that sent sparks and golden lightning bolts outwards (A holy/lightning hybrid?) before throwing another Fireball at me; a snap Magic Missile from myself setting it off early.

I was popping Reflex Boost as often as I could through this as I considered my response. I could only play keep away for so long before either he got lucky, I got unlucky or he got smarter. Okay then, fine.

Plan C. C for chancy.

After all using a spell that should work with adjustments I've made to them but haven't had the chance to fully test was a hell of a risk.

I dodged his next spell before shutting my eyes and using an Illusion spell to create a bright flash from my hand. A grunt was my only response as I charged in. Elven hearing was finer then a human's so I expected that he could still respond as I readied a Dual Cast. I was, therefore, not surprised as he used his lightning whip at me once more, blocking it with my shield as I inverted my grip on the Unicorn's Horn with which I casted a spell to strike at him; Dark Flare.

He seemed to recover his vision just as the purple fireball impacted his face; the shield around his head tanking it as it's mana hissed away; layer one broken. Depending on the circlet's abilities I had fifty seconds to three minutes before the layer regenerated; closer to the former then the latter I suspected. I threw my second attack at him from my left hand; a second Dark Flare. Dual Casting such mana intensive spells wasn't good for my own mana stores, but I hadn't been bombarding him like he had me so I had the stores to spend. Either way the second spell hit him in the face and hissed his shield's mana away once more as he realized what was happening; that was layer two gone.

Now I had to hope he only had three layers to his shield as I righted my grip on my rapier and drew my parrying dagger into my left hand as I readied my next spell. Folas snarled and charged; knowing I was peeling off layers of his protection and not wanting me to get off a third spell from range. I pulled my rapier back to my hip as he thrust his weapon at me, as I brought my dagger up to catch his blade and force it to the side, popping Adrenaline Rush as I cast my next spell as I swung my weapon upwards at an angle...

Which came alight with a purple flame. After so much work and effort to bring the hybrid nature of Dark Flare to Blazing weapon I had done it. The last adjustments, sure as I was they'd work, did as I had expected.

Shadowblaze Weapon [Lvl I] (1/2000)
Magic Type: Darkness/Fire Hybrid
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: High

Imbue a weapon with a Darkness/Fire Hybrid Element; the weapon gains Darkness and Fire Elemental Damage each equal to a quarter the weapon's damage (Rounded Up), increasing the overall damage by half. Additionally it does exceptional damage to magical shields and will feed on their mana
(This Combat Art is also considered a Magic Spell)

His eyes widened as the first spell I had made (Although adapted would be more accurate) coated my weapon as it swung into the shield around his head, parting it in a steam of released mana as the tip of my blade cut into his face between the eyes at an angle; starting under his right eye and traveling over the bridge of his nose, over his left eye, up along the forehead and catching his circlet with the tip of the blade and sending it flying off, deflecting off the shield and rebounding to the floor with a clang as it rolled along it towards Celestine and my party before falling to one side, spinning about before coming to a stop.

Folas, meanwhile clutched his face with his free hand as he toppled to his back. He was screaming as my weapon struck him, purple embers licking at his wounds before fading, leaving an ugly blackened scar on his face. Even so he tried to rise up only to stop, seeing my weapon burning with a hellish flame in front of his face as I stepped on his right forearm. "Do you yield?" I asked him as he looked up at me, anger and arrogance draining in seconds to be filled with shock, then despair then a form of dismayed acceptance. He flicked his wrist and let his weapon go, letting it clamor away.

"...You win, human." He let off, trying to sound calm but the undertone of defeat was clear. "...Do not make me wait... Finish me off..."

"Wait... Father!? What do you mean!" Aeris let off, struggling roughly as Folas just looked upwards as he sighed before shutting his eyes. "Father!" Even the mage by her side moved away, looking ready to intervene as I bent down and grabbing him by his long hair, pulling him to his knees... And yet he didn't resist or put in effort to stay upright once on his knees. He just... Accepted his fate. I raised my blade and he still didn't react, merely saying something in the elven tongue. I didn't know it but Aeris would explain it to me later; 'may my death bring honor to me', part of some longer Elven poem about duty to the Seven Crowns and Rainbow Throne. "N-no! James, wait!" She let off at me. And then...

I cut his hair short with my blade; making him yelp and fall forwards, impacting the floor face first and without a shield to take the brunt of it. "Gahhhh!" He let off, moving to his knees and a hand clutching his head with his other hand. "Why!?"

"I'm not killing my friend's father right in front of her." I said ending my spell and sheathing my blade. "You admitted defeat. She's safe and free to do as she pleases with my victory. If you want to die you can do so by your own hand but it does me no good." I threw the hair in my hand aside, burnt ends and all.

[Defeated List]

Folas Willowglow=2200XP x 1.5 Mercy Bonus=3300XP
+20% Dark Horse of Eostia Bonus
Gain 3960XP Total

"... As you say..." Folas said, sighing as I moved to the stage, glaring at the mage by Aeris who backed up as I used Levitation to move beside her, kneeling and starting to unbind her. Once the ropes were off I helped her to her feet before kneeling and looking to one of my escort who were approaching to arrest everyone who tossed me a key. Sure enough it worked on the binds that blocked her magic. She didn't use her hands to cover herself but when one of the Whitewell regulars took his cloak off and offered it to her she slipped it on with a nod.

"Thank you." She told him.

"Right then." Celestine said as she hovered up to the stage as Folas was put into anti-magic cuffs as well. She sighed as she leaned over and picked the discarded, bloody penis off the floor with a mix of a blush and a disgusted look on her face as she held it in a thumb and forefinger (I had forgotten about it, somewhat) as I used Aqua Create in my hand and offered it to Aeris who sipped at it only to spit it out before using a hand to catch some and clean her chin off of blood.

"Blech." She let off. "I can finally wash the taste of Theodmer out of my mouth... Gods and Goddesses above, I'd rather mate with a dog; at least they know how to behave."

"Hey!" The elf in question, by the sounds of it, let off but I ignored him as he was arrested.

"Stop that..." Celestine sighed at him. "Even for me a reattachment like this is difficult so kindly relax."

"Are you okay?" I asked Aeris as she nodded with a smile.

"The only deep wounds are to my pride and they shall heal." Aeris said with a small, worn smile. "I am, after all, an elf. If I don't act prideful what will people think of me?"

"That you're a humble and kind woman?"

"That would be boring." She shot back to me as we shared a laugh. I still worried for her but she was clearly a trooper, so to speak. I pulled her into a hug around her shoulders for a long moment with her returning it about my waist before I let her go. Once I did she moved to the edge of the stage to look down to her father who was finally stood up, hands now bound behind him thanks to the Whitewell soldiers. He sighed and lowered his head.

"...I did what I needed to do, even if I failed. I will not ask forgiveness for that." Folas said simply... but you could hear enough sadness and pain in there to know that what he said next was honest, in his own way. "But I do love you daughter. And I am proud, even if... Even if our House will be cast down from our regal status for that."

"...I cannot grant forgiveness either... And I do love you father." She said, closing her eyes. "And I am sorry for this but... ... When you return to the Kingdoms understand that there is more then tradition and duty to life. Without choice, without joy... It is empty."

"...You find fulfillment here, with these humans?" He asked, looking up to her once more to see her nod twice. "...I do not like it. But I will accept it. I doubt you'd be allowed to return home after this, but if you ever are able... Maybe we will have more to say then..."

"Stop squirming." I heard as I turned to look, seeing Celestine attend to Theodmer's... groin with his dick in her hand as she knelt by him. That would come off as rather sexual if it weren't for, you know, the fact that his dick wasn't attached to the rest of him. "This is both embarrassing and difficult as it is and the longer it goes undone the more troublesome this will be."

I would be jealous, but I like my dick where it is, thank you very much.

"I cannot accept this!" This Theodmer guy bellowed out. He was now held by two Dawn Templars, arms behind him, nude as he tried to pull away from them, glaring at myself and Aeris. "By decree of the Crowns she is mine! Mine! She is to be a bride of House Forestshine! I will make her mind and teach her a lesson in-"

"You know, if it wasn't for the fact you have no dick I might take you seriously." I let off with a sigh. "But please just shut up, I've had enough of this crap for one day."

That got him glaring at me now as he nearly snarled. "I hold the right, governed from the dictate of the Rainbow Throne to deflower her. Nothing you can do changes that. No human or their lovers can!"

Aeris pinched her nose as she blushed deeper; embarrassment or anger or a mix of the two, I couldn't tell. "Come on Aeris. Let's see about finding your clothes, okay?"

"I will claim your flower! I will not be denied." He let off as I sighed and turned, getting ready to just deck the guy only for Aeris to step towards him, ripping the cloak off and tossing it aside to glare at him, hands on her hips.

"You know what... I will deny you that... and I will let you see that denial here and now!" She let off, turning to me and pointing right at my face. "James Noxdecus! I demand you fuck me here and now!"

You could hear a pin drop. Everyone, and I mean everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her with some expression of shock or surprise... Riri let off a nervous giggle as I looked at her, dumbfounded. Hell, Celestine's expression was priceless; a deep, red blush, looking to her, on one knee with a jaw dropped from shock with a bloody, shorn off cock in her hand.

"I... You... excuse me!?" I let off, gawking at her as I blinked. "That's... This is a little awkward of a time and place here!"

It said something that between being the center of a pirate orgy, a normal orgy, a bondage session with my bodyguard and impregnating a fucking harpie that this moment was the most awkward, sexual encounter thus far. Also, she just suffered a near rape experience, I was fairly sure this was not a usual response for that. Although most would-be rape victims didn't counter with biting the dick of her rapist off!

...

That was another reason to feel awkward about this.

She stepped up to me, a blush on her own face; of my party of friends she was the most prudish by far; having her ask me to fuck her would be a bit of a surprise under normal conditions; with others watching was so shocking I had nothing to give an an example. "L-look, this awkward for me as well, but I am making a firm point with this!" She said, looking me in the eye as she grabbed at my belt and pants. "My first time is my choice and I'm choosing you and now."

"Ah, this is..." I let off before Theodmer barked and cut me off.

"Stop that! What are you doing!? You are-"

"Not helping!" I shot back as I tried to grab at Aeris' hands with my own before she affixed me with a look.

Not a sexy look, not a sensual look, not even a begging look. A firm, frank and demanding look that said 'this is happening, just shut up and do it'. I must have given an unsure look or the like back as she gave a small smile. "Please..." She said softly and looked to me as I finally relented; although given the... audience among other things I was soft as a limp noodle as she set her lips onto and sucked it into her mouth as she, umm, sucked on it a bit awkwardly.

Of course given she bit a dick off it wasn't easy to get hard with that in the back of your mind. She pressed her tongue on my cock's underside as she tried to stir it to life regardless of that and it still got me to groan gently. She didn't really know what she was doing but she seemed to have heard a few things about sucking a guy off (To be fair living in Eostia and not hearing a thing or two about sex must be like living in a mechanic's garage and somehow not hearing a thing or two about engine maintenance) and was experimenting and was rewarded with a stiffing cock in her mouth. She looked at me, clearly trying to gauge things as I groaned over her.

Once she felt I was good and hard (And I was) she stopped and turned to face Theodmer fully. He, of course, wasn't silent during all this, barking claims of ownership and such as Folas shook his head, holding it low. I glanced about to try and gauge everyone else. Cress and Miria were speaking to each other, a hand over their mouths as they discussed something softly, Makoto was looking on, blushing and clearly enjoying what she saw, Riri seemed to enjoy watching but also as if considering something else, likely related. The Dawn Templars were a mixture of grinning like idiots and licking their lips. The men in the escort watched with interest and envy in one mixture or another.

Then there was Celestine who blushed deeper and had dropped Theodmer's dick without noticing, eyebrows raised as she looked right to my cock. It likely wasn't the first she seen one (Nor the first attached to it's user) given that she looked over a group of boys and was a healer in general and seemed to know something about reattachment like this, but this might have been the first time she'd seen it, ahhh, put to action, so to speak.

Hoooo boy... This is gonna get awkward later.

"Alright James... Just... Give it to me... However it pleases you..." Aeris moved to all fours, lifting her ass and presenting herself to me as Theodmer barked out every insult, threat, mockery and such at me but I ignored it for the most part to kneel down and to line up with her sex. Aeris looked right at him as I readied a Minor Heal to help Aeris through her first time but I gave Theodmer one, hard look before pushing into the elven maiden under me slowly. She shivered and even trembled as if scared but kept her look at the elven bastard as I pressed in deeper, pausing only when I found her hymen. Taking a deep breath I drew back.

"Rea-"

"Just do it." She said with a haughty voice undermined with clear nervousness.

Okay then. I pushed in hard and sudden as she gave a sharp, brief squeal of pain, even as I used Minor Heal on her. I held myself in her to let her adjust as best as she could, waiting until I was sure she was fine. Theodmer, for his part, looked like he'd been punched in the gut. Like he was dumbfounded this could even happen. Feeling Aeris was ready I drew back, a few drops of blood coming out and hitting the floor; proof of her deflowering. She panted under me as she shivered. I was worried she was hurting or uncomfortable so I tried to be as gentle as I could as I rocked into her.

She panted further as her head dropped downwards, her hair curtaining her face, hiding it so I couldn't tell what she was feeling as I aimed to cum as quickly as I could. This was a mistake...

"It's... It's..." She let off under me as I sighed deeper. She just suffered a near rape, traumatic experience and was now demanding to be fucked; it was not the time and place to do this. When this ends I'll apologize, take responsibility and then-

"It feels so goooood!" She let off, groaning before rocking her hips back into me, catching me off guard. She wasn't gentle with it either, she clapped her ass back into me as I groaned, holding onto her hips less as a grip to fuck her but as a means to control her thrusts! Oh no! Oh no! What's going on!? Her hips started to gyrate, rocked about and and push back as she groaned out as Theodmer's face looked to her with horror... And I finally got a look of her face; a big, silly, happy grin with crossed eyes as she panted and rammed her ass back into me. "More! More!"

I... I think this was worse then being traumatized...

I didn't have time to think about it as she pushed up with her arms, reaching back to grab my head and pulling me into a kiss, moaning into my lips as I rammed her sex harder. I now had a better reason to end things quickly. Her ass clapped back into my hips, breasts rocking about in circles as I groaned into her mouth in turn as I shivered behind her.

Comments came from... almost everyone; only Folas and Celestine being truly silent as I rutted my friend and study partner. Thankfully it wasn't long before she came, shuddering on my cock as she tossed her head back over my shoulder, quivering harder as her sex clenched down on me before I finally came myself, my cock spurting it's load up into her sex for a long, long moment.

"Ahh...Ahhh-haaaaa-haaa-haaaaaaa..." Aeris let off as she came off the high of her first bout of sex; maybe even her first orgasm for all I knew. "What have I been missing out on!?" She let off panting as I groaned. Well, at least that was over.

"I'm next!" I heard chirped out as I flinched in surprise and turned my head to the person who spoke... As did a lot of others as Countess Roshia Silverglade held her hand up looking to me. Seeing everyone looking at her she glanced about with a dumbfounded look. "...What? A girl can enjoy the finer things in life, right?"

I groaned and pinched my nose. Fuck. My. Life.

[Fucked List]

Aeris Willowglow=75xp x 5 First Time Bonus=375xp
+20% First Time Bonus
Gain 450xp Total

[-]

Given the circumstance we opted to stay in Dawnrise that night and the next day to recover. A few things happened of note, of course.

The Ambassador from the United Elven Kingdoms started to barter for the release of Folas and Theodmer into the custody of the Kingdoms. It was clear it would happen at some point but Countess Silverglade seemed to want to drag it out for awhile to grind some gears. That said I wasn't overly worried; I think Folas was too crushed to make a second go at me and by all accounts Theodmer seemed to direct all the blame at Folas and House Willowglow. There was a chance he could come back to annoy Aeris but she seemed to think that seeing her be 'defiled' would sour that idea for him. Celestine assured us, however, when they and their lackeys were sent off they would not be allowed back into Eostia and the Kingdom's ambassador assured us they wouldn't return. I had enough reason to assume that would remain true.

Speaking of Theodmer he is no longer dickless... but due to what happened before hand I think Celestine's thoughts had... wandered and the reattachment worked but... umm... Well... It was crooked. As in it nearly pointed sixty degrees to one side. I was assured it would still work, but that was going to cause the man no end of issues and mockery. And he earned each and every one of them.

My father was also overjoyed to hear of Aeris' rescue and spent sometime speaking with her over the voxlux while I ended up speaking with Prim for a time; not unusual but she had heard of Aeris' kidnap and was hoping for good news and was more then glad to hear it.

Sadly my day after the event was anything but restful; Roshia was earnest of 'being next' and snuck into my room in the morning. And then two Dawn Templars pulled me aside... And another later on... And Aeris did as well after lunch... And then a castle maid after dinner...

On the plus side, more XP...

Thankfully I had sometime to myself in the evening for a few important things. I had started to enchant Riri's long knifes with Shadowblaze Weapon now as I considered the uses of it. In a way limiting the people who could learn it was a good idea; Dark Flare was limited in part because of how dangerous it was to mana armored people; friends of mine like Claudia and Alicia among them, not to mention the Dawn Templars.

Riri tested the blades out when done and she was quite happy with them. The shield effects functioned as I had planned and the Shadowblaze worked like a charm. I took a moment to call up Blake von Adelle to let him know of what I'd done and thank him once more for the help. He was over joyed to hear it and made me promise to share it with him; a small price to pay really.

The next morning we were set to take off. I was told the horses were well fed and rested with extra carrots for the hard work they put in getting us here. Before we boarded Roshia Silverglade approached us with a smile and a trio of maids behind her, tapping her staff twice to the ground. "James, I couldn't help but notice your armor lacks head protection of any sort." She said, as I looked to her and nodded.

"Yeah, my skull cap was... Eh, a bit ruined." I replied as she nodded and stepped aside... Showing the maid behind her holding a pillow, upon which rested Folas' circlet. The maid approached me and held it out as I blinked, lifting it up.

(-)

Armor Type: Circlet of Shielding
Slashing Resistance: +45
Piercing Resistance: +45
Blunt Resistance: +45
Magical Resistance: +45
Weight: Light
Agility Penalty: 1 (-0.2 Per Con)
Other Bonuses: None

Made of golden mythril and a spell stone, this spell bears a triple layer of defensive spells that would become modified and used in mana armor. Made by the High Elves of the United Elven Kingdoms it provides protection to the head and neck. This item cannot be used as part of a set of mana armor. This item can be used as head armor in combination with any other armor set.

(-)

That was... some impressive resistances. As in over ten times my armor's normal resistances save slashing; that was only over four times. I looked to Aeris who gave me a smile and nod as I turned it in my head and donned it, adjusting it for a moment. The circlet's size shifted a bit to be a firm but not overly tight fit as I looked up at Roshia who smiled. "It looks good on you." She commented.

"Thank you for the gift... Even if it's not yours." I said as she giggled.

"We'll see if he notices it's missing." She said teasingly. This was a big upgrade; while my current armor, the mage robe/leather gambeson hybrid, was good for what it was it still had it's limits. It gave me a boost in Mana Capacity and was decent against slashing weapons but it's limitations were apparent; I couldn't really tank much and when I did I still felt it. Now my head was the most armored part of me and I could, likely, ignore some attacks aimed at it to gain an advantage and I could combine it with other armors. More importantly it did nothing to block my vision or limit my breathing. I could ask for nothing better to protect my head with.

"It does lend a certain heroic feel to you appearance, I must say." Celestine said as I looked over to her as she smiled softly. "After all, many pieces of art of knights and such often forgo the helm to show their faces." I blinked at her, taken aback for a moment but smiling.

"Well, not sure about heroic, but I still have work to do." I said, smiling for a moment before looking to Roshia once more. "Until we meet again."

"Go well, and go proudly." She replied before we moved to board the carriage.

[-]

Flashback - Nine Years Ago
Mungale Manor, Outside of Argon City
Barony of Mungale

"This is it?" Aeris let off as she blinked. She still wore her school uniform as she looked at the manor as she climbed out of the carriage; the building was worn looking and when compared to her own home in the Emerald Realm it was much smaller and less grand. She was sure it wasn't a bad place to live in... Cozy, perhaps she could call it.

I'm sure it's a tad smaller then you are used to, but I assure you there is more to a home then size and luxury." Her new master said, following her out of the vehicle as he smiled to her. "In the end it's about those you share it with. Ahhh, one moment." She was confused as her new master casted a shield spell around himself as she blinked, worried. Was he expecting an attack? In his home!? But why wouldn't he protect her as well!? What was going-

"MY DARLING!" Out of seemingly nowhere a woman in that strange, scantly made mana armor slammed into Merlin's shield and lifted it up, squeezing enough that she could hear the mana strain under her grip. How strong was this woman? "... Why do you not let me hug you when you return?"

"Dear, your hugs can be rather crushing to most people, you know?" Merlin said with a chuckle... But relented and ended his shield, getting and giving a warm, heartfelt hug instead and a kiss on his cheek.

When was the last time mother and father showed such affection before her?

"Ah, this must be the woman you wrote me about." She said to her as Aeris paid her full attention. "I am Saxon Noxdecus. Welcome to my home. Please, while you stay here consider yourself a member of the family."

"Ah... I... Thank you!" Aeris let off. Before more could be said a cry could be heard.

"Mother! Where did you-Oh! Father's home!" She heard, seeing a small, brown haired boy run up to them in what seemed like a set of white pants and a blue, short robe. She wasn't sure of the age of him; humans grew up so fast it was hard to tell.

"Father! Father!" And trotting after him in a pink dress was... a Catalan girl!? That was odd to say the least! She would dash past the boy as Merlin let his wife go to pick up the child as she came in range, holding her in an arm before ruffling the hair of the boy as he came in close and hugged him with one hand. The boy seemed to take note of her first, smiling.

"Ohhh! You must be Aeris!" He said, giving her a big, wide grin and a wave. "I'm James! Are we going to study magic together?"

Aeris... never had to deal with children before; let alone human children that grew as fast as cockroaches. And yet there was a strange, earnest enthusiasm she couldn't help but like. "I... I suppose we will be."

[-]

The Night After Leaving Castle Whitewell
The Dagger Ears Inn and Pub
Celestine Lucross' Quarters

A spell set up for privacy was raised in the room. The curtains were shut closed. Not a hint of light beyond the palest of moonlight graced the room. Outside was at least two Dawn Templars, working in shifts with two more outside doing the same and patrolling. As High Queen of Eostia she was afforded few private moments; often for her own protection.

But in the moment she did need it...

It was not just because she was nude as opposed to wearing her normal, skimpy Arcane Robes; she was not unaware of how little it covered. No, it was because two of her fingers busied themselves on her clit, causing gasps, mewled and groans from her lips. "Ahhh... How long has it been..?"

She was no stranger to masturbation but found herself not indulging in the act much; perhaps once every third or fourth month. Sometimes as low as once a year. For most such long spells were odd but she never saw it so; she did it when she was in the mood and no sooner or later. At times she worried if she had too low of a sex drive. She was not unaware that many people acted far more chaste around her then usual feeling it was a means to gain her favor or avoid her offense. Those who acted as her minders also did their best to distance her from the sexual; no small feat as Eostia was the most sexually liberated nation she had ever heard of.

Of those currently around her only two really seemed to break ranks with that line of thought, the first being her closest aide and confidant in Claudia who spoke candidly of her married life with Klaus. While she didn't go too deep she was at least open about her sex life and how well it was... or wasn't when the pair were separated by their own duties. Even so it seemed nothing made her happier then reuniting with Klaus and spending time alone with him.

The other was Maia who spoke more bluntly and openly about sex, what she liked in men and what she thought men liked in general. Celestine was, to be frank, glad of Maia's uncensored opinions and honest thoughts even if they were not always thought out; mostly because she never censored herself around her, allowing her sexual insights otherwise denied.

She never knew that women might want to be spanked if not for Maia!

But before she had never witnessed a live act of sex of any sort; even with her centuries of life behind her... The closest she came was when she saw a stallion about to mount a mare but upon seeing her seemed to think better of it.

And then just recently she had witnessed James fuck his elven friend at her behest as she made a point. It wasn't just him, the person who was in her visions, that drew her attention but her.

Aeris went cross-eyed and smiled like a loon as she was rutted. For a moment her tongue even hung from her lips. What... What kind of physical pleasures could do that to a composed, elven woman?

Could she herself make such a face?

Could she herself make it if he laid claim to her...?

Celestine was aware she had known love before but suspected that she was learning what lust truly was for the first time...

It was frightening...

Exhilarating...

"...Perhaps... Just... perhaps..." She said softly to herself as she lifted her hand up to see it, two fingers shining with a hint of fluid in the palest of moonlight. "Perhaps I should see about reaching... And if he is willing to reach back someday?"

[ - Author's Note - ]

Well, who knew when given the chance Aeris could be such a...

**Pulls out a pair of sunglasses and dons them**

Man eater...

YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Joking aside; while figuring out how to set it up the scene I had it in mind for awhile;a means to show that some women who people want to rape refuse to be mere victims.

And dear lord did Aeris refuse!

A little more to do before we reach the Catalan section of the story, but as some managed to figure out, yes, some Miria stuff is coming up.

I think I'll leave the next poll until the next Interlude chapter. For now leave a comment, tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't like, what you thought about Aeris nearly eating a dick (So to speak) and so forth. And I have new Pokémon games to play as well. Until next time!

~~Eostian Scribe