Thrâk

It probably went without saying that after Fairy Tail disbanded, Erza found herself being wooed by several guilds across Fiore. However, it didn't take her long to settle on Mermaid Heel, if only because of Milianna and Kagura being there. Crime Sorcerie crossed her mind, but Jellal didn't seem enthused by the idea, and Independent guilds didn't really pay the bills, so Erza settled on a legal one. For what is worth, with the former members of Fairy Tail now scattered across multiple guilds, she wondered who that gave the "strongest" title to these days.

Fortunately, Mermaid Heel proved itself quite the guild. It was no Fairy Tail (truly what was), but it had its own strengths that made Erza glad to be a part of it. All the guild was very friendly and kind to her, though it did admittedly take some time for Erza to get used to being in an all female guild. Erza also couldn't help but notice the guild only had a few S-Class mages. Kagura was one of them, and when Erza joined, the guild mistress almost immediately promoted her to the rank as well. Erza honestly wasn't happy to get promoted like that, but apparently it wasn't up to her.

On that note, the guild also didn't get that many S-Ranked quests. Ultimately, it didn't matter, since work was still fairly steady for the guild. Erza made an effort to do at least one quest a week, provided it wasn't too hard or complicated. She also opted to form a team with Kagura, to make things a little easier.

The job they were currently on was to help a village blacksmith exterminate some monsters in the hills over the town; it certainly sounded easy enough. The village itself wasn't very big, though it seemed built up, with wooden walls, and sturdy buildings, almost reminding Erza of a military fort.

After arriving at the village, they were directed to their client, who lived in a cottage up the hill. The cottage itself was decent sized (at least for a cottage), and looked nice enough, but what really got Erza's attention was the massive forge. She also noticed a couple workers dressed in smith's outfits, their faces obscured by smith masks, transporting various materials; Erza also couldn't help but notice how stiff they were moving, but didn't think much of it at the time, as she noticed their client. He was dressed in a linen shirt and trousers, with a leather apron and leather gloves. Covering his face was a leather helmet/mask with goggles, and he was standing over one of his helpers, who was stoking the fire. His arms were folded, and he had some kind of metal rod in his hand.

"Do it faster," the client said, with a dry raspy voice, tapping the rod on the man's shoulder. As the two approached he seemed to sense them, as he looked up from his work.

"Welcome," he said kindly (or at least as kind one could be with a voice like that), as he turned towards the girls, "May I assume you are the guild mages?"

"We are," the red head said, as she showed the mark on her shoulder, "My name is Erza Scarlet, and this is Kagura Mikazuchi of Mermaid Heel." The other girl just nodded.

"Are you Annatar?" Kagura asked.

"That I am," the smith answered, putting his rod on his apron, as he approached them, "Thank you for taking my request."

"It's why we're here," Erza answered with a smile, "Now, you said you were being harassed by some monsters in the hills."

"'Harassed' may be too strong a word," Annatar admitted, "But they are making mining somewhat more difficult for my assistants, and I don't have the time with my work to hunt them myself. At any rate, I figured it would be best to let some more experienced people handle the matter."

"Well, we are happy to help," Erza said, "If you can just point us in the proper direction, I think we'll be done before dinner."

"Very good," Annatar said, bowing his head slightly, before pointing with his rod into the hills, "When you return, your payment will be ready." With that, Erza gestured, and the partners struck out into the hills.

(~)

The job proved much easier than Erza thought it would be. Most of the monsters were fairly weak, mostly just running away when the two women came close, and in the end, they were done well before dinner. With that, they headed back down towards the cottage.

"Honestly, this feels a little too easy," Kagura said.

"Perhaps," Erza answered, "But I don't think we have any reason to complain about an easy job."

"I know," Kagura answered, "But I still would rather have something of a challenge, it feels more satisfying that way."

"No argument here," Erza answered, with a slight shrug, as they came upon the forge again, which was still lit. The people there were still working hard, though one or two seemed to be walking slightly slower than before, as if they were somewhat hobbled. Erza wasn't sure what to make of it, but decided not to say anything for the moment.

"Welcome back," Annatar said, as he approached, his rod on his shoulder. As he came closer, Erza noticed just how tall he was; he could've been even taller than Elfman.

"I hope it wasn't too difficult," he said.

"Not at all, actually," Erza said, "It was actually quite easy."

"Clearly I chose my guild quite well," Annatar said, as he leaned his rod against his forge, walking away. As Erza and Kagura waited, both of them noticed another person walking past slowly, only to collapse to the ground. The two mermaids quickly ran over to see if he was alright.

"Are you okay?" Kagura asked. The man just groaned, not moving. Erza reached down, to take off his mask, only to get stopped by a voice.

"Leave that to me," Annatar suddenly said, as he came walking over, c carrying a chest under one arm, and a box under another, "I will see to it that he gets the appropriate care." He then jerked his head, as a couple other workers came over to pick the man up, and drag him away. Erza frowned as she saw them leave, but still found herself not saying anything.

"In addition, please accept these gifts as a token of my gratitude," Annatar said, as he then came over with a box, opening them to reveal several rings. They seemed to be made of copper, but very fine copper, with a smooth white stone embedded atop it with their guild symbol atop it.

"My, these are lovely," Erza said, as she took one, and studied it, "But I'm afraid we can't accept them."

"Please, I insist," Annatar said, taking a step forward, and holding the box a little further. As he said that, a sensation came over Erza. Maybe there wasn't any problem with accepting gifts, after all, he had gone to all the trouble of making them. That was when she started seeing… things.

(~)

There she was, standing tall, with all her friends standing with her. All of Fairy Tail was back together, their enemies driven before; all seemed right in the world. Erza herself was standing at the head of them, clad in armor more brilliant than she had ever had before.

Beyond that, though, Erza saw that standing beside her was Jellal, smiling; a free man again. The two joined hands, both wearing matching rings, bestowed upon them by Annatar, before holding up their hands. That was when she heard a voice whisper…

"Take the rings"

(~)

"Well, I suppose it would be somewhat rude of us to refuse something you spent so much time with," Erza said with a nod, as she took the ring, and slipped it onto her finger. At that moment, a strange sensation came over her. It was suddenly felt like a wave of new power came over her; it wasn't a bad feeling, not at all, just a strange one.

"We shall see to it that our guild gets these rings," Erza said.

"The Council may have an issue with it, though," Kagura said.

"The Council?" Annatar echoed, cocking his head slightly as he folded his arms.

"Yes, the Magic Council, or course," Kagura answered, "They might object to you seemingly bribing guilds with jewelry."

"Is that so?" Annatar said cooly, tapping a finger on his forearm, in a tone that sounded less wary, and more interested, "Well, I will deal with that as it comes." Erza and Kagura exchanged glances, but they just shrugged to each other.

"Here you go," Erza said, as she handed a ring to Kagura, who put it on. She seemed to shiver slightly, as the same feeling that came over Erza seemed to come over her as well.

"I will be seeing you again soon," Annatar said, as he turned to leave. That didn't sound like a hope, more like a statement of fact, which Erza was unsure what to make of.

"I suppose," Erza said, as she and Kagura started to leave. As they were walking, Erza rubbed the ring slightly; the more she kept it, the better it started to seem.

Note: "Thrâk" is Black Speech for "gift" or "tribute".

Finally got around to updating one of my fanfics. I'm guessing this is want' people were hoping for, but I'm hoping to update my other stuff soon as well. In the mean time, here you are.

So now Mermaid Heel has a set of rings from Annatar as well. Something tells me it's not going to stop with them. And now it seems Annatar knows about the Council as well; I'ms rue he has something in mind for them as well.

Be sure to comment.