I could really use a wish right now

Alina returned from her trips to Torchline and the Hollowed Ground with an increasingly troubled mind. Still fully convinced that this newest land would bring threats to the Greatwood, and that the Grounders would continue to hurt her beloved woods, she'd found herself tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Finally, she rose from her bed. Grabbing a necklace that held a beautiful quartz, she left her room. Flying through the night, she made her way to the Observatory.

Once there, she knelt by the shrine at the top of it, and laid her offering on the altar. [say]"Safrin, I seek your counsel."[/say] Her voice was quiet, and held a deep respect for the goddess of the stars.

The quartz pulses with a warm light, filling the shrine with prismatic hues as if a star were placed there instead of a necklace. [say]'Hello lovely one."[/say] Safrin's voice is like midnight velvet as she appears, sat daintily on the railing of the observatory with her head tilted slightly to the side.

She wears a dress of simple white fabric, woven with thread that appears to shine as it catches the light, though the rainbow-hues disappear just as quickly like a mischevious opal. Safrin interlaces her fingers across her lap, dark eyes fixed on the fae with soft amusement.

As Safrin appeared, Alina smiled almost shyly. It was rare for a smile of any kind to grace her lips, and she reserved it for special occasions, which this obviously was. [say]"Hello, bright lady. Thank you for answering my call."[/say] The Fae shifted so that she could look up at the goddess with an awestruck expression.

However, Alina spoke quickly, afraid of taking up too much of Safrin's time. [say]"I will keep this brief. After all the troubles the outsiders have brought to the Greatwood, our home, I worry about what problems this latest land, Torchline, might bring to our woods. Am I right to be concerned about more dangers?"[/say] Perhaps it was unwise to be wasting the goddess' time with this, but the Fae saw too many of her kin losing their vigilance.

[say]"Most welcome."[/say] Safrin said, her cheeks plumping with her smile. Quickly it softened into something more serious as Alina played out her worries. With a small hum, Safrin placed her chin into her folded fingers.

[say]"It's true with the portals up and running those in Torchline can reach the woods far more easily...but they've been able to trek up here without them, just the same."[/say] The goddess said with a light shrug. [say]"As always it seems it is only the Outlanders who continually invade without thinking. Your fellow Caidians have left you alone for the most part anyway. What makes you think that will stop now?"[/say]

Alina nodded at Safrin's words about the people of Torchline. [say]"Of course. But when things become easy, people become careless and greedy for more."[/say] Shrugging, the Fae held her hands up a bit helplessly.

[say]"I don't know. I suppose I just worry that seeing the Outlanders brazenly enter our woods will encourage others to do the same."[/say] It was more a vague feeling of dread or foreboding than anything else.

Glancing up at the stars, Alina tried to focus her thoughts. [say]"And with these portals, especially the one to the Mathair, I can't help but feel that the trouble is just beginning. Like that luxere, for instance."[/say] From all the reports she'd heard, it had come through the portal, rather than following the normal routes of luxere. [say]"The trouble from Torchline might not even come from its people."[/say]

Safrin snorts lightly at this. [say]"And when have the fae ever been an easy people to deal with?"[/say] She wonders, amusement sparking like shooting stars in her dark gaze.

Humming a thoughtful sound, the lady of the stars glances up to the dark spirals of infinite potential above and considers Alina's question. [say]"Trouble might indeed find its way to the Greatwood because of these portals, but I wonder what you think I might do about it? The Fae have long declared the woods their own, and in that, you've created certain problems for yourselves, for better or worse."[/say] Much as Safrin adored the fae, she was unwilling to make their battles and wars her own. Not without good reason, anyway.

Alina scoffed. [say]”We have simple rules. It’s not our fault the outsiders have so much trouble following them.”[/say] Despite the heated tone to her voice, there was also a fierce pride that welled up in her.

Nodding thoughtfully at Safrin's comment, the Fae began pacing in front of the goddess, that same nervous energy preventing Alina from standing still. [say]"We have. And we will deal with those problems as we always have."[/say] Forcing herself to halt, she faced the lady of the stars.

The Fae clasped her hands behind her back. [say]"But is there something I could do? To shut down, or block off, or even temporarily disrupt the portal?"[/say] She stood there, eyes focused, body taut like the string of a bow right before an arrow was loosed.

[say]'So kill them."[/say] Safrin replied with a shrug. She wasn't Frey nor Rae; the mortals could fight and kill themselves all they liked, so long as they didn't turn against her. [say]"Tell Delah to extend her ruling to all non-fae, rather than just the ascended."[/say]

A brow raised, Safrin considered this. [say]"The portals are...not my jurisdiction as you well know. I don't even understand how they work, as the Voice has veiled them from us. But you could always lay a trap. Spikes or so that wound any who come through. Perhaps some sort of magic that differentiates fae from the others, and acts accordingly?"[/say]

Alina frowned, clearly annoyed. [say]"Delah doesn't take my counsel."[/say] Or at least, the Warchief and Guardian had never taken much of an interest in Alina before. [say]"But I'll speak to her if I can."[/say]

As Safrin mused, the Fae's eyes widened. There was both surprise and a malicious glee on her features and in her mind at the idea of a trap. [say]"I would be happy to lay such a trap. However, I don't have any magic that could differentiate between Fae and non-Fae."[/say] Glancing at the goddess, Alina's expression was equal parts shy and sly. [say]"Would you help me with that?"[/say] She waited patiently, already knowing she was probably asking too much from the goddess.

To this Safrin only shrugged. Whether the War Chief was being her old prickly self, or whether Alina was inflating her sense of worth was not for her to decide.

Grinning, Safrin turned towards the fae, reaching out to softly pull at a strand of her scraggly brown hair. [say]"Such a thing...it could be used against you. Turned into a weapon even. You would have to be quite careful in its use..."[/say] All this was said with a dark smile though, the goddess apparently having no qualms about offering the girl such power.

[say]"I will need clippings from the wings of a fae. And ... bits of the other races as well, so that it can tell them apart. Hair, bones.."[/say] Safrin shrugged. [say]"And a branch from a Wicker Woman."[/say]

As Safrin reached out for Alina's hair, a rare smile broke out on her lips. She gave the goddess an adoring look, clearly pleased that the lady of the stars showed such affection for Alina. However, her expression grew more serious as Safrin went on to list the items the Fae would need to collect.

Nodding, she grinned fiercely. [say]"I understand. And I will collect what you have asked."[/say] Bowing her head slightly, she felt her troubled mind settle a bit now that she had a task before her. [say]"Thank you for everything Safrin. You are as magnificent as always."[/say] The reverence in Alina's voice and mind was evident.

[say]"Oh you."[/say] The goddess sang in a happy trill, clearly pleased at the compliment. That Alina would succeed in her task was no real question; the woman was as good a representation of the fae as any chieftess might be. No, what Safrin wondered over were what the ramifications of this would be...and she was interested to find out.

[say]'Fine me when you're done.'[/say] Safrin said by way of parting, nodding her head before vanishing in a midnight-lilac plume of smoke.

~FIN