A fairy?

Oh, come on.

Octavia sighed and pulled herself away. "There are no such thing as fairies," she muttered. Honestly. What sort of childish prank was this?

Dainn's wariness halted as he looked up at her, taken aback. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course, fairies are real-"

"Where do you think the word fairytales comes from?"

"Princesses are in fairytales- oh, wait," Dainn clicked his tongue. "Those don't exist either, do they? I guess you're right."

Octavia sneered at him. "I don't like you."

Dainn gave a high-pitched mewling sound before pretending to stab himself with an invisible knife. "I've been insulted by someone whose opinion I don't respect! How will I ever recover? Please. Death, take me now!" he wailed, which wasn't smart if they were actually trying to avoid a so-called fairy. Octavia hit the side of his head, almost cutting him with the katar. "Easy! You could-" He slapped her forearm, straightening up. "Look."

Octavia turned. She half expected Kore to be there - posing as some monster as a silly joke she and Dainn might try to play, but Kore was gone. Instead, a shadow stood between a few trees, black smoke eerily similar to Antonia's magic as it made out the silhouette of a person with wings.

"What...?" Octavia managed and stumbled away. "Is that?"

Dainn pulled out one of his blades, wincing as he put pressure on his leg. "Oh, boy," he muttered sarcastically. "I don't have the faintest idea. Who am I to say? I only grew up by these mountains. But if the princess herself says fairies aren't real-"

"Shut up!" Octavia said, taking another step back. Sure, she had heard of fairies before, but they were supposed to be friendly things. Not a mass of darkness that seemed to suck all light into it. "How do we-?"

"I serve Death," Dainn said calmly. The shadow moved, the void of blackness turning to him. Octavia couldn't make out a face or features to it. The outline felt like it had cut a hole into the world. "You have no control over me."

The fairy disappeared.

"....oh," Octavia said and lowered her hands. Her shoulders drooped as the tension left them. Was that it? "That was easy." Dainn hummed. "Why did you look so nervous?"

"Fairies serve Life. Like how sirens serve Death," Dainn said, sitting back against the rock. "Every living creature has a shadow. Some of those shadows grow wings and escape whatever it's attached to, turning into fairies." He summoned more water magic to continue cleaning out the wound on his stomach. "Creatures of Life and Death can't hurt each other unless both envoys are present. I was never worried for myself."

Octavia faltered at that last sentence.

"For...yourself?"

Right on cue, something shoved Octavia hard. With a gasp, she hit the ground as a shot of darkness threw itself at her.

"Don't worry," Dainn called, still focused on his bleeding stitches. "Fairies aren't real!"

Swearing loudly, Octavia rolled over just as a piece of the shadow gripped her ankle, dragging her back toward a pit of darkness. With a blood-curdling scream, she tried to swipe at the blackness attached to her.

"Dainn!"

"Hm?" he asked, glancing up. Octavia kicked again, and this time, her foot connected with the fairy, loosening its grip enough for her to escape.

"A little-" Octavia ducked when something shot over her head, a piece of shadow smacking into a tree behind her. "-help, please!"

"Me?" Dainn asked innocently. "What could I possibly know about this situation?"

The darkness rose, and this time, Octavia could see more of a shape. It looked eerily like her own shadow, except large wings expanded on it. Octavia took a step back. Even amongst featureless void, she could make out beady eyes.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she said, voice rising an octave as she backed away. "You were right. Fairies are real. I'm a jerk." She took another step back as the fairy's wings grew.

"You're what?"

"I'M SORRY!" Octavia shouted, and the fairy hissed, darting at her once more. Swearing under her breath, she raced behind where Dainn was still sitting on the rock, using him as a human shield. "It can't attack you, right?" she asked.

Dainn looked over his shoulder, indignant at her gripping his shoulders to ensure he sat between her and the threat. The fairy growled, and Octavia ducked behind him.

She could figure this out. Somehow. Octavia thought to the few stories her mother had told her about fairies. She could still smell her lavender perfume as she sat Octavia in front of a mirror to fix her hair before bed.

"Once upon a time," she had said, and Octavia swung her feet back and forth, eyes wide and excited. "There were magical fairies who lived in the shadows of the world. They feared iron and silver - but neither could kill them." Octavia grimly looked down at her katars. Silver. It would ward the fairy off, but that would be all.

"What does it want?" Octavia whispered to Dainn, still keeping her hands firmly on his shoulders. The fairy melted into the ground, reappearing behind her. Scrambling, she spun Dainn around on the rock to keep him between them.

"Your name," Dainn said, trying to slap her off of him.

"My name?"

"Yes, that lets it control you."

"I don't want it to control me!" Octavia said, pointing a katar over Dainn's shoulder at the fairy in warning.

"Really?" Dainn asked innocently. "You don't seem to do well with thinking for yourself. I thought someone else controlling your opinion of the world might be enticing."

Octavia hated him.

"I have a game!" she called out. The shadow flickered. The blackness began to drip - the silhouette melting away until a translucent girl stood before them, hair pulled back in pale braids and wings filled with pale feathers.

"A game?" the girl repeated, voice echoing. Octavia's mouth fell open, trying to digest the pool of blackness at the fairy's feet with the ghostly figure in front of her. Slowly, she nodded, ignoring how Dainn had also frozen in utter confusion. The girl tilted her head, eyes still an endless black. "What kind of game?"

"A... a contest," Octavia said, straightening up. Dainn shoved her hands off of him. "If you win, I will give you my name. If I win, you help me."

The fairy's eyes flickered. "Help you," she repeated, voice sharpening. The echo remained, dancing over the trees so that the leaves shuddered. "Help you how?"

Octavia bit her lip. She could use this fairy to find her sister, but what were the chances that would backfire? Perhaps Antonia was also some creature of Life... that didn't necessarily mean she was safe from this fairy.

"A favor," Octavia decided. "Just one. I get any favor I want."

The fairy's lips twitched. Octavia wasn't sure if that made her more or less nervous.

"Very well," it said. "Tell me this game."

Octavia swallowed. This was her main advantage. She needed to choose something she knew she could win. It certainly wouldn't be fighting... but if her mother's stories were anything to go by, fairies were clever things. She doubted any riddle would suffice.

"Whoever draws blood from the boy sitting on this rock first wins." Octavia pointed to Dainn. Immediately, the fairy's face soured as Dainn spluttered indignantly.

If creatures of Life and Death couldn't hurt one another, this should be an easy feat for Octavia. Still, she didn't trust that the fairy wouldn't find a loophole, so she needed to act fast.

"You-" the fairy began, but Octavia went to cut Dainn's arm. A clang sounded as Dainn's blade blocked her katar with one of his blades.

"I let you cut me once," he said dryly. "I don't think I'll let it happen again."

Octavia's nostrils flared. It seemed he never failed to find new ways to irritate her. She supposed it was fair that maybe (just maybe) he was a bit sore from when she had stabbed him. This was different, though. It was only a tiny cut. He shouldn't be such a baby about it.

"If you serve Death, as you keep saying, then you shouldn't want me under a fairy's control. Especially when a siren seems to have such a keen interest in me," Octavia said reasonably.

Dainn's lips thinned in annoyance. He looked back up at Octavia and sighed. "Fine," he said shortly. "Under one circumstance." Octavia tilted her head. "I get to choose what the fairy's favor is."

....never had Octavia met a more obnoxious person. Pressing harder against his blade, Octavia considered telling him no. But then again... the fairy was inching closer and-

"Cut yourself on my behalf," the fairy interjected. "And I will grant you two favors."

Octavia's eyes widened. No. No, she knew she would be outsmarted. Dainn's eyes flicked between them. He wouldn't-

"Deal," Dainn said, moving his blade away to slice open the side of his arm. Octavia felt her heart stop. The fairy's lips curled into a victorious smile – translucent eyes glimmering as Octavia felt her knees weaken.

Did that count? It couldn't possibly count, Octavia thought as she watched the blood seep from Dainn's wound. She tried remembering her exact wording for this game when Dainn dusted his hands off and stood up.

"My first request," he said, tucking his blade away. "Is that you do not ask this girl for her name," he said, jerking his head toward Octavia. A long pause followed. The fairy blinked several times, disbelief touching over ghostly features. "I'll let you know when I decide my next favor."

The fairy's nostrils flared, shadows bowing around her as she bared her teeth in frustration. Octavia half-expected her to attack again, but instead, she just gave a guttural scream, shaking the earth. Octavia clapped her hands over her ears to protect her from the pain of such high pitches. When she opened her eyes, the fairy was gone.

"Well," Dainn said, nodding once. "That was fun."

Oh, the nerve.

"You could have just let me cut you," Octavia fumed, standing up. Dainn snorted. "It would have been the same result-"

"The fairy can't break the sanctity of our deal. You can," Dainn pointed out. He rubbed his side and took a long breath. "Besides, upsetting you is always fun."

Octavia was upset but also confused. Why had Dainn helped her? He could have let the fairy have her name. It might have been a loophole in disobeying Kore. Why didn't he?

"You could have asked her to heal you," Octavia said cautiously.

Dainn limped a few feet before answering. "I could have," he agreed. "But it seems like a waste. That fairy can do almost anything for me. Why ask for something I can eventually do myself?"

"You won't ever regrow that leg," Octavia told him.

Dainn stopped walking to look at her. It was hard to read what crossed his mind, whether it was grief, anger, or something else entirely. He just looked at her and then nodded to himself.

"You may not think I'll do much without this leg," he said and positioned himself so they could stand eye-to-eye, "but one day, I will fight as well as I once did. I will walk as I once did. I will run, I will ride my dragon, and I will do all I once could do with ease. Why waste a wish on becoming who I once was to hinder who I will be?"

"Because you'll always be in pain," Octavia said bluntly. She couldn't imagine a life where his pain would vanish into oblivion. From what she knew of the world, that kind of loss didn't work that way. Perhaps it would fade - but never disappear.

"Then maybe I will ask for a new leg," Dainn shrugged. "But I suspect there are better things out there to ask for. I'll have to wait and see."

Octavia's hands tingled. She thought of Staël's whispers. The words she could never use magic again. If she had that wish, she would wish for her hands to be healed in a heartbeat. Maybe Dainn could figure out ways to move through the world with one leg, but how could Octavia do so without her magic?

Slow clapping interrupted her thought. Kore leaned against a tree, lips quirked into an amused smile. "Congratulations, little humans," she said. "I always enjoy a good show."

Octavia huffed. "Where were you?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and then readjusting once she remembered the katars on her wrists.

Kore glanced over her shoulder. Her form shifted again, looking eerily like Octavia's mother before she shrugged. "I wasn't far. Just... observing," she noted and walked over, hand glittering with gold magic in her palm.

"Dainn says you're a boy," Octavia said. Kore blinked. "Is that true?"

Octavia wasn't sure why it came out like an accusation. Perhaps it was the idea that someone else was tricking her... again.

"I just often see you as my father," Dainn interjected, throwing Octavia an irritated look. "Apologies if I-"

"It does not matter," Kore interrupted. "It means very little what you perceive me as."

"But..." Octavia hesitated. "What do we say when we talk about you? He? She? Something else?"

"I would prefer you not to speak of me at all."

Dainn snorted. It quickly turned into a cough when Kore's gaze turned to him. "Um," he offered a wry smile. "I think she's just asking who you are. Outside of the... you know." He wiggled his fingers.

Octavia wished he would stop talking. "The magic that shows us other people," she said to translate his stupidity.

Kore pinched the bridge of her (or his or whoever's) nose. After a moment, she lowered her hand, studying Octavia with careful eyes.

"You know, nobody has asked me of my preferred form since Jivanta," she said slowly.

Jivanta? Octavia blinked a few times, utterly bewildered.

"You knew my aunt?" she asked.

Kore chuckled. "Knew her?" she said and gave Octavia a bemused smile. "There was hardly a day where she wasn't by my side."

Octavia wasn't sure she liked that. Jutting out her chin, she narrowed her eyes. "Did you kill my aunt?" she asked instead.

Kore's expression darkened. "No," she said shortly. "And it is for her sake that I do not kill you for such a question." Wordlessly, she walked over, frowning at Octavia as if trying to decide something. "You can use she," Kore said with a shrug. "Not that I care much, but...it is what Jivanta used. Now get walking. We must hurry if we wish to reach Dualis soon."

Whatever curiosity had been swirling in Octavia's chest died instantly. "Dualis?" She pursed her lips. It wasn't a surprise. Not with the path so obvious. Still, Octavia was going to press for whatever answers she could get. "Why?"

Kore turned to walk away from the lake. "Because I need you in Dualis."

Octavia stepped in front of her. "Why?"

Kore looked Octavia up and down, her form flickering between Octavia's family members. Finally, it settled into Antonia's face. The stoic expression seemed out of place on her sister. It made her uncomfortable.

"You truly know nothing about the envoys, do you?" Kore asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Or anything Dualian."

Octavia glanced at Dainn, who raised his eyebrows. "I know that... Life sent an envoy down to lead its followers," she said, straining to remember what Dainn had told her. "Presumably, Death has a well." She paused. "And the Dualians seem very excited about it."

"Wow," Dainn said and ran his hand over his face.

Kore, for her part, seemed a tad disappointed by Octavia's explanation. Warily, she looked out toward the mountains in the distance and then to the woods.

"Perhaps we should rest for now," she finally said, waving her hand so some bedrolls appeared by the lake. A fire sprung up from seemingly nowhere. "And perhaps I can illuminate some of what your parents failed to teach you."