It wasn’t safe to travel through the forest at the moment. She had a basket full of medicine and sound advice. Maybe… It would be a bit hard to reach Trafalgor… That’s what Daphne was thinking. “Maybe instead of land… I need to go by air?” She got up and grabbed one of the many, many birds that were in the forest. “Can you help me Mr. Bird?” Daphne laid out some seed and sat still for what was many, many minutes. Finally, the bird accepted the seed and jumped up on her. “Can you take this letter to my sister?”

It didn’t take long using gate magic. She stood out on her balcony with her hands on her basket. “Well, well, well… if the sheltered princess hasn’t asked for help from her big older sister.” Furtuna appeared in a wind storm that almost blew Daphne down. “Now, how can I help the princess today?”

“Well… Furtuna.” She wrinkled her nose up at the smell. “Have you been doing drugs again?”

“Just… a bit.” Furtuna lifted her blue hair and smelled it. “Okay. A lot. I’m high.” The gensai was on the fence of the balcony in a crouched position.

“You… Well thank you for coming.” Daphne was quick to try and get her high as a kite sister’s attention. “You see my love-”

“YOU FINALLY DID IT!” Furtuna jumped off the balcony and hugged her sister. “SEE I ALWAYS KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YOU!”

Daphne blushed. “HUSH! We have not done anything yet…” Her voice got quiet as she blushed. “Can you just take me to Bohar?”

“Where the anger quack tangles are?”

“Anger… quack… tangles…” Daphne moved her hand to Furtuna’s forehead again with a wrinkled nose. “Are you okay?”

“Dandy.” Furtuna grabbed Daphne by her waist and disappeared into the wind again. There was shriek but Daphne barely had time to breathe once Furtuna dropped her on the deck of her ship. “Change our coordinates… We’re heading to Bohar.”

Her captains saluted her and ran off. Daphne follows Furtuna around the large airship. “It’s a lot bigger than I remember.”

“Hold on tight.” Daphne barely had time to grab something as the ship warped to Bohar. She felt her stomach churn as she ran to the railing and looked over. Her eyes were sharp and she could sense Trafalgor. “RIGHT THERE. THERE HE IS.”

Furtuna came over and looked at him. “He’s alright… I guess. If that’s who you want to be with Little sister…” There was a knock against her ship from one of the eldritch below. “HEY. KNOCK THAT OFF. FIRE ALL CANNONS ON THAT THING RIGHT THERE.” The airships released from the cabins underneath. Large warships from the mother ship pointed their cannons and shot concentrated mana at the creatures. “That will fucking teach!” The blast was sure to catch Trafalgor’s attention.

“HEY, YOU COULD HAVE HIT HIM!”

“But did I? I didn’t.” Furtuna reached over. “May I?” She took the basket and set it down. “You won’t need it for the moment. “HEY BALDY.” Furtuna bellowed. Daphne ran to stop her but Furtuna grabbed her and threw her overboard. “Catch. I brought you something.”

Daphne was letting out a shriek as she fell from the high skies. The warships had gone back up into Furtuna’s so the Sacab could take off once they were done dropping her off.

Trafalgor had been called forward from the healing camps to assist during a major push from the enemy as a shock troop to take pressure off of beleaguered points along the line. And frankly, he couldn't decide whether or not he was happy with that decision at this point in time. 

Currently, he was about fifty yards forward from the line keeping the field cleared to give the line time to shift and reinforce. While such a feat would normally only be achievable through high-cost magicks or by the blessings of one of the deities, Trafalgor had mastered elemental manipulations with the help of countless hours of studying the way that Nature did the same thing magick-users the world round copied for their own uses. And with that knowledge, Trafalgor was able to change the World around him in such a way with his magick that the World itself did the rest of the work for him.

In this case, Trafalgor had cleared himself a path to advance by pushing every bit of naturally-occuring galvanic energy in the earth deep into the ground in an inverse cone shape in front of the line of defenders. The absence caused a massive storm of lightning bolts to cover the entire area, devastating the Twisted and allowing him to press forward alone to relieve the pressure. When the electricity stopped striking, Trafalgor was already in position and repeated the process in a large area surrounding him, making sure to focus all of the galvanic energy on himself. This time, when the bolts of lightning reigned supreme around himself, additional bolts also shot out from himself towards stray Twisted that weren't hit by the main storm.

A third iteration of the attack had the man keeping his awareness sharp for the signal for him to fall back… but then he caught sight of one of the larger, currently unnamed varieties of Twisted making its way directly towards him. He narrowed his eyes at it and gauged its threat level visually… before determining that he would not allow it to get anywhere near the line. His immediate surrounding were clear from enemies for now, so he focused inward in preparation of launching one of his stronger attacks to remove the enemy from the field. He saw it rear back… and throw an attack into the air?

Trafalgor paused for a moment to follow the path of the attack and was surprised to see it strike the hull of an airship that hadn't been present before. The airship was quick to respond in kind, except that it opened up to release many more, smaller airships from within… who all opened fire with a full broadside at the abomination that had attacked it… destroying not only it, but everything within a hundred yards of it as well. "Well, that's one way to go about it," Trafalgor chuckled as he released his hold on his magickal core and turned his eyes skyward as he heard a piercing yell from a vaguely familiar voice. "Is that…?"

He squinted to see the largest ship swoop closer and a blue-colored figure lean over one of the railings. "HEY BALDY." Trafalgor quirked an eyebrow at the unfamiliar voice, even knowing it was directed at him. The ship was now much closer so that he could make out the figure better and hear her. "Catch. I brought you something," came the bellowing voice from above before they threw something overboard towards him… something that was giving out a shriek. It approached rapidly and Trafalgor was already airborne himself before he'd even realized he had called upon his magick, being propelled by not only his initial empowered leap, but keep aloft with supporting winds he'd called forth.

The piercing scream cut off abruptly as Daphne landed in his arms, reversing the direction of travel for Traflgor. The bald, bearded man gave a grin to the red-head in his arms. "Not that I'm not always happy to see you, love, but we'll be having words after I get you to safety." As the pair neared the ground, Trafalgor formed an updraft of air that slowed him enough to land in a crouch without injuring himself. He leaned his arms and put Daphne back onto her feet before turning and summoning his staff from where he'd dropped it, taking the time to notice that the horde had begun pressing into the areas just cleared by the airship fire. "You bastards just don't learn…" he growled… and heard the repeated triple bleat of a horn behind him that was his signal to retreat. With a slightly feral grin, Trafalgor reached inside, turned his mental projection of his magickal core, an enormous hourglass, upright, and formed hundreds upon hundreds of spectral blades behind and around him… like a wall of glowing knifes… and then charged them all with holy light to the point that it was blinding to look at them.

And then he fired them off like a storm of streaking light that caused explosions wherever they landed amongst the horde of Twisted. 

Mentally knocking the hourglass onto its side again, Trafalgor turned back to Daphne, handed her their staff with a quick, "Hold this, darling," and scooped her into his arms once more before dashing full speed back towards the defensive line while smiling fiercely. A cheer rose up as he approached and he received many slaps on the back from the soldiers that had opened a hole for him to run through as he passed. A quick glance skyward informed Trafalgor that the person responsible for Daphne's presence was now long gone. Pity… they could have used that firepower to great effect… and he would have had a much better chance of having words with the blue-skinned individual that had tossed his love over the side of their ship like a sack of potatoes.

When they were through the line and safely away from the fight, only then did Trafalgor put Daphne back on her feet and cross his arms while looking down at the shorter woman. "So, again, while it's very nice to see you, Daphne, would you mind overly much telling me who it is, exactly, that I need to kill for literally throwing you overboard from their airship?"

Daphne clung to Trafalgor as he caught her. Her little heart was pounding faster. “Down. DOWN. GET ME DOWN NOW.” Daphne was in a panic but she seemed a bit better once she touched the ground. It looked like Furtuna was watching to make sure they could get safely to a location.

Soon she had the staff in her arms after she watched horde getting killed off. He kicked her back up and she looked at all the soldiers as they passed them. He was doing well… Maybe she shouldn’t have left the safety of her tree after all.

She held in a breath once she was on the ground and finally relaxed once her toes could feel the grass behind her feet. Her gold eyes looked up at him as she tried to form the words to tell him what he was asking. She brought her hands up and they began to fidget. “Well…”


A red head appeared near them and Daphne stopped rigid. Her body was like a slate as it was almost straight. Her eyes were wide as she watched the other red head approach. “FURTUNA!” The voice bellowed as the goddess put her hands on her hips. “SHOW UP RIGHT NOW.”

The airship appeared again and the air gensai was up on the railing this time shaking her fist. “OH BLOW ME YOU SACK OF AIR.”

“YOU THREW YOUR SISTER OVER THE RAILING OF AN AIRSHIP.”

“AND?! DID SHE DIE?!”

“SHE COULD HAVE.”

“I WOULDN’T HAVE LET HER.”

“COME DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT FURTUNA ROSE.”

“FUCK YOU. YOU FUCKING STUPID GOSSIPY NOSEY ASS PRIM AND PROPER GODDESS.”

“OH, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I AM STRANGLING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU. NO, I’M GOING TO DISOWN YOU!”

“YOU CAN’T FUCKING DISOWN ME I DON’T WANT TO BE CLAIMED BY YOU.”

“FUCK YOU FURTUNA.”

“LOVE YOU TOO MOM.” Furtuna gave her the middle finger and appeared on the ground briefly to give Daphne her basket. The anger seemed to simmer away and Furtuna had her hands on her hips. “These fucks are all over Jasumin Lake too.”

Angela looked out to the battlefield. “I had been hoping you were keeping them at bay.”

“Trying but I’m not an army. Daphne asked me to do her a favor and the Fey courts just showed up not that long ago.”

“I’m aware I told your sister Talise not to get involved. If worse comes to worst… You got enough firepower to try and fire it into the void crack?”

“Dunno if that will work but I can definitely try. I’m going to head back to the other battlefield now… If and when you want to go back to the Iron Wood… Just send a bird.” Furtuna waved a hand and stopped herself as she went up to Trafalgor. “Kill… puts it mildly. You know how many people have tried to kill me. Besides… She wasn’t in danger. I gots the winds blessing on my backside.”

“CAPTAIN FURTUNA, we just got word from Captain Vincent. He says we’re going to need to return now.” It was a smaller fairy girl up on deck.

“Aye.” Furtuna fixed her hat. “Would love to stay and chat… Tell you about the birds and the be–”

“Furtuna…” Daphne blushed now as she looked away from Trafalgor.

“I was going to say… Birds and the bees but you have the expert here.” Angela nodded to Furtuna as she waved and disappeared into the wind. The airship was gone after that.

“You shouldn’t have come here.” Angela’s tone was stern as she looked at Daphne. “You are safer in the Iron Wood where those things have a hard time moving.”

“They got into Feeorin. They would have no problems breaching the Iron Wood. I set up enchantments on my tree before I left.” Daphne’s voice was hushed a bit but she looked up at Trafalgor. “Besides I brought ointments and potions. Far better than using magic to heal so you can preserve yourself.” After a few more awkward moments Daphne nudged Trafalgor and looked at her mother. “Trafalgor this is my mother Angela… Mother this is Trafalgor… You could call him my suitor?”

Angela tilted her head a bit and looked like she was studying him. Oddly she was quiet for a moment. “I acted like a fool in front of you… but Furtuna can be hard to deal with.”

Trafalgor quirked an eyebrow at his love's hesitant answer, but his attention was quickly pulled away from her as another redhead appeared nearby, nearly overwhelming Trafalgor's senses from the power of her magickal output before he cut off his own sensing technique. The woman then started screaming at… Furtuna? Who was that?

Trafalgor's head shot upward as the airship appeared overhead once again, causing his eyes to widen in surprise as the blue-skinned woman screamed back over the side of her ship. 

Ah, so Furtuna was the name of the captain of that ship. Good to know. Now he had a name, but… why had this… Wait. Trafalgor carefully glanced at Daphne and saw that she his love was frozen stiff as she stared wide-eyed at the woman beside them…

Oh.

In all his time knowing Daphne, only one person had cause the sort of reaction that the other redhead was currently causing within her… and that was her mother, Angela Rose… Goddess of Life and Love.

As the goddess and Captain began to argue back and forth, Trafalgor learned more and more about his… soon-to-be in-laws? First was that Furtuna was apparently Daphne's sister. The second, and probably most obvious, was that Furtuna and Angela got on like a pack of cats and dogs shoved into a burlap sack and tied shut, kicked around and thrown down a cliff.

He was still quite upset that the Captain had thrown Daphne off of her ship, but her claim that she 'wouldn't have let her die' caught his attention and made him quirk an eyebrow as his attention snapped back and forth like watching a game of kick ball that the children of Gulu liked to play.

When the blue-skinned woman appeared next to them and handed Daphne her basket that he remembered from his many visits to the Iron Woods, Trafalgor tensed for a moment before relaxing back to his ready stance… continuing to watch as the two women changed the topic of conversation from family squabble to updating each other on the state of the battlefields around the world and making plans for future operations.

This was more the type of thing that Trafalgor was used to and he quickly fell into a familiar mindset as he took in information and processed it in terms that let him make his own plans based on it. Finally, it seemed Angela and Furtuna had finished with their conversation and the Captain turned to direct her next words at himself.

Trafalgor took those words in as well, then let out a scowl that transformed into a fierce grin. He had thought that the winds had answered his directions too easily. "Well, shit… I can't even be mad at you anymore. It was you that was assisting me with the winds on the way down, wasn't it?" He gave a soft 'tsk' and shook his head ruefully. "Fine, Captain… you get a pass this time." He narrowed his eyes at the woman and offered his hand to shake… while charging himself with electricity with the same defensive technique he used during the Vada Incident. "But the next time you endanger Daphne, we'll be trading fists instead of words, got it?"

When the small fairy showed up, Trafalgor tensed momentarily before forcing himself to relax as surreptitiously as he could manage. Still he managed to catch the Captain's attention as he shifted his footing. "Fair winds and good hunting, Captain Furtuna… kill as many of these Void fuckers as you can," he said with a fierce grin as he let a portion of his normally contained bloodlust free for a moment.

He took a small amount of amusement from the light sisterly teasing from Furtuna, but held back from laughing out loud so as not to embarrass Daphne, but he couldn't quite help the grin when she made her jab at Angela. Trafalgor knew full-well the kind of person Angela was from Father Sidney's journals. He had once taken those words with a grain of salt, but after meeting with Serafina and hearing Daphne's own accounts of her mother, he had gone back and committed them all to memory. After all, if things went as they were currently, she would be his mother-in-law one day.

Once Furtuna departed, he simply waited for the remaining two women to continue the conversation. He made sure to suppress his emotions and facial expressions as Angela scolded her daughter. This was not his fight and he knew that he need not even attempt to step in on her behalf. He knew that Daphne was stronger than even she knew, regardless of whether she saw it as a 'necessity.' As he thought, Daphne defended her decision to come to the Plains of Bohar, and even added points to show that she had not been remiss in her duties, even as she traveled afield. He didn't know if her time spent with him had given her some semblance of courage or example, but if so, he was glad for it.

And finally, when Daphne introduced him to her mother, in quite an amusing and awkward manner, Trafalgor gave an easy smile to the goddess, placed one hand over his chest and sketched a polite bow. "Well met, Lady Angela. It is a pleasure to meet you." 

He watched as the goddess seemed to study him for a bit, then gave him something in the realm of an apology without actually doing so. Trafalgor simply chuckled and shook his head. "Think nothing of it," he told her as he glanced momentarily skyward to where the frustrating woman had disappeared from. "I think that 'hard to deal with' may very well be putting things lightly." 

He shook his head once more and glanced back at the battlefield, checking to make sure that the line was holding steady during this small distraction. It seemed fine for now, but Trafalgor made sure to keep an open ear for his particular horn call to go out and relieve a section of the line. "Anyway, while I have you here, would you mind me asking a question?" he asked to the goddess. Once he'd gotten the okay, he continued. "I've heard rumors of a new type of Twisted that can raise the fallen as Twisted, called 'Reanimators.'" He gave a soft scowl and pressed on. "While I dislike suggesting such, would it not be prudent to burn our fallen both on the battlefield during our redeployments and at the healing camps?" Trafalgor met the goddess' eyes and sighed. "I usually work in the camps as a healer… and they are lightly defended at best. If a Twisted were to reanimate from the mass graves, it may well wipe out the whole camp if it gets lucky…"