Day 272 (250) ((240))

Day 272 (250) ((240)):
As soon as we awoke, we were summoned to the map room. The room was full of people and piles of paper. Carmon lit up as we entered.
"Ladies! We are so glad you're here. We need translation. The elvish, we admit, we have only a passing knowledge of it. The rest, however, we know nothing and cannot be sure if we are even pronouncing it right."
Snacking on the breakfast laid out near the shelves on the main table, we separated to focus on different parts of the wall. Somehow, I ended up translating Stone. Granted, the Stone Race had many cities, how I got that duty, I still don't know. While they were very accurate with boundaries and village placement, they had the devil of a time with the names. It took many times to get them to write it down correctly. They kept insisting on making them sound human. Fortunately, it got pounded into their heads that if they asked to go to, say, "Bed Ford" instead of "Bay Fort", they could end up on opposite sides of the continent. No sooner was one copy finished than another was started. It was nearly lunch time before one of them noticed the odd mark scattered about, including four inside Thantos. They asked. We mentally discussed it before I told them.
"They are doors to the Faerie Realm. They allow both entrance into it and exit from there. They are scattered into places where they are needed. There is one here in the castle."
Dead silence. They all stared at me.
"I forgot what it was like to talk with a human group. Elves accept these things so much easier," Lisa commented mentally.
"Elves are more open, magically, than humans," Anna replied, "Elves, also, only have a few deities that created them. Humans were the outcome of a committee of hundreds. That confuses them the more generations that separate them from those the gods originally created. Our non-human ancestors are closer to their gods. That is why we are changing to closer resemble them."
The group was still staring at me. Carmon approached me like I was a poisonous serpent.
"Could you show us this door? Not that I don't believe you, but it would ease many minds."
"Follow me, then," I said and Set and I walked towards the door.
Chairs clattered as we walked from the room.
"People are funny. I wonder what they expected. Humans ask for honesty, but are surprised when they receive it. Will they ever accept us for face value? Will there ever come a time when we can simply tell them something and they just accept it? I am not even half a year old yet and, already, I tire of this," Set complained.
"I know. I tire of it as well, but we are not like anything they know. We can only be patient," I told him.
We led our procession to a room Alice said was the grand ballroom. I looked around and found the doorway under the musicians' loft in the corner. We waited until everyone was in the room. They looked around, but could not see anything. I got their attentions and walked over to it.
"I know you cannot see it, but the door is right here," I announced.
They walked up and examined the wall. For several minutes, they touched, rubbed, thumped, and pounded on it. Finally, they looked at me for answers.
I faced the wall, "Guardian of the Portals, may we speak with you, please?"
I felt their shock when a shiny silver doorway appeared in a previously blank wall. The male Faerie we met before stepped out.
"Greetings, Princess, how may I aid you today?"
I stepped to the side to let him see the rest and they him. The others, besides my sisters, gasped as they fully saw him. A tall, slim, slightly tanned, sandy-haired male with golden eyes dressed in white loose trousers and loose white shirt that showed off his muscular arms. His sandal feet made little noise as he stepped out to stand at my side.
"Please educate these men on Faerie doors, Guardian. They are learned men and can educate others," I requested.
"My pleasure, Princess. Gentlemen, and Sisters, please be seated so we can all be comfortable."
The Guardian motioned behind them. A multitude of chairs appeared clustered in a sociable arrangement. My sisters, being at the back and nearest the chairs, claimed spots to listen and watch. The men cautiously took their seats. We moved from the doorway and it became a "blank" wall once again. I claimed the last chair and Set nearly encircled me as he lay around my chair and laid his head on my feet. Once everyone was settled, the Guardian began.
"To make this easier, you may call me Talris. The fact that you did not know it was here tells me that the knowledge has either been lost or misplaced. Hopefully, now, this will be retained in your records. As you noticed, most humans cannot find Faerie doors by sight or touch. The marks on your maps only give you a general idea of where the door is located. Kayla can find them due to her Faerie blood. Sarroset, as well as all dragons, can see them as well. This does not mean you must have Faeries or dragons at all times to find them. A talisman can be made very quickly and easily to find Faerie doors. May I?" he asked the one next to him for his paper and pen. With quick strokes, Talris sketched the talisman and wrote the instructions for its assembly. When he was satisfied, he returned the pen and passed the paper around. Gasps, murmurs, and whispered comments sounded as they examined the page.
"Just so you know, Faerie doors do not, in any way, weaken the wall, pillar, or other structure where it appears. Likewise, bushes, hedges, and trees are not damaged in any way by them. Doors are added and subtracted as the population changes. Thantos, currently, has four. The city of Cassabla has seven, increased from five due to the influx from Baaloc refugees. Raval has nine. Selvis has four, right now, but three more are in the plans. We sealed them all but one during the Baaloc's occupation of Selvis and Selvis Prime. Crialas Kingdom currently has seventeen, with three in the palace itself. I will not bore you with an extensive list, but you get the idea. The doors, actually, are not in the object as they appear. They are, in fact, a hair's breadth apart from it. If you could examine it from the side, you could see this for yourselves. Alas, such close up viewing, by humans, is only possible by wizards, sorcerers, and other magic folk. This means that destroying the wall, hedge, pillar, or tree will not remove the door. Over eons, we have moved doors because they hung over chasms where an earthquake ripped the land, or the coast changed and placed the door out in the ocean, or a volcano erupted and the door was open to a magma pool."
Talris paused to allow them to ingest the information.
One man rose and asked, "Sir, Talris, can mortals destroy these doors, cause them to be unusable?"
"That is a good question," Talris told him as he sat down, "Mortals can, and have, sealed the doors from this side so they could not be used. Destroying the doors is nearly impossible by mortals. Only very strong magic focused on an open door can have any chance of actually destroying the door. We have not had any successful destruction of any door as far as I can remember or within our records."
The men made positive noises as they wrote his words. Talris waited until they had finished writing before continuing his instructions.
"Even without the talisman, the doors can be opened from this side. If someone is in great distress with no other means of escape, they can call upon either the door itself, me or 'the Guardian', the Faerie Realm, or the Faerie Queen. Granted, one must be near the door when calling for aid. With your maps, people can find them easier."
"Talris," another interrupted, "aren't you worried people will call for trivial problems? Some might view this as an escape from a boring or hard life. Surely such a grand place will not admit just anyone."
"That is my duty. I listen at the doors. If the plea is genuine, then I open the door. If they are pretending, I can tell. Like Kayla, I can feel the emotions on the other side of the door, so it does not matter how well they act, I can tell truth from false."
The men nodded and wrote. They looked at each other. I could tell they wanted to ask one more thing, but were embarrassed or hesitant. Talris and I exchanged looks as they thought.
"Sirs," I got their attentions, "Talris came at my call due to your need. This information needs to be given to as many people as possible so that rumors and half-truths do not prompt people to do dumb things or get themselves hurt. We do not need people hurting each other just to open a door."
Slow nods as they wrote told us they agreed. My sisters also expressed their understanding of our reasoning. The men indicated they had no more questions. Talris asked if we girls had anything, but we did not. He thanked all of us for our patience and we all walked him back to the door and saw him through it. The chairs vanished as soon as the doorway disappeared. The men, save for Lord Carmon, left to attend various duties and find meals.
We followed Lord Carmon to the dining room in silence. We could tell he and the men who had left were pondering Talris' information and its implications. We sat and ate a bit, still very quiet. Finally, Lord Carmon broke the silence.
"Where to, now, my dears? You stated before about visiting relatives? Have you plotted your course?"
"The exact course, no, Father, we have not. Fortunately, all of those we seek to visit are in the same direction. The only questions are who to visit first and how to get there," Alice informed him.
"I see. After dinner,will you show me? I may have the answer to at least one of those questions," Carmon requested.
We agreed. We headed back to the map room as soon as dinner was finished. We pointed out the gnome, dwarf, leprechaun, and merfolk towns. Clever Carmon began charting all kinds of courses from Thantos to several points and the quickest routes. I wasn't really paying attention as I was grooming Set, keeping the loose scales for future trades or need. A hand on my shoulder got my attention.
"Kayla," Callie began, "can you get a sense of where we are to go? We are at a bit of an impasse."
I understood. Four peoples to visit, each championed by a strong-willed sister. I approached the map. I held one of the scales flat against the wall on top of Thantos.
"Mark our path, scale of the Emperor," I requested.
I released it, yet it stayed upon the wall. From Thantos, it slid to a nearby river. It traced the river to a point near the mountains. It continued to the gnome villages and stopped at one marked "Gowgornok" and stayed there for many heartbeats. Then, it moved due east to the mountains. It went to a very large dot bearing the name "Stahendring". Here, too, it stayed for a while. Then, it jumped to the densest cluster of leprechaun settlements. Here, it wiggled around for a bit, not resting in any one place. Lastly, it slid to a spot out in the water not far from the reef. At this point, the scale shattered. One stayed in the water. One returned to Stahendring. One flew to Gowgornok. Another went to spot not previously marked. A ghostly mark hovered there but no name appeared. The last two shot across the map. One landed back in Thantos and the other firmly landed in Crialas. Counting only six, they looked for the seventh.
"You will not find it," I told them, "The Faerie Realm is not on the map and, therefore, cannot be marked."
They started laughing, realizing what they were doing. Carmon looked at the river.
"I think I know someone with a ship. I will contact him to see if he can take you to..." he paused to check the other river town, "...River Helm. I can see if his ship is large enough to carry horses as well. I will see you ladies and company in the morning."
Lord Carmon left. The seven of us looked at the map a bit longer
"Why Gowgornok? I don't understand," Sarah asked.
I lifted Vanity over that spot. Across her polished blade, scenes flashed of homes burning, angry creatures carrying frightened small people, and a very large angry creature tearing through the small houses and buildings with furious slashing an bolts of magic. We teared up as we watched these scenes. I returned her to her sheath.
"That is our charge," Anna said boldly, "They need help. They need us."
We agreed and headed to bed, confident in our destination and our goal.