To Nautilous

[Deleted]

..a letter would find its way to the big family house that they all seemed to share.. his name scrawled neatly across the front ..the paper was heavy and thick like a fine piece of parchment.. a seal upon its back with the signed initials of V and F.

Dearest Nautilous,

I trust this correspondence finds you in good health, forgive my inability to come and visit you directly I fear our times have yet to match up and I figured this would be possibly the best way to get a hold of you. I have Finn here scribing for me. 
Your son Jacob came to me a little while ago, enquiring about a young elvish woman he had met on the surface. Her name was Rose, he didn't have a lot more information other than that, but it was of his understanding that there was some history that she herself was missing. 
He was concerned for her, and wondered wether or not myself or Finn could look into the chamber books. She's clearly an Arvandorian resident but hasn't lived here since she was but a very young child. 
I too was concerned that the history would be not too dissimilar to that of your Wives, and it would appear that in some aspects it is. 

What we found was quite peculiar indeed, this young woman is no regular resident of Arvandor. You will find several pages contained within this letter that will explain what it is Finn and I had found. Admittedly we had to dig to obtain a great deal of the information, and some of it is a little hard to swallow. 

I am hesitant to pass this information onto Jacob right now, I have recently come to understand that he has finally found his suitor and the last thing I want to do is interrupt what is such a special time for such a special young man. So I do hope you will forgive me if I leave the burden of the task with you. Timing is afterall incredibly important. 

Finn offers his well wishes and hopes the family is doing well, he is looking forward to catching up with you and everyone at the gentlemans night which appears to be coming up soon.

Please pass on my best regards to dearest Sybelle and well wishes for the birth of the newest addition to an already incredibly precious family.

With Kindness

Vivian & Finn

[BadInfluence]

The letter was honestly a bit of a surprise. Jacob hadn’t asked anyone in the family to help, hell they didn’t know anything at all in regards to this inquisition, which he found rather curious. Normally? Jacob came to him first with anything like this, and it made him wonder, was Jacob keeping it to a neutral party incase unsavory things were found out? And If So?... What sort of unsavory could a tiny little blond bit of elf actually pack? Apparently, enough for Vivian to tell him rather than Jacob, though as he read through it was more so to spare an interruption of a very magical moment… Who could blame them, any of them, for wanting to give that bubble a very wide berth? Besides… He and Sybelle had made more than a few adjustments to the food and wine, they were both gunning for the same thing, which was a baby born out of love and adoration… Sydel and Diovan were on the other hand were more so trying to keep that from happening and had stashed a potion or two away on the property to prevent it… So as one could tell the house was a bit divided, so this news coming to him, it was indeed rather beneficial. Worse case? Well they might have one hell of a freaky baby coming into the works… The Best Case? This sort of girl might just be what the family needed for the next generation…



He took the attached papers that followed, and the more he read, the less be believed… It seemed outlandish, hell almost impossible, and yet… Look at the group of them? Who the hell were they to HONESTLY talk about weird? Still… He had to question so much of it… Mostly just… How? He knew how the Arvandorian gods worked pretty damn well, and he knew for a fact that none of them could ever actually take a corporeal form, they tended to need a… Loaner body… A willing vessel to let them piggy back with until such time as it was no longer needed and returned to the original owner… And thank god too, otherwise Ace and Hanali would have a fuckling SLEW of cupids running all over the damned place, and no one was ready for that! Two fathers… A literal, genetic cocktail that was exceptionally rare, and so far?... He’d only seen it happen a handful of times… He and Diovan were one set, and Sydel and her cunty sister Caela were the other… And now this Rose girl. Rose however was the only one to actually have two sires, because she was the only one he knew of born from an Arvandorian deity, which… Hell it made him wonder just what the fuck her mother was made of in order to manage that cocktail? After all, aside from the double daddy dip? Her genealogy looked alright, Sun Elf and Wood Elf, which explained her short statue but the different coloring than a normal wood elves would be. Good enough for him, at least she wasn’t Sylvan or drow somewhere along the line, and given Jacob was half wood elf himself? Meant they were incredibly well matched for children… Less hiccups when your crossing the breeding bridge…



Funny thing was? The double sire thing wasn’t even the weirdest part, which all things considered, was pretty damn nuts. Arvandor back in that time, when Diovan was still quite young and he himself wasn’t even in the area, Jacob was but a little one himself… Was on the cusp of something nasty… A bit like a plant with a pest, Arvandor’s edges were getting devoured while its core suffered, and someone wanted to make sure it died. Why? Well let’s be honest, Elves while friendly to other elves? Eh… They could be a LITTLE stuck up…Or a lot… And over the time they had all existed, more than a few wars had been fought, and quite a few enemies gained… Every diety in the tree had a group that worked against them, and while this often maintained a good balance, some Gods were less inclined to play by the rules… Hence what had happened to Rose’s family… Her entire clan even, a group of specifically bred and magically gifted wood elves who with the aid of Hanali’s chosen, had kept Arvandor out of the collapse it had been seeing in recent decades…



He read on, finding large chunks of disturbing information just about everywhere… But the one that really had him reading over the same spot repeatedly? Was the fact it took an hour… One… Solitary Hour… To wipe out a clan of three hundred well trained, well defended, well armed wood elves… One of the hardiest, fiercest groups of elves known to the line of them, wiped out in the blink of an eye. No natural disaster either, no sudden calamity like the sinking of Atlantis or the end of the dinosaurs… No this was so far from natural he himself recoiled a bit, if only because perhaps out of everyone here, he and Sydel perhaps… Knew was sort of creature could do that, and it was not of this world, or any world… It was a nightmare given flesh, bred from the horrific wandering minds of Nurgle and Khorn, mixed with the black thoughts of other gods both named and unnamed… To create these creatues, known as Kabani due to their horrific nature, are beyond rare… They’ve only been seen once perhaps every million years… Normally in just one or two places, small groups, and if they’re lucky… Killed quickly. This often causes the immediate and painful death of the monster that was able to summon them, these beings known as Mue, a rare amalgamation of nature and magic that is just as rare as the Kabani themselves… However… If these things come and they aren’t stopped… If they get to spread… It is beyond easy to see that they could have wiped out the clan so quickly…



It looked as though Rose was literally born just hours before the attack took place, her mother had been apart from the clan to deliver her alone, and when she had come back… Her mother had done the only thing she could do, which was mass extermination, and given the amount of power it took to do that… It explained why her mother was able to conceive and carry Rose to term in the first place. Another mark in Rose’s book by way of genealogy, without a doubt, but that was all later turn… The more he read, the more he realized why it had been so hard to find anything about her, her mother hadn’t even gotten to name her before she sent her down the river out of harms way… Leaving her with the mortal name and that… Ugh… No wonder the books were worse than a bag full of adhd riddled squirrels on a sugar high. Hell, to be honest it made him wonder how in the world they had even found what they did, given they had nothing to go off of but a single name. Honestly he felt a touch sick, just knowing something like that had actually managed to enter Arvandor, and on top of that… Why… Why were they so focused on just the ONE clan? Why go after the nurturer of plants and produce in a world that has a whole lot more in it to pillage or poison? This looked and smelled like a planned attack, not to destroy Arvandor but to weak it incredibly, and it had worked… Everyone knew of the decline, they all saw it, and while the weather maintenance was helping? The crops were getting smaller and smaller still, Arvandor was able to just sustain itself and the new bumper crops of children, and he and Sydel… They culled the weak and the sickly… It… Was a stop gap measure at best. Arvandor was almost ideally ripe for take over, and while it wouldn’t be easy as a cake walk, it wouldn’t be the fight it could be… Which brought him around to who… And why?



Was it possible to make a Mue? He dabbled in more than his fair share of creations over the years, but even he hadn’t been insane enough to try and create a Mue, the power… The resources… The cost of life itself? Was too high… Who ever had done it seriously had a throbbing need for revenge against the elves and he knew of only one Race that was THAT shallow and hell bent on retribution… So that made him wonder… Was the Mue still alive then? Was it with them… In the dark… Gathering up the nightmares and ill wishes of the Gods and forming them into creatures of unrivaled destruction and horror? He didn’t think so… For the type of sacrifice that was given in order to wipe out those that were there, he felt confident the Mue and the Kabani had all been eradicated but… The person who made the Mue?... They might have stayed back to watch and in that case, the original owner of the grudge, was still very much alive. They found a way to make a Mue once already, he wouldn’t put it past them to try it again, which put Rose… On a very very small list of names for targets…



Of course, as if all THAT wasn’t a complete and utter clusterfuck of what the actual, there was Rose’s own childhood… Picked up by someone named Darius, she had been taken out of Arvandor where she had been found down the river away from where the horrors had occurred, down to the humans… The surface… Dropped off at an orphanage and given the name Rose… No more, no less. No story of her family, her clan, where she came from or her birthday. Just a name. It seemed Darius came back and forth to the orphanage as she grew up every now and then, but had stopped suddenly when the first attempted rape occurred, some twisted pedophile who had managed to get in as a janitor. Who cares about orphans, right? No one looks or second guesses, not until it’s far too late and the damage is already done, which had apparently been the case here… But what made his stomach really twist was that the pedophile wasn’t the only one… She’d been targeted multiple times, and he had to wonder of this Darius person was responsible for it, and if so… Why? Why hurt a kid? Why sick people on her to try and rape this poor little girl? It made no sense to him, but the Pedophile had just been the first, another had been a milk man… A repairman… Good God hell there was an entire paragraph on what a priest had tried to do to her in the name of ‘holy sanctification’… Somehow though she had gotten damn strong, records showed she came out tougher each time, but more jaded as well… Her social skills got worse and worse, she withdrew into herself, and all the while… He thought it was almost a perfect perpendicular story to his own Sydel’s story…



Did that bode well for Jacob?... He knew it made them strong, incredibly so, self-resilient and self-reliant in such a state… Jacob wouldn’t ever have to worry about protecting her or keeping her safe, she could watch his back, ensure his boy never came to harm… Something he was damn glad for since Jacob seemed to have a target on his back with nasty women and jealous men. But would she be able to make him happy? Did she have enough love in her heart to give to him? Would they be able to make a happy marriage? Children? Would she be a good mother? A good wife? So many questions… So far though he couldn’t see any indication that she would hurt his son… While she was solitary, she was brilliant, and didn’t ever hurt anyone… No records of fist fights or squabbles, no ill wishes or acts of rebellion, just a self contained and mature young woman. It almost made him laugh in a way because it reminded him so much of Jacob… So mature and solitary as a youth… Was it any wonder those two suited like a hand and fingers?



Over all her past was a sad one indeed, and he could see how it would have been very hard for Vivian to handle some parts of it, and he was sure the worst parts Finn himself had taken on. Or he had better if he didn’t want his ass kicked around the fucking block for making poor Viv witness that hell… When all was said and done he did have a rather loaded letter in his lap, and the wonder of who to share it with, if anyone at all? Jacob? Did NOT need to see this… At all. He worried it might sway emotions that right now needed to grow on their own, he didn’t want either of those two to question what was developing, to wonder if it was influenced by outside sources. It was why those bubbles were so damn important. Given the fact this one was set for two weeks? Yeah. Everyone was pretty much dead set on making sure what happened, was set in stone, a good… No… Great building block for the couple. A solid foundation to stand on… He wasn’t about to fuck any of that up… But there was one person he wanted to share it with… Someone who, out of everyone in this house, was still very much sure the stink in the air left by Cora was on Rose as well…



Before he got up to show her what had been found, he penned a note back to Vivian and Finn, the paper almost velvet like to the touch and luxuriously weighted with the light scent of cedar…



“Dear Vivian and Finn,



I thank you for the letter and the delivery of it to myself personally, as you said, right now is neither the time nor place for a budding new couple to have such dire happenings dropped in their lap. Like you, we are all wishing the absolute best for our special beloved Jacob, and thank Hanali for finding him his mate at last. Sybelle and I are secretly hoping for a head over heels love that results in a fast engagement and plenty of grandchildren. Of course, I think that’s the wish of every parent, for their child to love as deep as the ocean and be just as fertile. Who doesn’t want to be a grandparent?



Speaking of children, I do hope your youngest is well, I haven’t seen them since the last play date almost a year ago. Finn is greedy when it comes down to sharing his little one and Aylan is desperate for a playmate. We need to get together, you and I, and let our little ones run a little wild. It will be good for Bells with the baby just around the corner, and a good chance for Kace to socialize with someone outside of our house, and of course you know I’ll bring plenty of sweet things for the kids and ourselves to enjoy.



If you could do me one more kindness… Keep this information you and Finn have found very private? Sometimes, as we both know, what has happened in the past is best buried there. Much of this information here I do not see as being particularly happy or helpful to our little love birds. I will hold onto it, and if the time comes when it is needed, I will reserve the duty of delivering the news to them personally. If asked, please feel free to tell Jacob the truth, that you sent the information along to me and I am looking into it further… Given how we all see the world with a new romance, I doubt he will pursue it much if at all, so we should both be able to rest in the fact Jacob and his mate Rose will be free of such heavy news for some time yet.



We send you our love Vivian, and well wishes to you and yours, as always. I will pick up Finn personally when the man’s night comes around, and of course you are always welcome at our house, the girls are naturally staying in and probably going to still manage to get into trouble. Young Rose will be there as well so you will get to meet her first hand, and if I am right about her, I’m sure you’ll like her.



Until then, Hanali Bless You and Finn, and enjoy the last few days of cold before spring sets in.



Companionably Yours,

Nautilous