Part 2: Lessons and Reflection

The room was almost completely silent, and Fallsenia felt herself mesmerized along with the others. The class was a seminar on the mechanics of astral-physics, the art of how shifting between different realities was accomplished. Normally, only advanced students and entered apprentices who knew their path took this class, but Fallsenia was an exception. Her dreams had been becoming clearer, and she could almost grasp what they might be telling her. The journal she kept was nearly half full, and the most consistent detail was of her on the deck of one of the great aether-ships in the void between realms. So Fallesnia figured it might be a good idea to understand just how all of that worked.

Ethereal orbs of light were suspended over a map, and the professor, a fae named Esteri who was old enough to have silver hair and fine wrinkles, smiled in satisfaction at the students’ attention. She pointed at each one, naming them. “The silver one we call Glaur, it has an over abundance of light energy. Light can mean warmth and hope, but it can also lead to stagnation. And here we have Dúath, always wreathed in shadow. The darkness may hide evil, but it can also provide safety, and allow one to determine the hidden possibilities,” she explained, adding to the previous day’s lesson that the primal elements could not be ascribed as having morality, only effects on the realms they were close to.

“Now, there are different ways to travel between the realms. Some are well charted pathways through the void, and those are what the aether-ships use. That is how we harvest fire-glass for magic artifacts, and weavers who live on Glaur provide us with the shimmerweave that we use to make aether-ship sails, enchanted robes, and many other things. But there are other ways to travel between the realms too. I believe that one here has already discovered a way”, Esteri said, nodding at Fallsenia. It took the acorn fairy a moment to realize that she was being spoken to, and another two moments to figure out what the professor was referring to. “Oh! You mean the mirror-pond I used to return from the human realm!” Fallsenia exclaimed, remembering how she had slipped back into her uncle’s realm.

Most of the class turned and stared at her in surprise, most fae didn’t travel between realms until they were through their first century at least. “We’ve found that small rips exist in the very fabric between realities, and most of the time, they are disguised as something commonplace. But there is always something that sets it just slightly apart from its surroundings. A pond with a surface like a mirror, a cave that keeps going down and down until you see the light at the surface of another realm. It’s impossible to document all of these, as they are constantly in flux. Some are affected by moon phases in our realm, while others can be coaxed open by the right offerings or invocations. But these can be difficult in that they are more unpredictable. The water-portal Fallsenia referred to is but one possibility. Toss in the right combination of herbs and say the right words, and it may send you to a different place entirely,” she explained, a cautionary note in her voice. The first warning of her class was an emphatic lecture on the dangers of going through unknown portals, and the incidents that had occurred when caution was overcome by curiosity.

But the class ended for the day there, and Fallsenia hurried to pack her notes away. Today, she did not have the time to return to her room first. Her uncle had asked her to attend court as soon as this class was done, and Oberon only did that when it was of vital importance. She knew that he had been dealing with various groups of the fae who had very different opinions on what should be done about the tears in the sky. It had been determined that there was indeed an angal-realm, one that on the surface was similar but could be very different. The Oberon here was beloved by his people and respected, but there could be an Oberon in that other realm who was a ruthless, bloodthirsty tyrant. Looking up, Fallsenia could see that the angal-realm was showing its face today, and it was again the city that looked similar to Capella. But there was no way of knowing if the denizens of that other-city meant good or ill for her own home.