Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 327: Aftermath

Lleu Llaw Gryffes had answered my questions, compelled as he was by the attention he had garnered from Gwyn ap Nudd and the agreement when [Challenge] had been made. I admitted to feeling some sympathy for him and his actions. He had betrayed his people, betrayed Brigid and Cu Chulainn, but his reasons weren't entirely selfish.

He had been motivated by fear and his desire to save the Sidhe.

That didn't make what he had done forgivable, but it made him seem less a despot. Even if his actions were cloaked in bigotry and bias, he had acted to save the Sidhe. His decision to force the Sidhe he thought he could save Underhill may have been justified in his mind, but he still abandoned Sidhe he felt expendable.

Those he had selected to save showed how he felt about the Sidhe at large. It was the same factionalism that had resulted in the Seelie/Unseelie wars and privations that had happened on Talahm. If I had not arrived, if the Sidhe had survived Man because of this division, this would have been the moment that divided our people forever.

His actions were treason, and even if the [Prophecy] was correct and the Sidhe would be lost to history, there was still some self-serving motivation involved in his decisions. He could have sent others Underhill and stayed to fight himself, but he had cast aside those he had deemed expendable, those not worthy of being allowed, Underhill.

Still, no matter what his reasons. No matter how good his intentions might have been. He had broken [Oath]. And Gwyn ap Nudd had heard his testimony. Heard him admit to his betrayal. Heard him acknowledge that he had abrogated his duties as High King. Heard him admit that he had sacrificed Sidhe. And heard him admit that he had delivered Brigid and Cu Chulainn to Zeus and Odin.

Now that he had heard, the Law of [Justice] that he served would demand he act. The souls of Lleu Llaw, Nelag, and Diarmuid that he had trapped, that he had kept them from moving on, were claimed. Each of them ripped away from the promise of an afterlife or reincarnation.

Nelag's soul would normally have been claimed by Hades and allowed to enter the Elysian fields, a vast meadow where the Olympians went when they died. His connection to the Olympus Pantheon would have precluded even a chance at gaining entrance to the Sidhe's Summerlands.

But Gwyn ap Nudd was the [Master of the Hunt]. This was more than just a title. This was a [Title]. And as the Huntsman, he was able to lay claim to souls that gained the attention of [Justice].

Normally, only those that died in battle while being targeted by the Hunt could be claimed, but [Oath] had been broken, testimony had been given, and [Justice] was blind when meting out punishment.

Lleu Llaw Gryffes, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, and Consort Duke Nelag were his.

The woven strands of [Fate] that might have been re-spun on the spinning wheel of reincarnation were snipped. The promise of an afterlife was denied to each of them as each soul was transformed.

The Huntsmen were uniform in caricature and character. Each member was gifted with armor, weapon, and mount. Each member was transformed into a uniformity of shape and function.

The three souls warped and stretched. Each molding to the same body type, the same height, the same weight. Each gaining and sporting antlers. Each growing cloven feet. They were made members of the Hunt, added to the collective mind that Gwyn ap Nudd commanded.

They would reside in stasis, a life of bereft of purpose. Only waking and acting when they were called to Hunt.

As I watched Gwyn ap Nudd act and claim their souls, I felt a sense of relief. I had worked to hide my presence from the other Pantheons. I had invoked the Tuatha de Danann to cloak me and my actions on this world, and I would hate to see those efforts wasted.

If Nelag had been claimed by Hades and gone to the Elysian Fields, the steps I had taken to hide my actions would have been for nothing. Hades or Zeus would have questioned him. And although he didn't know about my quests, he knew enough about me for Odin's prodigious intellect and wisdom to begin ferreting out more and more of what I might be about. At least he would be able to intimate that I intended to restore the Sidhe and push back against humanity's aggression.

Once the souls were claimed, Gwyn ap Nudd left the same way he came. One second there, the next gone. He parted without the need for words. His duty was to serve [Justice], and not even Cariad, a member of the Hunt, was worth his attention if [Justice] was not involved.

The Sithern recognized that [Challenge] had been satisfied and responded. First, by working its transformative and temporal abilities to return those of us that had been in the council room back to that location. Next, by replacing the council seat members Lleu Llaw and Diarmuid held.

The Sidhe of this world didn't have access to the System or System announcements, but we still knew who the Sithern had selected to take a seat as a replacement member of the Twelve. A type of telepathic resonance that both called the new members to serve and informed those of us that had established bonds with the Sithern when the two individuals accepted that call. We could feel the Sithern's working as it initiated and stabilized the new bonds offered and accepted.

Strof Ua Knocker was the first to be chosen, the first to accept, and the first to arrive. The Sithern folding space and dimension to move him from wherever he had been to where we were.

He was tall for a Knocker, perhaps thirty inches in height. Perfectly proportioned and blessed with the beauty that all Sidhe possessed and an aura of power and authority that only those that ruled learned to cultivate.

He had learned to use his size and appearance to project innocence and helplessness, a doll-like quality that engendered a desire to protect and cherish him in those around him.

Anyone that believed that mantel of innocence did so at their peril. His countenance was a trap, just as deadly as the illusion wisps used to trick mortals into following them to their death. He used the Sidhe magic of glamour to foster his appearance as a point of power.

It allowed friend and enemy alike to underestimate him. And he used that to his advantage. But to make light of his abilities and power was a mistake. And for the Sidhe, that kind of mistake could cost you everything.

The second person to answer Sithern's call was a Leanan Sidhe. Pleng was young, barely past childhood, but with the curse of her species lifted and her new ability to act as a facilitator, to soothe negative emotions and engender an atmosphere of compromise, her choice was inspired.

I wasn't sure why the Sithern would select her. There had to be other Leanan Sidhe that were older and more powerful, but it had to have a reason. I would have to wait and watch how she managed to survive and interact with the other council members. Members who were much older, more powerful, and gifted in the art of political maneuvering.

Maybe the changes to the Leanan were more potent than I had assumed. Hopefully, she was immune to intimidation and persuasion. Her ability to project calmness might give her defensive protection against those types of attacks against the psyche. Pressures that most individuals her age could never resist..