Prophecy's Twilight: Following of the Rose #1

["Cilia" <cilia@xxxxx>]

Hiya again,
Well it is here, the first new chapter of the Two Worlds saga in I think
four months. This is the B/W part of the story, with great big changes
planned for the near future and watch out for a sneak peak of next
chapter at the end of the mail.
Catch you around,
Cilia
 
Title: Following of the Rose 
Book: Prophecy's Twilight
Chapter: Return to Larken
Author: Cilia
Beta: Cheryl
Summary: After the horrible defeat suffered at the Tower (see Prophecy?s
Twilight Introduction) Buffy has withdrawn with her troops and injured
wife back to Larken. Now accompanied by Ziel Grey and Gymli Greybeard
her mother?s former companions and joined by her daughter June Xare and
Spike. Buffy must prepare for the coming battles, but reunited with her
wife, Willow, nothing is impossible for the Hero of Necris and the Red
Mage.
 
PROPHECY?S TWILIGHT: FOLLOWING OF THE ROSE
 
Chapter 1: Return to Larken
 
Our numbers have diminished yet again as we return to Larken. Tark has
vanished along with Tare, meaning the loss of my two most trusted
soldiers. Still there is a reason for this; I can feel it in my bones,
which at this moment are aching from the hard ride down from Argon. 
The tall gray stoned walls of Larken rise up in the center of the valley
in which it lies. Carved from the rocks of the river it stands by,
Larken is the most heavily defended city on the continent and a perfect
place for a war council, cause if anybody disagrees you can just shut
the gates and nobody is getting out until the issue is resolved, and
people say I?m losing my sense of humor.
 
No I?m not on the barricades this time, instead I?m bored out of my
mind, sitting through yet another strategic meeting, this Alliance is
fragile at best, after all you try getting five species to work together
without tearing each other apart. We have your drow who don?t like the
elves all that much, less cause of the alliance though, and vise verse,
then you have you humans who are paranoid of the older races, you have
dwarves who are just trying to make profit in the end and then you have
high elves and I thought the Royals were bad, but these guys take the
cake talk about superiority complex. These things usually work so well
at the start though and I wish Willow was here.
?General Summers?? Queen Amy Solonus, head of the Alliance
Council in Willow?s absence and one time friend asked. 
?Sorry just wondering why we haven?t had word from Tharon,?
Buffy answered and showing that despite her seeming disinterested with
the meeting she still had her wits about her and Piratess, the Drow
Queen, smiled at her protégés statement.
?They have dispatched mages that will be arriving shortly,?
Amy answered firmly. Willow?s former protégée despite being married to
King Vitor Solonus of the Elves, had joined the mage guild shortly after
Buffy?s departure from the Old Realm, thus their aid was a matter of
pride to the Mage Queen.
?Great, then if you?ll excuse me I have an army to drill,?
Buffy said, stood up and strode out of the meeting hall. The room
erupted into protest and arguing the moment she left, cause with her
went Piratess and that meant all bets were off. 
 
The Drow Queen caught up with her human protégée in the halls of the
Alliance headquarters. The Alliance buildings had been built in various
cities throughout the land over the course of the last ten years of
peace and were now being pressed into action as everybody from courtiers
to diplomats to sergeants shuffled through the halls.
?Elisabeth when will your wife return and claim her place??
The Queen asked, getting right to the point.
?Soon Tessa, soon,? Buffy said as the floor became very
interesting all of a sudden. ?She?s just needs time to recover a bit of
her strength,? she added.
?We have had this talk before have we not?? The Queen asked
with a motherly smile.
?Yes, many times,? Buffy answered. ?And things are cool, err
good, they really are it?s just...?
?You do her no good by protecting her you know that,? Tessa
said as they stepped aside for a hurrying messenger. There was silence
between the two women, in the brief time they had spent together prior
to the Battle of Necris and then again when Buffy returned had forged a
sisterly bond between the two.
?You are right of course,? Buffy finally said with a smile.
?Time to put all that angst behind us and move on.? 
Upon hearing this the Drow Queen, smiled a smile that she rarely used.
?Good, now tell me about this daughter of yours? from the
future,? she asked and Buffy sighed and it was a deep rumbling in your
chest kind of sigh. 
I just can?t catch a break, she thought to herself as she
took Tessa by the hand and led her to the nearest kitchen.
 
~*~*~*~
 
Willow Rosenberg-Summers, the most powerful being of two worlds, sat and
watched the sun travel across the sky. Her body was sitting in a large
chair in the mage tower of Larken, but her spirit was sitting on a
mountaintop somewhere on the Wall. Time means little to a mage and even
more so to a master of the arcane arts. Her wife Elisabeth and friend
Al?x Sun might be considered some of the finest tacticians in the Realm,
but those were battles of the sword and of the flesh, battles of the
mind and magic are much more complicated events to plan. 
 
There was a small intrusion, almost too small to notice. It had a
familiar feel to it and Willow for the first time since her defeat at
the Tower smiled, it was a bright smile, cause she has no other. Before
her stands June, her daughter from a world that might not be and at the
same time is. Mother and daughter just sit together, no words are passed
between them. 
 
Finally it is June that speaks, lacking the patience born of years of
training that both her mother?s posses, though arguably one more than
the other. Figured i?d tell you cause you would have figured it out
sooner or later. Mommy I am an elemental, just like grandma Joyce is,
there are, or will be four of us, one is already born here, the other
two are waiting back home. At this Willow just smiled and pats her
daughter-to-be's head. Go, she says and the daughter vanishes, leaving
only the mother to lay her plans.
 
~*~*~*~
 
William, also known as Spike, sat and waited for his companion to return
from wherever she was and his place of waiting; of course the pub
closest to the Alliance building of Larken. 
It would be a lie to say that the he didn?t find all this a bit
unsettling and that he had not undertaken the mission under extreme
protest. 
?Silly smart fucks,? he muttered to himself, referring two
of his oldest friends who had orchestrated this little sojourn into the
past. Just when he had settled down into a nice mentoring gig with a
group of second generation white hats, they had pulled him back in, as
if he could have let June go alone. 
?Prince William Blood?? a soft voice asked causing him to
jump slightly. Before him stood a short woman, of no more than twenty
odd years, with distinct elfin features but also a touch of humanity.
?Priestess Ziel Grey,? he greeted with a bow, good memory
one of the must of eternal life.
?You have good memory Prince Blood,? she said as she sat
down. 
?What happened to your accent?? he asked, remembering the
strong dwarfish brogue the woman had spoken with the last time they had
met almost twenty-four years ago.
?Ten years of wandering can change things,? she answered
with a small smile.
?And your father, Gymli, how?s the old bastard?? Spike
asked. He had fond memories of his time here, many of the spend drinking
with the dwarf.
?Aye if it isn?t dat no good bloodsucker who cares little
for fine meat,? a voice thundered from the entrance.
?He was running late,? Ziel answered and her smile grew as
Spike stood up to greet the dwarf.
It was an awkward greeting, Spike towering a good two feet over the
bulky dwarf and both men sizing each other up and the other customers
started to stir at the prospect of a fight.
?You have gained weight,? Spike said in a conversational
tone.
?Ye are exactly the same,? Gymli answered. ?Well almost,? he
added and gave a bellowing laugh when he noticed the gray color of
Spike?s temples.
?Sure mock me,? Spikes huffed and planted himself back into
his chair. 
?Ya look ridiculous ol?friend,? Gymli said as he climbed
into an empty chair and hailed the barmaid. 
?Well you are no feast for the eyes yourself,? Spike said
and Ziel?s smile just grew.        
?What are ya smiling about,? both men asked and that caused
the petit and usually controlled Priestess to burst out laughing. When
the Priestess' musical laughter subsided she just smiled a silly little
smile and blushed.
?Where is dat lass you brought with ya?? Gymli asked looking
around when the barmaid delivered the meat.
?Locked up in the mage guild reading,? Spike muttered. ?That
girl spends too much time hunches over books, I think it comes from her
mother?s side of the family, Willow?s one that is,? Spike explained.
Ziel looked thoughtful for moment and then a smile spread across her
lips.
?Oy me know that look,? Gymli muttered. ?What ya plottin?
lass?? he asked.
?Spike, what if I told you I could get her into the drow
army, elite that is?? Ziel asked.
?I would ask what it will cost me?? Spike asked.
?Nothing, just a favor, one that I will collect at a later
date of course,? Ziel said with a smile.
?Favors I can do,? Spike said with a smile. ?The more brawl involved the
better,? he added and offered her his hand. ?Deal!? he said and Ziel
took his large hand in her small one.
?Deal,? she said and they shook.
 
~*~*~*~
 
Later that day Priestess Ziel found herself looking for an old friend in
order to settle an old issue, one that had been allowed to fester far
too long, almost five years too long. She strode into the study of
Ambassador Grimm, scholar, thief, general and most notably consort to
Queen Piratess of the Drow. He had at one point been her lover. 
The study was filled with trophies from battles, thefts and journeys.
Buried in a book, but still even hunched over a tome his body was still
coiled ready to spring into action and that he did, throwing knife at
ready and a glint in his eyes.
?Ziel,? he greeted, as his smile got wider. It was a thief?s
smile, a roguish one at that.
?Hello old friend,? Ziel greeted with a bow and Grimm?s face
fell, being a good judge of people he knew that this was not a social
call.
?I heard of your acceptance as Piratess? consort,? she went
on. ?I?m a sorry that I did not make my way here sooner to congratulate
you.?
?If you have come to assure me of your silence, then it?s
completely unnecessary I trust you,? Grimm said as he fell back into the
chair behind the stand that held the tome. 
He had known that getting together with the then young priestess at
Tharon during their mission to rescue Willow all those years ago would
have consequences beyond his imagination. 
But the priestess knew so much about him, she was one of the few that
knew he was a son of a respected scholar and had walked that road
briefly in his youth. That he had beliefs and fears, fears of loving a
woman, no a Queen, that would outlive him by centuries. 
She had been so desperate in her search for understanding of her
humanity, a half elf, half-human raised by a dwarf, and there was little
chance of finding an odder mix in race and upbringing than that. So he
had helped her, walked with her through the streets of Altran and
Tharon, seeking out clues and coming up empty handed. They had become
lovers on the voyage across the East Sea, but when they had found Willow
and returned it had ended. He had Piratess and she had her duty to her
God. Now it was going to blow up in his face.
?I know you trust me silly,? Ziel said interrupting his
racing thoughts. ?That?s not why I came,? she added with a sly smile. 
?Then?? Grimm said and pointed, tried to speak and then
scowled. ?You bloody elf,? he muttered.
?Why thank you,? Ziel said with sly smile. ?The reason I
came, is to tell you that I wish to call in a favor I believe you have
owed me for five years now,? she said and the thief sighed. ?You
remember good,? she said with smile.      
?What do you want Ziel?? Grimm asked, knowing that it would be something
thoroughly embarrassing. Who knew that she would remember a simple
banishing for so long?
?I need to have a friend moved through the ranks,? she said. ?Withoutit
being known that it was my doing and that includes everybody,? she
added.
?That can be arranged, who is it?? Grimm asked.
?You?ll find out soon enough, I?ll send her by tomorrow,? Ziel said.
?Her?? Grimm asked, but Ziel only smiled and the thief buried his face
in his hands.
?Good day ambassador,? Ziel said and when Grimm looked up she was gone. 
?Nice to see she has gotten in touch with her elfin side,?
he said to the wall. But he had feeling that this ?friend? that Ziel
wanted pushed along, would cause him some grief sooner or later, he was
betting on sooner.
 
To be contiuned on Following of the Rose #2
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Sneak preview at Willow?s new look
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Before her stood Willow, her wife or at least she hoped to god this was
her wife and that she hadn?t entered the wrong study, wearing a thin and
form hugging white robe. Her long red hair had been cut to jaw length
and somehow dyed so it had golden streaks running through it. Her eyes
shone like twin emeralds they had about them a sparkle of life that had
not been there since the battle of the Tower and a mischievous grin
graced her lips that had been colored with the same golden hue that
streaked her hair. She looked younger somehow as if the last ten years
had been nothing but an illusion.