In Loki's Honor

I woke with the sound of whispers and something softly pounding on glass. Which was stupid, because there was no glass around here. Nenandil's arm was wrapped around me. I slid free without waking her up and look around. I flex my chocolate-colored arms and stretch. I need a mirror to see how I look. The thumping resumes. I look around and see them.

The dead fairies came to my abode. Probably sensing my spiritual power. I stand and walk to the edge of the ward. I know that if I release it, they will enter and haunt my house, probably for a long time.

I don't know how it works with fairies, but not all mortals that die become ghosts. Must be just a really small percentage.

"Let us in!" - "It's cold outside!" - "That pie was to die for!" - "Did you know some stupid humans mistake us for elves?"

"Mommy, I threw up now I need you to clean up." - "I'm feeling so cold!" - "I can't feel my fingers! I can't feel my fingers?"

The spectral fairies called, jeered, and teased me.

I instinctively knew through my Class that in order for them to go away, I would either have to destroy them with brute force, exorcise their souls, or fulfill their leftover material wishes. The first was too cruel, the second was impossible for me at this level, and the third was completely out of the question because fairies had a hundred thousand wishes. I just needed one of them with the "I regret I didn't get to prank every living creature in this world" wish and I was doomed.

There was a fourth option to seal them and leave a timebomb for someone else in the future but given my recurrent nature that would be like spitting upward. And finally, the fifth. Dump the problem on someone else. When I thought about the mischief a horde of fairy ghosts could do to a human house, the corners of my big mouth curled up.

"Say, why don't you guys go tell the lady that baked the pie how much you liked it?"

"Bah! Nobody can see us!"

"But what if I make you physical again for a brief while? You could go and pester the humans. Although you would be weak to their attacks. They could hurt you."

"Yeah!" - "Let's do this!" - "I'll ask for more poison pie to eat!" - "This is going to be so spooky and fun!"

And so on. Without giving it much thought, because my brain could or not be an actual pea but was definitely close in size, I used {Materialize Spectre} on them, burning all of my 3,000 SP - It cost 100 points per hour to materialize each one of them and unleashing a horde of fairy ghosts on the unsuspecting human village. Some of the specters remained but I told them to go look for gold in the river if they wanted me to materialize them.

We used gold to trade with leprechauns for some things we needed.

Peaceful Resolution Achieved.

For pacifying a horde of fairy ghosts with an average level of 20, you gained 61,000 Exp (Base 4,000 x 15.5 modifiers [expand] )

The horde, favored enemy bonuses, my class bonus, or peaceful resolutions with the dead and the peaceful resolution penalty added up to a roughly x5 multiplier.

You become a Fae Souweaver level 10.

You gained two Fae Souweaver perks.

You become a Brownie [Silkie] level 9.

You gained one Brownie [Silkie] perk.

You become a Chemist level 8.

You become a Surgeon level 8.

Early levels are so sweet. But that was my effort in stacking up as many multipliers as possible in my previous lives. I dumped all the floating Attribute points into Soul, enlarging my SP pool to 5,300. The effects of a high Attribute value are too scary.

I spent the Skill points on upgrading the Skills I bought. Now that the buy-in cost had risen, it was worth it and there wasn't anything that caught my eye. As for the perks, I got these ones:

You gained the Spiritual Health (ultra-rare) perk. Your HP pool is based on either Soul or Endurance, whichever is higher, plus half of the lower Attribute.

You gained the Cleanse Blight (very rare) perk. Spend a massive amount of SP to temporarily cleanse blight. Should you affect the whole blight area, it won't return if the undead is not present.

You gained the Strengthened Animal Shapes II (rare) perk. When you transform into an animalistic form, Increase your physical Attributes by 9.

My HP jumped from a mere hundred-something to almost six hundred. At level nineteen, it was a lot.

With my job done, I went back to sleep.

"I need more help!" Widow Agatha Baker screamed at the village constable. "Those damn fairies are destroying my house! You will come with me, now!"

That was the second time this week Mrs. Baker came to ask for help. Last time he sent his deputies, and now she was demanding his presence. Mrs. Baker lost several pies and pastries to fairy thefts over the years and was bragging a while ago that she got the final solution to her fairy infestation. Constable Harper sighed. It seems her final solution made things worse. And she didn't disclose what she did.

Worse yet, fairy raids and pranks increased radically last week. While the real fairies were doing mostly harmless pranks on everyone, Mrs. Baker was hit hard with ghosts. Fairy ghosts of all things.

"Mrs. Baker, I debriefed my deputies. Your house is haunted by fairy ghosts. That never happened before. Why would there be fairy ghosts in your house, now of all times? Does it have to do with your 'final solution', Mrs. Baker?"

"No. I can't see what one thing has to do with the other. These ghosts are hurting my business! People don't want to buy bread anymore! I threw a whole batch of bread out because it was moldy!"

That didn't fool Harper. He knew she was hiding something. She had a guilty look.

"I see. Unfortunately, we did what we could. Unless you give us more to work with, I'm not doing anything else."

"I... I might've set a trap with a poisonous pie. It was nothing bad, it was supposed to just give them a tummy ache."

"You gave the fairies POISONED food? What have you done!"

"But grophan sap only gives people a tummyache!" She protested.

Constable Harper slammed down his hand. "Stupid woman! You doomed this village! Grophan sap is used to kill rats! And what else has the same size as a rat? Fairies! You killed them and now they want to collect a blood debt. Holmes!"

Deputy Holmes entered his office, "You called, constable?"

"Arrest Mrs. Baker here for reckless endangerment of our community. When the judge comes here next month, she'll be judged by him. Meanwhile, set a picket around her bakery and condemn the building. Let's hope the fairy ghosts stay there."

Mrs. Baker was dragged by deputy Holmes, literally kicking and screaming. Constable Harper opened his drawer and took a form he was procrastinating on. The villagers made several requests to ask for help dealing with the fairy infestation. He couldn't stop them from logging the fairies' ancestral forest, so they had to go. He picked the form and started to write a report to the magic academy asking for help.

My strategy for dealing with the ghosts worked. Every night I had to recast {Materialize Spectre} on them but each night there were fewer ghosts. They were either getting their fill of pranks and moving on or they were being killed.

The other fairies around me were very helpful. Some of them knew a lot about magic, even about arcane human magic. But try as they might, nobody could fix my dead conduits condition. The Queen left us mostly alone, her in the separated realm beyond-the-tree, as the fairies call it, and us here on the mortal world.

Things changed when a mortal mage, a human, came to visit us. He observed the protocols, he brought gifts and treated the fairies well. But he got my hackles raised. I didn't go to meet him but I observed from afar. I was using chameleon to disguise myself in the trees. The fairies traded pixie dust, a magical reagent the wing of pixies and sylphs created - basically wing scurf, like the dust from a moth's wings.

I was too far away and the fairies too noisy to hear their conversation. But I was suspicious as hell about that visitor. Maybe that was the paranoia of living a double life as both an assassin and a hero.

Humans are insular. They usually don't consider the other sentient races people, much fewer fairies that make a useful magical component. From what I heard about as Apricot, most humans consider fairies just a step above insects.

I sought Nenandil to talk about my worries. After I explained to her what I saw, she looked at me and sighed.

"That is not our problem. The fairies have the Queen to worry about these issues. Yes, the mage is ripping off the fairies, but it is not like they can go and sell the dust directly to the humans. They are not unhappy with the trinkets and treats the mage gave them, there's no problem with that."

She frowned. "Isn't it Apricot's paranoia talking? You're Silverstreak now. Leave that cloak and dagger life behind. Embrace the fairy!"

"Which fairy?" I winked at her.

Instead of blushing, she grinned. "That's what I'm saying! It is almost time for your lessons with Neep. You should go."

I shook my head. I didn't want to go. Why would I waste time learning {House Magic} if I couldn't use magic? Nenandil, however, had other thoughts.

"You have to go. Even if you can't use magic now, you'll be able someday in the future. GO."

"Okay, mother!" I whined and went on my way.

Neep lived three trees to the north. His house was a junkyard for fairies, all the broken things were sent there. He didn't fix them or made weird contraptions like some leaf-clad blonde jingling bimbo elsewhere. No. He cleaned those up and made household items. The other fairies are not too keen on homemaking but us brownies take pride in having a nice and well-decorated house.

I enter the place and the True Scotsmen fairy - I didn't check and he didn't wear a kilt - was there, waiting for me.

"Guid efternoon, Silverstreak. Hings ur hectic wi' th' mage's visit. Kin we stairt training yer spells?"

He hands me a broom made of hare fur. It gives me a nostalgic feeling. Absorbed in self-reflection, I didn't get his explanation. "I'm sorry?"

"Ye hae tae mak' th' broom come alive 'n' shift oan tis ain. Enchant it wull th' wull tae sweep stoor 'n' wash."

Okay. I focus on the broom. The image of a broom coming alive and cleaning and washing - although I think he meant 'clean' - is easy. A certain rodent in a starlit robe did that for us with an orchestra in the background. I can even hear the song. I focus and the System gives me good and bad news.

Your House Magic Skill reached novice 8.

Spell failed. You cannot use magic. Your conduits are dead.

Slap me in the face with that every time, will ya. I can imagine the horned-helmet god laughing at me.

"I got another level on the skill. It is novice 8. It also said the same thing as before. I can't use magic. My conduits are dead."

"That's ill. Bit progress is progress. Ah tellt yer kinch tae th' queen, she is trying tae git ye hulp. Mibbie th' magicians kin dae something."

We spend the rest of the night - brownies are nocturnal - studying House Magic. I try even a few apprentice level spells but nothing happens. The System tells me the spell failed because my conduits are dead.

We part at dawn, I go back home and sleep.

One month later, nothing changed. The fairy ghosts were all gone. The human mage returned, and he brought two other mages with him. Another human, older, and an elf. I wanted to talk with them but didn't approach them. I just watched from my hiding spot, using my camouflage.

To my surprise, the Queen came out of the tree to meet them. Even though Nenandil told me to not do it, I moved closer to eavesdrop.

"Your majesty," The elf mage bows to her. "We came here to help you with that issue. I'm magister Sundamar Quigeiros from the Zaemisan Empire. This is Halamar Yngara and you've already met magister Lazzari."

The latter was the one that came to trade pixie dust for trinkets.

"Welcome, magisters. Yes, we have a most peculiar fairy here. She cannot use magic, we can't see her status, and she says her magic conduits are dead."

"Fairies are creatures of magic," Lazzari says. "It should be impossible for her to even exist."

"According to the current theory," Sundamar adds. "Where is she? We would like to see her."

"She's an elusive one. I'll send for her," She flagged two pixies and sent them to look for me, one at Neep's and another at home. But I was right there, and I had a really bad feeling about these mages. Even if they could help me, I knew how greedy these men are for knowledge. The best scenario was that they help me after a long stay as their test subject, the worst scenario was that they'd just keep me as a test subject. Like, forever. I'd rather die and reroll.

The two pixies returned empty-handed. The Queen told them to fetch Nenandil if I'm not available. My first impulse was to murder all of them.

Nenandil returns flying with the pixies and the mages to wide-eyed at her sight. Yes, she's pretty. I also see the queen staring at my familiar with a sultry slutty gaze. Nenandil thought the Queen was interested in me, but she's attracted to her instead. Unaware of the danger, Nenandil approached.

"You called, Your Majesty?" She bowed.

"Yes, yes. Where's Silverstreak?" The Queen asks, rather annoyed that she's talking about me.

Nenandil knows where I am because of our link. She doesn't betray my location or even glances at me.

With my cat ears, I overhear the magisters whispering.

"A winged water fairy? She's no naiad."

"No. I think she's another species entirely. Probably royalty like the Queen."

"She's level nineteen. Yet I sense an old power around her."

Unaware of the mages' whispered conversation, Nenandil talks to the Queen.

"She might be out there, playing. I know she spent the whole night with Neep training, but I don't know where she is," Nenandil lied with an annoyed expression.

"These gentlemen magisters here came to help her. Well, since you two are bound, they might be able to locate her with a little spell," The Queen declared. "Magisters, please."

The trio nodded. They started to chant at once, the same spell. My stomach churned. Something was wrong. A magic circle appeared under Nenandil.

The Queen was exulting. She grinned and said, "Finally! You'll be mine."

A thick band appeared around Nenandil's neck. The mages keep chanting. I got a notification.

You Water Fairy Familiar perk is disabled. Your familiar is bound by a magical effect and unable to act.

Nenandil fell on her knees. I jumped down to attack the mages but they are still chanting. The same magical circle appears around me and every other fairy in the glade. The pixies and sylphs fall down to the ground and my cat transformation reverts as my chameleon is canceled. Another notification pops up as I fall down next to the Queen, the momentum of my jump stolen by the spell.

Your active perks and Skills are sealed.

I felt the cold metal of a collar around my neck. I try to speak but I can't.

"Impossible! That was not what we agreed to!" The Queen gasped as she found the same magical collar around her neck.

The first human mage, Lazzari laughs. "As if we would honor an agreement with an elemental insect. No. You are now mine, my pretty bug." He scooped the Queen. The other mage, Halamar, picked up Nenandil. By the wings. She struggles but he soon puts her in a jar.

The elf approached and scooped me. "You are the one they told us about. Silverstreak. Hello. I sense something about you. Some sort of kinship. You'll come with me. We'll treat you well."

I went into a jar. The lid had holes for airflow but that wasn't the problem. I pounded against the ceramic wall but I'm too weak to break it. None of my perks work. I sat down on the jar as I heard the clinking of ceramic hitting one another.

"This harvest was a good one, gentlemen. We are going to be rich!" Lazzari gloated.