The travel was not slow but it took half of the day before a tiny copse of trees appeared ahead, green instead of snow-covered. An oasis in the empty hills of cold. Vash'era pointed and said "There. We stop there for now."
Breaker brought the snow disc skidding slowly to a halt, throwing up snow as Bastian let the barrier melt away. He was tired and his hands were getting numb from being held over his head.
Within there was a small wooden cabin with smoke drifting lazing from the chimney. Outside, tending a small garden was an older woman with short blonde hair. She stood as the group approached and crossed her arms, the sun was behind her and it made looking in her direction painful and Bastian raised a hand over his face to block the light.
"What are a bunch of outlanders and wanderers doing in my grove?" asked the woman loudly, obviously a fae but who bore no horns.
"We seek knowledge, as many travelers do." shouted Vash'era.
As they approached she placed her trowl on the ground and wiped off the earth on her hands.
"Knowledge is not only what brought you here, nothing can account for crossing the wastes to my home. I won't raise my sword any longer, and I will not consent to train any of you." said the woman, glaring at all of them.
"We only wish to know why the attempt to slay Her failed." said Vash'era.
The woman frowned and said "A tale none have wished told, to remember it brings me great sorrow even now." here she paused and picked up her trowl, heading for the door "I cannot consent to reveal that, either."
"We did not trek hundreds of miles to be disappointed." said Bastian, stepping forward.
"Brave, aren't you. But bravery won't free Faerie. Life is an endless strong of disappointments and failures, outlander. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can return home. I cannot help, nothing can. There is no power that can kill Her." she said, her eyes downcast and her voice defeated.
"No." said Mohammed, stepping forward. His eyes glowing as Zjar'q took control.
"Faith and conviction are alone powerful enough to slay a Shadow Lord. They were made abhorrent to the Light, the smite them in its name destroys them forever. I sense you know me from a far and distant time, when your world was made did the Light come to you?"
The woman looked Zjar'q in the eye and said "I've only heard stories, that we were not the only ones blessed by the Light. But that his grace came to us in the form of angels and even then, they were only fleeting. We swore to uphold old oaths to guard our world from evil, even when the Light's blessings went away and all we had was old stories."
Zjar'q nodded and said "It seems the ineptitude of humans led to the Light's focus being drawn upon us wholly. We were ignorant, and assumed we were the only ones. Your presence reveals otherwise, and as a servant of the Light I will not rest until all the pain and tears felt here are avenged and you are returned all you have lost."
The woman smiled and said "Kind, but fruitless. You may stay here for the night...but outside. I will decide tomorrow if it is worth telling you why we failed."
