Reluctantly Rogue Pt. 01 Ch. 015

(Note: This is a long, ongoing story. It is a story with sex. It's a sexy story. It is in many ways a story about sex. But, it is not strictly a sex story. Many chapters may even be SFW.

This chapter is, however, very SFW!)

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Helliot's Predicament

Helliot began his tale, assuming a dramatic pose, as though he were performing a long-rehearsed recitation.

"First, I wish you to understand that the passage of time is, to an immortal, not as it is to a mortal. You may measure your time in this world in summers, or in scores of summers. You may measure the histories of your peoples in lifetimes, or even in scores of lifetimes. We measure our lives in histories. So, when I say that I have been waiting for an age, I do not mean a handful of summers, Mr. Bracken. I mean an age of the world.

"And I have been waiting to see my daughter again for an age." He paused to consider the young woodsman.

"She was taken from me. She was stolen. She was imprisoned. She resides now in a location from which she may not remove herself, lest she dwindle, fade, and ultimately come as close to mortal death as it is possible for us to come, short of violence.

"Only with great healing may she be extracted from her prison, healing which I myself am entirely incapable of providing. I have required, for generation upon generation of mortals, a healer of great skill, one who might take my partnership and utilize it to become one such as mortals and immortals alike have seldom seen, and to go forth with me to free my daughter from her endless confines.

"One thing you must understand about immortals, is that we cannot present ourselves at will to those of the mortal world. If you do not choose to see us, it is as though we do not exist. We must be invited.

"I am of a place far distant from this one, Mr. Bracken. My kind cannot come here unless asked to. Without an invitation, this place is inaccessible to us. So it is, that for a long age, I have waited and suffered, knowing of my daughter's imprisonment here, and have been unable to in any way effect change.

"Many a time I have been invited, and I have made many agreements with mortals for fame or success or whatever desire they might hold, and many times have I then been dismissed back to my own realm, my own desires yet unfulfilled.

"So it was, that when a youthful healer of great heart, of great skill, and of great desire invited me here, I could not restrain myself. You may have become aware, Mr. Bracken, that agreements are of great importance to me. They are, you might say, at the core of how I am. But in this case, I could not resist. I did not fully break an agreement, but I strained it. I interrupted it. Allow me to explain."

Here, Helliot halted, looking for something in Atyr's expression. Seeming to find it, he dropped his red velvet hands to his side, shoulders slumping.

"An invitation to this realm from mine is a sort of agreement. The Inviter sends me an Invitation. I, the Invitee, may choose to accept or ignore it, or to reject it entirely. If I accept, I am permitted to appear here, at which point the Inviter makes their request of me. From there, we may haggle over terms, and eventually come to the point of a secondary agreement. Alternatively, we may fail to reach an agreement. In either case, secondary agreement or none, the primary agreement is held fulfilled once I have heard the Inviter's proposal, and we have reached a decision. At that point I may return, in fact am compelled to return, to my home.

"In this particular case, I confounded this pattern of agreements. In my eagerness to free my daughter, I interrupted it in such a way that it has become impossible for me to conclude the primary agreement, and so I am held here until that conclusion may occur." Helliot looked sadly down at his gloved palms.

"It was Abarabirdadellet that invited my here. I see you are not surprised, Mr. Bracken; I had wondered if you would have already come to suspect. Yes, I am her "Fae Man" of whom she spoke to you.

"I knew what she sought; greater skill, greater knowledge, greater ability to help and to heal in this world. These were precisely the things that a partnership with an immortal such as myself could provide. Knowing this, I overstepped.

"Upon accepting her invitation and arriving here, I did not wait for her request. Instead, I advanced my own proposal; she would help me to free my daughter, and in return, I would give her what I knew her desire to be. Skill, knowledge, and the ability to better the circumstances of those around her.

"This would not have been a problem, had she accepted my offer. We could then have clarified the terms and adopted my proposal as her own, completing both the primary and secondary agreements. It also would not have been a problem had she rejected my offer, and proceeded to make her own proposal on her own terms. She did neither.

"Instead, the young Abarabirdadellet grew distrustful. Not just of me, not of my offer, but of the very veracity of the situation she found herself in. She rejected my offer, which again, should have been no issue in itself. However, given that what I had offered her was identical to that which she had intended to ask of me, I believe that she viewed her rejection of my proposal as a rejection of the proposal she had originally intended to make, though it was not, as a technical reality.

"Then, the strangest part happened. I believe she convinced herself that I was not as I am, that I was somehow an impostor, and she seemed to somehow disinvite me. Until that point in my long life, I had not realized such a thing possible, Mr. Bracken. Once disinvited, for her it was as though the invitation had never been." He sighed, and said again, "For her. She could no longer see me, no longer hear me. And yet, our agreement had not in fact been concluded.

"I had agreed to come here and listen to her request, but she had never actually made that request. Not only that, but as she was now unable to see me or hear me, she was thus unable to ever make that request.

"I was left with a terrible decision. Either, I could break the agreement and return home, abandoning everything that makes me how I am. Or, I could remain here. Unseen, unheard, unable to leave. I am bound by my sense of the Agreement of Invitation I began with Abarabirdadellet, to stay by her side, waiting until the Fates should see fit to change my lot.

"And that, Mr. Bracken, is why I was so intrigued to see you walk out of the Ending Room the other day."

Atry started. He'd been lulled into the flow of the story, and hadn't expected to feature in it himself.

"Me?"

"Yes, Mr Bracken. You see, I need to free my daughter. To do that, I must have my liberty from this place. For over three scores of summers I have felt myself bound to Abarabirdadellet, unable to stray far from her. I cannot go to my daughter. I cannot return to my own realm. I cannot even receive the other invitations which have doubtless accumulated, sent, as it were, to my home address.

"Your usefulness to me, Mr. Bracken, is as a messenger. As one who has formed a bond with an immortal, you may see and hear me. As a mortal yourself, you may be seen and heard by Abarabirdadellet. Thus, are you one of the few beings in this world who may speak both to me, and to her.

"Mr. Bracken, I will not hide from you that I have, over the years, become increasingly fond of Abarabirdaellet. You may note that I allow myself the informality of her first name; a familiarity which took me a dozen summers to adopt. I tell you this so that you will understand the bittersweet melancholy with which, for the past three score and seven years, I have been awaiting her death."

A coldness crept up Atyr's spine. He stared fiercely at Helliot, trying to think of some suitably intimidating words to direct at the taller, immortal gentleman.

"Please, Mr. Bracken, do not understand me to say that I in anyway hope for, or relish the thought of her passing. It is merely an inevitability. With age, her Time will eventually find its End. It is with only sadness that I contemplate that event. It is however, the first of three eventualities which would set me at liberty. And so, painfully, for score after score of years, I have waited here, observing her at a remove, admiring her care, her diligence, and her playful love for her fellows, but knowing that at some point, she will be no more, and that at that point I might at last return to my home, with our agreement void.

"It is not an event I wish to hasten, Mr. Bracken, anymore than you yourself would wish it. Less so, in fact. It is only an event which I await for lack of ought else to do.

"Again, that is your place in this, should you accept my offer. There are two other paths forward, both of which would require communication with Abarabirdadellet. The first, is for her to, at long last, make her own offer to me, at which point I could reject it. This would be the simplest way to complete the Agreement of the Invitation. Regretfully, she is now much too advanced in her summers to go adventuring out across the land, and so I could not accept her proposal, even were she still to desire it. This option, however, is made impossible by her inability to communicate with me. Even were she to invite me a second time in an attempt to see me, I am not at home to receive that invitation. I fear that, until my release, I am unable to speak directly with Abarabirdadellet; an essential component of forming a binding agreement. I do not engage in agreements via proxy, Mr. Bracken.

"The final option, is for Abarabirdadellet to pass her stake in the agreement on to another, an inheritor. This would be perfectly suitable. If another, younger healer, one willing and able to venture forth into the wide world, studying and growing and gaining great ability, until strong enough to help me free my daughter... If such a young healer were to be found, one to whom Abarabirdadellet might entrust her agreement... Do you know of one such as this, Mr. Bracken?"

It was obvious to whom Helliot was referring. "So, you want me to ask Kella to go on the Quest to rescue your daughter? From the cave?" He peered at the man's shadowed features. "Bird told me a bit of the story already."

"All that was required of you under our current agreement, Mr. Bracken, was that you hear and consider my request. You have now heard it; I think it wise you take some time to consider it. I will not hide from you that I am an experienced dealmaker, and were the details of the case different, I might now push you for a swift decision. This case, however, concerns my daughter, and I am unwilling to risk even the hint of coercion tainting the path forward. I wish you to have time to think. Would you be amenable to pausing at this juncture, the completion of our first agreement, and reconvening tomorrow night to address the matter of the second?"

Atyr had been readying himself for possible unpleasantness, should Helliot press him aggressively for his aid. He was surprised and relieved to be given an entire day to think about the story. They agreed to meet again in the same spot as the gloom fell the following eve. As they shook hands and parted, Atyr saw a tiny grey flicker pass from within their grasp into his chest, and felt a small rush of Experience, warm and satisfying.

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Many thanks, Dear Reader! I know this part of the story is light on the raunchier bits. I promise the story gets more heated!

-ScryBells