Well, this certainly wasn’t something that I had planned for. I probably should have contacted someone to ensure that there was nothing I didn’t want people to see before bringing in a bunch of reporters by portal, but Zeus was kind of going crazy with all the lightning, on a clear day in the middle of winter, no less. They were all getting understandably spooked with all those lightning strikes against my force field spell, after the first briefly killed Fergusson, so I didn’t have much choice but to bring them with us back to Varüus’kiel.

I could have dropped them off somewhere else that I was familiar with, of course, but I figured that getting a firsthand view of all the refugees, the construction efforts, and the Moon Palace would be good and show them what we were doing here. Getting a few snapshots or video clips of the same would hopefully help public opinion on the Changed as well. There were certain things that I did not want them to see yet, though, and one of those potential problems had started running toward me as soon as the portal opened and she could sense my presence.

It looked like Luna had been playing with a couple of the other Draklings by the lakeside, along with some of the smaller children, including Lucy and my little sister from the Winter Court, Tíana. Now, though, she was quickly waddling toward me, and the shiny, silver-scaled, baby Drakan was definitely getting attention as she inquired in my mind, ~You’re back? Who are all these people? More refugees?~

“Hardly, they’re media hounds, and I really would have preferred it if they hadn’t seen you and the other Draklings,” I countered within my thoughts.

~Hounds? Are you certain? They look human to me. Why are they staring anyway? I know how majestic I am, but staring is just rude, and some are pointing strange flashing devices at me. Do they have no manners or consideration for others?~ my bonded Drakling commented, going from confused to offended in record time.

“Well, they are journalists,” I replied snidely, “So no, they probably don’t have either of those.”

~I thought you said they were something called news hounds?~

I sighed and tried not to get frustrated with Luna. It wasn’t her fault that she had no experience with modern culture to work with and had a lot to learn. Whatever memories she inherited about humans from her predecessors were thousands of years out of date, after all. Instead, I informed her, “They’re the same thing, Luna. The ‘news hounds’ thing is just a figure of speech because of the way they chase down anything or anyone they consider newsworthy. The flashing devices are cameras, and some have video cameras too. You know those pictures and moving pictures of the outside world that I showed you on my phone? Those devices are how such things are captured.”

I smiled as a thought came to me, and the reporters closed in while snapping photos of just about everything happening around them, my very shiny Drakan, and the Moon Palace in the distance. This could actually work to my advantage if I played my cards right. I could use what they were seeing now to keep people from snooping around and stumbling upon things that they shouldn’t, or that I wanted kept on the down low for now. Who knows how they might respond to the preparations for the Wild Hunt that would probably be ready to go anytime at the edge of the forest.

“They seem very interested in you, Luna. Do you think that you can keep being all shiny and pretty and keep some attention, and cameras, on you while I manage this situation?” I asked the Drakling.

Her tone hovered somewhere between disbelieving and insulted as she retorted imperiously, ~Just who do you think you’re talking to?~ The little princess immediately started preening and looking as adorable as a baby Drakan could.

That happened to be when one of the reporters who was closing in got brave enough to ask, “What is that? Is it dangerous? What was it doing with those children?”

While internally rolling my eyes, I tried to put on my most patient smile as I responded to what sounded a lot more like accusations than questions. This was exactly why I didn’t want people to see the Drakans until I could start some proper dispersal of accurate information about them. “This is Luna, she’s a baby Drakan, she only hatched a few days ago. She was one of several who hatched recently, and I’ve been having my priestesses raise them since they have no parents to do so. No, they are not dangerous, and I believe that she and her siblings were playing with those children. Weren’t you, Luna?”

Yes, I was being deliberately vague with certain details, such as how many there were, when they hatched, and that one of those children they were playing with was the future Queen of the Winter Court. I was also obscuring the fact that while most had hatched, there were still close to a dozen that had not yet. The last thing I wanted was some idiot running off looking for eggs and dying in the forest or something equally stupid.

For her part, Luna responded to my question with a nod and a cooing sound, even as she continued to preen in front of the cameras. So, I went on to explain, “They are Drakans, not dragons, and they are people, just like us, descended from a race of noble explorers. So, they won’t be burning down cities, kidnapping princesses, or whatever you might be imagining. Luna imprinted on me when they started hatching, and they are already quite intelligent and capable of communication with those they have bonded with, so we are trying to raise them responsibly and give them a good home here in Varüus’kiel, just as we are with the other refugees that we have taken in.”

Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Fearmonger as he pressed, “Look at those things, they’re monsters, just like those Dragons that attacked…”

I cast a spell and had him levitating in front of me before he could even finish that sentence. Despite how she was playing it up for the cameras, I could feel the hurt that the comment generated in Luna’s mind, and it pissed me off. “Do you mean those very same dragons that my companions and I killed?” I asked coldly.

I received a hesitant nod in response, and then I stated clearly, “Then the fact that I haven’t tried to kill them myself yet should tell you something. My people hunt monsters; in a sense, it is what we were created for. We know when something does not belong within the natural tapestry of the world. I will not be repeating myself; Luna and her kin are Drakans, not dragons; they’re an entirely different species. More to the point, they are people, children who are under my care, and anyone who tries to harm them without a very good reason will discover personally that I can be far more fearsome than any dragon you might imagine when I am crossed. I will protect my people, all of them.”

I let that stew in their minds for a moment before relinquishing my magical hold on him and letting him fall to the ground. “If you have any further misgivings, why don’t we ask one of the other children that the Draklings have been playing with? Lucy!”

At my call, the young Tiger Beastkin turned from where she was talking with her ‘Grammy Salem’ to ask, “Yes, Your Majesty?”

I tried not to frown at the child’s use of my public title. Honestly, it was to be expected from her with how much she wanted to be a ‘knight’ like Lissany when she grew up. Instead, I smiled at her and asked, “Lucy, have Luna and the other Draklings hurt any of the other children when playing?”

She immediately and vigorously shook her head in denial. “Nuh-uh, they’ve been really careful, an’ their nannies always watch us when we’re playing together. An’ I’ve been watching over everyone an’ making sure everyone plays nice, just like Lissany asked.”

“Good job, Lucy, you’ll be a proper knight in no time, at this rate,” I told her with a smile as I ruffled her hair. Then I turned back toward the reporters to inquire, “Are there any more questions? Preferably those that don’t bring into question the personhood of any of my people.”

“About your people, what is the population of Varüus’kiel?” one woman asked.

I considered the inquiry for a moment. Even if I had exact numbers, I wouldn’t be willing to give them, and I would rather that they overestimate the true number of Fae in the world right now. I wouldn’t lie outright, but I could redirect.

“Well…” I replied, making like I was thinking it over, “I can’t really say since there were no censuses taken before my people were mostly trapped within the Veil. I believe that we are at around a hundred thousand refugees, though, both those who are Changed and their human spouses or family members, and that isn’t counting the Fae and other species who joined us here when the Veil fell. Right now, we have our hands full trying to feed and provide housing for all those people. Until now, this island and my other domains were mostly uninhabited, but now we’re building a city here to try to house all the new arrivals, and our population is increasing every day, so it’s been hard to keep accurate numbers.”

“I… uhh... don’t see much of a city so far, just that tall glowing building,” another person commented uncertainly.

“Ah, yes, that’s the Moon Palace, magnificent, isn’t it? One of our Atlantean architects decided that I need to live in a fantasy palace and created that. It was grown from a unique kind of crystal that she programmed to take that shape while the rest of the city was being constructed. Unfortunately, that was the last crystal of its kind, so the Moon Palace shall remain unique. As for the rest of the city, perhaps you’re not seeing it because you’re looking up. I wanted something that suits our environmental sensibilities, so we’ve been building down. Think of Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings, all those hills that you see are actually homes and businesses under construction. We’ve even got a fully equipped hospital down there somewhere with medical tech you won’t see anywhere else; that was one of my first priorities.”

That certainly got some attention, though I couldn’t be sure whether it was the nature of the Moon Palace’s construction, our hobbit city in the works, or the talk about the hospital. I decided to leave them wanting more since I had other important things to do today, like finish interrogating Fergusson and overseeing the Wild Hunt for both him and his toady, Shaw, the Director of the CSIS. Besides, two of those assholes had tried to sneak off who knows where while their fellow reporters were focused on me, and they were being ushered back toward the group by a very unhappy-looking and intimidating Nishalle and Pete, while Lissany and Harley remained protectively at my side.

Well, I figured someone was going to try something like that, so while I wasn’t terribly surprised, I was disappointed. Oh well, they had just ruined this chance for everyone else by not playing by the rules, not that I had set any rules since I was making this shit up as I went. Still, instead of answering any of the multitude of other questions being fired my way, I held up a hand to stall any more questions or comments.

“I’m afraid that’s all the time I have to answer questions today, since I’m terribly busy and this little visit wasn’t planned. Those of you who were playing nice can blame the two of you who were sneaking off to look for trouble. I will consider requests for a tour of the city, and possibly a sit-down interview, at a later date, so long as they are polite and requested through proper channels, but for now, it is probably best that I return you all to where I found you,” I announced. The next time I brought anyone from the media here, they were going to be thoroughly vetted first.

With that, I began drawing and speaking the sigils for the portal spell, while fixing my mind back on the airport in Ottawa. I really hoped that Zeus was done throwing his tantrum because I really didn’t want to find some other place in Ottawa to drop these people off. Not that I was dropping all of them off, though, since Fergusson would remain our guest until he had been thoroughly interrogated, run through the forest, and I came up with a suitable punishment for his crimes.

Thankfully, there was no more lightning being hurled about outside of the parking lot, so once we had ushered every last member of the media through the portal, I was able to close the portal behind them and put my mind toward other, more important matters. Or at least that was the plan. Honestly, there wasn’t much for me to do in the interrogation except to reapply the truth spell and ask some questions while my protectors made sure that Fergusson didn’t try anything stupid. Other than that, there wasn’t much for me to do other than show Willow and Luna some love while questioning the bastard.

My little pink and black wisp was always happy with a good petting, especially since things had been so hectic lately and I wasn’t able to give her as much attention as I would have liked. As for Luna, the Radiant Drakan seemed happy to spend some time with me. I mean sure, Guiyen totally pampered her for me while I wasn’t around, but she was an intelligent child who needed to engage others, and right now I was the only one she could talk to, even if that talk was probably ninety percent snark on her part, though thankfully her comments seemed to be directed at the ‘fool’ I was interrogating rather than at me.

In the end, we didn’t learn anything new, at least nothing that we didn’t expect with Zeus involved. The Greek thunder god and some of his cohorts paid Fergusson a little visit in the privacy of his office, much as I did with Shaw earlier today, only he came with an offer. He told Fergusson what he wanted done, how me and my horrible army of Changed wanted to take over the world, the ‘lies’ I would tell, and that if he was a good boy, did as he was told, and helped stop us then he would be on the top of the food chain for the new world order that Zeus was going to establish.

It was all lies, of course. Not that the cause was what interested Fergusson, he was after the power, pure and simple. What he didn’t realize, though, was that there would be no humans left once Zeus wiped the board clean and started again with a new species of ass-kissers. If Zeus got his way, that asshole would have met extinction along with the rest of the intelligent life on the planet. Luna was right, Fergusson was a fool.

I was surprised by one thing, though. Zeus and his buddies had appeared in a mortal’s office, and even if they hadn’t shown their true forms, they made sure that he knew their names: Zeus, Nyx, Eris, Tezcatlipoca, and Sekhmet. Appearing before mortals in a form other than one’s true form wasn’t any sort of crime; Loki got away with the same thing all the time after all, and it did explain a lot of the mythology where Zeus would turn into a swan or something to have his little affairs with mortals.

There was one major difference this time between Zeus and Loki, though. When Loki used other forms to interact with mortals, they didn’t exactly go introducing themself to those same mortals by their God/dess name; usually they used a pseudonym. They only played up the Loki bit with me and Nishalle when we met because we were Demigoddesses, and the rules regarding mortals didn’t apply.

Zeus and his cronies were really pushing the boundaries of what they thought they could get away with, but that begged the question: how did they convince Fergusson (and any other people they did this with) that they were the real deal and not just some nutcases who walked in off the street? The answer turned out to be a show of power that scared the absolute piss out of Fergusson. From the way he described it under the truth spell, I was fairly certain that Zeus quietly pulled him into his domain, where there would be fewer eyes on them, and hit him full blast with his aura, and what is the use of a disguise even if he was just going to do that anyway?

That was basically why Danu had only gotten a slap on the wrist for showing Herself in front of so many mortals the night that we left the game and returned to the real world. Well, technically, most of those people She showed herself to were Fae and so not truly mortals, but it had happened in Her domain where other Gods had no real say. Hell, it probably would have gone entirely unnoticed if that domain hadn’t been unique in being partially inside our dimension, where the other Gods could still see what was going on.

In short, Danu had taken steps to mitigate the punishment She might get from Gods who weren’t on board with Her plan to try to bring peace and redeem humanity, but She knew she couldn’t hide it completely. If it had happened in any other domain, Danu could have probably kept it quiet, but She only had the one of Her own, and She wanted to show herself to us in her center of power, where the other Gods wouldn’t or couldn’t interfere. Also, she hadn’t brought those mortals to her domain Herself; she had merely whispered something to me as one of Her chosen children, and then my Mahair, the other Queens of the Courts, and I took care of the rest.

On the other hand, it sounded like Zeus had straight-up kidnapped mortals in positions like Fergusson, took them quietly to his domain, and then showed himself to them and gave them instructions in his attempt to derail any efforts at peace and redeeming humanity. Not that Fergusson and his ilk were innocent in all this. No, they were certainly complicit, and Fergusson, in particular, was doing this for the power he was offered, not out of any great love for the human race.

“Danu, have You been watching me?” I thought in a silent prayer of sorts to the Mother Goddess once the interrogation was over and we were escorting Fergusson to where his former lackey and a whole lot of angry Fae and Changed waited for the Wild Hunt to begin. I had already called for the Hunt in a wind whisper spell that would reach all of the residents of Varüus’kiel to inform them of what would be happening, and of their right to attend and see justice done.

~Yes, my daughter,~ She responded, and She did not sound happy. ~I will be bringing this new information about Zeus and his cabal before the other Gods.~

“Did You know about any of this?” I knew that even Gods were not infallible, but I had kind of gotten used to Her being ahead of the game. I wasn’t sure what possibility I liked least, that She hadn’t seen this coming or the alternative.

~I did not, Taelya,~ She responded gently, ~My eyes are ever set on the bigger picture, and I guide you and my other children to take actions to work toward the best possible future. Even I cannot see every detail of the vast tapestry that is fate, just an overview of the more prominent possibilities, and trying to combat a problem in our path does not always show me the root cause of that problem, especially if efforts are made by other Gods to keep it hidden. That old bastard was even the loudest voice against my actions when I showed myself to you, and he petitioned for a harsher punishment than what I received.~

“So, Zeus is a massive hypocrite, big surprise there,” I commented acerbically as I rolled my eyes. “At least You didn’t straight-up abduct the mortals You showed yourself to.” I guess this also explained why Zeus was so very determined to keep Fergusson dead; he couldn’t let this get out to the other Gods.

~Zeus is a stubborn, arrogant, and bitter fool who suffers from a need to always be right. His ego won’t have it otherwise,~ Danu spat vehemently. ~He hates humans for turning their backs on us, and rather than guide them back on the path, he believes that their free will is the problem. He has declared that humanity cannot be redeemed, and so I fear that he will continue to do everything that he can to ensure that any outcome but the one he claims as the truth will not come to pass.~

“So, what happens now?” I inquired.

~As I said, I shall bring this to the attention of the other Gods and push for an inquest into his actions. Then we will have to find him and his cohorts in whatever domains they may be holed up in and dispense whatever form of justice is decided upon. I fear that he will not come quietly, though; he and his cabal have already killed many weaker Gods, and this war between Gods will likely continue until those leading his cabal are dealt with. Now, I must gather our allies and deal with this, but beware, my daughter, several timelines show that Zeus will soon come after you and those you care about directly.~

I let out a sigh as the warning was given, and our mental link faded. I already figured out that was a possibility once I had Rei revive Fergusson, and that asshole rained lightning down upon my protective barrier. He was not going to be happy that I had captured his former flunky, compelled the truth out of him, and shared it with the other Gods. A cornered rat will always bite, after all, and I had even encouraged him to do so by openly insulting him and his cohorts in front of the mortals.

Danu said that it was several timelines, but She wouldn’t have mentioned it at all if it wasn’t a distinct possibility. That being said, there were innumerable possibilities, probably many of those that were more likely, so She couldn’t afford to put all Her eggs in one basket. The warning was really the best She could do for the moment, but I had a sinking feeling that I knew where this was heading, and if it did, I wanted the battle to be on my terms this time and not some ambush.

I had some ideas, but at the moment, I had more important things to worry about. CSIS Director Bryan Shaw and the Canadian Minister of Defense, Markus Fergusson, had committed innumerable and unforgivable crimes against my people, and those they had harmed or put in harm's way deserved some justice. I still needed to decide on what that justice and their punishment would entail; it had to be something that would fit the crime and sit well with all my people.

As we arrived at the edge of the forest, I found everything ready to get underway and Ghost waiting for me, impatiently stamping her hooves. There were a lot of people there as well, more than in any Wild Hunt that I had ever overseen, and I would have sworn that almost every person in the future capital, save for the children and some to care for them, was in attendance and in a frenzy to see these two bastards suffer and have justice be served. It was time for the Wild Hunt to begin.