Emfam, Lardeth, and his lovers met with Galnyar and Keshnakh in the throne room. “This is absolutely ridiculous!” snarled Galnyar. “Emfam, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that Baldra was once one of the Zephyrs’ old Fae Killers!”
“That was not of Over-realm design,” replied Emfam. “It was something that an Under-realm man built as a means of espionage for the first Under-Splitters during the War of Stars.”
“And you have proof of it?” asked Keshnakh.
“Malnar and Gorfanth are coming with that proof tomorrow morning,” replied Emfam. “I HAD intended for them to arrive in Wysper City on the day of Lardeth’s coronation, but this matter takes precedence.” Arsha and her lovers looked at each other, pondering on what could possibly prompt Malnar and Gorfanth’s presence.
Malnar and Gorfanth were led to the site of Baldra’s wrath by Lardeth’s parents. Malnar stepped forward and placed her hand on it for only a moment before she recoiled. “That’s the last of them, all right!” she confirmed. “We have to destroy it!”
“Destroy it?!” protested Galnyar. “That’s a cultural landmark!”
“With all due respect, Emperor Almaydia, that’s not important,” said Malnar. “Not with the last of the Splitter Seeing Stones sitting here.” Galnyar blinked.
“…A Seeing Stone?” he gulped. “You mean…the Lost Seeing Stone?!”
“It was never accounted for,” explained Malnar.
“What’s so bad about a Seeing Stone?” asked Arsha. “We use them every day to call someone.”
“Not this kind, Foxy,” corrected Malnar. “This is the more dangerous early one, the one powered by a soul!” As Malnar and the Felomphas gathered around it, Gorfanth explained the story behind it.
“Baldra,” he began, “was an Under-realm man who joined the first Splitters. He was so good at espionage, he fancied himself a great actor. While it COULD have been a boast, one thing he really was good at was magic.
“Back then, the original Seeing Stones were powered by their creator’s very essence. Baldra learned how to make them and poured his very malice into them, making four hundred of them. He gifted the Seeing Stones to the rulers of the other Realms, even going so far as to leave a few scattered around. When he became the head of the Under-splitters, he put his plan into action.
“He used them as an intelligence network, spying on the other Realms and forming plans to upend them. That was what ultimately started the War of Stars and ended the First Age of Unity. He effortlessly blended in with the humans of the other Realms and managed to manipulate them to his own ends. The Stones were used to plant his thoughts and desires into those that owned them and would kill those that tried to destroy them. What he didn’t know was that a few of his own local Splitters had given their enemies an idea.
“It was around then when the first skyships were built. They were used to conduct plans and soon were equipped with weapons capable of aerial bombardment. They used a Seeing Stone against him and quickly routed him, thus killing him, and ending the War of Stars. The All-realm Royals made a secret pact to find the other Seeing Stones, but they were never all accounted for…until today.” A man’s scream then erupted from the Seeing Stone before it crumbled to dust. “And thus, Baldra’s evil really is dead.”
“That did it,” agreed Emfam. Galnyar stared at the remains of the Seeing Stone.
“For so long, my family has allowed the Fae near something that hid itself as well as Baldra did,” he muttered. “Perhaps it planted Baldra’s name into the first Fae that discovered it long before my great-grandfather was born.”
The revelation of the former good-luck charm’s origins had shaken everyone in the Eastern District to their core. No one wanted to stay there anymore. The mass exodus led everyone to the other districts and the former politicians that ran the place (at the request of the people they served) had it cordoned off so that no one could resettle it until it was time once again. The rails and machines were ripped up, but the buildings were left to the elements, letting time dispose of them and returning the materials to nature. Galnyar was sitting on a couch as looked at a map of the Drelda Forest before he marked a red x over the Eastern District. “We should have left that part of the forest…alone,” he muttered. Keshnakh then glided up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You know, Mama always felt odd about the Eastern District.” He felt the train of her dress wrapping his legs in comforting clouds.
“Maybe it WAS a mistake to have the Eastern District form,” she said, “but time can heal that kind of wound.”
“You say that with such surety.”
“From experience. Oddly enough, this wasn’t my first encounter with a Seeing Stone. I was only 150 at the time when one tried to control my dads. Orbak had it destroyed with Elgrad’s help, but it took me a while to get over the experience.” She then snuggled onto the couch with him. They then laid themselves in a manner where they took up the whole couch and she rested on top of him. She stroked his chest and sighed contentedly. He then ran his hand through her cloudy hair and sighed happily. “Besides,” she continued, “no one got seriously hurt during its rampage. You allowing the Eastern District to be closed when the people who lived there asked for it to be closed proved you listen to the people that matter most to any civilization. This isn’t a setback to your rule of the Republic.” Galnyar then kissed her on the lips, even enjoying the feeling of her tusks on his mouth.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, my love,” he said as they repeatedly kissed, “but I thank the now mortal Divine Ones that our paths came together.”
It turned out that the abandoning of the Eastern District was both a societal and economic boon to the Fae Republic. New techniques were shared with the other districts and the railways didn’t have to stretch so far across the Drelda Forest. The Capital Tree served as the main hub for all the Fae Gauge Railways. As planned, there were five gauges for each railway: Fae Minimum, Fae Narrow, Fae Standard, Fae Wide, and Fae Maximum. The main station for every railway was the last to be built and the grand opening was a significant event. Galnyar and Keshnakh’s carriage was brought to a large red ribbon. Galnyar and Keshnakh left the carriage and shook hands with each of the politicians, railway board members, and railway controllers. Galnyar was then handed a set of massive scissors. He stood by the ribbon and began his speech. “Gentle-beings of the Realms,” he said, “it gives me great pleasure to announce the opening of the first Fae railways. We have had many trials and tribulations in getting here, but we prevailed in creating the newest forms of traffic for our wonderous Republic. To that end, I hereby declare Drelda Capital Station OPEN!” He used the scissors to cut the ribbon and the crowd cheered along with the engines whistling.