Aella stood next to the baby world tree in the middle of the valley with Joseph next to her. He was rolling up his sleeves and humming something about sweet dreams as he prepared to cast the spells that were needed to save her realm."You"ll probably want to leave as soon as I start casting, or your magic will be sucked into the tree, too," he finally said as he took a stance.
"Oh! Alright!" agreed Aella, feeling foolish for even having come with him. She had been told by Stella not to come here again, but she had thought Joseph might need her for something. With a shake of her head at her idiocy, Aella teleported back to the castle and looked to see who all was around.
"Seifer, change of plans. I need everyone gathered as soon as possible, especially the heroes," she said, moving over to sit at her throne.
Ruth, Frank and Louie all came rushing into the room. When they saw her, they charged in her direction. Demons and gnomes jumped out of their way as the hydra didn"t slow down.
"Momma!" cried Ruth, her eyes wide in terror.
"Aella!" cried both Frank and Louie.
"What"s wrong guys?" asked Aella, dropping to one knee as they barreled into her.
"The outside is scary!" cried Ruth with huge tears trailing down her face.
"What"s going on with the weather?" asked Frank.
"Are you mad? The wind is howling!" whimpered Louie.
"No, it"s alright guys. I know it"s scary. Just stay inside for now, alright? I"m working on it."
They all nodded at her, and moved behind her throne to lay down.
"What"s going on?" asked one of the gnomes with a frown.
"An emergency that extends over the entire realm," said Aella with a frown. "I may need to take you guys back home and talk to your council again."
"If you give us another half an hour, we"ll have your hub up and running and you can take us all back then," he said.
"Alright. Frederik, I"m going to visit with the elves and dwarves really quick, while everyone is gathering here for the meeting I want. Once I"m done talking to them, we"ll have the meeting and I"ll take the gnomes home."
Frederik nodded to her, and Aella glanced around the room before teleporting just outside Bob"s bar in the dwarven keep. A dwarf who was leaving jumped back in surprise, giving a shout that brought several other dwarves running.
"Aella! What"re you doing here?" asked one of the guards, recognizing her from the drinking contest.
"I need to speak to your king immediately!" she said, looking around.
"Alright, follow me," said the guard, turning and heading off at a trot.
Aella kept up with him without any problems, ad they were soon standing before the dwarven king, with all of his advisors and n.o.bles gathered around to hear what she had to say.
"I am sorry for interrupting you, King Voluri, but I have grave news that I believe you need to be made aware of," said Aella, focusing her eyes on him, while also staying aware of the other dwarves. She didn"t expect any foul play, but she was here alone, and surrounded.
"What news could you bring? You have only just left here less than a month ago," said the dwarf with a laugh.
"Our realm is struggling with the sheer amount of magic that has been reintroduced after the explosion of my old palace. Ma.s.sive storms with huge destructive abilities are surging across our realm as we speak. I believe you and the kingdoms south of here have been protected the most because of the mountains separating you from the site of reintroduction. It won"t be long, though, before you are no longer protected."
"Storms? No storm has ever bothered a dwarf!" laughed the king, waving at her as if she were joking.
"While it is true that you are protected here, under your layer of rock, I a.s.sure you that this is no normal storm. It will rage for at least three months, and all those you deal with will be affected by it."
King Voluri"s grin melted away at her words, as he started to comprehend what she was saying.
"Still, even if we were to close our doors for three months, we will fare just fine," he finally said after thinking about it for a moment.
"I don"t want to call you a liar, Your Majesty," said Aella, trying not to grind her teeth in annoyance, "but you will be affected by this. Whatever supplies you normally get from the other kingdoms will not be available if they struggle and suffer from these storms. Already my people are unable to leave their homes for fear of being blown away, and I"m not sure how many of my animals have already been lost. This storm is going to devastate all plant and animal life on our entire realm!"
"What do you recommend I do, King Aella?" he finally asked, as understanding of their plight started to sink in more.
"I need to speak with the elves, gnomes, and halflings, to inform them, as they will be much harder hit than the rest of us, and I would like to know if I can rely on the dwarves for any aid the other kingdoms might request?"
"Why don"t you speak with them, and then return here to let me know what they would ask of us. I will not stretch the supplies I have for my people trying to help others. I will take the necessary steps to ensure my people are safe during the coming months and years, if what you say is true, but I cannot immediately promise to help anyone who just shows up at my doors."
Aella nodded. "As a king, I understand and respect your answer. I shall be back shortly. If not later today, then tomorrow."
"What of the human kingdom?" asked the dwarven king before she could leave. "Have you gone to check on them yet? If your actions have caused them irreparable harm?"
"I have not, yet. I do intend to check on them, but I must help those who have not intentionally tried to kill me first," said Aella dryly.
"That"s understandable," nodded King Voluri. "I will be doing what I can while I wait for you to return. I will leave that corner there, empty for you to appear in so that we can speak as soon as you arrive."
"Thank you," said Aella, nodding to him before teleporting to the elven forest.
Already, there was a wind in the air, foretelling of the coming storms. She didn"t have much time to speak with King Elalar. He was in his throne room, meeting with some of the n.o.ble houses, concerning the destruction of the tree during her visit, so when she showed up, several of the n.o.bles almost choked in mid-sentence.
"Ah, King Aella! So good to see you again so soon," said Elalar with a grin. "Some of my n.o.bles were just speaking to me about you!"
Ignoring his words, and the looks of guilt that the n.o.bles were shooting in her direction, Aella strode right up before him, causing all of the n.o.bles to scatter like leaves in the wind.
"King Elalar, I have dire news that I believe you need to know of immediately!" she said. "I have already spoken to the dwarven king about this, and will be leaving immediately from here to discuss in further with me council. I only have a few moments, while my council is being gathered, to speak with you," she said.
The camaraderie on the elven king"s face disappeared and he sat up straighter on his throne.
"What news do you bring me?" he asked.
"The explosion of my previous palace has caused a ma.s.sive disturbance in the storms of our realm. I have dealt with them as best I can, and they should subside in the s.p.a.ce of three months, but until then, every kingdom in the realm is in grave danger. The storms will have intense winds capable of blowing every tree in your forest down, much less the damage they will cause with lightning, hail, and deluges of rain. I"m not sure there won"t be more magical aspects of the storms, that we"ve never seen before, manifest."
"If these storms are capable of such damage, then what do you expect me to be able to do, to protect my people?" he asked, standing up from his throne and beginning to pace.
"I am not sure just yet. I intend to speak with my council and possibly put the heroes to work to build protected s.p.a.ces for my people and the animals we have, but we are not as spread out as your people are. I can bring them here to help as best they can, once we are done in my kingdom?"
"Do you think there will be time? When do you think these storms may hit? I don"t know that my kingdom has enough food stored up to survive the winter if we can"t procure any harvests from the next three months."
Aella smiled. She knew all about survival. This was her element!