First Eclipse

As soon as Daxx and King Troy ported them, they left her and Tim standing there and hurried along a path in front of them.

Fauna clutched Tim's arm when she saw an entrance that looked like a cave.

He put his hand over hers. "Not that cave. Interealm headquarters is in here."

"In a cave?" She'd never heard of people using underground places as much as she had lately.

Liri and Abe appeared. She smiled at Fauna. "Next time, take the well down." She nodded to Tim and then followed Abe into the cave. "The well?"

Before Tim could answer, Kara, Rafael, and Em were standing a few feet away. Em ran her hands down her body and then looked at them. Her gaze met Fauna's, and she could see the surprise in her eyes. "It doesn't even hurt." Rafael chuckled. "If it did, half my youth would have gone differently."

Fauna knew the royal family didn't need a porter. She didn't understand how that worked but couldn't help feeling a little envious. They only had to think of a place and they could port there. Healing blood, porting by thought-someone somewhere had big plans for them, or they were favorites out of all the realms... she could decide which. She was half Alterealm, so she was taking that as a blessing.

"We should go in." Tim moved his hand from hers and waited for her to let go of his arm.

She hadn't even realized she was still hanging on to him. Dropping her hand, she nodded.

This cave was nothing like the last one, she decided as she sat down beside Karma and Em. Tim nodded to her and then went over to where the other guards stood.

"I can't believe this place." Em turned and looked behind them. "Do you know how long it would take to make this?"

Fauna shook her head. "I'm just happy it has power and smells better than the last cave."

"Oh, right." Em nodded but was looking the other way.

Fade rushed toward them. She was completely visible and smiling. She sat down across from Fauna. "Porting is cool."

Fauna nodded. "Just focus on being visible."

She gave her a huge grin. "Bastian told me what he used to do when he was learning to hold it."

"What did he tell you?" Em's attention was solely on Fade.

Fade leaned closer. "He said just picture that you're naked when you're invisible and that your clothes may or may not come back when you're visible again." Her eyes rounded. "Now I'm afraid I'll be naked if I don't hold it." Em looked at her for a moment and then turned to Fauna. She could see her friend was having a hard time not saying what she was thinking.

"There are so many here I don't know." Sparx sat down.

Fauna looked around the large area. Sparx was right; there was a lot they didn't know. She turned to look for Capri so she could tell them who everyone was, but she was busy talking to King Troy and his brother Victor. "Fawn, call your hero over so he can give us the scoop on everyone." Flora slid in beside her.

Fauna shook her head. "He probably has orders."

Crystal and Karma stopped at the table.

"To do what?" Karma looked over where the Alterealm guards stood. "Stand there and sleep with his eyes open?"

Fauna glanced over to see several of them standing side-by-side. All of them had blank expressions. Before she could look away, his gaze locked on hers. He cocked his head in question. She shook hers, not wanting to get him in trouble. Tim turned to speak to the guard next to him and then started coming toward her.

"You have some kind of telepathy you haven't told us about?" Crystal sat beside Fade. "You look at him for two seconds, and he comes over."

Fauna gave her head a quick shake. "No, no telepathy that I know of."

"That's right. We all might have some kind of hidden talents we haven't tapped into yet." Espy sat on the end of the table and looked around. "I don't know most of the people here."

"All good; Fauna's hero is coming over to tell us," Karma said.

Tim reached the table and barely even glanced at any of the others. "Is everything all right?"

Fauna nodded and then shrugged. "We just don't know who all these people are."

"We're not big on groups or strangers," Espy said.

He looked around. "I can help with that."

"Cool." Espy slid off the table and sat down. "Wait." She pointed. "Ava and Tera are coming over."

"Ava probably knows who everyone is," Em stated.

Karma snorted. "Like she'd remember them all."

Em shrugged.

Ava gave everyone a hard look and then sat down. "What's going on?"

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"Tim is going to tell us who all these people are," Crystal said.

"Oh good." Tera sat down. "There's a lot of faces I haven't seen."

"Some of them were at the circle," Espy said. "But they didn't exactly do introductions.

Tim knelt beside where Fauna was sitting. "You know the Alterealm royals." He looked over toward where most of them were. "Standing with Daxx and Alona are Ira, Clairee, and Welsley." He glanced at her briefly. "Ira runs the guard house and is Mitz's mate. Clairee is the leader of the Witch temple."

"Oh." Crystal tapped her hand on the table. "I need to speak to her."

Tim nodded. "And Welsley is one of the Huntress' captains."

Fauna pointed to the people wearing robes. "Who are they?"

"Four of our Elders." He smiled at her. "The youngest one there is around fifteen hundred years old."

"Bet they don't eat junk food." Flora looked at Karma, who made a face at her.

Tim turned and pointed to the left side of the room. "Over there with Bohdi. He's the leader of the Interealm group. That is Elgar-the one that looks like he's looking through you. He's the prince of Veiltide's sorcerer."

"A sorcerer? Geeze." Em leaned closer to the table. "Aren't they all evil?"

Tim grinned. "No, any witch, mage, or sorcerer can be good or bad."

"Noted." Em said quietly.

"With them is Princess Oriana and her guard Peyton, from Aridon." Tim looked at Fauna for a moment and she gave him a slight smile. He cleared his throat and looked back over. "With Jeri and Prince Trendan-" He paused. "You know everyone there except Sigor."

Fauna studied the man standing with Jeri and the others from Solrelm. She frowned. Was Nova considered to be from Solrelm now? She wasn't sure how it worked.

The man, Sigor, nodded to something Trendan said, flipped open something on his arm, and disappeared.

"I guess Sigor isn't staying," Flora said with a smile.

"Who are they?"

Fauna looked where Em pointed.

"Those are some of Bohdi's people." Tim looked down for a moment. "I believe Spencer, Pam, Fletch, and Marly are their names."

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"I can't believe these Interealm people have been around all this time, and we didn't know," Espy said.

Em gave her a strange look. "You talk like their aliens. They're from here." She looked around. "Probably the only ones here that are one hundred percent human."

Tim nodded. "Most of them are."

Karma smiled and pointed at him. "You know a lot." she jerked her chin in the direction the other guards were standing. "I guess being an ornament at meetings is a good way to get the inside info."

Tim chuckled. "It's either listen or nod off."

Capri and Jeri started coming toward them.

Tim stood up. He touched Fauna's shoulder gently and then stepped back. "I should get out of the way." Turning on his heel, he went back over to where his friends stood. At least, she thought, she hoped they were his friends. Capri and Jeri sat at the end of the table.

Jeri looked down the table at everyone. "Sigor went over to watch our buildings with Sith and Princess Aireese."

Em sighed. "Are we going to have to have sentries all the time now?"

Capri clasped her hands on the table. "I'm not sure, but it's better to be prepared."

"Are they going to talk about it? Those pictures they found? Was it just us?" Espy motioned around the table.

Fauna shook her head. "No. The photos were of a few others, too, but all of us were there."

Fade leaned on the table. "Was I?"

Jeri smiled at her. "No. I'm guessing they were taken before you figured out how to be seen."

"Bonus for me." Fade sat back again.

King Troy walked to the end of the room. "All right, everyone, we need to get this underway." He glanced over at Daxx. "Because I'm told some of us haven't slept in over 24 hours." He smiled at her, and then his expression sobered when he looked out at everyone else.

Fauna blinked. He was right. She was one of those who hadn't slept. She didn't even feel tired.

"I'm all for a nap." Karma yawned. "This saving the realms stuff is exhausting."