.^^ Lady Durham ^^

— Athenos —

-I've always hated airplanes. Even before 9-11, and all the new regulations and safety checks, I always hated planes. Ironic, of course, that it's worse now that there's more security, but there it is."

The old woman next to me nodded and patted my arm. "It'll be alright, dear. Have a peppermint." She handed me a peppermint, and I smiled.

"Much obliged, ma'am."

"If you're done complaining, old man, we're landing soon. Your prayers have been answered." James said dryly from the other side of her.

The older woman chuckled. "Oh stop that! I swear, you two are like my sons... and besides, I think it was very sweet of him to pray for the whole plane, instead of just himself!"

He sighed. "You'd think for someone who can walk on the moon, he wouldn't be afraid of a little airplane."

"Oh! You're an astronaut, dear? I thought you were a doctor?" She gasped.

"Well, they need doctors in space as well, ma'am... if someone gets hurt up there, it's not like there's a hospital 30 minutes down the road." I grinned forcefully, then glared at him.

She nodded seriously. "That is very true, yes."

The seatbelt sign came on, and I tightened my own, gripping the arm rests tightly.

The old woman patted my hand gently, calm as can be.

"You're a very tough woman, you know that?" I laughed tightly.

She smiled. "Oh I know. I flew courier dispatch during Vietnam, Boy! A little turbulence is nothing compared to mortars and anti-aircraft missiles!" She cackled at the horror on my face.

"See, now she has a good reason to be afraid of planes." James quipped.

The landing went off without a hitch, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We exited the plane first, being in the first zone, (I had splurged a bit on the tickets,) and I sighed, as soon as my feet were on land again.

"You're a very weird old man." James shook his head at me, and dragged me down the ramp, towards customs.

I commanded my bag to make itself look empty, except for a single book, then did the same to James's bag. We passed the metal detectors easily, and then I got my passport stamped, while he stood on the other side, as a returning citizen.

—

"How in the hell am I supposed to... which side do I turn on?!!?" I snapped, driving the weird reversed-side driver car carefully down the road.

"Well, first of all, you're in the fast lane, so get over to the far left for the slow lane." He explained.

I nodded and did the turn signal, moving over to the curb.

"And you turn to your left, mostly. Right hand turns are like left hand turns in America, you have to do the signal, wait for the light, then go. Simple." He nodded.

"Simple, he says." I grumbled.

The hospital she was staying at was a drive away, halfway to Scotland, but because of the small size of the island, (almost as big as Florida, if you count Ireland and all the other little islands,) and my slow, cautious driving, we reached it in just a few hours.

I got us in, with my credentials and his Medical ID, which listed him as a dependent of a patient, and we went to find her room.

I paused, at the door, and James walked past me. He sat on her bed, next to her, and gripped her hand gently, speaking in Gaelic for her. I remembered a few words, but didn't bother translating.

The nurse in the room smiled at James, then looked at me. "And who might you be, sir?"

"Hmm? Oh! I'm Dr. Parthenos, the patient's... well, James's father." I finished lamely.

She nodded. "We've been informed that you are actually not welcome, at her family's request, so I'll have to ask you to leave, Doctor."

I nodded. "Understood. James?" I tossed him the vial, disguised as a phone, and then nodded to the nurse. "Could you show me the way back? I admit, this hospital has some very odd architecture, compared to American hospitals, my usual haunts."

"Happens all the time. The hospital was built in stages, you see, by four different architects!" She smiled and led me down to the lobby, which was actually a long, complicated path, though I remembered it perfectly.

"Four? Is that a fact? Well that must have been quite the argument, eh?" I laughed.

She giggled. "Indeed... now, Doctor, I'd like to cut the nonsense. I am Alexia's sister."

"Oh I figured, yes. But James knows about the nonsense, if we're still talking in code. He's giving her the antidote to Elder Poison, as we speak." I smiled.

She gasped, and darted up the stairs.

I followed easily, surprised at her swiftness, but not too amused by the deception. I didn't like liars, and I liked people who hurt their family members even less, as I was beginning to assume was the case, here.

As I reached the room, I was shocked still when she flew out of the room, a Saber-Toothed tiger standing on her chest. It shifted into a regular tiger, and snarled softly.

"Ah. Hello, Perceval."

"Well hello, sir! This is a lovely country, I must say, but it's healthcare professionals do need some professionalism!" He said haughtily.

I chuckled and checked on James. "You Alright, James?"

"Athenos...?" A weak voice murmured a question.

"I'm here, mum, right here." James assured her.

"Oh... my dear child, I thought I heard..." she sighed.

I stepped into the room, and leaned against the wall, in her line of sight. "Hello, Ms. Peterson." I said stiffly.

The Fae in the hallway hauled Perceval off of her, and stood, only for Riley to tackle her. She wisely decided it was best not to piss both of them off.

I picked up her blood screenings, and tsk'ed. "She's been pumping your veins full of Elder Ashe, trying to kill you or keep you incapacitated. Pathetic. Riley, dear? She is Food."

James darted into the hallway. "No! He's joking, calm down!" I created a barrier of sound and illusion around our room and our stretch of hallway, so no one came to investigate the strange noises or animals.

I looked at Alexia. "You look like Fresh Hel, Ally."

She chuckled weakly. "I do, don't I? How has James gotten a Cerberus and an Ogre-Kin as Familiars? And when did he learn magic?"

"I fought a dragon!" James leaned his head in.

I sighed at her shocked face. "You know I'm a Doctor, my patients are magical beings. A dwarf turned himself into a dragon, and I went to go fix it. He showed up, on my doorstep,- we'll save that argument for when you're feeling better, and it won't be medically unadvisable for me to scream at you,- and so I took him with me." I explained.

She blushed, and looked away. "He acquitted himself well?"

"He got the dwarf to give him a Dwarf Heart, so Yes, I'd say he did well." I chuckled.

"That's good... very good... I was never allowed to teach him-"

"Oh cut the bullshit! I know you're an Ünterqueen! You're the strongest of your family, you could have done anything you liked! Including staying!" I snapped, then controlled myself.

She sighed, then smiled. "You stutter less, you know. And your hands are a bit better."

"Yes." I nodded.

"That is Good... but you're wrong. My family is large, like yours, and all of them together would have been enough. Their threats were very clear." She shook her head.

"And the lies about me? Were they necessary? To tell my son I didn't love him?" I asked, trying to keep the judgement out of my tone.

She sighed. "Yes. If he ever found you, or learned magic, it would spell disaster. I swore an oath, Athenos."

"You shouldn't have, and You'll have no pity from me. But when they come for you, I will help, for James's sake." I snapped, and strode outside the door. Cerberus was 'stealthily' gnawing on the Fae's foot, while Perceval pretended not to notice.

I knelt in front of the Fae. "Your Family is Full of douchebags, you know that? Seriously."

She shook her head. "We keep the lines pure. We have done so for millennia."

"For what purpose? Didn't you know that with the right pairings, Halflings are stronger than normal Fae? Look at him! Little powerhouse, am I right? He's his own generator of pure magical power! Purity means nothing, if the original substance is weak." I grinned.

She tried to throw magic in my face, and Perceval bit her wrist savagely. She relaxed slowly, passing out, and he extracted his draconic fangs. "Ogre Venom! Causes a Coma." He nodded.

"Well, that sucks for her. I guess the hospital lost a nurse for 6-8 months." I shrugged.

"So let me get this straight... you swore an oath to never tell me what I am? Or who my family really was?" James asked his mother, hands on his hips.

"Now is not the time, James. We need to get moving." I sighed, and pressed a hand to her shoulder. The poison was everywhere, but the cure was removing it, and filtering it into the stomach. "And she's going to puke a lot, from the cure. Great. Well, now is a great time to learn some portal magic, Aye?" I grinned.

He blinked slowly. "Uhm... sure?"

"Great. Do as I do." I began drawing an elaborate cobblestone arch around her hospital bed, and he copied me swiftly. Neither of us was a very good artist, but the point was clear.

Then I began writing Runes, as I heard pounding begin on my barrier.

It cracked, and I wrote the last rune. A glowing doorway appeared as the barrier shattered, and we pushed her hospital bed through the arch, with her IV and my bag laying down on the bed with her, for now.

As it closed, someone reached through, and yanked me back.

—

I crashed to the floor as the portal disintegrated, and laughed at the group of Fae. "Oooh, man. That must suck. You don't even know where I sent them!"

The comatose Fae was brought in, and someone handed the leader, a woman Fae who felt like Power, the blood screenings. "What is this nonsense? Why should I be reading it?" She snapped.

"These are toxin Screenings. Sister Alexia has been being poisoned." The one who had handed her the clipboard said.

"Yes, that is why she was in this healing house. And?"

"No, Lady Durham. Being poisoned. Present tense. It would seem her nurse, this cousin, was poisoning her with ever-increasing dosages of Elder Ashe, in an attempt to kill or incapacitate her." The woman explained.

The clipboard shattered, in her hand, and she gripped the comatose woman by the throat, shaking her. "What damage have you wrought?" She snapped at me.

"Technically my son's Ogre-Kin Familiar dosed her up with Ogre-Venom. She's just comatose." I shrugged, and stood up, dusting myself off. "Now!!! I believe I have a few questions for all of you, but you specifically..." I cracked my neck, and advanced, brushing aside the two who tried to stop me like flies.

She raised an eyebrow. "And who are you to demand things of me?"

I stepped into her personal space, and lowered my voice. "I am Athenos Axiom Parthenos, High-Master-Class Scholar of the Order of Merlin, Father to James Athenos Parthenos-Peterson, and friend to Alexia Adrian Peterson. And you are?"

She smiled. "Ahhh, the sperm-donor. Yes, I should have guessed... I suppose you do deserve some answers, and you will get them, but if you stay in my breathing space, I will rip you into little chunks and feed them to a Hell-Hound." She placed a hand on my chest, attempting to push me back.

I summoned as much power as I could from the Amulet on my neck, and gripped her wrist so hard the bones crackled audibly. She stifled a scream, and I leaned even closer, until our noses almost touched. "I trust I've made my point?"

One of the other Fae gripped my shoulder, and I brushed her off, then looked at the Elder in my grasp, still holding her wrist. "Now I'm going to ask some questions, and you're going to answer them. Then I'm going to leave, and you're never going to follow. You will never attack my Kin again, nor threaten, imprison, or otherwise pester them, or I will find you, Hunt you down, and put you down like dogs who've bitten the wrong hand. Am I perfectly clear?" I asked.

She growled, more confused than angry. "How can you do this?!? You're just a Mage! I am an Ünterqueen!"

"Yeah? My Son is stronger than this, so I didn't notice. Poor you. Now you'll answer my questions, and be the good family my son needs you to be, or I will make you nothing but memories. Clear?" I asked.

She growled again, and nodded. "We never wanted to hurt her! We're here because-..."

"To punish her for breaking the Oath? That it? You needed this many warriors  for one sick woman? Pathetic." I laughed softly.

"She is my Kin. She is an Ünterqueen. Even sickly, she is dangerous. And an Oath such as the one she made is not lightly broken. When we forced her to leave you, upon learning she had sullied herself with your progeny, we gave her the option of the child, or you. I believe it was an easy choice!" She snapped viciously.

"Oh no doubt. I would make the same choice, and so would any parent. But she didn't break the Oath. The boy found me on his own, and I taught him magic. I did this so he could help me find the people responsible for trying to murder his mother. One of them is in your left hand." I grinned evilly, and released her wrist..

The others melted away without her order, now that they knew there was no reason for them to be here, and she healed her wrist, then looked at her prisoner. "Fine... how to wake her, then..." she grumbled.

"I'll wake her, after you swear to dissolve the Geas on Alexia and James." I shrugged.

"Easily done. I see that her pairing with you created something... impressive." She nodded, and a small golden chain around her wrist rattled, then a single link dissolved.

"All of those are Geas?" I chuckled.

She nodded. "It is my signature magic, after all."

I took the woman from her casually, cleansing her blood, and then releasing the Power I'd borrowed, thanking Rafaela's ancestors. They all rumbled, pleased at having been a part of teaching an upstart Fae a lesson.

The woman slowly awakened, and I tossed her in front of her however-many-times-Great-Grandmother.

She glared down at the woman, and spoke in a language I didn't know, growling like a blade scraping over a whetstone.

I left them to their interrogation, leaving a spell to record everything. James could translate it for me, later.

I filed the paperwork to discharge Alexia, and then called the child agency, with Jane's card.

"Hello! My name is Mrs. Catherine Jane-Danvers, I am currently unable to take your call, but leave your name, number, and reason for calling, and I will be happy to return your call as soon as possible! Thank you! Ta-Ta!"

"Hello, Mrs. Jane, it's Dr. Parthenos, James's Father, I'm just calling to let you know that we're at the hospital, and his mother is being discharged, so you don't need to come pick him up, or anything. She's better, a bit weak now from months in bed, but healthy, at least, so that's good... Uhm... so that's all I had to say, just an update from me. Bye." I hung up, then called James on the small cell I'd given him, a 1998 Nokia, which he thought was both hilarious and terrible.

Alexia answered, to my surprise. "Hello? Athenos?"

"Why are you answering James's Emergency cell?" I asked.

"He ran off after you... I don't really know where I am... a library?" She asked softly.

"My basement, yes. Don't worry, I'll call someone to come take care of you, Alright? Just sit tight, and get James back, if you can. The situation here is all under control. And I dissolved your Geas, so you can tell James about anything, now, and teach him your magic, if you like... and I would have chosen the baby, too, in your shoes. So, at least you don't have to feel guilty about that decision." I added, and hung up.

I looked around, and wondered where I could draw a portal. 'Back in the room? No, I discharged my patient, it'll be suspicious if I go up there... I guess I'll have to do this the hard way.' I sighed, and walked outside, then found the nearest sewer grate. "Fuck I hate this plan..."

I climbed down into the sewer, and once I was in a private alcove, I drew the portal, shaking with disgust at the filth I was surrounded and ankle-deep in.

The portal activated, and I dove through, stripping the dirty clothes off obsessively.

"Well well Well... you do know how to make an entrance..." Rafaela said, smiling at me.

I blinked, and looked around. "What the hell? This isn't where I... damn." I looked down a my shaking hands.

"Ahh, you messed up the coordinates?" She asked.

I nodded. "I was trying to get home from London. Elves attacked, ended up in a sewer, fun times."

She crinkled her nose. "Oh! I would have stripped as soon as I could, to!"

I sighed. "Well, I have to go, James ran to get back to London to help me, so I have to snag him before he runs into a nest of elves with that sword you gave him swinging."

She grinned. "Might be entertaining."

"Might get him killed." I clipped back.

She shook her head. "Not while he's connected to that Amulet. If the ancestors are near you, you can never die except in the most inconceivable of accidents or powerful of attacks."

"How about an entire clan of Fae, and at least three Ünterqueen's?" I asked dryly.

She paused, and then nodded swiftly. "Okay, Yeah, you should get dressed."