Presentation was important, especially when it came to first impressions. As such, I had taken quite a bit of care to prepare the small clearing for the people that had been hunted through the forest, to the point that they may, or may not, have been forced to wander around a little longer, isolation, cold and likely fear slowly wearing them down a little more. None of them was gravely wounded and I could easily keep enough of an eye on them to make sure they didn’t die, but putting them into a weaker state would only make things easier for me.

Setting up the timing to make sure they stumbled onto the clearing at the same time had been a bit of a challenge, as their individual speeds weren’t constant, at times they moved faster if they thought they could escape the mist, and at times they slowed down, due to difficult terrain.

But either way, with Lenore’s help, I had been able to push and prod their progress to the point that they stumbled onto the clearing at the same time, weary, cold and exhausted, only to grind to a halt, staring at me and their companions, all coming out of the forest at the same time, only on different sides of the clearing.

To my delight, the weather was cooperating, the clouds opening up overhead and I didn’t even have to use stupendous amounts of Astral Power to make it so. The clearing had naturally filled with silvery moonlight, adding a nice, glittery touch to the decor of silvery Ice I had put up. I hadn’t gone all-out and set up my throne, doing so would evoke the wrong image, but sitting on a comfortable seat of Ice, in the middle of a dark forest gave me a certain air.

The rest of my group was nearby, carefully hiding in the forest, concealed by mist, while Lenore was sitting on a high branch, giving me an additional angle if I needed to see something behind me.

“Greetings,” I addressed them, fully immersing myself in the Character of Morgana. I didn’t give them time to gather their bearing, intent on making them focus on me and not so much on the situation itself.

“How nice of you to join me,” I continued, looking at the four flabbergasted faces, “Why don’t you introduce yourself, now that you are within my parlour?” I asked, exerting a small amount of power to make the mist lingering in the forest around us swirl a little.

“The name’s Daniel, my lady.” the one I had previously identified as their leader moved forward a little, not trying to get close but trying to make space behind him, so his allies could take shelter there.

“I’m Isabel,” the stronger female introduced herself, carefully making her way over to Daniel.

“Please, call me Jenn,” the other woman followed suit, a curious mix of trepidation and curiosity in her voice. In addition, she inched towards me, not her allies,

The last of them was staring at me, mouth agape and eyes wide, not saying anything. My lips curled in an amused smile, as I looked him over, waiting for a moment, before focusing on Daniel, their leader.

“You may call me Morgana, a Traveller to these lands,” I told him, rising from my seat and smoothly turning it into a cloud of mist that kept swirling around me, “Imagine my surprise when a group of people got hunted down, like animals, only they were hunted by their own kind.”

I studied them for a moment, letting the silence linger, “Why don’t you tell me what had you hunted in that manner?” I asked, staring at Daniel. I could see him swallow but to his credit, he didn’t look at his companions, his eyes steadily on me.

“Some might call it a misunderstanding,” he began, only to fall silent when I raised an eyebrow, trying to convey my disbelief.

“You, answer,” I ordered, turning to Jenn, who was staring at me with glittering eyes. She had moved up further than her companions, allowing me to let a bit of mist billow from the trees, creating a subtle barrier between her and her friends.

“They call us rebels,” she stammered, her eyes flickering towards her companions, only to be shrouded by mist. I could hear a soft noise from Daniel and Isabel and when I took a peek through Lenore’s eyes, I could see that they were grimacing.

“How rude of them,” I chuckled, trying to make myself sound amused, “A rebel, but a rebel against what? There are so many ways one can rebel and so many things you can rebel against,” I mused, slowly walking towards Jenn, letting the mist build up between her and her companions, cutting her further off.

I could hear Daniel clear his throat and saw him move through the mist, towards his teammate. The way he moved made it obvious that he was trying to avoid moving toward me, as impossible as that might be in the situation.

“We disagree with the way the Empire is run,” Daniel said, placing a hand on Jenn’s shoulder. The sudden contact made her squeak a little but shook her out of the daze she had been in, blushing as she hid behind Daniel. Isabel, on the other hand, had taken the time during which my attention had presumably been occupied to walk over to their spellcaster, shaking him out of the shock he was in.

“And those in power don’t take kindly to being questioned, I’m sure,” I nodded, studying the four as I moved back into the middle of the clearing, reforming my chair as I went.

“What do you plan now?” Daniel asked, pulling Jenn towards his other two teammates, trying to appear casual but I could almost smell the fear oozing out of him. The calculation in his mind was obvious, I had managed to bring them here and would have my own reasons for doing so.

Before I could reply, Isabel let out a soft curse, making both Daniel and me look over. By now, the spellcaster who had yet to introduce himself was only upright because Isabel held him up, otherwise, he’d have slumped over. Sniffing the air, I noticed that the tang of blood in the air had become stronger and there was a dark patch spreading on his clothes, blood oozing from an unseen wound.

While I hesitated, considering whether to break character and help or keep playing up the mysterious Fey-creature, a rustling in the bushes told me that the decision was out of my hand. Looking through Lenore’s eyes, I saw Olivia stepping into the clearing, ignoring the surprised noises from the other three humans and walking over to the spellcaster.

“I’m not letting someone die for your games, Morgana,” she warned me and the surprised expression on the human’s faces morphed from surprise to confused anger, as they realised I had made them actors in my play. I had also saved their lives, so their anger was misplaced, something I would have to remind them of, later.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on their vitality the whole time,” I assured Olivia, letting the mysterious, musing act drop. “You can come out,” I told the rest of my group as I sat down on my seat, morphing it into my Throne and moping, just a little. Playing with these humans had been fun, but Olivia had to spoil it.

“What’s going on here?” Daniel demanded, the confusion now fully turned into anger.

“A group of fools managed to bungle onto our camp-site, disturbing our night’s rest, making another group of idiots trample after them,” I snarked back, not amused by the accusation in his voice.

“Instead of ignoring it, I decided to lend a hand and exerted a considerable amount of effort to do so, making sure none of you would die in the process.” Looking at him, I noticed that he was less focused on me and more interested in Olivia, who completely ignored him.

“Put him down, carefully,” Olivia ordered Isabel, who rushed to obey. Together, they put their spell-caster friend down on the ground and Olivia’s hands started to glow in golden light, slowly seeping into his body, sealing his wounds.

“Thank you,” Jenn, who had stepped away from Daniel in the chaos, said to me, having stepped closer to my throne and eying me with curiosity in her eyes.

“No need for that,” I waved her off, blushing a little at the attention. Before, the look of awed adoration in her eyes had felt good, just as the feeling of mastery over their lives had. The knowledge that I was able to choose who lived and died, without needing to take their input or feelings into account, like a deity, distant and aloof.

Now, they were close and far more relatable, making me a little uncomfortable.

Maybe noticing my discomfort, Sigmir came out of the forest as well, briefly pulling me up from my throne, before plopping down herself, pulling me onto her lap, making Jenn blink in confusion at the slightly strange action.

“I’ve managed to stabilise him, there should be no further issues;” Olivia spoke up, pushing herself from her kneeling position.

“Can we please talk about what is going on?” Isabel asked, almost pleadingly, while the look on Daniel’s face was quite hostile, as his eyes flickered between me, Olivia and his wounded teammate.