Lilly was too stunned by the sudden shift to activate her ring of feather fall, causing her to land with a whump in a large stack of dried hay. She was fairly sure her landing was enough to release a dust cloud from the pile, considering it knocked the wind out of her and had her buried for a solid minute before attempting to move. Instead, she laid there groaning as she felt around her body to assess the damage from the fall. Thankfully, nothing felt broken. Through the hay, she could tell the sun was still bright in the sky. But the absence of the ruby filter to the light clued her in to the fact that she wasn’t in the Nine Hells anymore.

“Hello?” a pleasant baritone voice called from somewhere outside the hay pile.

“Yup, hi, hang on,” she called between grunts as she scrambled to the edge of the hay pile and tumbled out, ass over tea kettle, onto the ground. Towering over her was six-feet of glorious elf with long, honey-blonde hair pulled back in a plait that hung to his slim hips. The rich greens and browns of his clothes setting off the golden tones in his sun-kissed skin, reminding her of Summer. In his hand, he carried a pitchfork. On his face was a comically confused expression. “Hello,” she said with a smile.

“Hi,” he said, tilting his head in question.

“Lilliana Stormwalker,” she said, reaching up from the ground to offer him her hand in greeting.

“Beldor,” he said, clapping his hand around her wrist and helping her to her feet. “Might I ask,” started and then let the sentence hang as he looked towards the sky.

“Random portal,” she said with a shrug, looking around at the surrounding area, “to the Feywild, apparently,” she added, more to herself than to him.

She’d never been to the Feywild, personally. But she’d entertained more than few hours of daydreaming about visiting after she’d started researching the origins of the Changeling race. When attempting to describe it in her mind for later recording, Lilly could only think of one word. Extra. The world around her seemed to have been ripped for the most stunning imaginings of the Feywild. But, opposed to the comprehensible splashes of color that painted a pristine landscape of rolling hills and distant mountains she’d expected, it all of that covered in glitter. Regardless of the absence of instruments to produce the sound, sporadic twinkling windchimes reached her ears. Stranger still was the occasional melodic giggles that floated to her on the perfectly feather-soft breeze.

It. Was terrifying.

There had to be something in the air, as well. It was rare that she breathed anything other than poison, but even the Prime Material Plane hand that certain scent that reminded one what dirt was. The Feywild air was too clean and left a slightly sweet taste on the back of her tongue.

“Does that happen often?” Beldor asked and she looked back at him.

“Not as much anymore, but more than your average, I guess,” she said with a shrug. “Sorry about your hay pile. Here,” she said, taking the pitchfork from him, “let me help you clean up.”

As Lilly began tossing loose hay back on the pile, Beldor stood back and watched her with a frown. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Lilly paused and looked at him.

“What?” she asked with a chuckle. “Not sure what to make of a Tiefling randomly falling out of the sky?”

“Pretty much,” he said with a chuckle. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that you’re willing to clean up your own mess and all. But why are you here?”

“Isn’t that the million-gold question,” she said, shaking her head. “Usually when I portal jump, I’m the one summoning the portal. This time, the portal summoned me. You wouldn’t have happened to have made any devil deals lately?” she asked. “Normally I have to accept the contract before transport. Unless it was Jareth’s,” she said, raising an eyebrow to herself as she thought of the smug son of a bitch agreeing to a contract for her and then giggling about it to himself.

“I would never,” he said, apparently horrified by the idea.

“Ok, judgey,” she said, taken aback by his reaction. “I wasn’t asking to offend. I was asking because it’s my job to help uphold the Infernal end of the bargain when the fiend can’t pass into the Material Plane without being summoned,” she explained more reasonably. “And, if this isn’t work-related, then it’s likely Divine Intervention. Which god do you pray to?”

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” he said with a scandalized expression.

Lilly mimicked his expression briefly before rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Ok,” she said, handing the pitchfork back to him before pulling her Bag of Holding off her shoulders and retrieving a rolled-up scroll of parchment. “I apologize for any offense I have caused,” she said as she unrolled it to reveal a black frame inked on the page with a compass rose in the corner. “Ok, Traveler, where the fuck am I?” she asked the parchment and the blank space filled in with an image of the Feywild. “Sarifal, a half a day’s journey from Karador,” she said as a small blue dot appeared on the map approximately where Beldor’s farmhouse was.

“What’s that?” he asked, stepping closer to look at the map.

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” she said, tipping the map away and kicking her chin up in his direction as she raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

“Ilyrana,” he said after a moment. “Elven goddess of magic.”

“Godly Positioning System,” she said with a smile and tilted the parchment so he could see the map. “A portal-jumper's best friend,” she added as she rolled the map back up.

“You worship the Traveler?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Let’s go with that.”

“But you work for devils,” he said with a frown.

“I’m also touched by an Old One,” she said with a shrug. “Figure that one out.”

“I’m so confused,” he said, wincing as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’m a Prayer Agent,” she explained. “I live in the Nine Hells, so I catch more contracts with fiends than anything else. But I have also done work for Lucifer, Beshaba, the Traveler, Ilmater, Mystra, Ohgma, and Sharess,” she said with a shrug. “Basically, if they ever need a quicky, smash-and-grab-type job done, I’m one of the mortal beings they’ll tap when they need someone not directly associated with their churches.”

“Oh, wow,” Beldor said, looking at her with a new appreciation. “So, Ilyrana?”

“Don’t know,” she said honestly. “Maybe. The deity responsible for me being here should make themselves known soon if this isn’t a devil deal situation. You mind if I ask what you’ve been praying for?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe an extra set of hands to help clean this place up,” he suggested, motioning around at the dilapidated farmhouse and overgrown fields.

“Well,” she said, pursing her lips for a moment before offering him an easy smile. “That I can do. I’m going to have to get back to Malsheem at some point soon. But after the day I’ve had, I could do with some good old-fashioned manual labor. Helps me think.”

“I don’t have anything to pay you with,” he said, regret coloring his voice. “This place was abandoned when I got here and all I have to my name is a horse, cart, and personal effects.”

“Eh,” she said with a shrug. “I’m not worried about it. I still have to wait for whichever god summoned me to make their presence known before I can complete whatever job it is they want me to take care of. Tell you what, I’ll trade you a ride to Citadel Umbra for my services if they decide to make me wait more than a couple of days.”

“Why Citadel Umbra?” he asked with a frown.

“Mirror points,” she said. “You know how there are places in the Feywild that reflect their counterparts in the Prime Material Plane?” she asked and he nodded. “If I go to one of those points, I can use this,” she said as she pulled out her pocket watch to show him, “to pop a portal to Sigil. After that, it’s just a matter of finding a point in the ether that is as close to my friend’s shop in Malsheem as I can get to break through into the Nine Hells.”

“Well, if you’re willing to give me a hand, I don’t see any reason not to agree,” he said with a heavy sigh of relief. “Honestly, I feel like I’m in over my head with this place.”

Lilly chuckled a little.

“Don’t worry,” she said, patting his arm. “We’ll start with the main house so we have shelter for the night and then we’ll move on from there. Break it up a bit so it’s doesn’t seem so overwhelming.”

Without waiting for instruction, Lilly went around to the front of the farmhouse and tried the door. It was stuck shut, but, with a few slams of her shoulder, she managed to open it with a loud creak that echoed throughout the small space inside and startled a few small birds into fleeing through the open door. The heavy, musky scent of mold smacked Lilly in the face as she entered and the cobwebs layering every available surface lent credence to what Beldor had said about it being abandoned. Looking back at the golden-eyed elf, she saw his disheartened expression.

“Good thing Prestidigitation is a cantrip for me,” she said with a smile.

The vast majority of the damage and dirt were superficial inside the farmhouse, making it more tedious than strenuous. But it gave them the chance to chat idly as Beldor told her about what he planned to do with the farm once it was operational again. He had a thing for exotic animals and was thinking of starting a business training and selling them on the land. They’d been working for a solid couple of hours and had the main living space cleared by the time they decided to take a break. Thankfully, Beldor had some honey ale amongst his supplies in the cart.

“So, what’s the deal?” she asked after Beldor filled a tankard and handed it to her. “Why are you taking over an abandoned farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere in the Feywild?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” he said with a wince as he leaned against the porch railing carefully.

“Long, or painful?” she asked.

“I needed a fresh start,” he said, looking away.

“I know the feeling on that one,” she said honestly. “As soon as I have the funds, I’m grabbing my Firbolg and getting the fuck out of the Nine Hells.”

“Your Firbolg?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” she said with a chuckle. “Bobeldalion. He’s my best friend and I promised him that when I bolted from the Nine Hells for good, I’d bring him with me. As it stands, the only reason we haven’t left is that we both owe money to the Church of Asmodeus.”

“For a second there, I thought you meant yours as in he was your slave or something,” Beldor admitted.

“Oh, fuck no,” she said, shaking her head. “He chose to stay in Malsheem after he helped me out of a tough situation with my ex.”

“What kind of tough situation,” he asked and the timid note in his voice caught her ear.

“Abusive,” she said plainly. “He was a priest of Loviatar, but he didn’t quite understand that the secret to Loviatar’s Mercy is that it’s not mercy at all. She just knows when to stop before breaking her toys beyond repair. And something tells me you know what that feels like.”

“I used to be a member of the Summer Court,” he admitted. “But I had relationship trouble, too. When it turned violent, I left to try and figure out a way to fix the situation,” he said quietly. “He didn’t believe I was coming back, so he killed himself before I returned. When I got back, everyone blamed me for his death.”

“So, you decided to exile yourself to boonies?” she asked and he shrugged half-heartedly.

“It’s better than living with the accusations,” he said.

“Fair,” she said easily, obviously surprising him. “I’m going to go check out the barn real quick to see if there are any tools or building materials we can use.”

“Ok,” he said, watching her go with a mixture of appreciation and relief.

Finding nothing of any real use in the barn, Lilly returned to find Beldor removing the ruined furniture from inside by dragging it out into the front yard. While he worked, Lilly did a walk around of the house, confirming that the structure seemed solid from the outside. After climbing into the loft above the kitchen area to inspect the roof, however, Lilly discovered more than a few leaks that would allow water to seep down into the living area below.

“We’re going to need lumber to fix this,” she called down, causing Beldor to poke his head out of the larger of the two bedrooms in the house. “And tools.”

“I don’t really have either,” he said with a frown.

“It’ll be fine for now,” she said as she climbed down the wooden latter to join him. “But you’re going to want to get it patched before the next good rain rolls through.”

Through the window of the farmhouse, Lilly could see the sky beginning to darken.

“What do you say we call it for today,” she suggested just as Beldor’s stomach let out a mighty growl. “Tell you what, I’ll hunt the woods nearby and see if I can find us something to cook up for supper if you clear a space out front and set up the cooking rig I have in my bag.”

“That would be amazing,” he said. “All I have are traveling rations.”

“Me too,” she said. “Don’t get wrong, MRE’s are great. But I’m craving something fresh.”

After handing the cooking rig off to Beldor, she retrieved her short bow and arrows from her Bag of Holding. Heading off into the woods while Beldor used his magic to shape a fire pit, breaking up the ruined furniture to fuel the fire, Lilly kept her eyes peeled and her ears pricked as she searched for something to hunt. A few yards into the tree line, movement caught the corner of her eye.

Looking down at the source, she saw a flower gracefully growing from a seedling to a full-size bud in a matter of seconds. The five white petals of the lily were kissed together with a splash of blue at the tips and, as they bloomed apart, the flower dipped in her direction before turning away towards a path leading deeper into the forest. As soon as she looked further into the trees, she felt the ping in her chest. The breathless sensation of having the chord that tethered her astral self to her body being pulled taught and then plucked like the string of a lute.

Reaching in her bag as she walked, she fished out a small satchel of seeds from the medicinal herbs she grew. She collected them from the buds she clipped from her plants in Gehenna and usually left them in her greenhouse at Lucifer’s, but something had made her put them in her bag the last time she was there. As a sign of peace to show that she was open to receiving messages in the same language she’d been shown, she found a nice patch of rich brown soil, nourished by the decay of the underbrush, and planted them. In a matter of moments, the seeds she’d planted sprung up in a display that took her breath away when she saw the colors of the buds.

Just the wild fluctuation of the color was trippy enough, but the amount of usable herb was triple what she’d normally expect. The implications of the kind of effects it would have made her eyebrow twitch. But it did let her know what form of communication the deity that was calling to her wanted to use. However, there was no way in the Nine Hells she was going to ingest any kind of mind-altering substance in an unfamiliar and strange place like the Feywild. At least not without a safe place and people she could trust to be there in case the effects turned on her. As much as she liked Beldor, she’d never seen him under pressure, so she wasn’t sure he could handle her on something that potent.

Besides, it still needed to be dried and ground before it was usable. She clipped the buds from the plants with ease of practice using the small sheers she’d grabbed from the greenhouse along with the seeds and, within minutes, had it bundled up in her bag. She left the live plant where it stood to let it thrive in the weird ecosystem and made a mental note to come back to see if she could find it again someday. See just how strange it could grow if allowed to grow wild.

Another half an hour of hunting later, Lilly returned with a freshly killed, fifty-pound wild boar over her shoulders to find Beldor, deep in his cups, sitting in a camp-chair he’d fashioned from the earth itself as he stared up at the cloudless sky. The Feywild night didn’t fully get dark. Instead, the sky shifted like a kaleidoscope filled with cobalt gemstones only broken up by clouds of diamond dust. It was easy to see why he would be staring up at it, even sober, but something told her he wasn’t really seeing it.

“Hey,” she said, dropping the pig beside the fire to begin dressing and cleaning the animal.

“Hey, love bug,” he said with a drunken smile, making her snort. “That’s a big pig.”

“Uh-huh,” she said with a chuckle.

“Oh, that’s nasty,” he commented as she gutted the boar and tossed the entrails into a deep bellied pot Beldor had pulled out of his cart.

“That’s why I’m doing it and not you,” she said with a chuckle. “Gore doesn’t really bother me after living in the Nine Hells for as long as I have.”

“Remind me never to visit,” he said with a wrinkled nose.

“I don’t think I’ll have to,” she said, shaking her head as she finished cleaning her kill and setting it on the spit before having Beldor help her lift it onto the suspension brackets.

Beldor took the opportunity, while Lilly roasted the pig, to grill her about life in the Nine Hells and what she did as a Prayer Agent. Happy to see him in better spirits, she gladly obliged him with no-shit-there-I-was stories until the skin of the boar was crackling about six hours later. They were both exhausted by the time it was finished, but Beldor showed no signs of wanting to sleep any time soon.

“Wait, so you ripped a hole in the Nine Hells?” he asked when she’d told him about what she’d done just before getting dropped through the portal. “Just to get a meeting with Asmodeus?”

“Pretty much,” she said with a shrug, using her dagger to cut a large chunk of the roasted pig off and handing it to Beldor on a wooden plate they’d found in the cabinet inside.

“You are officially the weirdest person I know,” he said, blinking slowly at her before taking a bite of the pork and letting out a moan of pleasure. “But you’re a fantastic cook.”

“Spices from the Malsheem Marketplace,” she said with a chuckle as she helped herself to some of the food. “Gives it a nice kick.”

“Can I ask you something?” he asked as she came to sit down next to him on the ground.

“Sure,” she said with a shrug.

“What’s the worst thing you have ever done?” he asked.

“Truthfully?” she asked and he nodded. “I hurt Bob. Horribly. I was so afraid of him leaving me alone again that I convinced him that I could be happy settling down. He and I even talked about getting married, moving out of where we are now, and having children. Thankfully, I realized what I was doing before children got involved. I tried to get him to go away. Broke his heart repeatedly in an attempt to get him to hate me. Sought out every weakness he had in his character and preyed on it. Until one day it dawned on me that he’s a Paladin of Ilmater and I realized that he’d chosen Ilmater as his god because he would endure anything for the sake of those he loves.”

Lilly had to pause for a moment before she could continue. Nausea returned as she remembered what she’d done and said, claiming it was for his own good. She’d taken Loviatar’s lessons to heart without even realizing it. The guilt and the shame of it made it hard to breathe.

“You ok?” Beldor asked, reaching over to touch her shoulder.

“Yeah,” she said with a hard sniff. “It’s just talking about him is always kind of rough when I think of all the bullshit he put up with because of me. But everything he has done for me in the process has endeared him to me to the point where I will destroy existence itself if anything happened to him. The fact that he still wants to have sex with me is just a what-the-fuck-why moment, too. And trying to convince him that I am evil to the core and having him just blink at me with that doofyFirbolg face and say, ‘baby, shut the fuck up and go sit down’ is so fucking absurd to me that I can’t help but laugh. He is the one and only truly pure soul I have ever known. Lawful Good from birth,” she said, banging her fist against her leg to punctuate her statement, “And I brought him down to Neutral. I want him as far away from me as possible, but he’s too gods-damned stubborn to let me go. Not because he’s hoping we’ll get back together, either. He refuses to leave me alone to endure when he’s in a position to help and is a lot stronger than I could have ever expected him to be. His argument of choice? If I’m the worst thing that could ever happen to him, truly, then he got off easy. Which is why I still say, if Ilmater doesn’t at least saint him at some point, I’m going to kick that bound-god in the balls. Straight up chorus-line on his nutsack.”

“How did you two end up down there in the first place?” he asked, his voice sounding sluggish.

“Well, my mother ended up down there after she broke a contract with a worshiper of Asmodeus. She was a handmaiden to a Baroness, but skipped out on the deal she’d made with her boss when she met my father. Two weeks after they met, they took off and eloped. Not long after, I was born and hiding with an infant isn’t exactly easy,” she explained. “She didn’t have to bring me with her when they came for her, but she didn’t want to be alone. So, she dragged me to hell with her. Dad came with because he didn’t want to leave me. As for Bob, he used to adventure with a buddy of mine, Jareth, before Jareth took up the mantle of Devil Lord at the end of his mortal life. When I asked Jareth for help with my ex, he called on Bob. He’s been there ever since.”

“How long ago was that?” Beldor asked, his voice cluing Lilly in that he was already half-asleep.

“About ten years,” she said. “How about you go curl up inside?” she asked. “It has to be more comfortable in that bed in there than it is sleeping in that chair.”

“I’m good,” he said, shaking his head and trying to stretch himself awake again.

Instead of arguing, Lilly decided to keep watch while he drifted off to sleep by the fire, occupying herself by deconstructing and cleaning the buds from her Feywild harvest. It wasn’t long before Beldor began snoring boisterously. It was surprising to hear an elegant elf making such a racket, but she didn’t begrudge him the rest at all. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep, regardless of how tired she was. Being in a strange place always made it difficult to do so without someone familiar to curl up with. The first few jobs she’d taken with Uriah had proven that. It wasn’t until he’d started letting her sleep in his bed with him that she’d actually begun sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time.

Not long after he’d started snoring, Lilly felt a tingling in her skin as the scent of cold filled her sinuses, sending her into high alert. Something Abyssal was nearby. She could feel it in her bones as she stood with her hand on the hilt of her rapier. Looking around carefully, she couldn’t see the source of the feeling. But, a few moments later, Beldor started to thrash in his sleep, crying out in fear. Without thinking, Lilly unsheathed her rapier and slashed at the air above her new friend with all her strength. Halfway through the arching blow, her rapier caught on something unseen and she heard a surprised scream echo through the area without a source before the presence vanished and Beldor woke up.

Looking down at her blade, Lilly saw a splash of deep red coating the ghost-touched steel.

“What the fuck?” Beldor asked, much more soberly than he’d been.

“My sentiments exactly,” she said seriously, staring him directly in the eye. “What the fuck did you get yourself into, mate?”