#martyn be normal about rendog challenge continuously and regularly failed /lh
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foolofatook001 Ā· 1 year ago
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ā€œTell to me, Tam Lin,ā€ she said, ā€œWhy came you here to dwell?ā€
ā€œThe Queen of Faeries caught me, when from my horse I fell. And at the end of seven years, she pays a tithe to Hellā€” I so fair and full of flesh, I fear it be myself.ā€
("Tam Lin," Fairport Convention version)
Hereā€™s the thingā€” Martyn knows how this kind of story is supposed to go.
The plucky hero goes into the heart of the enchanted wood, and through a bit of cleverness and the virtue of their pure heart, they rescue the victim from the horrible entangling grasp of whatever evil faerie creature has them. Now, he wouldnā€™t say heā€™s got a pure heart, necessarily, but he is certainly clever, and, wellā€” heā€™s made several forays into the enchanted wood, as it were, and gotten away unscathed each time.Ā 
But what do you do when the victim refuses to leave with you?
Heā€™s tried reason. Heā€™s tried logic. Heā€™s tried gifts. Heā€™s tried impassioned pleas. Ren still keeps going back to the Shadow Lady. He keeps insisting heā€™s not enchanted and that ā€œhis Queenā€ wouldnā€™t take away his free will, which is unfortunately exactly what someone enchanted and without free will would say, so he canā€™t really take Renā€™s word for it.Ā 
Heā€™d love to work with Ren, really he would. (Heā€™d love to get into that very solid and defensible tower with a proper moat and everything, too.)
He just doesnā€™t want to take on a fae as well.Ā 
The Shadow Lady has extended her reach far, and though Martyn knows sheā€™s got limits on her power, the sight of her doing something to Ren to make him harmless to her when he went redā€” something with enough magic to black out the sun in the middle of the day and nearly knock Martyn to the ground with the pressureā€” well, heā€™s pretty sure that speaks for itself. Grian had warned them about her, early on in the game, and though Grian is lost to the red names now, his warning still holds water, at least in Martynā€™s mind.Ā 
Maybe the problem is that heā€™s thinking about this as the wrong kind of story. Maybe this isnā€™t one where the clever hero spirits away the innocent victim from the faerie queen, leaving her to curse his name from afar.Ā 
Maybe heā€™ll have to take up dragon-slaying.Ā 
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