With a blink of thought, the singing spear of Farseer Caerys looped wide around the exploding target of her ire, returning to her free hand once again.

A human walking contraption, not unlike the war walkers of her own race, but degrees more brutish in that way that only humanity’s ‘tech-priests’ can fashion, had pounded towards her position on the battlefield. Her not inconsiderable psychic power had been diminished after dealing with a squad of her opponent’s most dangerous servants – primaris space marines – and so launched a desperate attack on the walker with her physical weapon. It had landed almost perfectly – the spear guided by her thoughts into the barrel of the walker’s weapons, and through it’s plasma generator. The spear was out the other side and coming back to her before the mindless pilot slave knew what had occurred. The walker collapsed on it’s side, destroyed.

Breathing heavily from excursion, she looked around for any more incoming threats. None. She calmed her mind, reached out to get a feel for her immediate environment, and the battle as a whole.

She could sense the psychic light of the Human’s inquisitor being snuffed out as a force of wraithblades successfully closed the range on their back-line, scything their way through the unarmoured mon-keigh like they were livestock trapped in a pen. The wraithblades felt cold to her mental senses, appropriate, since they were powered by the dead souls of her people. She had no interest in dealing with those who returned in such a way, she would leave that to the spiritseers of her order.

And as she made that thought, she sensed the spiritseer who accompanied the wraith constructs almost like a shepard to a flock of animated animals, die to almost overpowering fire from a human tank. A pity, and a waste. The humans were beaten, but they wouldn’t know that until they were dead. The farseers of the Aeldari could easily follow the strands of fate connected to this battle…they knew what the humans did not – that they made minutes left to live.

The tank went up in an explosion felt even through her feet, as a guardian squad unleashed their mobile bright lances that were brought to bare. The remaining battle would be over quickly – far too soon for her to rejoin the action – and so her mind returned to her last moments of the battle, looking for the lessons from her experiences. This, she was always taught, was the key to becoming an exceptional warrior, and leader.

Her experience during the path of the warrior in a swooping hawks aspect made Caerys a rather unique farseer compared to the others on her current path. Whereas Asuryani who have walked both the path of the warrior and path of the seer tend to find their talents best suited to the warlock conclaves, Caerys had both a stronger sense of fate, as well as a penchant for hitting the enemy at high speed.

This may have had something to do with her mother’s side – the part of her blood that ran the red of Craftworld Saim-Hann.

Growing up in Craftworld Ulthwe led to a different path than if she had grown up with her mother’s family in Saim-Hann. She would have been a jetbike pilot like her mother. Instead she found herself in the tower of the aspect shrine of the swooping hawks, where hit and run tactics, as well as immense speed came almost naturally. She was intending to stay on the path of the warrior for some time, until her mother warned her that she would soon be stuck on that path, perhaps in the role of an exarch, but that she may find the purpose she sought alongside her mother on the path of the seer.

That is when her mother gave her Faolchu’s Wing – an ancient relic of her people that was said to be gifted down to the heirs of Eldanesh, to bring them swiftness in dire need.

After years of training and battle, stunning enemies and allies alike with her speed and ferocity of pysker power, she became a farseer of Ulthwe. Her celebrated actions often included rescuing aspect squads that were left to destruction and considered beyond assistance, and fending off flanking attacks before they could reach the main forces of Ulthwe. For this, she caught the attention of Ulthwe’s most famous and powerful psyker – Eldrad Ulthran.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she reached the entrance to the webway portal to leave the battlefield. Bodies of fallen aspect warriors and guardians were being carried through, their souls safe in the gems embedded in their armour or around their necks.

She was faintly aware of a figure off to her side, gesturing to the portal. With a thought she casually brushed her mind with the stranger’s.

She froze.

Turning, she came face to face with the leader of their operation: Eldrad Ulthran.

“Your speed on the battlefield is soon becoming stuff of legend, Farseer Caerys,” he said, removing his helm, “I should have to bring you on my next mission. They say the human’s new primaris space marines are no match for you.”

She knew the polite thing was to be humble, but…she’d sensed or always believed Eldrad wasn’t like others of her order. She wanted to believe.

She cleared her throat, before saying calmly, “I have found that the humans react very slowly to new attack vectors, especially when it is to their minds also.”

“Quite so.” Eldrad agreed, nodding. “But do not underestimate them, farseer. Some of their number would easily be a match for you, or even I. The last thing our people should do is become over-confident yet again.”

Caerys nodded, not sure whether he was going to expand on this. She knew he was old, possibly from before the Fall of her people, and certainly didn’t want to stop him revealing anything about when the Aeldari ruled the stars.

They stepped into the portal, and soon were back in the staging area of Craftworld Ulthwe, a throng of activity around them and not a few celebrations amongst the warriors, finding their friends who’d survived and those waiting back on the craftworld for good news.

Eldrad bowed in farewell to her, as an Autarch called for his attention. He leaned in close to her before leaving, “After all, descendants of Saim-Hann and holders of ancient relics definitely shouldn’t appear overly confident. Not if they are to come with me to the Ynnari flagship.”

Caerys was stunned. The Ynnari? Here on Ulthwe? And then Eldrad left, warriors parting for him as he did so. She still stood in shock at the encounter, and the thought of fighting alongside Eldrad Ulthran, and representing Ulthwe before the Ynnari.

She then thought of her mother, and if only she could see her daughter now. She would give it all up just to tell her mother about just how right she was.