“You mustn’t call them the Little People, Mr. McBride, they’re the Kindly Ones.” Emma was surprised that she said it. The words came out of her mouth quite suddenly.

“But Emma, you’ve always called them the Little People.” Horace said.

“Yes…yes, I suppose I have.”

“You dumb old man!” Betty exclaimed. “Stop bombarding the poor girl with questions! She’s never going to be able to get her thoughts together if you keep bothering her!”

“It’s alright, Betty, I can do it now.”

Emma extended her hand and held it over the valley.

This time, she made no dramatic gestures or stirring speeches. She just wanted to get it over with.

There, suddenly, in the valley was the Lake of Vivian, blue and sparkling, and the white walls of Joyous Gard rose high above the hill, so high that they reached up to the clouds above. For the first time, Emma became aware of the possibility that someone besides her clients might be able to see her images.

Was that allowed? She honestly didn’t know. She never had to think about it before.

Oh, and she was hoping for a smooth and uncomplicated session today…

Emma quickly dismissed the top portion of her image. The white spires of Joyous Gard vanished below the crest of the hill so that the entire image of the training grounds of the Swan Knights was contained within the valley.

The change had not gone unnoticed by the McBrides.

“Emma? What happened to the tops of that castle?” Betty asked.

“I changed the image”

“Why, girl? Glory be, that’s the most incredible building I’ve seen! It’s like if someone white washed one of those French cathedrals and then stretched it out so that it was as big as a Blackwall steam beast! I want to see how high it goes! I’ve neer seen something so tall!”

“Aye.” Horace said. “It’s like the Great Wall of China set on its end! Bring it back, girl!”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Why? What’s stopping you?” Betty asked.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to let others see these images, and if the castle peaks over the valley, someone besides us might see it.”

“What do you mean you don’t know if you’re allowed?“ Betty asked. Didn’t the Little People tell you what you can and can’t do with your powers?”

“Betty, please, call them the Kindly Ones. It’s to be…” Emma almost said “safe.” “...polite.”

“Ha!” Betty smirked. “So all those times you called them Little People, you were being rude?”

“Betty please!” Emma snapped. “What I said before I said before but, please, Kindly Ones is how they should be addressed.”

“Did they get on to you about you calling them that or something?” Betty asked.

“No. But…” Emma looked up at the portion of the sky that once contained a white tower. It was nice to look at a blank, blue space free of fairy influence. She considered what she wanted to say for a few seconds. “...My expanded powers have caused me to have questions I didn’t before, like whether or not I can show these images to people that aren’t my clients, and I want to as polite as possible so in case I stumble into any breach of etiquette, the Kindly Ones understand that I meant no offense.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Horace whistled. “Sounds to me like you should have talked to your fairy friends a little more.”

“Yes.” Emma admitted. “I should have. And if I ever see them again I’ll be sure to ask if I can show these images to non-clients…”

“If?” Betty asked. “What do you mean, “if?” I thought a fairy woman like yourself spent as much time talking with the Kindly Ones as humans?”

“I mean, when I see them again.” Emma quickly corrected herself. She was a fairy woman. She had claimed contact with Fairy, a consistent, cordial contact. She would not allow anyone to think twice about that claim. What if her clients started a rumor that she stole this power of hers, that she picked up some spiritual bauble from a sleeping leprechaun or tricked a gnome into blessing her?

And what if that rumor reached the ears of Fairy?

She was their reputation. She had claimed so even back when she didn’t have real power.

“If you ask me, Emma, you should try and see if they’ll let you put your images up in the sky!” Betty said. “Why, think about it! Think of how grand it would be if you transformed the clouds into windows showing sights like this!! Think of the money you could make!”

“I don’t think the Kindly Ones would appreciate me doing that. You know that sometimes I…taste the little offerings my clients give me to pass on to the ghosts. But I don’t think they would see sky pictures as appropriate.”

“Well, have you ever asked them?”

“No. And I don’t think I will, not about that.”

“That surprises me, Emma. You always seemed to me like the kind of girl who had all the angles covered, if you get my meaning.”

“I did seem to be that kind of girl, didn’t I?”

“Oh, don’t sound so glum, girl. Maybe it's just that I’m still in the wise part of age and not yet in the doddering part.” Betty flashed a smile containing all her remaining teeth. “I ran some games when I was young, didn’t I Horace?”

“Aye, you did. And they usually ended in me hitting fellows upside the head.”

Emma slapped him on the back of his head again, perhaps demonstrating what Horace meant without meaning to. “Oh, you stupid old man! Only a few of them ended like that!”

“Only a few, she says…” Horace rubbed the back of his head while he scanned the valley below. “My, those knights live up to the name. They’re as white as swans, and just look at those…are those swords in their hands?”

“Yes.” Emma answered. “Well, they’re like swords. They’re called…I can’t quite recall, but they’re related to Excalibur in some way.”

“How is something related to a sword?” Horace chuckled. “What? Is ol’ Excalibur they’re daddy?”

“I don’t know how a sword can be related to another sword, but they are.”

“I don’t know how you could rightfully call those things swords.” Betty said. “They’re like rolled up bolts of lightning.”

“They remind me a little of ghosts in how they glow.” Horace said. “The wisps.”

“Oh, they’re much too bright to be wisps.” Betty said. “It’s like comparing fireflies to the sun.”

“There was something about the sun!” Emma snapped her fingers. “Something about the sun…or a sun. Those swords have something to do with the sun.”

“I can believe that.” Betty said. “They look like the Kindly Ones plucked a ray from the halo of the sun.”

“That’s a pretty phrase.” Horace said.

“Yes, and it does sound like something the Kindly Ones would do, doesn’t it?” Betty replied.

“No…No, I was wrong.” Emma said. “They don’t have anything to do with the sun, though they’re as bright as the sun. It was their name. I heard they were called something solais, and solais has something to do with the sun doesn’t it?”

“Does that really matter?” Betty asked. “It sounds like you’re splitting hairs, dear.”

“Yes, it does matter!” Emma snapped. “Everything about the Kindly Ones matters!"

“Hmm…I see. Some fairy must have given you a talking to.”

“Honestly? Something like that happened, yes. I know I’ve talked up my power, but this power comes with strings attached. It’s like taking out money on credit. I have it, I can use it, but there are strings attached, and I only really figured that out now.”

Betty gave Emma a long and appraising look. “They offered you the ability to do more and you said yes, is that it?”

“Something like that.”

“And now you’re wondering if this new and improved power of yours isn’t more like a burden than a privilege?”

“What? No, of course not!” Emma lied just in case the Kindly Ones were listening. “My improved power is a gift, and it's a good gift, and I am very thankful that I’ve been given this gift!”

Betty sighed. A young conwoman couldn’t fool an old one, not completely. “Oh, girl, didn’t your grandmother tell you about fairy gold? Did she ever tell you the story of fairy gold?”

“Of course she told me the story of fairy gold.”

“And what happened in the story of fairy gold?”

‘Some men steal what they think is gold from a dwarf, but after they get away from the dwarf and have a good look at it they discover the fairy gold is nothing but a bunch of leaves.

“And do you see how that applies to your situation, girl?”

“I don’t. My powers are real. They’re very real, as you can see. Otherwise, what is that, down in the valley?”

Betty sighed and shook her head. “Oh, Emma, if they can make gold into fairy gold, they can make fairy gold into anything. Promises, powers, anything, everything.”