The Game was in an outrage. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
This? echoed the Law of Fae. I did not do this. Great and Mighty Game, was it not...your will for the betrayals and lies? I did warn you. No...take...backs...
I WILL RESET THE BALANCE!
Yes. But you cannot tonight.
THIS MUST BE STOPPED! YOU DID THIS! I HATE THIS! NO ALLIES!
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Old Lordling Talia had invited them inside. She had neglected most of her training as a Lordling, but she had her basics in place when she needed it.
She knew to invite them inside.
She knew to offer to take their coats, in a very outdated Bai Pbn style that had long been replaced with the Lren Style, which had since also been replaced with other styles.
No one valued the old ways anymore, Elswith's steward had said, with regret. The different styles were beautiful, a language unto themselves. Matheus had always bemoaned that now-a-days only servants used them.
But the Law of Fae remembered.
And so did Lordling Talia.
She sat them down, and brought them water and small, very dry tea cakes. Hospitality was very important to the Fae.
And, since she had started in the Bai Pbn style, Daniel took that as his cue, and waited.
Although, if he waited much longer he was at risk of falling asleep. He had been malnourished and abused throughout the very long day. Strangely enough it was the bite from the goose that morning that still caused him the most pain. He had used much of his reward in subduing the Golem in recovering to overcome Kane, a waste. A waste, and yet it had been necessary. So, to keep his awareness and his mind off the madding goose bite, he ended up playing a card game with Esra and Marrin as they waited.
Marrin struggled with the new game, but his strategy had been commendable.
Inside the ruined manor was cooler, at least. The walls glowed vaguely, fingers and veins of fire smoldering the wooden construction. Daniel kept waiting to hear the clock outside reveal the passing time, but it never did. 10:30 seemingly never arrived. The time was moving slowly, again. Not good. Time moving slowly in one place almost always meant it would move quickly somewhere else. Was this intentional from the Lord of Time? He was barred from all Games simply by his ability to render reality inert.
Daniel sighed, then stood up when Talia returned to the room, in the Bai Pbn style which involved raising one leg up and bobbing forward slightly.
Talia returned the gesture woodenly, and calmly (with shaking hands) put down a tray of teacups and sliced cucumbers and bread.
"I graciously offer this bounty to you! To a good harvest!" she said, lacing her fingers together (though her hands still shook) and tilting her head to the side. She had a very terrified wooden smile. She clearly didn't remember very much of the Bai Pbn style. Or she hadn't had guests over in a long time. It still worked, technically. But it was traditionally used after a good harvest.
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Daniel very much wanted to eat the food.
But he could not put off uncomfortable things.
If he could, he would still be the Heirling after all.
"Surely, Master of the Ash Court, you know who I am." Daniel started, trying to figure out how much he could get from this. Elswith had been well known, first infamous in his early debut as he had performed badly. Then after many years of hard work, he had risen in fame. He had been at his height of power and popularity last Autumn, well loved and respected across both the Seelie and Unseelie courts.
"I used to think you were here to help me clean windows...but now, swirling, I am afraid I don't know you."
Esra laughed so hard he fell off of the stump and was rolling on the ground. This was why no one wanted Esra around any game, capital G or lowercase g alike. "You act like a fancy big shot, Spikes, and then reality strikes."
Daniel made desperate eye contact with Marrin, and in that moment he knew Marrin was a fellow brother in arms against the Esra menace.
"Did you want the boys trip, or not?" Marrin said, understanding his role. "Let Spikes..." his face flashed in embarrassment to use the vague 'nickname' and he stumbled to correct himself. "I mean Elswith...I mean Branch. Let Branch talk."
Esra, still on the ground, shrugged, and he went from lying on the ground to standing on the wall. He muttered "Fine," and just...walked on the burning wall, moody like a cat after a scolding. Little plumes of ash drifted from where Esra stepped.
"Get off my walls ye brat!" Talia snapped reflectively, before realizing she was still unsure of the hierarchy. "I don't want to cucumbers to get dirty." she said in defense.
Esra looked chagrinned and embarrassed, and shuffled down, off the smoldering ashy walls back to the smoldering ashy floors.
"Benefactor." She said, to Daniel. "Marry me."
"No."
"Marry my daughter. Wait for me to get married, have a daughter, then marry her."
For a negotiator, she was not very good.
Marrin shifted uncomfortably.
Marriage proposals were extreme. And for all that she knew, Marrin was just a Middling. Daniel was clearly a lowling, and Esra...was not anything of note except his gravity manipulations. Daniel almost wanted to help her.
But he didn't have time! Soon there would be another assassin after him. This would be the third and final attack, and they would be aiming for success. All of the other attempts had failed, and it would be clear that the Game would commence. Daniel had to survive today and yet not destroy his future.
"Let me be exact."
The Law of Fae protested, as it disliked the brutality of direct speech with no poetry.
"I want to understand your relationship with the Sky Court. From there, we can proceed."
She bit her lip, mulling and thinking. "The Ash Court was ruined by degrees. First it was undermined, and then the Senate forced certain deals which shook our base of power. We were once very large, south and west from here. Our allies needed help, and we gave it to them. Then they...did not give back the power we spent. Worse, they took more afterward, having learned our ways. They took more than we could give." Talia straightened her spine. "Even the attribute of our Court was changed, degraded from something whole to the ash remaining behind."
Daniel had heard many stories like this before. Bitter. Esra was even paying attention now, however rare that occurrence was.
Talia was an old Lordling, she had seen and experienced much.
"Without the power we spent aiding them, over the centuries we were continuedly whittled down, sirling. And then taxed, and then fined when we couldn't pay it. The Waasla alliance has several senators who approved that the favor owed this court could be repaid with meaningless...the humans call it an I. O. U. And should the Court go under, then all that debt is void. So I have made it my life's work to stay in the game. As long as the Ash Court stands, they are dragged down." Her eyes gleamed with fortitude and spite. "They despise us. It is mutual."
Daniel had thousands of calculations running in his mind.
Was this why the Law of Fae had allowed so much to happen in the Game?
It was using him, and his own Game for the pursuit of freedom...to bring Marrin, the next Lord and Wielder of a Great Sword, who had also been wronged and punished, and joining him with the Ash Court, who shared a similar story.
Daniel hated being a pawn. He felt his carefully controlled rage strain against the wrong that was done to him, against the magical bounds around his limbs, and the tight circle around his heart. He had been a pawn for his Lordling Father. He had been a pawn for the Game. But to be used a piece for the Law of Fae?
Danger may be a opportunity. he felt the faint colors and touch.
He was not happy.