The Canary in the Mine Shaft

***

Paige Mcabee's life had taken a turn for the worse, then a turn for the horrible, and now it was twisted into a bizarre parody of all things normal.

She was in the Birdcage, surrounded every hour of every day by psychopaths, murderers, rapists and worse scum. A few months ago she would have been only mildly interested in hearing that everyone in the cage had died. Now she was one of them.

Her visit had started about as badly as could have been hoped. Lustrum had welcomed her into the fold and Paige did what she could to make herself small and unnoticeable. A few subtle uses of her power, something she would never have done prior to entering the Birdcage, were enough to tell some of the pushier girls that she didn't swing that way. And so she had tried to develop a routine, a routine that if she was lucky would stay with her until she eventually died inside the grey walls of the Birdcage.

It left her with a lot of time to think, a lot of time to curse the vial that she drank and the joy she'd felt when entire crowds cheered her on.

Then, one day while brooding in a corner of the common room, a young woman stopped by her.

When she looked up it was see the cape who was, perhaps, the most dangerous inhabitant of the Birdcage. The Faerie Queen tilted her head to one side, then the other, as if inspecting a strange insect that had crawled onto her path. "You are the Singing Faerie, yes?"

"I, I'm Canary," she had said. "Paige, I mean."

The Faerie Queen nodded. She was sipping at a mug of warm tea, the scent of it wafting through the common room and turning a few heads. Heads that would turn right back around when they saw who it was. No one messed with Glaistig Uaine, not unless they wanted to join her faerie court.

"Yes, you are the Singing Faerie. You sing and your song wraps around ears and minds. So many pretty noises to fill hearts and souls with happiness and dread. My fairies can sing too," she said before gesturing at one of the ghostly apparitions floating behind her. It was a woman, face shrouded in shadow. The ghost, the faerie, let out a low hum. "They do not sing well, and they sing only for me. Come, Singing Faerie, I would have you perform in my court."

Paige didn't know what happened after that. She was too far from the little political games that were played in the cage, but soon enough Lustrum told her that from then on she would be living in the Faerie court, and that if she ran, it would be best if she ran to another block.

She sang every night after the Faerie Queen ate her supper and every morning while the members of her block broke their fast. The Faerie Queen was, at her core, a delusional young woman only half a step away from insanity. At least, that's how Paige saw it. She still knew that the girl was queen of the block and feared in every other.

She waited in her corner, hoping that what she did was enough to be left alone. One day, she dreamed, one day she would be let out of the cage and the Canary would fly again.

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Perhaps she was spending too much time around Glaistig Uaine if her mind was filling with tripe metaphors.

***

"Everyone, gather 'round, for from beyond the bars come tidings both grim and joyous!" The Faerie Queen's call ran across her court and the other parahumans that she allowed to live in her hallowed halls stood to attention.

Paige had been reading from an old book about Gaelic lore and Arthurian Legends. A dry, rather dull book, but one that was filled with stories about fairies and kings and royal courts. If she was going to sing new songs she was going to have to write them herself, and she didn't want the Faerie Queen's ire because she messed up some old legend in a verse.

She earmarked a corner of the page she was on and placed the book on the table before standing up to join the small group gathering around the Faerie Queen's throne. It was a strange seat, made of crystal with precious gems the size of Paige's fist planted here and there across its surface.

Glaistig took her seat and stared at the dozen or so who gathered to listen to her speak. Her block was just as big as most others but had the smallest population. It was actually quite spacious.

In the time that Paige had been there, only one group of a half-dozen parahumans had tried to take it. She thought she recognized one of Glaistig's ghosts as the leader of that little assault.

The Faerie Queen smiled and instantly Paige's attention snapped to her. "Whispers have reached my ears and not even the bars of this gilded cage could stop the good tidings. A new Queen has been born and she roams the outside, calling it her own."

Paige swallowed. A new queen meant someone like Glaistig, if she wasn't missing her mark. Another cape like her was roaming the world and probably ruining it for everyone.

"Her name, as the whispers have told me, is Queen Administrator, and she rules over her twin subjects in the city of Brockton by the Bay."

So, a cape like the Faerie Queen with only two ghosts? Canary never spent much time studying powers, but she supposed that a similar power was possible.

"Whatfore shall we do, your majesty?" one of the capes gathered nearby said. He was one of the simpering fools, the sort that played up the whole royalty and faerie side of things to ingratiate himself with the Faerie Queen. Paige gave him a few more weeks before the Queen tired of his ass kissing.

Glaistig pondered the question for a few long moments, her eyes darting to her ghosts, then to the ceiling. "I believe we ought to deliver a present, a token of our appreciation to the new Royal. Yes, we should remind her that we exist, that the Faerie Queen's realm competes with her own, but also that we are not unfriendly. Perhaps we can open an exchange of favours. The outside of the cage begins to look more and more appealing. The High Priest has lost some puppets, the world is shaking up, and Father's sadness wanes."

The Faerie Queen jumped to her feet and scanned the group before her. There was something manic in her eyes. "We leave at dusk."

***