Freya bit into the Numa fruit. It was a sweet and chewy fruit, and Freya found she liked it very much. Oh, how she’d missed the sweets. The berries they ate at the camp were fine, but to her great chagrin, there were not that many fruit trees. So this was downright delicious.

Freya’s liaison, Shaalim, looked at her eagerly with her big, bright eyes.

“The seed!” She said in a high gleeful voice, like that of an excited child. “Look at the seed! Examine it! Look!”

Freya plucked the tiny blue bead from the middle of the half-eaten fruit. It was a little blue pearl with a glossy shell. It gave off no light like many things with Numa did. Freya squinted.

[A-grade Numa-tree seed]

Shaalim’s little green hand grabbed Freya’s arm and leaned over her shoulder to peer at the little bead. She gasped and squeezed Freya.

“Another one! Truly you are blessed beings, you Tall Folk! How can it be! Surely ‘tis a mistake! No! No! The Spirit does not lie. Come! Come with me pretty one. To the king! We must tell of this! A Boon! Boon for the pretty one!

She went on like this, bombastically and enthusiastically gabbling this nonsense to any other Faelf that came across them. Most of them smiled enthusiastically and bowed or waved at Freya. But some of them were apparently as crazy as Shaalim and joined in her dancing and skipping and shouting and excitement.

Freya wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. Logan would have laughed. At least at first. If this was going to be like this, Freya wondered how Logan had endured. They were like children. But there was something knowing and wise about them. And they had a keen, deliberate mischievousness that wasn’t akin to any child Freya had seen.

A Faelf child came up to Freya, looked at her shyly and extended her arms, opening and closing her palms. Freya picked her up and the widest, most innocent smile broke out on the young Faelf child’s face.

“Okay, fine,” Freya huffed. “You’re adorable, damn it.”

Lead by Shaalin their procession of revelry moved forward through a market place, an urban tree-house area and a farmstead. More and more Faelves joined in. They danced and skipped and sang and brought Freya morsels of food to try this and that.

“This is so good!” Freya said as she bit into a bun. “Oh my god, I’ve missed real food so much. I’ll teach you some recipies!”

“Tall folk food!”

“Oh, there must be plenty. She is big!”

“But so pretty!”

“Maybe that is the secret to cooking Tall Folk food!”

“You are pretty, Fililie, but you cannot cook!”

Eventually their party crashed into the King’s court. The King took Freya in with open arms, bowing deeply, with both of his hands tugging his voluminous blue beard. Logan had told Freya what to expect, but the king was truly majestic and ridiculous at the same time. Freya smiled brightly and returned the smile.

“Be welcome, our guest. I am King of the Faelves, Sluikumar. You must be Freya Beckstein, mate of Logan Specter.”

Freya blushed. “We humans use the terms girlfriend and boyfriend.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I see,” Sluikumar said thoughtfully, stroking his beard. “Would I be your king-friend, then?”

Freya laughed. “It does not work like that.”

“You shall explain it to me later,” The King said and rose up in the air to float a few feet above everyone else. “Now tell me, young Shaalim, what sort of seed was sown?”

“You know, O King!” Shaalim said and grinned. “You must have heard us sing and dance, lest you have become as deaf as you are old!”

The courtful of Faelves laughed and the King shook a fist at them. The Faelves, however quieted very fast, when the King gestured for silence with his hands.

“‘Tis truly remarkable…” King Sluikumar said half-aloud. “To have two A-grade seeds spawn simultaneously…”

“Is it really that big a deal?” Freya asked. “Logan didn’t explain to me.”

“Logan did not tell you, for he doesn’t know. He was too busy asking questions which concerned him now, not later. And drinking. Oh, he was very concerned with drinking. Are all Tall Folk so prone for cups?”

Freya grinned. “He needed the drink. I can’t lie, I do too. It’s been… a lot.”

“We can only imagine,” Sluikumar said, and smiled in a grandfatherly way. “We are natural-born on Saeldar. We have heard of only stories of our ancestors who came here like you just did. We shall fix you up with something to drink right away. Yes! Pelsnaf, bring her a cup of wine. And for myself. Hah! Let us all sit around and have a drink. Trolsnev, Spuff, Vaalia, bring us all cups and wine! Your King demands it!”

Cheers and laughter went around and Freya was inspired to raise a hand and whoop. She got initially embarrassed for acting like that in a relatively serious situation, but the Faelves picked it up with great enthusiasm. When the King’s aides came back with trays of wine and cups, all the Faelves raised a hand and whooped. Freya simply had to join them. It felt good to whoop.

“I see you have a joyful heart,” Sluikumar said. “It will be good to revel with you, but first we have many a thing to discuss. You have a boon to gain. This is why you are here, yes! But first the seed, before we were interrupted by our thrists.”

“Why was the A-seed such a big deal?” Freya asked. “I saw hundreds of fruits in the grove on dozens of trees.”

The King let out half a laugh and shook his head. “Of all those trees that we have cultivated, only two are A-grade trees. The ones planted by our founding king and his mate. It seems the A-grade seeds are blessed to come in pairs. All the rest of those trees are precious to us, but they are of much lower quality. Myself, a king, planted a C-tier seed, which granted me my reign.”

“You were given sovereignty over the sort of seed you found in some fruit?”

“That is our way,” The King said and wagged a finger at her. “The fruit are important to us. They are the safest, most straight-forward way of using Numa. A-grade trees are precious for their potent fruits. Many great things can be done with them, you shall see, yes. Do not judge what you do not know, Freya Beckstein. We put our faith in the Spirit Goddess Numa. Whoever she blesses, is the one we follow. Your mate Logan was blessed, and you are too. ‘Tis no coincidence.”

Then the King rose even higher in the air. “‘Tis an omen! Yes! A good omen! Our alliance with the tall folk is blessed!”

“Uh yeah, about that,” Freya said and cringed. “We’ve hit a bit of a snafu.”

“A what?” The king asked, stroking his beard.

The crowd murmured at the word.

“She said Snafu?”

“What a great name!”

“How come we never thought of it!

“I am with daughter, on the third moon as you know!” One of the young Faelves said.

“Name her Snafu!”

“Oh you must, Flirra!”

Freya sighed. He couldn’t help but to laugh at their enthusiasm, but this lot clearly needed adderall.

Freya explained what a snafu was, but Flirra was still going to name her child that, simply because they all loved the sound of it. Freya wouldn’t argue about that. Afterwards they returned to the topic and Freya explained to the King and his court about Malcolm and his deal with the Dorves.

“Grave, grave news,” The King said shaking his head. “This will increase the Black Rains. It will not be safe for our [Explorers] or [Gatherers].”

“Will you be alright?” Freya asked.

“Our home is safe. Very rarely do the spawns of the Great Thief get through the swamp, for the creatures which dwell there are aggressive to intruders, as they are allies of ours and our friends. ‘Tis why you were not attacked on your way here, for Logan is our friend.”

The court was outraged.

“But the Felfel-mushrooms!”

“And the wild pigs! Oh, how I love their milk. The fiends will murder them!”

“Murderers! The Dorves are murderers!”

King Sluikumar bellowed out. “Silence!”

“I am here for two reasons,” Freya said. “At the request of Logan, so that I can be safe, if you are indeed being truthful. And I am here to verify that what you told Logan is true.”

“You are here as a guest and a friend,” Sluikumar said and tugged at his beard with both hands as he smiled in the air. “But we cannot uphold an agreement and alliance, if you Tall Folk are not keeping to the bargain.”

Freya hung her head. “I will tell our leader what you tell me. Maybe if me and Logan tell the same story, it is enough.”

“Perhaps,” the King said. “But the Black Rain will surely fall soon. You will stay here and be safe.”

“Wait, I can’t leave?” Freya asked, suddenly alarmed.

The court laughed and King Sluikumar’s face was pure outrage. He let out a loud exhale. “What is this, a joke of the Tall Folk? Of course you can leave, you young fool. But you should not. We have many tales to tell, many cups to drink and it is dangerous out there, more dangerous than before, now that the Dorves have made their move. You will leave when ready. But first, my friend. Yes first. It is time.”

“Time? Freya asked. “Time for what?”

“Time for you to meet the Spirit.”