Fuyuko had been both concerned and envious while watching Carmilla's duel. For everything she had previously seen and learned of her adoptive sister, this graceful, deadly princess was not part of it. The flashing, gleaming blades were mesmerizing and Fuyuko wanted to be able to do something as incredible as that someday.

The trickiness was perfectly in character though. Not only was the terrain better for her, but by fighting upon the living network of crystal and fungal roots she had deprived them both of big spells, lest they hurt others not part of the duel.

Now, while Fuyuko couldn't know for sure, she rather thought that Silvander used those sorts of spells more than Carmilla did, so that too had tipped things in her favor.

She also took note of how Carmilla had delayed using some of her powers to create surprises. Given how Silvander had recovered from each surprise, it seemed likely that he'd have won if she'd started using everything at the beginning.

Not that Fuyuko would have been able to pick apart all the bits of the fight on her own. The two faeries were fast. Mordecai and Moriko were commenting on the physical aspects of the duel through the dungeon link, and Kazue analyzed the spell work at play. The three of them were deliberately including her in their conversation, which was nice but she wished she had more to contribute.

Carmilla had even held her poise while walking toward them covered in wounds. That was when Fuyuko hadn't been able to hold back anymore and rushed over to hug her sister. When Carmilla teared up from the sudden rush of familial affection, Fuyuko felt a rush of sympathy. Their adoptive parents had turned out to be really good at making them feel welcomed and included.

After that, it was time to resume their seats and continue with the parade of people coming to ask things of the Azeria Court. She was a little confused about why some people were just guests, others just petitioners, and a few started as guests before coming back to them as petitioners. Carmilla tried to explain it to her and Fuyuko got a little bit of the ideas involved in all of these complicated court games, but it honestly gave her a bit of a headache.

Mama M was the most sympathetic here, she was mostly trusting to Papa and Mama K in these matters. Mama K seemed to enjoy some of it, but she also got tired of it when the 'romance' of the scene wore thin, whatever that meant.

Papa understood all the rules terrifyingly well, for all that he did not want to abide by them any more than he felt they needed to. During these dealings, Fuyuko got a glimpse of aspects of her adoptive father that she had never seen before and it left her fervently glad that he was as kind and open as he was.

There was a lot of knowledge and power that Mordecai had simply been choosing not to use. He picked apart the sorts of bindings that lay on some of their petitioners easily enough and Fuyuko had learned enough to understand that this meant he also knew how to make those bindings. A few of those had been bound to be happy about their service to their lord or lady.

It was disturbing to see someone ask to be relieved of the burden of being happy to be a slave.

Hearing her papa occasionally mutter about clumsy work as he undid or suspended these compulsions was even scarier.

Fuyuko's mind hopped across memories and spun possible stories. While no one treated Aia like she was as strong as Gil, Mordecai seemed to think that they were on roughly the same scale. Fuyuko had felt the power of Aia's will during their training and now Fuyuko was wondering what sort of enchantments and bindings the nine-tailed kitsune matriarch was truly capable of. For that matter, what about Shizoku? Wasn’t she supposed to take the matriarch’s place someday? Would she, Fuyuko, be able to keep up?

Childhood stories and fairy tales had become so very real in her life rather than more distant things that happened to other people. That meant any of the scarier aspects of those stories could be true too.

Not that she believed any of that was going to happen to her, Fuyuko was confident that Papa would never do stuff like that to anyone, but she just felt terribly aware that there were things far worse than simple violence out there.

Her musings were interrupted when she noticed one of the petitioners looking at her and Fuyuko focused on the current conversation.

The current petitioner was a silver-furred fey who sort of looked like a bipedal wolf or hound. At least, his head did, the rest of him looked like a normal biped, ignoring the fur of course. 'The Cuiwan', Mordecai had called their clan. There was a slightly shorter member of the clan standing a little behind him, and that was who was casting glances at Fuyuko. It made her nervous.

"Lord Mordecai, Lady Kazue, Lady Moriko," the older man said, "I noticed that your daughter, Princess Fuyuko, appears to be of about the same age as my son." He paused to gesture at the younger cuiwan before continuing. "While we currently do not have a treaty, I thought it might be advantageous to consider the possibility of a marriage between them as part of forming an alliance."

"Eww, no."

The words were out of Fuyuko's mouth before she realized she was saying them. A stunned silence rippled outward before the cuiwan men growled in anger at the insult.

She reflexively summoned her daggers when she felt their hostility, which caused the younger one to glance down at her weapons. He yelped and jumped back, pointing at her. "Father, she carries cold iron!"

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Now there was a crash of sound as all the fey folk around them responded to that revelation and many of them seemed agitated with hands on the hilts of their own weapons.

"HOLD!" Mordecai's voice rolled over all of those present as he stood, filled with his will and power. It was sufficient to quell the voices and actions of most of the fey, though some such as Lord Silvander and the elder cuiwan in front of them were unaffected.

"First, Lord Arawn," he said in a quieter voice, "I understand that Our daughter's reaction might not be received favorably, but I can assure you that it was not intended as an insult. I see no reason to go into details, but I think it should be sufficient to say that she is actively disinterested in romance or dalliances from all parties, and no one I know of would have received a more positive response."

That seemed to ease tensions even if it left most of their visitors looking confused, like they didn't understand the concept.

Her papa turned to her and held out his hand, "Fuyuko, may I see your dagger please?"

It wasn't hard to figure out which one he meant, so she handed over her cold iron dagger to him, hilt first.

Mordecai raised his voice slightly and projected it across the gathering. "Now, something that should be kept in mind is our origins. None here but Princess Carmilla was born fey." He pricked his finger with the tip of the dagger and then held both hands up, to show the small wound quickly healing as well as the blood that sat on her dagger without reacting.

"Not even this body that I forged with fey powers and potential carries that weakness. As such, none of us fear it. These daggers were made as presents for Princess Fuyuko before she became Our daughter, and none shall gainsay her right to carry them upon her person, nor do We ban cold iron from our court. Do not assume you know all of the rules which we live by." He carefully cleaned the dagger before handing it back to Fuyuko.

As Fuyuko dismissed her daggers again, Moriko rose from her throne with a dramatic swirl of wind that drew attention to her. "I shall add something important here. I am a disciple and priestess of Lady Sakiya, and this will be reflected in Our court."

Fuyuko thought that Mama M looked kind of angry as she continued.

"Passions will be True. There will be no marriages of alliance forged by family or nobility. In Our court, all bonds will be decided upon by those who will be bound." As Moriko made her declaration, Fuyuko could feel that law settle into place throughout their faerie domain. Her next words did not carry the same weight. "We do not expect that all bonds will be born of love, but We do expect that all participants will be sincere. You may approach Us to ask our support in courting a member of Our court, but the decision will not be made by Us nor will We pressure anyone."

Kazue rose from her throne as well and said, "We understand these are not the rules you expect Us to abide by, but We are also bound by Our nature and devotions. Now, We do not wish to cause distress to our guests, so please, continue with the feast." Her words released the binding that Mordecai had placed. She turned to Lord Arawn and smiled before she said, "I hope the situation is clearer now. Your son would need to court Our daughter upon his own merits, and I think the situation has left her even less receptive to the idea than she would already be inclined to."

Well, Mama K wasn't wrong there. And the way the younger man was looking at her made Fuyuko pretty certain that he wasn't interested anymore, which was fine by her.

At least they weren't upset anymore. They spoke for a while longer with her parents before taking their leave and from what Fuyuko could make out conversations about alliances were all being put on hold until much later; the Azeria Court was not making any new alliances for now, though it was still bound by all alliances that the Azeria Mountain Dungeon was.

When there were no more people approaching the throne, Fuyuko was finally free to leave the dais and join the feast. She was still able to make out all the important things going on while she ate, but she'd also already known these plans.

Far up the path, past all the feast tables, a pair of rings grew, one on each side. These rings were made of mushrooms and crystal trees, interwoven so that most of the ring could not be crossed, with the exception being a single archway where the mushrooms grew very low to the ground. One of them grew in a slight depression and the other on a hill. This was combined with a few other markers to make it clear that one was to enter the low ring, as the hill ring would be where people would be coming from.

In the mortal realm, she knew that each of these was now matched with its opposite so that entering the depression here would bring you out on a hill there. The rules were simple; anyone who was not bound to Faerie could use these portals as they wished, so long as they paid the price: a single delve to the best of their ability, along any suitable path, per trip.

This caused quite a stir as permanent and easily accessed pathways between the mortal world and Faerie were exceedingly rare, and many were eager to partake. Fuyuko wasn't sure how to feel about the idea of letting a lot of fey run about but her parents seemed confident that those most interested in the mortal world were the ones least likely to cause trouble, so long as it was simple for them.

Most trouble came from the faeries who wanted something and had to go through a lot of effort to get it. They tended to cause trouble in proportion to their efforts.

Fuyuko was glad to not have to be part of all the rest of the stuff; there was a whole lot of interviewing, negotiating prices for buying out contracts, and figuring out who might become contractors for the dungeon or stay on this side to become part of the court, or even both. More often though. most of the people they interviewed became neither. It all seemed like a bother and a mess to her. Instead, she just enjoyed the chance to eat the food she'd been smelling for hours and take the time to hang out with her dragon friends.

That did bring over a few curious fey, especially some younger children. Fuyuko didn't blame them, who didn't think dragons were awesome? These dragons were also cute and friendly. Even the cuiwan boy came over to meet the dragons. Fuyuko was a little uncertain about how she felt at first when Ranulf introduced himself, but he had given a quick, embarrassed apology and then seemed determined to pretend the whole engagement thing had never happened. She decided she was okay with that.

Her enjoyment of the evening was interrupted by a sudden sensation that confused her at first. Fuyuko was not used to being able to read the environment itself this way to begin with and this change was strong enough to make itself known without her paying attention.

Carmilla reached out across the dungeon's link to nudge Fuyuko's focus and teach her how to understand what she was sensing. The sensation finally resolved into the knowledge that three people had just crossed their border with the rest of Faerie, but that left Fuyuko even more confused.

One of them felt more powerful than anyone else here.

A different one felt like she was also a princess of Azeria.

What?