When she saw the newcomers, her reaction was not quite so analytical. She abandoned her duties to her troops and ran for the gate while yelling out questions without any pause for answers, likely habituated by recent experiences to expect none. “Hello! You are human, are you not? Adabans or so? To say our meeting is a blessing is the usual thing, but is this not the truest statement to make right now? Have you heard I was missing? My name is Gelfid Etenkloss. Is a way to get out of here known to you? Are those fairies your captors? Have you met Queen Ydridd? Is she bored with me yet, or is she not?”
Doltandon Yurvitas did not care either to introduce himself or to inform a lady he had never heard of her, the most grievous indelicacy which could be committed according to Yean Defiafi's system of etiquette. He instead picked out the question most of moment and answered that. “Miss Gelfid, what I beg you to understand is that far from being unfriendly, these fairies with us have agreed to accept employment in my construction crew.” He turned and indicated them with a bow. “It is of course unnecessary to introduce them.”
“Have we just been insulted?”
“The perfect boss!”
“I'm Wiuyo the bard. I'm not a construction worker. I build ephemeral structures that fade away with the last note, the last breath, the end of dreams.”
Not before then did Dirant form the hypothesis that the labor fairies refrained from giving their names out of a sense of inferior provenance rather than general insensitivity to social niceties. Perhaps they had taken their names, not from kings or acclaimed musicians, but from people who had dug tunnels slightly faster than the competition. He felt no shame at his own name for all that some of his brothers had cause for complaint against their father nor any reluctance to admit not everyone knew him already, and therefore he stepped in to perform introductions and subsequently address Gelfid's inquiries to the extent that he remembered them.
“We are human, three of us Adabans and one a Survyai of Yean Defiafi. Our appearance doubtless clarifies who may claim membership in which. There have been several suspected disappearances in the vicinity of Ividottlof, a circumstance we along with several others decided to investigate, and it is a relief to have found one of the missing. Effecting a rescue of all of them is now within the limits of reasonable hope, and our plan to do so, while not yet tested in practice, is likely to meet with success. Any information you are able to provide about the situation here, and this Queen Ydridd whom we have not met, is more than fairies will tell us. Is it true that the strongest fairies are delegating military affairs to generals as a more effective method of advancing their interests, or?”
Gelfid nodded, glum like an employee who receives an expected dismissal while outside the office waits a coworker who soon will be promoted to the position thus vacated. “That was about all Queen Ydridd did tell me, that she needs a human general if she wants to claim Hacanthu's legacy. Ah, and that Hacanthu is the most extraordinary king ever born. He killed an Omega Master, you see. I'm not a person who knows about Omega Masters, am I? I've never heard the term, or of Hacanthu, and I'm not a general. I was in one fight in my life, and we pulled each other's hair for a bit before her brother broke it up. We were ten. Why am I here?” At last she surrendered to tears. Doltandon Yurvitas offered her a handkerchief, one of five he kept on his person to meet the needs of different circumstances as far as the prestige of the person involved and solemnity of the moment.
“Thank you, Mr. Doltandon.” The opportunity to express her many woes to her brothers in humanity who moreover offered hope of release had disordered Gelfid's emotions for but a short time. Already her natural optimism was reclaiming its wonted supremacy. “It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, from the stories and such. Queen Ydridd hasn't mistreated me except when she forces me to watch fairies hack each other up and come back to life. It makes me sick. I think she doesn't understand that not all of us are good at war. And her castle is the loveliest edifice I have ever seen. It's just that it's better to be free in a hut than caged in a palace, is it not? We all say that, but I mean it now with complete, unshakable sincerity.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“We'd see some progress if we all reflected that way, and they have the brains, but they don't have the breadth of experience,” Taomenk praised.
“I suppose they don't, Mr. Taomenk.” If the exchange puzzled Gelfid, and it did, her reaction when the engineer expounded on his more esoteric theories would be something to see.
Yurvitas put a stop to that. “About what shall I inquire further? Everything you've said is interesting, though I'm bewildered when I try to figure whether the news is more compelling or if its deliverer is, Mrs. Gelfid.”
“Thank you, sir. Ah, I'm not married, but that's a small thing.”
She intended to smooth over any awkwardness occasioned by his excusable mistake, just as he planned. “An inexplicable state,” he stated with an attitude of disbelief. Yurvitas turned an accusing eye on his Adaban fellows to imply they were to blame for allowing such a situation to develop, unambiguous proof of a deficiency of judgment.
It was a routine species of flattery which would not have worked for one of the Adabans, since they knew the invariable custom in the GE to be that “Mrs.” must be followed by the husband's name which she would have been included in her self-introduction had it existed. Yurvitas knew that as well of course, but he exploited the pretense of ignorance. The Adaban men did not take exception to such a commonplace despite being forced to play the villains of the piece, but evidently Gelfid was unfamiliar with it. Every part of her blushed except for the freckles, and they considered joining in. Mr. Doltandon was after all a gentleman of Yean Defiafi and perforce far more sophisticated than the local assortment who were called gentlemen more out of courtesy than desert. His hat alone outshone all her previous acquaintances even if she generously exempted their personalities from consideration. “It has so far worked out so,” was all she could think to say. Doubtless she would reproach herself for that later.
“Miss Gelfid,” the gentleman resumed, “what are the characteristics of this castle? Are the stories at least accurate when it comes to fay riches?”
“There is nothing surer than that they are! The castle sits in the middle of the lake, a great ring it is, and it might really be a ring of a substance I don't know, for you can walk right across it.”
“Astounding!”
She nodded vigorously, or foolishly as she would think of it during her reproaching session. “The foot, you see, when it steps, sends out ripples. When all the fairies dance there, oh, the stories become believable. When they speak though, well, everything is subject to embellishment, and there is not so much majesty in a fairy kingdom as a little girl supposes. That is not what you asked. I can say nothing about how defensible the castle is save that if Queen Ydridd designed it more for looks than function, she could not have done better. Inside, it is exactly one of the scenes if you know the kind when the author describes countless signs of abundance, gems and fabrics and so, that you do not understand the half of them and make up your own images. Well, probably you know them all, sir.”
“Shall we go through them together someday? I had better not stray too far from the topic, since my dependable companions don't deserve to have their patience tested. Her Majesty Ydridd, how bent is she on having humans for her officers? For instance, if we simply ran off with you, would she be much upset or accept it as blandly as these fairies let so much else go by them? Can she be persuaded there are better candidates for the position, do you think?”
“I tried to run off and she carried me back, you can believe. Can she be persuaded? I think she can be persuaded of anything with the right approach, but what do I know about negotiations if they aren't, 'You must deliver this letter to this remote cabin for this fee,' or similar?”
“I see.” Yurvitas descended into silence while he pondered the situation and revolved some plot to achieve the most desirable results possible for him, his colleagues, and their newest acquaintance. He adjusted his hat several times despite its needing none at all, squeezed his eyes as if he needed juice, and made a frown like the waning moon from the effort before he relaxed and said, “Miss Gelfid, what would you say if say I have a way to secure your rightful liberty? Will you trust me?”
“Oh, yes, sir.”
“And Queen Ydridd is rich?”
“Ridiculously so, sir.”
Yurvitas smiled at his comrades, who took heart at his confidence.