“Now, as for the fey folk in the tent, it’s all good and well for you to interact with them, but try to keep it to a minimum. I’m only half-fey, you see.” Meeks told Arden as he showed him around the circus. “But they might try to cause problems. They’ve been ordered not to harm anyone, but…well, fey are good at loopholes. That lot can cause problems. The visitors who come to see them aren’t there long enough for them to think of any sort of loophole.” Meeks paused, then added, “Usually, anyways.”

Since Meeks was half-fey, he was still bound to speak the truth, but had just managed to try to sell him a load of bullshit, assuming that, since Arden seemed and felt totally human he wouldn't be familiar with the various ways fey folk could still be untruthful. He’d implied that being half-fey meant he was less dangerous than the fully fey folk that were held against their will in the exhibit tent. While Arden suspected that Meeks wasn’t actually particularly dangerous, the half-fey man’s magic felt incredibly weak, Arden himself was half-elvish, and was still plenty dangerous.

It was more likely that Meeks and Bellows were playing on the natural fear that many humans had towards fey folk in order to keep the humans from actually talking to the captives and realize that they weren’t just terrifying creatures out to enchant people. That could lead to them sympathizing with the plight of the enslaved fey, and try to help them escape somehow.

“Fey folk don’t scare me.” he said mildly, “I used to live around a number of fey folk. Plenty of them were dangerous, but like I said, they don’t scare me.” Then, wanting to sell the bit, and convince Meeks to maybe let him be around the captives on an official basis, he added, “I know how to…handle them.” He infused his words with a knowing sort of tone, cracked his knuckles, and arched an eyebrow slightly, wanting to come across as not overly fond of those fey folk.

Meeks blinked, “Well…” he paused, then said slowly, “having someone else help with seeing to them would be helpful. I could…use the time to see to it that my other duties are done more quickly.” His tone was thoughtful. “Yes, that could work. Just…don’t mention it to Bellows, he might be - uh - concerned with the situation. You know, he has the safety of everyone to consider. But if you’re used to fey folk, it’ll be fine.”

More like Meeks wanted Arden to do a part of his job that he clearly didn’t relish, though he’d implied that Bellows would be displeased because of safety reasons, and that he could use the extra time to do his other work, when they both knew he’d use it to laze around or slack off in some way. Meeks also had implied that Bellows wouldn't want Arden to be the one doing the work for safety reasons, rather than Meeks didn’t want his employer to know he planned to shirk his duties.

“Alright.” Arden nodded. That was easy. “What all will I need to do?”

“You’ll need to get the food that the meal tent prepares for them each day. You’ll also need to sweep down the tent in the mornings before the exhibit tent opens, and then again after it closes. You’ll also be responsible for dealing with them when we’re travelling, keeping them fed and quiet and stuff.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing specific, but I may give you other tasks related to them from time to time.” Meeks shrugged.

Arden nodded. “Alright.”

“Good. You can start with sweeping the tent, I haven’t gotten to that today. All your meals will be served in the meal tent, and pay day is the first day of every other week.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll go introduce you to them, just to make sure you get off on the right foot.”

“Okay.” Arden nodded.

“And if they do talk to you, don’t put too much stock into what they say. They see the world…very uniquely.” Meeks told him, choosing his words carefully. “And let me know if any of them start to really bother you or anything, I’ll put a stop to it.”

“Sure thing.” Meeks was shockingly easy to manipulate, given he thought Arden was only human.

Arriving at the exhibit tent, Meeks led him inside.

The enslaved fey folk were all now awake, and going about their morning routines. Some were still eating breakfast, others were putting away any belongings before visitors came, and a few were washing their faces. The tent hummed with conversation.

“QUIET!” Meeks shouted.

Silence fell, and all eyes and heads turned towards them. Their gazes weren’t particularly friendly. What expression did the mermaid wear? It was impossible to see her from where he stood.

Meeks pointed at Arden, “Arden here is going to start helping me take care of you lot.” he glared around the enormous tent at the occupants. “You are not to harm him in any way!” He said in a commanding tone.

Arden saw the runes on the metal bands each of the captives wore glow in unison.

“Do I make myself clear?!”

“Yes, Meeks.” the group spoke in unison, sounding less than pleased.

“Alright. Back at it!” Meeks grabbed a broom from beside the entrance and handed it to Arden. “Good luck. Watch out for the mermaid, she’s a troublemaker.”

“Duly noted.” Arden murmured, but found it entirely amusing that the buffoon of a circus manager was warning him off Marri, who he’d already sort of made friends with.

“Sweeping can take a while, but make sure you’re done by the time the first guests come in, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Find me when you’re done.”

“Yes sir.” Arden nodded.

“You all ought to take a page out of this young man’s book! He knows how to show proper respect!” Meeks motioned at Arden as he sneered at the other fey folk in the tent.

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A strangely disembodied voice spoke, seemingly from the wall of the tent. “Maybe if you were worth showing proper respect to, we would!”

Then another voice, seemingly coming from no one in particular mooed. Then it moved to the other side of the room and mooed again. The voice continued to hop around, still mooing.

Meeks turned an ugly shade of red, swore nastily, then stormed from the tent.

Immediately, the fey folk relaxed and started to giggle.

What was up with the mooing? And why had it infuriated Meeks so much? Besides, which of the fey captives had been speaking? The voices had seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere at once.

Arden began to sweep. His days in the military made him more than efficient at cleaning, and he was soon near Marrina’s tank.

He glanced up, “What was up with the mooing?”

Much to his surprise, Marrina flashed him a bright smile, “So, Meeks is a half-ogre. He’s unusually weak, and can only turn into a cow!” she giggled.

“Ah.” No wonder it had made Meeks so angry. That had to be a very sore spot indeed. Most half-ogres could take a good many forms. That didn’t explain where the voice, or voices, had come from, since they’d come from nowhere in particular, and had moved swiftly around.

“Marri, do you know him?” The centaur asked, watching Arden warily.

“This man was hiding in your hay last night, Rowan. He popped out of there before I woke everyone up, and we had a little chat. He had a nasty cut, so I tried a healing song like I’ve been wanting to try.”

“Oh? How’d it work?” Rowan looked to Arden, wariness having apparently lessened at hearing that Marri had been willing to help him. It seemed like the centaur trusted the mermaid’s judgment on his character.

“Pretty well, I think. It’s still sore though.” Arden put a hand over the spot where the arrow had struck him.

“Does that mean you’re the person the intruders were looking for? That’s all I’ve heard about this morning since I woke up. I managed to sleep through the whole thing.” Rowan grimaced slightly.

“Yes.”

Marri turned her cerulean gaze to Arden, “Why were you hiding?”

“I…did something they didn’t appreciate.” he told her. That was true enough.

“Well, I gathered that much.” Marri rolled her lovely eyes at him, and swished her tail through the air impatiently. The bandage had been removed from her fins, and he could see it was a dull brown when it should be a slightly translucent green. “What’d you do?”

“It’s - uh - probably better if I don't talk about it.” Arden said, honestly enough.

Marri narrowed her eyes at him, but giggled, “Alright, keep your secrets!”

There was a pause.

“What happened to your tail?” he asked.

She looked down, as if embarrassed, “I got burned.”

“Why would a mermaid be anywhere near fire?” he tilted his head to the side curiously.

“It’s part of her act. It went wrong last night and she got burned.” Rowan answered for her.

“I see.” Arden looked back at Marrina, murmuring, “I’m sorry. It must be painful.”

“At least I won’t have to perform for a little while now.” The mermaid smiled a little, then shrugged and grimaced.

“True.” The centaur shrugged. He walked closer to Arden and held out his hand. “I’m Rowan, if you haven’t already guessed.”

The disguised fey soldier shook the proffered hand. “Arden, though you already know that.”

“It’s nice to meet you. You’re…not scared of us?”

“I’m not unused to fey people.”

“He said he’d seen merfolk before.” Marri chimed in.

“And other fey folk.” The disguised fey soldier shrugged. “When I told Meeks that, he was only too happy to delegate all chores regarding you all to me. I’m not supposed to tell Bellows though, of course.”

“Of course.” Rowan nodded, amused.

“You seem nice.” A firebug flew up, landing on the fake rocks beside Marri. “We won’t tell Bellows either, if you keep being this nice.”

“I’ll do my best.” Arden shrugged.

“I’m Pippa.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“How sad is it that the moment anyone is even just polite with us, that we fall all over ourselves to make friends with him?!” Pippa laughed, then sighed. “It is nice to meet you, though.”

“You’re all here against your will, aren’t you?” Arden asked quietly.

They fell silent for a few moments.

Rowan finally spoke in a low voice, “Yes.”

“I’ll do my best to make things better for you all, while I’m here.” the disguised fey soldier told them earnestly.

“Yeah?” Marri smiled, but it faltered, “You might get in trouble for it.”

“I’ll act like I’m not doing anything for you all when other people are around. You all should do the same so we can keep it under wraps. Right?”

“Right.” Pippa nodded, smiling. “I like you.”

“Me too.” Rowan snorted.

There was the smallest chance he might be able to think of some way to free them. But he’d need some time to study the rune-carved bands they all wore, if he wanted to do that. Similarly to how he could suppress his own magic, he was also able to suppress the magic of others, to an extent, and he’d had luck with dealing with runes in the past, it just depended on how the rune worked.

“Don’t do anything that’ll get you in trouble though, alright?” Marri’s voice pulled him back to reality. Her pretty face wore a frown, “Like, sometimes they withhold food from us as punishment. If you get caught giving us food, I could see Bellows whipping you before he gave you the boot.”

“He mistreats the employees, too?” Arden arched an eyebrow in distaste. The more he heard about Bellows, the more he disliked him.

“Yeah. Most of them know to toe the line, and do whatever he asks, but every now and again, someone displeases him.” Rowan sighed, shaking his head. “Of course, they’re able to leave once they’re beaten and fired. But we’re all stuck here.” he motioned at the occupants of the tent.

“Right.” Arden muttered.

There was a pause, “Well, let’s not keep you from your work.” Pippa buzzed, then turned to Marri, “Let me have a look at the rest of your tail now, alright?”

“Yes ma’am.”

The firebug pulled a hidden privacy screen out from one of the tall fake rocks, and pulled it out around Marri, and Arden began to sweep again.

It seemed like the rest of the fey folk had heard their conversation, because the glances he received now were all largely friendly.

As he approached the other side of the large tent, a selkie woman motioned him over. “You’ll help us?” Her dark eyes were full of hope, and the waves of her raven hair fell gently around either side of her face. Selkies were like elves, always pretty, when in their humanoid form. Otherwise they just looked like seals. That said, seals were pretty cute animals.

“If I can.” Arden shrugged.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” An elvish man with auburn hair muttered.

Something about the way the man’s magic felt told Arden this was an ogre, not an elf. It was too malleable to be anything else.

“Don’t be mean, Irving. I believe him.” the selkie admonished, then turned back to Arden and smiled, “I’m Serha.”

“Arden.” the fey soldier nodded.

“That’s Irving.”

Arden nodded at the ogre, who looked away, seemingly annoyed at his presence.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Serha told him.

“You too.” Arden nodded at both of them again and turned back to sweeping.