Javorora and Hyacinth sat with Kaitlyn in the front garden, the new round table and four chairs giving them a place to sit together and have tea. Kaitlyn smiled at them, thinking to herself about the strange place her life had brought her. A year ago she had sat and had tea with other young women she had grown up with. Many looked much like her with similar hair, clothes, and expectations for their lives.

Now next to her sat Javorora, a dryad woman who looked like her maple tree and across from Kaitlyn sat a princess of the Silver Elves, Hyacinth. Javorora had found out the truth of the young woman’s identity and next time Hyacinth came to the hut she called it out. As only Javorora could with all the blunt and tact of a mallet to the head. These two were incredible. The dryad came several times a week, not quite daily, and when Hyacinth came as well all three spent time chatting.

So Kaitlyn had done the only thing she knew to do and brought out her tea things and made chamomile mint tea. Thankfully, both of those plants grew like weeds. She had recently transplanted some mint to the front yard for both the pretty little flowers and the lovely smell.

The bees also loved the blooming mint, and Cilvic was delighted with the bees he had managed to attract. Kaitlyn was excited to add honey as a sweetener to her diet. Right now she had some wild bee honey in a jar on the table with a stick balanced on it. She almost giggled happily to see the simple thing on her table which made her feel more civilized.

“So, why on earth are you the one coming out on patrol so often?” Javorora asked Hyacinth. “Shouldn’t you be ruling your people or some such.”

Hyacinth rolled her eyes and said, “My mother was very young when she had me, I probably have decades, if not a century or more before she even considers abdicating to me. She also has some wish that my younger sister was her heir. I am apparently…. not ambitious enough for her.”

“Not ambitious?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Oh I do terrible things like strike deals with the son of the autumn king,” Hyacinth said, “and come have tea with a human witch. And I am the greatest hunter of our people but not a warrior. All the failings which only a princess can brag of.”

Javorora snorted and said, “And yet, here you are still courting your mother’s displeasure. Are you sure she won’t just kill you?”

Kaitlyn gasped in shock and the silver elf looked at Kaitlyn with an almost pitying look. She then turned to Javorora and said, “I have enough allies in court that she doesn’t dare. My father is the royal master of the council, and my brother is one of the lifestall’s guard.”

“Your mother would kill you?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Only if she thought I plotted true rebellion I think,” Hyacinth said, “she is afraid enough of my friends and family that she can’t. But she has made her displeasure clear and being away from court and out of her way helps us maintain the peace between us.”

“I have known mothers and daughters to argue, but never plot to kill each other,” Kaitlyn muttered.

“In your village there are not a million lives on the line when they do,” Hyacinth said with her usual bluntness.

“True, at best the happiness of a few are on the line,” Javorora nodded. “This is why dryads send our daughters out into the world with encouragement for a daughter to travel far before she finds herself a tree. I traveled for three months without stopping before I bonded.”

“You did not stop at all?” Hyacinth raised an eyebrow.

Javorora rolled her eyes and said, “I only stopped for sleep and food. I traveled every day for three month, better?”

“Yes, thank you for clarifying,” Hyacinth said, “I will say this, as a scout I believe I have learned more how the outsiders communicate than my mother ever has. I don’t believe she has ever left the birch trees and these times when foreigners speak untruths are very difficult for her.”

“Sometimes we aren’t telling an outright untruth,” Kaitlyn said, “like what Javorora just did. She left out a detail that neither added nor clarified her story significantly. Yes, if she could travel without rest or food for three months that would be impressive. Or terrifying. I can’t decide which.”

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“I would take terrifying,” the three-foot tall woman said with a prim smirk.

“I’m sure you would,” Kaitlyn said. She turned back to Hyacinth, “but that detail would change only the most minor of details of the story. Some distance and some knowledge of her skills. It would be a lie if she tried to claim she could travel like that, but since we both know that is not something she is capable of, leaving it out becomes irrelevant. Does that make sense?”

Hyacinth thought about it and then nodded, “I think I understand. Those truths which are accepted between you do not need to be repeated.”

“Exactly,” Kaitlyn said.

“You are so patient,” Javorora rolled her eyes a little, “they are just stuck up about these things.”

“We do not lie to one another,” Hyacinth said, “we can’t lie to our queen or when we stand on birch leaves, which we use liberally in our council halls.”

“Why can’t you lie to your queen?” Kaitlyn asked.

“I don’t know,” Hyacinth said. “I think it is a power of the crown. My mother never takes it off. At least, I have never seen her without it on her head. Some of my earliest memories are of that crown, the way it glitters.”

“Is it true it’s made of starlight?” Javorora asked.

“I don’t know that either,” Hyacinth said, “I would believe it if I was told that by our priests though. It is beautiful enough.”

“I wish I could see it,” Kaitlyn sighed.

“Come to court with me some time,” Hyacinth said. “You can come as my guest and shock my mother.”

“I can’t,” Kaitlyn said.

“Of course you can,” Hyacinth said, “we do not kill humans on sight you know.”

“Obviously,” Kaitlyn murmured. She looked at Javorora, and the dryad shrugged back to her silent question. Kaitlyn decided to take the chance.

She held up her hands, showing the horrible red scars which wove around her skin like crocheted silk webs. She said, “I was cursed by a black unicorn. The house… it has ancient spells on it by a previous witch which allows it to keep me alive. If I leave for too long… the pain is crippling. I am as much a prisoner here as anything.”

Hyacinth frowned and said, “This is why your master comes to you instead of your living with him. I thought it some kind of test he was having you live in this wretched cursed house.”

“The house may be keeping me alive,” Kaitlyn said.

“I have heard of unicorns with darkened hair,” Hyacinth said, “but you said black.”

“And I meant black,” Kaitlyn said. “I was already quite weak and frightened when it found me, but I did not see any white hairs on it at all.”

“Why did it curse you? Is it evil?” Hyacinth asked.

“Yes,” Javorora said quickly.

“I don’t know that,” Kaitlyn interjected. “My finance used me to lure a unicorn to kill it. The black unicorn hunted and killed everyone else in the party. It told me it spared my life because I was an unwilling participant, but that I must still be punished.”

“That isn’t fair,” Hyacinth said, “There is no justice if you were being used against your will.”

Kaitlyn nodded and said, “I agree. Believe me, I already feel guilty that I believe Claus loved me and ended up being just… a pawn. A stupid gullible girl. And an innocent, beautiful creature paid the price.”

Javorora frowned and then said, “Hyacinth, if you say you think she was innocent, we know you are telling the truth. Can you convince her that she is NOT at fault?”

“No,” Hyacinth said, “our priests teach us that the sense of guilt sometimes is the gods’ way of confirming that there is a guilt. And guilt by lack of knowledge or understanding is still a type of guilt. If I try to hunt and strike a deer, but I do not have the skill to stalk them and end their suffering, my lack of knowledge does not stop the deer from suffering. Possibly even longer.”

“Sometimes your whole honesty to a fault thing is annoying,” Javorora said.

Hyacinth smirked and said, “Would you prefer the lie?”

“Yes,” Javorora replied.

“No,” Kaitlyn said quietly, “thank you Hyacinth. I think you might be right. All I can really say is that I have learned so much since I left home. Claus was part of that.”

“I for one am glad you are here,” Hyacinth said, “and I shall seek a way to allow you to come to my mother’s court so you can see how beautiful it is.”

“I will look forward to that,” Javorora said, “because I can’t wait to put this one into a silk dress.”

“Silk? Why would I ever wear silk?” Kaitlyn asked, “My father had some silk in his shop once and it was ridiculously fragile.”

“It isn’t when it’s well made,” Javorora said, “besides, it’s beautiful. And you would look amazing in something…. green I think.”

“You like everything in green,” Kaitlyn laughed.

“Yes,” Javorora said, “it is the color of life and joy and everything good.”

“When you come to my mother’s court I will see to it you have a gown of green silk,” Hyacinth said with a laugh as well, “and I think you should be in something like a rose just before it blooms, soft and pink and rosy. So two gowns then. And we shall see which my mother hates more, which we will agree is the better color.”

Kaitlyn laughed at the idea, assuming this was the fun of young women talking over tea. Because surely a tailor’s daughter, even one apprenticed to the bastard son of the king of the autumn fae, could never be at a royal court and even be noticed. It was a fun fantasy, but not one she would ever indulge in when she was alone.