Faytes of the Otherworld: Fayted

“How are you feeling?” Dani had sat slumped in the corner of the cart, mulling everything over in her head for the past hour and a half. Tam Lyn offered to take the reins so that Liam could assure her sanity.

“Sore. Very sore, but I’m fine. More or less.” Dani’s brow was knit as she stared down at her hands. With a little flick of the wrist, she was able to extract a sword from an ancient tree-like being. What else could she do?

“I thought he was going to crush you. I couldn’t get there fast enough so I fired a shot. I thought I had better aim than that.” Liam scratched the back of his head.

“You do,” Dani replied, rubbing at her ribs where she knew would be bruises tomorrow.

“I didn’t even come close.” Liam grimaced.

“But you saved Tam Lyn.” Dani pointed out, not sure if she was ready to reveal that she had an interdimensional faery friend who used to be one of the most popular magickal icons in Welsh folklore. Supposed folklore; whatever it was at this point.

“That I did, but I was more worried about you.” Liam reached out and gently turned Dani to him. Her raven colored hair that usually sat atop her head wrapped in a scarf was tugged free and loose curls framed her face. Dirt was smudged all over every bit of exposed skin and her strange eyes were cloudy in thought.

“I’m fine.” Dani turned away shyly and fixed her disheveled hair. “How close are we to the Hedgerow?”

“The sun is setting soon. Based on our setback we should barely make it back before nightfall.” Liam stretched out in the cart and closed his eyes.

“I can’t wait,” Dani responded, hoping that they arrived sooner than later.

(*)

“Home sweet home.” Liam helped Dani down from the cart and handed her bag to her.

“Safety,” Dani muttered, ready for their little journey to come to an end.

“Wesley, Wren; I need you two to go find Cassia and the rest of the Elders and make sure everything is ready for the festivities tomorrow. I want everything set so there is no scrambling last minute.” Despite the negative events of the day, he was quite jovial.

“Festivities?” Dani turned to Liam as she was straightening her jacket.

“Remember? To celebrate our newest citizen.” Liam winked at her before turning to help unhitch the horses.

“Oh, joy.” Dani was surly. She really hated the attention, “I’m going to go find Nissa. She’s probably been worrying herself silly.”

(*)

“You weren’t worried at all?” Dani’s nose was scrunched up as she unpacked stuff from her bag.

“Well, not really. I know you, Dani; you can handle your own.” Nissa stretched and began licking her paw to clean herself.

“That’s because you spent the last two days with Orin.” Dani threw her jacket at Nissa.

“I did no—how do you even know that? Or are you just speculating?” Nissa instantly became defensive.

“I can feel his energy all over you.” Dani was even surprised that she knew. Merlyn had been right about her many talents that would emerge.

“You can?” Nissa’s eyes were wide, shining molten copper in the lantern light.

“I saw the wizard again. I know his name now and he enlightened me about some abilities I didn’t even know I had. It saved my life.” Dani stared off into nothingness.

“Saved your life? What happened out there, Dani?” Nissa crept closer. Maybe she should have been worrying.

Dani went on to tell her about Syris and his attack on their way to their destination, invading Whitmore, and almost killing her on their journey back.

“Syris? I’ve never heard of him.” Nissa listened intently.

“Neither has Tam Lyn.” Dani blurted, forgetting that she hadn’t mentioned him to Nissa.

“Tam Lyn?” Nissa’s fur bristled. “The Elfin Knight? There is no way he is still alive…is there?” Nissa knew the name just as Dani did, but his reputation preceded him.

“Yeah…” She gave Nissa the shortened version of her introduction to Tam Lyn.

“And he’s here.” Dani wasn’t sure if Nissa was fond of the elf or not with all the sound she made during her retelling.

“Here!? Dani—he’s an Unseelie. They will find out that he isn’t down there anymore and they will trail him here.” Nissa warned.

“Unseelie?” Dani’s ears perked. She hadn’t mentioned any of the information they had come across at the library yet.

Nissa froze, her mouth slightly agape.

“Nissa—what aren’t you telling me?” Dani suddenly felt betrayed and very exposed.

“I wasn’t supposed to say anything. You were supposed to find out on your own. You were already smart enough to know we were fae.” Nissa stammered as she tried to defend herself.

“So, you’ve known about the Unseelie this whole time? About the war between mortals and the Fae? Did you know I was fae too?” Dani was starting to choke up as she thought about how much easier their life would have been had she known.

“I wanted to tell you so badly, Dani. Really I did, but it was part of the deal.” Nissa was so flustered that she wasn’t choosing her words wisely.

“A deal? You made a deal with someone to not tell me about things that could have possibly saved us so much grief over the past seven years? What the fuck, Nissa?” Dani was shaking and starting to feel incredibly claustrophobic.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I was assigned to you and there are protocols that have to be followed—” Dani held up her hand to stop Nissa from talking.

“Assigned to me? Protocols? Is any of this real? Like, am I in the Matrix or something?” Dani’s brain hurt just thinking about it.

“You’re making me nervous, love. I am choosing my words poorly because of it. What I mean to say is—I was given asylum in the Seelie court in return for being the Familiar to a very special witch. I didn’t know you were fae, but I did know about the war between the Seelie and the Unseelie because I was right in the thick of it.

I belonged to a very evil faery known as Pyewacket. He had been a former familiar gone dark and in turn, he collected as many other Imps that he could to dispatch his dirty work under the guise of giving them so-called “freedom from the Mortals.”

I had done terrible things that I never wanted to do thinking that I was helping our kind. I finally realized I was lying to myself and I had to get out. The higher ups in the Seelie Court came to our rescue and gave us the opportunity for safety in return for being familiars to “good Mortals”, meaning those of your kind that have a magickal mindset or actually want to coexist with us. They assigned me to you, but I had no idea that you were fae until now.” Nissa felt lighter after getting that all off her chest.

“You promise me?” Dani softened a bit after hearing her story. She had known nothing of her origins.

“I promise, Dani. I suspected when you started showing your powers; when I really saw that you had more than just mortal talents. But like I said, I didn’t come into this knowing what you were and just assumed that you were another human. I love you, but a Faery Oath is something you cannot break.” Dani could see the fear in Nissa’s eyes. She didn’t want to lose her companion any more than Nissa did.

“I have to tell you something.” Dani was still mulling around all this new information in her head. She hated that it all came to her so scattered and she had to relive the shock and awe of the revelations over and over. She was just ready to know it all.

“Tell me what?” Nissa crawled up to Dani.

“That old man, the wizard—he told me his name.” She paused, “Merlyn.”

Nissa leapt up from her seated position as if someone had lit a fire beneath her.

“He came to you?” Nissa’s eyes were glistening.

“Yeeees.” Dani drew out the word, curious as to what was so exciting besides the fact that he was an Arthurian myth.

“I’ve heard talk about him for years. He never really died and became one with the Fae because of his half-sister, Morgan le Fay.” Nissa explained.

“Well, he exists and is somehow a guide for me in all of this.” She hadn’t thought about how weird that was.

Dani looked a bit haggard, muddy, and scraped up.

“Have you eaten?” Nissa placed a tiny paw on her leg.

“Not since yesterday.” Dani just shook her head.

“Let’s go get some food then.” Nissa nudged her up from her mat and out of the tent.

(*)

By the time they got down to the mess hall, mostly everyone was gone and they were beginning to pack up the leftovers.

Dani had just begun to fret when Liam appeared from the cottage and waved her over.

“You missed dinner.” He casually draped his arm across her shoulders. He smelled faintly of mead

“I know. I got wrapped up talking with Nissa.” Dani pointed to the cat and Liam nodded at her.

“Well, don’t worry. I saved you a plate.” Liam took her hand. It was softer than she expected.

She let him lead her into the cottage, but she knew that there was more in there than just food.

Wesley, Wren, and Tam Lyn sat around the large table in the kitchen; playing cards and drinking shots of what looked like whiskey. Tam Lyn stood from his seat and came over to Dani, throwing his long arms around her neck.

“Drinking, are we?” She peeled his arms from around her shoulders.

“Haven’t had alcohol in—”

“Over two hundred years; I know.” She patted him on the back and took a vacant seat between him and Liam.

He set a covered dish down in front of her and poured her a glass of mead.

Dani thanked him and dug into the food while Liam laid scraps of ham and cheese on a plate for Nissa, whispering, “I don’t know how you usually eat.”

“This is fine,” Nissa spoke softly in return and began happily gnawing at the pork on her plate.

“You look a mess, love.” Tam Lyn pointed out, laying his hand down on the table.

“Thank you for noticing. It’s not like I was attacked by a mutant tree or anything.” Dani put a bite of corn bread in her mouth.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to fix that.” Liam waved the bottle of mead in the air as he spoke.

There was a knock on the door and Liam jumped to answer it.

Cassia stood on the opposite side of the threshold, a towel and mesh bag in her hand.

“Dani!” She waved her hand past Liam at her.

Dani stuffed the last piece of food in her mouth and rushed over to hug her new-found friend.

“What are you doing here?” Dani invited her in and brought her over to the table.

“I’ve come to take you for a bath!” Cassia handed her the towel and the bag of toiletries. “These are some of my favourite products.”

“A bath? But it isn’t bath day.” Dani didn’t want to bend any rules.

“But you need it; we all needed it.” Liam pointed to Dani’s soiled face and arms.

“I would really love to wash away all this nastiness.” She rubbed her fingers together and could feel the grit between them.

“Then let’s go. Don’t dawdle.” Cassia began pushing her towards the side door in Liam’s bedroom.

“Are we in a rush?” Dani turned over her shoulder to throw the question Liam’s way.

“Yes and no. We have a lot to talk about with the Elders tonight before the big celebration tomorrow.” Liam answered as Cassia steered Dani out the door and into the night.

(*)

“Meeting with the Elders.” Dani murmured as she followed Cassia down the trail to the bathing pool. She had heard Liam mention the Elders earlier, but she still didn’t quite know who all it consisted of.

“I’m sure Liam forgot to mention to you who the Elders are. We consist of a select few of trusted individuals chosen by Liam to help him make decisions, write up basic laws, discuss economics, run our little militia. Not all of the Elders gather for meetings, however. Most of our citizens with important vocations are part of the main group: the doctors, the farmers, the crafters; all part of the Elders. Then you have people like myself who are deemed more trustworthy than others, and we are the ones who have been around almost from the get-go.”

Cassia steered Dani down a slightly different path as the two came closer to the pool.

“Who else is part of this inner sanctum?” Dani fixed the slipping towel that hung from her shoulder.

“Wren, Wesley, Pete, Evan, Liam, myself, and now you.” The two finally laid eyes on the pool as Cassia answered the question.

“Me? I’m no elder.” Dani dropped the towel and bag and began unlacing her boots.

“But you know how to keep us safe better than anyone. Did you find anything at Whitmore?” Cassia knelt down and took Dani’s boots and jacket over to the bench by the shore.

“Yes and no. I don’t know. We brought back a Tam Lyn so that’s something.” Dani lifted her shirt over her head before tugging her trousers off.

“A what?” Cassia took the rest of Dani’s clothes and just cocked her head to the side.

“Never mind. We’ll talk about it at the meeting.” Dani grabbed the mesh bag, trailed off into the water and disappeared into the darkness.

(*)

Bathing in the dark was rather surreal. Dani was able to look straight up into the sky and see millions and millions of tiny white stars smattered across the midnight landscape.

She looked back to the shore and could barely make out Cassia sitting under a gas lamp with a book in her hand.

The water was slightly cool as Dani paddled around on her back for a bit, trying to relax after the past two days.

Even though it was the beginning of August, it had begun to get chilly, but the night was warmer like the end of summer and less like the early autumn coolness they had seen.

Dani waded over to a shallow end where the showers were and pried open the bag to find some rather nice soaps, shampoo, and oils. She happily scrubbed herself down and washed her hair free of any dirt before replacing the toiletries and diving back into the water.

She wanted to stay there forever even as a cool breeze blew past and pricked her skin with gooseflesh.

“Dani! Get your naked bum over here! I need to get you out so we can go to the meeting!” Cassia was waving her hands above her head to get Dani’s attention. She had lost track of time as she floated aimlessly in the water.

She groaned and let herself sink below the surface of the water before jetting back off to the shore.

“Towel.” Cassia didn’t even avert her eyes when Dani emerged from the water completely naked.

“Not shy?” Dani cocked an eyebrow as she took the towel and dried her hair before wrapping it around her body.

“No, you either?” Cassia laughed and Dani smirked in response.

“I think it’s the fae in me.” Dani pulled her hair up high on her head.

“So, you are fae?” Cassia posed the question. Dani forgot that she had confirmed her origins since the last time she had spoken to Cassia.

“It’s a looong story. Shall we talk about it after the meeting?” Dani gave a slightly sad smile. She wasn’t used to having friends and she felt that she could trust Cassia.

Cassia handed her a thin pair of olive-colored trousers and a black tank top and she quickly slipped them on before wrapping her wet tresses in the towel.

“Of course. What are girlfriends for?” Cassia beamed back and held her arm out for Dani to hook on to as the pair set off back up the trail to the cottage.

(*)

When Dani and Cassia arrived at the cottage, Evan and Pete had joined the group and were happily involved in a new game of poker.

Evan was mid-laugh at something that Tam Lyn had said when he noticed Dani by the door. She hadn’t seen him since their heated conversation a few nights before.

He just stared at her for a moment before swallowing hard and going back to their game.

Cassia cleared her throat and Liam turned, smiling when he saw a freshly scrubbed Dani standing before him.

“Ah, fresh faced and ready to talk.” Liam patted the vacant seat next to him, with Tam Lyn on her left.

Dani sat down while Cassia crossed the table and sat between Pete and a rather surly looking Evan. Wesley and Wren hung back in the kitchen eating little canned sausages.

“Settle down, settle down! Now that everyone is here, we can begin.” Liam began as Nissa wove her way through chair legs and into Dani’s lap.

“Our trip to Whitmore was an eventful one and quite possibly our last.” Liam started the conversation.

Those who had not gone on the trip waited silently for a reason why.

“We encountered some new creatures, but before I go on about that I want to make sure we are all on the same page. I know my men know, and Pete and Evan, but do you know?” Liam pointed at Cassia, putting her on the spot.

“About the Fae?” Cassia was quick and fairly well informed.

“I take it you and Dani have hit it off.” Liam absentmindedly placed his hand over Dani’s for a moment.

“We have. I don’t know all the details, but I know enough to invalidate the bullshit Biblical Apocalypse theory.” Cassia responded and everyone chuckled.

“Well, then I can tell you all that weren’t present during our journey that we encountered some pretty nasty fae called Spriggan: large tree-like creatures who are very sentient and very smart. And then there were the Changelings too.” Liam looked to Dani for more information.

“The Changelings, those that look like humans, are the offspring of the Spriggan. From what happened yesterday, I can only assume that they were used as sleeper cells in human society. They were planted as a way to help cull the Mortals and use as informants and strong arms. Even though they may look like a little girl or a small woman, they have the strength of the Spriggan.” Everyone in the room began murmuring to one another over this theory; it made perfect sense.

“What happened with the Changelings?” Evan asked Liam, completely bypassing Dani.

“Well, I guess that would best be explained by Dani.” Liam nudged her with his elbow. She didn’t know she was going to be speaking this much, but she was the one with most of the information.

“On our way out to Whitmore, we were attacked by a trio of Spriggan and a whole barrage of other fae that they summoned to take us down. We were able to get away and made it safely to the library.

Fast forward to our departure from Whitmore—the Changelings were ignorantly let into the compound, under the guise of a struggling group with a severely injured child.

They had come for me, sent by the King of Spriggan, Syris. I was able to defeat them, but left three mostly unharmed to live another day and hopefully warn Syris I wasn’t messing around.

On our trek back to the Hedgerow, we stumbled upon a trap that was set for us using my jacket that I had lost in our first encounter.

Long story short, it turns out that Syris was angry that we were treading on his land and wanted revenge.” Dani tried to go into as little detail as possible. If she wanted everyone to know right now she’d tell them, but standing here giving a speech was a bit nerve-racking.

“Well, did you kill Syris?” Pete inquired, looking at Dani as he spoke.

“No, she let him live.” Wesley blurted, a cigarette in his mouth.

“You let him live?” Pete now looked like he was not as fond of Dani as he used to be.

“I did. I’m starting to see things in a different light. They just want their home back, their land that we took. That resonates with me somewhere.” Dani murmured, staring down at her hands.

“But killing that thing could mean life or death for us. You weren’t thinking about everyone else, just yourself.” Wren interjected. This was the most Dani had heard either of them say.

She could feel the heat rising in her face. She shouldn’t have to defend her decision because she could see it from both sides and it felt right to let him live. The others were human; they had no link to fae in their blood like she did. Like Evan did too.

“Hey! Don’t go berating her now just because we are in front of more people to listen. You could have made this known earlier and talked about it in private and between the people that were there. Be a gentleman for Gods’ sake.” Tam Lyn had stood and placed his arm out in front of Dani. The color drained from her face as she saw the slight fear in Wren and Wesley’s eyes. They knew what Tam Lyn was, and even though she trusted him, the verdict was still out for the others.

“And who the fuck are you, mate? Just another fucking faery that got the approval of some little girl that we don’t even really know anything about.” Wren spat at the ground.

Tam Lyn balled up his fists at his side, and Dani could see the sinew in his arms flex as the blood coursed through his veins.

“Enough!” Liam now stood, slamming his hands down on the table. “I am not going to have this childish codswallop within the Elders. Though you may not understand why she did, she had good reasons.”

Liam turned to Dani. Her eyes were wide and even more ethereal than usual as she stared back at him. Why did she have to tell everyone?

“You want to know why? Hm?” Dani suddenly felt horribly defensive.

“Because I am Fae. And I have a talking faery cat.” She held Nissa up, who just tried to cover her face. “And Tam Lyn, he’s Fae. But we aren’t bad like the others that drove us out of our homes and killed our loved ones. We found out from our friend here, that there are two factions of Fae: The Seelie and the Unseelie. The Unseelie are the ones you should aim your aggression at, not us.” Dani didn’t even realize she had been standing and abruptly sat back down.

“She’s right. In the beginning, there were just fae, but the Mortals couldn’t, or wouldn’t, coexist with us. They drove us out of our homes, killed us, enslaved us, and eventually pushed us into obscurity altogether. Most of the Fae would rather live their lives in peace through the Veil, but there was a small percentage that wanted revenge and to take back what was rightfully theirs. This kind of vengeful energy ate away at them and turned them into the shadows that the folklore taught you to fear. They eventually became so full of darkness that they even harmed and took advantage of their own kind.” Tam Lyn glanced down at Nissa who understood his acknowledgement.

“Dani isn’t the bad guy; they are. She made the decision not to kill him, just like our Mother would have. Sure, she has had to hurt others and kill before to defend herself, but she chose to not unnecessarily harm another living creature, knowing that we could get to safety without such barbarism. Yes, that means that Syris is still alive and he is in alliance with the Unseelie, but that doesn’t mean that the atrocities committed against him and his people aren’t valid. We have to pick and choose our battles, and Dani chose compassion over death.” Tam Lyn sat down and Dani immediately reached for his hand. He just nodded at the silent thank you.

“So, you really are Fae.” Liam noted; he hadn’t been able to admit it to himself before now. This question was coming up in front of everyone and Dani was glad to finally answer it once and for all.

“A Halfling as Syris put it, but yes. My mother was human, but my essence is faery. It is all very complicated and new to me as well.” Dani’s voice was quiet as she replied.

“Can we even trust her?” Wesley glared as he jabbed in her direction with a fork.

Cassia’s eyes were glassy as she focused her sights on Wren and Wesley. Dani could tell that she was trying to keep it together or she would launch herself over the table and throttle them both. Dani had never felt so loved.

“You trust me, don’t you?” Evan slowly rose from his seat and pushed his chair back, gripping the edge of the table with his hands.

“What does that have to do with anything, Evan? Of course we trust you; you’ve been here since the beginning.” Wren chimed in, confused by his question.

“I…” Evan finally directed his attention to Dani. His deep eyes gave him away. He was going to tell everyone what he was.

Dani went to stop him, but Nissa pinched at her thigh, No. Let him do this. He’s not just doing it for you, but himself too.

She held her breath and waited for Evan to go on.

“I’m Fae too.” Evan’s voice was low and deep as he finally revealed his big secret. Even Pete, who knew about his superhuman abilities, looked a bit baffled.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was on some hidden camera show. Are you taking the piss? Did you just fucking say you’re a bloody faery too?” Wesley’s eyes were practically closed with the glare that he was giving Evan.

“Yes. I am whatever Dani is, or something like it. The little things that she can do, I can do myself.” Evan never diverted his attention from her as he spoke.

“Prove it.” Wren barked, coming closer to the table.

“Let’s not got too heated now, boys. This is quite the revelation for the man and he’s trying to be honest. Go on now.” Liam steered the conversation from Wesley and Wren back to Evan.

“Ok. I’ll prove it.” Evan nodded to Dani. She knew he wanted to use their familiars as an example. Dani turned to Nissa who sighed but agreed.

The cat hopped up on the table and began circling the surface, stopping at every individual and nodding before making her way to the center where she sat down, opened her mouth, and spoke.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Nissa and I am Dani’s Faery Familiar. Familiars are assigned to witches, sensitives, faery sympathizers, and Halflings to ensure their safety and security because they are the future of our kind. When I was assigned to Dani I did not know what category she fell in. I now know that she is what the Fae call a Halfling: Half-faery, half-mortal. They would never have assigned me to someone that was here to continue hurting people.” Nissa got up and walked back over to Dani where she curled up in her lap again.

Cassia tried to stifle a smile while Pete, Wren, and Wesley’s jaws dropped at the sight of the talking cat.

Evan had a strange look on his face, one of sudden realization. He must not have known anything about Orin being his Familiar. He must have been another Imp that found asylum in the Seelie’s Familiar Program.

Evan robotically moved from behind the table and strode over to the front window. He popped the lock and pushed the pane up, sticking his head out into the cool night air.

He made an odd whistling sound with his teeth, and in a flurry of feathers, a large raven appeared on the window sill.

Everyone gasped as the bird hopped up onto Evan’s shoulder and he brought him back to the table.

Orin looked confused as he sprung upon the surface, circling around to take everyone in.

Cassia was in awe and kept her mouth covered with her hands as the rest of the Elders watched on curiously.

When Orin came over to where Dani sat, he stopped, focusing his inky black eyes on Nissa. The two communicated telepathically and Orin nodded, walking back to the center of the table.

“’Ello. I’m Orin, Evan’s faithful Faery Familiar.” Orin almost looked ashamed as he glanced back at Evan and the betrayed look on his face.

“I—I, as a Familiar, am sworn to a Fae Oath of Silence and not allowed to let the Guarded know anything about us or that we can even talk. The fact that Nissa and I can say anything to any of you is something new, passed on to us because of this great upheaval. We still aren’t allowed to talk about the war with the Unseelie unless our Guarded came upon the notion on their own. That is all the information we are given by the Seelie.” Orin turned and waddled over to Evan.

“I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You know now.” Orin cocked his head to the side and clucked.

“He’s telling the truth.” Dani blurted, “I just found out myself.”

“No thanks to my flub. I technically broke the Oath by mentioning the Unseelie to you when you revealed that Tam Lyn was here.” Nissa interjected and Orin clucked at the name, turning to the ginger stranger. “I don’t know what they will do to me now.”

Dani hadn’t even thought about it. Nissa had mentioned the Unseelie before she had even gotten a chance to mention them herself.

“But I already knew because of what we found out at Whitmore. I knew about the war between the Courts and with the Mortals. And Tam Lyn was never part of the Seelie’s pact. You acknowledged him for what he was in your own defense. No one knew that Tam Lyn was pretty much innocent and not aligned with the Unseelie.” Maybe Dani had found a loophole.

“They did tell us that if there was an unidentifiable Unseelie threat to the humans, that we were to notify them of the possible danger. Technically that is what you did.” Orin defended Nissa. She purred loudly in Dani’s lap as a response.

“So, what I gather from all this fuckery is that there are two sides to these faeries, a Seelie and an Unseelie side, and the Unseelie are the bad guys, so you all are associated with the Seelie then?” Wesley rambled in confusion, pointing between people as he tried to get the story straight.

“Basically. Tam Lyn is technically classified as an Unseelie and so are Orin and Nissa, since they are Imps. But the Imps were once slaves within the Unseelie Court and given asylum through Familiar assignments. Tam Lyn here was wrongly demonized for having a slightly voracious sexual appetite, but he wants nothing to do with that side of the coin. We are all on the same page and the same alliance.” Dani felt more confident now in her speech. Everything had come to light and she hoped that there would be no hiding out of fear of what she was; what they were.

“I just can’t handle this right now.” Wren laughed nervously.

“It’s a lot to take in, but they are our allies. We need them just as much as they need us and we work as a team and as a community. As a family.” Liam addressed his strong-arms.

“I guess you’re right, mate. But it’s going to take me a while to not relate them to the things I want to put a bullet in.” Wesley still looked unsure, but he nodded at Dani. Wren nodded too, feeling a little sheepish after his outbreak earlier in the conversation.

“Good. Now that that huge explosion is out of the way—our new-found friend Tam Lyn here has brought a book with him that may give us better ways to combat the Unseelie and keep ourselves protected. It, however, doesn’t have a kill switch for this war, so we will have to plow on. But in the meantime, we are warm and safe and tomorrow we will celebrate our new family members.” Liam held up his glass of half-drunk mead.

“Are we going to tell the whole Hedgerow? Since we’re being honest.” Pete looked to Evan, still visibly irked that his best friend never told him about his talking bird.

“I think that honesty is good, but right now this should be kept between us. We are all open-minded and understanding people, but you never know how others will react. People could be fine, or they could completely revolt and destroy everything we’ve built. Most people are good at heart, but fear can break you.” Liam had a very good point.

“Ok, so between us. Then how are we going to make tall, ginger and handsome here look more or less like a human?” Cassia’s question was a good one. No one had obviously thought of that yet.

“We have all day tomorrow to work on that. Obviously, a good haircut and wardrobe change could do wonders. Can’t fix the ears though.” Liam pointed out and Tam Lyn scoffed.

“Her ears are pointy too.” Tam Lyn thrust a finger at Dani.

He was the only one to point them out.

Even though Dani always wore her hair up, no one had noticed the dainty little points that her ears tapered into.

But Evan had noticed, it was one of the first things he did notice about her.

“Apparently it’s not that noticeable since none of you ever noticed mine.” Dani tugged at the tips of her ears.

“His are a little more obvious. Maybe it’s the whole look that just screams faery; I don’t know.” Liam shrugged, now admiring the shape of Dani’s ears.

“I’ll handle the beautification process, not that you aren’t beautiful already.” Cassia cast a sultry look at Tam Lyn.

“No.” Dani hissed under her breath and smacked Tam Lyn on the arm as he winked at Cassia.

“Now that all matters of import are out of the way, let’s try and relax for the night, shall we?” Liam snapped his fingers for a few more glasses and happily passed them around.

Everyone tried to settle back into the calm and forget about their troubles ahead as they drank merrily and chatted late into the evening.