Chapter 28

  The call went out. Sparkle headed for the fairy village to find Spice and Shine, while Penny went to get Wadsworth. All I had to do was call for Ken and he appeared, nodding when I asked him to show D.T. to the garden, and to give her the ten cent tour along the way.

  Then I headed to my office, and placed a couple of calls.

  About forty minutes later, I walked through the garden door to find most of my new family waiting for me. Ken, it appeared, had introduced D.T. to Dara before going for refreshments, as D.T. and Dara were standing not far from the patio set, their heads together as they spoke quietly.

  Dara's hand was resting lightly on D.T.'s shoulder, and I wondered if she was doing for D.T. what she'd done for me: using her innate empathic magic to help D.T. sort out what had her tied up in knots.

  Sparkle, Spice, and Shine were sitting together on the edge of the round garden table, munching happily on pieces of fruit from one of the trays of food that Ken had placed on the table. Penny, in her shadowy human form, sat with one leg crossed over the other in one of the chairs beside the table, talking to Ariana and Emrys.

  Ariana, for her part, was leaning heavily to one side in her chair with her eyes closed, and had a frost-covered bottle of water pressed to the left side of her face. She generally looked a bit worse for wear, dressed in her usual jeans and boots, but her leather jacket was missing and her Henley had been replaced by a black tank-top. Bandages emerged from beneath her top, covering much of her torso and shoulders, and winding down both arms to her elbows. Her sword was leaning against her chair, within easy reach.

  Emrys, smiling at something Penny had just said, looked perfectly fine. I wondered what had happened.

  Wadsworth was standing on one of the chaise lounges, talking softly to Ken and shooting uncertain glances at D.T.. Beside him and almost a head shorter, even in his pointy red hat, stood Basil the gnome, looking around, wide-eyed and uncertain as well. In his case, I guessed it was that he wasn't sure why I'd asked him to attend.

  When Ken spotted me, he excused himself and drifted over. "Did you reach Margrave?" He asked softly.

  I nodded. "I gave him the salient points. He wanted to look something up, but he'll be calling me back in a few minutes."

  He breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Any problems with Wadsworth?" I asked.

  Ken shook his head. "We arranged for D.T. to 'surprise' him while he was cleaning one of the antiques in the halls. He's not sure he's comfortable with her being this deep inside the Hall, but he understands why you want her here."

  "Good enough for me." I cleared my throat and raised my voice. "As much as I'd like this to remain a social gathering, we have business. Does everyone have at least a rough idea why we're here?"

  Dara and D.T. came over, collecting chairs and sitting down with D.T. between Dara and Penny. Ariana opened her eyes, sat up a little straighter, and lowered the water bottle, revealing a spectacular bruise spreading across her left cheek. She spotted my concerned look and winked at me, nodding a little to let me know she was all right.

  Basil raised his hand. "With respect, Lady Reid, I'm not sure why you asked me to come. Spice and Shine explained the situation to me on our way in, and I am extremely flattered to be asked and to get to see even a small part of your magnificent home, but…my kin and I are quite content to let Spice and Shine speak for us, and I'm not sure what I bring to the table."

  "Experience," I said. "You've dealt with the Sidhe, haven't you."

  He made a face. "Many times, my Lady."

  I spread my hands. "That's the expertise I'm most desperately short on."

  Ken slid a chair over for me and I sat down. "Thank you, Ken. Long story short, folks…there's nobody in the world I trust more than the people in this room to give me advice that I can live with on this subject: How do I deal with Oberon?"

  Spice, Shine, and Basil all flinched. Dara smiled at them. "Fear not, my little friends, no ears listen here. Here we can use his name safely, without fear of him hearing."

  Then she looked at me. "But I would urge you not to get into the habit of using his name so casually."

  I smiled ruefully. "Duly noted. Still, for the sake of this conversation…"

  "Indeed," she agreed.

  "The question stands, though," I said. "The Lord of the Seelie Court wishes to make a deal with me: access to the Hall's library in search of a specific piece of information, in exchange for one boon of my asking."

  Basil looked shocked. "That's an awfully open-ended deal for him to offer."

  Ken nodded. "It's why we're so uneasy about the whole thing."

  "What were the exact words of the deal he offered?" Ariana asked.

  I closed my eyes and called to mind my conversation with Oberon. "He said, and I quote, 'In exchange for unfettered and unattended access to Oakwood Hall's legendary library for one day, I will offer you a boon of your choosing. I vow that I will take nothing physically from the library, nor will I remove anything from it in any way, so long as no one is there to observe what I seek and hope to find. Nor will your or any of your household, any beholden to you, or any in your confidence seek yourselves after the fact to learn what I sought.'"

  Emrys was nodding a little when I opened my eyes. "And if he doesn't find what he's looking for?"

  I shrugged a little. "He said '…Even if I do not find what I seek, the boon I offer will be yours to use as you will. Though of course, I will offer greater value in return should I find my prize.'"

  "I," D.T. said, "am unbelievably jealous of your memory."

  I gave her a wry little smile. "I can remember all of the bad things with that level of clarity too."

  She winced. "Sorry."

  "Don't be," I said. "It's a pretty small price to pay, really."

  My cell phone rang then, and I quickly pulled it out, put it on the table, answered the call and put it on speaker. "Margrave? You're on speaker with quite a gathering." I quickly told him everyone who was present.

  "My greetings to everyone," he said, his voice just a bit tinnier than usual over the small speaker. "I have the information you were interested in, Lady Reid, and I would say it sounds like a good idea. Assuming, of course, that the Lord of the Seelie Court will go for it."

  "So I can legitimately ask Oberon for land within Faerie as my boon?" I asked.

  Sparkle beamed. Spice and Shine perked up, and Basil blinked in surprise.

  "You can indeed," Margrave said. "It is, in fact, something of a tradition, trading land for favors, both in the mortal world and in Faerie. Though in Faerie, it is, of course, rather more profound a thing than in the mortal world. However, as I said, I do approve of the idea, both to give your colony room to grow, and as a growth of your influence."

  Emrys nodded, looking unusually grave. "Land is power in Faerie. Though trading you land for a favor won't represent a significant drain on my uncle's resources, it may have unexpected repercussions for you, Caley."

  "How so?" I asked uneasily. I remembered what Jessie had said about living in Faerie changing her. Her smooth, flawless, unblemished skin and strangely iridescent eyes were clear in my mind.

  Emrys shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure. At the very least, it will make you a political entity within Faerie, however small a one."

  "Lady Reid's family is already Faetouched," Margrave said. "Many generations back, one of Lady Reid's ancestors married and had children with a Sidhe lord. It was, I believe, the origin of the extremely strong familial resemblance that runs in her family line, as well as the color of her hair and eyes. Becoming a landholder in Faerie may thus have no physical impact on her at all, or perhaps only strengthen those traits that already exist."

  That was a relief, I supposed. I saw the faeries, Wadsworth, Basil, Penny, and Dara all nodding.

  "So," I said, "we have a course to set, assuming we go forward with this. Which brings me to the second question: Do I actually want to give Oberon access to the library?"

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  "If nothing else," Emrys said, "you may trust my uncle to live up to the letter of his agreement. Which is a far more airtight one than I'm used to hearing him offer."

  "I don't especially like all the language he has in there to stop you from finding out what he was looking for," Ariana put in. "It'd be just like him to put whatever he finds to use against the Unseelie Court, causing them to hold it against you."

  "Even if he did," Margrave said, "the Unseelie Court could not blame Lady Reid for it. The deal offered to her makes the Lord of the Seelie Court solely responsible for that information."

  Ariana grunted and nodded a little. "All right. And saying no to him would start Caley off pretty wrong-footed with the Seelie Court."

  "My uncle definitely would not forget," Emrys agreed. "And would likely hold it against her, however polite he was about it. The Lord of the Seelie Court is many things, but forgiving is not one of them, and his memory is long."

  "So it's in my best interests to forge ahead with this deal," I said.

  "I believe so, Lady Reid," Margrave said. "I would, however, urge you to make one small change to the wording of the arrangement. Instead of taking nothing from the library, I would suggest stipulating that Oberon take nothing, but retain the knowledge he gains."

  "Oh, I like that," Emrys said approvingly. "Gained knowledge can always be shared with and attained by others, but you think my uncle's implication is that he might take the knowledge itself with him, so that it would be gone forever for any but him."

  "It's not impossible," Margrave said, sounding weary. "I have seen the High Sidhe accomplish stranger things with such simplistic wording."

  "Okay," I said, starting to get a bit of a headache from following the twisty logic of the Sidhe. "I'll keep that in mind and bring it up."

  "You might also," Wadsworth said, "stipulate that as he promises to take nothin', he should also promise to leave nothin'. Intentionally or unintentionally, neither physical nor magical."

  Emrys applauded silently.

  "I agree," Margrave said. "That is an excellent addition."

  Silence fell for a moment. Then I nodded. "Okay, so, I know how to reword the deal. How do I go about bargaining for more land in Faerie?"

  Shine's hand rose tentatively, just as Ken spoke up. "Loathe as I am to leave anything to chance, it might be wisest to let Oberon himself determine how much land is appropriate in return for what he finds…or doesn't find, as the case may be."

  There was a brief hash of disgusted sounds from D.T., Sparkle, and Spice, but it was D.T.'s voice that rose over the others, speaking up for the first time since we'd started. "Look, I don't know much about the Sidhe, but I know politicians and criminals. Both will try to undersell the value of whatever they want, to get it as cheaply as possible. It sounds to me like this guy might do the same, for the same reason."

  Wadsworth looked at D.T. with new approval, nodding his agreement. "Aye, that's a truth and no doubt."

  Sparkle added, "The Sidhe - all residents of Faerie, really - take pride in getting a lot for a little. D.T.'s probably right."

  Shine lifted her hand again, just as Spice spoke. "You could just ask for the amount of land you already have to double."

  "It's a simple way out," Emrys said thoughtfully, "but I think it severely underestimates the value of the information my uncle seeks."

  Dara nodded. "Oberon seems awfully keen to get that information, whatever it is. I've never heard of him offering such an open-ended favor in exchange for anything before."

  "Also," Emrys added, "that might be too specific an area…the residents of Faerie generally look on dealing in fixed units of anything as something only humans do. My uncle might take offense if a specific area of land is requested.

  Shine tugged on Spice's sleeve, only to be gently shushed by her companion.

  Penny sighed. "This would be much easier if we knew the actual value of what Oberon seeks. Perhaps if you -"

  She was cut off by a startled yelp from Spice. Shine had just punched her shoulder lightly, and was now gesticulating wildly to her companion, who was frowning. Then Spice's eyes widened, and she began to grin. "Oh yeah…yeah, that's brilliant." She looked up at me. "Shine says you should bargain the information he wants for outright ownership of land equal to the distance your fastest fairy can travel in five minutes, in all directions."

  Everyone was silent for a moment, then people began nodding slowly. Emrys murmured, "Oh, that's lovely," and Margrave said, "Truly a brilliant suggestion."

  "All right," I said, rather liking the idea myself. "Who's the fastest fairy?" I already suspected what the answer was going to be.

  "She is," Spice said, smiling at the silver fairy with proud affection. "I've never seen a fairy as fast as Shine."

  Penny was laughing quietly. "I was actually going to make a similar suggestion, but with me running a race to do it." She nodded to Shine. "I'm willing to bet she's faster than I am, though."

  "Is that something Oberon would go for?" I asked.

  The response was a general hash of nodding and agreement from everyone except D.T., who looked as uncertain as I felt.

  "It involves a fairy," Emrys said, "the least assuming and most-oft ignored and underestimated of the Fair Folk. My uncle will unquestionably assume she can either be slowed down, or won't get far even unmolested. Or even just get bored or distracted along the way. No offense to those present."

  "None taken," Sparkle said. "It also involves a race against time, something all Fae love."

  "And love to try to undermine," Basil added ruefully. Wadsworth nodded his agreement.

  "Can Shine outrun any attempts to hurt her, or undermine her flight?" I asked. Shine seemed like such a delicate little thing…I would have tried to protect any of my fairies from harm, but somehow she inspired even more of a protective urge in me.

  Spice waved a dismissive hand. "In her sleep."

  Shine looked pleased.

  "It's vague and unfixed," Wadsworth said, "giving the Seelie Lord a chance to game the bargain without breaking it. He'll like that."

  Emrys nodded his agreement. "Indeed. It's open to all manner of trickery, which he'll appreciate, even if it goes against him…as long as it's done within the bounds of the deal. Honestly, I'll be surprised if he doesn't jump at the idea."

  I looked at Shine. "And you're willing to do this for me?"

  Shine puffed up a little, raising her chin and nodding seriously.

  Spice smiled. "She says she'd do anything for you, Caley."

  I felt my cheeks heat up, and saw both D.T. and Dara giving me affectionately amused looks. I didn't know what I'd done to inspire such loyalty, but I must've done something.

  After a long moment, Margrave said, "I believe you have a workable plan here, Lady Reid. I think you should proceed with those conditions, and see what Lord Oberon says."

  "Which brings me to my next questions," I said. "Can we defend more territory, and what will it mean for us immediately and in the long term? I think the only reason I haven't been losing sleep over these two is because of Ken and Sparkle."

  Ken chuckled and Sparkle beamed at me.

  But it was Emrys who responded first. "If my uncle agrees to trade complete ownership of that land, then you'll find it considerably easier to expand and improve your wards." He paused. "That is, I suppose I should ask if you've learned to draw power from Ley Lines yet. I forget how new you are to all of this, sometimes."

  "She hasn't," Ken said. "I've been saving that particular set of lessons until her magical stamina is a bit more robust."

  "Ah," Emrys said, pursing his lips. "Then you probably shouldn't be trying to draw power from the land in Faerie yet."

  "We can do that," Spice said. "All Caley needs to do is build the physical structure of the wards, and we - that is, all of us who live on her land - can help power them. Easily."

  "Are there enough of you?" I asked, feeling worried about the answer.

  "Right now, no," Spice admitted. Then she grinned. "But you have no idea how many Fae who're local to your clearing have been petitioning to live there. We'll triple our population the day we expand the border. It'll be super easy to mount a guard, too."

  "Especially as more of my kin are freed, or free themselves," Penny said softly. I couldn't help but agree.

  "Being a mortal land owner in Faerie will be good for you politically as well," Ken said. "Though it might be wise to try to hide your windows and put a door out there instead."

  "Definitely," Ariana said firmly. "Layers of defenses would be best, with the core and most strongly defended area being your current clearing. Assuming Oberon goes for it, give me a call and we'll talk security."

  "I'd like to sit in on that meeting," D.T. said.

  "Glad to have you," Ariana said with a smile.

  "Spice," Ken said, "I know all of the different types of Fae who're already living in the clearing, but Caley mentioned you'd interviewed a nymph…"

  Spice nodded, while Shine made a face. "She was okay, but still pretty snotty," Spice said. "Turns out she made a couple of enemies in Summer and has been looking for a safe place to hole up. She might make a good resident, but I'm not sure I trust her."

  "Have any Sidhe contacted you?" Ken asked curiously.

  Spice looked surprised, but nodded. "Two, yeah. They seemed decent enough, for Sidhe. I was pretty surprised they wanted to live under Caley's umbrella."

  "Not all Sidhe want to be involved in Court politics," Emrys observed. "Having some of them living in your new demense would be quite the feather in your cap, politically speaking. If part of the agreement to live on your land was staying out of Seelie and Unseelie business, it would strongly reinforce your push toward neutrality."

  "And getting in on the ground floor of something new, neutral, and politely subversive might be appealing to a youngish Sidhe Lord looking to make a name for themselves," Ariana observed. "Something to keep an eye out for."

  "We're very, very careful about who we let in," Spice said seriously, which got an appreciative nod from Ariana.

  "So it'd be like the supernatural equivalent of Switzerland," D.T. observed. She looked at Emrys. "Could that carry over into Oakwood?"

  Emrys sat back in his chair and blinked a few times. "I'm…not sure, really. Margrave?"

  "It depends heavily on reactions from the other major supernatural powers in the world," Margrave said. "It's reasonably simple for the Sidhe: if Oakwood in the mortal realm is considered a protectorate of the Hall then that's how most would see it. It's the mortal powers that may wrestle with the matter. The boundaries between worlds aren't as solid as some like to pretend. For example, I believe the ICOA will take exception to it. But most - if not all - of the other supernatural powers on the mortal stage would likely accept the idea, eventually. Especially as it proves to be beneficial."

  "Good to know," I said, not missing his confidence in the idea, but not sure how to address it at this point. "That answers my questions. Anyone have anything else?"

  Silence.

  I waited a few moments, then sighed. "All right, I guess I'd better call Puck. Margrave, thank you very much for your time."

  "It was my pleasure, Lady Reid, to be of service to you, as always," Margrave replied with gracious warmth that was evident even over my cell phone's tiny speaker. "I regret only being unable to attend in person. Good night, all."

  Once he'd disconnected, I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the card Puck had given me. He answered on the first ring, and sounded delighted that I had a counter proposal to offer. After taking a moment to check Oberon's schedule, we arranged to meet in my clearing in Faerie the next morning, just after dawn.

  "Why dawn?" I asked Ken, after I'd hung up and as the gathering of my friends was beginning to break up.

  Emrys, stopping to grab a piece of fruit from the table beside me, laughed softly. "Clocks are a human creation, Caley. In the past, they were frequently made of iron, and almost always circular…at least traditionally. The Sidhe saw clocks as a trap that they refused to step into and become bound by."

  I tipped my head and looked at him incredulously. "You're talking about the gears and springs, right?"

  He nodded, smirking around a bite of apple.

  "But…most modern clocks don't even use circular metal springs and whatnot," I said.

  "Yes," Ken said dryly, "I believe now they mostly work by channeling energy into quartz crystals. Certainly sounds much less magical to me."

  "When you put it that way…"

  Faeflight is now available over on my Patreon. Sometime this week I'll be posting the next entry in The Oakwood Hall Bestiary over there, available to Initiate and higher members, and an old short story will be going up for Inner Circle members.

  Oakwood Hall novel has begun. Not just brainstorming...actual writing. Yay!