Chapter 6
Six
Clean
Something smelled amazing. Stew gurgled in the pot on the fire.
Eberon was seasoning it while Thain and Schula sat at the table in hushed conversation.
The former hunched over a steaming cup of something, and the latter tipped back on two legs of her chair with her feet propped on the stones by the fire.
Thain turned his head to me just before the other two did.
Eberon grabbed a handful of dried green sprigs from a bowl. “Was everything satisfactory?”
“Very much so, yes.”
“Wonderful,” Eberon said. “The stew will be done soon.”
“But take your time,” Schula added.
I padded up the stairs and tucked my old clothes in the room I would be using.
I shoved my boots back on and listened for the others.
I could just hear them murmuring downstairs.
If I was going to make an effort to get to know the fae, I might as well start now.
Taking a deep breath, I crept out my door and went to join them.
“You look refreshed, little bird.” Eberon smiled. “I can just picture you in the fashions of Thanantholl. We should take you straight to Pearl Street when we get there; I know all the best tailors.”
“She can do what she wants,” Thain grunted. I took a seat at the table as the golden fae stirred dinner over the fire.
“Of course, of course,” he sang. “But can you blame me for wanting to show her the best our city has to offer? We haven’t had a new fae in—”
Thain shook his head sharply, and Eberon cut off his words.
I cleared my throat, and they both turned their attention my way. “Exactly how much does lodging cost in the city? I have a little savings, and I can work after that.”
“Nonsense.” Eberon dismissed my words with a wave of his spoon. “You are a guest, and it would not put any of us out one bit to host you.”
“If the king himself doesn’t offer her hospitality the moment he sees her, she is under my protection,” Thain insisted. “I have more than enough room.”
“Easy, Thain,” Eberon hissed, and I almost wanted to say the room grew warmer in that moment. “You do her no favors keeping her hidden from the court. I, at least, could prepare her for what’s to come.”
Thain stared daggers at Eberon. A breeze ruffled through the room, flickering the cooking fire.
“Enough.” The sharp scolding of Schula, wearing only a thin white tunic that fell above her knees, her hair still damp from her earlier bath, pulled everyone’s attention. After a long, tense breath, Eberon had the decency to turn back to his task, though Thain still looked annoyed.
“You can stay wherever you wish,” Schula told me, pulling out a chair next to her at the table. “The offer for my own home stands as well. But I believe before we get much further, it’s time we all sat down for a talk.”
“Agreed,” Eberon said, albeit somewhat reluctantly as he lifted a ladle and filled a bowl with a flourish. “But not on an empty stomach. And, with impeccable timing on my part, the food just so happens to be ready.”
A steaming bowl was placed in front of me, along with a glass of sweet pink wine.
It wasn’t strong, and I drank deeply from it after seeing Schula do the same with her own glass.
The stew was laced with herbs I had never encountered, as well as carrots, potatoes, some kind of root vegetable, and tomatoes.
“Decent,” Schula announced, taking a spoonful as Thain snorted.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, not that you barbarians know anything about good food.” Eberon turned to me as he sat down with his own bowl. “I’m more interested in what Wren thinks.”
I turned to my own meal and lifted a spoonful to my mouth.
I nearly choked. We never had flavors this rich in the woods.
Not even on the rare occasion when we’d gone to a city for specific goods had we eaten this well.
There were more ingredients available south of the mountains, sure, but it didn’t taste anything like this.
“It’s wonderful,” I said and immediately took another spoonful. Eberon smirked, throwing his golden arms open as though he were a performer receiving praise, and Thain rolled his eyes.
“You’ll give him a bigger head than he already has,” Thain said, leaning my way with a nod before turning to his bowl. “Anyone can cook with a pantry this well stocked.”
“Could I?” I asked between mouthfuls. Ruby eyes snapped to me.
“There are markets in Thanantholl that have just about anything available. I can take you when we arrive,” Thain offered.
Smiling into my next spoonful, the first sparks of excitement seeped into me.
Something to look forward to, something specific.
We ate quietly for a moment, and I savored it.
Dinner with three other people was almost as much as I could handle.
What I would do in a large city, I wasn’t sure yet.
“Any word from the fresh guards?” Thain asked, breaking the silence.
“They should be here in the next two days,” Schula said. “Do either of you know who’s got the next watch?”
“Galavan,” Thain said.
Eberon grinned, not a happy expression, baring his full set of teeth. “Is that so? I’d love to show that Spring Court bastard what I thought of his remarks at the equinox.”
“Then it’s too bad I’m sending you ahead with Wren,” Schula said. “I don’t need you starting a fight between courts right now. Set up a camp in the usual place and stay there.”
He sent a red glare her way but kept quiet.
Whatever decision-making power she carried in the group seemed to go unquestioned.
At the same time, the dynamic wasn’t quite right.
There was nothing obvious, and I couldn’t really explain why I felt that way, but there was something not entirely authentic about it.
Questions arose that weren’t really my place to pry into.
This wasn’t the first mention of the courts I had heard.
Mila had told me once that the fae were ruled by factions of the seasons.
I realized now that I had never bothered to ask more, but Thain and Eberon had both mentioned these courts, and it seemed like something I was going to have to deal with.
“So, you all aren’t Spring Court? Which court are you?” I asked, trying to break the tension.
“We serve the Autumn Court’s King Baeleon,” Thain said.
Schula scraped the bottom of her bowl with her spoon. “The courts take turns watching the borders; it just so happens we were the lucky ones to be here to meet you.”
“What does this watch duty entail? Is it all right for you all to be here at once?”
“Centuries ago, wards were put in place to alert us of anything crossing into the Wyldes that shouldn’t be,” Eberon explained.
“Or out of it, I suppose. A few of us are always at this post to quickly respond to alerts from those wards, but we really don’t need to walk the borders much anymore.
It’s more of a formality these days, but once in a long while something interesting might happen. ”
It occurred to me to ask about the wraith that had clearly crossed into human territory, but a tremor ran down my spine at the thought of the grotesque creature, and I decided I didn’t want to know more. Not yet. “What happens to the fae that aren’t with one of the courts?”
“Almost none of the fae live outside the courts,” Schula said. “The ones that do are powerful, or foolish. To live in one of the realms is to be of that court. The Unclaimed Wyldes are for the shunned, dangerous, or mad.”
“Oh.” I was no court fae, so what would that mean for me?
“You are welcome to stay with us until you find the right place,” Eberon added. “Baeleon will almost certainly command that you visit all the courts; the collective royals would have a fit otherwise. However, the final choice will be yours.”
For creatures from the Wyldes, beings I had been taught through stories would chase you down and eat you for amusement, these fae seemed very concerned with allowing me to make my own choices.
“Could I not simply choose your court and be done with it?” I asked.
“While that would make us quite happy, it doesn’t work that way. When you are amongst your court, you will feel it. It will be right,” Thain said.
“Hells, half of the southern lords have that smear of freckles,” Eberon added, looking at my speckled cheeks. “Perhaps you belong in the Summer Lands.”
“I don’t know,” Schula said, “those smoky gray eyes aren’t uncommon for the Autumn Court either.”
“Do looks matter that much?” I could see how Eberon seemed the part of autumn, red and golden and smelling of spices by the hearth. And maybe Thain could be an autumn night sky, a wind through the trees and smelling of campfire. But Schula was ice and cold and winter incarnate.
“I’m a special case.” Schula seemed to read my mind. “Some of us have become misplaced over the years.”
“Well, none of this is a matter for tonight,” Eberon said finally. “Don’t let it worry you, little bird. No matter what, you will have friends in Thanantholl.”
“We’ll have several nights of camping before we reach the Autumn Lands,” Thain said. “When we get to Thanantholl, we’ll introduce you to King Baeleon.”
My body stilled. “Right away?”
“I suppose we could delay it a day,” Eberon told Thain. “Give proper reports first. You know Baeleon, he’ll want some flourish to it.”
“Why do I need to be introduced at all?” I asked. “I’m not even wholly a fae creature, nothing significant in the Wyldes. Surely, we don’t need to bother a king.”
The room grew quiet as Schula and Eberon scrutinized Thain under matching scowls. Thain stared ahead, ignoring them.
“You didn’t tell her.” Schula shot an accusatory glance at Thain. “That whole trip through the mountains, and you never explained? Why you were so excited? Why we welcomed a stranger while we’re on a job for the king? It’s a wonder you got her to follow you at all!”