by Sumida, Amy
“Sick?” Guirmean gave me the wide blink. “Thank you for not using that term to describe me.”
“You'll both learn,” I waved away their teasing. “Someday I'll have all of Faerie talking like me.”
“Oh no, please,” Guirmean held up a hand and I thought he was going to say something funny but slightly insulting. Instead he said, “You'll lose your unique charm then. I'd hate to have to label you common.”
“Thank you,” I smiled in delight.
“That reminds me,” Guirmean nodded his acceptance of my gratitude. “Your god friend that you introduced me to is quite amusing. I invited him back and he's already visited again.”
“My god friend?”
“Kanaloa.”
“Oh right,” I laughed, remembering how Kanaloa had helped me and Trevor catch Kael when he went on the lamb into the Human Realm. All he wanted in return was to be brought to Faerie. “I'm glad you've enjoyed his company.”
“Oh yes, he's got some interesting ideas about underwater life,” Guirmean continued on but his voice faded out for me as I started to make connections in my head.
Kanaloa was the Hawaiian God of the Sea but he was also a god of Squid, Death, and... Darkness. Darkness, exactly what Faerie had warned me about. King Cian had said that the magic at the abduction scene wasn't fey. Well if it wasn't fey, what was it? There were only two other options; human and god. Human magic stemmed from the fey so I'd think it would have at least partially registered as fey on the King's magic radar. Also, it was virtually impossible for a human witch to have traced the Aether into Faerie. Gods could do it but they couldn't enter the Faerie Realm without and invitation, which Kanaloa clearly had. He'd been in Faerie recently, was a god of darkness, and held magic the King wouldn't recognize.
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
“What was that, Queen Vervain?” Guirmean had obviously been continuing our conversation without me.
“I'm sorry,” I glanced at Arach and found him staring at me in concern. “I just had a disturbing thought. The magic at the crime scene wasn't fey and Faerie mentioned darkness to me. Now you tell me that Kanaloa has been coming to visit, Kanaloa who is the God of the Sea, Squid, Death, and-”
“Darkness,” Arach finished for me. “Oh, that doesn't look good.”
“No,” Guirmean shook his head. “I don't believe it. Kanaloa is a good man and when he visits Faerie, he stays in Water city with me. He doesn't leave the water until he returns to the God Realm.”
“When I was hunting Kael,” I frowned as I remembered nuances of the conversation I'd had with Kanaloa that day, “Trevor and I tracked him to the ocean, where Kanaloa conveniently appeared and offered assistance. He wanted something in return though, a visit to Faerie. It seems a little suspicious now.”
“Why would Kael want to come here just to kill brownies?” Guirmean scoffed. “It's ridiculous.”
“Why would any god come here to kill faeries?” I shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe he has a vendetta against the fey, maybe he's just evil. It could be anything.”
“I have to admit,” Arach grimaced, “he's a valid suspect.”
“I'll be sorely disappointed if it's him,” Guirmean sighed, “but I see your point. I won't invite him through until you prove either his guilt or innocence.”
“I think that's for the best,” Arach nodded.
“If it makes a difference,” I added, “I hope it's not him.”
“Enough of this depressing topic,” Guirmean waved it away with a sad smile. “Let's get back to enjoying the food.”
I nodded, not wanting to spoil the meal either, but when I looked over at Arach he gave me a grim stare and I knew he was as convinced as I over the possibility of Kanaloa's guilt. The look he gave me said clearly that he wanted action but the King in him would not insult another ruler by dashing out in the middle of a meal. The conversation, and any action we decided to take, would have to wait.
Two more courses came out but they were spaced apart enough that I didn't feel like I was going to explode. The conversation became lively and entertaining, the wait-staff congenial and fascinating. Turns out the first three men were selkies, then we were served by undines, a sort of water spirit that seemed to be made of water. It was fascinating to watch them slosh about without spilling a single drop of themselves.
Dessert was served by kelpies and I had a moment of panic when I first saw their seaweed hair. Kael, the killer kelpie, had stabbed me with a stake and then when that hadn't worked, he drowned me, neither of which took, as it were. He hadn't known that my goddess immortality saved me from the types of death that would have killed me had I been pure fey.
Fey could be killed by a weapon fashioned of an element not their own. It was what had led to the myth that vampires could be killed with a wooden stake. Fey vampires, leanan-sidhe, were of the House of Fire, and could therefore be killed with a stake, wood being of the element of Earth, though a stake fashioned from ice, or even condensed air, would work just as well. Anyway, he tried to kill me, twice, and now I had a little paranoia when dealing with kelpies.
I controlled my panic. These kelpies had nothing to do with Kael or his sister, and I wouldn't hold the actions of two fey against a whole race. So I smiled when the kelpie woman laid a plate in front of me and she bared horsey teeth in her own version of a grin. The memory of drowning, attached firmly to Kael's back as he dove beneath the murky water of a lake, played out in my head but I pushed it back. I focused instead on the dessert.
Dessert was berry cordial and a fruit cake with a cream sauce. I thought it was peach but I was told that it was lanier, a type fruit that grew underwater. It was yummo and I lingered over every bite. The coffee service also came into play but it wasn't coffee that was served, it was chocolate. I'd forgotten that I'd had to bring coffee with me to Faerie, of course Guirmean wouldn't be serving it. The chocolate was delicious though, made with a little spice that kept it from being too sweet.
“Well,” Guirmean stood up after we'd all finished our dessert. “Would you like to tour the castle?”
“Oh, sure,” I stood up and Arach came over and gave me his arm.
“We'd love to,” Arach nodded and Guirmean led us out of the dining room.
We went out the door the servers had been using, and found ourselves in a long hallway. To the right was a door to the kitchen and I paused to watch a large woman with tentacles washing five pots at once. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me, her teeth like needles. I smiled back nervously.
She wasn't the only thing with tentacles in the kitchen. To her right were fish tanks set into the wall and filled with sea life. The creatures were all familiar looking but not quite right. There were types of crustaceans but their pincers were too oddly shaped to be lobsters, or their bodies were too flat to be crabs. I realized that what I assumed I'd been eating probably wasn't what I'd thought it to be.
There were large shiny fish with whiskers, which at first glance I'd thought to be catfish but upon closer inspection proved to be quite different. The whiskers moved like limbs, grabbing food from the bottom of the tank and shoving it into a hinged mouth full of sharp teeth. Then there were the tentacled things. Not really octopus or squid, they had more than eight legs, maybe twenty, and didn't seem to have a head at all. They kind of just tumbled about the tank like magical mops.
As I watched, another woman stepped up to the tank. She had the soft eyes of the selkies, and a long lithe body. She dunked a hand into the tentacle tank and pulled out one of the critters. It let out a horrible squeal as she took it over to a cutting block. All of the tentacles wrapped around her hand and she had to do some maneuvering to get the thing stretched out. She lifted a cleaver and I turned away hurriedly.
Guirmean and Arach were watching me with amused stares and I grimaced at them before gesturing to Guirmean to lead on. He smiled and continued down the hall as if nothing had happened. At the end of the hall we turned left and stepped out onto the open gallery that
overlooked the bottom floor of the castle. The river flowed beneath us in a powerful rush and the smell of salt was strong. On the wall beside us hung a line of three portraits, or what should have been three portraits, the last in the line was only an empty frame. Guirmean waved a hand to the paintings.
“These are the rulers of the House of Water,” Guirmean gestured at the first two, both were obviously a type of water sidhe. The men were regal looking, one had light green skin and one was pearly, like Dubheasa's had been. “My people wanted Dubheasa's portrait removed since she's now considered a traitor,” he sighed. “I haven't got around to sitting for mine yet. It seems a little trivial.”
“Sometimes trivialities are important to the people you rule,” Arach stared at the empty frame with a considering look before directing his gaze to Guirmean. “Your people have been through a trauma, they need something good to focus on. Leaving this frame empty, a physical representation of the hole Dubheasa has left, is not helping them heal. A portrait of you would give them a sense of normalcy, a feeling that the kingdom is as it should be once more.”
I stared at Arach, open-mouthed. Sometimes the psychotic five-year-old would morph into this inspiring, insightful king and it would leave me feeling kind of small and silly but seriously lucky.
“I hadn't thought of it like that,” Guirmean was looking at Arach in a similar way, severely impressed. “I appreciate the advice. I, uh, would you mind...”
“I've often thought it would be nice to be able to talk to another king about the running of a kingdom,” Arach smoothly saved Guirmean from having to ask for help. “Maybe we could get together occasionally or mirror each other and share ideas.”
“That would be wonderful,” Guirmean looked like he was about to hug Arach, which I didn't think would go over well with my man, so I interrupted.
“Alright, well save the man talk for later,” I teased, “I wanna see the rest of this place.”
“Of course,” Guirmean gave Arach one more grateful look before turning and leading us out a doorway and into the other half of the castle.
We passed by a large room filled with laughter, food, and red caps. Arach leaned in and nodded to Fearghal, who was seated at the head of a table, showing off his bloody hat. I peeped in and saw there were several water fey with them, all entranced by whatever it was that Fearghal was saying. Then I spotted the four phookas. One of them was Neala's husband, who waved jauntily at me. I gave him a quick wave back, glad the horses were being fed.
Then we were stopped by a tide of tumbling pixies who came to a rolling stop right before us. One of them jumped up to stand before me and another leapt onto his shoulders. Another went on top of his shoulders and another on that one. This continued until there was a pixie tower swaying in front of me, with a smiling pixie woman at the top of it.
“Queen Vervain,” she said in a sweet voice. “Tales of your nobility have traveled to us. Our cousins of Earth and Fire are content and treated well. We want to thank you for this and for opening our King's eyes to us. You have brought respect back to the pixies and we are grateful.”
She handed me a gigantic pearl, easily twice the size of her head. It was bright white with pink and blue highlights shimmering all over its surface in waves. I felt a pulse of power emanate from it and I looked back at her with questioning eyes.
“It's magic of course,” she shrugged and then climbed down the tower, which spread out before me again. “It will give you the ability to breathe underwater in case you wish to visit the sea. We each have a small one,” she held up a tiny version of the pearl she'd given me, “to use if we go in the water. We don't have the water-breathing capabilities of our kin but we do have of making up for it.”
“Thank you,” I cradled the pearl to my chest. “It's a wonderful gift.”
The pixies shouted in happiness and then ran away, tumbling and rolling like a bunch of acrobats. I felt like I should applaud or throw money at them.
“They do love you,” Guirmean smiled, “you've done a lot for them.”
“Merely what I thought was right,” I shrugged, still clutching the pearl in my hands.
“Which is different than what we've believed to be right for all of our existence,” King Guirmean cocked his head considering me. “You have no idea how much you've altered the fey in such a short time, do you?”
“No,” Arach answered for me, smiling proudly. “No idea.”
I laughed off the compliment and Guirmean must have sensed my discomfort, because he started leading us around once more. There were numerous beautiful rooms, all done in a very dainty, Victorian influenced style with a lot of tapestries and gold details. Guirmean paused beside a few, like the music room and the library, but he obviously had another goal in mind and he steered us steadily toward a staircase and up several flights.
“The décor isn't really my taste,” he spoke as we climbed. “But I haven't got around to changing it yet. After what you said about the painting though, I think maybe I should make the time.”
“I think that would be wise,” Arach nodded.
At the top of the stairs, a door led into a large room, empty except for a basin of water in its center. The basin was on a thick pedestal that seem attached to both it and the floor. The room was the same shape as the basin, perfectly round, and was completely open, with only five pillars supporting the roof and a simple railing uniting them. There was an unimpeded view of the realm and especially of the Water Kingdom.
I wandered over to the railing nearest the sea and smiled. I may have a paranoia about the ocean but it didn't mean I didn't think it was beautiful. From several hundred feet up, without threat of drowning, I could enjoy its beauty without feeling my usual panic.
Arach leaned beside me on my right and Guirmean came up on my left, all three of us enjoying the view together. Nothing needed to be said, it was a peaceful moment and I soaked it up, breathing in the salt-laced air that reminded me of home while I watched the waves flow over the faerie sea in strange circles.
It was a deep, clear blue, even more perfect than the Hawaiian waters I was used to. There was no human taint to this sea, no toxic runoff or garbage dumped into this sacred water. Everything in the Water Kingdom was meant to be there, was created to be a part of it, and this resulted in the most magnificently beautiful ocean I'd ever seen.
I knew how deep it was and I knew the vastness of it. I knew there were creatures in there that I found more terrifying than the Hidden Ones had been the first time I'd met them. Water had always scared me a little, funny thing is, I also had a fear of heights and of being buried alive. Three things associated with elements not my own. Suddenly the fears made sense. My humanity had been transforming my natural wariness of the other elements into human paranoia.
But up there, I felt no fear, even when I saw the massive shapes moving through the depths. Yes, that's how clear the water was. I could see the path of the tubes, leading down to the twin cities of Under and Water, Water obviously the one which was more visible as Under was beneath it. It was fascinating, tracking the air shafts that popped out of the surface all over, down to where they joined the glass tubes that had been created with Fire's assistance. The High King had told me that every kingdom in Faerie had been fashioned with help from the other elements. I wondered how we'd helped Earth and Air.
From up there I could clearly see the wedge that was the Water Kingdom, though I couldn't see its end. I was able to see the waterfalls leading into the Earth and Air Kingdoms and I thought about how the water from Guirmean's kingdom and the fire from ours created the Air Kingdom's perpetual mists. Each kingdom separate but connected, each element depending on the others for survival while also being vulnerable to them.
Turning around, I could see a little of the Earth Kingdom far to the left and I could see the mist of Air on the right. Fire was just a glimmer on the horizon directly across from us, with the Forgetful Forest between us. In the center of the forest, the Castle of Eight rose up majestica
lly, not as tall as we were since we had the benefit of being atop a cliff, but still it seemed to rise up above everything like an Emperor surveying his realm.
“So what's with the basin?” I leaned back against the railing as I looked over the bowl of water in the center of the room.
“It's a well,” Guirmean grinned and walked over to it. “This is a vein running directly to the heart of my kingdom. Through it I can see all that happens within my waters.”
“Wow,” I walked over and peered onto the glassy surface. “You can see everything that goes on? Why don't we have anything like that?” I glanced over at Arach.
“We do,” he grinned into my slack face. “There's a lake of lava in the caverns below the castle. The Hidden Ones guard it.”
“That's a good place for it,” Guirmean nodded.
“Why?” I frowned, “Does it need protection?”
“Vervain,” Arach laughed and shared a look with Guirmean. “King Guirmean has done us a great honor by showing this to us. It was an act of trust which I don't believe has been extended in thousands of years.”
“Oh,” I was totally confused. “Thanks.”
Guirmean laughed and took over the explanation. “I can give aid to any of my subjects, just by touching them through this well.”
“Conversely,” Arach continued grimly. “If someone wanted to hurt all of Water, they could use this well to do it.”
“Pollute the entire kingdom through this one conduit?” I touched the rim of the well carefully. “Whoa.”
“Yes, any magic done here will affect everything within the sea,” Arach gave Guirmean a serious smile. “I will return the trust, my friend,” Arach held a hand out to Guirmean. “Come and visit us at Castle Aithinne and I will show you our lake of fire.”
“Thank you,” Guirmean shook Arach's hand. “I'd enjoy a visit to your castle, I'm not too sure about going below though.”
“Nothing will harm you while your under cloak of hospitality,” Arach assured him.
