A Fey Harvest

by Sumida, Amy

  “Yes, I believe you,” Guirmean shrugged, “it's just a little hard to look upon the Hidden Ones.”

  “That's why they do such a good job guarding our lake,” Arach laughed and although I was a little offended for my people, I understood that this was the reaction they were meant to inspire and Arach didn't look at all offended. In fact, he looked rather proud.

  “Indeed,” Guirmean grimaced, “maybe I should think about guards at the base of this tower.”

  “A few asrai should do the trick,” I smirked when the men started laughing.

  Chapter Ten

  “So what do we do about Kanaloa?” Arach asked as soon as we were in our coach and on our way home.

  “I'm going to have to go back to the God Realm and investigate him,” I ran a hand through my hair wearily. I'd come back to Faerie for help with Samantha's infertility and instead of finding answers, I only found more questions.

  “I wish I could go with you,” he sounded frustrated and I didn't blame him. “But now that we've started using the Ring of Remembrance, we've crippled ourselves. I can't go back to the same time as you and if you travel back with me now, we have no way of knowing what you'll know of the situation. It's too risky.”

  “I know,” I dropped my hands to my lap, causing my dress to erupt into fog. “It would be nice to have you with me but it'll be okay. The Intare will help me investigate, there's enough of them that Kanaloa will have a harder time recognizing them if he catches one of them spying on him.”

  “That's a valid point,” he seemed to relax a bit.

  “Hey, by the way, that was really wonderful, what you did for Guirmean,” I decided to change the subject.

  “What did I do?”

  “About the portrait and how he could ask you for advice.” I nudged my foot against his. “That was slick and very thoughtful, saving him embarrassment.”

  “There was no one to help me,” he frowned and glanced out of the window, “when I became king. I was just a child and I had to grow up fast, learn fast, and do the best I could. King Guirmean's a good faerie and if I can save him some of what I went through, I'll happily do it.”

  “That's right,” I thought about the memory I'd once shared with him. It was him as a child, crawling through the wreckage of his home to find his parents murdered. “You were really young when your parents were killed.”

  “I was six years old.”

  “Arach,” I whispered and leaned across to take his hand. “I'm so sorry.”

  “There was so much sorrow then,” he gave my hand a squeeze and pulled me across the coach so I was sitting beside him. “All of the dragon-sidhe died and there was no one to raise me, no one to help me become a king. The Fire Kingdom was chaos for awhile, with a child ruler who mourned his parents and threw temper tantrums daily. I remember sitting in my father's throne, I never thought of it as mine back then, my feet hung off of the end of it and it seemed so large around me. I thought I'd never be able to replace him, never be able to rule as well as he had. I slammed my fists into the throne, so angry over being abandoned and forced to rule. I pounded and pounded until my hands bled and then I set the room on fire as I cried.”

  “Oh fuck,” I gaped at him, thinking about the poor fire fey terrorized by a six-year-old dragon. Utter mayhem. “So what happened?”

  “Isleen,” he grinned fondly, his eyes far away. “She walked in with some fire-sidhe and put the flames out. Then she picked me up, sat down on the throne, turned me over her knee, and spanked me.”

  “What?” I gasped. “And you didn't kill her?”

  “It was the first bit of parenting I'd had in months,” he shrugged, “and it was exactly what needed to be done. I was turning into a monster. After she spanked me, she healed my hands and hugged me while I cried.”

  “So Isleen raised you?” No wonder he was so close with the leanan-sidhe. She could practically say anything to Arach and get away with it.

  “She did, though she had help from other fire-sidhe as well,” he grinned. “They did as best as they could but still, they knew nothing of ruling and so all I had to go on was the brief memories of my parents. My mother was kind, I remember her holding me and singing to me, but my father was a hard sidhe. I have no memories of him smiling or ever telling me he loved me. I knew he cared about me, I was his son and heir and he made it clear that I was important, but love? I'm not sure if he loved me.”

  “Arach, of course he did, he wasn't evil.”

  “Well,” he shrugged, “there's only six years of memories and it was a long time ago. It was all I had to help me though, my memories of my father as King. So I always believed that a king had to be strong, emotionless, and even a little cruel. From what I remember of my father, he believed in ruling with an iron fist, maintaining a strict control over his subjects.”

  “Well that explains a lot,” I teased.

  “It does actually,” he looked down at me with a serious expression. “I've had to learn a lot on my own and I think I did fairly well but you were the first person who ever taught me anything about being a king. Until you pointed out to me that I had other responsibilities as king, things that never even occurred to me, no one had ever once given me any direction or advice.”

  “Isleen didn't help you?” I was too overwhelmed to acknowledge the compliment yet.

  “She didn't know how to rule,” he shrugged. “She barely knew how to raise children.”

  “Right, the fertility issue,” I nodded. “You know, no one ever taught me anything about ruling either. I just go with my gut.”

  “Well your gut is very insightful,” his eyes softened and his hand came up to stroke my hair. “I love your guts.”

  “That's disgusting,” I laughed but I kissed him too. “But I love your guts too.”

  “Truly, Vervain,” Arach said after we necked awhile(had to be done, like I wasn't going to make out with him after he gave me a compliment like that). “I've become a better king because of you. I doubt that the man I was before I met you would have offered to help King Guirmean. In fact, I might have enjoyed his floundering, but now I see how we're all connected and how important every one of us is to Faerie. If Guirmean falls, it would hurt all of us, so it's in my best interests to support him. I never would have acknowledged that before. You helped me to see that even though I am the leader of the Wild Hunt, I can still show kindness and mercy without being weak. I can delight in both death and life.”

  “I think it was your willingness to change that made you a better king, not me.” I leaned into his side. “You didn't have to listen to me, you could have just made me forget the whole thing but you didn't. You listened and you changed. That was you. I could have talked till I was blue in the face and it wouldn't have made one whit of difference if you hadn't wanted to change, if you hadn't recognized the truth of my words on some deeper level. And now that I know how you were raised, how you became a king, I'm even more impressed by you. You have a king's heart, you truly want what's best for your kingdom and your fey. That's not something you can learn and yet it's the most important thing about being a ruler. The Fire Kingdom is lucky to have you.”

  “And I'm lucky to have you,” he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest, where I pressed my ear against him and listened to his king's heart.

  Chapter Eleven

  As soon as we returned to the castle, I changed into some less elemental clothing and said goodbye to Arach, even though he'd be seeing me again momentarily. Then I asked the ring to take me back to the God Realm and into the moment right after I'd left it this last time.

  “Is he guilty?” Arach asked as soon as I reappeared.

  “I'm not sure,” I laughed, leave it to Arach to not waste a moment. “It's looking bad though. He's been seeing a water-sidhe named Gruach and she's bringing him into Faerie without King Giurmean's approval. I saw her take him through.”

  “Well that's not good,” he frowned. “We'll have to mirror King Guirmean and tell him
to find this water-sidhe and watch her.”

  “Can he prevent her from bringing Kanaloa into Faerie?”

  “That's a little more tricky,” he rubbed at his chin. “You've already seen them travel to Faerie, if we stop it from happening, you may experience some discomfort from your memories changing. Or it may not work at all. I think we should let it play out and just be aware of Gruach's movements. I don't want to see you hurt.”

  “I hadn't thought of that,” I took a seat beside him on the bed. “I agree, let's leave it be but alert the others.”

  “I think maybe just King Guirmean,” Arach shot me a look. “The High King may choose to act prematurely upon this information and if it turns out that Kanaloa is innocent, he will be persecuted for nothing.”

  “Ah, okay,” I nodded, “just Guirmean then. You wanna mirror him or shall I?”

  “I will,” he got up and went to take a seat in front of the mirror. “I told him I'd mirror him about kingly issues anyway.”

  “Ah yes, kingly issues,” I said in a snotty voice as I got up and headed for the door. “I'll just divorce myself from the situation then.”

  “Leave if you must,” he shot over his shoulder as he pulled out the eyebright to rub across the mirror. “But if you ever utter the word divorce in reference to me again, I will take you across my knee.”

  “Kinky,” I laughed as I closed the door on his shocked face.

  “My Queen?”

  “Aghhhh!” I jumped and looked over to find Isleen, Herald of the House of Fire and apparently Arach's adopted mother, standing in the shadows. “Sweet Baby Jesus, Isleen, you scared the hell out of me.”

  “Are you alright?” I heard Arach call through the door.

  “I'm fine,” I poked my head back in. “Just Isleen trying to kill me again.”

  “What?” He sounded even more concerned and she rolled her eyes at me(she got that from me so I only had myself to thank for it).

  “Joking,” I shut the door on him again. “What's going on, Iz?”

  “Did you just call me- never mind,” she waved it away. “You have a visitor waiting in the solar for you.

  “I have a what waiting in the what?”

  “You have a vi-sit-tor,” she sounded it out slowly, “waiting in the so-lar for you.”

  “Yeah saying it slower doesn't help,” I rolled my eyes at her. Payback's a bitch. “Who is it and what is a solar?”

  “I have no idea who she is, and the solar is a room for entertaining guests in, called thus because of the amount of windows usually involved in its creation.”

  “Really? Windows huh?”

  “I have no idea,” she cracked a smile at me, “but it sounded good, didn't it?”

  “You are hanging out with me way too much,” I laughed. “Okay, lead the way cause I have no idea where this sunny place is.”

  “Right this way, my Queen,” she smirked and led me down the hall for a long ways before we took a small staircase up and kind of out at an angle. Finally we reached a door at the top which she opened to reveal a large room which indeed had two walls devoted to windows. What was really impressive though, was the view through the left wall of windows.

  “Damn,” I walked in, gawking at the lava pouring down the mountain, mere feet from the windows. “Would you call that a lavafall?” I looked back at Isleen but she was just shaking her head at me. “Must be one of the two falls that feed our magma moat.”

  “You think?” Isleen gave me a duh look(another thing she picked up from me).

  “Shut up,” I wandered over and sighed as the heat hit me. “Man this is nice, why haven't I seen this before?”

  “Cause you've never had a guest,” Isleen continued on in her snarky voice. “Speaking of which... may I introduce you, my lady?”

  I turned around, embarrassed that I'd totally forgotten the reason I was there. Standing in the corner, furthest away from the lavafall, was a water-sidhe. She looked amazing against the backdrop of the fiery room. The chaise lounge and delicate settees were a vivid red and the walls that weren't windows were lined with vibrant tapestries of fire fey. To her left all of Faerie spread out and there she was, a bright shining pearl amidst it all.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I spurted before I could control myself because there, standing in my solar lavafall room, was Gruach, Kanaloa's lover.

  “My Queen?” I'd finally managed to shock Isleen.

  “Queen Vervain?” Gruach was just as shocked.

  “Oh!” I grasped for a reason to give them. “I, uh, I'm so sorry, you look just like someone I know back in the God Realm. Obviously I don't know you, we've never met before.” I gave a hysterical laugh which seemed to put Gruach at ease but didn't fool Isleen for one second. “Could you have someone bring us refreshments, Isleen?”

  “Sure,” Isleen narrowed her gaze on me. “But maybe I should introduce you first to lady....” she looked over at Gruach.

  “Gruach,” she supplied. Of course, it had to be her, couldn't be a nice twin or something.

  “Lady Gruach,” Isleen nodded, “and this is Queen Vervain of the House of Fire. I'll go send for those refreshments now.”

  “Thank you,” I looked over and saw Isleen give me a glance that clearly stated our conversation was not over. “Uh, Lady Gruach, is this room okay? We can move somewhere less warm if you like.”

  “Oh, no,” she smiled, completely at ease now. “This is fine, as long as I stay on this side of the room I won't dry out too much.”

  “Would you like to sit down?” I indicated a settee in front of me.

  “Thank you,” she slid onto the seat gracefully and I took a chaise lounge across from her.

  “So, I admit I'm curious over why a water-sidhe I've never met would come to see me,” I cocked my head at her and studied her. She looked so sweet but then looks were almost always deceiving in Faerie.

  “I didn't want to interrupt your visit to Water,” she smiled shyly, “but I really wanted to talk to you about something.” She looked up when a goblin woman walked in holding a tray of tea and little cakes.

  “Thank you, Mairte,” I nodded to the goblin when she put the tray down between us and she smiled, revealing stained teeth which were very pointy.

  “I bring the tray,” Mairte sang in the way the goblins spoke. “And go away, Your welcome is what I say.” She left with a big smile and I admit, I had one too. It's just so damn cute, now that I've gotten used to their faces.

  “Tea?” I asked Gruach as I poured me a cup.

  “Yes please,” she accepted one from me along with a plate of cake.

  “Go ahead,” I poured myself another cup. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Oh yes,” she laughed and it was a sweet sound, like bird song echoing off waves. It kind of annoyed me. “I asked King Guirmean and he said that you were the type of person who wouldn't mind an unexpected visit and that I should just stop by.”

  “Oh, sure,” I smiled and then jolted back when Arach came running into the room. “Damn it, Arach, I spilled my tea.” I grabbed a napkin off the tray and started rubbing at the wet spot on my black knit dress.”

  “Sorry, I...” he looked over at Gruach and then back at me meaningfully. “I was just talking with King Guirmean and he mentioned that he'd sent a guest our way. I thought maybe I should come up and meet her.”

  Ah, so that was it. He told Guirmean about our suspects and Guirmean realized he may have just sent a murderer over to have tea with me... and my husband had rushed to my rescue. I got kind of warm and fuzzy over that one.

  “Ah, yes,” I put my cup down and waved a hand toward Gruach. “This is Lady Gruach, Lady Gruach this is my husband, King Arach of the House of Fire.” I was so glad Isleen had just made an introduction so I knew how to do it properly. “As you can see, he is loathe to leave me unattended and can sometimes behave oddly because of it,” I gave a little laugh and she joined me although hers sounded a little nervous. “Arach, I think Lady Gruach came o
n a personal matter and wished to speak with me alone. Maybe you could give us some privacy?” I hope he knew by my widened eyes that I meant he should wait right outside the door.

  “Oh, of course,” he gave a slight head bow to Gruach. “Pardon me, I have other matters to attend to.”

  “It was nice to meet you, King Arach,” Gruach said politely but I could tell she really wanted him out of the room. Maybe she was there to kill me.

  “So,” I started again when the door closed, guardedly watching her every movement. “You were saying?”

  “This seems really silly now,” she sighed. “I just wanted to ask you about your friend, Lord Kanaloa.”

  “Lord Kanaloa?” I blinked at her. Holy shit, they hadn't even started dating yet. How was this possible? Did she go into the Human Realm to find him? “You wanna ask about Kanaloa?”

  “I really find him enchanting,” she was blushing! WTF? “He's so different from the water fey I know and yet he is of the water. And he's very attractive, so dark and those eyes. I just wanted to know if he was a good man before I decided to take him up on his offer of a visit.”

  “He invited you to the Human Realm?”

  “Yes, on his last visit here,” she blushed again. “I know I look frail but I can take care of myself, I'm not worried that he may physically harm me or anything but I don't want to get my heart involved with a man who is unkind or unchivalrous. Can you tell me if he is a good god?”

  “Wow,” I cleared my throat. “Well, I don't really know him all that well but what I've seen from him so far would suggest that...” he may be a murdering bastard, “he is a pretty upstanding guy.” I couldn't disparage Kanaloa without knowing for sure, so I ended up telling Gruach the facts as I knew them. “I think you should accept the invitation.” I also knew I couldn't discourage her from going because it might fuck up the future. I obviously was meant to tell her to go for it, so I did. “He's been very nice to me.”

  “Oh, I'm so relieved,” she smiled widely. “Thank you so much for your patience. King Guirmean was right, you're a very kind Queen.”