Puck attempted to bow low before the Princess of Skyfall as she re-entered the Palace. Unfortunately his unhealed wounds caused him to suddenly jerk back upright before the brim of his hat could touch the ground as his (what had his mortal healers called them; switches, stitches?) ah, ‘stitches’ painfully strained at his wounds and he, by physical necessity, had to give up his effort at suitable courtly chivalry.
Princess Narbflaith na’Dar of Skyfall gave a sad smile regardless and allowed her glamour to flow from her face, leaving her natural visage unconcealed. It was a rare sign of favour, especially from a high-born Sidhe to a Fae, even one who was a half-breed favourite of the Court of Summer.
He smiled uncontrollably. He might never understood why his Sidhe mother, admittedly of lowly status, had fallen in love with a Fae like his father, but he did not question the depth of feeling they obviously had for one another. Such a mingling of energies, whilst not forbidden, was certainly uncommon and it made him a rare commodity, one able to serve in the Court of the Sidhe, yet also walk amongst Fae as one of their own.
The relationship between the noble and ancient Sidhe and their Fae kin was something never discussed with mortals who seemed to just assume every creature in this realm was part of a single diverse species they called Faerie.
While it was true they all shared a distant common ancestry and could ‘interbreed’, the differences between them was nearly incomprehensible. The Sidhe had long ago decided on physical forms, which they found pleasing. The Fae on the other hand were still young and enjoyed coating their intelligence and energy in a variety of shapes and identities, some more pure and refined than others. Each form chosen was appropriate to their place and role in this world. Their ancestors had their shapes hardened by many generations of toil in the tasks their distant progenitor had chosen.
Puck was unusual in that he had rejected his place in society and had instead elected to make his own role. His form was now too static to change but he found that was not a particular problem as he had inherited the Sidhe ability to form multiple glamour’s and shape what other saw, at will.
The Princess’s court was strangely deserted, almost her entire guard had been sent forth to serve in attendance to her Majesty Queen Titania and husband the Consort Royal, King Oberon as they marched to the Plain of the Stone Circle and possible war between the two Courts. Only her immediate bodyguards remained at her side.
She sat on her throne and pondered her recent meeting on the Docks with those strange mortals. She felt frustrated. There were too many of these strange ‘cousins’ physically present in the Realm of late and then there was the mystery of their strange, black, beetle-like sky ships.
Puck had a rare prospective on these, being one of only a very few Fae to have experienced visiting the mortal realm in recent centuries. He’d seen humanity’s manufactured materials before, strange metals and ‘fibre glass’. This had a similar look about them, obviously formed of synthetic materials.
They claimed only to be passing through on the way to Midsummalcazar, intent on trading. They claimed no allegiance to either Court yet refused to allow her officials access to their craft and cargo or show any of them or even her, the proper level of respect due them.
Had they not outnumbered her guards and carried ‘cold’ weapons made of iron she would have had them bewitched for their lack of respect. In fairness, mortals’ understanding of the faerie’s (almost incomprehensible) code of etiquette was almost non-existent these days. **Never or rarely do they show respect in proper fashion** she muttered to no-one in particular.
At least they had sworn a binding oath that they were not out to do harm against the Summerlands or its inhabitants. **An oath, once given, is sacred. Even the darkest goblin from deepest Winter was bound to abide by his word, once given. So must these mortals, for surely they lack the cunning to twist such a binding oath? Some of my kinsmen on the other hand are too clever by half. We must always be wary of the wording of Sidhe promises. You may find the letter of the law is obeyed, but the spirit left far to the way-side.**
The mortals in black with their cold weapons and strange ways surely would not risk breaking such an oath, as it would cast everything and everyone in this realm against them. Even the Court of Winter, the Unseelie, would be honour-bound to seek them out as oath breakers and do detriment to them and theirs for twenty generations and one.
Still it didn’t sit well with her, their claim that they were only here to trade and intended to pass through to Midsummalcazar yet refused to show what they carried in their strange flying ships or lay out a display for the High Born here to gaze upon.
Sidhe cannot lie except by omission and misdirection so it never occurred to her that mortals might just outright lie. Puck sighed; having walked the mortal realm many times he was not so easily fooled. He knew the oath breaking ways of some mortals much too well and trusted his instincts.
These very instincts declared these black beetled mortals were not to be trusted and wondered if the other settlements were also being visited by similar fleets? If so, what did it mean for the Royal City of Midsummalcazar?
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 