You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
~ Eric Hoffer
Saturday, September 23rd ~ Fall Equinox
Whatever the mortals had used to block the portal, it was formidable. But not entirely perfect. To one such as Finvar, the tiny, almost impossible to detect flaws shouted their presence. It didn't make them any easier to enlarge, but it did enable him to locate the minuscule points. He'd worked almost daily on the task he'd set himself and was pleased that this day - the day the Winter Court's powers started their ascension, he'd made a difference. Not large enough yet to do what he wanted, but it was a beginning.
Returning to the palace, he looked for his Queen. Finvar was pleased and wanted to share the news with someone who would appreciate it properly.
The man that won you
Has gone off and undone you
The great beginning
Has seen it's final inning
Don't know what happened
It's all a crazy game
Saturday, August 5 .::. Morning
The Stigg's gamboling was ever amusing, but at last Maev had sent her Fool away, to vex the poltergeist at the castle or be coddled by the maternal women in town or prank the mortals at will, the Queen cared not.
A report from the palace seneschal had come through the well that morning. Maev read his estimation of Summer's doings in their absence and lost herself in thought.
Even if all goes awry, still we profit.
A sprite announcing a visitor ended her reverie.
What new morsel comes forth to place itself in our trap?
To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy
and dull fantasy at that--as the real world is strange and wonderful.
~ Robert A. Heinlein
Thursday, July 20th ~ Evening
Leaving Glen Hollow early left them time to visit Vera and possibly Roger before broaching the Fae camp. Izabel knew that they had already met them and was therefore a little anxious to find out firsthand what to expect. Looking up at Remus while they walked toward Vera's quarters, she smiled.
"Thank you for agreeing to this. I don't mind admitting I'm rather nervous and to be forewarned is forearmed, right?"
Facts versus romance
you go and call yourself the boss
but we're not robots inside a grid
Tuesday, July 18 • Morning
The second time Vera went to the faerie's camp, she came alone.
When Roger had said he was spending the day visiting his sister, and asked if she'd like to come along, something had moved Vera to tell him no.
Too much work to do, she'd said. Several figures had needed readjusting to match what the Queen had explained in their first meeting — and still nothing fit right.
There was something she wasn't seeing.
Not long after Vector had sat down at her desk, she was up again, gathering old charts and new to take down to the Queen.
Dark lady laughed and danced
And lit the candles one by one
Sunday, July 16 ~*~ Evening
One hardly knew what a dining establishment meant in a world such as this. Maev knew the mortals had progressed past mud-splattered hovels at last, but other than that, her expectations were moderate.
Rather than the excessively quaint or laughably pretentious restaurant she'd half expected — had she thought on the matter at length at all — Un Peu de Ciel was ... Near worthy of those it is serving tonight, the Queen noted as she entered on Finvar's arm.
She wrote this message for me upon the sands — the sands of vision — "Be careful, and do not seek to know too much about us."
Wednesday, July 12 • Afternoon
Invisible guides had led them to the largest tent in the encampment, an elaborate arrangement of silks and goldcloth.
Vector vaguely wished she could remember more of the thousand little etiquette rules that had been so important to her Auntie Miriam, who had tried to get all of her sister's children to attend deportment classes in the summer with a special tutor. She always had been a bit of a social climber.
Vera had always had a ready-made excuse in maths and science camps, and if she had also used "summer study for Hogwarts" as a back-up plan as needed ... well, they were Muggles. They didn't know any different.
Still. It might have been useful after all to know when exactly to curtsey or exactly how low or ... whatever foolish rules they had about such things. Auntie would be so ashamed of me.
On the other hand, all those rules were dealing for mortal royalty, and the faeries had been rude to them first, and Auntie Miriam could go stick it in her ear.
