Knight to the Silver Throne

Chapter 10: Paying Prices

Feamir had not expected her attempt in being servile to be met with chuckles. If the situation would have been a different one, she would have probably had to compliment Tirghernán for his incredibly good looks in this moment. But what caused his amusement?

"What a peculiar thing I never thought to hear from a Caesin."
What was the duke talking about? Feamir did not understand what her mother's family had to do with anything. She herself has not really met them before, but Duke Tirghernán talked as if he knew them.

At some point the duke had left Feamir's original body alone which helped her calm down to some degree, but now he stood directly in front of her again. Towering over her as if to directly flaunt his power and control.
"If you are so 'sorry', you should not say anything there like to any other fæ. A small and easy little request to take responsibility, right?", even though Tirghernán talked as if everything were clear and his request logical, Feamir had no idea what he actually meant and why he talked about that now.
She agreed though: "I will do so, if you wish...", not wanting to displease him for now.

"Well then...", the Duke Tirghernán turned around in a graceful motion, his robe fluttering. Suddenly they seemed to have returned to the throne room from before, the duke sitting on his throne again. "...try again asking your questions."

Feamir had turned er vision to the ground in front of her, trying to look more demure and feeling awkward looking at the fæ duke, but she felt his cold gaze on her. She also felt Caprinvur's nervousness; for him they probably vanished and reappeared out of thin air.
There were a lot of question on her mind, but after the demonstration before there were some, she deemed most important: "If it is not too much to ask, your Grace... ehmm... what is the situation with my body? Why am I not... me? And is my true body well?"

"Obvious questions... however... I fear you lack the understanding about the intricate magic involved for the whole process... So let me shorten it for you: you are just sleeping.", Feamir gritted her teeth at his obvious belittling of her, but she thought that it was better to let him talk to get what information she could at least. "And while you are sleeping, I lend you a body of course. Sleeping mortals are very useless otherwise. You are very lucky as well: that is my best and most 'flashy' creation yet. The most suitable for a mortal from my collection."

His explanation caused only a lot of more questions for "the mortal" in question. However, she understood now why the duke said she would not understand any of the magic behind it. What he talked about was probably out of league for most magicians, wizards and sorcerers. Thus, she decided to concentrate on her original goal more: "And, if it is not too presumptuous to ask, your Grace, how would I be able and 'wake up' to reacquire my body?" Feamir was a bit scared as her question was basically the same as her first, only more politely phrased. In the end, her objective was to get that body and run away.

"You really forgot? How low a mortal's tolerance has to be.", the belittling continued, "Perhaps I should start telling you what you probably forgot? Otherwise, we are not getting anywhere it seems." Normally one would have thought that he should start talking, but the duke seemed to either not know or not care what was deemed "normal": "Nevertheless, you should know, and I do not like repeating things such as these generally... so... What are you offering in exchange for my graces?"

The gears in Feamir's head turned rapidly as she thought about what could interest the strange non-human duke. Making an offer would be better than asking him what he wanted, but she could not think of anything. Tirghernán let her take her time thinking, though the silence pressured her more than his impatience would have.
"I cannot think of anything that I, a mere mortal, could offer your Grace.", he put the label of "mere mortal", so she may try to use this to her advantage now.

"Well true... you do not have anything I need.", the duke looked and sounded like he was thinking, but it was quite obvious that he knew what he wanted, "Then how about you are simply indebted to me? But then... a simple debt is quite boring... Let it make more fun! As I am going to tell you about things you have forgotten, let us make it about memory. In exchange for telling you, what happened yesterday, I in turn can change a little bit of your memory."

"I have to decline, your Grace. I tressure my memories quite a bit.", shot Feamir his proposal immediately down. Memory was an important part in building one's personality, allowing him to change that... the follow up would be unpredictable and may end up changing her irreversibly.

"Tsk", the duke rather unhappily clicked with his tongue, luckily, he did not seem too unhappy. "Really... now you actually looked like one of the Caesin bloodline.", his comment as he returned into thinking, sounded reminiscent of some form of compliment, even though Feamir did not understand it because she did not know what "one of he Caesin bloodline" was supposed "look like".

"Then let my try again with my proposal: Allow me to change the color of something in your memory in exchange for telling you. That is nothing mayor, right? Just a little bit of fun."
His new suggestion was basically the same as before only made more precise. Was that his plan all along? If so: why would he want to do this? The color of something would not actually change anything mayor Feamir could think of. There had to be a catch somewhere, but it was obvious there had to be... Maybe he really only wanted to have some "fun" at her expense...

"And... how are you going to change my memory... your grace?", if it would include him somehow looking at them Feamir was determined to decline again.
"A deal, a promise, or a debt with a fæ...", explained the duke rather readily again, "...is always magical. All relevant parties cannot not fulfill it. In this case, if you agree, its already done." A sly smile was slightly showing on his lips which Feamir could not completely decipher. Maybe he already felt that he would get what he wanted in this deal.

"Then... I agree to your proposal...", answered the young woman who till yesterday never meet with a fæ before. Her desire to know what she could not remember was bigger than her fear of falling for a trap.