The Wizard of Elsewhere

1.5 - To Leave in Good Faith

The Fae are not evil. 

The texts have always been clear on that account.  Fickle, perhaps.  Incomprehensible and inhuman.  They commit atrocities and bestow blessings like we draw breath and brush our beards.  They orchestrate mayhem at their whimsey and entertain themselves at mortal's expense.

Evil though? Nay.  But never have the Fae been accused of kindness.

— Quote: A commentary on a commentary of Merlin's (The Merlin) translated account of the Arthurian Tales

* * *

The tension left the Forerunner as she accepted the plate from him, and she instead adopted an aloof, indulgent air, like a cloud passing over a tree, but still deigning to brush the leaves with mist.  She even went so far as to smile kindly at Leinan and inquire about her day.

This put no one at ease, least of all Leinan, who, after freezing a moment, her eyes darting quickly between The Forerunner, Barnibus himself, and then back and forth between Keimen and Aemon, answered curtly with a stream of words that Barnibus could not at all understand, but which made The Forerunner brighten considerably and flash grins to all present — including Barnibus — as she consumed her fish.

Consume was the right word.  She did so in something almost like a slurp, like someone might pasta.  He offered her a second steak without missing a beat and she obliged him daintily, still looking chuffed the way a sparrow might after having found a hidden pile of sesame.... No.  That wasn't at all the right analogy, Barnibus thought. More like a....

"Wolverine who found another wolverine's buried deer haunch in the depths of winter?" Hat supplied helpfully.

Yes. Barnibus thought. Exactly like that.

After a moment, Hat spoke again very, very quietly.  "When next you make it back to your robe,"  Hat said.  "Delve around a bit under the left lapel. You have a Draught of Living Death there that you stupidly brewed thinking it might help you sleep and forgot about.  If you combine it with some of the viper tooth shavings you have in your right pocket — robe pocket, you can probably get rid of the 'Living' part. Now —"

For his part Barnibus tried to smile back benignly and really really hoped that the correct type of twinkle was present in his eyes as he listened with one ear to his Hat.  He also inquired after The Forerunner's day, to which she responded with a minor soliloquy about chasing rabbits through the underbrush on a winter night.

Barnibus gave a good "Bravo!" afterwards, and Leinan snorted bitterly, then realizing what she had done, hunched down over her plate of fish.

Barnibus saw her conceal the plate for a moment.  When she moved again the slab of fish left on her plate was gone.

The tension could have been cut with a knife, and, as Barnibus reached into his robe, which was lying helpfully next to him by the fire, and Leinan fingered her belt knife worriedly when she thought no one was looking, and The Forerunner just smiled knowingly, mischievously, and with enough saccharine to level a roomful of three year olds into a sugar coma, Barnibus thought that maybe he'd miscalculated... if there had been any calculations going at all.

It happened as Barnibus offered The Forerunner her fourth helping.  The second had gone much the same way as the first... and —

"Oh, thank you, dear Barnibus, but I think, just one more for myself, shall do for me quite splendidly."

"J-just the one more?" That drew Barnibus up short, and of course, like a tugged rope, did the same to everyone around the campfire.  Barnibus's eyes darted to the plate and then back to the last two fish left waiting to be eaten.