Fractured Infinities

The Farsighted Ones

Author's note: I'm using the gender neutral pronouns zie/zir/zirs in this chapter to refer to agender characters. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, zie corresponds to she or they, zir corresponds with her or their, and zirs corresponds to hers or theirs. Hopefully that makes sense!  

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"Attention. Thy presence is requested at the tower of the farsighted ones. Please attend them at thy earliest convenience."

The huntsman lifts his head off of the down pillow. "Um... what?" he mumbles, rubbing sleep away from his eyes.

The elf standing in the doorway narrows zir eyes. "Must I repeat myself?" Zir tone, while nominally polite, is bordering on snippy; zie clearly has little patience for the foibles of mortals, especially sleepy ones.

Thankfully, the huntsman wakes up fast. "Of course, um..." He hesitates. "Sir? Ma'am?" A slight frown wrinkles his brow as he tries to decide which is the proper honorific. In this case, I'm actually fairly sure that 'siare,' the gender-neutral elven equivalent of 'my lord,' would be best, but I'm not sure how to surreptitiously inform him of that.

The elf sniffs. "Your guide will be waiting for you when you descend the stairs." With that, zie turns and leaves; the door glides shut behind zir.

The huntsman gaped in shock the first time the door did that, but he must be used to it now, for he doesn't bat an eye. Instead, he glances over at my mirror, which is currently resting on a low table next to the bed. "Mary, is that what ya wanted?"

I hesitate for a second, searching to see what's behind his guileless brown eyes. Is he truly as kind as he seems? Or will he change unpredictably, like the huntsman in the darkened world that just lost its princess? There's no indication of that, but then, I would have said the same about the other huntsman, until the unthinkable happened.

"Mary?"

I summon my mask into the mirror and give him a reassuring smile. "I think it is," I tell him. "I wasn't expecting a response so quickly, but I guess the farseers are pretty curious about the princess. They probably want to know what you know about her, so they can unravel her story." I refuse to believe that Ben will turn evil; he's too compassionate and gentle for that. I'll keep a close eye on him, to make sure of it, but I think the darkened kingdom must be some sort of anomaly.

Ben nods. "Alright then." He rises from the bed and slips his battered leather jerkin over his shoulders. "Let's go."

The elf who brought us Underhill in the first place is waiting for us at the base of the stairs. He sketches a shallow bow when the huntsman descends, face cold and smooth as obsidian. "Follow me." Without another word, he turns and stalks off without bothering to make sure that the huntsman is following. Impatience radiates from his stiff back and quick, graceful strides – he's clearly unhappy for some reason.

I've got a feeling that the huntsman's presence plays a large part in that unhappiness. Our guide can't disobey Lily's command, but it must rankle to play nursemaid to a human. The huntsman seems to sense this too, for the corners of his mouth twitch as he fights back a smile.

He doesn't say anything, though, and neither do I, so silence reigns on the long walk to the farseer's tower. It's not actually part of the main castle; it's a separate building offset a little ways. A stunning flower garden surrounds it, full of plants only found Underhill – many are deadly, and all are powerfully magical. Our guide strolls nonchalantly among them, but the huntsman picks his way between them, careful to avoid even the slightest brush of a leaf. The flowers rustle as he passes.