Inheritance

Chapter 36: Grounded

A lord and a lady who were dancing stopped doing so when Eory approached them with Gershom panting by his side. Eory bowed lowly to them—getting down on one knee—and said, "my name is Eory Arroza. It's good to meet you."

The lord and lady looked severely mistrustful, but nonetheless did a slight bow to him and then introduced themselves.

"I am Lord Terrance, and this is my wife, Lady Paulette. I am the lord of the king's home city, Brambel to the east. It's good to meet you as well. You may rise."

Eory rose to his feet and tried to think of something polite to say.

In reality, he merely wished to cower behind Pollyanna or Kori, but he gulped and pushed himself to be polite and socialize. "What's Brambel like? Is the weather as fair as it is here?"

Terrance laughed aloud. "Of course it is! It's only three days away, after all."

At Eory's embarrassed face, Lady Paulette smiled gently—charmed by his naivety. "You couldn't have known seeing as how your upbringing was... Quite different from most individuals. Me and my husband know many fairies, and many of them are kind, but there is much friction between the fairies and humans—and understandably so."

Eory frowned deeply and went silent for a moment.

The only person worth pleasing is yourself. Pollyanna's voice echoed in his mind.

I'm not a monster by virtue of my parents. Eory reassured himself.

And it was as if his whole body relaxed when he said it; it was as if that, once he gave himself permission to think it, he could convince these people to think it, too.

"I'm sincerely sorry for my ancestors' actions. Maribel is your kingdom... There shouldn't be fairies here in the first place."

Lady Paulette and her husband were shocked by his pleasant manners and glanced at each other and then back at Eory with kind smiles. "It... It wasn't your doing. You're not responsible for your family's actions. Although, I must ask you if you know of any way to get on a fairy's good side so we can strengthen the bond between humans and fairies? There's such long, bad blood between them."

Eory shrugged with a sincere smile. "I'm sorry... I barely know anything of fairies. I was essentially raised by Ko—by the Redeemer—and she didn't teach me much of the culture. She did teach me of the fairy goddesses, but that was it."

"Ah well. Nonetheless, it was good talking—" Terrance began to say, but then stopped and looked up in white fear as Pollyanna approached and stood behind Eory protectively.

Paulette hurriedly finished her husband's sentence. "It was good to meet you."

The two hurriedly backed away from Pollyanna and joined the other lords and ladies again.

Eory turned around and locked eyes with Pollyanna. In a moment, he looked down and felt abject misery claim him—his confident thoughts were being quickly devoured by far more effective, cruel ones.

For a moment, he was back in that tiny room once again with the walls that kept getting closer and closer for each day he had to spend between them—so close that he thought he would get crushed by them.

And then he thought of his only solaces: The books on his shelf which gave him a window into a world he thought he would never experience, and... Pollyanna, who gave him the ability to experience it regardless.

Kori's stories were so vivid. He was so attached to them and who he thought Pollyanna was.

He was a nothing. No, he was worse than a nothing. He was the last in a vile and evil line of fairies who had invaded a kingdom that belonged to the humans and tried to destroy their culture and thinned out their numbers greatly.