Summer Garden

Trei

The door creaked open behind him, and he felt it hit his feet. "Hi."

He heard a stifled giggle, and then the woman walked in front of him and crouched, looking at his face. "So, run out of steam, then?"

Trei smiled somewhat pathetically, "Yup."

Summer sat down cross-legged, "Well, whilst you're stuck there and can't run away, you and I need to have a bit of a serious talk. See... Bringing you back to life was illegal. So was bringing you home."

Trei winced, "I don't like where this is going."

"Neither do I." Summer said with a sigh, "Look, I had a choice between killing your body, and leaving you a disembodied soul for all eternity, or giving you a semblance of a life. I know which one sounds more like torture to me."

Trei sighed, "What's the catch? Am I going to prison for the next hundred years?"

"No." Summer winced, her breathing changing pace as she tried to force herself to speak, "You... And I... Have to... Get married."

Trei's eyes widened in surprise as the woman blushed and looked away from him. "I'm sorry, okay?"

He sighed heavily, "They're making you marry me? That... Doesn't make sense to me. It's not like I got you pregnant."

"Geeze!" Summer exploded, launching to her feet and starting to pace, "Look, can't you just be happy you're alive? I'm the one who has to marry an undead ghoul who can't even walk!"

Trei winced. He was pissed. It wasn't like he'd been asked to be dragged back from the dead. He certainly didn't want to marry a mythical creature, not straightaway. She was cute... But... He'd just met her. And the last cute girl he'd met had killed him with a fireball. However, his heart wasn't in it. He could see how erratic and upset she was. Not the calm woman he'd seen sipping tea whilst she waited for him to wake up.

"When?" Trei asked quietly.

Summer paused, smiling at him sadly, "Ceremony is a week from now."

"Do we have to have one?" Trei asked, and Summer nodded, "Yeah. And it's going to be huge. Look... There's a lot I haven't told you. And I'm really not ready to tell you just yet. I'm still... Processing. The short of it, is you need to stay in the house for now. I've got some... Motivated enemies. They're looking for you to screw up. Break a law, or insult the wrong person... And we aren't human. Our laws, and our culture are worlds apart. You don't know what it's like to live here yet."

Trei felt a finger twitch and dragged an arm slowly up towards his face, lifting his chin, "So... I'm your servant, and your prisoner. A slave."

Summer winced, "I know I screwed up, Trei. You don't need to rub it in. They're watching me too."

He stopped himself from an angry retort, seeing how hurt she was. The Fae was fighting back tears. She was terrified of something. Hurting. "I'm sorry."

The Fae paused and shook her head, "You're a kind one. Is that... Rare?"

Trei rolled his head sideways, "Huh?"

"For humans." Summer replied and then frowned, "Last human to come to the Fae... Sort of butchered us all. He killed three thousand of us. His name was Hero."

Trei blinked, "Hero? Like the Warrior-King Hero?"

"Yeah."

Trei shivered, "Wow. So if he's your experience... Then I'd guess you all think humans are kinda monstrous. He was the most bloodthirsty king our world ever knew... My city was founded to try and escape from the rule of kings. The founders just wanted the wars to... Stop. To find a way for humanity to coexist, and improve itself."

Summer sat down on her knees slowly, "Really? That's impressive. I had no idea that humanity had advanced to that level of understanding and philosophy yet. We try not to interact much with your kind."

Trei used his hand to flip himself onto his back. One of his legs got tangled and didn't quite make it, but it was more comfortable than digging his chin into the wooden floorboards. "The experiment isn't working, not altogether. It's an attempt. We've managed well enough, creating new technologies... Medicines. The plague is no longer a death sentence, if it is caught early. We can send messages through light in the air. But... The politics is still awful. Planning permits are impossible to get. Paint your store the wrong colour and the Fire Defence Force will burn it down rather than protect you. You still have to pay the leaders, but they don't use that money to build roads or maintain things."

Summer smiled at him, "Politics never dies, Trei. All your technology is pathetic next to magic. I know you don't have much in your world but... We don't have disease anymore. We don't have hunger or thirst. With dust... Anything is possible. Well, almost anything. And yet, despite all this... My world is on the edge of war, dealing with a politician trying to seize control of the Council. He stole a part of this Realm. Just took it out of this dimension and into his. Including the three and half thousand Fae that were under the mountains when he moved it."

Trei stared at her, "If you don't have hunger or thirst... What's the point? What is he trying to do?"

"Take power." Summer said with a half smile, "That's an end all on its own. Some people just... Want to be able to look down on everyone else."

Trei sighed heavily, "Can't your... Council, was it? Stop him?"

"He's on the Council." Summer smiled, "Its all politics."

The ghoul nodded slowly, "Well... I'm sorry. Say... Just to talk about something less depressing... Do I need to eat anymore?"

Summer went pale, "I was really hoping you wouldn't ask that. In short, yes... Eh... You're a carnivore now. Ghouls eat dead things."

Trei frowned, "Can I cook it at least?"

Summer cocked her head, "Sure? ... You aren't grossed out by eating dead things?"

"Its just meat, right?" Trei asked in surprise, "Humans eat meat."

"Ew." Summer said with a shiver, unable to stop herself, "Do humans eat normal things too?"

Trei shrugged, "What do you mean by normal?"

"Um..." Summer thought for a moment, "Leaves. Grass. Nectar, flowers."

"No." Trei said quickly, "Vegetables, sure. Potatoes are awesome. Some leafy stuff like lettuce is fine... I guess we make tea out of some flowers. But we can't eat most, they're... Poisonous."

Summer smiled slowly as if understanding something for the first time, "Omnivore. Humans proliferated so quickly on your world, because you were omnivores. Most things can be made into food, which meant starving was harder. That's... Amazing. Your gut must be something serious."

Trei laughed, "My gut? I can't imagine digesting nectar. The Fae must be pretty amazing too."

Summer held a hand to her mouth as she burst out laughing, "That's what most Fae will tell you."

The ghoul grinned, "So humility isn't very popular then?"

"No. We're all arrogant. So if you meet a really arrogant Fae... Well, it doesn't matter what you say or do. They'll think everything good happened because of them, and everything bad because of you. Absolutely impossible to make them admit fault."

Trei smiled, "I think I've met one or two humans like that too."

The girl sighed, "Well. I guess it's sundown soon, so we should get you moving."

Trei frowned, "I still feel weak. I haven't got the hang of things yet."

She shrugged and held a hand over his face, "Nothing a little dust can't fix."

He coughed as she sprinkled it over him, and he rolled over, hacking. He paused in surprise, and slowly pushed himself upright, "I feel... Light."

Summer held out her hand, "So, let's take a walk."