I woke up with a start the next morning. The dream had been even more intense than the first one and I was still trying to work it out in my head. I lay on the ground with my eyes shut for a while thinking about it until I felt something poke my nose. I opened my eyes and found a pair of green eyes centimeters from my own. The little faerie, now a little more than knee high, was kneeling on my chest with her hands on my cheeks, her face less than an inch from my eyes. I was up like a shot and she tumbled backwards before fluttering into the air to catch herself. She tried to fly back to where she was but I batted her away before she could get close to my face again.
“Gods below, don't do that!” I shouted as I got up before she could try to land on my face again.
“Don't do what?” She asked in a sing-song voice as she fluttered about me.
“Don't get that close to my face before I'm awake. It's unnerving.”
She giggled and flew up to a tree branch.
I rolled my eyes and began to put my bedroll away. The large crowd of faeries that had been around me last night seemed to have dispersed and it was just the pair of us now. “What are you still doing here? If you're well enough to be up and about, why not go off and join your clan, or whatever it is you have?”
“Oh, I sent them away when you went to sleep. You'd be no good to me if you woke up grouchy,” she said in a matter of fact tone. She then stopped, crossed her arms and glared at me. “Besides, you took my silver chain! You owe me.”
I made a note to myself to never underestimate this pixie and threw my hands into the air. “It was binding chain! It would have killed you! I paid your tribute, so honor demanded that I save you from it, no matter how pretty it was.”
She pouted and glared at me. “Doesn't matter. You owe me.”
I sighed. “Fine, I'll get you another silver chain, one that won't kill you while you hold it, I promise. Just not right now, as I don't have something like that with me.” Faeries believed in equal value exchanges when it came to favors owed. For example, if you owed them a ring because you lost theirs, you were meant to get one that could act as an exact replacement and anything else, less or more, was an insult. If it was less, then you didn't value them, and thus insulted them. If it was more, then it was seen as an attempt to lure them into owing you a favor they might not be able to repay, which was a mark on their honor and therefore an insult as well.
In the end, she pouted a bit more, but nodded in acceptance of the proposal. “And don't you forget it!”
I went back to preparing Sen for another day of riding along the river, working in silence as I did so. When I was ready, I mounted up and set off along the river. The Blue Pixie flew nearby, staring at me in annoyance as the silence was driving her mad. After a while she piped up. “What are you doing out here anyway? It's dangerous for big Fat Heads like you.”
I sighed and said “I'm looking for the Lady of the Wood. My king has decreed that a treaty and alliance is to be forged between our peoples and I am the man to do it,”
“Odd that he would just send you. Why not a big ol' group with lots of presents and stuff?”
I forced myself to not look to the bag full of gifts and said “The king has his reasons.”
The Blue Pixie narrowed her eyes. “Must be some pretty stupid reasons. No presents means she won't like you very much, I'd say. Besides, you don't seem to be looking for her very hard, since you've not moved far from the river.”
“I'm not sure where the Lady of the Wood is and I don't want to just wander around in these woods without access to pure water and food. So unless you have a better plan, that's what I'll continue to do.”
