The ever changing landscape of the Fae Realm was starting to give Abigail a headache. It was so damn bright and disorientating. Everything moved and shifted as she and her father left his chambers. It finally settled into what looked like a great cavern with a table surrounded by seven chairs. Upon closer inspection, Abigail could see that the table was deeply rooted into the ground, like an ancient tree. Little evergreen branches shot off the edges of the table here and there.
In each of the seven seats, there sat sinewy, not quite human figures. While a few had some tell of their inhumanity, like cat eyes, horns, or a tail, they all exuded an aura of strangeness. It was as if the simple way that they sat in their bodies seemed to be otherworldly, strange, and slightly predatory.
These were not beings one dealt with lightly.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of the gavel hitting the table resounded in the air. Abigail looked at the figure in the middle, holding the wooden gavel. She had a stern face, long and serious. Her ears were long and elf-like.
"Abigail Herant! You have barged into our world without invitation to speak to the Kelpie King. What is your business here?"
Abigail cleared her throat. "High Council of the Court! I thank you for your welcome."
"There is no welcome here." Sneered a man with twisted ram horns on the far left.
The woman in the middle turned to him disapprovingly. "Balthazar, you will do well to mind your tongue. There is neither welcome nor unwelcome from the Council until we have, as a Council, decided that we welcome this mortal or not. Let it speak."
It took a second for Abigail to register that the it that the central faery woman was referring to was, indeed, Abigail. "If it pleases you, could I have your name?"
The faery woman smiled a smile that was a mix of delight and threat. "You may not have my name, though I respect that you have tried to take it so early in this conversation. You may refer to me as Belinda. To my right is Balthazar, Paltis, and Braefoot. To my left is Grailaya, Zimberbrand, and Jilliup. We are the Council of the Gate, those sworn to guard the places in the world that touch the Gate of the Everdark."
Abigail did a slight bow to each, not so deep to show subservience, but enough to show respect. In Faery situations, one wants to be respectful, but not weak. "I come before you bearing the name of Abigail Herant, daughter of Charles Herant, King of the Kelpies and protector of the realm of mortals."
Belinda threw her head back and laughed. "Protector of the realm of mortals? Oh dear, he no longer holds that title, now that he is of our realm. He is indeed a protector of the Gate now. While he is not part of the Council, it is the job of the Kelpie royalty to serve in this endeavor. And while you have introduced yourself, you have not told us your purpose."
Abigail breathed in. She had to be careful. If there are members of the Council in league with the nefarious scheming to hide the original Kelpie King, potentially be in league with Dark Star (whoever the hell they really are), and might be interested in potentially opening this Gate to the Everdark (whatever the hell that was, potentially the thing that Gwen had warned her about), she didn't want to be too open about the case that she was investigating. On the other hand, lying to Faeries was dangerous at best, outright stupid at worst. She had to use her words carefully.
"I was hired by a local school to investigate some phenomenon that seems to be originating from the swampland. I have seen that there is a lot of incursion and disturbance of the swampland. Is there any way that we can create peace?"
Belinda frowned. "The mortals don't understand what they are disturbing. That swampland is one of ten places in the world with access to the Gate of the Everdark. Should the mortals ever uncover it..."
Abigail started to sweat. "Um... this gate wouldn't happen to look like a brass double door with faces and some writing on it?"
Belinda stood up and, for a moment, Abigail could have sworn she grew taller, her eyes lighting up with a green fire. "WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN THE GATE??"
"Well, I think that they have already uncovered it. The workers will probably notice it tomorrow." Abigail didn't want to include that she had been the one to finish uncovering it in some sort of gate induced trance.
Balthazar shot up. "We must kill every mortal close by. If this is true, we cannot risk them opening the Gate!"
Abigail put her hands out. "Woah, there, Balthzy! Maybe we can hold off on the whole localized genocide thing."
Another Council member silently stood. Her lovely curls worked around her fox ears and otherwise human face. This was the one that Belinda had called Jilliup. "Let us listen to the mortal. She knows her way around their world. Perhaps she can help us protect the gate." Her unearthly blue eyes met Abigail's. "Please, daughter of the Kelpie King, what do you suggest."
Abigail nodded. She had two different plans she could follow. She just had to choose the right one...
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