ELRED VALKALIN IS ON THE RUN. After narrowly escaping the Synketros prison, she finds herself in the scent trail of two notorious communities miles below the island's surface. When she stumbles upon a hidden gathering of fairies from different races...
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In the grand scheme of things, Elred didn't foresee herself sitting among the Entobern clans, ripping piece after piece from the stale bread on her fingers with her teeth. Civility had left her senses. All she could think of was how much of a salvation it was to be eating solid food after a long time of downing nothing but stale fairy potions.
She sat among the lesser known members of the clans, keeping the clan leaders in her periphery. Unlike the animosity they shared when she met them in the upper cities, seeing all six leaders pour reheated soup into their bowls with genuine smiles and laughter gave her dissonance. Weren't these people trying to kill each other a few years ago?
It probably was luck when one of the scouting parties led by Lady Yarxus found Elred wandering in the tunnels covered in dirt and with hair matted with mud and blood. They exchanged pleasantries and invited Elred back to camp. There, she got another change of clothes which she saved for the actual event she'd need it. Now, she ate with it tucked between her elbow and her thigh.
The bread had come and gone. She wanted more. Xanthy wasn't kidding about the wonders of bread. No wonder the Virtakios loved eating it to the last crumb. Soon, a bun slid into her periphery and she turned to find Lord Visa offering it to her. She narrowed her eyes. Did it come with conditions? They did refuse to help her defend Helinfirth from Synketros. Maybe they wanted to barter for more rights or to gain back the freedom they once enjoyed before they plotted a coup against the crown.
"Are you going to take it? My arm is getting tired," Lord Visa said, jostling Elred's attention back to the bun.
With reluctance, she plucked the bread from the leader's hands and started to hunker back to her group of nameless fairies when Lady Rovalor spoke up. "Join us, Princess."
The word left a sour taste at the back of Elred's throat. Nevertheless, she scooted over to their little circle as they made space for her. She decided to bring back a little bit of her grace and tore a piece of the bun with her grimy fingers. She'd yet to find water to wash them with anyway. "I'm not a princess," she said with enough distaste to satisfy the Queen. At least now, she knew her place. She stuffed the bread into her mouth and chewed the rubbery thing before continuing. "What led you to these parts? To think you'd actually turn tail and believe me."
Lord Sarbalar set down his bowl made from a hollowed out gourd. His long dark hair had been sheared close to his ears Elred had trouble believing he and the grumpy leader were the same person. "We took your word for it, Elred. We just didn't have enough resources to help you then," he reasoned. "We thank you for warning us. You have saved our people."
"They are my people too. I did what I could," Elred looked away and forced herself to find the clump of bioluminescent pink and cyan algae interesting. "I'm glad you're surviving just fine. Do you have news from the upper cities?"
A grim cloud of silence passed across the circle. Lord Kemaruis coughed into his fist and shoved his golden hair off his face. Even in the midst of adversity, it stayed lustrous. "It doesn't look good out there," he said. "Makes me glad we have these tunnels."
