The Love of a Slave

Chapter Two

Arielle and Coran walked with arms linked through the banquet. Or so it was called. To Arielle, it was hundreds of discusting little cretins crowding the Throne Room. It made her absolutely sick. She tried to act pleasant, but her weariness was etched on her face.

\"What\'s wrong?\" Coran asked.

\"It should be pretty obvious.\" she whispered to him. \"I don\'t want to be here.\"

\"Arielle, it\'s a party. Would you at least try to enjoy yourself?\"

\"Whatever.\" she hissed.

Coran had been right. There were humans, but Arielle seldom saw them. She was starting to wish she could go hide in a corner, away from everyone else, like they had. Instead, she was stuck walking around with the man that attracted the most attention.

\"Hey,\" Coran nudged her lightly in the ribs. \"Stick it out for another hour or two, and if you behave yourself you can go straight back to your room.\"

Despite her mild dislike of him, at that very moment Arielle had to fight the urge to give him a big kiss right on his cheek. But that would be sacraficing much more of her dignity then she wanted. \"You promise?\"

\"I\'ll escort you there myself.\"

\"Thanks.\" she said softly. He didn\'t reply, but Arielle thought she saw a small smile on his face. \"So, do you know most of these people?\"

\"A fair few. They are my subjects, Arielle, they come to pay their respects. Aquaintances mean nothing to fey.\"

\"How nice.\" she said dryly.

\"Come now, Arielle, be more enthusiastic.\" he chirped. \"No one likes a party-pooper!\"

\"Oh, I\'m so very sorry to ruin your fun.\" she said sarcastically. Then, she leaned in so only he could hear, \"But if you haven\'t noticed, I\'m surrounded by people with gray skin and dead tree branches for hair!\" And I even saw a few with green skin! Green!\"

\"Pixies.\" he shrugged. \"A mischievious lot. Nothing can set up a better prank than Pixies.\"

\"Oh, that\'s so very interesting, but I find it all a bit repulsive.\"

Coran only grinned. \"Pixies?! You find Pixies replusive? You\'ve obviously never encountered a Goblin then, have you?\"

\"Fortunately, no.\"

\"Oh, very fortunate indeed.\" he said slyly. \"But your luck has changed. I\'ve seen at least seven of the critters skulking about.\"

She sent him a helpless glance. \"Then we\'ll just have to steer clear of them, won\'t we?\"

He feigned innocence. \"I\'m afraid we can\'t. It is my duty as Lord of Fey to acknowledge all of my subjects. And once you\'ve met one of the big, bad Goblins, I\'ll have to introduce you to a Boggart.\"

\"A Boggart?\" she asked. \"Sounds familiar. Are they the little things that get attached to a household and scream when one of them is going to die?\"

He quirked an eyebrow. \"No, that is a Banshee and they are not little, but Boggarts do get attached to certain households. They are very malevolent spirits, pet, you\'d be wise to stay away from them.\"

\"What kind of things do they do?\"

\"They are usually peaceful to the family it favours. Though, they are offended easily, and once that happens they are known to do all sorts of things.\" he said wisely. \"Like booby-trap furnature and other important things the family uses. Children wake up with big gashes on their arms and legs and scratches on their face. Boggarts have even been known to wreck the entire house.\"

\"Nasty little buggers.\" she muttered.

\"Exactly.\"

\"And what about the Goblins?\"

\"Goblins are far worse than Boggarts. They are one of the worst creatures in The Realm.\" he said somberly. \"It was rumored that they had sacrificial ceramonies before the Courts merged.\"

\"What kind of sacrificial ceramonies?\" she eyed him suspiciously.

\"They ate humans.\" he shrugged. Arielle looked dumbfounded at him. He acted like they were discussing the weather!

\"Doesn\'t that bother you?\"

\"No, why would it? It was long before my time.\"

\"You\'re so callus!\"

\"And you\'re not?\" he said replied harshly. \"Whether you want to admit it or not, the humans treated my kind very badly in the middle ages. Yet, I see you showing us no sympathy.\"

\"I know that! But how am I supposed to be sympathetic when I don\'t even know what went on! Why do constantly keep me in the dark?!\"

\"Because you\'re a human. And a slave! Start acting like one!\"

\"Oh really? That is all I am? Some stupid slave who doesn\'t even have the freedom to ask questions; to gain knowledge?\"

\"You\'re trying to put words in my mouth.\"

\"No, you put the words there yourself. Answer me!\"

\"Yes, Arielle! Doesn\'t the term slavery mean anything to you?!\" he suddenly became aware that both of them were yelling, and a rather large crowd of spectators had formed. \"Look, let\'s not make a scene.\" he whispered.

\"A scene? Yes, your right. I probably don\'t have enough freedom for that either!\"

\"Arielle! Stop it right now!\"

\"Just tell me one thing, Coran. Why did you pick me? Out of all the young women in the human realm, why was it me? Do I possess some special qualities or was I just a face picked out in the crowd?\" she had asked the question many times before, but he had always changed the subject immediately. But he couldn\'t do that in front of his people, could he? Lords were required to answer questions concerning the terms of enslavement. To do evade answering in front of a group of witnesses... that would be breaking Faerie rule!

He looked down at his feet, suddenly seeming very ashamed. \"I sent my advisers out to find a girl with a specific description. My advisers spent a week in the human realm until they found the perfect woman. That night, they went to her house and took her from her bed. But when they reached the castle to present her, they realized they had the wrong girl.\"

Arielle\'s eyes widened. \"What---what are you saying?\"

\"You were never supposed to come to the realm, Arielle... your sister was.\"

To her suprise, tears were in her eyes. All this time, she was comforted by the idea of being picked by Prince. She may have been a slave, but a Prince had chosen her, so that was some kind of accomplishment, right? But all this time, it was a lie. Just a stupid, worthless lie! \"Than why didn\'t you send me back? I hadn\'t seen anything, so it would have been as though it never happened. Why didn\'t you send me back and get my sister?\"

\"Because, at the time it seemed like such a hassle. And you didn\'t seem all that bad, so I agreed to take you instead.\"

\"So---so, I was enslaved because of your men\'s sheer stupidity!? And I seemed like a nice second choice then?\" she said furiously. \"You never wanted me in the first place, did you? It just saved you a lot of grief and aggravation.\"

\"At first, yes.\" he said. \"But that changed.\"

Her expression softened and he let his guard down. When he reached out to grab her hand, she pulled it back and punched him right in the face.