episode 8: Ellen Gets a Little Testy

-Interlude-

The Court comes calling. Mostly ones and twos, sometimes a cluster. "Baubles and Trinkets," they say. The prizes we risk our lives for. Lose our lives for.

He shows little interest in making gifts to these courtiers. Even those Titania favours are slighted by his neglect. I see them swallow wounded pride, for they still desire these novelties, so they bide their time. But I see a price will be paid. And that my brothers will pay as Master does. Instead, he squanders our treasures on old allies, long out of favour. His former lieutenants, who abandoned him ages ago.

I wonder at my choice of service, but even as the thought occurs, I know that it is not a choice. This is a new thought.

He even calls the Caprinae. They know, at least, to send their Eldest. He is still Sidhe.

He shows her the gate. "You could pass through," he says.

"Not a risk I care to take, my Lord Bregon. I am old, not bored."

"You have sent others, in days gone by."

"Long gone. We had need, and did not know how unstable the gates had become. And we had need." Her claws clutched at her staff, sinking into the hard wood. "And your reassurances, if you recall." She gestured at me. "Do you give the same to your thralls?"

My Master looks at me, and I see he is a little surprised. And is? Amused? Her voice draws his attention away.

"How many will you lose before this way begins to close?"

Master smiles, a small smile. "It already has."

She opens her mouth to speak and looks at where my brothers scramble back with our small treasures. He spares me another glance and so I too scramble.

I never hear her reply.

Ellen Gets a Little Testy

- Ellen -

"Hecate’s bloody crotch," I muttered under my breath.

It was the last day of the fair and we were just packing up. Shigeto was chatting up a breeder about Babe’s win and he shot me a glare, but I scarcely noticed. My attention was on someone else entirely.

What was his name? David? He was talking to John Andrews, which didn’t strike me as a good sign. Any friend of Simmons was suspect, as far as I was concerned.

His presence set off alarm bells in my mind.

He was dressed like any typical hipster from Toronto, with skinny jeans and a nice coat. My glance shifted between him and John, and my gut gave another, though I wasn’t entirely sure why.

He smiled as he walked over. "Hi!" he said, his voice perfectly jolly.

I forced my smile. "Hello."

"I’m not sure if you remember me," he continued, "I’m David Andrews. We met the night Babe got away from the Royal. I was dressed a bit differently."

Like I could have forgotten that he’d been wearing a bathrobe on such a memorable night. Then his name registered – Andrews – as did the family resemblance. He was skinnier and more city-slick, but he was definitely part of that family. I felt my temper mount. "You’re John’s brother. Bloody…" I restrained myself. "Why are you here?"

He looked a bit taken aback at my reaction. It didn’t stop him from continuing, “Well, partly to see my brother, but also, truthfully, I came looking for you."

"Why?"

Again, a hesitation. That unwelcome thread of portent stitched my gut a little tighter. It didn’t help that Babe looked over, then strolled towards us to the end of his halter, seemingly fascinated by the conversation. David cast a brief glance in his direction, and his voice dropped a little.

“Look, it’s a bit weird. I hoped we could take a few moments to chat. I’ve been having some, well, experiences at the house that I think may be linked to the night that we found your bull by the fence."

I licked my lips, trying to ignore the fight-or-flight response skittering through me. This had something to do with the spell. I could sense it. Ignoring this instinct, I asked the sensible lawyerly question, the one that would get to the root of a more typical problem. "Oh? Is there some sort of damage to the fence?"

David gave a laugh. It wasn’t a comfortable laugh, for him or me. "You might say that. I’ve seen some… odd things in my backyard."

I frowned at him. "I’m not sure I understand, Mr. Andrews.”

"David is fine," he said.

"All right, David. So you say that Babe caused some sort of damage to your fence? Have you taken a picture of the damage? I’m happy to pay for the repair, but I’m sure that you can appreciate I’m not about to pay for something that is, frankly, a bit out of the blue. I seem to remember the fence being perfectly sturdy – in fact Shigeto climbed over it, didn’t he?”

At that, my husband wandered over, his conversation with the breeder apparently done. He grinned and held out a hand to my guest. "Hey you, imagine meeting you here!" David smiled, clearly relieved by this much friendlier greeting, but I interjected.

"David’s asking for some remuneration for some apparent damage to his fence, from the night that Babe was in his backyard." I gave David a stare. "Isn’t that about right?"

"Oh dear," said Shigeto, "It must have been some damage. We’re still here for a couple of days. Maybe I can give you a hand with the repair? I’m quite handy, you know. Ellen still thinks of me as an accountant, so I’m always eager to prove my mechanical aptitude." He said it with a grin — that was Shigeto, always infuriatingly charming.

"It turns out that he’s John’s brother."

Shigeto looked at me, "John?"

"Andrews," I responded.

His smile changed to a frown. "Oh," he said.

David wrung his hands, obviously nervous, "Look, I know that you’ve had an incident with Simmons. And my brother may be a bit difficult, but he’s not like Simmons. And certainly I don’t think I am. In any case, I don’t want money; it’s something else. There are some, well, occurrences, that I’m hoping you can help me explain. Something that, frankly, I don’t think would translate well in a detailed email or even a phone call. I’m just hoping that you can help me understand some of what I’ve been seeing. Stuff that might look like, well," his voice dropped, "supernatural." He continued his voice at a normal volume, but a bit shaky. "Would it be possible for us to chat? I’m supposed to meet my brother for a coffee, but perhaps later. I might need to show you, honestly. Sometimes I think I’m losing my damn mind."

"You’ll forgive me if that doesn’t reassure us," said Shigeto. His voice was mild. "Your brother has been very vocal about his disapproval of our presence back in Russell. Nor am I enthusiastic about his choice of friends."

David looked down, shuffled his very nice footwear through the straw, getting some shit on his shoe. He didn’t seem to notice.

"Yeah, he was not exactly thrilled about me wanting to talk to you. And yeah, I know my brother can be an asshole. We can’t choose family, you know?"

"Oh, and did he tell you the rumours about me being some sort of crazy witch?"

He grinned at this; he had a surprisingly amicable face. It didn’t improve my mood. "Oh yeah. Yeah, he did. But mostly he complained about you being organic farmers. I mean, he doesn’t approve of anyone seeking exemptions from persecution under the Act by claiming religious freedom, but really he’s got more of a thing about alternative farming. Personally, I think it’s all cool. I’ve even done a couple of articles for the Globe recently; about people looking to have more religious freedom, including one on Voudou."

"I saw that one," said Shigeto, "it was surprisingly positive."

"And I just did one on Wiccan," he said, his voice perking up. "It should be out in a couple of days. They’ve given me a series!"

“Well, that’s nice," I responded. "We’re not interested in being interviewed. Is that what this is all about? You claim some crap happening in your backyard, and try to extort some sort of interview about us. Blood and…"

Shigeto cut me off, "Look, David. We left the city to get away from this sort of bullshit. Honestly, I prefer your brother’s open contempt to this kind of Machiavellian manipulation. I think we’re done here."

"But…" he began.

It was my turn to cut someone off, "If you want to go through small claims for your ‘fence’ or whatever, but I’m not going to talk to an Andrews - between your brother and that old bastard Simmons, we’ve had nothing but trouble with your family and their friends. And now you’re implying that we’ve performed doing illegal magic? Did they send you? Is this some sort of scheme to fuck with us even more?”

David held up his hands, and began, "It’s not like that," trying to back-peddle verbally, but then Shigeto stepped forward, and David was forced to do so literally.

Shigeto said, "Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I refuse to see my wife or my livelihood put in danger by anyone who knows that psychopath, Simmons. So I suggest you get out of here before things get ugly."

Shigeto’s voice rose a bit, as he spoke, and folks around us were looking our way. Not ideal for the Royal, but I was more than happy to see an official rushing over, wary of another incident. David surprised me then. He stood his ground, his resolve hardening.

"Look, something has happened, and I need to know what that is. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here."

"Then perhaps you should reconsider who you associate with, David," responded Shigeto, "because neither of your friends or family have been anything approaching reasonable around us." Shigeto raised his hand then, but despite David’s flinch, he did nothing more than wave over the official, who had been watching the exchange with an uncomfortable eye.

There was a terse exchange between David and the officials. David stalked towards the exit, obviously angry, but without further complaint or even a backwards glance. His brother intercepted him and there was a brief exchange, but I just saw David shake his head and stride away. With a frowning glance back at us, John hurried after him.

I felt relief, but there still lingered a sense that this was just a deferral, that I would see David Andrews and hear about his damn fence again.