Another journal

You can find all the sections here.

Emily spent the next two days thinking and writing her aunt a letter. She took her writing desk to the castle gardens, which weren’t as nice as the ones at the monastery. The plants were carefully spaced and wore a hard-edged manicure that made them as interesting as the paintings in a doctor’s waiting room.

In her letter Emily thanked Janice for what she did raising her. She guessed it must have been difficult abiding by all the restrictions of the gambit. Though she mentioned learning about Janice’s humanity, she didn’t say much else about it. She could listen to her aunt’s story when they saw each other again.

On the third day Emily and the hare were ushered into the presence of the king. He looked the same as he had in the mirror, tall and slim with pointed ears like any elf king in any storybook, seated on a dais in glittering robes.

Just the three of them stood in the hall and the hare’s voice echoed as he showed off his findings. Emily operated the camera, snapping a picture of the hare. The king stepped down to watch the image develop. His close presence made Emily nervous. It would be easier to talk to him from a distance. The finished photo showed a round glow like a moon behind the hare, beams radiating from his brow.

“Impressive.” The king sounded like a regular person. “This would be useful in cataloguing subjects.”

“It would be useful in studying and indexing possible personal magics,” the hare grumbled. “Not in creating a police state.” Emily wondered how he knew what a police state was but didn’t know about the Fourth of July. “It’s a moot point anyhow, as we don’t have any more film than what Emily brought with her.”

The king looked at Emily for the first time. “This chosen one that you snuck in here so she could ask me a question? Girl, could you get us more film?”

Emily swallowed. “It would cost money, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t—”

“Money is not a problem. We can provide you with something that would work.” He flipped his hand, “no risk to you, of course.”

“Um.” Emily adjusted the camera strap and met the king’s eyes. “I’m not running your errands for nothing—”

“You could keep some of the money for yourself, humans like money.”

Emily pulled back her chin, brows drawn. “Excuse me? If you know that I’m a chosen one then I’m betting that you know why I’m here and,” she held up a hand as the king started to interrupt. “And you’ll know that I’m not stupid, you can’t buy me off and I’m not human.” She crossed her arms and stared at the king. The hare fidgeted beside them, momentarily forgotten.

Not looking away from Emily, the king spoke to the hare. “If you’ll leave a copy of your report outside with my aide I’ll go over it and get back to you tomorrow.”

Emily saw the hare bow out of the corner of her eye. He patted her knee as he left.

“ Now you.” The king’s voice held no menace, only reigned power. “We should talk.”

The king listened to Emily’s summary of events. She kept it short, tired of telling it.

“So they’ve sent me here to request their return to the Sidhe. I don’t know if getting you film is a fair trade for such a large demand, but I’m sure you’ll think of something in addition.”

The king smiled. “So they didn’t die impoverished on the streets like we thought they might.”

“I suppose Janice helped them understand how to handle themselves.”

“Yes.” The king’s face sobered for a moment. “Of course, they didn’t end up ruling the mundane world like they bragged they would either.”

“So?” Emily played with the camera strap again. She was tired of standing, tired of the whole thing, really. “Do they come back?”

“Girl,”

“I have a name.”

The king frowned. “And you’re going to give it to me?”

“No, if you didn’t hear the hare call me by my use name I’m sure you know it already and you can use that if you want, but stop addressing me as ‘girl’.” She felt a hollow flame of beneath her ribs and wondered if Folk could vomit from nerves. She hadn’t had the angry teenage wars with her aunt, she’d been a quiet, competent student and employee. Confrontation with authority figures wasn’t something she had any practice with. She felt the weight of the king’s gaze but didn’t look away.

“Alright. You understand that I have to think this over, both if I will grant your request and what the price will be. I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow morning.”

Emily nodded.

“You can leave.” The king turned and walked back to the dais.

Mirrored from Journal of a Something or Other.