King Novakin studied me, and for the first time, I felt as though he really looked at me and saw me as a fairy who was worthy of his attention. “Do you truly believe you can create orem, Lady Seary?”
“No.” I twisted my hands. “But my affinity does something similar. It creates life, which is exactly what orem does, so I suppose you could say it’s equivalent to creating orem.”
The king’s stare turned penetrating. “What field are you working on now?”
“It’s in Isalee, outside of Whimseal. The first field to fully die.”
Prince Norivun’s chest rose and fell sharply with each breath, but I refused to make eye contact with him.
“Interesting. I wasn’t aware the first dead field was where you were working when you mentioned Isalee.” The king shrugged, no longer seeming impressed with me. “Very well, Lady Seary, continue as you’ve been, but as for the rest of you . . .” He gave pointed looks to Lord Crimsonale and Lady Wormiful. “Such talk of relying on the Nolus fae for anything is forbidden. The Solis fae have maintained our independent great way of life for thousands of winters. That won’t change now despite what’s occurred of late. We will not be purchasing land nor asking the Nolus fae to provide help. We are due for another major celestial event in eight months’ time. We simply need to sustain ourselves until then. Between our stores and possible help from the Dresher Islands, I’m confident we shall be fine.”
“Although, you’re assuming the next celestial event will restore our land’s natural orem, even though the others haven’t.” Lady Wormiful sniffed. “If the last two haven’t, something that has never occurred, why would the next?”
Rage darkened King Novakin’s complexion, but before he could respond, the Harrivee Territory archon said, “Your Majesty, what of the concerns my villages’ archons have reported?” He gave the king a pointed look. “They’re seeing changes in the soil in the southeastern portion of Harrivee. Frost has embedded itself so deeply into most of their land that now nothing will grow. That’s never happened before in the history of our great continent, and it’s been a recent change, only occurring within the past month.”
“We shall discuss that later, Lord Pinebeer,” the king snapped.
More murmurs broke out in the room, and my territory’s archon raised her hand. “Please keep in mind that Mervalee’s crops are still producing.” Lady Busselbee’s tone was warm, as though trying to soothe everyone’s frayed nerves.
“Perhaps, but not at the rate they were two winters ago,” Lord Crimsonale challenged.
Lady Busselbee eyed him coolly. “It’s true we produced seven tons less last quarter than we did at this time two seasons ago and that all of the village crops have reported losses. All except for Lady Seary’s village.” She gave me a smile. “Which, if anything, should provide hope that she can restore our land’s production just as she’s claiming.”
“And as a thank you for what her village has supplied, we locked up her village’s archon who was in charge of such production,” Lord Crimsonale said with a disgusted snort.
“He tried to murder Lady Seary,” Prince Norivun replied, his eyes glittering as he finally broke his quiet. For the first time, he turned his attention away from his brother and me. “Or are you suggesting that Vorl shouldn’t pay the price for such an act?”
Lord Crimsonale smoothed his lapels. “I’m merely saying that he was never rewarded properly for such a high production.”
“Don’t you think that Lady Seary should be the one rewarded? Not him?” Prince Norivun cocked an eyebrow. “If you want to properly thank anyone, you should thank her.”
Lord Crimsonale flushed just as the king held up his hand. “We’re getting off track. Lord Thisslewater is only here for a short time. Let’s return our talk to his islands.”
The discussions continued, volleying between archons as they debated ways to keep their fae fed while also relying on the Dresher Islands for as little as possible. By the time the talk ended, Lord Thisslewater had agreed to ship a ton of grain per month for the next full season in exchange for two ships full of ice from the Cliffs of Sarum. The grain, while not plentiful, would help, but it’d come at a cost.
Harvesting ice from the Cliffs of Sarum was deadly and dangerous work. Few fae were skilled enough to do so, but since the cliffs were naturally enchanted, its ice never melted no matter the climate, and it was sought after by rival continents as a way to keep their food perpetually chilled in hotter climates.
And since the Sarum ice cliffs were unique to our continent, it was a good bargaining chip since it couldn’t be found anywhere else in the realm.
As the meeting came to a close, Lady Wormiful and Lord Crimsonale strode off together, their heads dipped toward one another. The king saw Lord Thisslewater out, and when it was only the remaining four territory archons left in the room with both of the princes, Prince Norivun rounded the table and came to my side.
“Are you a fool?” he hissed at his brother.
Nuwin straightened his jacket. “Last time I checked, no.”
“Do you realize what you’ve done by bringing her here?”
Nuwin frowned, but I cut in. “I’m glad I was here. I know you were hesitant to reveal what I can do, but I think the time’s come that we must. The king won’t listen to reason or to what’s staring at him right in the face, so perhaps it’s time we revealed what I can do to stop further discussions of invasions while soothing the unrest. Besides, it’s given me motivation to continue working as hard as I can to restore our land’s crops. We need to be self-sufficient again. Truly, my prince, I don’t think any harm came from me attending.”
“Harm? You want to speak about harm?” The crown prince leaned over me. “There is harm. The harm is that we just revealed to every archon in here that you’re our only hope to fixing our land. Unlike the king, all of the archons here know our land is dying.”
Nuwin and I exchanged a confused look.
“So?” Nuwin finally said. “What does that matter? Ilara can prevent all of that.”
“Only if she’s alive,” Norivun hissed. “You just put a target on her back.”
Nuwin’s eyes widened. “Surely, they wouldn’t hurt her.”
The aura around the crown prince rose. “I don’t know if they would or not, but they keep pushing for the Solis to move south. They have their own agenda, and we still don’t know who’s behind the missing fae. Who’s to say it’s not an archon.”
“Surely, they wouldn’t,” Nuwin said lightly. “An archon wouldn’t abduct fae. And we’ve existed peacefully with the Nolus for centuries, and like Ilara said, she’ll fix what’s happening.”
“You’re forgetting that peace has existed only because we’ve been well fed for centuries, but that’s not the case anymore.” Norivun eyed the door. “Whether Father wants to admit it or not, unrest is growing more and more each day. A winter ago, only Crimsonale and Wormiful were concerned. Now, all of the archons are questioning their king in one way or another. When’s the last time you remember that happening?”