He follows, having precisely no other options. (Unrelatedly, all Promise vs. 133468 speculation just took a turn for the boring.)

What he has to say for himself is, apparently, "thanks for the rescue."

"You're welcome. Why, pray tell, did you require a rescue."

"I needed a real fight, for reasons I'd prefer not to explain, and came here exactly because it was dangerous. It didn't work, incidentally, the thing that got me wasn't anyone attacking me at all."

"Peak said you were yelling about sorcerers. You came here to fight sorcerers? You could have stayed in Bet and helped with the Fallen dustup, you could have any day of the week gone to Africa and attacked Moord Nag, you could have helped track down Glaistig Uaine who according to the Internet is exactly a match for you, and you wanted to fight sorcerers, so you broke into my house, attacked a relatively pleasant and functional fairy court as these things go, and did not realize from watching me that sorcery is never the real threat?"

"Fairies are more of a threat because of mastery. Not because of sorcery. A sorcerer who gets a good hold on you can turn you into a snail or kill you outright, sure, but there are capes that threatening who require less observation time. A smart fairy with your name, or who fed you, or who in this case I suppose you inhaled? Cozy would have lost the court in a few weeks, tops, she doesn't have the wit, and then Peak would have had a pet 133468 or whatever your cape name is and you'd have been exquisitely lucky that she isn't gratuitously sadistic, at least until she lost you to somebody who was! All this without a fight ever being part of the equation."

"Well, it didn't. And now I have learned that my ability to keep people out of my trees doesn't work if I leave gates to them open; and you, apparently, have learned, somehow, that fairies can be vassals. How did you come by that information?"

"A thinker power, combined with the fact that you avoid mortal food. I don't plan to try to use the information against you, and haven't told anyone."

"Does anyone else have my name?"

"Do you want to risk finding out what happens if at any time during this conversation I suspect you're fucking with me and go back over all my questions with a truth order?"

"Why didn't you inform me that you'd taken this precaution?"

"Habit, I suppose. This kind of information is usually kept to oneself, and since I wasn't planning on using it...I guess I didn't think."

"You wouldn't have had to plan on using it because you wandered into Fairyland and got vassaled by a fucking pollencloud. I don't know if Peak would have managed it or not but eventually someone would have had my name out of you, through me several hundred parahumans, and a clear shot to pick up a phone book and finish taking over as many Earths as they felt competent to handle and then some."

"Had they tried that, they would have failed. Earth Bet has more defenses you might think; there are thinkers prepared in case you tried something similar."

"Good for them. I didn't say Earth Bet. It'd be the obvious starting place to acquire more parahumans if the ones I have now weren't sufficient, but there are loads more, just as easy to gate to." She sighs. "Is there some -" She pauses. "Tell me honestly: is there some way in which this was not as stupid as it looks?"

Promise sighs. "If I let you go completely are you going to start attacking fairy courts again?"

"Not unless there's a specific one that needs attacking. I don't anticipate that coming up."

"Are you going to be in Fairyland for any other reason if I accidentally leave another gate open?"

"I don't have any other reason to, no."