"Spontaneous fairies start with our names. Breeders and I think also mortals get named by your parents?"

"What is necessary for your name to actually count as your name, is it a name on a body or a personality and does it have to be said aloud, does it have to be clear it's someone's name, what happens if you don't have a name?"

"If you don't have a name that's bad because somebody can name you. I think that process requires it to be said aloud but I'm not sure and spontaneous fairy names usually aren't. I'm not sure when the body and personality would be different?"

"Okay, can you just – cover your ears for a moment, make sure you can't hear me or read my lips?"

"Why?"

"Some new information has come to light and I'd really rather– do something, look, I'm trusting you here. I'll explain after, and I'll even just– sit here or whatever, I don't know, can you make me temporarily immobile with sorcery? I'm just– please? You can order me not to lie, I promise I honestly will not run off, or– whatever."

Leiht, he thinks. In case it matters what he thinks.

"I don't have a way to make you temporarily immobile with sorcery, anything that would qualify like turning you into an animal would constitute harm and vassals can't harm their masters."

"Okay, the order then? You can order me, 'do not lie for the next minute'– just, please?"

"Do not lie for the next minute."

"I honestly think this is really important and it's due to something that just occurred to me and I really really do not think you will object to this and it is really important," he says in a rush. "Now please?"

She turns around and covers her ears.

And he says to himself at a regular volume, covering his mouth to try to stop anyone else from hearing, "I am Leiht," pronouncing the 'h' as a sound that he's pretty sure isn't in his language anywhere.

He feels like he should feel guilty for this. He doesn't, really, not much.

"Done yet?"

"Yes," he says, putting a thumbs-up in front of her face to make it clear.

She turns and drops her hands. "What was so important?"

"You– you seem nice, so I'm going to trust you here," he says. "And I'm going say that I honestly have no idea what happened, and I think what was so important is relevant to what I'm going to do in the future. And I'd like to go to the mortal world at some point but if you don't mind me tagging along with you back to your tree, I'd like to… find out some more about Fairyland."

"My tree is hours of flying at my top speed from here," she says. "I'm more inclined to leave you, go to it, and come back with a branch, and you'll still sharply limit how far away we can get from Yellow and by extension my last master who lives nearby and is much worse. And I don't know what you're up to and that makes me nervous."

"Okay," he says. "I'm really not sure of any good way for me to be of use to you, and I don't expect you'll want to help, but I really do not like this system, and I'm feeling ambitious because I'd really rather not feel scared and go live in the mortal world and wait for it to be conquered – because why the hell hasn't it been conquered yet, that is really weird – and I'd really dislike having to integrate into a culture that I don't know anything about. But I don't know how I could be helpful to you, because I don't know what you actually want, because I know nothing about you."

He sighs. "I can talk while we move, that might be a better idea unless this is the only good hiding spot in the area."

"Moving's more conspicuous than holding still."

"Okay, well…" he shrugs, seeming a bit exasperated. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I don't really think so? I wouldn't object much to keeping you around if I already had a stable place to live but it's the getting to one that's the problem."

"… I've been acting under the assumption that if I disappear into the mortal world I will never get back here again and I will never talk to you ever again. But– I mean, I don't know how long it'd take you to settle down a bit, I don't know how averse you'd be to returning here or making another gate in the future to some specified point, I haven't actually thought about– any of this? Not properly."

"I'd want to come back here to close the gate eventually anyway, leaving gates open isn't nice."

"… Okay, so. I think. That is probably a better idea," he says. "I've been– assuming that the mortals aren't the ones I know, but. I guess. They might be the ones I know. It's not impossible that a Luna dyed their hair? Um."

Ugh.

"I don't remember her hair being dyed but it was a long time ago. But not being able to gate to your lake is suggestive."