"Pretty common. Mortals sometimes do it too if they get the upper hand on a fairy or a courtful."

"… Is this just a world where everyone hates each other, or what? Uh, I guess you don't actually need that many people to hate everyone else if a single master has lots of subordinates, but–?"

"There's often more subordinates than Yellow had, Yellow couldn't keep a large court. I think the problem is that it's very hard to feel safe when everyone can do this, so..."

He shrugs. "How big's Fairyland?"

"Fairyland goes on forever."

"… Are there infinite fairies, too?"

"I'm not sure. We aren't placed very densely and there might not be fairies on all the continents."

"I'd expect more people to… I don't know, find some friends that seem like decent people and then pack up and try to get far away?"

"Finding friends is not a risk-free activity."

"… I'd expect more people to pack up and move alone, too, but I considered the issue with that of 'feeling lonely'. I mean, either way, I'd expect more people to be trying to get away from populated areas?"

"Like I said, we're not placed very densely, even to begin with. Except breeders and those don't start freely able to move."

"Um, okay," he says. "So. Uh. How did you start then, when and what with? I think you said you started with the ability to speak?"

"I started in my tree, in a hollow in the trunk, and I could talk and write and forage and move and operate the tree and I had common knowledge."

"'Operate the tree'? 'Common knowledge'? And did the tree appear at the same time as you or did you just appear when it'd grown a certain amount?"

"I can reshape my tree how I like it, and I can keep people from entering it. I started knowing various things about fairies and Fairyland. The latter."

"Do all non-breeder fairies start in trees? And how does it prevent people from entering, like, does it physically stop them from damaging it or– uh, cutting it open?"

"Just leaflets. And, no, people can hurt the tree, just not go into it as long as it's mostly intact."

"Even if they cut a hole in the side or something?"

"Yeah, they could see in but not walk in. And if I was there I could shape the wood so it didn't stay cut."

"Weird forcefields on people-owned trees, right."

Ugh.

"Just leaflet trees, not any tree that belongs to anybody."

"What other kinds of fairy are there?"

"I don't have an exhaustive list... Yellow's a shore pixie."

"Anything interesting about them?"

"They're good swimmers," she shrugs.