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Promise is on her way from the library, where she has been allowed the privilege of an hour's study of sorcery - directed in topic, but she was allowed to take (relevant) notes, and read (relevant) books, and was only lightly supervised.
Thorn sometimes likes to butter her up, such as it is, before calling her to his room. She thinks he's running elaborate multivariable experiments on what puts her in a marginally more or less cooperative mood. The obvious confounding factor is that after having been buttered up she has to walk to his room. Also, on this particular occasion, she was not allowed to heal herself of her (relatively minor, but still painful) injuries before she went to the library. She did her research with shredded wing-edges and a black eye and an almost decorative crosshatch of bright red cuts down the backs of her legs. This is Thorn, so it wasn't thoughtlessness, but she hasn't speculated much on what it is instead, besides - Thorn.
She walks carefully -
There's a ripple in the air. She walks right into it.
And then she is elsewhere. She can no longer make meaningful progress towards her appointment, so she stops walking. Her eyes flick left, right -
Well. It would be hard for this to be worse.
imeanforever
imeanforever
Promise doesn't actually know anything about the habits of birds, but she's pretty sure that means "do I need to hand-feed you", so. Nod.
Then she may have some gummy bears. Anne picks them out in color order, because why not. Red first, then yellow, and so forth. Gummies!
When the box is empty, Anne looks at it in distress, realizing belatedly it's not very large.
"Do you want more later?" she asks worriedly. "That wasn't many gummies."
"Do you want more later?" she asks worriedly. "That wasn't many gummies."
Then Anne will come back later with muffins stolen at breakfast.
Thomas stops her on her way out. "Is she still there?" he whispers.
"Duh!"
"What, really?"
So this time there are two of them arriving at the shed. Anne is still perfectly happy to mama bird, though.
Thomas stops her on her way out. "Is she still there?" he whispers.
"Duh!"
"What, really?"
So this time there are two of them arriving at the shed. Anne is still perfectly happy to mama bird, though.
imeanforever
Promise eats muffins. Mortal food is weird, but she doesn't make faces about it. (She is not allowed to complain about what she's fed.)
Well, then Anne will have no way of knowing she thinks it's weird.
"She's real," Thomas says, sounding stunned.
"What are you talking about? You saw her! You were there too!"
"I thought it was just... a daydream, or something."
"Nuh-uh."
"This is nuts."
"I know!"
When the muffin is gone, Anne asks anxiously, "Do you need anything else, fairy lady?"
"She's real," Thomas says, sounding stunned.
"What are you talking about? You saw her! You were there too!"
"I thought it was just... a daydream, or something."
"Nuh-uh."
"This is nuts."
"I know!"
When the muffin is gone, Anne asks anxiously, "Do you need anything else, fairy lady?"
imeanforever
Oh fuck yes she needs other things. She's not going to be able to answer followup questions, but her options are "nod yes" and "stare blankly". She goes with the first.
"But you can answer questions?" Anne says, more rhetorically than anything. "Can you tell someone else?" She then amends, "Anyone else I could ask?"
If she says 'that lady in Australia' or 'that guy in China', that doesn't exactly get Anne anywhere, after all.
If she says 'that lady in Australia' or 'that guy in China', that doesn't exactly get Anne anywhere, after all.
imeanforever
Ambiguous. Anne's the only person Promise can stretch to count as a court member, right now; but another name could easily drop and then Promise could nod or shake her head for them too. But not talk. She still couldn't talk, not without pretty fortuitous happenstance. Promise shakes her head, slowly.
"Why does she like you better?" Thomas complains.
"I'm prettier," Anne says loftily, and repeats the question.
"I'm prettier," Anne says loftily, and repeats the question.
Anne doesn't want to suggest just following her inside and pointing at things- her parents are inside, after all- but this does not stop her from brainstorming. "Can you act it out? Can you sing even if you can't talk? Can you make it out of fairy magic?"
imeanforever
All of these suggestions get their own headshakes. Especially the fairy magic one. Promise can do no sorcery here.
Anne groans in frustration. "Is there anything to do so you can tell me?"
"She's not a very interesting fairy," Thomas observes. "Why didn't you find a more interesting fairy?"
"Shut up, butt face."
"She's not a very interesting fairy," Thomas observes. "Why didn't you find a more interesting fairy?"
"Shut up, butt face."
imeanforever
Promise considers how to answer that. There are things Anne could do, but they're pretty farfetched (guessing Promise's name and rescinding her orders!) or possibly beyond her attention span (coming up with lots of possibilities to guess-and-check). Still, losing the children's interest before she's even healed enough to fly would be bad.
Nod.
Nod.
"I don't know what else!" Anne says unhappily.
"Bathroom?" Thomas suggests.
"Ick. Boys," Anne says, but repeats the question anyway.
"Bathroom?" Thomas suggests.
"Ick. Boys," Anne says, but repeats the question anyway.