"We'd probably learn more applicable things from a mixed court."

"The one thing you might not learn there, which may or may not ever come up, is whether you perceive people as having debts to their direct parents even if it's a more distant ancestor who gave their name."

"That sounds interesting though I don't know if it's relevant for giving your old court a bad time."

"As far as I know he doesn't have any breeders in his court."

"So maybe we can save it for later, unless you happen to see a breeder court first and have a good angle on it."

"Okay. How good is your vision, how close do I need to get?"

"We could check ours against yours by trying to make out details at some distance, I guess?"

Fairy vision turns out to be about as good as hers.

"Okay. I'll find something."

Next time she forages she flies around a bit farther afield till she locates a cute mixed court in the middle of putting on a theatrical production.

She puts the gate low enough that someone could theoretically climb a rope down from it, but not lower, and waits for it to settle, and reports on this to the fairies.

"Think it'd be better for me to go or to rope in someone who doesn't know what's going on?"

"You'll just stick your head through and have a look at the play they're putting on, right? What would be the advantage of roping in someone else?"

"If they got into trouble they'd know less? But I admit I don't see how to get into trouble."

"I put it low enough that if you fall we can throw you a rope."

"Cool. Then let's go take a look."

She outlines the gate in lights and opens it for him.

He looks. 

These people are not visibly entangled with each other. 

"Nope."

She shuts the gate. "Well, I suppose that has its advantages, then, anything that happens to the knifewing won't spill over."

"Yeah. It means we don't already have a handle on him but it'd be a slippery handle anyway."

"How would that even have worked?"

"You can't hurt someone worse than you hurt yourself but you can hurt them equally badly at an inconvenient time, if you want to. When they're doing something dangerous or delicate."

"Well. I suppose that'd have been, uh, potentially effective. Though if he were entangled with all his vassals that'd hit a lot of people."

"Yeah. It's not a friendly sort of tactic. But without that option everything else is riskier, I think."

"It may just not be safely doable."

"Yeah."

"Especially since there's almost certainly no way to deliver orders usefully between speeds."

"They can't be written?"