In the Margins

     For one thing, the faeries made it pretty clear they despised the Haunted Woods- after all they associated it with Balthazar, the renowned faerie hunter who was wont to stuff them in bottles and sell those bottles to the highest bidder. It was where most of their dark elemental sisters lived in exile, after refusing to conform to Fyora's rules. And the castoffs from other lands, frequently sent packing with help from the faeries, congregated in the Haunted Woods too.

     Many also claimed that the wraiths that had terrorised the world, as well as their mistress, Xandra, were from the Woods. The truth of that, Tavasz didn't know for sure- many Woodlanders argued that this was preposterous, that the wraiths had only emerged in the Haunted Woods first because Xandra was there to frame Hubrid Nox. Others more reasonably admitted that the wraiths weren't too dissimilar to known Woodland menaces like the creeping shadows, so it was within reason to assume they might be born of the magic of the Woods too.

     The particulars barely mattered, though- the faeries hated and avoided the Haunted Woods, and the Woodlanders, as was their wont, resented anyone that painted all of them with the same evil brush. Tavasz was not immune to this resentment, as her gut instinct at Cleo's first suggestion for a substitute protector proved.

     "You want- are you serious?" the Lutari demanded as the duo walked down the main street of Neovia. "You want to fly out to Faerieland and ask their royal knights to tromp around the Haunted Woods?"

     "I don't see why not," Cleo replied, her shoulders hitched up defensively and her brown eyes pinched. "It's Faerieland that needs protecting, right? So it ought to be the faeries and their followers who take responsibility for that."

     It was a valid point. So valid that Tavasz just about wanted to scream with frustration at Cleo for bringing it up. Yes, of course, Faerielanders would be the best motivated and most willing to fight for their own protection.

     But if word of this got back to Faerieland, Fyora might decide it was a matter worthy of her exalted attention after all. Choose her own champions to address whatever in the Deep Woods was stirring up trouble.

     And that would ruin everything.

     "Yeah, but…" She floundered for a beat, mentally grasping at straws, before sputtering a desperate, "You were worried about getting in trouble with the Battle Faerie, right? You don't want to make it look like you can't handle this yourself."

     The Draik blinked, halting mid-stride. "I…" She swallowed hard, biting on the end of a claw. "You… think she might see it that way?"

     Cleo's anxiety was so palpable that Tavasz felt instantly ashamed of herself for pulling that particular string. Hurriedly, she shook her head. "I mean, no reasonable person would think less of you for needing help against those kinds of numbers. You impressed a pack of Werelupes, and it takes a lot to make them wary of a normal Neopian. But I just mean Aethia might… try to force you to stay behind, you know? Recover in Faerieland, because she's worried about you."

     Cleo shook her head. "But if I abandon my post, it'll look even worse."

     An idea occurred to Tavasz, and she grinned broadly. "Hey, I have an idea for a compromise- as it happens, we have some… arguable lieges of Queen Fyora right here in the Haunted Woods."

     The Draik's head snapped up, and her wings fluttered. "You don't mean…"

     "Why not?" Tavasz asked with a grin. "I mean… darkness faeries are still faeries, after all! And there's a faerie grove just on the other side of the Deserted Fairgrounds."

     "If you get me cursed by a darkness faerie, Tavasz, I swear by Fyora's crown-"

     "I thought good little girls weren't supposed to swear!" Tavasz sang, skipping a few steps away and doing a little pirouette. She held out a paw to the Draik, adding, "Come on then, my dear, the sooner we get moving, the sooner we ensure Faerieland's safety!"

     Cleo groaned, waving the Lutari's hand aside with a gesture one might otherwise use to shoo a bothersome insect. "I'm so going to regret this."

     *

     By the time the duo had arrived at the Deserted Fairgrounds, Cleo's head was pounding, and she felt like she was going to throw up. Much though she wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, that wasn't going to be a good idea until she sorted herself out.

     "Tavasz, this is an amusement park, right?" she asked. The Lutari gave a broad shrug.

     "It was one. The locals just keep up that charade with outsiders because they think it's funny."

     "What do you- uhhn, never mind," The Draik winced as a lance of pain shot between her temples. "Do they sell food?"

     Tavasz slapped a hand on her forehead. "That's right, you'd just woken up when I came in this morning- you haven't had anything to eat all day, have you? It's almost afternoon, Cleo, you could've brought it up while we were still in Neovia!"

     "I wasn't thinking about it," Cleo replied with an embarrassed shrug. "So?"

     Tavasz sighed, making a beckoning gesture and changing her course. "Yes, they have food, but not much of it will be the sort you're used to. I hope you have a strong stomach."

     "Strong stomach isn't the issue," Cleo grumbled. "It's finding something that doesn't have a texture that makes me gag."

     "Can't make any promises on that one either."

     Cleo only sighed. It was about the response she'd expected.

     She followed Tavasz through a series of stands and tents, most of them dilapidated and uninhabited. There were a few Woodlanders out and about as she and Tavasz passed, however. Some shot her narrow-eyed looks that she couldn't read, and others gave her grins that seemed to employ far too many teeth, but thankfully, none approached them.

     Finally, Tavasz stopped in front of what was clearly a food stand, a Black Bruce with a cape dangling from his flippers standing behind it. He looked up as they approached and beamed.

     "Aaah, made it back, did you? Who's this, Tavasz? New ah… friend?"

     Cleo felt her face heat at the emphasis that even she could read the meaning of. "What? I… that's not…!"

     Tavasz glanced sideways, smirking. "What, I'm not pretty enough for you? I thought we had something special."

     Cleo punched her, hard, on the shoulder, and Tavasz made a sound halfway between a yelp and a laugh. "I'm joking, I'm joking!" To the shopkeeper, she clarified. "Cleo, here's helping me investigate your monster invasion, that's all. She's taken an interest in the issue since the monsters are beelining towards Faerieland."

     The Bruce made a face. "Well, if it gets us help, it gets us help. You here for some grub before you head out?"

     "That was the plan," Tavasz agreed. Cleo was frowning at the shopkeeper's first comment, however. What on Neopia had he meant by that?

     Tavasz tapped a claw against her chin thoughtfully, looking over the menu. "Let's see… you'll need something other than the empty calories of candy. What sorts of textures cause you problems?"

     Cleo, relieved to have the subject shifted from cross-examining her motives, ticked off on her fingers. "Sticky, gooey, mushy, rubbery."

     "That doesn't leave many options here," the Bruce remarked, raising an eyebrow.

     "Probably a berry in bread special will be safest," Tavasz said decisively. "With some count cross buns for the road. And I'll have a chilled eyeball custard."

     "Buried in bread?" Cleo repeated doubtfully, watching as the Bruce busied himself behind the counter. Tavasz grinned.

     "No, berried. Like the fruit. It's just bread with berries baked in, with a little plastic tombstone decoration. Perfectly boring and ordinary, I swear."

     "My food is never boring!" the shopkeeper called. "And if you're going to get lippy, you can take this back while you're here!"

     He reached under the counter, picking up something slimy and red and holding it out to Tavasz. The object uncurled, revealing a one-eyed cat face and a long, fluffy tail. Tavasz brightened, reaching out to accept the Petpet.

     "Hellebore! Have you been a good girl, baby?"

     The slorgclops gurgled a purr, rubbing her head against the Lutari's chin. Cleo flicked her fingers, watching curiously as the Lutari's expression fully softened for the first time since the Draik had met her.

     "That's… your Petpet?"

     "She is," Tavasz confirmed, tickling Hellebore behind the ear. "The carnies have been keeping an eye on her for me while I'm investigating the monster migration. Would you like to pet her? She's very friendly."

     Cleo swallowed hard, shaking her head reluctantly. "I… no offence, she is very cute. But I don't know if touching her would go over well."

     Tavasz sighed, setting the slorgclops on her shoulder with an utter lack of concern for the state of her cloak. "Don't worry, baby, I'll always love you."

     Cleo followed Tavasz over to one of the tables, feeling some genuine regret. Hellebore was very cute- she sort of reminded Cleo of the Faelie her family had owned when she was growing up. The Draik liked Petpets, genuinely; they were cute and sweet. But just as the slorgclops couldn't help constantly oozing mucus, Cleo couldn't help her sensory issues, even if it would have been nice to give that cute little face a scritch.

     I wonder if Aethia wouldn't agree to let me get a Petpet myself when all this is over, she mused. Just so I don't have to be alone with my duty so often. Maybe I could sell her on it if I get something that can help me fight monsters; a gruslen, perhaps, or a biyako.

     As the duo sat down, Cleo dragged her mind back into the present. Hoping to bring Tavasz's mood back up, she cleared her throat.

     "So… you mentioned the carnies only keep up the Fairgrounds because they find it funny?" Cleo asked, rubbing her hand along her aching head. Tavasz smirked at this.

     "How much do you know about the history of this place?" the Lutari asked. Cleo frowned.

     "Um… nothing at all, if I'm being honest, except what everyone knows. A very long time ago, someone tried to build an amusement park here, it was eventually abandoned, and now Haunted Woods locals have turned it into a giant con game."

     Tavasz barked a laugh at that, and the shopkeeper- coming around with their orders- also sniggered. Cleo blinked, her shoulders hitching up defensively. "What? Don't laugh at me, what's so funny?"

     "I'm not laughing at you, Cleo," Tavasz explained with a chuckle, picking up a spoon and digging it into her custard. "I'm laughing because so many people come here having heard all those stories, and yet somehow they still act surprised when they get fleeced. It's kind of nice for someone to just say it straight up without making it an insult."

     Cleo blinked in surprise, some of the tension going out of her shoulders. She looked down at the pan in front of her- which indeed did seem just to be a loaf of sweetbread with berries- and tentatively started to eat it. It was decent, and with a sigh of relief, she started to eat more quickly. Meanwhile, Tavasz continued talking.

     "So, what a lot of people don't know, because it's embarrassing and he likes to keep it hush hush, is that King Roo himself actually financed this place. It was originally going to be called Clown Town, and it would be a smaller outpost of the Roo Island fairgrounds to tempt new tourists to visit the main attraction."

     Cleo looked up, swallowing a mouthful of bread and blurting, "Why? Why the Haunted Woods for that, of all places? No offence, but it's…"

     "Not exactly a welcoming environment for a theme park, no," Tavasz agreed. "But the real estate was cheap."

     "...You're joking."

     Tavasz made a dramatic flourish with her spoon and took a bite of custard. "I'm not. For the exact same reasons you're thinking this wasn't the best spot for an amusement park, it's also not a place a lot of people from the outside want to come to live. So, acting through shell companies, Roo Island started buying up huge tracts of land here. The locals who lived near where he wanted to put his new park were none the wiser until construction started."

     "Sheesh…" Cleo scowled. Scornfully she added, "I mean, I guess if you have the unlimited resources for something like that, why wouldn't you?"

     The Bruce shopkeeper sniggered again and Tavasz grinned. "Must be nice to be rich, huh? Anyway, once he had all the land he wanted, he started building the park, as well as the road infrastructure to support travel to it. Making any sort of safe road through the woods is an effort in futility, because a cleared path tells every monster and predator around, 'wait in the brush along here and lunch is served,' but he was determined. This was about when the locals started to get really nervous."

     She sighed, swallowing another bite of her custard. "They knew to secure the road would mean soldiers or knights of some kind- ie a foreign authority tromping through the woods, beholden to none of the locals. Furthermore, because he put the park in one of the safest areas of the woods, relatively speaking, the noise and crowds would force a lot of the locals to move somewhere a lot less secure. And finally, it would bring a ton of people in from elsewhere to live and work at the park, further pushing out the native Woodlanders."

     "Did they try to petition against it?" Cleo asked. "Protest the building of such a major urban center in their community?"

     "At first," Tavasz replied. "They brought their objections to King Roo, but he insisted that it would mean more jobs and a safer forest for the Woodlanders. They tried to appeal to Queen Fyora, but she agreed; this was a matter between Neopians, not something for her to try to countermand, and she also thought it would be good if the Woods were made safer."

     Cleo bristled a little. "I mean, her hands would've been tied, right? This isn't the Darkest Faerie brainwashing the citizens of Merridel; it's a legal sovereign who was developing land he paid for. You can't blame her for not wanting to countermand the law."

     Tavasz scowled. "I can and I do; he bought that land under false pretences, using deception to keep the price artificially low and to prevent anyone from realising what was up. He clearly knew that someone at least would be displeased by his actions, but he went through with them anyway."

     Cleo shrugged. "If Faeries butted in on Neopian business every time something unpleasant or unfair happened, we wouldn't learn to solve our own problems and grow strong."

     "Aethia tell you that?" Tavasz asked grimly. Cleo clenched her hands into fists.

     "Yes. She did."

     The Lutari was silent for a long moment, her expression impossible for Cleo to read. Then, finally, she sighed.

     "Maybe you're right, that it wasn't Faerieland's place to intervene. But for us, at the time, it just felt like more of the same- the home we'd fought to build in the dark and the damp of the spooky forest, the way we'd learned to live alongside the ghouls and ghosts, that wasn't worth anything to anyone else. Better if the forest was mowed down."

     She smiled thinly. "I guess in a way we did learn from that experience and grow stronger for it. Because without outside help, we had to figure out how to address the problem ourselves. And it turns out, we Woodlanders are pretty well used to dealing with enemies too big and too strong to fight directly."

     Some of the tension went out of Cleo's shoulders, and she shook her hands to ease it further. "Oh? And how's that?"

     She smirked. "The tried and true way to solve that problem is through cooperation and cunning. Above all, Woodlanders stick together."

     A second voice had chimed in on those last three words, and it wasn't the shopkeeper. Tavasz and Cleo both jumped, looking up sharply to see a dark purple, winged Aisha smirking down at them.

     "Sorceress!" Tavasz gasped. "What are you doing here?"

     The Aisha blinked two brilliant red eyes, before sitting down in a third chair at the table with Cleo and Tavasz and smiling at the Draik. Ignoring Tavasz's question, she continued the thread the Lutari had begun.

     "The Woodlanders banded together, you see, and conspired to sabotage the park. They got themselves hired to work at it, and… well, turned it into a forerunner of what it is now. What was supposed to be a fun and cheerful vacation destination became a place where the staff swindled you out of your Neopoints, where skeletons and ghosts were wont to jump at guests out of the shadows, and where the food was full of insects and eyeballs."

     She smiled toothily, and Cleo felt her frill flatten. Something about this Aisha was really putting her off.

     "They were all sacked, of course, but the damage was done," she finished, leaning back in the chair. "Clown Town's reputation never recovered, and eventually it was forced to close down. Technically King Roo probably still has the deed to the land, but the people around here have long since repurposed the old game tents and ride buildings into a town to live in." She hooded her eyes, grinning sharp teeth at Cleo. "They just like to trot out the old spooky carnival schtick whenever an outsider waltzes in and tries to act like this is still an operating park."

     "To scare them away again," Tavasz put in, leaning forward on the table and putting a hand between Cleo and the Aisha defensively. "Like you're trying to do right now. But I invited this one here, she's not an interloper or a stupid tourist. Cool it."

     "Am I not permitted to tell the entirely factual history of this place?" the Sorceress demanded. "Be at ease, Tavasz- I wanted to see how you were doing after encountering those Werelupes yesterday, and to meet your new friend when I saw her."

     The Lutari made a face that Cleo couldn't quite read, but it certainly didn't seem pleased. "Yeah, about those Werelupes; got an excuse for why you ditched me with them? Sure, they were friendly, but neither of us knew that! Not exactly demonstrating that stick-together-ness you cut over me with just now."

     "You're a competent caster, Tavasz, I knew you could handle yourself," the Sorceress said serenely.

     "You're mocking us," Cleo replied flatly. The Sorceress looked around at her, eyebrows raised. The Draik clenched her fists, standing up and holding out her wings in an instinctive attempt to make herself look bigger. "I've seen exactly this tactic a hundred times, where you talk down to someone but act like you're not making fun of them when it's exactly what you're doing. You think I'm stupid but I. Am not. Stupid."

     She bit off each word for emphasis so that, despite the way she struggled to convey her emotions sometimes, the anger was crystal clear. The Sorceress laughed, standing up again.

     "A little spitfire, this one," she mused. "You and she are well matched for spirit, Tavasz. She'll give you a run for your money."

     "Like you said, I can handle myself," the Lutari replied. On her shoulder Hellebore seemed to have picked up on her mistresses' annoyance, arching her back and hissing at the Aisha. When Cleo returned her gaze back to the Sorceress, however, she found that the Purple Aisha had vanished.

     "Wha- where did-"

     "Yeah, she does that," Tavasz said, stuffing her spoon into the custard with far more force than was necessary and shoveling a bite into her mouth. Cleo frowned, slowly returning to her own seat.

     "Who even was that?"

     "Nobody knows," the shopkeeper put in, making Cleo glance his way "Everyone just calls her 'the Mysterious Aisha Sorceress.' She just turned up in the woods one day and started appearing all over, making cryptic comments and then vanishing again."

     "She's a busybody," Tavasz said around a mouthful of custard. "And she likes to play the dangerous enigma for outsiders for her own amusement. But she's not going to hurt us- actually acting on the bluster would force her to back it up, and risk getting stomped. She's scarier if no one knows exactly how dangerous she is and she knows it."

     Cleo shook her head, tearing apart a chunk of berry bread and stuffing it in her mouth. When she swallowed, she said sullenly, "I thought you said the Woodlanders weren't as bad as people say."

     Tavasz's ears swiveled backwards, and she frowned deeply. "Yes, well. I think I made it clear I wasn't entirely happy with her, either. I guess Faerieland must be a nice, pleasant utopia where nobody is ever a jerk just because they can be."

     Cleo winced. "Okay. Fair point. I'm sorry."

     The Lutari heaved a long, loud sigh. "For a Woodlander, you either try to be as nice and positive as you can to prove the stories wrong- like the Neovians- lean into the stereotypes and own them- like the carnies or the Sorceress- or become a misanthropic hermit- like Sophie- so you don't have to deal with it."

     The Draik flicked her fingers uneasily. "And which do you do?"

     Tavasz laughed, though she seemed far from amused. "I get treated better than I have any right to be, because nobody believes me when I say I'm a Woodlander. I stand to one side while my people are sneered at and want to scream with frustration that the exact same people doing the sneering shake my hand because I'm bright pink."

     "You need to learn not to get so bent out of shape, Tavasz," the Bruce put in. "Seriously, you get madder for our sakes than we do for ourselves. These people have made up their own minds on how to treat us, and it ain't your responsibility to open their eyes."

     Tavasz snorted softly and didn't comment on that. Cleo's frill drooped, and she hesitantly reached a hand across the table to touch the back of the Lutari's paw.

     "Listen, I really am sorry for snapping. Remember how mad you got last night when I didn't realize you were a Woodlander, and you said it was a nerve? The way the Sorceress was talking to me was like that. Growing up, I got that sort of thing all the time because I was bad at reading people. When I finally realised I was being laughed at, it hurt." The Draik gave a crooked smile, adding, "But you stuck up for me when you didn't have to, and against another Woodlander to boot. So… thank you."

     Tavasz visibly started, her mouth dropping open. Then she blushed, coughing into her free paw. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I have a reputation, you know."

     The Draik laughed. "I'm sure you do, bow thief. C'mon, we've wasted enough time. Let's… talk to those dark faeries."

     *

     Tavasz didn't come in this direction through the Deserted Fairgrounds often- too many stupid robot clowns tended to wander this area. Thankfully, adversaries that could be dealt with by a cream pie weren't really a problem for Tavasz or Cleo, just an annoyance.

     "Where do they all keep coming from?" Cleo demanded, watching as an arrow sailed from her bow and buried itself right in the centre of the mechanical menace's face, causing it to collapse in a stream of sparks. Tavasz flicked a talon, summoning the arrow back with a bit of magic to land in Cleo's hand once again, and sighed.

     "Nobody's sure. There has to be a factory here, somewhere, but as you get closer to their spawning grounds, the things get so dense that they actually start to be a problem, and we can't get past that point. Not to mention, it's probable that Sloth's put something unpleasant in the factory to prevent it from being easily shut off."

     "And you aren't worried about that?" Cleo asked, tilting her head. Tavasz chuckled, swatting another of the robots aside with a blast of purple fire.

     "Well, sure we are, but no more so than we are of anything else in the Woods that has the potential to be a threat. Danger just sort of goes with the territory when you live here, y'know? If we spent all our time agonizing about potential dangers, we'd never leave our homes."

     Cleo didn't respond to that remark, but she didn't seem to be disagreeing. Instead her gaze turned towards her feet, as if she were pondering Tavasz's words.

     "Come on," the Lutari said cheerfully. "I've talked plenty about my home and culture. Time to turn it around!"

     "Hu-wuh?" Cleo spluttered, her head snapping up. Tavasz chuckled.

     "C'mon- I don't know anything about Faerieland except that it's pink and faeries live there. I've been talking your ear off about the Woods, turnabout is only fair."

     Cleo shrugged, an odd gesture with her bow still held in her left hand. "There isn't really much to tell that you can't probably guess. Back in the sky, it was a pretty idyllic place, lots of artists and researchers flocked there, not to mention spellcasters looking to attend the school. I can't speak much to the Old Faerieland, though, I didn't see much of it as a kid."

     Tavasz tilted her head, frowning. "Oh?"

     "Yeah, my dad was a royal knight, but Faerieland's knights got stationed in outposts all over Neopia. They help out with things that are beyond the capacity of local forces. They're supposed to rotate every few years so that they won't develop favoritism towards anybody or risk being subverted by local ne'er do wells, so we moved a lot." She held up her fingers, counting with them as she added, "We've lived in Neopia Central, Tyrannia, Shenkuu, back to Neopia Central, and Moltara before finally being stationed back in Faerieland proper when I was in my late teens."

     "Oh…" Tavasz frowned, looking down at her hands. She was so proud to be a Woodlander. So connected to her culture and her people. What would it be like, to have moved so much as a child that you didn't really have a people?

     " By the time I was grown, Faerieland had already crashed," Cleo continued. "And I didn't… connect well with the folks there. So I just threw myself into my warrior training like Papa before me, figuring I'd end up doing a similar sort of job."

     Tavasz looked out as trees gradually started to close in on them again, cutting off the tents of the Fairgrounds from view. "What sorts of threats do warriors of Faerieland deal with, usually?"

     The Draik smiled crookedly, though her frill was completely drooped with obvious unease. "Well, darkness faeries, among other things."

     "Aaah- so you're an expert, then!" The Lutari teased. Cleo snorted.

     "Hardly. I've never seen a wildling faerie at all, let alone a dark one. Just the residents of Faerieland who follow Queen Fyora's laws. My father raised me on scary stories of what ill befalls Neopians who make the mistake of trusting a dark faerie. Honestly? The idea of facing down an entire swarm of them makes me nervous."

     She wasn't kidding- now that Tavasz looked, she could see that Cleo's grip on her bow was tight, and her free hand poised over the quiver on her back was trembling.

     "Hey- no sweat, you're with me!" Tavasz said, smirking and draping her long, fluffy tail around the Draik's shoulders like a feather boa. "Nobody will mess with you while I'm on the job!"

     Cleo inhaled sharply, her body going tense and her eyes riveted down on Tavasz's tail. Realization hit the Lutari, and with a wince she sharply drew back the appendage. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot you don't like being touched, I need to get out of that habit."

     Cleo coughed, looking away. "It's… It's f-fine, you just. Surprised me," she stammered, not even seeming to notice the way she was flapping the ends of her arms. Tavasz had seen that motion a few times now. Could it have been one of those… what did you call them, stims? Like the wing fluttering and finger flicking. "It was um. Soft. Not as bad as someone's hand."

     "Ha, true enough," the Lutari mused, glancing over her shoulder at it. "Unlike yours, this thing is almost entirely fluff. Not particularly useful for clinging to tree branches, but at least it's a nice emergency pillow."

     The Draik made a sound that was somewhere between a cough and a squeak. Tavasz frowned, opening her mouth to ask if Cleo was really all right. At that moment, however, a mote of purple light zipped past her face. A mote of light with a pair of webbed wings.

     They'd arrived.

     "What have we here, Sisters," an amused voice remarked, as with a flash of light the tiny faerie transformed into a full-sized one, towering over both Tavasz and Cleo. "Two little Neopians, come to our grove to play."

     The air filled with cruel laughter, as more tiny lights streamed out of the trees. Cleo spun around so that her back was almost pressed against Tavasz's, and as their tails bumped, Tavasz could feel the Draik's muscles were tense and her body trembling.

     "No games, I'm afraid," Tavasz said, trying her best to sound genial. "We're actually here to bargain."

     More laughter from the faeries, and several others flashed into their full height. The first one smirked. "Is that so? Little pets want to make a deal with dark faeries? Haven't your mothers taught you better?"

     "Yes," Cleo said, her voice thick. "But this is important. We need your help."

     "Ooooh, the poor little dears need help, Sister," a second faerie crooned. "How awful for them!"

     The darkness faeries all laughed at that, and Tavasz ground her teeth. This was really not helping her case with convincing Cleo that the Woodlanders weren't as bad as people thought. Granted, the dark faeries aren't exactly who I meant, but…

     "It'll be awful for you too, sooner or later," the Lutari put in. "Somebody's laying snares of light magic in the Haunted Woods."

     That got their attention, the dark faeries looking towards Tavasz with curiosity and not a little scepticism. She smiled grimly. "It's true- the magic is clinging to any dark creature that touches it, and they're all fleeing the Woods in pain."

     "Headed for Faerieland," Cleo pressed. "Every monster in the woods is headed towards Faerieland, right now."

     That got a snort from the faerie who seemed to be the leader. "That so? Serve them right, high and mighty prissy-pants."

     "That- they're your people!" Cleo bleated, and the dark faeries all laughed again.

     "Our species, sure, but not our people," the second faerie replied. "Fyora has made it pretty clear she'd rather wash her hands of us than admit that darkness and mischief is as much in a faerie's nature as purity and compassion. She'd probably be pretty pleased if all of us disappeared entirely and she didn't have to deal with the smudge on her reputation."

     "Th-that's not true!" Cleo insisted hotly. "The Crafting Faerie, Delina, is a dark faerie, and she lives in Faerieland and gets along with everybody just fine! And even though Jhudora is mean, Fyora doesn't mind her living in Faerieland and giving out quests! If you used your powers to benefit others, instead of being cruel, you wouldn't be forced to live in exile in a haunted forest!"

     Tavasz badly wanted to tie a rope around Cleo's muzzle to stop her talking; her loyalty to the faeries was admirable, in its own way, but not really the sort of thing that was going to make her any friends in the Haunted Woods.

     The leader of the faeries looked down at Cleo, a brow slowly rising. "You're one of Aethia's little pets, aren't you? That bow looks like her work."

     Cleo swallowed thickly. "She was my teacher, yes."

     The darkness faerie's eyes flashed, and suddenly Cleo was lifted three feet off the ground. There was a second flash, and she was sent sailing backwards with a shriek of surprise. Tavasz gestured sharply, and the same purple cloud she'd used to catch Cleo before materialised to catch the Draik before she could land painfully.

     "Then surely," the faerie said coldly. "Aethia taught you better than to speak so flippantly with a faerie you don't know, of any element."

     "Enough," Tavasz snapped, starting to become angry now. "You've made your point, I do believe. I said we were here to bargain- don't you even want to hear what we have to offer?"

     "Not particularly," a new faerie piped up. "Your kind seldom has much that's really worth our time, you see."

     As Tavasz brought the cloud down, letting Cleo hop off of it gently, she retorted, "I think you'll find my offer a lot more interesting than you think- what if I could offer you a chance to get Queen Fyora in your debt?"

     The dark faeries looked sharply towards Tavasz, their purple eyes widening with surprise. The leader barked, "You? Grant us a boon from the faerie queen? You're a Woodlander, she'd not listen to you!"

     "I don't need her to," Tavasz answered. She gestured to Cleo. "This one already told you she works for the Battle Faerie. So Faerieland trusts her. And right now, Faerieland is in danger from the monsters fleeing the woods. Aethia's pupil and I are looking into the matter, but in the meantime, someone needs to protect Faerieland."

     The third faerie made a noise of disgust, "You want us to protect Faerieland?"

     The first, however, was looking at Tavasz thoughtfully. "The Draik- she would speak for us? Tell the faerie queen we'd done her this service?"

     Tavasz looked at Cleo, begging her silently to play along. The Draik had pulled her wings tight against her body and was squeezing her bow between both hands, but managed to squeak, "Not if you throw me again! B-but, yes, yes, I would tell Queen Fyora you helped."

     "A favour owed by the queen…" the second faerie murmured softly. "That we could make use of. Not now, perhaps, but it would be useful to keep in trust."

     "We will confer," the lead faerie said, turning back into her small form in a flash of light. "Wait for us in the Deserted Fairgrounds; we will give your our answer by dusk; nothing dangerous should move by daylight, so Faerieland will be safe until then."

     The faeries swirled around the two Neopians for a moment, then vanished into the trees. Cleo stared after them, her entire body clenched hard, before dropping her bow and shaking her arms with as much force as she could muster.

     "Nnng! If I never have to do that again, it will be too soon!"

     "Maybe tone down the Faerieland patriotism just a touch next time," Tavasz advised. Turning back towards the Fairgrounds, she added, "I thought you barely spent any time there."

     "I didn't, and no, I don't care about Faerieland as like… a political entity or a community or however you'd describe it," Cleo explained, scooping up her bow and trotting to follow the Lutari. "But I do care about the faeries. They've been good to me. Better than most."

     Tavasz half expected Cleo to elaborate on that point, but when silence had hung between them for just a hair too long, she prompted, "Oh?"

     "What, you want my whole life story?" Cleo demanded. "Kids are jerks, especially to people who are different. I should think that would be self-explanatory."

     "Ah," Tavasz winced. "I'm sorry."

     Cleo shrugged. "Stop being nosey and we'll call it good. But how'd you get them to reconsider? Did you know going in they'd agree to help us in exchange for Fyora's gratitude?"

     Tavasz laughed, shaking her head. "Nah, nah- just a bit of a cold read, that's all."

     "Cold read?" Cleo echoed, tilting her head.

     "It's a trick the carnies use all the time," Tavasz explained. "You say something really vague that's basically meaningless on its own, but just broadly applicable enough to most people to get a reaction- such as 'We're here to make a bargain.' The other person will think you know more than you actually do, and respond in such a way that gives you a hint of the information you need- in this case, what they'd want to sweeten a deal enough to get their cooperation. Normally I'd have to prod them with a bit more vaguery to edge my way towards that information, but you helpfully prompted them along so I didn't have to."

     "Huh," Cleo said, looking down as she seemed to mull this over. "It's a bit… deceptive, isn't it?"

     "It can be misused, like anything else," Tavasz acknowledged. "But so can your bow, can't it?"

     "I guess," Cleo acknowledged, her gaze listing towards the weapon. Tavasz sighed.

     "Listen, there are jerks in these woods, I'm hardly going to deny that. Especially when you just got tossed through the air like a frisbee. But most of us just want to live our lives and not get harassed. Not everybody can be a warrior like you, or a witch like me. For everybody else, being clever is their best tool for survival in a forest where everything is huge, magic, or hungry, often some combination of those things."

     "Speaking of," Cleo said grimly, swinging her bow up and notching an arrow to the string. Tavasz swung around to face the direction Cleo was aiming, just in time to see a Chia Clown fall backwards with sparks flying from the hole in its face. Breathlessly, the Lutari laughed.

     "Yes. Like that. By Kreludor, you're scarily efficient with that thing, you know that?"

     Cleo actually chuckled at that, though her expression was as neutral as ever. "Starting to regret giving it back, are you?"

     "As long as you keep aiming it at things that want to maim me, not even a little bit," Tavasz replied. Fetching the arrow with her magic and floating it back, she added, "Positives about being a glowing neon pink target in the dark- you're unlikely to mistake me for the enemy!"

     Cleo snorted. "I still haven't decided for sure you aren't the enemy after the stunt you pulled this morning."

     "Ack!" Tavasz gestured at her chest dramatically. "I told you not to shoot me! Yet I'm hit! Dead in the black!"

     The Draik swatted Tavasz gently with her bow. "C'mon smart aleck. Let's get one of the carnies to look at those wounds of yours."

To be continued…