Calico smiled to himself as the magic of the tower floating and swirled around him preparing dinner, he didn’t know what Quinten liked or how long its been sense the hellkin had real food, so his own very empathetic habits kicked in and he didn’t realize how much he had cooked till the island was entirely covered. He heard the click of hoofs on the stairs before he looked over his shoulder as he saw Quinten step into view. As he did, Calico’s heart just dropped into the deepest pits of his stomach and shattered against the bottom, how thin he thought Quinten was…was not close at all to how thin he actually was. Despite being mid-five feet tall, he couldn’t be a hundred pounds, if not under that. In the thin robe, Calico could see the deep indent of his collarbone and even some of his ribs where the fabric clung to wet skin, his limbs were like spun glass; thin and frail, there was some muscle on his legs, but no more than enough to keep him standing, he could see every vertebra down Quinten’s tail, the hollowness of his features and other parts of his body. What surprised Calico though was his hair, he was expecting Quinten’s hair to be in the chest/waist length when loose, but maybe due to his malnutrition, his hair was quite thin and hung to end around his ankles; his hair wet and clinging around his face and to whatever skin it made contact with gave him an even more “devilish” appearance because of how it made his already sharp features appear fake and carved in.

              “Come on, come on, I’m sure you’re hungry” Calico said putting on a brave face, but Quinten reminded Calico of…for lack of better phrase, a feral cat; untrusting, skittish and jumpy…only risking eating because there were no other options.

              Calico is always one to feed guests to the best of his ability, but he could not recall when he had a guest that ate so ravenously, Quinten was hungry enough that manners be damned, he almost got himself to do what he should have and made sure that Quinten paced himself and didn’t make himself ill from over-eating, but the hellkin seemed to know that as well and after a bit of very mannerless eating, he slowed down rapidly and rather…trained table manners seemed to kick in, which confused Calico, the way that Quinten’s table manners kicked in was obvious that they had been trained into him quite intensely and by the reactions and recoil when something slipped or wasn’t a perfect method…Calico could easily guess that it was also trained in a very physical training that brought to mind elbows getting smacked with spoons or parts of his body being tied down to the chair to ensure his posture was proper.

              “I’m worried about you, Quinten” Calico said, looking off to the side and floor which made the hellkin pause.

              “…why?” he asked suspicious and confused

              “Maybe it’s just because of how I was raised here where freedom, beauty, truth, love, trickery and all of those fun things are seen as the commandments of life, but…the way that you react to things, the mannerisms you exhibit at times and various other things. I cannot fathom what it was whomever did this to you did, but…it makes my blood boil, churn and curdle all at the same time.” Calico sighed, “Mortals…why is it that so, so many people in that world are so capable of hurting those around them…I mean, there’s wars and everything in Glimmerstand’s past, but…once Empress Cordellia took over…archfey are able to enact rules over their realm that can range from specific to extremely vague and can change them as they see fit to no limitation, the lower courts like of Hallowed Mire or the other lesser courts can only enact one or two rules and there’s more and more enacted as you go higher, one of the first ones she enacted that she has never changed is…she forbade warfare in Glimmerstand, in media is fine, but you can’t even slap someone because of the rule.”

              “So…everyone’s like…drugged almost?”

              “No, of course not, just her claiming that made it impossible for any being in Glimmerstand to feel malice towards another to any degree.”

              “Must have done wonders for the crime rate”

              “Of course, we’ve almost entirely had to dismantle various forms of law enforcement, they’re still there of course because sometimes a prank or something can go a little far and various other crimes of course, but anything considered a “violent crime” does not exist.”

              “Wow” he said quietly

              “So, my entire life, despite how old I am…I’ve never experience violence or ill will towards another or have another feel it towards me…hearing and seeing how whatever happened to you is effecting you with your instincts…makes my heart feel like someone ripped it out.”

              “You don’t know me though”

              “That doesn’t mean I can’t feel empathy for you, no?” he asked, “You are in Glimmerstand so you are under the protection of those of the kingdoms, anyone who saw how you react to things would react in the same manner as I have. Fey are at their core; emotional beings, so…any kind of distress or pain or fear…anything like that; makes us hurt internally. Some people would probably start crying if they saw you.”

              “Apricot got a little misty-eyed”

              “As expected”

              “How…how long as the Empress been in power?”

              “Oh…I have no idea, she shows up very, very early in our history books. She’s first talked about as a witch, but…a good one and a knight too. It wasn’t known as Glimmerstand back then, but she also had the old name for the most part purged to clean up the way people think of our home and…while not removing the bloodshed and all, she does honor it and respect everything. She sought to make her home better for everyone and anything in it, so single-handedly…she took over it and proved herself the most fitting empress for us and there’s been no issues with her rule sense.”

              “So…thousands of years?”

              “No idea, probably dozens if not hundreds of thousands” Calico shrugged, “Archfey don’t really…exist on the same time-line that everyone else does, kind of like the archdemons or archangels.” He added