Ezra

I tucked my scarf in closer and tried to move so the wind was hitting my back instead of my face, watching Goose on the end of the leash as he eagerly sniffed a leaf.  Yep, he just had to sniff everything on these walks.  I had no idea why, maybe it was a dog thing, like reading the news?  He’d sniffed the same tree every time we walked by it, like he was checking it for updates.  Maybe someday I’d understand, but right now I didn’t.

We’d had several training sessions by now and I was fairly confident in taking Goose out where other dogs would be, so Elanius had arranged to meet me in Basil Park so we could play fetch.  There wasn’t enough room to properly do that in our backyard, and Basil Park let people take their dogs off leash as long as they were well-behaved, so it seemed like the ideal place.

It was still a few weeks yet before the big Christmas party the fairy was throwing, but as we reached the park – with many pauses for sniffing breaks – I could already see some signs that the event was happening.  The lampposts had been repainted, bushes trimmed, new mulch added to places.  It was clear the mayor was doing his best to make sure the fairy was happy with how the party turned out.  Kat had pointed out that a philanthropist can’t solely give money without eventually running out, so she suspected he invested in things and probably the town would benefit if he decided to stay here permanently, because he might invest in local stuff, so that was probably why the mayor was making such a big deal out of it.  I hoped so, because otherwise as far as I could tell, the mayor just wanted to make friends with an ultra-rich person and it had very little to do with benefiting the town in some way.

Elanius waved at me when I arrived, apparently having gotten there early, then gave me a to-go cup full of coffee while stealing the dog leash from me so they could have Goose time.  I watched, a little amused, as they happily greeted Goose, then took out some toys I’d brought.

“The tried-and-true tennis ball,” I pointed out, “but also I brought a Frisbee and a floating ball, just in case we ended up tossing near the lake.  Kat says she thinks Goose has some retriever and I’m kind of curious about whether he’d go in the water after it, though I suppose that’s better for spring or summer weather.”

Elanius contemplated, then took the tennis ball, unhooked the leash, and threw the ball as hard as they could.

Goose stood there, watching them, his tail wagging while he just…stood there.  Definitely not running after the ball.

Elanius groaned.  “You’re going to make me go fetch it?  Come on!”  They started walking off after the ball while Goose followed, lecturing him on how the game of fetch worked.  I laughed to myself and sipped on my coffee, deciding to stay here with our stuff.

“It’s Ezra, isn’t it?”

I turned around at the tentative voice to see the fairy I’d just been thinking of a few minutes ago.  How he’d recognized me – from behind, no less – was a mystery to me, but I nevertheless gave him a small smile, kind of glad Kat was dormant – aka sleeping – at the moment so she couldn’t remind me to try flirting with him.

“Yes, I’m Ezra.  Are you here to prep for the party?  This long in advance?”

He came over closer to me, stopping a comfortable distance for talking with a friend.  I was a little surprised he didn’t stop further away, more like at acquaintance distance, but whatever.

“In a way, yes.”  He let his eyes roam over the park.  “I’m mapping out where I want everything to go.  We’re adding extra lighting at night to make sure there’s no dark corners – safety issues, you know, like you reminded me – so I have a map and I’m marking anywhere that could be an issue where we either need security or lighting, if possible.  Lighting the full park will be complicated, but I have some electricians helping me out, so I’m pretty sure we’re up to it.”  He sounded very confident, actually.

I couldn’t help but wonder at him.  “It’s really worth it to do all that for just a few days?  I can’t even begin to think about the price tag on something like this, or the amount of hours that have to go into it.  I know you explained why, and I admire that, but it seems like an awful lot of work and money for just a few days.”

“It’s not all selfless,” he admitted with a bit of embarrassment.  “It’s my mom’s favorite time of year.  I was hoping maybe it would help her a bit.”

I tilted my head to one side.  “Help her?  Is this a tough time of year for her, or she’s going through a lot?”  When he hesitated, I immediately backtracked.  “Sorry, none of my business – forget I asked.”  I turned my attention back to Elanius and Goose, noticing that Elanius was frozen in place, just standing there, looking like they were staring off into the treetops.

“Oh, shoot, some of their family must have called in,” I murmured.  “One second.”

I whistled, which Goose was already learning to respond to.  He jerked his head back in my direction and once he spotted me, came trotting right over, eager to get some attention from me and then sniff the likely very expensive shoes of the man standing with me.

Speaking of, he was looking from me to Elanius, his expression complicated enough I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

“Calling in,” he murmured at last.  “Your friend isn’t speaking on their phone.”

“No, telepathically.”  Then I paused.  I’d forgotten that since he was a fairy, he’d know they were supernatural, too, but I wouldn’t read supernatural.  I honestly didn’t interact with new people often enough to remember that little thing.

“My mom’s a shifter,” I told him before his face could get more confused.  “We don’t, um, get along.  But I know about this side of things.  Elanius,” I nodded to my friend, “even offered to give me a protection mark, but I turned it down.  I have someone looking out for me, and the way I see it, the protection mark just draws attention to me from supernaturals.  They know I know about them.  I’d rather they just think I didn’t and let me live quietly and only tell those I trust.”  Well, other than accidentally blurting it out to him, basically.  Then I had to explain before he got all upset.  Honestly, we’d never had someone think I was a Hunter before, but we knew it was a thing.  Hopefully my explanation made enough sense that I didn’t need to wake Kat up to potentially fight a fairy for me.

Thankfully he didn’t seem inclined to try to fight, but he did raise an eyebrow.  “I’ve never heard of someone turning down a protection mark.  I suppose it makes sense, if you don’t interact with supernaturals on a regular basis, to just try not to draw their attention, but it seems like it’s got some danger, too.  And even if someone is looking out for you, they can’t guarantee your safety all the time.  Sometimes they’ll have to do their own thing and it’s probably safer if you go with a protection mark.  Just in case.”

Well, that might be true for most people.  It wasn’t true for us because Kat was always with me and it took only a second – if that long – for her to jump forward and protect me if that was necessary.  But I wasn’t about to explain all of that to him, because while I was willing to let him know I knew about supernaturals, I didn’t know him well enough to explain about the whole chimera thing.

One thing I did know from Kat’s dealings with the happy librarian was that chimera were incredibly rare, probably the rarest supernatural type of all.  According to the librarian, probably less than 50 had existed ever.  Which was really not a lot.  She had even warned us that there were some people who would want to experiment on or research chimera, in an unfriendly fashion, which was part of the reason we kept hidden.  Yes, we did tell some people – Elanius, obviously, and Kat told people she dated, because she didn’t want to have to try to hide my existence from them.  But otherwise, we were pretty quiet about it.

We were interrupted by Elanius’s return, who seemed a little surprised to see who was standing with me.

“Oh, the fairy prince guy?  Hello, I remember you.  My desk is next to Ezra’s,” they clarified for his confusion.  “We work together.”  They turned their attention to me.  “Sorry about that, I was getting updates on the whole, uh, situation.  Can I have the dog back please?”  They gave me a pleading look.

I laughed and nudged Goose.  “Go on and make the nice gargoyle fetch.”

“No, no, no, he’s supposed to fetch.  I’m the one throwing.”  Elanius snatched up the Frisbee.  “Let’s see if you like this one, you silly Goose.  Come on, just fetch it for me!”  They threw the disc, then ran after it, trying to encourage the very confused Goose to grab it.  He ran along with them, wagging his tail because they were excited, but it was clear he had no idea what was going on or what they wanted from him.

I looked back at the fairy.  “Goose is my dog.  Elanius wants to play fetch but Goose apparently doesn’t know how.  You can tell how well it’s going.”  We both watched as Elanius tried again, unsuccessfully, to get the dog to understand what the goal was here.  “Also, sorry, I’m not sure if I know what you prefer me to call you.  Mr. Woodson?  Your Highness?”

He laughed lightly.  “No, no, Lachlan or Fitz are usually what I go by.  I haven’t technically been a prince since I was about six years old.”  He chuckled to himself, then his happiness seemed to fade a bit.  “Actually, that relates back to your earlier question about my mom.  Since you know about supernaturals and apparently about my family’s history, it’s a little easier to explain, but basically when I was a child, my dad abdicated.  Well, he actually ended the monarchy, so it was more than just abdicating.  I didn’t understand too much at the time what that meant until one of my friends was mocking me saying I was no longer a prince, and then I was mad at my dad for much of my teenage years for deciding to do that, because he’d taken that from me without asking my opinion – even though in reality, I was too young to understand and it was the right choice.  By the time I was a little older, I finally started seeing his perspective and getting to know him better, and we were becoming friends.”  He sighed, that sadness settling in more.  “Then some friends of his betrayed him.  I don’t know if it’s technically an assassination versus murder, given that he wasn’t king anymore, but they blamed him for the loss of the fairy isle.  It was a beautiful place, and we all regretted its loss, but my dad wasn’t the only one involved in making the decisions that led to that.  There were some, however, that blamed him regardless, and unfortunately that included some people close to him.  They took their time and then murdered him.”

I knew this had been some time ago, but I couldn’t help but sympathize with him losing his dad like that.  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

He shrugged a bit, trying to wave it off, but it was clear it still hurt him.  “They were punished, but when my mom heard about what happened, she very nearly went dark.  She was basically in the process of turning dark when  my dad’s cousin – Adair Woodson – and I stepped in and tried to contain her.  I was hoping I didn’t have to lose both of my parents, and Adair had brought some witch friends to try to help knock her unconscious if necessary, hoping that that would be enough to stop the transformation into dark fae.  I guess it was?”  He scratched his head, looking uncertain.  “I mean, she stopped.  But instead of waking up, she went into a coma for over two decades.  Adair felt bad, I knew – both about my dad, and then about my mom.  He and his wife were kind of second parents to me and Adair had actually planned out most of the decision to end the monarchy and integrate in with humans, which is what kind of led to the loss of the fairy isle.  He thought they should have blamed him instead of my dad, but it didn’t work that way.”

He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky, then looked down to give me a sad smile.  “Adair has been called by many as the last true fairy king.  When Adair abdicated, my dad could have chosen his own path and not pursued the plans Adair had given him, but he didn’t.  My dad was a good man, but he was always said he wasn’t going to be a great king, not like Adair – he didn’t have the same abilities and he knew that.  He was content to be king, to help his people through the transition, and then to let things end.  He was never one for the big plans but he did know how to be there for his people.  He did make some changes to the plans, put his own stamp on things, and I suppose some people imagined that if he had followed Adair’s plans to the letter, then humans wouldn’t have come in and destroyed the isle.  Adair says it would have been the same result, because he and my dad both underestimated the greed of humans, but I think part of it is also that people viewed Adair as a hero and if they wanted a scapegoat, it was easier to blame my dad than Adair, whom they all knew was smart enough that they’d have to pause and consider whether he was right about the plan working out in the long run.  He was, by the way.  It did, even though we lost our isle.  But people didn’t want to hear that in the moment.  They were angry, and some of them took it out on my dad.  Not all of them, of course – the majority didn’t blame him, but there was a very vocal, angry contingent that spoke up for a while.”