I missed my suit. Sure, it was old. And smelt of liquor. And dirty. And a whole host of other unattractive adjectives. But mainly it was mine. The outfit Corrigan had fit for me was beyond out of place. She had me in a bulging shoulder doublet with a frilly shirt underneath. The pants were nearly painted on. And to be quite honest, even I felt the codpiece was a bit too boastful.
Pride thankfully isn’t my vice and I simply swallowed it down and waited Corrigan in the pumpkin carriage. She intended to make me wait, just as much as the party. It would have been well under way by the time we arrived. But I suppose, if she was going to make an appearance being that last one to arrive would certainly give her that.
Another fifteen minutes I spent out there all alone, before she exited her temple and made her way down the steps. I took a deep breath, and reminded myself of the person she was underneath. But that’s the problem with women, it’s hard to forget what’s on the top.
Her legs were long beneath the dress, with a firm shape that were displayed well in the tight fabric. It didn’t conceal her like the toga she wore. This one was entirely meant to reveal, while still moderately covering her smooth skin. If many Sidhe personified their patron element, Corrigan did this almost certainly like a set of gently rolling hills. From calves at the peak, then down for the knees, up again smoothly for the thighs and hips, rolling with her waist into the peaks of her breast. For a frilling loose fitting shirt, I still felt hot under the collar.
“Please try to maintain a little decorum at the gala Elroy,” she said upon her approach, lifting a leg up into the carriage. The slit of the dress fell to the sides “You’re drooling. Now be a gentleman and offer me your hand.”
I did. She accepted it graciously, and pulled herself inside. And with that we were off.
The ride was short, though I stole as many glances as possible. It was hard not to. I notice she maintained a lack of make up about her eyes, she did say many of the Sidhe would have brought humans along. I suppose that made the precaution necessary.
“What’s the party for?” I asked.
“Tomorrow is the final day of the Harvest, the day of the Harvest Moon. Tonight, we celebrate that event.”
“The Harvest Moon?”
She sighed before smiling at me, “it’s the last full moon of the Harvest season. Because of the early rise of the full moon we will have more light to work the fields. If we perform the rites to perfection, we may even be granted long enough to reap the benefits for a full day with the moon guiding us at night.”
“And since it’s the last day, you’ve got to get all you can.”
“Correct,” she added while pressing her finger to my nose. I rubbed it and looked away. “It was not so important for us till we began trade with Notion City. You humans eat so much, and it’s so hard to maintain even enough for ourselves.”
“That also justifies stealing children off the streets as a work force?There will probably be a few who die in the fields tomorrow."
“Sacrifices, Elory. Sometimes they must be made for the greater good to survive.”
I crossed my arms as best I could with the doublet then decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the ride.
The hall was lit brightly by the dying suns light in thousands of gems and crystal when we arrived. There were already carriages waiting off the side and the amount of noise emanating from the hall meant we were late. Quite late at that. Even so, Corrigan took care and patience when stepping down.
Inside, was the party of the year. I couldn’t name the number of strange creatures I saw from off the top of my head. And those that looked human may very well have not been. It was a ball for everything decadent and odd. I felt at place with the latter not the former.
There was a single entrance, that led down a great stairway to a dance floor. From the look one might have expected courtly dance, some medieval. But everyone was doing the Charlestown to some form of jazz played by a trio of muses. It hurt my ears, but the Fae didn’t notice. They didn’t really appreciate jazz they only did it to fit in with humans. And muses are meant to inspire, they’re not actually good at much else.
As the custom, I stood atop the great stair waiting for Corrigan to enter and take my arm at her introduction.
“Introducing, Mistress Corrigan of the Daoise Sidhe,” not a head turned to pay her any mind. “Escorted by Elroy Reardon of Notion City.”
She couldn’t have planned it perfectly, even the jazz band faltered to silence to turn and see as she stepped out onto the great stair and wrapped her hand in mine. Every old crone, oddity and Sidhe of the bunch stared at the pair of us. It became clear, from the looks of anger I received. To those of adoration for her. Most of them I had taken something dear from, or at least tried. And now here I was with one of their own on my arm.
Their minds were racing. How did she get me here? What did she have over my head? And how could they get it? They’d be plotting against her all night, though it didn’t matter. She got what she wanted, they’d be talking about her all night.
We mingled through much of the night. I kept as far away from the food as possible, or was careful when I ate from the trays. Anything you could have found in Notion City would be alright, but stories floated around about those foods only found in Faery. Some were true and others were myth, but I wasn’t about to test my luck. Eventually, I was able to ignore the hunger pangs.
Around midnight as I was chatting with the wait staff about the missing Dietrich children one of the Sidhe made her presence known. She lightly tapped a thin fork to her champagne glass. The music of the band died down and conversation eventually ended. I had never once dealt with the Queen of the Earth Court, Titannia but I’ve heard a few old Goblin limericks of her. And none did her justice.
She was young, and appeared born of soft earth. Her skin was a light brown tone and hair like wheat in fields. It didn’t shine, it didn’t shimmer. As for most of the women present she did not stand out at all. Yet she was no less beautiful. She raised her arm like a branch and lofted the glass high.
“On this night before the final harvest, I wish to raise a toast. In these times, we must struggle to maintain our way of life as well as the lives of others. However, there are those who understand more than most when the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It is with that in mind, I truly want to honor our guests this evening. Who without them none of what we accomplish tomorrow would be possible.”
I moved beside Corrigan and looked out over the crowd, “what’s happening?”
Her smile was like a snake. Smooth and poisonous. “We were strained this year, as I said before, hardly would there be enough harvest for both Faery and Notion City. But with the sacrifices of some we’d be able to make the yield.”
The sea of creatures parted to reveal a single figure standing on the dance floor. He slowly approached Titannia and bowed at her feet. His suit strained against the bulk of him while he did this. It was made for someone a number of sizes too small. I guess he had made a run at the buffet. He looked either homeless or wild, judging from the amount of hair covering his body. And I thought I would have looked bad at this place in my suit.
“Appeasing the Woman of the Harvest is not easy,” continued Titannia placing upon the shoulder of the man before her. “She requires not much from us, but her orders are precise. And one of us here, had procured them just in time for the Rites of Harvest. We celebrate tonight not only in tradition, but for the bounty we will reap because of his actions. The moon light shall extend tomorrow, we will have more time then ever to reap from our fields and pluck from our trees. And the crop we find will be swollen, enough to feed twice the normal amount. No mouths shall go hungry this year.”
A great cheer erupted through the crowd. Corrigan’s eyes flickered to me and the edge of her lips rose into a small smile.
“You wanted information for this night did you not Elroy Reardon?”
“Everything involving the Dietrich children,” I said feeling my fists clench. Everything in my head was screaming what she was about to tell me. Sacrifices. For the greater good. Precise orders. They needed two children, male and female. Probably around the same age, twins made that easy.
“The Dietrich children were taken by that man,” she said. I shut my eyes to keep my calm. “And he did not have Rite of Claim.”
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