By the time Leddy arrived on foot at the meeting tree, the others were already there. How she wanted to fly. How much easier that would be. But then they'd know, and it would cause a lot more problems than it solved. Like being banished, or tried for war crimes, or being shipped off north where she'd be dealt with according.
The group shifted in such a way as to make room for her to sidle through, and she took her seat next to a warm glowing oil lamp and waited for the mutterings to subside.
'I've spoken with the scout,' she said, once attention had turned to the business at hand. 'Things are happening as we suspected they might. He says time is short.'
One among the group cleared his throat. Wes was a lithe looking young 'un, green under his fingernails from a day spent scratching tags into bark.
Leddy signalled for him to speak.
'Did the scout get our messages?' he said.
'Yes. He saw the carvings and knows where they lead. However, he doesn't yet understand what it is he needs to do, nor was he able to follow the trail on this occasion.'
A ripple of groans and tuts went through the group.
'I know, I know. He can't help but need air. Would you rather we get him to the city and he dies before he can complete the task?'
Some appeared to consider the question.
Leddy sighed and rolled her head back. 'No,' she reminded them. 'We wouldn't. If he's able to help us, then we must first help him, yes?'
This at least was met by mumbles and nods of resignation.
Many in the hollow couldn't recall the vibrant hub that was Diamond in the days of Queen Janet. When you could barely hop from one tree to the next without stumbling across a West gate person, making their way to or from Must.
All they knew was what came after. They had no affinity with the people and certainly no loyalty to them. This notion of accommodating the biggun to achieve their aims was hard to swallow, but they were coming to understand that one thing wasn't to be without the other.
'We cannot do this without a person,' Leddy continued. 'One we can trust, or at the very least believe has similar interests to our own. And he, whether you like it or not, is probably our best and last shot. The South is coming, and soon. We'd better hope the scout returns before they do.'
Pappy Skylark leaned forward through the others from where he'd been quietly listening. Leddy hadn't even realised he was there until he spoke.
'What is this man to us, then, Cerulean?' he said. 'If he can't survive when the air is thick, then what good is he? What if he gives us away before he does his part? Surely we haven't time to babysit the vulnerable, big as he may be?'
'Speaking of which,' said another. 'What of the king?'
'What of him?' Leddy said.
'He has to be held accountable. Or are you proposing an amnesty for all bigguns, regardless of guilt?'
This was followed by a rousing chorus of cheers and nods, and Aye, that's rights, from certain elements within the crowd. Not all joined in, but enough to make Leddy nervous. Their commitment was waning. She could feel it.
Some were struggling to hold onto the vision that togetherness was the solution. They were leaning more towards vengeance, which Leddy knew from bitter experience was no kind of way out. On the contrary, it would almost certainly drive what was left of the Faretheewell folks to their deaths. And fast.
She was about to counter the uproar, though how she didnt know, when Pappy came to her defence.
'Pipe down, the lot a ya,' he said.
The hollow quietened, and Leddy was grateful. She hid her weariness, but she had nothing left for battling those supposedly on the same side.
'Look,' Pappy said, as all eyes turned to face him. 'I hear your anxieties, and I know you're worried for yourselves and your young 'uns, too. Believe me, I understand. You'll be aware - well, most of you, anyways - that I lost my girls to the hummer campaigns before some here were even born.'
Quiet turned to breath-held silence.
'I know how it feels when the worst happens. Ain't much more them buzzards can do to me than what they already did. So I got nothin' to lose.'
'What's your point, old 'un?' a young recruit with an inflated sense of self-importance piped up.
'My point is this, child,' Pappy said. 'They only win if we let 'em. They can come for us, might even kill every last one of us.'
There came gasps from mothers whose little 'uns looked suddenly horrified.
'I'm sorry, not gonna shine yer shit. They might. But we don't make it easy. Ya hear? We catch in their teeth, make 'em choke on our bones. We give those filthy scumlickers bellyache. We tell 'em, Hey! If you want our bodies, our magic, you gotta come get 'em. But what they don't get is this.'
'Don't know about you, but I'll be ready. And I sure as stink won't be laying down on a platter for 'em, a berry for a garnish. No, sir. And if our friend Cerulean here reckons this biggun fella can help, then I'll be gosh-darned if I ain't gonna do everything in my power to see he gets what he needs to finish it. Try at least. We fight together, child, or not at all. Because if we don't, they win.'
Pappy slowly sat himself back down. 'That,' he said, his eyes seeming to pierce clean through the young recruit, 'is my point.'
Leddy suppressed a smile.
It was then that a sudden flicker, a bothering of the light from an oil lamp in the doorway, made the group look to see who or what had cast this new shadow. Hovering there was the gate watcher, Broadleaf. She dropped herself down and in through the gaping arch of the tree trunk, and by the furrow of her brow, she was none too impressed by what she saw.
Leddy stood, ready to do damage control.
'What happened to keeping together?' Broadleaf said. 'And no secrets among hollows? How long, Cerulean?'
'It's not-' Pappy tried to intervene.
'Don't FUCKING lie to me.' Broadleaf pointed a sharp finger on an outstretched arm at the older fairy to her side, while not taking her eyes from those of Leddy Rickett.
Mothers covered little ears at the language.
'Now, listen to me, young 'un,' Pappy said.
'It's okay,' Leddy interrupted. 'She has a right to be angry. Let her say her piece.'
Broadleaf lowered her arm, but the snarl on her lips that masqueraded as a smile, the slow shake of her head, captured her rage quite clearly for all to see.
Leddy waited. She wasn't about to tell the Faretheewell native how to feel or what to think, having seen, and in many cases partaken in, the ruin of hollows such as hers. Only she, Leddy, an ex-hummer, could possibly understand the devastation this poor fairy had observed and to what length such trauma had affected her.
'You promised me, Cerulean. When you took me in, dragged me a hundred damned heifer's lengths from my burning home, from my dead fucking family, Cerulean, you promised I would never again see the likes of what they did.'
Enough was enough for the mothers, who, without saying a word, agreed among themselves that it was time to take the children home to bed. They slipped out into the night with the little ones in crooks of arms or snoozing over shoulders. Some older babies wanted to stay, preferring this unexpected hullabaloo to the duller alternative. But their protestations went unheeded, and they were carried away, nonetheless.
'I know what you're up to,' Broadleaf said, once the bustle of movement settled, leaving only eight or ten of them standing inside the tree. She hadn't taken her gaze from Leddy the whole time.
Leddy felt a wave of fear at those words: I know what you're up to. She chose not to jump in. Let the fairy speak, she thought. See where this is going. It was a rare situation that could be made worse by keeping your mouth shut.
'I get it. You want to lead. To take over old Skylark, here's position?'
Pappy didn't respond. He too wanted to know where this rant was headed.
'So you play up the whole wingless angle, like you don't know that'll remind him of his dead daughter. How stupid do you think we are?'
One of the gatherers attempted to step in to defend against the accusations, but Pappy held him back.
'You're dragging us into a fight,' Broadleaf went on. 'That ends up with us dangling by our feet from hooks, drying over coals for jerky, with our magic stripped and harvested and used against us. The whole damn colony. Is that what you want?
'Do you know why I'm here, Cerulean? I followed Pappy so I could report back to you about developments at the gate. But I don't suppose that matters, does it? Did it ever? Or did you only send us there to get us out of the way, so you could hold your little meetings, and plot your little plots, while the rest of us flutter about doing as we're told?
'Well, you know what? Fuck you, Cerulean. In fact, no. I take that back. Fuck all of you. You want to kill off the last of Faretheewell? Guide us to the doors of our enemies? Go ahead. Just don't expect me to be there when you do.'
Broadleaf took to the air. 'Oh, and just so I've played my part in this charade,' she said. 'The girl's back.'
'The girl?' Leddy said. She had no clue about any girl.
'Yes, the girl. She's back, and she doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Now I'm done.'
A moment later, the furious gate watcher zipped away into the night. The recruit named Wes was about to follow, to make her answer for her disrespectful words, no doubt. But Pappy stopped him, told him he'd deal with it later.
'Let her go,' Leddy said, mirroring the sentiment. 'Give her a night to come around. By morning, I dare say she'll feel better for getting that out.'
One by one, the gatherers went back to their beds until only Leddy and the old fairy remained. Together, they rearranged the twig benches and chairs and bundled up drink shells into waste bags so as to make it appear like there hadn't been a meeting.
It wouldn't do to let the others know that the notorious Green Skulls existed so close to home. The risk to them would be too great. Leddy banked on Broadleaf, however angry, understanding that and keeping her mouth shut.
'Is she right?' Pappy said when they were finishing up. 'Do you think I'm treating you as some sort of replacement daughter?'
'Of course not.' Leddy hoped her answer came across more convincing that it felt. 'Besides, even if you were, and anyone would understand why you might, I'd be honoured. Any daughter of yours must be pretty special.'
'My Mae had her problems, can't pretend otherwise. But she was my girl and I loved her. Loved 'em both.'
Leddy stroked her hand across the old fairy's arm, gave his shoulder a squeeze.
'I just wish,' he said. 'I just wish-'
Leddy pulled him in close, then, and held him until his words trailed off.
'I know, Pappy,' she said. 'I do too.'
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