Aspen steps into the in between, her wings buzzing to keep her balance amongst the mists.
How dare they? How dare that idiotic captain and crew of the "Victory" attempt to keep her from playing? They were even worse than the ESC.
All she wanted was to talk? Is talk really that bad?
The mortals don't understand us, Petal, They never will. They can't.
Aspen winced as her mama's words came back to her unbidden.
The things they make; the stories they tell; the magic they wield-- it isn't the same as ours. Mortals are beautiful, but they wilt as fast as my flowers.
"Mine don't wilt." Aspen huffed.
The mists didn't answer.
They never did.
She screamed, wordlessly venting her frustration in a place where it wouldn't harm anyone-- mortal or fae.
Outsider, they called her. But her home was here. Aspen was just as much belonging to this world as she was the one where her mama lived.
You aren't a very good fae, are you?
Sparrow's words. Aspen had cried for hours after he had finally passed. He hadn't known how much those words hurt. He'd echoed the same sentiment flung at her from bitter fae, jealous fae, ones who wouldn't hesitate to take her place and her power if they could.
But from him-- the one mortal who had seemed to listen, the one who cared and not just to save his own skin-- the words had been meant as a compliment.
Prodigal fae
It meant the same, right? The selunari had apologized, had talked, had exchanged a promise and fair trade questions.
Aspen was a spiteful thing, but at least she kept her promises.
Unlike the mortals.
Aspen didn't want to go home, couldn't go home until the crow-paper fae revealed themselves. She didn't want to go back to a home destroyed and her people slaughtered. But she didn't want the mortals of the Crow's Fortune-- that wasn't the true name of the boat, much like the "Victory" didn't match it's name. There were very few boats with a true name, and most didn't even know them.
But if she stayed with the Crow's Fortune, then Rook and all her other friends might get caught in the crossfire.
And Aspen wasn't a very good fae.
It was a good thing she had claim to Rook's name already, at least. Even if she never took the names of the mortals she spoke to-- at least not for forever-- she had some claim over them by simply knowing their names first.
Hopefully it would be protection enough.
The last thing Aspen wanted was for her playthings to break.