Page 30 of Stranger's Choice
Chapter 10
Sebin did notfind a likely reason for the sprites to negotiate a trade treaty with him over the course of his tour. He couldn’t imagine Moial producing anything they might be interested in—or did not have in abundance. The reverse was not true. The earth and wood sprites maintained gardens and farmlands of impressive quality, but Sebin doubted he could convince them to move across the ocean to improve the soil of Moial. He had nothing to offer in exchange for any artifacts they might sell to produce the same result.
He suspected that even if he had access to the luxury items of Lhanaperi, the sprites would refuse to trade with him. Rin was cold, if polite, as he showed Sebin the farms in the sprites’ domain. The rest of Rin’s people, however, stared at him with distaste, if not hate, clear in their eyes.
Something had happened between Sebin’s conversation with the earth sprite leader and this morning. When he retired the evening before, the sprites in the inn’s common room had not been this hostile. Nor were the sprites antagonistic to the other humans visiting Chael.
Sebin needed the sprites on his side, and he didn’t have time to play these games. He couldn’t spend weeks developing a rapport with them as he could with the denizens of the city. Perhaps that was his mistake, though. He had approached Rin in much the same way he had the Emperor. Omitting his title during introductions—especially when the innkeeper and Evanie had both certainly informed Rin exactly who he was—didn’t mean much. The earth sprite wasn’t a courtier. As he had said, trust was of more importance to him than convenience.
Perhaps blunt speaking could do what politeness hadn’t.
“Is it because I am a prince, from across the Mladin, or something else entirely that has your people looking at me sideways, Rin?” Sebin tilted his head to where a sprite greeted a local human villager with a huge grin. “I know it isn’t simply because I am human.”
“Why should we trust a stranger? Your people wiped out all oracles on your continent hundreds of years ago. None of the magical races find that such a history inspires confidence.”
“I can understand that. I will say that my people have long regretted that event and we have gotten along well enough with the other magical races since that time—my cousin is even half incubus.” Sebin got along with the magical races at least, even if his comment was an oversimplification of the state of things in general. But he didn’t want to talk about Moial. So long as he was being blunt, he might as well get to the real reason he had come out to Chael. “Of course, here in Pynth, you avoided a genocide by instead institutionalizing the slavery of a single oracle every generation, offering her up to the humans as a sacrifice. Perhaps you think it a worthwhile deal, the greater good served at the expense of only a single person. Personally, I can think of no reason to justify putting a woman in such a situation.”
The earth beneath Sebin’s feet rumbled and a few sprites looked over at Rin, questions in their eyes. Rin ignored them, his focus totally on Sebin. “Yet you are the man who ripped away Auraelie’s protection, who now takes advantage of the situation. Yes, we know who you are, and what you have done. Did you think you could hide it from us? That we wouldn’t realize who you were?”
Sebin knew he needed to tread carefully. Rin shared his opinion of the imperial-oracle treaty; he could be a powerful ally if Sebin earned his trust. Sebin knew, but he could not maintain his calm. Not about this. “I tried to help her, unaware of her single protection. I did not set out to trap her. I did not send her to the Emperor when she was little more than a girl. I did not take away her choices or dress her in nothing but seven veils!”
Almost. Sebin saw it in Rin’s face; he almost won over the sprite, his anger perhaps more convincing than any rational argument he might have tried. Until he mentioned the seven veils. Two little words and he lost Rin completely.
“I won’t fall for your lies, human. Manipulate someone else into sympathizing with you.” Without another word, Rin pivoted and walked away. Sebin stood alone in a crowd of sprites looking at him with disgust. The few humans in the crowd made it clear that they sided with the sprites, though they seemed confused by what had happened.
Sebin sighed. If he had planned his response, he never would have mentioned the dancing costume. A man who meant Auraelie no harm, who would not take advantage of the situation she was in, should never have seen her in the seven veils.
He looked around. The sprites’ village lay on the other side of the field where he stood. He would not be welcomed, but he might as well head back instead of remaining in this field.
“Come,” a woman said, beckoning him with a wrinkled hand. “I will finish your tour.”
Sebin considered the grandmotherly sprite. She had silver-gray hair and eyes of an odd, pale green. She looked sympathetic. It didn’t matter if it was a mask meant to put him at ease, Sebin wouldn’t waste this second chance to prove himself.
“Thank you. My name is Sebin.”
“I know who you are,dyela.” She began walking toward an area that looked more like a kitchen garden than a farmer’s field, though a kitchen garden the size of which Sebin had never before seen. “I am Mewae, and this is my garden.”
Sebin watched Mewae bend over; she did so slowly, but with no sign that age had yet attempted to steal that movement from her. Her fingers brushed over the leaves of a plant in a loving caress.
Sebin shook off his anger and pasted his most charming smile on his face. “Is it impolite for me to ask if you are a wood sprite rather than earth?”
Mewae laughed. “You know it is, otherwise you wouldn’t be smiling at me like that. Yes, I am a wood sprite. My affinity is for the things that grow, not the ground that nourishes them.”
“All growing things, not just trees? I had never heard of wood sprites until coming to Pynth, but I had assumed your element was trees.”
“We don’t have an element, for we are not truly sprites. My kind cannot morph into our plants as the true sprites can morph into their element. Our affinity for plants looked enough like the elementals’ affinities that humans called us sprites, and we did not care enough to correct them.”
“Is there something else I should call you then?”
“So considerate.” Mewae started down one of the garden paths, gesturing for Sebin to follow. “This is the mask you would have worn had you intended to manipulate Rin. I will talk to him, help him see that your outrage was genuine.”
Sebin let his carefully controlled smile fade. “I appreciate it. I would still like to know, however, if there is something I should call your people besides wood sprites.”
“Wood sprites is fine. We never had any other name in the human language, and we do not use the old tongues anymore.” Mewae stopped in the middle of a row and swept her arm out. “Now, what do you think of my garden, Prince Sebin?”
Sebin looked over the plants. He recognized a few flowers and vegetables, but the multitude of herbs and other plants was beyond his horticultural knowledge. He couldn’t even guess if some shoots of green were vegetables he might recognize in a few weeks’ time or herbs he had never seen, for the organization of the entire garden was beyond his understanding. Or perhaps there was no organization at all.
“I think,” he told Mewae slowly, “you do not welcome others messing with your garden. Do you really tend to all this land yourself?”
