Advent Story 2012: The Fae World: Alder: On Earth (part 10)
Willow
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
“Aren’t the elders chosen because they’re the eldest of the family?” George asked, sounding confused, which wasn’t really a surprise. Alder had trouble understanding exactly how the elders were chosen and he was one of them, so for someone viewing it from the outside it would be even harder.
“It depends. Alder was chosen because he was the eldest in his family and his family was huge before the magic faded. I have a feeling it wasn’t just the elderly fae who was affected, but also the fae with specific abilities. My family… As I said before I’ve lost everyone but my father so far, and I think it’s because our ability to create doors uses a lot of power, so we have a deeper well, if that makes sense. Alder’s family also had abilities that needed a lot of power, so I have a feeling that you experienced so much loss because of those abilities. We only survived because we were young, but I don’t think we would have done if we’d stayed there for much longer.”
Alder nodded, thinking about what Willow had said as he spoke. “Since I stepped onto Earth I’ve felt much more alive, although my magic feels different. I think your theory may be at least partially correct.”
Willow’s theory did make sense, because the families that were worst affected did have some of the strongest abilities within their group, but there wasn’t any way to prove if it was true or not. Magic wasn’t something that was easy to understand at the best of times, races with magic were even more difficult, and for the fae it was almost impossible, as all of the focus had been on the magic instead of on understanding the magic. He didn’t doubt that there were things they had done in the past that had adversely affected other races, but again, unfortunately, there was no way of proving that. Biting the inside of his lip he looked at George, wondering if he had done the right thing by suggesting Earth as a home for the fae when it meant affecting the human race.
“We’re not like the thirteen families,” Willow continued. “There are more families than there are places on the council and as far as I know it’s been years since the true elders took places on the council. Most of the elders want to take the time they have to enjoy their lives, so they pass on the job of looking after the council to someone they feel would be most suited to it. My father asked the fae he felt closest to and most comfortable with to take the places of the previous council, because that was something the King could do. If I wanted I could change the council, but I don’t think it would do a lot of good right now, and they are now the eldest of their families.”
“Some of the fae who had called Willow’s father their King chose not to travel to Earth because they didn’t believe her when she told them what was happening.” Alder said, remembering all the debates.
“The elders only followed me because they felt they had no choice, so their families also followed, and we were joined by others from different groups of the fae. What I want to try to do is incorporate those families into our council, but I think that would be just as difficult as getting rid of the current elders and replacing them.” Willow sounded sad and Alder could understand why, but there were options that they could explore in the future.
“Could you create an elected council?” George asked.
“I might be able to do it, given time, but I doubt it. The elders feel they deserve a place on the council, so they wouldn’t be in favour of an elected council, and I wouldn’t be able to convince them otherwise, because none of them view me as anything more than an upstart child who’s been making huge mistakes ever since I took on the job of ruling the fae.” Willow shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about them right now.”
“There are a couple of elders,” Alder said, knowing it was the right time to bring up Sorrel and Azalea, “who might be coming around to your point of view. Since we arrived here some of the ill fae have got better and they were related to those elders, so I think they’re beginning to realise that the choice you made was the right one.”
“Really?” Willow asked, disbelief filling her voice.
Alder smiled, even though he wasn’t sure if having Sorrel and Azalea on their side was a good thing. “Really. I wouldn’t lie to you about this, Princess. It’s too important that you have allies on the council for me to even think of lying.”
“I have you.”
“I’m not enough, and we both know it.” Alder’s smile turned into a frown. “Both our lives changed because of what happened and yet we were still the only two who were thinking clearly enough to work out what we needed to do next. They were all clinging to a world they didn’t want to leave behind, a belief that the fae couldn’t possibly have used up all the magic a world held, and a fear that leaving would change everything for the worst.”
“It’s understandable,” George said. “The human race could be destroying the Earth but no one wants to do anything about it, because that way they can cling to the belief that it’s not happening. Having the fae here might change things for us.”
“In the same way that living on Earth will change things for us,” Alder replied, finding himself liking George more and more. “We need those changes. The fae need to stop being selfish and using magic all the time, because they can’t be bothered to do things without magic.” He sighed, trying not to think too much about how much his race, in general, disappointed him. “It’s not going to be easy for either race.”
Willow shook her head. “We never expected it to be easy, Alder.” She looked over at George. “We have help from the Prime Minister, which is more than I was hoping for when I appeared here, and if you’re right then we might have allies on the council. If we look at where we were this morning and where we are now then I think things are going amazingly well.”
“What I’m going to need is a map of all the places of magic in the country, if that’s possible, a list of all the fae who are here, and…” George tapped his pen on the desk. “Is there any way to tell if a human is part fae?”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.