Fae Time Shenanigans
Okay, so I'm trying to work out exactly when stuff was done, who visited what when. I also want to open up the floor if I'm wrong, and hey, we're not wasting too much internet paper this way. I keep buggerising around with a post on Cataliades, and the Fae motivations, and there's one on Amelia too. Gah. New books always bring so many damn directions. I want to talk about all kinds of stuff - as well as stuff that was in the pipes before the books. I'm trying to focus and get it out there.
But the fae timeline is putting a crimp in my style, because I'm trying to work out the interrelationships between Fintan and his Daddy Niall, and his mate Mr. Cataliades and stuff like when Fintan died and how it's grounded in Sookie's timeline. So rather than write it down in a notepad and keep it there, I figured the internet paper would be just as good, and valiant commenters would help me if I'm going wrong. Plus, then I can reference it in future posts, and I do have that problem with keeping things in my head and referencing them like you're all in here with me. I get told off for that on my academic stuff too. *Sigh* ...and you thought I was perfect. :D
While I was buggerising around, I also made a family tree:
Click on the picture to enlarge that puppy.
The problem with the Fae is that they're such shifty bastards, and time runs differently for them:
Niall, for example, tossed around hundreds of years in conversational
chronology in a very inconsistent way. He might describe some event
as being five hundred years ago, when another event that predated it
was earmarked two hundred years ago. He simply couldn't keep
track of the passage of time, maybe partly because he didn't
spend most of that time in our world. Dead and Gone, p. 139
As if Eric's machinations are not shifty enough, there's gotta be Fairies as well, jamming up the timeline. Oh, and just so we all know what we're doing - if you have a fix, then can you tell me page and book, and since I don't expect people to know the books as well as I do, at least context? Otherwise, if we go on the St. Eric theory of he always does what's in Sookie's best interests, memories of shit you read in fanfic (as so many do) or saw on True Blood, this will all go to hell in a handbasket. So, let's do this thing.
♠ Fintan discovers Adele, makes a portal near Adele's house and comes to visit her, Corbett and Linda are born over a two or three year period. Fintan also inhabits/steals Mitchell's body /leaves it out in the woods while he moons over Adele dressed like Mitchell. (Poor bloody Mitchell). Fintan comes and says that he needs to keep away from his kids to not lure his enemies right to their door. Dead Reckoning, pp. 129-133
♠ Fintan bans Niall from Adele and her children.
"I've known about your family for the past sixty years, give or take.
But my son Fintan forbade me seeing any of you."
From Dead to Worse, p. 63
However, it should be noted that Niall wasn't really interested in any of them during that time.
"But Niall had his ways, and nonetheless, he found that the essential
spark had passed Jason by. He became...uninterested." Claude said.
Dead Reckoning, p. 93
♠ Somewhere in this nebulous time period - all of it - Fintan is possibly making babies with other women. After all, neither of them promised they'd be in a monogamous relationship, and none of the fairies seem to hang their hats on virginity or sexual purity.
"Did Fintan have any other children or grandchildren?" I asked.
It would be nice to have more family. "We'll talk of that later,"
Niall said, which sent up an immediate red flag.
From Dead to Worse, p. 66
♠ Mr. Cataliades comes and gives the "gift" of telepathy to Fintan's descendants with the essential spark.
"Adele and Fintan each drank a thimbleful of my blood."
Dead Reckoning, p. 315
♠ Fintan dies.
"He just said his son had died."
Diantha broke into a hoot of shrill laughter. "Youcouldsaythat,"
she said and doubled over, still laughing. "Choppedintapieces!"
Dead and Gone, p. 136
This would have been around when Rogan died. Claude said that Rogan was the only one who could keep Breandan from getting all militant about it. Neave and Lochlan might have killed Sookie's parents in a non-obvious way, but this is an outright killing, obviously attributable to Breandan.
♠ Mr. Cataliades comes and gives Adele the cluviel dor.
Then he came by one more time, a few years ago. He gave
me this green thing. He said fairys give it to each other
when they're in love, and Fintan had given it to him to bring
here to me if Fintan died before I did. Dead Reckoning, p. 132
Just to be clear, Gran must have written that letter sometime around when Sookie was a young child, and undoubtedly soon after Corbett was killed.
"So, Fintan was still alive when Jason and I were born."
Desmond Cataliades nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, he was."
Dead Reckoning, p. 311♠ Hadley dies.
My son kept me from your father and your aunt, and then
from their children. His death came too late for me to
know your cousin Hadley. From Dead to Worse, p. 65-66
Now, it's entirely probable that this is within the time frame of just before Hunter was born. Because after all, I doubt that Niall would seek out a vampire - so I'd say that this refers to Hadley's first death, and not her final one. But it could be both or either. I just don't think he'd go for Hadley if all she thought of him was "food" or possibly "power". Fairies don't have a good opinion of vampires, by and large. Niall is quick to write off Jason, and he's human. I doubt he'd want to just know Hadley because she's his kin. Also, Mr. Cataliades says that:
Perhaps if Fintan had survived, Linda's health would
have stayed with her. Dead Reckoning, p. 313
Linda got cancer sometime after Hadley left home. Sookie wonders if Hadley knew that Linda had gotten cancer and if that meant she'd come home.
My aunt Linda, her mother, had died of cancer
during the second year after Hadley's departure.
One Word Answer, A Touch of Dead, p. 81
So I'm inclined to think that Niall is referring about Hadley's first death, because Niall says he's too late for Hadley, but she died sometime during Dead as a Doornail or thereabouts.
♠ Eric meets Sookie, and soon thereafter, gets information from Terry.
And I hear you had a visit from some private detectives.
What did they want of you?"
"Who told you that?" Now I had something else to worry about.
Someone else was informing on me.
Dead as a Doornail, p. 172
I figured that Terry was informing on her back then, before I read it in the current book; because it was daytime when the private detectives came to visit Sookie at Merlotte's about the death of Debbie Pelt, and Sam had a broken leg and was over in his trailer. Terry was my first choice anyway, because I couldn't figure out how Eric got that information.
It should be noted that just because this is the first actual indication in the text that Eric has such information, I think it's absolutely entirely possible that this is also another indication that Eric has been watching Sookie for a looooong time:
I opened the card with some curiosity.
It bore only a signature, "Eric."
That was all I needed. How the hell had he heard I was in
the hospital? Why hadn't I heard from Bill?
Dead Until Dark, p. 287
This is why it's important not to fall into the idea that Eric tells Sookie the truth at all times. He may not tell her everything he knows, but what he tells her is true. That means that Eric could do anything he likes, and as long as Sookie doesn't ask, Eric doesn't lie to her.
♠ Eric is approached by Niall before Sookie breaks up with Bill. While Claude uses the words "protection of your great-grandfather" that doesn't mean that Eric knows the relationship.
"From Eric. They had a few business dealings together,
and Niall thought to ask Eric to alert him to events in your life.
Eric would tell Niall from time to time what you were up to.
There came a time when Eric thought you needed the
protection of your great-grandfather, and of course you
were withering." Dead Reckoning, p. 94
Of course, from a political point of view, if Eric was approached by Niall for information on Sookie, it would be expedient to give that information to Niall. Mainly because that leads to Eric being able to control the information, and to act as an agent presuming that Niall wants to hire her. If you recall in the post I gave about spies, you don't jump to conclusions if you're engaged in dodgy dealings. It's not logical to assume that the motive is one thing. You give your opponents rope enough to hang themselves, not as often happens in fanfic, make leaps of little or no logic.
♠ Claudine first appears in Sookie's life, in a relatively organic manner, first in Merlotte's, then through Tara, and then pops into Sookie's car when she's falling asleep on the way back from helping Maria Starr Cooper.
One was a magnificent woman at least six feet tall, with long
rippling dark hair. Dressed to kill in a skintight long-sleeved
orange dress, she'd come in by herself, and she was in the
process of meeting every guy in the bar. I didn't know what
she was, but I knew from her brain pattern that she was
not human. Dead to the World, pp. 11-12
♠ Niall finds Terry and gets information from him. It's possible that like Eric, he found Terry absolutely organically, or that he followed Eric on one of his Terry information sessions. I'm betting that Niall saw Terry talking to Sookie when her house was burned, and that's how he knew of the friendship. After all, the portal is right by Sookie's place.
"Sookie, I'm not charging you that much," Terry got his stubborn
face on. "I wouldn't charge you anything, but I got to get a new dog."
Dead as a Doornail, p. 180
Now, this is when Sookie first tells us that Terry has had to get a new dog - so Eric has been getting information from Sookie before this.
Terry loves hunting dogs, and things keep happening to them.
His current bitch has had puppies.
Lucky, A Touch of Dead, p. 122
I thought about the possibility that Eric is providing dogs for Terry - but that doesn't explain why Terry keeps losing dogs. I doubt that Eric would be out there chasing a dog. But a fairy could perform magic so that a dog keeps coming home, or to protect it. Annie, Terry's Catahoula, gets out, but Terry always finds her. She's had her second litter of puppies and has been around a while.
"They promised they wouldn't let nothing happen to my dog," Terry
whispered. "And they promised the dreams would stop."
"Did they keep their promises?" I asked back, my voice just as quiet.
"Yes," he said gratefully. "No more dreams, and I got my dog."
Dead Reckoning, p. 146
I doubt that Niall or Eric promised two things - one promised one, and one promised the other. It was a bit of a toss-up as to which one was which. But glamour could take away the effects of the dreams, and I don't see Eric sending the vampires of Area Five on a search for a dog. It wouldn't really guarantee anything anyway, because Terry's other dogs have died from snakebites and such. No dreams would be my guess for Eric's promise. But fear not fangirls, you can always deify Eric and put it about that he "helps" Vietnam Vets, and that proves he's really a good guy *insert severe eye roll*.
"Oh, Terry Bellefleur called to ask if you wanted a puppy.
You remember when Annie got out?"
Annie was Terry's very expensive and much-loved Catahoula.
He'd come out to my place looking for Annie when she'd
roamed away, and by the time he'd found her, she had had some
close encounters. All Together Dead, p. 204
I'd say that the amount of time that Terry has had Annie is a good indicator of what Niall's been doing. The fact that Terry has had such bad luck, and this time, his dog keeps being okay shows how long Niall has been watching Sookie. All of the dog stuff happens after the private detectives come to see Sookie, so it has to be Niall and the dogs.
♠ Eric figures out that Niall's interest in Sookie is fairy blood.
"You have fairy blood," Eric said, as if his own lightbulb
had just lit up. "That explains a lot." Definitely Dead, p. 282
Let me point out, before there's an uproar. Interest in Sookie is high enough that Eric is able to sell her services to Dallas. Niall being interested in a telepath that he can use would have been natural and normal. Now Eric knows that Sookie has fairy blood, he may suspect there's more to the whole thing other than interest in a telepath. In the crappiest fanfic, Eric can smell Sookie's part fairy from thirty odd yards away. But that's a special trait that Andre has (shocking - I know - Eric just cannot do absolutely fucking everything):
"He has a nose for it," the queen said. "My Andre."
Definitely Dead, p. 244
If Eric had a nose for it, he would have taught his favoured child and second Pam how to track things. He wouldn't have relegated that job to Heidi. When I see this shit in fanfic - where Eric can do everything - possibility of me leaving a review is reduced to almost zero, as I am not interested in a tired old version of "The Eric Show, with special guest cameo by Sookie".
Nor does Eric know that she's part of Niall's bloodline - he probes for information that might give him a hint.
"If it is, when did the fairy blood enter your family tree?
Did it come in with one of your grandparents?
That's what I'm supposing." All Together Dead, p. 223
Until Niall actually wants to come and talk to Sookie, Eric has no indication that Sookie might be related to Niall himself. As Eric says:
"You share his blood." Eric waved his free hand.
"If you didn't, you would never have seen him."
Dead and Gone, p. 91
To reiterate - there is no reason until he's told, to believe that the connection to Niall is a familial one. That's leaping to one conclusion when there are hundreds. Eric keeps probing because he might suspect, but you don't go doing things just on what you reckon. That's out of control and reckless - and quite frankly, deeply stupid. You have sure information.
♠ Niall tells Eric that he's Sookie's great grandfather.
"Has he known I was your kin for very long?" I held my breath,
waiting for the answer. Niall had turned to go. Now he turned
back a little, so I saw his face in profile. "No," he said. "I had
to known him better first. I told him only before he brought you
to meet me. He wouldn't help me until I told him why I wanted you."
From Dead to Worse, p. 229
Niall and Eric aren't having big talks over a couple of drinks. Niall doesn't know Eric well, and I doubt he'd be silly enough to be overly interested in Sookie and tip his hand to the local vampire power structure that Sookie is important to him. After all, when Niall did show that Sookie was important to him, she was tortured by other fairies. It's not smart to give Eric reason to hold your great-granddaughter's life over your head so that he can screw you over in business deals. Eric is a ruthless guy in business. He had no problem burning down a rival vampire bar. He'd love that sort of leverage over a Fairy Prince.
♠ Niall meets Sookie.
I think that's right, and if anyone has any disputing to do, well, that's what the comments are for. :D
But the fae timeline is putting a crimp in my style, because I'm trying to work out the interrelationships between Fintan and his Daddy Niall, and his mate Mr. Cataliades and stuff like when Fintan died and how it's grounded in Sookie's timeline. So rather than write it down in a notepad and keep it there, I figured the internet paper would be just as good, and valiant commenters would help me if I'm going wrong. Plus, then I can reference it in future posts, and I do have that problem with keeping things in my head and referencing them like you're all in here with me. I get told off for that on my academic stuff too. *Sigh* ...and you thought I was perfect. :D
While I was buggerising around, I also made a family tree:
Click on the picture to enlarge that puppy.
The problem with the Fae is that they're such shifty bastards, and time runs differently for them:
Niall, for example, tossed around hundreds of years in conversational
chronology in a very inconsistent way. He might describe some event
as being five hundred years ago, when another event that predated it
was earmarked two hundred years ago. He simply couldn't keep
track of the passage of time, maybe partly because he didn't
spend most of that time in our world. Dead and Gone, p. 139
As if Eric's machinations are not shifty enough, there's gotta be Fairies as well, jamming up the timeline. Oh, and just so we all know what we're doing - if you have a fix, then can you tell me page and book, and since I don't expect people to know the books as well as I do, at least context? Otherwise, if we go on the St. Eric theory of he always does what's in Sookie's best interests, memories of shit you read in fanfic (as so many do) or saw on True Blood, this will all go to hell in a handbasket. So, let's do this thing.
♠ Fintan discovers Adele, makes a portal near Adele's house and comes to visit her, Corbett and Linda are born over a two or three year period. Fintan also inhabits/steals Mitchell's body /leaves it out in the woods while he moons over Adele dressed like Mitchell. (Poor bloody Mitchell). Fintan comes and says that he needs to keep away from his kids to not lure his enemies right to their door. Dead Reckoning, pp. 129-133
♠ Fintan bans Niall from Adele and her children.
"I've known about your family for the past sixty years, give or take.
But my son Fintan forbade me seeing any of you."
From Dead to Worse, p. 63
However, it should be noted that Niall wasn't really interested in any of them during that time.
"But Niall had his ways, and nonetheless, he found that the essential
spark had passed Jason by. He became...uninterested." Claude said.
Dead Reckoning, p. 93
♠ Somewhere in this nebulous time period - all of it - Fintan is possibly making babies with other women. After all, neither of them promised they'd be in a monogamous relationship, and none of the fairies seem to hang their hats on virginity or sexual purity.
"Did Fintan have any other children or grandchildren?" I asked.
It would be nice to have more family. "We'll talk of that later,"
Niall said, which sent up an immediate red flag.
From Dead to Worse, p. 66
♠ Mr. Cataliades comes and gives the "gift" of telepathy to Fintan's descendants with the essential spark.
"Adele and Fintan each drank a thimbleful of my blood."
Dead Reckoning, p. 315
♠ Fintan dies.
"He just said his son had died."
Diantha broke into a hoot of shrill laughter. "Youcouldsaythat,"
she said and doubled over, still laughing. "Choppedintapieces!"
Dead and Gone, p. 136
This would have been around when Rogan died. Claude said that Rogan was the only one who could keep Breandan from getting all militant about it. Neave and Lochlan might have killed Sookie's parents in a non-obvious way, but this is an outright killing, obviously attributable to Breandan.
♠ Mr. Cataliades comes and gives Adele the cluviel dor.
Then he came by one more time, a few years ago. He gave
me this green thing. He said fairys give it to each other
when they're in love, and Fintan had given it to him to bring
here to me if Fintan died before I did. Dead Reckoning, p. 132
Just to be clear, Gran must have written that letter sometime around when Sookie was a young child, and undoubtedly soon after Corbett was killed.
"So, Fintan was still alive when Jason and I were born."
Desmond Cataliades nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, he was."
Dead Reckoning, p. 311♠ Hadley dies.
My son kept me from your father and your aunt, and then
from their children. His death came too late for me to
know your cousin Hadley. From Dead to Worse, p. 65-66
Now, it's entirely probable that this is within the time frame of just before Hunter was born. Because after all, I doubt that Niall would seek out a vampire - so I'd say that this refers to Hadley's first death, and not her final one. But it could be both or either. I just don't think he'd go for Hadley if all she thought of him was "food" or possibly "power". Fairies don't have a good opinion of vampires, by and large. Niall is quick to write off Jason, and he's human. I doubt he'd want to just know Hadley because she's his kin. Also, Mr. Cataliades says that:
Perhaps if Fintan had survived, Linda's health would
have stayed with her. Dead Reckoning, p. 313
Linda got cancer sometime after Hadley left home. Sookie wonders if Hadley knew that Linda had gotten cancer and if that meant she'd come home.
My aunt Linda, her mother, had died of cancer
during the second year after Hadley's departure.
One Word Answer, A Touch of Dead, p. 81
So I'm inclined to think that Niall is referring about Hadley's first death, because Niall says he's too late for Hadley, but she died sometime during Dead as a Doornail or thereabouts.
♠ Eric meets Sookie, and soon thereafter, gets information from Terry.
And I hear you had a visit from some private detectives.
What did they want of you?"
"Who told you that?" Now I had something else to worry about.
Someone else was informing on me.
Dead as a Doornail, p. 172
I figured that Terry was informing on her back then, before I read it in the current book; because it was daytime when the private detectives came to visit Sookie at Merlotte's about the death of Debbie Pelt, and Sam had a broken leg and was over in his trailer. Terry was my first choice anyway, because I couldn't figure out how Eric got that information.
It should be noted that just because this is the first actual indication in the text that Eric has such information, I think it's absolutely entirely possible that this is also another indication that Eric has been watching Sookie for a looooong time:
I opened the card with some curiosity.
It bore only a signature, "Eric."
That was all I needed. How the hell had he heard I was in
the hospital? Why hadn't I heard from Bill?
Dead Until Dark, p. 287
This is why it's important not to fall into the idea that Eric tells Sookie the truth at all times. He may not tell her everything he knows, but what he tells her is true. That means that Eric could do anything he likes, and as long as Sookie doesn't ask, Eric doesn't lie to her.
♠ Eric is approached by Niall before Sookie breaks up with Bill. While Claude uses the words "protection of your great-grandfather" that doesn't mean that Eric knows the relationship.
"From Eric. They had a few business dealings together,
and Niall thought to ask Eric to alert him to events in your life.
Eric would tell Niall from time to time what you were up to.
There came a time when Eric thought you needed the
protection of your great-grandfather, and of course you
were withering." Dead Reckoning, p. 94
Of course, from a political point of view, if Eric was approached by Niall for information on Sookie, it would be expedient to give that information to Niall. Mainly because that leads to Eric being able to control the information, and to act as an agent presuming that Niall wants to hire her. If you recall in the post I gave about spies, you don't jump to conclusions if you're engaged in dodgy dealings. It's not logical to assume that the motive is one thing. You give your opponents rope enough to hang themselves, not as often happens in fanfic, make leaps of little or no logic.
♠ Claudine first appears in Sookie's life, in a relatively organic manner, first in Merlotte's, then through Tara, and then pops into Sookie's car when she's falling asleep on the way back from helping Maria Starr Cooper.
One was a magnificent woman at least six feet tall, with long
rippling dark hair. Dressed to kill in a skintight long-sleeved
orange dress, she'd come in by herself, and she was in the
process of meeting every guy in the bar. I didn't know what
she was, but I knew from her brain pattern that she was
not human. Dead to the World, pp. 11-12
♠ Niall finds Terry and gets information from him. It's possible that like Eric, he found Terry absolutely organically, or that he followed Eric on one of his Terry information sessions. I'm betting that Niall saw Terry talking to Sookie when her house was burned, and that's how he knew of the friendship. After all, the portal is right by Sookie's place.
"Sookie, I'm not charging you that much," Terry got his stubborn
face on. "I wouldn't charge you anything, but I got to get a new dog."
Dead as a Doornail, p. 180
Now, this is when Sookie first tells us that Terry has had to get a new dog - so Eric has been getting information from Sookie before this.
Terry loves hunting dogs, and things keep happening to them.
His current bitch has had puppies.
Lucky, A Touch of Dead, p. 122
I thought about the possibility that Eric is providing dogs for Terry - but that doesn't explain why Terry keeps losing dogs. I doubt that Eric would be out there chasing a dog. But a fairy could perform magic so that a dog keeps coming home, or to protect it. Annie, Terry's Catahoula, gets out, but Terry always finds her. She's had her second litter of puppies and has been around a while.
"They promised they wouldn't let nothing happen to my dog," Terry
whispered. "And they promised the dreams would stop."
"Did they keep their promises?" I asked back, my voice just as quiet.
"Yes," he said gratefully. "No more dreams, and I got my dog."
Dead Reckoning, p. 146
I doubt that Niall or Eric promised two things - one promised one, and one promised the other. It was a bit of a toss-up as to which one was which. But glamour could take away the effects of the dreams, and I don't see Eric sending the vampires of Area Five on a search for a dog. It wouldn't really guarantee anything anyway, because Terry's other dogs have died from snakebites and such. No dreams would be my guess for Eric's promise. But fear not fangirls, you can always deify Eric and put it about that he "helps" Vietnam Vets, and that proves he's really a good guy *insert severe eye roll*.
"Oh, Terry Bellefleur called to ask if you wanted a puppy.
You remember when Annie got out?"
Annie was Terry's very expensive and much-loved Catahoula.
He'd come out to my place looking for Annie when she'd
roamed away, and by the time he'd found her, she had had some
close encounters. All Together Dead, p. 204
I'd say that the amount of time that Terry has had Annie is a good indicator of what Niall's been doing. The fact that Terry has had such bad luck, and this time, his dog keeps being okay shows how long Niall has been watching Sookie. All of the dog stuff happens after the private detectives come to see Sookie, so it has to be Niall and the dogs.
♠ Eric figures out that Niall's interest in Sookie is fairy blood.
"You have fairy blood," Eric said, as if his own lightbulb
had just lit up. "That explains a lot." Definitely Dead, p. 282
Let me point out, before there's an uproar. Interest in Sookie is high enough that Eric is able to sell her services to Dallas. Niall being interested in a telepath that he can use would have been natural and normal. Now Eric knows that Sookie has fairy blood, he may suspect there's more to the whole thing other than interest in a telepath. In the crappiest fanfic, Eric can smell Sookie's part fairy from thirty odd yards away. But that's a special trait that Andre has (shocking - I know - Eric just cannot do absolutely fucking everything):
"He has a nose for it," the queen said. "My Andre."
Definitely Dead, p. 244
If Eric had a nose for it, he would have taught his favoured child and second Pam how to track things. He wouldn't have relegated that job to Heidi. When I see this shit in fanfic - where Eric can do everything - possibility of me leaving a review is reduced to almost zero, as I am not interested in a tired old version of "The Eric Show, with special guest cameo by Sookie".
Nor does Eric know that she's part of Niall's bloodline - he probes for information that might give him a hint.
"If it is, when did the fairy blood enter your family tree?
Did it come in with one of your grandparents?
That's what I'm supposing." All Together Dead, p. 223
Until Niall actually wants to come and talk to Sookie, Eric has no indication that Sookie might be related to Niall himself. As Eric says:
"You share his blood." Eric waved his free hand.
"If you didn't, you would never have seen him."
Dead and Gone, p. 91
To reiterate - there is no reason until he's told, to believe that the connection to Niall is a familial one. That's leaping to one conclusion when there are hundreds. Eric keeps probing because he might suspect, but you don't go doing things just on what you reckon. That's out of control and reckless - and quite frankly, deeply stupid. You have sure information.
♠ Niall tells Eric that he's Sookie's great grandfather.
"Has he known I was your kin for very long?" I held my breath,
waiting for the answer. Niall had turned to go. Now he turned
back a little, so I saw his face in profile. "No," he said. "I had
to known him better first. I told him only before he brought you
to meet me. He wouldn't help me until I told him why I wanted you."
From Dead to Worse, p. 229
Niall and Eric aren't having big talks over a couple of drinks. Niall doesn't know Eric well, and I doubt he'd be silly enough to be overly interested in Sookie and tip his hand to the local vampire power structure that Sookie is important to him. After all, when Niall did show that Sookie was important to him, she was tortured by other fairies. It's not smart to give Eric reason to hold your great-granddaughter's life over your head so that he can screw you over in business deals. Eric is a ruthless guy in business. He had no problem burning down a rival vampire bar. He'd love that sort of leverage over a Fairy Prince.
♠ Niall meets Sookie.
I think that's right, and if anyone has any disputing to do, well, that's what the comments are for. :D