New Earth 6

23

"This is not an encouraging gesture." Cole looked at the dais. Of the ruling council's five seats, only one was occupied by a severe looking iron haired woman, running a crystal pendant against her thin lips as she completely ignored them.

"Oh, what is so distressing, Elf?"

Cole flinched, peeking sheepishly at Daisu. Really? He mouthed at her. She shrugged.

"You're considered a hostile race here, but you are not in chains, you have been shown courteously around the city, and allowed admittance to our inner council chamber." These points were true; even Daisu's restraints were removed this morning thanks to the good Doctor Huntley's insistence. "As for why I am the face you see before you, the council remains heavily divided on what to do with you."

The councilwoman appeared to be writing by hand in a battered leather book. She finished her entry, only looking up after she carefully placed her round writing instrument down. She examined them with eyes the color of Daisu's sword and twice as sharp.

"Half the council wants to drag you to the surface and leave you there. The other is willing to grant you asylum provided you give us extensive information of your race." She folded her hands, sizing them up until Daisu let out a sigh.

"What do you want?"

Cole swore the corner of her mouth quirked up at the question. "I am the neutral party, one who wishes to take your measure before a decision is made." She rose, stepping down off the dais to stand in front of them. The councilwoman was a short human, barely over a meter and a half tall, she came up to Cole's shoulder. Despite this, Cole felt she had to gaze up at those steel colored eyes. This woman had the presence of a queen.

"Would you give up the secrets of your race to stay here? And you," she said, turning her imperious stare on Daisu. "My daughter tells me biologically, you are half human, yet you are a soldier of the Fey army. You have been cast out by your brethren. Now where do your loyalties lie?"

"Daughter?" Cole squinted at her, failing to see a familiarity in the older woman's face. "Dr. Huntley?"

The councilwoman's eyes flashed back to her. Cole resisted the urge to gulp, barely.

"What is your answer?"

Cole looked at Daisu, noticing the tightness in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. How would he answer such a question? Could she answer for both of them? Could she betray her own people as they had her? No, they didn't betray her, the Queen did. The Queen, who sent an extermination unit to a desolate rock.

"Why does the Queen send her soldiers out here?" Cole met that hard gaze head on, refusing to be backed into a corner.

"A question for a question. Elsbeth said you were a scientist." She turned away, running her fingers along the open pages of her frayed book. "A cast out scientist. Whatever did you stumble upon Cole'th Hirskirt?"

Cole bit her lip. She had to admit, she liked this human. Not a single hitch in pronouncing her name, she suspected the woman might speak the Fey language.

"I usually go by Cole," she said, joining the woman on the dais. "I am not on the run from my people. I will not give you their secrets if you mean them harm." She glanced down at the woman's neat hand writing, in a language she had never seen before. "The Queen has wronged both of us."

The woman's tone was soft as she spoke. "The enemy of mine enemy-"

"No," Cole interrupted, "We are not enemies. In truth, we did not know humans survived the fall of this planet."

The councilwoman was skeptical. "You swear to this also?" She demanded of Daisu.

"My loyalty is to Cole, and Cole alone," he said, his shoulders tense.

"Well then, I think it's time you stumbled upon a discovery worthy of your queen's ire." The council woman tucked the book under one arm as she extended her other, hand open and flat. "Humans greet one another by clasping palms."

Cole hesitated before taking the woman's small hand in her own, her long fingers curling around the human's wrist.

"I am Naomi Huntley." The woman's face creased with a smile. The transformation was dramatic, revealing a hidden warmth. Cole was momentarily dazed, reminded of a similar smile from long ago. She shook herself.

"What discovery do you speak of?" She asked as Naomi's smile turned secretive, a fire flaring in her eyes.

"Come, you shall be the first Fey to see this in hundreds of years." Naomi headed for a non-descript door in the corner of the council chamber. Cole wouldn't have noticed it at all. The tug of curiosity dragged her forward. She barely registered Daisu's pensive expression as they followed the human into a tunnel, damp with the smell of the earth, dimly lit by intermittent orbs of light jutting from the rock. They walked for several minutes, Naomi volunteering no further information. They were steadily veering downward. She thought she saw more light ahead when Naomi turned their course abruptly to the left into dazzling brightness.

Cole rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. The tunnel emerged into another underground oasis, a mist rising off the collection of pools and small waterfalls in the cavern's center. The jewel tones of crystal and vegetation mingling together were as lovely as the first oasis she saw, except there was something else here, something she had trouble recognizing since it had long entwined itself into the local fauna.

"That's a Fey ship," she breathed. Only part of it was visible, the rest buried in the earth. She turned to her companions. Naomi's eyes were trained on Daisu's paled face. "Daisu, what is it?"

"Recognize it, halfling?" The human said, those steel eyes filled with intense curiosity.

Daisu nodded, his face bleak when he looked to Cole. "It's the Hie'ne."

Cole knew the name from Fey history; it was a warship which disappeared centuries ago, around the same time as...

"By the Veil, if it's here-"

"The Fey did not attempt to intervene on the Barlok raze of Mal'th. They took part."