Queen's Quest

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen The Telling

A collective gasp filled the room at this impertinence, I've no doubt everyone from earth thought "The Morrigan" a dead woman at this outburst but knowing Queen Kolee as I did I knew better. Bivale Kolee was too much an accomplished politician to stoop to the bait "The Morrigian" was throwing out, instead, she eased back in her chair, whispered something to Queen Maguire and smiled a wicked grin. Leaning forward to her mic, she responded.

"I sense a lot of pent up rage here, suppose you tell all of us what's got you so worked up your eminence, not that I couldn't guess but go ahead, you have the floor." "The Morrigan sat there for a moment slowly looking around sure that she should be dead by now. Still glaring at the three rulers she began.

"Trick is right I do know a considerable amount, I even know that poem by heart, but I have no intention of sharing it with the likes of you. You people care more for ancient doggerel than you do for those of us forced to stay hidden from the humans. You three sit up there and proclaim how wonderful life is, what about our lives?" Queen Maguire broke in with,

"It's our understanding you've carved out a rather sumptuous life for yourself."

"You listen to lies; I suffer along with all my fellow Fae."

"So what is it that you want us to do about all this?" injected Queen Kolee, "We keep hearing a lot of bickering and complaining but nothing as far as solutions."

"The Morrigan" stood up and shouted,

"Help us, help us defeat the humans, you wish to know of the glory of the past, we could build a true glory, that of the present. With your help we could recreate a glorious world where the Fae could reach their full glory and potential." The three rulers just sat there in total disbelief at what they just heard, Queen Maguire was the first to speak.

"So your eminence let us get this straight, you want Isseth to spend it's blood and treasure to start a war with the humans, for what? Dreams of glory, and naturally, you would want to rule over what was left." King Trueblood then spoke up,

"Do you possibly have any conception as to the reality of such an action? From what we know of these humans and the state of their technology I've no doubt we could easily win such a war, but at what cost" Or is that just an inconvenient detail your not concerned with?

Millions of innocent people dead or enslaved, a destroyed planet, not to mention the disease and pestilence rampant in the world. Your eminence, pardon me for saying this but these are ravings of a madwoman. It's quite obvious you have no conception of the reality of such actions. Even though they took place over two hundred and fifty years ago, the memories of the ogre wars remain in our collective minds. Our educational institutions make it a point to keep these memories fresh in the younger generations lest this ever happen again. Now you might say this only fosters hatred towards Ogres but the horror of what this planet went through must never be repeated…Ever."

Queen Kolee then spoke,

"What if instead of attacking earth on your behalf, we introduced ourselves and offered them a trade deal? I've no doubt they are as greedy and self absorbed as all of you claim they are I'm sure they would jump at the chance to trade for such trinkets and baubles as we could offer them, perhaps even a mathematical theory or two relating to space travel. Naturally, all of this would hinge on proper behavior towards the Fae. Don't you think this might be a more productive course of action, one that would alleviate your fellow Fae of the oppression you claim you're suffering under them."

Ciara, the professed Faerie Queen immediately spoke out,

"Your highnesses forgive me for interrupting, but even though her intentions are evil, "The Morrigan" is correct in her statements about the humans. You ask about things we can agree on, well that is one. It's a very sad state of affairs to admit it, but we are certain that certain governments know of our existence owing to the fact that over the years some of us have been caught by government agencies, their fates are uncertain but rumors have surfaced concerning imprisonment and dissections." This brought another rush of hushed voices until Queen Maguire called for order.

Ciara then continued,

"Even though we don't agree on "The Morrigan"s call for a war against the humans, her assessment of their ignorance and greed is quite correct, do not involve yourselves with them. They will only covet and crave what you have and find a way to get here then you will have a war."

"She's right," injected "The Morrigan" You say you want to search for lfheimr, I don't see how you're going to do that without alerting the humans, the location of that island is too close to Russia which won't take kindly to strange people poking around their northern border."

"And you think dragging us into a war with them will improve the situation?" inquired Queen Maguire.

"You seem more concerned about these miserable humans than our own people," sniffed "The Morrigan," If I were you my duty would be clear, and my conscious would dictate that I consider our suffering brethren first and foremost." Queen Kolee guffawed, and remarked,

"That's because you don't have a conscious." Her voice then took on a scornful tone, "You'd have no compunction over plunging Isseth into a terrible and costly war. I would evacuate all the Fae left on earth before I'd start a war with the humans." "The Morrigan" shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Queen Kolee continued.

"It might surprise you to know that we have a lot in common."

"I sincerely doubt that," sneered "The Morrigan."

"Oh it's true," replied Kolee, "However I have a lot of something you clearly don't and that's common sense coupled with a strong practical sense. It's obvious you enjoy disorder destruction and misery, I…On the other hand prefer things…Nice, and smooth, everything in order, my friends here do as well. Oh we have our personal differences from time to time, Furgas here simply cannot abide my…Shall we say…Lifestyle, but we don't let it interfere with affairs of state or national relations. It's called cooperation, we work together, likewise with Maguire here. Believe me, bullying and intimidation may work in the short term but in the long run it get's you nowhere, possibly dead or at the very least hated, but that's no way to run things." King Trueblood then asked,

"Is there no way you people can find a way to work together towards a common goal?" Trick spoke up with,

"Believe me your highness we of the light Fae have tried but to no avail, "The Morrigan" is hell bent to start a war with the humans with the ultimate goal of enslaving them." I noticed Queen Kolee put her face into her hands for a moment before looking up and staring at "The Morrigan." With a weary sounding tone, she said,

"What are we going to do with you? If we send you home I've no doubt you'd start something that would get us involved somehow, it's what I'd do. Don't look at me that way, admit it, you and your minions would figure out a way to start a war that would require us to come in and rescue the Fae.

If we keep you here, there will be a power vacuum, which your minions will quick to try and fill it igniting a war in the process. Not only would the light and dark sides be fighting each other, but you'd be at war with the humans as well, yeah, we'd have a real mess on our hands, no thank you." Suddenly a hand went up over to the left, looking closer I could see it was the Pyrrian ambassador Barkley Shelburt.

"Mr. ambassador," said queen Maguire, calling attention to his raised hand.

"Your highness's might I offer a possible solution?"

"By all means ambassador," replied queen Kolee, "You have the floor."

"Your highness," he began, "Might I offer the suggestion of installing a governor. Someone appointed by the Galactic Union with full authority to act in behalf of Isseth. A neutral figure who would weigh arguments and settle disputes from both elements of Fae on this planet we are here discussing." The two queens and king looked at each other, I could see then whispering among themselves, some nodding a shrug or two, then queen Kolee finally speaking.

"Mr. Ambassador, we like it, however we think that to be most effective the governor should come from earth. Oh, we could appoint someone, but they would be ignorant to the true situation back on earth. That ignorance could be used against them by certain unnamed individuals to achieve their goals. No, this governor must come from the Fae themselves. We are very pleased at your suggestion sir. Tonight at dinner we will pursue this matter further, and iron out the details, so we will see you then."

Queen Maguire then addressed the members of the light Fae with,

"You have heard the ambassador's suggestion what say you to this idea?" "The Nain Rouge" was the first to speak up,

"Your highness, we of the light Fae would readily honor such an administrator, provided we could be assured of impartiality and complete fairness."

"Ciara and I also agree," replied Trick.

"How about you?" said queen Kolee staring at "The Morrigan?"

"Who would this person be?" she replied.

"I don't know at this point," replied queen Kolee. "More than likely we'll take nominations then the three of us will interview the one with the most nominations. Otherwise we just might offer the position to someone in the Cantard working out their sentence, offering a full pardon if they agree to go to earth and perform this task, say for five years." This statement caused quite a stir but that is why the queen made it, of course, no one from the Cantard would be chosen for the governorship, it was just the queen's way of injecting a little sarcasm into the proceedings…Then again.

"The Morrigan then voiced her objection with,

"Your highness, all things considered, I suppose we could live with such a decision, are we permitted to submit names as well?"

"You may," replied queen Kolee, "But be realistic in your choices."

Shortly afterwards, the hearing was called to a close until tomorrow afternoon. Since we weren't invited to the state dinner tonight, my crew and I would be dining at "The Cauldron" a favored eatery here in Bal Sara with navy personnel as well as members of the witch's guild mainly because it was across the street from their guildhall. The discussions taking place there tonight would certainly be interesting to say the least.