Outsider, pt 2

Someone was knocking on the door, but Charlie wasn't sure what to do about the blood on his sword. He blinked. No, of course there was no blood. He was alone. Why would there be blood? He sheathed the sword and answered the door. Rita beamed a smile at him from the hallway.

"Hi! I figured you'd be here." A strand of flowers slid over her face, and she brushed it away. "Thought you might like some company." She barged into the room unbidden. "Oh wow, I totally forgot about how depressing these rooms are."

"You lived here?"

"Well yeah, a lot of us lived here, it's like the half-way home. It's usually empty, I guess 'cause the Hedge is kinda thick here, and so not a lot of people come through? I heard that in some towns they get like four or five every day, but I'm not sure I believe that, I mean geez, it'd be crowded in like a week! Can you imagine? This girl, Esmeralda - you don't know her, she's a Winter - she said she's been to New York - I think it was New York - anyway, big cities are totally packed with Changelings, and the courts are lots more glamorous than here. Are you listening?"

Charlie realized that he was staring out the window. He cleared his throat and closed the door.

"Sorry, I was just thinking how different you are from Tara. You two are pretty much the only people I talk to now, and you're both in the Spring court, right? But you're so different, she's a bit... private. She doesn't talk much."

"Yeah, she kinda keeps to herself." Rita sat down on the bed.

"Why?"

"I dunno. Why does anyone do anything? Maybe something happened when she was locked up in Faerie. She doesn't talk about it, but you know, not a lot of us do if you stop and think about it."

"But she said something about how courts are supposed to represent how people are, and the king asked me about my feelings, but I don't really see the connection. The three of us are pretty different."

"Well we're all people, not some kinda zombies. But you know, everyone in the Spring court has some kinda flair, and most of the people I know here can be kinda cocky and always, like, riding this wave of danger, living on the edge. Plus we all love to party."

"Even Tara?"

"Yeah, in her own way."

"How about the other courts?"

"Well, Summer is mostly all these really angry guys. Also they have the most members I think. They keep saying we should go fight the bad Fae, but I dunno, that sounds kinda stupid."

"Wait, the Fae?"

"F - A - E."

"Like faeries?"

"Kinda, it's like Gertrude said, it's like the bogeyman, except much worse. OK, so Autumn are these really stuffy types, they usually talk about stuff I don't understand, but most of them won't even talk to me. Queen Sheana has the throne right now though, so all the get togethers are usually about some new kinda way to harness the power of Arcadia or whatever. I dunno, seems like what we already got is alright."

"What's that?"

"What?"

"What have we got exactly?"

"Oh, I totally forgot you have amnesia! Oh shit, that was like a pun or something, sorry!" Rita giggled, and Charlie had an increasing desire to strangle her for never getting to anything even resembling a point.

"Yeah, no problem," he forced himself to say. "Now, what is it we have?"

"We have contracts. Like, to climb a tree or to hide in the shadow or swim, stuff like that. They're really useful in a pinch, but some people think they're the shit just because they have a lotta contracts. I say they're useful, they're not everything."

"Contracts? Who with?"

"With anyone."

"To climb a tree?"

"Well, I can do that, I don't know what you can do. You don't really look like any Changeling I know, but I don't know a lot yet."

"I... Anyone can climb trees."

"Yeah, but the contracts is what makes us special, that's our power."

"So... We can sign a piece of paper that says we can climb just like anyone else?"

"No!" Rita laughed, and Charlie's hands itched.

"But that's what you just said! You're talking like I already know this stuff, you have to explain it."

"Right, yeah sorry. Well, how do I explain it? Well, what it is is this. Promises and oaths and stuff work differently for us. Well, actually if you stop and think about it, I think it's the only thing that works in Faerie."

"Is that a place?"

"Yeah, Faerie, Arcadia, it's what's on the other side of the Hedge. I mean you wouldn't, but I remember having to get used to that place, where the sky was up and the ground down just 'cause that's what they promised. Things, like, only worked because there was a deal. I dunno how it works, but we became a part of some deals when we started living there. I dunno if that's something they gotta do to bring us with them or something, but there it is."

"OK... Deals like what? Between people? I don't understand."

"No, I mean deals between anything. Like, a Fae can make a deal with water. Actually, they have to make a deal with air just to breathe. And if they get a good deal, if they're smart enough, they can do more. Maybe make the air hard and walk on it, that kinda stuff."

"But, it's air. There's no changing the laws of nature." But as Charlie said it, he heard his voice quiver with anticipation. This concept of things just agreeing to be the way they were instead of following a unified theory of immutable laws felt too familiar to disregard. It seemed so deeply rooted, as if it was something he'd heard as a child. He remembered his handshake with King Braggart. The oath.

"Like I said," Rita continued, "Faerie doesn't have laws of nature. It's like... It's like when you're dreaming, right? You can maybe fly and monsters are there and all kinds of shit. I think that's actually part of what Faerie is, it's like it's built from dreams or something, or maybe our dreams come from that place. Thing is, it's like this, even when we come back through the Hedge, when we're in the real world again, our contracts still work. Well, I mean, like Gertrude showed you, it's the reason you see how we really look, but normal people don't. That's a contract. That's a deal that someone made."

"I- OK, so what can you do?"

"Um, well you probably noticed how I'm basically a flower tree person kinda girl?"

"Yeah?"

"Check it out." She tensed slightly, and the chair jerked a few inches to the side. Charlie stared as the dice rolled from the sudden movement and then settled. He wondered if he should pinch himself. Rita laughed.

"You should see your face right now!"

"But what the-? How?"

"Well, it's easy, it's made of wood. I have a contract with wood, so it does whatever I say."