Aggie and Arlen were unceremoniously tossed into a cave after the red headed woman had confiscated all of their weapons and their belongings.

The roar that had raged through the crowd after she had spoken had practically deafened Aggie, and she had winced, expecting one of the many individuals carrying spears to end her life right then and there.

Instead, they had been searched and stripped of everything on them but their clothes, and tossed into one of the many caves along the mountain wall where 2 rows of guards were posted at the entrance. Aggie managed to notice that they reminded her of her entourage of maids back at Sean O’Farrell’s keep, despite the pain radiating through her body.

As Aggie lay battered and bruised on the dirt floor, she felt Arlen’s trembling hand reach out to her.

Was he scared as well?

“M-My Lady. Please… Please do not… not be afraid.” Arlen stammered the words through his teeth, as Aggie grasped his hand in her own, concern beginning to outweigh her worry.

“Arlen what is… happening? What’s wrong?”

“When you… feel sc-scared… I feel pain.” He was now gripping Aggie’s hand so tightly that it was hurting her.

“What?! Since when?!”

Arlen took some deep breaths. Her being startled was working. He could manage the low level pain he felt now. The first few days they had been taken he had been half carried. He had never felt that kind of pain before. Even during his poison lessons…

“My Lady, it is a sign of our strong bond. I will always be able to feel when you are afraid. At first I thought it was just when you were in danger, but you’ve been in danger many times since we’ve run away. I haven’t felt the pain since we reached Declan’s inn.” He breathed easier, he could feel her fear ebbing away.

Even when she had been running from Sean O’Farrell, she hadn’t ever been as scared as she was right after being kidnapped, and facing the Minkies Queen.

“Good God! I can’t feel fear without you being in intolerable pain?!”

“Yes. Fortunately for me, you are a tough woman to frighten.” Arlen patted her hand gently. He heard her laugh nervously. The pain started to rise again. She was remembering the situation they were in.

“Arlen… what is going on?” She reached her other hand out to her Servicer, and found him leaning weakly against the cave wall.

“I had calculated the risks of the Minkies finding out about our impersonating of their kind, but had sorely misjudged a few things…”

“What things? Who was that woman?” Aggie’s voice turned steely.

“Lady Agnes, the Minkies travel in groups no larger than 40 at a time as I mentioned before… however, that is not their entire population. They rarely band all together at the same time, and so they elect a leader to keep track of their members. One who is responsible for making decisions for the multiple groups. She is their Queen. She is the one who knows everyone and their stories, and so they trust in her wisdom.”

“I thought the Minkies couldn’t talk?!” Aggie threw her hands up in the air exasperated.

“I said most could not. Not that none of them could.”

Aggie grunted in annoyance, causing Arlen to grin. Her fear was almost completely forgotten.

“So why did they drag us here?” Aggie whispered more quietly, casting a nervous eye at the guards at the door.

“They… are very protective of their reputation my Lady. They work very hard to never be the target of attention, and to stay out of all politics. Preferring to keep to old ways, and host the most human magic users out of any populace.”

“Magic?!”

“Yes, my Lady. This population does not have any Beast Awares, or Fey blood. They have kept themselves purely human. Therefore, they have most human magic healers, seers, mind magickers- you might have wondered why Tork was unsuccessful in fighting off our assailants. I imagine one of them was able to subdue his senses as long as possible. Even then, Tork still beat off at least 4 or 5 of them before being knocked unconscious.”

“You’re sure Tork isn’t dead?” Aggie’s heart pounded in her ears. She had been worried about the bounty hunter for days.

“Yes. I know he isn’t dead.”

“What about Ora, Quib, and the Prince?”

“I cannot know for certain Lady Beatha, but if they murdered the crowned Prince, that would bring them more attention than they desire.”

“How could they know he was the Prince?”

“Seers. They know who all major political figures are, for that exact reason. They don’t want politics, and therefore need to know whom to avoid. If the Prince were found dying on their doorstep, they’d dump him at the castle gates but they wouldn’t do so caringly, or stick around for the rewards or for questioning.”

“What about Ora?” Aggie was becoming more confused the more she heard about the Minkies, and decided to venture on a new path of questions.

“Ora is Beast Fey. I am surprised I was unable to deduce this sooner, but it explains many things about her…”

Aggie sat in silence for another moment.

Everything was as clear as muddied water to her.

She was captured by a prideful, intelligent, crude group of nomadic people, who also happened to have multiple magic-abled people amongst them.

Ora was a Beast Fey… which would explain why she couldn’t talk, knew Chay, and had such a strong reaction to seeing the Fey garden in Tork’s courtyard.

So where did that leave her and Arlen?

“Hang on… what do they want with us though?” Aggie remembered her original question after she processed some of the information Arlen had given her.

“We threatened their reputation.”

“How?”

“You murdered 2 people, gouged someone’s eye out, and rescued the crown Prince. All while masquerading as a Minkies woman.”

“Oh.”

Aggie felt the fear rising back in her chest, until she heard a soft gasp from Arlen. She was hurting him again…

Suddenly, anger flashed through her.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that they would hunt someone down if they were being impersonated?” Aggie growled the question as the realization sank in.

“I thought that we would be in a new disguise, and heading to the Southern Kingdom by now. Once it became clear that wasn’t what was happening, we also had the Prince with us. They took a great risk in taking us in his presence, a risk I had doubted they would take. It would seem they did not want you to once again appear before the King. Doing so could announce to the kingdom that they were now being dealt into the world of politics.”

Aggie let out an angry breath. It made sense, but she still didn’t like it.

“What are they going to do with us?” The fact that the Minkies didn’t seem murderous in Arlen’s description of them, gave her some ease of mind.

“That my Lady, I do not know. The Minkies wear their reputations proudly, and relish in the general populace forgetting about them, and undermining them, but few truly know the inner workings of these tribes. The fact that they summoned so many groups here, means that this will not be dealt with lightly. We’ve interrupted their lives, and threatened their peace. I do not wish to scare you my Lady- for many reasons, but this might be-”

“They won’t kill us.” Aggie’s voice sounded more confident than she felt, but she had come across a thought that was beginning to giver her hope.

“I’m betrothed to Sean O’Farrell, I’m part of the political world they do not wish to interfere with.”

Arlen was silent. He didn’t like to dash Aggie’s hopes, but he couldn’t let her make that argument to them.

“Aggie you… left Sean O’Farrell. You are a runaway. They may not see you as a political figure.” His voice was gentle, and he slowly touched her shoulder as she felt her heart sink.

“If he’s still looking for me, I matter though, right?”

Arlen was grateful that he was incapable of feeling love. If he were forced to hear her hope die in her voice, and love her in any measure, he would begin to feel a pain not unlike the one he experienced when she was afraid.

“If you are missing long enough, you will disappear in time.”

Arlen waited for her to argue with him, and felt an unfamiliar stabbing in his heart when he heard her sniffle in the dark.

“I’m sorry. I’m mostly just… just tired.” Aggie wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve.

Arlen reached over to her, and pulled her into him in a gentle embrace.

“Why are you hugging me? Isn’t this inappropriate?” Aggie teased weakly. She hated crying. She knew she had every right to after being walked until her boots were soaked in her blood, and potentially facing her death, but even so.

“Hugging is a human necessity for emotional growth, and helps regulate breathing and heart rate. It may help you be stronger.”

Aggie stayed silent for a few moments, and reluctantly noticed her tears subsided, and her breathing came down from their initial soft gasps.

“You called me Aggie.” She whispered smiling. Arlen’s shoulders tensed up.

“Forgive me, my Lady.”

“Nope. No taking it back. You have to call me Aggie again.”

“I will have to decline your request.”

“Consider it my dying wish.” Aggie teased darkly.

“You aren’t dead yet.”

“I will start ranting about Servicer’s being slaves again.” Aggie warned stubbornly as she pulled away from Arlen, and glared at him in the dark.

Arlen let out a weary breath and rubbed his eyes.

“Fine my La- Aggie. Fine. If we do not die tomorrow however, I am resuming calling you by your proper title.”

“If we don’t die tomorrow, I will finally listen to you talk about Servicer’s.” Aggie lay down on the cave floor.

She hadn’t been certain that she would be able to sleep, but regardless of her impending doom, she had been walking day and night for nearly a week.

So with throbbing bloody feet, and sore bloody wrists, she drifted off into nothingness, unsure of what the next morning would bring.

*

“Aggie no!” Archibald Beatha stood over his young daughter whose hand was reaching towards the sparkling inkpot that sat on his desk.

The child of 5 snatched her hand back caught between a giggle, and trying to look contrite.

With a sigh, Lord Beatha bent over and picked up his daughter as he sat down at his desk chair.

“Aggie, you truly are fearless you know that? You should learn that there are consequences to your actions.” He sighed, and stared down at the bright green eyes just like his own, and felt his heart give way to her innocent smile.

“What’re you doing father?” Aggie turned towards the desk, pretending she wasn’t being lectured. She was in nothing but her shift, and had snuck out of her governesses care early that morning to investigate her father’s office, where strange and interesting people always seemed to be coming and going from.

Lord Archibald swept back her long messy brown hair, which again was akin to his own in color, to avoid its strands touching the wet ink on his ledgers.

“I’m looking at our expenses and profits so I know what deals to negotiate.” He answered as she leaned forward and peered quizzically at the long running columns of numbers.

“So that you know how much money we have?” She turned and stared slightly frowning at her father who had a pair of spectacles on, ones that were rimmed in gold, and hid the dark circles under his eyes.

“Well that, and to know what to bargain for when I compare numbers with the other merchants.”

“What if they don’t want to show you their numbers?” Aggie settled back on her father’s knee, wondering to herself why anyone should tell each other what they had if it gave the other person an advantage.

“I have other ways of finding out. There are the vendors that work for the other merchants, and I know what they are charging for their wares as opposed to my own vendors.” Archibald smiled slyly.

“There are always grounds for negotiation Aggie. Doesn’t matter what the other person knows or doesn’t know. If you’re clever enough, and bold enough, you can sell a chicken to a king for a hundred gold pieces.”

Aggie yawned and rubbed her eyes. Perhaps she had risen a little too early after all.

Archibald kissed her forehead and gathered her in his arms.

“One day Aggie, you might have to negotiate your very own deals. Just remember, to make a good deal you have to be resourceful, and creative in how you use your knowledge.”

Aggie was already fast asleep in her father’s arms, unaware that she was absorbing his lessons.

He carried her to her room, and glanced at the clock with a frown.

Farrah Beatha still wasn’t home from the party last night…

With a sigh, Archibald handed off his daughter to her governess who apologized in hurried whispered tones at losing track of her charge.

He couldn’t be mad. He prided himself on the bright intelligence in his daughter’s eyes- intelligence that matched if not rivaled his own. It also meant she had a propensity at outwitting those around her.

Yes… he had no doubt in his mind that his daughter would always be a handful.

***

Aggie sat up with a start, momentarily forgetting that she wasn’t tucked back in her bed in her Father’s house, and blinked as the morning light broke through the cave’s entrance, and illuminated Arlen’s sleeping form.

He was leaned back against the cave wall, with his knee propped up and his right arm dangling over its knee. If his eyes were open, he would look as though he were spending time leisurely thinking. His slanted eyes when closed, didn’t show any creases or lines, and gracefully sloped upwards.

Aggie smiled.

Her mysterious Servicer whom she knew so little about, aside from knowing that he had 12 siblings, felt immense pain whenever she was scared, and could potentially be the son of a Servicer who worked for the Thief of Souls.

A name Aggie recalled hearing when her governess had taught her about the War of Kinds, and she knew that one way or another, Arlen’s history was only just beginning to be unearthed.

She also knew, they weren’t going to die in the foreseeable future.

Aggie had a plan. A plan her father would be proud of.

Arlen slowly opened his eyes and yawned, then nodded to Aggie slowly.

“How did you sleep my Lady?”

“Aggie.”

Arlen raised an eyebrow in mock annoyance, but corrected himself.

“How did you sleep, Aggie?”

“I slept wonderfully.” Aggie’s sly smile gave Arlen pause. He had seen that smile before. He doubted he would ever forget that smile as long as he lived.

Aggie had an idea.

Arlen half smiled as his eyes searched her face.

“What has she plotted this time?”

*

It was perhaps an hour after they had awoken that they were retrieved by 4 masked guards carrying weapons, and were wordlessly brought out to the morning fire, where a great many of the Minkies were cooking small rodents on sticks for their breakfast. Some were whispering to each other, but others were watching the prisoners with rapt attention.

Aggie and Arlen were forced to their knees once again, as the red-headed Queen strode over to them from her place at the fire, wiping her hands of the cooked squirrel meat she had been chewing on.

Aggie barely had a chance to marvel at the endless expanse of water the mountainside looked out upon. The water twinkling in the bright morning light, was almost too bright to look at. Then again, it did force Aggie to return her attention to the Queen.

She stood over them, her expression somber and her arms folded.

She studied their now clean faces carefully before she tilted her head to the right and tapped her finger against her arm.

She was deciding something.

This was as good a time as any to jump in, Aggie thought somewhat nervously.

“Your majesty, before you decide our fate, might we explain ourselves, or hear what we are being imprisoned for?” Aggie spoke clearly, and despite the campsite having been relatively quiet before, it was deathly silent after she spoke.

The Minkies Queen’s eyes flashed, and her mouth pursed. She had a square face, and when she stared at them with that expression she resembled a mother about to lecture her children. Even though, Aggie mused, she was only perhaps a few years older than herself.

The Queen stayed silent however. She waited.

Aggie took it to mean she had permission to speak.

“I am not a con-woman, nor is my friend here a con-man. I am Lady Beatha of the Southern Kingdom, and he is Arlen my Servicer.” Aggie bobbed her head in a respectful greeting before continuing.

“I am the betrothed to Duke Sean O’Farrell of the Northern kingdom, and I am-”

“A fugitive.” The Minkies Queen finished shortly, her mouth relaxing somewhat after having spoken.

Aggie froze. She knew when she had considered her plan that there was a chance they already knew about her thanks to one of their alleged seers, and so she swallowed the swelling fear, and proceeded. She hoped Arlen wasn’t experiencing more pain.

“Yes. I am a fugitive as I fled from the Duke more than a month ago. We have assumed one previous disguise before selecting your tribes notable markings to veil our identities, and had intended to discard these personas upon our return to Willow Wood.”

“After committing murder, rescuing a Prince, and maiming another being.” The Minkies Queen stared down Aggie. Her hard tone was not helping Aggie’s nervousness, but she knew she had no other choice.

“Yes. Actions I regrettably had to take in the act of self-defense and loyalty to my friends and King.”

The Queen bent down and stared into Aggie’s eyes. The move was so direct, that Aggie immediately averted her gaze.

The Minkies Queen wasn’t having any of it however, and instead grabbed her face and pinched her jaw until Aggie locked eyes with her.

“You have endangered my people with your thoughtless actions. This offense has not been for many decades. You will face consequences.” The unblinking stare of the Queen made Aggie’s cheeks burn red. She had never met such a direct forceful woman.

“I offer my sincerest apologies your majesty.” Aggie managed the words even though it felt as though the Queen’s hand was bruising her face.

“I know of a way to alleviate this attention from your people however. To erase the Minkies involvement in my endeavors.”

The Queen raised a single eyebrow, and said nothing as she waited. She released Aggie’s face, and stood straight again. She looked to only be a few inches taller than Aggie, but her presence made her feel much larger.

Not to mention Aggie was on her knees in front of her.

“Rumors can be spread. Rumors that the Duke’s betrothed was the woman in disguise as the Minkies woman. That she abandoned the alter to be with her servant.” Aggie felt her lips curling as out of the corner of her eyes she saw Arlen’s head whip around to stare at her.

“This would effectively remove not only any pretenses that your tribe was involved, but also overshadow it with scandal.” Aggie’s eyes glittered as both of the Queen’s eyebrows shot skyward.

“How would such rumors be spread?” She asked slowly as her eyes narrowed. Aggie couldn’t help but notice that she appeared to at least be fighting off a begrudging smile.

“If we are released, we will be the ones to ensure that the rumors are spread. If we fail, we will adhere to whatever punishment you deem fit.”

The Queen thought about the offer, and its various outcomes carefully before speaking.

“What is it you gain from this? Your reputation will be ruined, and you will ruin your family name.” The Queen’s voice was softer, but her tone remained firm.

Aggie innocently looked up at the Queen, this time boldly meeting her eyes.

“I will alleviate scrutiny on your tribe, and my shame will not be lasting. There is a wealth of facts defending my honor, but the common populace will more than likely fixate on the fact that I am not at Lord O’Farrell’s side once these allegations are investigated.”

“You will be hunted and charged.” The Queen said shortly looking more agitated as she punched holes in Aggie’s logic.

“I will not be easy to find for several months, and after that time, most will have forgotten about me.”

“Why are you so confident that you will not be caught?” The Minkies Queen now leaned back on her right foot casually.

“Because I will either be in Tara or on the Island of Servicers.”

The declaration was met with stunned silence, and the Queen dropped her arms to her side before turning her back on them, and throwing her arms up into the air as she turned to a group of 3 Minkies men who all wore amused expressions.

“Fucking politics!”

It was Aggie’s turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise as all the Minkies onlookers chortled at their Queen.

Aggie took the time to steal a glance at Arlen, whom was staring at the ground with his eyes bulging and his lips pursed.

She sensed he had a few things to say to her the next time they were to be alone and in private.

Aggie turned her face back to the Queen who was returned with her hands on her hips.

“Very well. You will spread these rumors in the King’s Settlement as that is the best place to spread gossip. Until then, you will travel with us and serve us.” The Queen dropped her hands, and Aggie and Arlen both stood up as guards surrounding them cut their bound hands loose.

It was then that Aggie noticed burn marks on the sides and arms of the 2 guards.

She quickly realized that these were the men who had been apart of their initial capture.

“You majesty?” Aggie called as the Queen began to walk back to the group of men. She turned slowly, a look of annoyance evident on her face.

“Did anyone… Did anyone die when they took us?” She asked hesitantly.

The Queen sighed, and took another step closer to Aggie and Arlen.

“No. We sent 20 men to subdue the Magee fighter. We do not kill prominent members of society. We almost had to revoke this due to the surprise at there being a Beast Fey in your former traveling party however.” Her tone had turned chilly as she nodded at the wounded soldiers who were now turning to leave.

Aggie wasn’t sure what a Magee fighter was, but she guessed it had to be Tork.

“You will bandage and treat the soldiers who were harmed first, and then you will begin your service to us by cleaning our weapons before we all disperse.” The Queen gave another short nod, and this time she walked quickly out of earshot to another group on the other side of the fire.

Aggie and Arlen were then guided to a dried log that lay against the mountain, where a line of 5 Minkies warriors sat glaring at Aggie and Arlen.

Aggie looked at the gauze, a basket of leaves, and jar of what looked like honey, and turned bewildered to look at Arlen.

“Follow my lead my Lady.” Arlen was already rolling up his sleeves and walking towards the men, and Aggie let out a soft sigh at hearing him revert to calling her by her title again.