Chapter 133: 132. Ennobled

I stared in surprise at Merryweather for a second, then looked back at the pixie king and bowed. My companions all seemed equally shocked, but they all followed my lead and bowed as well.

When I straightened up I said, "Your majesty, it's an honour to meet you."

The tiny king smiled, "The honour is ours, Lady Tegan! It's been a very long time indeed since we had any visitors here at all, let alone one so esteemed as yourself."

King Greenleaf looked to be in his mid-forties, in human terms. He stood just over four inches tall, maybe four and a quarter inches. His hair was a rich forest green and his eyes were yellow. He was dressed in a red tunic.

He gestured towards the rest of the pixies with him and continued the introductions. "This beautiful creature next to me is my lovely wife, Queen Paisley. And beside her is our eldest daughter, Rosebud. Then our eldest son, Nettlesting. Our daughters Roseblossom and Petunia, our youngest son Heathgreen, and our youngest daughter Lavender."

I noticed all the pixies he'd just introduced had dark blue wings. I figured the one with orange wings and the one with red wings weren't part of his immediate family, as they had yet to be named.

Paisley looked about the same age as Greenleaf, perhaps a tad older. She was slightly shorter than the king, at about four inches. Her hair was purple and her eyes were pink, and like her husband she was wearing a red tunic.

Rosebud and Nettlesting both had red hair, she had blue eyes while his were green. She looked like she was in her late twenties, he looked mid-twenties. They were both about the same height as their mother, and both were in purple tunics.

Roseblossom and Petunia both had pink hair, the former had yellow eyes and the latter pink eyes. Roseblossom looked to be in her early twenties and also wore a purple tunic, while Petunia looked to be eighteen or nineteen and wore blue. Roseblossom was just a tad shorter then her older siblings, while Petunia was even smaller, at only about three and a half inches tall.

Heathgreen had green hair like the king, and pink eyes. He was another teen, maybe sixteen or seventeen I figured. He was a little taller than Petunia. Lavender had purple hair and pink eyes like her mother. She was the youngest pixie in the group, and by far the smallest. She looked about fourteen and was barely over three inches tall. Both her and Heathgreen were in blue, same as Petunia.

King Greenleaf gestured to the remaining two pixies, "These are two of my courtiers. That is Aurora Peregrine," he gestured towards one of them.

Peregrine had orange wings and bright orange hair, and his eyes were pink. He was dressed in a bright yellow tunic, and I'd guess his age at about mid-thirties. He was easily the tallest pixie here, at nearly four and a half inches high, and he was the one with the tiny axe.

The last pixie was a woman in her mid-forties, and she looked rather familiar. She was the one with dark red wings. She also had metallic blue hair, and her eyes were red.

The king gestured to her as he said, "And that is Tempest Summerwind."

Merryweather was still standing next to the king, and looked like they were trying very hard now not to smile.

I politely greeted each member of the tiny assemblage before me, then ran through the introductions on our side.

I decided to be formal since I was dealing with royalty, so I used everyone's rank and title. My girlfriends were introduced as Ladies Kelly and Keira, Knights of Cathasaigh. Then Captain Siobhan, Lieutenant Laoise, and Sergeant Padraig. I knew he was a corporal for the clann, but I decided to promote him for my sept.

"And of course you've already met our ambassador, Tempest Merryweather," I finished with a smile. I glanced at Summerwind and added, "Something tells me you already know Merryweather quite well, ma'am."

The small courtier gave the tiny enby a very fierce glare, then she looked back at me and replied with a slight smile of her own, "Oh I know them very well indeed. I also know they'll have an awful lot of explaining to do very shortly, m'lady."

Merryweather blushed and cringed then flitted over to land on my shoulder, as if they thought they'd be safer with me.

There was a bit of an awkward silence on both groups, then I said "King Greenleaf, we have brought some gifts for you and your troop, as a gesture of goodwill."

Kelly and Keira took the cue and quickly gathered up our offerings.

"Your majesty," Kelly said as she stepped forward and bowed. "We've brought you two skins full of mead."

Keira approached and bowed as well and added, "And a pound of candied fruit."

Greenleaf grinned, as did some of his children. The small king said "Your gifts are most appreciated. Young Merryweather mentioned you've also brought us some rather exotic offerings from much further afield?"

"Indeed we have," I responded with a smile. I quickly grabbed the three bottles, and held them up as I said "Two bottles of an alcoholic beverage we call hard lemonade. And one bottle of maple syrup. It's not really a beverage, but it can be taken as one."

"Excellent!" he announced with a wide smile. The king turned and looked up towards the top of the Duma as he made a gesture, and suddenly we were swarmed by hundreds of small dancing lights. The wineskins, the bundle of candied fruits, and the three bottles all quickly disappeared.

Even with my sight on it was hard to follow them, but each gift was taken by at least a dozen pixies. Everything became invisible as the pixies hauled their treasure back up towards the top of the Duma.

Both Siobhan and Padraig kept very, very still during that experience. Laoise was fairly relaxed around Merryweather but even she was a little nervous at the sudden invasion of pixies. In fact both Kelly and Keira looked a little jumpy too, while they were surrounded and relieved of their offerings.

King Greenleaf looked to me and said "Now we will take our leave for a time, Lady Tegan. We will speak with you again, perhaps this evening. If not then, in the morning certainly."

His children took flight first, blurring into points of light as they headed back up the Duma. The king added, "You and your party have the run of the Duma Dé, as long as you're respectful of the Duma and its legends."

"Thank you," I replied as he and his wife took flight.

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Peregrine followed, leaving only Summerwind behind. She gave Merryweather another hard stare and stated, "I'll see you atop the Duma in one hour!"

With that she flew off as well, and both Siobhan and Padraig let out deep sighs of relief. I almost worried they'd been holding their breath all that time.

Then there was another sigh of relief from my left shoulder as my little ambassador relaxed.

I looked at the pixie on my shoulder and asked in a slightly stern voice, "So Merryweather. I take it you knew all along we'd encounter the king of the pixies here? And if I'm not mistaken your mother is one of his courtiers?"

They blushed but nodded, "I'm sorry I had to keep that from you, Lady Tegan. We don't speak of such things to outsiders, so I had to get permission from the king before I knew it would be ok to tell you."

Kelly asked, "Merryweather did you come all this way with us just so you could visit your mom?"

Their blush grew brighter and they replied, "No! I mean, that's not the only reason. I mean it sounded like you were going to have a grand adventure or something and I thought I could tag along... And since I knew Lady Tegan was going to be coming this way, it also seemed like a good opportunity to come see her."

"All right," I said with a smile. "Apology accepted. Are you going to be in a lot of trouble? Your mom sounded a little cross with you."

They shook their head, "I'll get a big lecture and she'll threaten to ground me for a year or two, but there's not much she can do while she's here and I'm with you. Just don't leave me behind here when you're all done, and I'll be fine."

"If your mother is a courtier, does that mean she's nobility?" Kelly asked our small friend. "Are you nobility?"

Merryweather blushed again and admitted, "Yeah, my parents are I guess. My father is chief of our troop. I'm not a noble though, I'm the youngest of five kids so it's not like I'll inherit a title or anything."

They actually sounded relieved about that, though I had a feeling they'd still be considered pixie nobility. And suddenly I was wondering about the non-binary equivalent of 'lord' or 'lady'. I hoped someone else would ask before it came up.

Laoise spoke up next with a different question, "If I may, how would your mother get here from your home Duma? Did she fly all this way herself?"

"Oh Gods no!" Merryweather seemed shocked at the suggestion. "She came here the same way we did. There's pixie mages just like fae mages. They can cross worlds and they know the secret of travel between the Duma Dé."

Keira nodded, "Speaking of travel between the Duma, I was wondering about that."

She looked at me and asked, "Any other time you've taken us through the veil we've come out dizzy and disoriented. This time there was none of that. It also felt really different how we arrived here, compared to arriving anywhere else."

I nodded slightly, "Like Merryweather said, travel between the Duma Dé involves secrets. So I can't really say much more about it."

Both twins frowned and Kelly commented, "You've been keeping a lot of secrets lately babe. Now we're here and we've made friends with the locals, I hope you'll start sharing a few more details with us."

"Sorry," I apologized. "I mean that to all of you, by the way. Sorry for keeping some things from you. And I still can't reveal everything yet. Not that I don't trust you but I honestly don't know what stuff I'm allowed to discuss and what I'm not. I have a feeling it's all going to come out in the end, but until then I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Siobhan just nodded, "We understand Lady Tegan. And I understand why you wanted to confront the king here. The Duma Dé are neutral ground after all, and legends say they're places where kings and Gods once met. It's a perfectly auspicious location for your meeting."

"Why's this one so much bigger than the other one?" Padraig asked. "I assumed the Duma Dé were all the same."

"Me too," Laoise said.

I actually thought that as well, finding out this one was so much bigger was a surprise to me too.

"This is the royal Duma Dé," Merryweather stated.

Keira asked, "It's the biggest because King Greenleaf lives here? Or King Greenleaf lives here because it's the biggest?"

The pixie clarified, "The pixie king holds court here because it's the royal Duma. The fae king's palace and court is also near this Duma because it is the royal Duma. The Duma Dé were here first, the pixie kings and fae kings came here because it's the royal Duma."

Siobhan sounded a little wary as she asked, "What makes this Duma Dé royal then? Is it simply because it's the biggest?"

"None of the other Duma Dé are associated with any God in particular," Merryweather explained. "But this one is. It's said to be the home of the king and queen of the Gods. This Duma Dé is said to be home to The Dagda and The Morrigan."

From the looks on my companion's faces, I could tell Siobhan and Laoise both knew those names. Padraig and the twins did not. And while I knew the names from my research, I certainly had no idea we'd be coming to their own personal Duma.

Finding out this Duma Dé was perhaps my great-great-grandfather's home, and that of his jealous wife, actually topped meeting the pixie king on my list of unexpected surprises.

I hoped that would be the last shock for a while.

PurpleCatGirl

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