No Rest For The Virtuous

From Friðrós:

So. Her Fae Majesty is on strike or something. All anybody knows is that she had some kind of argument with The Author and took herself (and her Consort Nathaniel) off to some island for a “holiday”.

Right as the season change from Summer to Autumn was meant to take place in Awenia.

And, of course, as her intern, it falls on me to supervise and organise all this crap. You’d think she would know to go a little easier on me, given the fact that I apparently failed to piss her off even a little bit at the Great Faire and we never managed to have that conversation about how I am not a packhorse before she flitted off to wherever she has flitted. And of course, when HFM is on holiday, Brán is nowhere to be found either. The demifae came to me and just said we need to do this soonish, because they have to change the Sacred Grove over at the Autumnal Equinox, and that’s only three days from now. According to them. I have no idea what day it is.

Obviously, I had to gird my innards with a delightful breakfast from Lady Mystie’s Uncle. I don’t know why the place is called Lady Mystie’s Uncle: neither Lady Mystie nor her Uncle are around in the place very often, but Gwyneth suggested she’d named the place that because of course nobody expected Lady Mystie to do any actual work herself.

To which I say, well, Lady Mystie is never here any more, so what is the point of that? But I guess the sign is already on the building, so there’s more work to repaint the sign if we’re going to do that and why bother, since Lady Mystie will come back some day? Riiiiiiiiight.

Lady Mystie’s Uncle is one of the few places HFM has not changed completely since she decided to re-engineer the entire Realm because of something to do with Nathaniel’s Accords. What are the Accords, you ask? Well, I really have no fucking idea, but they have something to do with making it OK for us to finally start getting real tourist traffic into the Realm, which will keep HFM’s coffers even more full than they are already and maybe make it possible for us underlings to afford to leave this hellhole once in a while. OK, OK, OK; it’s not really a hellhole: anybody would be happy to live here, if they didn’t have to deal with HFM all the time.

So far, most of the Town Square and the big shops and administrative buildings are complete. The only thing you really can’t see in this photo is the pub, but the only being in the Realm who might say you should really include the pub in all photos would be Nathaniel, and he’s not here to tell me what to do, so there’s that.

If you’re wondering why I’m all painted up, I took a note from my huldufolk background and applied some traditional warpaint to myself so I’d feel more able to handle dealing with the whole Realm in the absence of, well, almost everybody. Luckily, Hexumbra makes great face paints too, so I was able to do it exactly right. I added the scars on top of the makeup because I just felt like I’d been through some kind of war leading up to this point. Seriously: this is too much work for one intern to supervise. I’m working on a pointed letter to HFM, which she’ll probably never read.

I did talk to The Amazing Catwoman the other day: I made the mistake of asking if she’d like to help. Her response? “I’m security, not making shit. You do it.” Gee, thanks, TAC. I’ll remember you fondly in my memoirs. And of course, if she’s not on board, that means I can count out the whole security force, so I didn’t even approach Sir Wulfrich: he’s scary enough on a good day.

So it’s me, and the demifae, handling all this stuff. Luckily, Clutie understands all this, because she’s been working with HFM for gods know how long and just takes everything in stride. I’m pretty sure she’s convinced the demifae actually run the Realm, anyway.

First, we had to place two new statues HFM had ordered shortly before she absconded to Realms Unknown.

So we have a new Harper and a Moon statue, both from master artisan Kadaj Yoshikawa, who is one of HFM’s favourite sculptors. I know it seems weird, but she really does have a real list of her favourite sculptors. Kind of like she has a crown inventory. I do not get her: I really do not.

Anyway, the Harper is actually called Windchime Fairy, and the wind chimes do actually make lovely ambient music, sort of a pentatonic thing, I think, not that I’m any kind of a musician except insomuch as all huldufolk can sing. The other one is just called The Moon, and I think it’s beautiful. I love how the Moon Lady’s face is a mask she can remove. The moon beam behind the statue is a separate piece: it took seven demifae, with Clutie and me directing them, to get it in exactly the right position, and I keep getting memos on my mobile about whether or not it should move or stay static depending on the moon phase. They are having a lively argument about it on our Realm board, and I’m staying out of it.

Our next job will be to realign the Sacred Grove with the coming Autumn season. Even though the biggest part of the work will be done by the demifae on the Equinox itself, and woe be unto anyone getting in their way on that night, I’m still working on properly positioning all the other statues inside the Grove, especially since HFM has decided to reinvent the Book Forest on the secondary Realm island—right outside my damn house, which I am not super thrilled about, but I’m just an intern, so what do I know?

It has taken me a long time to feel completely comfortable in the Awenian Sacred Grove, but Kadaj’s Wolf statue makes me think a little of our Arctic Foxes, so I have taken to greeting the wolf as part of my going-in ritual, which I hope makes some sense.

I also try to visualise a simple Icelandic Stave before I enter the Grove as well; that way I won’t get lost. Or that’s what my granny would say, anyway.

So now I’d better get to work: there are feast tables to rejig, proper trees to be cared for, and all this in advance of the twenty-first, when the demifae will do all the Grove work proper.

I’ll leave you with a photograph of the Awenian skyline, one of my favourite things to stare at, even when I have too much to do.

Notes & Credits:

Things Featured at Chronicles & Legends’ Oracles Oasis:

Friðrós’ clothes: Jangka, Sorcerer
The Moon statue: Harshlands, The Moon

Other Nifty Sponsored Items:

Friðrós’ Face Paint: Hexumbra, Annie Face Set (A Mainstore release at the Hexumbra Main Store!)
Friðrós’ Eyeshadow: Hexumbra, Torin Eye Makeup (Part of the Autumn Grid Wide Hunt!)
Friðrós Lipstick: Hexumbra, Robin Lip (Available at the Hexumbra Main Store)
Friðrós’ Skin: Moth & Moon, Ianthe, in T2 (Available at the Moth & Moon Main Store)