FREE STORIES 2012(85)

"So, have you gotten a chance to meet Princess Tinker?" Olivia asked instead.

"Tinker domi!" Aiofe corrected with a laugh. "The Wind Clan elves get really cheesed off if you call her Princess."

"Why?"

"She's their domi! They've have been in Pittsburgh long enough to know what 'princess' means. The two words are worlds apart."

"Really?" Olivia's heart sunk.

"In English, 'princess' means basically a pretty girl that has no power in government whose only value is to produce children for the bloodline. We don't have anything close to the absolute authority of a domi. She could order her guards to kill any elf in Pittsburgh and no one would question it. It's her right. To call her Princess Tinker is a sign of disrespect."

"Oh."

"One of the boyo gave me this." Aiofe opened a small lunch cooler, took out a plastic bag and held it open. There was a dead rabbit inside. Someone with a great deal of skill had killed it with a rifle bullet to the head. It'd been field dressed but not skinned. "I think he's sweet on me, but I don't know what to do with it."

Olivia's stomach rolled at the smell of blood, recalling the dead oni on Penn Avenue. She swallowed hard, reminding herself that it been weeks since she had protein beyond eggs and milk. "I'll help you cook it for dinner."

Aiofe grinned. "I'll wet the tea."

#

According to the newspaper, the newly arrived Stone Clan elves were staying at Ginger Wine's enclave. The elves’ businesses gathered just over the edge of where Pittsburgh abruptly ended, as if a giant blade had sliced through the city. Beyond the thin line of cement dust and sheered off guardrails was virgin forest as far as the eye could see.

She took a bus out to the University of Pittsburgh and walked the last few blocks to the Rim. The enclaves faced humanity with tall, blank, stone walls. Each compound was a block wide and hundreds of feet deep with two-story and three story buildings forming a sheltered orchard courtyard. While the enclaves acted like hotels with restaurants, she'd never actually been inside one of them. They were supposedly very expensive.

She walked down the street, reading the names printed in Elvish over the front doors. Ginger Wine's door was shut and locked. When she tentatively knocked, a spyhole slid opened up and blue eyes gazed down at her.

"We're not taking new guests." The male obviously learned English from a native Pittsburgher.

Olivia steeled herself against the fear that was jangling through her. "I would like to talk to Forest Moss."

The eyes went wide with surprise. "That nutcase? No, no, you should avoid him. We all do."

At least it made her fear turn to annoyance. "You shun him?"

"I do not know this word: shun."

"You don't talk him? You don't look at him? You pretend he doesn't exist?"

He tilted his head. "He's domana and Stone Clan and insane. It is best that we avoid him. Even the Stone Clan people avoid him."

"So absolutely no one talks to him?" She knew it was silly to be angry on his part but she'd lived through being shunned. It'd been an agonizingly lonely three months before she caved to the shunning. She had thought she could easily deal with not having to talk to the silly idiots who filled up her life, but she didn't realize that her own family would join in to break her will. At the time, she thought it was because they believed her marrying Troy would be the best thing for her. Only after she caved in and agreed – so she couldn't call her wedding night a rape – she realized that they were only concerned that they wouldn't end up sharing her punishment.

"He is dangerous." The elf said as if that forgave everything.

And she'd been “stubborn,” “stupid,” “sinful,” and a host of other things muttered behind her back but never to her face, and always just loud enough for her to hear.

"I need to talk to him."

"He's not here. He's off with my lord, Windwolf. They're out hunting oni and won't be back to late. You should go home; the streets aren't safe after dark anymore."

If she left Oakland, it would only be to go walk Liberty Avenue to turn tricks. "Can I wait inside for his return?"

"We're considered Stone Clan territory for the duration." He did not sound happy about the fact. "I'm not allowed to let strangers in without one of them giving me permission. Go home."

He closed the spyhole, effectively ending the conversation.

#

Hours later the elves return to the enclaves in force. Hundreds of them poured into the area from somewhere to the west. Most of them wore the Fire Clan's red, and then there was a small clump of Wind Clan blue. A Stone Clan female was marked with a handful of elves in black. Olivia missed Forest Moss until the last moment. He walked apart from the others, completely alone despite the throng. Five Wyverns moved with him, seemingly guarding over him while not actually interacting with him. They kept out of reach, always with their back to him.