Fae Conundrum

[Yvonne]

Yvonne hastily kept pace with Shaseth’s long, heavy-footed strides but needed to take two or sometimes three steps to keep to his one. The scaly humanoid led the pair of women through a part of the city in stark contrast to that which they’d explored thus far. Some of the buildings barely remained standing - the deep dwarf couldn’t comprehend how some of the structures hadn’t collapsed, and yet, squatters and refugees made do with them as their homes. It all seemed so, so dangerous, but they had convinced themselves of no other choice.

Heartache in her chest; it felt too much to endure, to come to grips with the reality of Donnalaich and its poorer inhabitants. Suffering appeared all around her, nothing but the sick, the dying, the essentially homeless. Exposed to the elements, these people would be constantly troubled by the region’s monsoonal weather conditions with a leaky roof to shelter them at best. It hurt so much, to see these drakari, fae and even the occasional human struggling to survive - their ragged blankets and their cobblestone pillows.

“Why do they live like this, Shaseth? Why doesn’t anyone help them?” Yvonne asked, pained expression and concerned eyebrows.

“Rebuilding a city is a tremendous undertaking, tiny matriarch. Over time we have restored much, as you saw throughout other parts of Donnalaich. Here, unfortunately there have been some setbacks. Demotivation swiftly followed,” Shaseth replied earnestly.

“Why invest so much in superfluous water fountains, but so little in tha livelihood of tha poor?” the confounded half-and-halfling continued to question, anger entering her tone.

“Err, leadership has been rather… lacking of late, matriarch. The fae rulers can be… how would you say-- fickle at times. They may have forgotten we even exist, I’m afraid,” the large drakari answered, gesturing for Yvonne to remain calm, worry to his eye-slits.

She didn’t like that response. No, not at all, but she knew Shaseth had told her the truth to the best of his knowledge. That didn’t mean she had to like it. A burning desire overwhelmed her grief, a drive to change everything - all of this devastation - into what it should have been by now. She couldn’t stand this much longer, walking away from beggars sitting on the roadside and those passive, resistless eyes staring back at her, watching them go by.

Yvonne stopped a moment to take in one building in particular, an utter shambles so ruined nobody lived in it any longer. Debris and scattered stone mingled together all around her feet, most of the supporting columns broken and the majority of the roof already laying among the grass. The door no longer seemed attached to its hinges, windows broken and the walls looked like someone had been pushed through them.

“How did one fae do all of this?” Yvonne wondered.

“Oh, no. That wasn’t the fae’s doing. My neighbour Esqkart lived there with his wife until recently. They had a… um, a disagreement,” the drakari stated, ever unsure of himself.

A tile slid off the roof and shattered on the ground, not so far from the speculative crossbreed who hopped well out of the way after that.

“Oh. Ye can say that again!” she declared, rejoining Felicity and their drakari guide.

The shouting, the fighting between the innocent inhabitants of Donnalaich was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Drakari blaming the fae folk, the fae defending themselves and pointing their fingers at their larger brethren. So many voices booming loudly in Yvonne’s keen elven ears, the high-pitched notes of the frustrated fae like nails down a chalkboard. She couldn’t take it. She wouldn’t take it.

Absolutely not.

Yvonne glanced back at Felicity, heaving a big sigh for her little frame. These people needed a stern talking to. They should have been working together, helping each other through their troubles and what were they doing? Bickering; absolutely despicable.

“Remember how ye picked me up and plonked me into tha water earlier?” the little hybrid foreshadowed a future event with a past one.

“Yes, that was funny before… This ain’t a matter to-- to-- to be laughing about, Yvonne,” Felicity said.

“No, I know. Do ye think ye could pick me up again and hurl me onto that roof there? If I not be too heavy, that be,” Yvonne proposed.

“Pssh… Yvonne, how high would you like to-- to fly?” the fiery teen boasted.

“Just onto tha roof, if ye please. Don’t go throwing me half way back ta Alerar, ye cheeky devil,” the wee woman said flatly, arms folding defensively. Soon after her companion collected her off the ground and prepared to swing her upward.

An easy exertion for Felicity and the petite drow-dwarf soared up a storey, feet safely touching down on the half-crumbled roof. It was an adequate position from which to project her voice, a place where everyone who heard her would be able to turn and see. The shouting, arguing back-and-forth between the homeless had not grown quieter in the interim. It was beginning to give her a headache. Yvonne put two fingers in her mouth and unleashed one of the most shrill, ear-splittingly sharp, penetrating whistles that drakari and fae ears had ever heard.

That got their attention. The dispute paused and the uproar died down, perhaps a hundred heads turning to see what that painful noise was. Many spotted her up on the building - some pointed for others to see, so those who hadn’t figured out the black dwarf had made the whistling sound could know too. While their attention was hers, she spoke with a booming, commanding speech.

“Listen ta me! Quiet now, listen a moment,” Yvonne began, clearing her throat loudly. “I know yer afraid! I know yer confused! Nobody offers ta help ye or yer kin - yer hungry, cold and tired, out here on tha streets! Ye want ta know why! Ye want ta know how ye ended up like this! Ye need ta know why yer homes be in shambles, why ye can’t keep tha rain off - WELL I’LL TELL YOU! It be because ye haven’t FIXED yer homes! It be because ye STOPPED working together! It be because yer FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER, INSTEAD OF SOLVING YER ISSUES!”

Yvonne exhaled her annoyance, letting her message sink in as she inhaled another breath, to prepare another serve.

“That said I be very disappointed ye TURNED ON EACH OTHER in yer hour of need! Cut it out right now! Me companion and I will sort out these setbacks yer been having! Mark me words, NOW we make a change! What I need from all of ye be COOPERATION, IT NOT BE HARD, shake hands, pat tha person next ta ye on tha back and HELP ME GET ON WITH IT! UNDERSTAND!?

A hushed silence had befallen them all - blissful, peaceful, troubled silence. Expressions on their numerous faces were varied, some angry, some despondent, others shocked or fearful or stubborn. It didn’t matter. All she needed was one person to make the first positive change and the rest would follow. The more of them who joined the first few the smaller and smaller the group of obstinate naysayers would become. Sooner or later those naysayers would be the outcasts, left to their quibbling and nitpicking while everyone else rebuilt their community.

“We will find tha vandal who be making yer lives harder, but ye did so much of this ta yerselves! When I COME BACK I want ta see some of these homes REBUILT! Everyone WILL work together! A HUNDRED of you will build a house in a DAY! We will shelter together in the functional houses like a FAMILY until we rebuild more! MAKE IT HAPPEN! Any PROBLEMS with that, come see ME, YVONNE MYTHRILMANTLE!”

Yvy glanced down at Felicity, readying herself to jump off the roof and making sure the incredibly strong teenager would catch her before she connected with the ground.