Again, life settled into a routine. I spent my days studying with Fanquee in the reading room or experimenting in the garden. Math and language reappeared in the rotation after a while, but the found the subjects a lot easier to tackle with a teacher that would answer my questions instead of punishing me for not already knowing the answers. After an intense period of studying the loose and confusingly arbitrary rules of Thaumaturgy, it was actually refreshing to tackle math, with its clearly defined rules and inarguable logic. My High Fae had soon improved to the point that I could use it with only a modest chance of embarrassing myself. I kept my appointments with Fanquee and never failed to run over when I was called. As far as I could tell, no one was watching me as I walked between my room and the garden, and I didn't want to give the Queen a reason to assign anyone that job.

I started to take advantage of the lighter scrutiny to start familiarizing myself with the layout of the palace. I was especially interested in the food situation. My own meals were plentiful and fairly elaborate, thanks to Doris. When I asked, Doris showed me the small kitchen in which she prepared meals for me and for several other of Her Majesty's more favored slaves. She showed me the pantry where a few weeks supply of ingredients was available at all times. The food here was not simply conjured out of thin air. I often saw spriggans running around with sacks or crates of various foods, as well as plenty of wine casks. Food was delivered to the palace from somewhere, and there was a good chance that if I could figure out where it was coming from, I would have a way to escape from this island. I just had to be careful not to tip my hand when asking questions. The Queen clearly wanted me to get comfortable living in this nice room in her palace, and I needed her to believe that her plan was working.

Fanquee had been right about people being afraid of me. I had originally thought that Doris was just a really nice lady. Once it was pointed out to me, though, it was obvious that she just didn't want to piss me off and end up dead or saddled with some kind of horrible curse. I didn't know how to reassure her that I wouldn't hurt her. If she had worked for the Queen all her life, it made sense that she would have gotten used to being in danger from powerful people, even the ones who seemed nice. Of course, most of the fae who passed me in the halls at the palace ignored me completely, as if I were part of the decor. But people who knew who I was were afraid, and I might be able to use that fact to my advantage.

One day after dinner, as I sat up reading a book of High Fae poems for a test the next day, I heard a weird groaning sound coming from my bathroom. There wasn't anything in there except my wash basin which Doris had just refilled and my chamber pot which she had just emptied (the many wonders of Hy Brasil did not include indoor plumbing). I ignored the sound at first. The living wooden trunks that formed the front half of the palace occasionally shifted while I was trying to sleep. My mother had once told me that the timbers of a house would sometimes make noise due to the temperature changes in the surrounding air. Since Hy Brasil didn't have seasons or a cycle of day and night, the palace shouldn't have this as an excuse.

Eventually, the noise became so distracting that I decided to get up and go see what it was. The noise was coming from a small gap that had formed in the wall of the bathroom. Two of the trunks that formed the wall were slowly moving away from each other, creaking as they pried themselves apart. I peered through the hole. Even here, there was no darkness in Hy Brasil, not so much as a shadow. Just inside the opening sat a crouched female figure. She had dark brown hair and striking green eyes, and was dressed all in green with a hood. She was a little older than me, maybe fifteen or sixteen.

“Sssshhhh...” she whispered to me with finger against her lips. “My name is Estelle. Patricia hired me to rescue you.”

Finally! I was starting to wonder if I would actually be stuck here for years. I was working on an escape of course, but I still had no idea if that was even a possibility. But grandma had come through for me. I wondered what adventures she and Elizabeth had been having while I was stuck here.

The opening slowly creaked open to point that I could slide myself in. Estelle turned and crawled further into the hole to make room. We were what looked like a knot-hole in a giant tree. The tunnel's wall's were solid wood. The opening slowly closed behind me.

“Follow me.” whispered Estelle.

“How did you get here?” I whispered back.

“No questions until we're deep underground. Some of the fae have very good hearing.”

I crawled after her though the narrow tunnel. It turned abruptly to the right, then shot straight down. I had always had a hard time navigating in the palace, but it seemed like we were heading down toward the mountain. I started to wonder if we would run into the ice. As we crawled, Estelle explained the situation to me.

“I'm a Druid of the Waning Moon Circle. We specialize in infiltrating the Seelie Fae and liberating their prisoners. Its risky work, but you're far too important to leave in the Seelie Queen's clutches. You see, the Seelie have all kinds of powerful magic at their disposal, but only an Unseelie Fae or a mortal mage like you can create curses. That makes you very valuable to her.”

We came to an opening in the wood. The path ahead was wooden at the bottom but solid earth above. It looked like we were running down a giant root that had squeezed itself out of the way to let us crawl down it.

“This was one of the roots of Galmore Forest. He is a great lord of the wood elementals, or rather he was. He was once the spirit of an entire forest in the over-world, but the Queen found a way to capture him and force him here to serve her as her palace. He hates the queen, and he hates being wedged into the ice mountain like this.”

She brushed her hand against the wood she was climbing over. Little green shoots appeared where she touched it. She seemed to go quiet for a moment, as though filled with sadness.

“I can feel his pain. The freezing cold, the unnatural shapes he must force himself into, the sweet memories of freedom turned bitter by centuries of confinement. He cannot openly defy her without being punished, but when someone like me comes along who knows how to commune with him, he jumps at the chance to betray her. Imagine how angry she will be when she finds out you disappeared from your room without a trace!”

Something was nagging at the back of my mind. At first, I was trying to decide whether this girl was a player character like me, or an NPC human like Doris. I couldn't think of a way to ask without giving too much away. Then it finally struck me what was so odd about the situation.

“Why are you speaking Light Fae?” I asked.