I decide to follow him. I just have to be stealthy about it. My brother flies down to the Bushotina square and gracefully lands, though with a pained moan. I can see he hasn't moved for hours, just working on the jewels for the rich surface dwellers. He winces a bit, rolls his shoulder back. I land on top of one of the houses and lay low, looking at him.
Then I see Michael. My brother's best friend. The bad crowd I told you about. He's got connections to the rebels, and I don't fancy that. I don't want to see my brother's obituary anywhere, no, thanks.
"Hey," Michael first looks around to see if he was followed. It's not noticable at first, but there is a single red petal in his coat. I know that's how they recognize each other. I don't know how that works though; how has the ruling class not caught on it?
"Hey!" a voice startles me and I almost scream. But when I turn around, it's just Nebula.
"You almost scared me to death!" I hiss at her. She immediately lowers herself next to me and flaps her Lunarian wings.
"Who are we spying on?"
"My brother."
Nebula is the same age as me; we are both twenty-one. She is here as the Lunarian delegate. They have one in each place, considering they are the connection with the Seelie court. Her wings look celestial - like night and its stars were painted on them, shaped like crescent moons. I've only ever seen those on pictures, but she tells me about astrology and astronomy. Apparently I was born in the Beatus Bovi sign, whatever that means.
Her long white hair covers her dark purple body, curvy… in all the right places.
"Your brother? And he needs spying on?"
I don't say much. I don't know where her loyalties really lie, even though we are friends. And even though I wish we were something more.
"Let's dip," I relent at last. "Nothing for us here."
"Seems like there was, if you are spying on him."
I smile. "I just wanted to see who he's hanging out with. You can never be too careful."
"And is that someone very dangerous?"
I never know if she is curious or just trying to get information from me, for the Seelies.
"Of course not. It's just Michael." I push her a bit, to get her moving. "We've known him since we were kids. Always used to come to our house." I spread my wings and duck beneath the house. She follows me.
"I just thought he had a girlfriend, you know?" I lie.
Still, I throw one last look at my brother, suspicious.
"So, what's new?" I fly forward, luring Nebula away from my brother and his traitorous activities. I'll have to talk to him later. "Any news from the hags up in the sky?"
She heartily laughs. "Don't call them that! They are full of wisdom and grace. Whatever they may have in plan, I am sure it will benefit us all, even if it doesn't seem that way at first."
Well that sounds worrying, actually.
"And how do you know that? How do you even know they're real?" I ask. I am actually curious about this.
She giggles and boops my nose with her finger. "Oh don't be silly. Of course they're real. And besides, I've spoken to them. There is a portal above the Court of Stars and Moons, of course, but we have communication mirrors which reach into the realm beyond, and allow us to speak to them."
She's told me about this before, but I never believe her. It just seems way too fantastical for my tastes. I prefer things you can feel and touch and see; not the Seelie in their sky court, beyond our reach. Why do they even bother with us?
Stories say that they spend all their times dancing and drinking mead and wine and luring humans in, then forcing them to dance until they drop dead. They enjoy it and have fun.
The Seelie are our creators, or so the myths say. I'm personally not sure. It cannot be proved. Unlike electricity, unlike technology, unlike the iron which you mold with your own hands… there is nothing tangible that proves that theory. I prefer things that are down to Vilaria.
Of course, I don't buy into those conspiracy theories that Seelies are fake or made up, or a ploy by the Lords and Ladies to enact their own wills… No, I believe they are real. I just don't think they have much to do with us. Aren't they happy in their realm?
Or are they beasts which want to tear us apart?
"And you've seen them? In those mirrors?" I ask as we fly.
"Yes." Nebula nods. "They are as beautiful as they are told to be. Drop-dead gorgeous."
"Which ones have you spoken to?"
She smiles and winks. "Lunarian secrets."
She won't tell me more. I know, I've already asked countless times.
She's traveled around and sometimes tells me of the world above, especially stars… which is unsurprising. I wonder why she feels so cheery and calm buried in this huge underground grave? If I was her, I'd be screaming and kicking my arms and wings and feet and demand to be let out.
"It's my duty," she always says. "A fae that doesn't want to perform their duties is a miserable fae indeed."
I somehow don't buy the whole 'duty' talk, but it's not my place to question her.
"What do you wanna do today?" I ask.
"Let's fly around a bit. I have a meeting later."
She means one of the mirrors she's brought here. They connect to the Court of Stars and Moons, not the Seelie Court though. I always wanted to see what it looks like, that majestic creation.
Other fae have magic and use it. Kobolds usually don't - some of us have gifts like mine, but we cannot create vines like Dryads or sit on clouds like Sylphs - nor can we enchant items like Lunariae, or shapeshift like Undines. We can only work hard and try to surpass them all with our technology. Unable to create light like Leptirae we must rely on ourselves. That's why this electric city is a gem of Vilaria, an amazing creation, never seen before.
I like my home. Sometimes.
You have to be proud of things others want to put you down for. And surface dwellers indeed want to put us down for many things.
My eldest brother escaped this place. Since then, my and my family's lives have taken a turn downwards. Increased security, increased measures, constant surveillance… They are punishing us for no reason. My salary was cut down as well.
Well, everyone's salary has been cut down recently. I don't understand why. We work harder than ever, we even excavate more gems than ever before… but I know the natural resources are running low. We still have a couple of hundred years.
Fae usually live very, very long. Up to a couple hundred years. Seelies are immortal.
They've been here since the dawn of time.
I fear them.