"Do you know why you are here?" asked Barthia.
"Maybe," said Andy. "It's to do with all of us, isn't it? Whether we'll be able to live in peace and keep to ourselves." The others murmured agreement around him.
There was another commotion at the back. I saw Angela coming forward into the group.
"You I do know," said Teoth, recognising her.
"I have been your guest, my Lord," said Angela, "but though the accommodation is more comfortable, and the regime kinder, perhaps, I find a prison is still a prison."
"You rush to judgement at your peril," said Teoth.
"I do not rush, my Lord," she said. "It's been some days and I have had no word."
"Well now that we've all got to know one another," said Krane, "Can we clear the room? We have matters of import to decide."
Blackbird came forward. "If I may speak?" she said.
Yonna inclined her head.
Blackbird walked to the front of the group. "I stand here with Niall, and all these people who have come before you by their own consent. They have come as one to hear your judgement on matters which concern all of them."
"Why, what have they done?" asked Krane.
"They are not being judged for what they have done," said Blackbird. She reached behind her and pulled forward Alex and Sparky to stand beside her. "Even these two are not judged for their actions. We have already heard that they saved us all, at risk to themselves. In other circumstances we would be thanking them."
"We are not in other circumstances," said Teoth.
"Instead," said Blackbird, "they are being judged for what they are. Even Angela here, is held a prisoner at Lord Teoth's disposal. What has she done to merit this imprisonment? Nothing."
"She petitioned for a place in the courts," said Teoth. "I must consider the matter carefully."
"Must you?" said Blackbird. "If any other fey were to petition for a place they would be granted it without question."
"But they are fey," said Teoth, waving towards Angela. "I do not know what she is."
Angela bristled at this, stepping forward, but Blackbird stayed her with a gesture.
"That is my point, my Lord. You are not treating them as fey."
"Because they are not," said Krane.
"And yet they are not human either," said Blackbird. "These are the children of your grand experiment." She swept a hand around the people in the arc. "They are few in number, but there are more children here than the Feyre have seen in five hundred years, are they not?"
"If they are fey," said Krane, "which we have not yet established."
"You mistrust them," she said. "Oh, please, do not deny it. They are not what you expected, are they? What you wanted was a generation of fey children to swell your ranks and rejuvenate the Feyre. In short, you wanted yourselves, only younger."
"That's not true," said Barthia.
"Then what did you want?" said Blackbird. "You sowed the seed in humanity and expected to reap what, exactly? How did you expect them to return to you?"
"Are we done with this?" said Krane, affecting boredom.
"Lord Krane. You are Lord of the Eldrekin Court. You represent those who can take another form, the shape-shifters and were-creatures."
"This is not news," said Krane.
Blackbird reached to pull Andy forward. "Will you accept this man into your court? Will you give him sanctuary and protection according to the customs and traditions of the Feyre?"
"He's a shape-shifter?" said Krane. "What shape does he take?"
Blackbird turned to Andy. "Show him."
"What, now?" he said.
"Yes," said Blackbird. "Right now."
Garvin moved forward, but Andy's frame wobbled and for a moment it looked like he would fall over. Then he spilled out into a swarm of insects that flew out in an expanding cloud to fill the hall with buzzing.
"Bees?" said Krane. "He changes into bees?"
"Have you ever seen anything like it?" said Blackbird, almost shouting to be heard over the noise.
One or two of the other half-breeds were swatting at the insects, there were so many filling the hall. The crawled on people's clothes, flew into their hair, it was only a matter of time before someone got stung.
"Enough!" shouted Garvin. "Clear the hall! Everyone out.
He and Fionh came around the ragtag group and stood before the Lords and Ladies, but there was little they could do against so many tiny insects. Kimlesh stared in wonder around her, while Yonna seemed immensely pleased with the situation. Not so Krane and Teoth, while Barthia sat stoically while the insects crawled on her.
"Out!" shouted Garvin. "Everyone out!"
Tate and Amber came in from the hall and shepherded the half-breeds outside. Gradually the hall emptied, and when the space was clear, the bees began landing, building into a giant pile, which wavered and became a man again.
"Zorry," he said. "She zaid I had to show you." Andy grinned shyly.
"I think we've seen enough," said Kimlesh. "Please wait outside. We'll call if we wish to speak with you further."
"I hold you responsible for this, Niall," said Garvin.
"I was merely following orders," I told him.
"I'll speak with you later," he said.
"Garvin may be upset with Niall, my Lords, my Ladies," said Blackbird, "but it was essential that you see this for yourselves. This is the reality of your great experiment. This is the result."
"Then we need a new experiment," said Krane.
"Do you?" said Blackbird. "Have you seen such ability before?" she asked.
"Of course not," he said "It's bizarre. How can he take the form of so many? He'll lose all sense of self."
"And yet he survives," said Blackbird, "and prospers, apparently without your assistance. If it was not for the harm done by humanity he would be living quietly still. He asks for little except to be left to live in peace, and you would deny him even that."
"We're not denying him anything," said Teoth.
"On the contrary," said Blackbird. "You are demanding that, like Angela, they present themselves at court to be deemed worthy of a place, and then you reject them because they do not fit your definition of what it means to be fey. They cannot win."
"It is not a game, Blackbird," said Barthia, "and I have not refused anyone."
"Shall I bring someone forward, then?" Blackbird asked. "Will you grant them a place?"
"Bring them forward and we shall see," Barthia said.
"And you will judge them to see if they are worthy to be called fey?" asked Blackbird.
"I will judge whether they are worthy of the court in which they are to be offered a place," said Barthia, "As I would any other."
"But the others are all fey," said Blackbird, "and these are not. They are mongrel fey who have grown up with human customs and human values, some with odd or strange abilities, some traumatised by their treatment at the hands of humanity. They are not ready to join the courts, any more than you are ready to accept them."
"What are you suggesting," said Krane. "We cannot just let them do whatever they want. Look at the damage they've caused already!"
"What damage?" asked Blackbird.
"There are floods in Somerset," said Barthia, "and the storm has done much damage."
"Within a year, a memory," said Blackbird, "and forgotten in ten."
"The Secretariat is aware that the storm is not natural," said Garvin. "They have demanded an explanation."
"Demanded?" said Teoth. "They are making demands, now, are they?"
"A bad choice of words perhaps, my Lord," said Garvin, correcting himself, "requested then."
"Hmmf," said Teoth.
"Nevertheless," said Barthia, "our agreement with humanity is clear. If we cannot curb the excesses of the Feyre, then we are in breach."
"But they are not fey," said Blackbird.
Barthia shook her head. "It makes no difference. We are obligated."