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"That is… gracious of you," Llyr replies, with no discernible emotion in his voice. "We often wonder whether humans are even capable of reflecting on events outside the fleeting scopes of their own lifetimes, or perhaps at most those of their grandsires; it is pleasant to find that indeed you occasionally are."

Again, a pause. "The House of Winter has ever been the least patient with humans. It, too, has greatly diminished over the past thousand years. The Houses of Spring and Autumn have fared better, being less invested in the affairs of humans overall—but you must understand that our perspectives toward humans are often as much a product of our own individual inclinations, and not wholly dictated by our Houses."

Llyr pauses and then gives Anna a slight nod, as if acknowledging an unexpected play in a game of wits. "That truth forms the core of our contention with your kind, yes," he admits with a slight air of apology—not regret over the strife between their races, it seems, but rather over having chosen to utter something so unquestionably impolite.

"My perspective is an unusual one. Also, perhaps, a foolish one; but time will reveal all." Llyr pauses and looks away as another guest moves forward in the crowd for a chance to speak, and adds in dismissal, "Thank you. You are an unusually insightful conversationalist for a mortal, but then—you are what humans call a hedge witch, are you not? So the blood of spirits lingers in you yet."

NEXT

Llyr considers Ash for a moment before replying, "My kind bred with your own many hundreds of years ago; hedge witches are the descendants of those unions."

Llyr glances to Grenta with, for a brief instant, what seems to be a small measure of surprise; but his expression settles back into inscrutability so quickly that it is difficult to tell for certain. "If you are asking whether spirits have ever had productive relations with beasts of the Wood—no. The ability to commune with the minds of animals is a common one among spirits, and most of your kind—hedge witches, that is, not humans in general—seem to have inherited it, albeit in a transformed state. Spirits may communicate with animals, even control them, but we do not form bonds with familiars as you do."

Soibhan glided closer to the strange man, the wine flute in her fingers that had been full for so long now finally empty. She narrowed her eyes at him, but a toothless smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Having overheard the conversation Anna had had with the spirit, she had a few questions of her own.

"Wise spirit, if I may?" She asked softly, bowing her head to him and waiting a breath of a moment before continuing. "If your Summer and Winter houses, the strongest you say, have been so diminished, will your house and the house of Spring take their places as the most powerful?"

She contemplated his answer, spinning the wine flute in her fingers. To others, the spirit was a benevolent being willing to help their Queen, and thus the whole of Sunderland. To her, that logic felt ignorant and naive. Or maybe she was simply jaded.

Asking the question had been a fairly innocent way of gauging the strength of a potential threat. Gathering all of the Guardians and their Chosen in one location would be an easy way to destroy them all before they could even get their feet off the ground.

She glanced at the drunken wolf-masked man, stealing ribbons as he was. Soibhan did not like the air about him.

"I wonder than why you are helping us," the Gaelic woman continued, gaze flicking back to Llyr's peculiar eyes. "Staying at home, so to speak, and continuing to build your courts back to strength seems a more pragmatic option."

"Or too many of mine have abandoned the old ways. Some say the spirits live because of the belief the humans have in them. Is that true? Are you here because too many of us have stopped believing in you?" She asked, her voice growing softer so that any spying rook and grimalken ears would have a much harder time at hearing what was said next. She knew her time with him was coming too quickly to an end. Others were looking at her with distaste or irritation.

"I would think being out in the open, helping Sunderland's Queen, would throw many people back into the old beliefs." And thus, add to the spirits' power. If it were true, it would be a good way to move the pieces of this entire board game they were all playing.