[private] If I can't be better than them, I'll become much worse

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Gale’s attention is riveted by his long-eared companion, but it is not the knowledge of fairies that makes him scrutinize the words of the bargain. No, his host had memories of a genie, one with a tendency for playing loose with meanings. So he does not miss the way that Obscene had altered the bargain. Instead, he pauses and looks out at the lake, considering much as the other had. The Curse has minimal interest in Sickle, his host’s daughter being of little use as far as Power. She’s too old to raise the way they have Malik, and Gale is not certain he can recreate the magic that had made his eldest child young again. It is leaving the South untouched that matters. All of the South? Sylva hasn’t ever been of much interest to the Curse, but there is much to be said for the warmth of Loess. Especially when his current home is cold three-quarters of the year. And anyway, Gale had no intention of leaving Hyaline until the snow has melted, and this will give him some good news to share with Mazikeen. If Obscene disappoints, Gale imagines that his dark-haired wife will enjoy shredding the glittering fae. He’s never had fairie before, the cursed creature realizes. What would his magic taste like? Gale will have to find out later, when he is well-rested. For now he need only buy himself time. “You steal the child,” Gale repeats agreeably, “and the Pampas will be spared.” His host had visited the flowered hills often as a youth, when they were ruled by a very young chestnut mare named Noah. It would be a pity for all of that to burn. There is much more to Beqanna than it’s southernmost realm, after all. There are other places to hunt.

@Obscene