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“Already you have accomplished so much! Already we have become one unit! Together, we could be unstoppable!”
I’m not so sure about all that but it seems to work for the crowd and we’re not here to tell the truth, I suppose, we’re here to get everyone’s spirits up so that they’re confident going into battle. The last thing we need is people walking into this thinking that it’s no use and we’re going to fail and die.
Tiorelle finishes, and then, to my horror, she turns and gestures at me.
Fuck. Am I supposed to say something? I had no idea I’d be expected to give a speech. I’m not a queen or anything like that.
To refuse would probably be even more awkward, though, so I step forward. What do I say? How can I reassure these people that they’re right to put their faith in me, that I won’t let them down?
I have no idea what to say, but when I open my mouth, hoping against hope that maybe something brilliant just bursts out of me, instead what comes out is the truth.
“Honestly I never really thought much about being fae.”
Cain winces on my behalf. Yeah, I don’t blame him.
But now I’ve started and everyone’s staring at me so I might as well finish and be honest.
“It was useful when I needed it, like phasing in and out of things. Using a bit of glamour here and there. But I rejected the supernatural world. I wanted to be human, to get away from all of that. I lived in the human world, I had no real non-human connections, I didn’t keep up with the times. And I was so busy trying to cut myself off from everyone and be independent that I didn’t realize how much I was missing out on.
“Coming here, stepping out of my portal and seeing this place, was like a dream. I had no idea this existed, and I felt like a missing part of me at last fell into place. It’s brought me a joy I didn’t even know was possible to be a part of the fae community and to find my people. This whole world was opened up in front of me, and I didn’t really know what to do with it at first. I’ll be honest, sometimes I still don’t know what to do with it. But I know that I want to explore it and be a part of it.
“I’ve spent so long on my own, on the run, thinking only of myself, that the change is sudden and momentous. But I think it makes me appreciate what we have all the more. I was raised to believe, and I grew up believing, that we were all but gone. That there was nothing left of us, or almost nothing.
“Now I see that’s not true, and I want to fight for it. I just found you guys, how could I possibly give you all up? How could I possibly let myself lose this community? I know that a lot of you are from around the world too and only found this place, and these other fae, when you heard my call to action.” I paused. “Thanks for that by the way. I know that you don’t owe me anything and you all didn’t even know who I was at the time. But you came anyway. So thank you. Really.”
Everyone stares at me, and I’m terribly afraid that I’ve messed this whole thing up. That I’ve screwed the pooch, so to speak.
“I was fighting this battle pretty much on my own, except for my mates here, and then you all came, and I realized just how much I’ve been missing out on. And not just with a community but—look at us. I know that you can feel it, because I feel it. We’re all powerful together, we’re a force to be reckoned with. And I love it.”
I take a deep breath. “Roanac wants to take advantage of that connection we have. He wants to use it to hurt all of us at once, to make it a weakness. And we can’t let him. We’ve let everyone beat us down and use us. And we’re not going to take it anymore!”
That gets people going. I can see nods and hear low murmurs of assent.
“He thinks that we’re just going to roll over and take it. Well, we’re not!”
Everyone nods.
“And he thinks that we won’t band together, and we won’t stand up for one another, that we’ll let the other supernaturals get hurt too and that we won’t care. But we’re going to prove them wrong, aren’t we?”
I get more nods and a few yells of assent.
Willow looks over at me and smiles warmly. I smile back. “We’re going to show that we’re not all separate. We’re part of one world, and we can overcome the past. I know that it’s not easy. I’ve got pretty good reason to dislike vampires. My mate here has reason to distrust shifters, his own kind. We could all come up with reasons why we shouldn’t be working together.
“But that’s what Roanac will expect. He’ll never guess that we can put all of that aside. And we have put it aside. I trust King Malcolm and Queen Willow. I trust the shifters that have chosen to follow us and help us. And even though I don’t know all of you, I can feel your earnestness. I can sense your hearts, and I know that they’re pure. I trust all of you to do your best in this fight, and I trust that our best will be good enough.”
Will it be good enough, really? I don’t know. But I do know that we’re not going down without a hell of a battle.
“Roanac won’t expect that because all he knows is power. He’s selfish, and he thinks everyone else will be selfish too. That we’ll all think only of ourselves and take whatever we can from one another. We’re going to show him wrong, aren’t we?”
“Yes!” everyone choruses.
“He’ll crush skulls and walk over broken bones to get his power. We’ll show him whose bones are going to be crushed! We’ll show him that he can’t walk all over us! We’re fighting back, we won’t let him take what’s ours!”
Everyone yells in response. I’m actually not doing too bad at this, I think.
“He’s underestimated us the way the rest of the supernatural world has underestimated us. But we’re going to show him how wrong he is! We’ll show him how strong the fae really are!”
There’s a chorus of passionate affirmation.
