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“Hush, Leeza—don’t complain to the Princess,” her mother said quickly. “We still have plenty of vegetables that we grow in our own gardens, my Lady,” she said to me. “We’ll not starve for the lack of a little meat.”
But her words didn’t do anything to make me less upset.
“Mordren really took away your food?” I demanded. None of the people I saw before me looked overfed. In fact, many of them looked too lean—at least to me. I turned to Krynn and Seldarin, who were both frowning. “Did Mordren do that too? Did he cut their food supply?” I asked them.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it, so I don’t know,” Krynn said, shaking his head.
“I hadn’t heard either,” Sel confessed. He frowned. “Perhaps we should have been paying better attention. Fucking Mordren…”
“Begging your pardon, my Lady Princess…” It was an older Lesser Fae—he must be very old indeed, considering how slowly these people aged, I thought. He came hobbling forward, holding onto a gnarled stick he was using as a cane. His hair was almost all gone, leaving just a long white fringe around his bald head and his face was a nest of wrinkles.
“Yes, do you know anything about this?” I asked him. “About Mordren cutting your food supply?”
“It’s just the meat,” the old man confirmed. “I’m Keezer—I work in the kitchens, so sometimes I can get a few scraps to send around, so people can bulk up their potato stew and the like. But the Lord Regent wouldn’t be happy if he knew it, I fear,” he added, looking worried. “So please don’t tell him!”
“I won’t tell on you, Keezer—don’t worry,” I said quickly. “But this isn’t right! Everyone deserves a good education and nutritious food.”
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being vegetarian but I got the sense that these people—the Lesser Fae—didn’t have the variety of foods to choose from that a modern vegetarian or vegan in the human world would. They were living in a kind of feudal system where the Lord at the top dictated every aspect of their lives. And right now, the system was definitely detrimental to their health and happiness.
“It wasn’t like this back when Kind Queen Lorelin was alive,” Keezer said mournfully. “She used to give feasts for the Lesser Fae sometimes! A good Queen, she was. I hope your Ladyship will follow in her footsteps.”
“I certainly will try,” I promised him. I was still angry though—I knew what it felt like to be cold and hungry and to feel like I didn’t have enough education to make a place for myself in the world. I turned to Krynn and Seldarin again. “What can we do about this? How much power do I have?”
Sel shrugged expansively.
“You’re the Princess. Technically you should have more power than anyone in the Kingdom.”
“However, just about any decision you make will have to be approved by the Lord Regent—Mordren,” Krynn warned me. “He’s supposed to be your advisor and lend you his wisdom until you come of age.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I snapped. “I’m perfectly able to make decisions without his input! Especially when his ‘wisdom’ is ‘don’t educate girls’ and ‘poor people don’t really need to eat!’”
“He never would have dared to do such a thing when your mother was alive, Princess.” Seldarin’s face was like a thundercloud. “I grew up here as a Lesser Fae under her rule and there was always plenty to eat and everyone had an opportunity to learn.”
“So the kingdom of the Dark Fae is actually going backwards since Mordren took over,” I said, still frowning.
“You could say that.” Krynn nodded. “I’m sorry, my Lady. I would have tried to dissuade him from cutting the rations of the Lesser Fae if he had consulted me—but he didn’t.”
“He didn’t listen to you about education, so why would he listen about this?” Sel pointed out.
“We need to change this right now!” I said. “These people deserve to be fed and educated too—they should have the same rights as the High Fae!”
I must have been speaking loudly enough for the crowd to hear me because a cheer went up as the words left my mouth.
“Careful, my Lady,” Krynn murmured. “You have the power to make changes in name, but you have yet to come into your magic. You have nothing to back up your words.”
“Surely there must be something we can do,” I said, thinking hard. “I know—Keezer said that the old Queen used to throw feasts for the Lesser Fae. What if we ordered the Palace Kitchens to cook a feast for them tonight?”
Krynn looked thoughtful.
“I’m fairly certain you could pull that off. You could announce it as a feast of gratitude to all those who have waited for your return and welcomed you back.”
“Let’s do it then,” I said decisively. “Let’s go to the kitchens right now!”
“I’ll take you, your Ladyship!” old Keezer, who had apparently been listening on the sidelines, piped up. “I’ll introduce you to the head cook too. Goztel is his name. He don’t like the Lord Regent’s orders either. He’s the one who slips me the scraps,” he added, giving me an exaggerated wink.
I suppressed a smile.
“All right—take us to the kitchens, Keezer. Thank you.”
