Chapter Twenty-Seven

Marianne had asked Dawn if she could find an excuse to get some of the other goblins out and about in the Fairy Kingdom. She wanted to save Bog's tour for when Marianne could personally escort him, but she also wanted their citizens to get accustomed as quickly as possible to goblins peaceably walking the streets.

Dawn had decided to start with Griselda. Once you got over the initial startled impression of 'grey skin, clawed hands, too-long arms, too-large mouth, teeth, horns, goblin,' Griselda was almost completely unintimidating.

She must have been a force to be reckoned with at one time, to have raised a son like Bog and to have been former Queen of the Dark Forest, but Dawn's primary impression of Griselda was that she was affable and gregarious.

She was also around an elf's average height, so she wouldn't have to duck while visiting or shopping if things went well and she made friends in the elves' village … and wasn't quite as startling to see out of the corner of your eye, like Bog or his looming bodyguard.

Okay, so Dawn had multiple motives for selecting Griselda for the first attempt at this and some of those reasons were more callous and manipulative than others.

Such as knowing that making a good impression on his mother would likely also have a carryover effect of making a good impression on the Bog King.

And Griselda being compact enough that Dawn could probably fly her out of danger at least a short way if this didn't go as well as she was hoping.

And how Griselda was still keen to get Marianne and Bog together, especially now that the love potion seemed to have worn off, making it only a matter of time until they stopped denying their attraction and kissed already, so Griselda would have a vested interest of her own in wanting this to go well.

And how much more quickly Marianne and Bog's relationship might progress if they weren't worried that his mom might come in and interrupt them at any moment. (That one might have been over-eagerness on Dawn's part. There would still be a chance of her and Marianne's dad interrupting, after all; along with the royal physician, and potentially literally anyone else in the castle, as long as Marianne was in the hospital wing.)

But Dawn also enjoyed Griselda's company and thought that Griselda would enjoy this experience.

Dawn knocked shyly on Griselda's door, aware she might be waking her up, and careful to tap softly so that Griselda could pretend, if awake and disinclined to company, that she simply hadn't heard.

"It's unlocked!" Griselda called from inside.

Dawn peeked in. Griselda was sitting in one of the fancy twig-woven chairs, just setting aside a book.

"This a social call? Or did my son finally manage to mortally offend someone, and you're here to tell me I have to either talk him out of it or watch the duel?"

Dawn had to laugh.

"Neither. You seemed really interested, when we were talking about plumbing? So I thought, if you wanted, we could go into town and I could introduce you to the Plumbers' Guild, since they'd know the most about what you'd have to do if you wanted to set up pipeworks in the Dark Forest. We don't need to do it today, I didn't set up an official appointment with them or anything, but we would probably have to during the day since most businesses shut down at night."

"Well, aren't you just the sweetest sprig of honeysuckle!" Griselda's wide face was perfect for wide smiles. "I've been wanting to get a better look around this place. Let me leave my son a note where I've gone, then I'll get Thang up to take notes on the meeting if we need any, and we can go."

Thang wasn't one of the goblins who wore clothes, but brownies didn't wear clothing either, unless they were doing some kind of fiddly work where fur could be hazardous, or messy work where protective clothing would be easier to clean than their own pelts, so the presence of a naked goblin wouldn't be as scandalous in the village as it was in the castle.

Dawn was in two minds about which goblins to start with when events moved on to formally presenting goblins to the Fairy Court. If they started by inviting goblins who did wear clothes, then the courtiers might be more … willing … to adapt to goblins, before having to adapt to casual nudity as well. But, on the other hand, clothed goblins seemed to be a rarity, or at least a minority, and would not create an accurate representation of all the Dark Forest citizenry that the Fairy Court would eventually be expected to interact with. In that case, getting both shocks over with at once might be the better route?

Dawn would run those points by Marianne later and see what her sister thought, before asking Griselda which goblins the former queen thought would be willing to adapt to Fairy Court. From the admittedly little amount Dawn had seen of it, the Dark Forest Court didn't seem nearly as formal as the one to which she had been raised.

The walk to the guild hall was slightly overwhelming. Griselda had been out and about by day before, but almost always with a canopy of tree branches blocking most of the light. The Fairy Kingdom was as bright as noon in midwinter, and a thousand times more colourful.

It was crowded, too, once they got to town. The streets were full of elves and brownies going about their business. Despite being only a small village, it had an energy that reminded Griselda of some of the bigger cities in the forest.

"Are those bridges?" Thang pointed out rickety-looking connections between some of the taller buildings that ran over the streets. "It's almost like the capital, isn't it?"

Amber Hollow had a cluster of trees on one side connected by a weaving nest of bridges, so the goblins inside didn't have to go all the way to the ground and climb back up to travel between them. They were mostly government offices; not every piece of official business had been done in the castle.

There was also talk of building an indoor marketplace that way, to shield goods from inclement weather, but as far as Griselda knew that was still idle chatter.

There were shops in the bridged trees, which were mostly to sell food to busy goblins who didn't have time to leave their jobs for a meal. One clever, enterprising soul was also doing brisk business by selling blank paper and bottles of ink.

The marketplace here had a great many food stands as well; produce and baked goods and preserves.

There were bolts of cloth and sheaves of petals and leaves for clothing, piles of clothing already sewn, hats, and what Griselda eventually figured out were shoes.

Livestock, insects and rodents, were herded through the streets once in a while. This got Thang very excited the first time they had to move aside for such a group, because he mistook the procession for the start of a parade.

There was a shop filled with ceramic dishes and another shop beside it with metal pots and pans and utensils.

Merchants sold all manner of tools, some of which she could identify; others of which, to Griselda's untrained eyes, might as well have been abstract sculptures.

It was less bright inside the guild hall, though still crowded and still colourful, with shining metal pipes and tools displayed throughout.

There was some tension when they arrived. Griselda expected that. She'd seen the suspicious looks sent her and Thang's way the whole walk over, and noticed how, despite the crowds, no one had gotten close enough to bump into them. But Dawn's pointed presence and Royal Endorsement got the conversation going, and kept anyone from being openly rude.

"Hey, Thang, are you officially a scribe?" Dawn asked on the way back to the Fairy Castle.

"I had some scribe training mixed in with secretary training, but my official title is Royal Aide. Stuff and I have worked for the Bog King since he was the prince."

Thang proudly clutched his notes. Griselda, listening to them with half an ear, was glad Dawn had suggested meeting the Plumbers' Guild when she had. If the Dark Forest's next castle was going to have running water – so much more convenient than buckets! – it would apparently be a lot easier to put the pipes in while it was being built, rather than – what was the word that one elf had used – retrofit the completed fortress.

An intoxicating smell wafted through the air and Griselda stopped walking. Was that –? She sniffed and turned. Yes. A butcher shop.

It was the middle of the afternoon, but a little snack wasn't going to spoil her breakfast that evening …

She patted the pocket of her dress and bit back a curse when she remembered that she wasn't carrying any money.

Probably for the best, she told her growling stomach as she hurried to catch up with Dawn and Thang. Who knew if a brownie- or elf-owned store would even take goblin currency? To some shopkeepers, gold was gold regardless of where it came from, but others could be so picky. And of course she couldn't expect a foreign shop, where they didn't know her, to sell her anything on credit.

Griselda made a mental note to lean on Bog and Marianne about settling an exchange rate.

(I finished this and Chapter 26 together, but wanted to save this update so I could post a new chapter for Christmas. I do not have Chapter 28 completed yet, but hopefully I will by next month!

If you want something more to tide you over, I've also managed to produce a bunch of one-shots while trying to get new chapters out. Go give them some lofe! Getting back to Butterfly Bog, for example, I rewrote "You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch" as a love song for Bog to sing Marianne; for more Dawn and Griselda bonding, "Dewdrops" is mostly them talking fashion; or if you'd like to see more of Thang - and Stuff! - "First Week On The Job" is about how they started working for Bog. I even have an upcoming story about how the fay and goblin economies need to adjust in order to open trade, although "Economic Differences" is not actually canon to this story, because in that one, goblins do not actually use money.)