It was a pity they couldn’t make crops grow. For some reason, their control didn’t extend to most edible foods, and they couldn’t make soil healthy either. They were great if someone’s rose garden needed a hefty boost, but Jaki was sure her power wouldn’t be of much help in Iceland. Nobody could fight the declining land.
Elswere must have paid a lot to have the troupe come and entertain them with music and flashy dances. They’d had a few courses, and the imported wine had already been in the cellar for a while. Considering how much they’d gone through, more would be ordered soon. Jaki could imagine the cost of the snow bear steaks since hunting those animals was no easy feat. They were harder to find too.
While the woman let vines grow from her shoulders and crawl toward the man, Jaki imagined the people in the city with smaller meals or no food depending on their personal situation. A family of four had been found dead in their home last week, and everything they’d owned of value had been robbed including their food.
Jaki had mentioned various things more than once. Elswere did little besides lowering rent. He preferred drinking and pretending Iceland wasn’t declining.
With no food, farms and various businesses reliant on it would close. Fairies would lose their jobs. Prices would continueto rise. Those with work wouldn’t be able to afford anything. Rents and taxes would go down even more because there was simply no way to pay them, and lords would have less to pay in taxes to the King. Havaska had no lord with the King so close, and all rents and taxes from there went directly to the treasury which wouldn’t last forever.
Jaki had heard of fairies already leaving the Kingdom, thinking nothing would ever be done. How long until Iceland was a vague shadow of its former self with very few struggling by? Ten years? Eight? Five?
Even fireplaces ate through the logs they were fed much faster now. He looked at the Elira Tree, dull and dying in its raised, bricked-off section in the center of the Hall.
While Elswere preferred to sit on his arse, Tivar must have been waiting for an heir. It was the only reason he did nothing else. Lumi must be alive, and Jaki wanted him back. If only it was so easy.
As usual, the courtiers watched with glee and pretended the Kingdom was fine. Since the woman represented summer, she let her vines finally snare the man and force him to the floor before she jumped on him as though she’d conquered winter.
When she raised her arms, the courtiers cheered and clapped. One said to show winter a good time now that she had him on his back and at her mercy.
Jaki quietly sighed once the courtiers got up to dance while the troupe continued playing music. The woman, who certainly wouldn’t be fucking the man on the Hall floor, stood and helped him up. Jaki also stood and snatched his cloak from the back of his chair.
“Where are you going?” asked Elswere.
“The steak didn’t agree with me,” said Jaki. “I'm going to my rooms.”
“Do you need the physician?”
“No. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Jaki secured his cloak as he stepped into the main courtyard, and he pulled his hair loose from its tie. They’d already had a grand dinner for the Spring Equinox along with musicians. Elswere hadn’t been able to find much else for entertainers at that time. Now they’d had a Summer Solstice celebration although the month could hardly be considered summer, and barely anybody had a party for it in Iceland or even acknowledged it.
How much money did they need to throw away? Jaki had seen the ledgers and knew things couldn’t go on forever. The entertainers appreciated the coin. They’d like it even better if the Kingdom was united and fixed.
He crossed the courtyard, took an open-ended hall to a smaller one, and went up the stairs on the wall. Beyond the yard on that side, the hill sloped down toward the main wall that surrounded the grounds. A guard was walking along the edge, and others stood watch. The city spread out beyond with a few lights here and there, and he paused to look at it as his breath puffed in the air.
If Jaki were a common citizen, he’d see the side of the Hall if he went out at night and faced that way since it was higher than the wall. He’d see the light from the enormous windows and think of the King and the Crown Prince living in their finery.
He’d despise them with every fiber of his being.
The walkways on the walls of the courtyard were mostly abandoned, and Jaki couldn’t stay there. The smaller side garden would work better. The plants didn’t do well anymore. Things like wolver flowers, white roses, snowdrops, winkies, and other plants intended to thrive in the cold drooped and died long before one would typically expect. Some barely got past the sprouting stage.
He was tempted to ask the plant fairy if she’d give it a little life even though it wouldn’t last long. Of course, he couldn’t expect work without payment, and they needed to stop spending.
Even though the bushes were scanty compared to before, Jaki passed a couple hiding behind a clump, and he ignored their grunts as he moved deeper in.
It wasn’t long before a cloaked figure approached.
“You look dazzling all in white, like a snow angel come to life.”
Jaki tried not to cringe at the line as he went around a bed of half-dead wolver flowers with their limp pink petals. A lantern hung from a skeletal tree in the center. The Norian crystal chunks in it gave off just enough light, and it would have been pretty, but it only highlighted the slow death taking place beneath it.
“Why should a snow angel bother talking to a mere fairy?” Jaki cocked an ear.
The man followed him around the flowers. “Mm, perhaps this mere fairy could grant you a little amusement for a short time.”
“I imagine it’d be a very short time.”
The man chuckled and boldly slipped his hand into Jaki’s cloak just as a couple of women passed not too far. “You could always get on top and take your time with me.”
