The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

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"Aw, I guess we really offended him," I could hear Trudy pouting.

"Great wishing there, Trude," Jerry quipped sarcastically. "You could have had anything, but now you've got nothing."

"Oh hush, don't be crabby. I'll send Ethel out here and maybe she can get something out of him."

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After the lowfolk left, I stood in the shadows of the dolmen and thought of ways I might be able to get the book, "Le Chanson du Percy" into the tower where I could study it at my liesure. Certainly it was possible to bring lowfolk things into Faerie; Percy himself had snuck in somehow. It seemed that this particular Gate was tuned to exclude them - which made sense, for security reasons, since this connected directly to the base of the scrying tower.

But I also knew that this same Gate connected to multiple points around Albric Tor. Generally a Gate linked you back to the same place you left, but there might be a way to re-assign the destination on the Faerie side .. if I could do that, then it might enable me to access other parts of the city, or maybe even circumvent Edessa's geas and make my escape. It would take some doing, though. I would need to know where the other access points were, as well as how to link the Gate to them.

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My thoughts were interrupted by a melodious feminine voice bellowing "HEY IN THERE. YOU THE ELF?"

I turned to look, and beheld the most ravishing creature I had seen outside of Faerie. Her lithe figure, her lustrous ebony tresses, her adorable glower ... suddenly I began to understand why elves of the Long Ago had gotten into so much trouble with lowfolk femmes. I gritted my teeth and remembered my Wiles training. If anyone was going to be in charge here, it would surely be me!

>Adler: When the wayward sister Ethel arrives, Goodness Gracious! She's the most beautiful lowfolk woman you've ever seen!
>Ethel: Counter to your gentle appearance, your manner of speech is very coarse and shockingly vulgar.
>Ethel: "Why do you have a fake accent?"
>You know, up close the lowfolk appeared surprisingly tall, even the female towered over you.
Adler: You can't manage to untie the braid
Ethel: Be as belligerent as you possibly can be

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I quickly bounded out of the dolmen, twirled around, and made a low bow. "Hudalaleigh," I exclaimed. "Sure an' is this the bonny Ethel I see before me?"

"Your accent blows," she scoffed. "It's faker than my sister's hair extensions. is your name really Lord Randall? What are you supposed to be the lord of? You look kinda puny, have you been eating right? You smell funny. They said you had gorgeous hair, but it looks crummy to me. How come one side is braided and the other side is straight? When's the last time you washed it? I don't think you're the elf. Where is the elf? If Gertrude was lying to me, so help me, I'm gonna pulverize her. WELL? You are Lord Randall, aintcha? You gonna grant me a wish or are you gonna stand there gawking at me all afternoon?"

I stood for a moment, completely taken aback. Being this close to her was almost overwhelming. For Fuma's sake, why were these lowfolk so ridiculously tall? That certainly was not helping matters.

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SpoilerI don't know if Thanksgiving is celebrated outside of the US but I'll wish everybody a happy one just in case.