Kazue could feel the presence of other beiering their domain, but it was far less distind exact than her dungeon senses. With a bit of tration, she could pick out an individual roup and tell where they were a a feel for their auras, but she couldn't really see that spot or distinguish details. Plus it took up her avatar's tration to do that, not her core's focus. She could pull her core's focus to this side if she really o, but theher self would not be fog on the mortal world.

  That reminded her, had she had her medie this m? Kazue asked her core to be sure and was relieved wheold herself that she had. It was a little irritating to tell that her other self was amused, but at least that amusement came with a bit of self-depreciation. After all, this had always been part of Kazue's life, even if she hadn't known it before. A quick pat of her pocket verified that she had more doses with her; Kazue anticipated that this was going to be a very long day.

  After that moment of self-induced panic, there was little for her to do but wait for the first of their visitors to trickle in. The first to reach them were the smaller fae folk such as brownies, lepres, bluecaps, and pixies before some of the taller folk like satyrs, fossegrim, field spirits, and nymphs arrived. These first waves came as guests bearing small gifts, tokens of aowledgment from their lords and dies. The Azeria Court was not yet established enough for most nobility to arrive in person or for the court to otherwise be treated vishly, but with these token gifts, the nearby courts were ensuring that they at least did not slight Azeria unnecessarily.

  Normally, accepting a gift from the fey was dangerous as it could create an obligation, but that was, in part, what the feast was for. The gifts were accepted with graciousness and their guests were given a rge jug of honey before they were officially io enjoy the offered feast. Generally, only one representative from each group approached the dais while the rest waited off to the side, which helped keep the line shorter. The representative would then leave the open pavilion to the side where their group waited, allowing the person to step forward.

  This banced out the ifts aablished guest and host obligations and rights. With this they passed two tests; first, if they uood basic protocol well enough to not be caught in a trap of obligations and sed, to see how they would treat less powerful fey. The Azeria court was very much a new and unknown pyer, feeling them out was important.

  The obligations of Hosts and Guests were part of what kept everything so orderly. Every fey being here khat to touch the feast before being io do so would create an obligation to the Azeria Court akin to that of accepting an ued gift, nor would that debt be banced by being sidered guests afterward.

  Of course, even the fey folk had their blind spots. Living Dungeons were creatures of the mortal world, physical entities bound to hard crystal and not ined toward the same sort of whimsy that fey folk often were. For a dungeon, there was always work to be done and busio do, evehey indulged themselves in a little bit of rexation. Those fey folk ined toward diligent work were very focused, such as hobs with housework or bluecaps with mining, and generally did not diversify their is. As such, they had little uanding of how valuable some of these uems could be to a living dungeon.

  A drop of m dew harvested from the top of a tall tree while touched by both moonlight and sunlight. The sound of a baby's first ugh. A living leaf from a world tree, freely given. A maiden's first kiss. A bit of luck. The st breath of a good king. A dead man's shadow. A dollop of true innoce. The sound of silence. A golem's dream captured in the form of a lightning ram. A box of spider whispers. A spool of starlight thread. And so much more.

  She'd be happier without some of the creepier ones, but they all held great potential value. Many of these things were the building blocks of powerful rituals and entments and while the dungeon would never be able to duplicate the more esoteries in a way that would allow them to give them as prizes, they had learhe patterns.

  Those patterns could be used and reused indefinitely for the dungeon's purposes, providing an effectively unlimited supply when it came to building other things from them.

  Then there was the leaf. As far as Kazue was ed, it was a far more precious gift than all the rest. This ohe dungeon couldn't even ily copy, nor could they evolve other pnts to bee like it. They would have one ce to do something with it.

  Part of her wao use it like a cutting and grow it in a special garden she could create heir core, a space that would grow as the dungeon grew and travel with the rooms he core. But in the end that felt too fining for a being like this, and both of her spouses agreed.

  Instead, she had it taken to one of their druids who made a special mixture of earth for it, along with an ented pot. These were taken to their chambers high up in the crystal tree and for the moment pced in a brand new room; a small sunroom that would act as a greenhouse until the spring. That would be when they made their final decision.

  After these initial guests came petitioners, some of whom had alsifts on behalf of others. The Azeria Court was small and new, but that meant that there was room for opportunity. Many of these were young fey folk seeking to find a new pce for themselves. A handful of those were from minor nobility who wished to bee established and senior members of a new court rather than be forever a small actor of a rger court. They were bid to wait for now and enjoy the feast, as the three royals of the new court wished to interview them ier detail and did not want uests to have to wait.

  Some simply wished to leave Faerie aure to the mortal realm. These too were asked to wait, though for a different cause. The dungeon already had a pn to establish a perma gateway so there was o rush nor to create individual passages. There were still prices to be paid to keep debts banced, but that could be dealt with as a group.

  Then there were the mortals. They were few, but they felt unfairly trapped intains of servitude, uo leave Faerie and bound to always return to their master or mistress when called upon and perform their agreed-upon service. Mordecai dealt with these. For a feart of his duties as a high priest of Ozuran, he was able to break their tracts.

  Others were deemed to have been willfully ignorant or blind to the cost rather than tricked, so their tracts were not broken by divine power. Still, there was a way out; to exge one service for ahey would have to agree to serve Azeria instead, and Azeria would theo work out a price for buying their tract from their master or mistress. These too would o wait, with a temporary hold on the obligations of their fae tracts, as they would o be both interviewed and have their tract purchases iated.

  Interspersed amongst these on groupings were a few individuals that stood out. The first problematic petitioner was Queen Sylphine's seneschal, Lord Silvander. He was the one who had gifted them the leaf from the world tree, though that was not enough to get any of them to be other than wary of him. What he said after the initial formalities and exges proved that wariness was correct. "Princess Era, your mother, Queen Sylphine, has instructed me to insist that you return home."

  Kazue scowled at him and could feel Moriko's temper fring as well. Even Fuyuko was feeling protective of her adoptive sister. But Mordecai and Carmil's reas were different. "Rex, let her hahis o's faerie games," Mordecai said across their link. A closer look at Lord Silvander made it apparent that he did not seem particurly eager or happy to have delivered this message.

  As for Carmil, she gave off a predatory air as she rose from her seat and gave the seneschal a vicious smile. "You seem to have mistaken me, Lord Silvander. I am Princess Carmil of Azeria." That she could phrase it that way was telling, for a faerie could not lie. Teically, she was both, but right now she was ag as Carmil and thus usiher identity was inappropriate at best. "Now," Carmil said as she slowly walked forward and down the dais, Udup on her shoulder. "Let us cut this dance short, for I know my King and Queens do not care for these matters much. You have been ordered to insist, but she has not said she insists. So this begins and ends with you, correct?"

  "Yes, Yhness," Silvander replied with a sort ned amusement.

  "Then I choose to answer your insisteh my own. If you would meet with Princess Era, you must first prove yourself against Princess Carmil." She paused and gnced back to the thrones before asking, "With my parents' permission, of course? We would not want to cause any issues betwee and host."

  Kazue's breath caught for a moment. Carmil had never even hi calling them parents before. Even now, it art of a more formal statement rather than a personal one, and Kazue was not uhe illusion that she thought of them as parents the same way Fuyuko was starting to. But still, it felt nice. "A moment, please," she said and then ferred silently with her husband and wife. Mordecai had seen this ing and was fih it. Moriko had not seen it ing, but now that she did know the situation, she was fih it so long as Carmil was willing to py this game. Otherwise, she was willing to beat down the seneschal herself.

  Ritual violence did seem to be the only way forward here, at least, without worse repercussions. Kazue was relut simply because she did not care for it, but she aowledged that it was Carmil's right to defeatus and identity. "Very well, we have discussed it and see no issue with Lord Silvander's challenge nor Princess Carmil's response. her of you has cause to seek the other's death, so I insist that once a victor is clear, the loser will yield graciously." That st dition she had the right and power to make an order in this instance, and so she did, binding them both to that obligation. If they were going to py stupid faerie games, then she would use the rules to her advantage.

  "e then," Carmil said, "we need a venue where the uests will not be disturbed, yet those who wish to watch be eained. I know just the pce." Even at her full size, Carmil's wings were not just for show. She leapt into the air as she maed them and flew upward until she alighted upon the framework of crystal and mycelium where the Earth Zone would be in the mortal realm. "Now, do take care Lord Silvander. It would be quite rude to harm my friend here. You do have the skill to spar with spell and bde without damaging your surroundings, yes?"

  That was an iing choice. It would certainly make it harder to overwhelm her with raw power, and such a tricky challenge was sidered part of a faerie's strength. Silvander's reputation would be tarnished if he sidered himself less capable than her. If he was to prove himself strong enough to force Princess Era home, then he must do so uhe presented ditions, given that the ditions applied to both of them fairly.

  Nor would this fight simply bee an aerial fight, mer faeries o expend noticeable effort to maintain flight. They might take to the air briefly to take an advantage or avoid a disadvantage, but extended flight during a fight was unlikely.

  So the Faerie Lord followed suit and nded a reasonable distance away. "I do not think your pet should be with you for this, Princess," he said as he drew a slender bde of moon-touched mithral.

  "There is with me," Carmil replied as she drew a matg bde of her own. Kazue blinked. When and where did Carmil get that? Then she realized that the two bdes were of nigh identical make. She must have been able to ceal it when she hid the rest of herself as a sprite spark.

  Carmil took up a graceful fencer's pose and Udup moved to sit on her free hand, gripping her wrist firmly. "This," she tinued, "is Udup, and he is my familiar. A familiar and their master fight as one."

  Silvander's eyes narrowed at this revetion and he examined her more closely. "Your aura is touched by a patron's power now. You've bee a witch. Who is your patron?"

  In reply, Carmil simply gestured at the pavilion below with her bde.

  "I see," he replied and then nodded. "Very well then, if this is part of who Princess Carmil is. When this touches the ground below, we begin." A disk of true faerie gold was flicked into the air, shining brightly as it tumbled toward the ground.

  Zagaroth