Trevor walked out of the gallery and into the back garden. The area was bright thanks to the lights strung through the trees, which was necessary as the sun had already set. He immediately felt a sense of comfort as he walked along the path between the sculptures that had been placed out here for viewing. Even the Seven-legged, which was especially well-lit as it could very well cause nightmares in the dark, didn’t bother him as he walked by it. He continued down the path towards the pavilion.

  All of Drelik's practice sculptures were gone, leaving only Cindal’s work. This had been his workshop for the last twenty years where he practiced making that one perfect piece. Trevor had honestly been inspired by the dwarf’s passion, but it also seemed incredibly lonely. Too much, even.

  Just before the open structure was a paved area with a fountain. Trevor had joined Drelik for many of his days working here, spending time with the old man as he poured his heart and soul into his hammer and chisel. Closing his eyes, feeling the nighttime air, he took a deep breath.

  “Glorious!”

  A rambunctious voice rang out and knocked him from his nostalgia. Other guests, no one he knew personally, had come outside to see the sculptures and they, too, seemed perturbed by how loud the disturbance was. There were a few people lingering in front of the fountain, but only one caught his eye. Someone who certainly hadn’t been in the lounge.

  The loud man had his arms raised as he laughed. “I gaze upon you, masterpiece, and I am overwhelmed with emotions!” he shouted. “What precise blows must have been taken to turn you both into such crowning achievements I do not know, but my imagination takes such thoughts and runs wild with them!”

  Trevor frowned. He hadn’t been to any art gallery events before, but this certainly didn’t seem to be the proper behavior. As he approached, he observed the man. His outfit was made of green, red, and orange leaves, of all things, and that caused him to stop in his tracks. He had only met one other person who wore clothing like that.

  Taking a moment longer to truly take in the man, Trevor saw that his skin was green, and his black hair was made up to look like a top hat with several pins and clips. A silver band had been put around it to sell the illusion that it was something he was wearing. The smell of cider reached his nose and he knew for a fact that this was one of the fey.

  “Quest Master, who is this guy?” he asked quietly. As always, he was quick to get a response.

  [[This is the son of the Queen of the Feywood, Prince. He is an artist, and doesn’t really mind if anyone knows when the creative juices are flowing.

  Also, I know what you’re thinking. You’ll undoubtedly hear it when you get to his introduction.]]

  “Good info, thanks. I appreciate it,” Trevor said as he refined his approach.

  Stopping next to the cackling fey, the inventoryman looked up at the two statues floating over the fountain. The first was that of Drelik himself. He was wearing the plate armor he had as captain of the guard all those decades ago. His beard tumbled from his chin, and it almost seemed like each hair had been chiseled individually. One hand was lifted into the air, pointing upwards, and the other held a shield that had a red heart painted on it. This was Cindal’s rendition of her husband, her final work.

  The second statue was Drelik’s masterpiece. The beautiful dwarven woman, a depiction of Cindal herself, had curly hair on top of her head and on her chin. She smiled brightly as she brandished a red-tipped paint brush and art palette that had different colors painted on it. Slight imperfections on her smock had been colored over, making it look like globs had fallen and dried.

  The amount of love, care, and passion that went into the statue was evident in its details. It was no Cindal original, but it certainly had a place here.

  “This is my favorite piece in the whole gallery,” Trevor remarked as he stood at the fountain’s edge. The sound of running water soothed him, and he smiled. “Drelik was ecstatic when he finished. It was a very emotional moment.”

  Before Trevor could react, his hands were suddenly taken by the prince’s and he was turned to look into the fey’s green eyes. The newcomer wore a wide grin, showing off abnormally white teeth, and he was at least a foot and a half taller than the Summoned. However, the expression he wore was like that of an enthusiastic child.

  “You were there when this one was finished?” he asked, leaning in.

  At first taken aback by the sudden movements, Trevor took a breath and shook his head. One of the other guests had started heading back to the mansion, so he continued the conversation. “I arrived a couple days too late for that, but I was the first one to see her in all her glory.”

  The prince paused. “Now, how did this etiquette go?” he whispered to himself. Slowly, he took one of Trevor’s hands and shook it, then patted it on the back with the other. Without letting go, he bowed three times, and waggled his eyebrows. He paused with a strange look on his face. “No, that doesn’t feel right.”

  Trevor snorted before coughing to cover it up. “You got a little bit of it right.”

  “Oh, then my apologies. It needed more eyebrow waggling, didn't it?” the prince asked. “It’s so hard to remember, sometimes. I'm just not used to outsiders anymore. Technically, I’m not supposed to be away from the Feywood. However, I simply couldn’t help myself. Cindal was such an inspiration for me, and I had to come.”

  “We mostly bow here, but the rest of the greeting was certainly novel,” Trevor explained. “I didn’t see you during Drelik’s speech. I have to ask, but were you invited?”

  “I have a long-standing invitation to the manse,” he announced proudly, placing his hand on his chest. “As artists, Cindal and I have spent many long days and nights speaking on all manners of things. It seems like just yesterday that we shared a drink and a conversation, but the world is truly lesser for her passing. It heartens me to see the talent that Drelik has become in her absence.”

  “He has always spoken very fondly of her, yeah,” Trevor replied with a smile. Then, he bowed when he remembered what the Quest Master had said. “I’m Trevor, by the way. I’m a Summoned from one of the many Earths out there.”

  “Ah! An Earthboy!” the fey practically squealed. “In that case, you get a special greeting, taught to me by someone else from your planet.”

  “Oh yeah?” the inventoryman asked, trying to hold down a smile.

  “Oh, yeah. I was told that I had a specific greeting for you. Not you, the specific, but you in the general. I’m sure you understand,” he said before clearing his throat and offering his hand. Trevor took it, and they shook. “Greetings, friend. I am the artist currently known as Prince. You may call me Prince.”

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  The dam broke, and Trevor had to laugh. “It’s nice to meet you, Prince.”

  “Such a bright smile! I love it when people smile when they hear that, every time,” the fey announced with a big grin on his face.

  “No wonder people were telling me that it was too loud out here,” a voice cut through the night. Trevor and Prince turned to see Drelik approaching them. “You fey vagabond. I wasn’t sure you would come.”

  “How could I not? You produce a new piece from my favorite artisan and I am expected to hide in my home because my mother said so?” Prince asked, shaking his head. “Nothing could keep me away. I could, of course, have come later, but I would be doing you and Cindal a great disservice.”

  Drelik nodded before clasping Trevor’s shoulder. “You can relax a bit, lad. I may not have actually expected him to show up here tonight, but he’s allowed to be here.”

  Feeling how tense his body was, the Summoned took a breath. “Huh, guess I am pretty high strung, aren’t I?” he asked with a light chuckle. “I just wasn’t expecting someone to show up in your back garden.”

  Prince gasped. “I have completely forgotten my manners!” he said. “My deepest apologies, dear Summoned. It completely eluded me to enter through the front. The garden here is just so nice that it reminds me of home, and then I find the statue of my dear departed friend? Such thoughts flew out of my head.”

  “It’s okay, Prince, though,” Drelik said, though he trailed off while looking at the tall fey with a slightly hard look in his eye. “What’s not all right is you disappearing for the last twenty five years. No visits, no letters, no nothing. Cindal missed you in her final days.”

  A look of pain crossed over Prince’s features as he clutched his heart. Tears started forming in his eyes. “You have wounded me, Drelik. Has it truly been so long?” he asked, sounding sincere.

  The dwarf softened at the sight and sighed. “I’m sorry, old friend,” he apologized. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t take it out on you. I’m just worked up over the gallery, and that’s no excuse to sling mud.”

  Trevor watched as Prince went down to one knee and wrapped Drelik in a tight hug. The dwarf returned it after only a moment of hesitation. He remembered something Adabelle had told him about the fey. In addition to being terrible at recognizing personal space, their sense of time was different from ours. Something about their conditional immortality made it hard to keep track of days, months, and even years.

  That was actually one of the main reasons the Queen of the Feywood hosted quarterly balls. Not only was it an event meant to bring allies together, but it was also supposed to help keep her people’s internal clocks in sync with the world outside of its borders.

  Drelik did call him a vagabond, though. If the prince hadn’t realized that it had been twenty five years since their last meeting, then it was likely that he had been out of his country for a long time, having only arrived recently enough that his mother still didn’t want him to leave. Getting grounded was rough, but Trevor didn’t know enough about fey relations to comment on it so he kept his mouth shut.

  “It is fine, it is fine. A harsh word is nothing under such stress,” the fey soothed. He stood up and returned his gaze towards the statues. “Especially because we are all feeling such strong emotions when gazing upon such beauty. The way he practices how he wants to rally the troops, preparing to defend his kingdom. And her, oh! How she paints for him her vision of peace, hoping that he returns home the same man as he ever was. I can feel it, Drelik. I can feel what these statues represent and I am filled with such joy and love for the world.”

  For his part, Drelik tried to nod stoically, but there were tears in his eyes. When Trevor put a hand on his shoulder as he had done before, the dwarf just smiled. “Prince has always understood art more than people. The fact that this is what he sees in our final work together, well, it’s exactly as what I wished for.”

  “Scathing words towards me, but it is the truth,” the fey admitted. “I can’t refute them. The world speaks to me at a level few understand, and art like this simply sings.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful talent to have, Prince,” Trevor said with a smile.

  “It is, it is.”

  “Still, I’m here,” the Summoned said to Drelik, keeping his voice low. “We both knew that this would be an emotional time. I’m here for whatever you need.”

  “Thank you, my boy,” the dwarf said, putting his hand on Trevor’s. “Prince, this lad here has been a wonder to have this past year. He’s become something of a grandson to me during this time. One of Cindal’s few regrets was that she was never healthy enough to have a child of our own, but I just know that she would have approved of Trevor.”

  Before the Summoned could react, Prince had once again clasped his hands. This time, however, he bowed. “Thank you for taking care of my friend. I might have missed a lot, but they mean the world to—” the fey suddenly cut off, jerking upright.

  “Is everything okay?” Trevor asked, worried.

  “No, everything is awful,” Prince whispered. “My mother has discovered my absence.”

  Despite the mood, Drelik chuckled. “Then you better get back as fast as you can, Prince. It was good seeing you again.”

  “And you, my friend. And you as well, my new friend. May the trees provide you sustenance and shade for all your days,” he said before taking a step back.

  One moment he was an entire, tall person, and the next he was a pile of leaves. Some of the other guests who had stopped to watch this interaction gasped at the show, but they couldn’t do anything as the wind picked up each part of Prince’s new form and carried him off to the forest.

  There was silence for a few seconds before Trevor chuckled. “He sure is a character, isn’t he?”

  “He is,” Drelik agreed. “But he’s a good lad. A little strange at times, but I haven’t met a fey yet who isn’t.”

  Trevor nodded. “Sure seems that way. You’re okay, though?”

  “Feels like a weight I didn’t know I carried has been lifted,” he answered with a big grin. It faltered somewhat when he looked around. “Where’s Adabelle?”

  “Got pulled aside by some noblewomen,” he replied, turning to look back at the mansion. “Actually, I should be showing up to make a dashing and heroic attempt to save her. Telling her about some strange intruder could have really helped with that.”

  “Instead, you stayed here and talked to Prince to see if he was crashing the gallery?” Drelik asked.

  “I… guess I did, yeah,” Trevor said, scratching the back of his head.

  “You’re a good lad, Trevor. Now, go save your girlfriend.”

  “That’ll probably be harder than this was,” the man chuckled, but he still gathered himself up. Just as he turned, he saw Adabelle walking towards him. “Dang, just as I was about to go back in for you.”

  “They weren’t as bad as I thought they would be,” she said, though she did turn away slightly and scratched at her cheek. Trevor immediately caught her brightened eyes and slight, embarrassed smile. “Well, not in the way I expected they’d be, anyway.”

  “Something you’d like to talk about?” Trevor asked.

  “Not even a little bit,” was her quick answer.

  “Fair. You just missed Prince, by the way. Of the Feywood.”

  Adabelle blinked. “Really?”

  “That’s right, lass. His mother literally just called him,” Drelik confirmed. “Trevor here even kept him talking until I arrived in case he was here uninvited.”

  “You were having your heroic moment out here instead of using it to save me?” she asked, looking at him with wide, sad eyes.

  When Trevor saw Adabelle pout, no matter how fake the expression was, he took her hand. “It sure seems like it. But, good news, we now have the host’s full attention. How about we monopolize him here and have him show us the sculptures and tell us about the time Cindal made them?” he offered, looking down at Drelik after his girlfriend perked up. “How about it? Which of these are you most fond of?”

  The dwarf looked between the two and the small crowd that gathered at the question and smiled. “Aye, that’s a great idea. Let’s start with this.”