Blissa found her father in one of the lower gardens perusing the petunias. He wasn’t alone. Maurelle was with him, and they were talking quietly. When Roldan spotted Blissa, he turned to her and smiled. “Join us,” he said, waving her over.
Maurelle’s mouth was a short line. She looked unhappy, and Blissa could feel her troubled spirit. Part of her wished to ask what was the matter, but she wondered if it were a private matter that Maurelle would not want her to intrude upon.
“That’s a marvelous flower,” her father said, looking at the yellow bloom in Blissa’s hand. “I haven’t seen one of them in years. They only grow in the kingdom of Errol, if I recall correctly.”
Maurelle blanched at that name, and looked at Blissa with concern. “It must grow somewhere else, too, Uncle,” Maurelle said. “For Blissa wouldn’t go to such a dangerous place.”
Blissa smiled. “Actually, father, it is from there,” she said. “A man wandered into the Crystal Pond from that kingdom, and I sent him back on his way, but I did stay and explore a bit. Since we had our visitors from the Southern Realm, and you were considering rescinding your prohibition on mating, I thought I’d find out more about the human kingdom.”
Roldan stared at his daughter and placed a hand to his chin. “That is certainly a reasonable thing to do,” he decided. “Each leader should make their own decisions based on their own observations, and not blindly follow a course because it is tradition.”
Blissa smiled.
Maurelle did not. “But, sometimes it is best to defer to the wisdom of our elders,” Maurelle said. “Humans are power hungry and troubled.”
Blissa’s father patted Maurelle’s shoulder, and then chuckled. “It seems you and your cousin are at odds about how to interact with the human kingdom. Our visitors seemed to think it a poor law, especially when many of our fairies must regularly attend to the human kingdom. Yet your cousin is adamant that the law is for the best. She was quite concerned that I am giving serious consideration to rescinding it.”
Blissa smiled wide, having a hard time believing her luck. “Really, father?”
He nodded, but scrutinized her reaction, as if it were a bit too happy for his taste. “This pleases you, I see.”
Blissa tried to temper her joy. “It does, father. I have watched the people in the human kingdom, and they don’t all seem bad. I don’t think people should judge all fairies based on the acts of just one, so why should we judge men based on the act of one vile one?”
Maurelle sighed. “Perhaps because it is in their nature to be cruel. You should hear the things the birds say of men. They see them often, the way they destroy so many of nature’s creatures. And they’re always at war.”
“Not Eldred’s father,” Blissa said, her eyes turned directly on her cousin. “He was kind. He died when we were but children, not long after ...” the attack of King Errol, she started to say, but then thought better of it. “Not long after your mother died. But I still remember him. He was kind, always a pleasant word to everyone, even us children. Eldred has a similar demeanor, if you ask me.”
“Eldred’s mother is a fairy,” Maurelle said.
“And his father was human,” the king said. “And both have their merits.” He turned to Maurelle now. “I know that the events surrounding your mother’s death still pain you. Errol is responsible for her death, but you cannot pour his sins onto an entire nation. I have done so for too long. There’s a bitterness in doing that. A bitterness I held onto for too long. But I realize it wasn’t good for me, or for the kingdom.”
Resignation crossed Maurelle’s face. “I cannot blame all men for her death, I suppose,” she said. “I shall go and think more on it, Uncle.”
With that, she nodded to Roldan and Blissa and then walked away. Blissa could feel the turmoil within her cousin and felt a pang of sadness.
Once Maurelle was out of sight, Blissa saw her father walk over to a stone bench and sit. He motioned for him to join her. She did.
“So,” he said. “Am I to understand it that you’ve met a man?”
Blissa stared at her father, wondering if he meant what she thought he did. He was hard to read. Even for emotion fairies, monarchs were hard to read entirely. Especially if they wished to be guarded. “What do you mean?”
He gave her a hard stare.
“Yes, I met a man who is kind and he intrigued me, and so we’ve chatted a few times,” Blissa admitted, trying to keep thing light and noncommittal. It seemed too much to launch into the specifics of who Edmund’s parents were.
“He’s very smitten to give you a briar rose,” her father said. “Your aunt once told me it was the custom of the men in the kingdom to give a lady such a rose if they intended to court her.”
Blissa swallowed, not expecting her father to know such things. “Really,” she said. “That’s interesting.”
He watched her intently. “I suspect you knew that already, though,” he said, and he sighed. Blissa turned and looked out at the flowers of the garden. She heard her father speak. “I was foolish to ban all fairies from mating with humans over the mistake of my sister. She had fallen in love with Errol, and ... well, that wasn’t her mistake. Hers was thinking he’d fallen in love with her. Radella paid a cruel price for her blunder, and in return, I made the folks of our realm pay a steeper price. That was my error. But I do believe I have learned something from it, and I intend to correct my mistake.”
Blissa turned to her father. “That’s good,” she said. “You’ve always said it best to correct a mistake sooner rather than later.”
“Indeed,” he admitted, looking out toward the orange glow of the setting sun. “I will correct my mistake without heed to the consequences, but know that you may suffer for the timing of your love.”
Blissa raised a brow inquisitorially.
“How do you think it would look to the people of the realm if I rescinded my declaration and then my only daughter and heir took up with a human?”
Blissa did not answer aloud, though she knew exactly what the answer was.
“We cannot, as rulers, rescind laws just because we did not wish to be arrested for breaking them.” Blissa opened her mouth to say that he wasn’t rescinding the law just for her. “We must not look like we are doing it for those reasons, either. I will rescind the law and give my reasons for it at our next royal session on law. However, my darling daughter, I will only rescind the law for the people. The monarchs will still be forbidden from mating with humans.”
“Father,” she said. “You can’t do that.”
“I must be fair,” he said.
“But that is the opposite of fair,” she said. “You are punishing me because I’m an heir to the throne.”
He shook his head. “I am helping you remain above reproach. During your rule, in ten or twenty yearsyou may loosen the rules. But I will not rescind this law and have our people believe we make and break rules simply to please our own whims. That is not what worthy rulers do.”
Blissa gritted her teeth and stood. “And what is it that worthy fathers do?” she asked, but walked away before he could respond.