Ralph and the Pixie

Mirrindale was the antithesis of Narvi, in every sense. Where Narvi was chaotically laid out, Mirrindale was a study in order. Where Narvi was indefensible, Mirrindale was impregnable. And where Narvi was rustic, Mirrindale was, as the newcomers were soon to find, far more cultured and aristocratic.

Pran, Doc, Malina, and Ralph, were not given a chance to rest just yet. They were met by Birin, who now wore the Thane’s livery and rode with an armed escort. Approaching Pran, he said, including the newcomers, ‘I am sent to escort you to the Thane’s Hall of Office. The Pixie woman with you, meanwhile, is to be escorted-’

‘Malina is with us,’ Ralph said firmly, cutting him off. ‘She acted as emissary to our world for her people. So far, as she is the only Faerie person from your world to make contact with our own, her presence is required.’ He added this last himself, thinking it a good touch.

Birin lifted an eyebrow. ‘Malina did not go willingly to your world as Emissary. She was banished to your world, by our people, as punishment-’

‘Your laws do not apply in our world,’ Doc put in. ‘Any time there is a sole individual of a particular race or nation in out midst, that person is deemed to be a representative. In our world, in the country that Ralph and I come from, there are people, even the lowliest criminals, who would lay down their lives, rather than badly represent their countries.’