Anna leaned forward again: this, at least, she did want to talk about — desperately. Mina hadn't understood, but maybe Wallie would. He said that he still felt Shonsu's emotions; he'd even introduced himself as Shonsu. If her story was mad, so was his, and really above all she just wanted to hear that if she was crazy (all the True Fae probably were, so maybe she couldn't help it), then she wasn't alone in it.
"Yes. That." A pause, and she closed her eyes, gathering herself. "That doesn't have anything to do with being a being Kindred, to, ah, clarify. But... a lot of things went wrong, in Chicago, before I came here. If there are different worlds, then maybe this didn't happen to your Chicago, but for me, in my Chicago? In 1931, the True Fae came. They're fairies, I suppose, but nothing like the ones in children's stories. They probably have more in common with your gods than the cute little winged children I'd always pictured."
She sighed. Her eyes stayed closed: somehow it made telling the story easier, if she didn't have to watch his face while she told it, didn't have to guess at what he must be thinking. "The True Fae are...reality warpers. Creatures of dreams and glamour and emotion, and we—" she caught herself, "—they were having a competition, right in our city, over the right to claim it. And it didn't seem that there was anything we could do: they were just too powerful.
"Some were worse than others, though, and the worst one of all — his title was The Baron — seemed to be the front-runner. One of them, the Queen— she had three aspects. Queen, Crone... and Huntress." Her words were stunted, uneven; the whole thing was hard to talk about. "She summoned me to a party. By then I was trying to avoid the Fae — we all were — but I didn't seem to have a say in it. And, well... "
Anna paused again, opened her eyes, and looked directly at Wallie. Her expression was imploring. "You have to understand: I thought we were doomed — that the best we could possibly hope for was to defeat the Baron, but that some Fae taking over was inevitable. So... I told the Queen that I thought it would be better if she won. And she wanted to give me a gift — free of charge, she was insisting. Since it didn't seem she would let me go until I took her up on it, I asked for a weapon — a weapon that would defeat the Baron.
"So... she gave me a lightning bolt. I— I thought that was it — the weapon. And it was a weapon, in a manner of speaking. But it was also more than that. It was a fragment of her power — and of her personality: it was the Huntress."
Anna looked away again. "And now, well... I'm both. The Huntress and who I was before."
it's like a "whose life is more batshit" competition
"Yes. That." A pause, and she closed her eyes, gathering herself. "That doesn't have anything to do with being a being Kindred, to, ah, clarify. But... a lot of things went wrong, in Chicago, before I came here. If there are different worlds, then maybe this didn't happen to your Chicago, but for me, in my Chicago? In 1931, the True Fae came. They're fairies, I suppose, but nothing like the ones in children's stories. They probably have more in common with your gods than the cute little winged children I'd always pictured."
She sighed. Her eyes stayed closed: somehow it made telling the story easier, if she didn't have to watch his face while she told it, didn't have to guess at what he must be thinking. "The True Fae are...reality warpers. Creatures of dreams and glamour and emotion, and we—" she caught herself, "—they were having a competition, right in our city, over the right to claim it. And it didn't seem that there was anything we could do: they were just too powerful.
"Some were worse than others, though, and the worst one of all — his title was The Baron — seemed to be the front-runner. One of them, the Queen— she had three aspects. Queen, Crone... and Huntress." Her words were stunted, uneven; the whole thing was hard to talk about. "She summoned me to a party. By then I was trying to avoid the Fae — we all were — but I didn't seem to have a say in it. And, well... "
Anna paused again, opened her eyes, and looked directly at Wallie. Her expression was imploring. "You have to understand: I thought we were doomed — that the best we could possibly hope for was to defeat the Baron, but that some Fae taking over was inevitable. So... I told the Queen that I thought it would be better if she won. And she wanted to give me a gift — free of charge, she was insisting. Since it didn't seem she would let me go until I took her up on it, I asked for a weapon — a weapon that would defeat the Baron.
"So... she gave me a lightning bolt. I— I thought that was it — the weapon. And it was a weapon, in a manner of speaking. But it was also more than that. It was a fragment of her power — and of her personality: it was the Huntress."
Anna looked away again. "And now, well... I'm both. The Huntress and who I was before."