<strong>Tiny Threats</strong><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"For as long as the seed has bloomed,"</span>answered one pixie.<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"Under the silver moon,"</span>said another.<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"You've never heard the oath? What did you even learn during the two hundred years of your childhood? Very well- we'll tell you. Sisters!"</span>Two pixies turned a peeled and faded wine label into the backdrop of a stage. Another cloaked herself in thistle fur while three donned frightful beetle carapace masks and loomed menacing.<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"Long ago,"</span>spoke the hidden narrator,<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"mortals came to the dale to find it rich with fairykind. Some, like pixies, were good and kind, but others drank blood and hunted for sport. Those were the unseelie fey."</span><br/>A rag curtain drew across the stage. When the pixies pulled it back, the thistle-furred actress was kissing the feet of a languid, sensual queen wearing a bluet crown.<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"The mortals came to the Summer Queen and pleaded, help us to be rid of the unseelie."</span><br/><br/>In a clear breach of the silent play, the queen lurched to her feet and declared,<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"Yes, I will help you, for I am wise and generous and beautiful."</span>And despite dirty looks from the other players, she continued to ham.<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"Though I will not take arms against the unseelie, our courts will outnumber them and drive them from Oldwall. Here: take this seed. Plant it with care where the soil is rich and food is plentiful, and where it unfurls in the soil, there a new court will be decided. We will take that land as our own."</span><br/><br/>The production was plagued by whispers as pixies regarded Zebbie. Though they were too faint for mortal ears to hear, pixies were animated speakers. The crossed arms, puffed cheeks, and pulled hair were outnumbered two to one by excited flutters, clasped hearts, and pixie dances.<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"Finally, the long-suffering pixies have a queen and court of our own."</span>The gesture of a long curtsy made it possible for a pixie to bow in a midair hover.<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"A wicked queen to drive fear into the hearts of enemies."</span>One by one, every pixie who was not dazed senseless swore fealty to Zebbie.<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 7pt;">"A strong queen whose fate will be bound to the tree."</span><br/>There would never be a better time to gather them all up in the sack with one fell swoop.