Page 31 of Knowing Trust

“I know. We’re past that. I should have gone through the right steps as well, but I thought people were going—people yell at me for everything and I get tired of it.” It was hard not to laugh when a lot of people snorted.

Fine, good to know I wasn’t the only one who had to deal with that bullshit.

It was still exhausting.

“I’m glad we’re all in agreement with this,” I said when over half seemed to accept it, ignoring those who clearly were going to still argue. I glanced at Neldor. “I think to start, this is something for our approval, simply because it’s tricky and everyone is not yet acclimated to this world. And I have to link in the person to the crystal.”

“If I may, Your Highness?” one of the light fairy commanders interjected, waiting until I nodded. “I would suggest having a captain as the contact to facilitate and investigate situations and make sure they are important and imminent. They have more flexibility in their schedules. We can make sure a few always have access to one phone while in this world.”

“Smart,” I praised, glad when Neldor nodded. “So it’s really the Batphone and a captain is always carrying it. Good. Yes, because something like a forest fire doesn’t always give much notice, and getting those out fast draws less notice.” I glanced around the room. “Though we cannot always handle all of them. That would not be smart.”

I was glad when everyone agreed, nodding for the commander to continue.

“From there, I would suggest we have a rotating order of which commanders handle the magic of the situation. As you said, it’s important and must be handled correctly since natural disasters will always have eyes on them. News coverage. It also will give us the chance to use our magic with nature that is good for us and we normally are too busy to spend much time doing.”

I glanced at Neldor and saw he agreed. “Thank you, Commander. Sage advice. I think that best. If you could implement the system, that would be something huge off our shoulders. Thank you.”

“Princess, we were curious what these can really handle besides forest fires?” one of the witch councilwomen asked. “I apologize if it seems I’m questioning your magic. I’m not. I just want to be clear as we pass along instructions. Also, we don’t have groups with leaders as other species do but mostly families.”

Both were really good points.

“The truth is that I don’t know,” I answered, shrugging when people seemed surprised that I would admit that. “This isn’t a power most fairies have, even the most powerful ones. It’s normally only the heirs and queens because of their link with Faerie. So this might be something only I have the chance to manage because of my demigod side as well.

“We don’t know and unfortunately, I am overloaded. As much as I would love the chance to play with it and all the aspects of my magic, it’s simply not possible. If you have ideas or ways you think it could be applicable, I can work with my professors and we can try it. The rain is really all I have experience with.

“I know some suggested refreezing some of the melted ice caps. I have no idea if that can constitute as ‘weather.’ And that’s what this is written as—known as. I’m limited and handicapped in my knowledge because I did not go through the normal training heirs do. On the other matter, I’m fine with the matriarch or patriarch of a family being seen as the same as a leader for this.”

She dipped her head. “Thank you, that was my concern. My suggestion would be for the next time you can find time in your schedule to test the crystal on a violent storm. If it can form one, it should be able to break one up. That would alleviate floods, monsoons, and hurricanes.”

“That’s smart. Thank you. I was focused on forest fires and droughts but yes, we can look into either idea.” I nodded, glancing at Stefanie. “If it can break up a hurricane, then it could tornados. It’s the same storm system but without—I actually don’t know. I just always heard people say a hurricane was a tornado on water. I don’t know if that’s accurate.”

“I don’t know that answer either, Your Highness,” she hedged, glancing at the other fairies.

“I find that shocking with how knowledgeable fairies are,” someone commented, not seeming hostile but genuinely curious.

“We don’t have that sort of drastic weather in Faerie,” Iolas explained, nodding when people couldn’t hide their shock. “Our planet is full of magic and regulates what its people need. There’s never been a hurricane or tornado in the history of Faerie.”

“Never a flood either,” Onas added. “There was a drought about a thousand years ago in the dark realm, but it was because of a magical accident that damaged the land. Once that was fixed, everything was back to normal.” He gave me a look. “It’s happened before which is why it’s at the sole discretion of the heirs and queens to reopen Faerie after magical accidents.”

I nodded, already knowing that.

But it was always nice to have them finally sharing information with me as they should.

Still, it was helpful to the meeting and something else handled that I didn’t want to leave in limbo.

9

The next morning there were so many people gathered for me to awaken fairies that it was honestly ridiculous. I couldn’t even imagine how many. It was every available healer and Guardian not already tasked with something. It was awakened fairies from all over ready to jump in and help. We were doing a large city in the dark realm and I was pushing the gas hard.

As hard as I could without hurting myself.

We were going to reopen this city and start fixing it up next, so Neldor and I agreed it was the next one to completely clear out and wake all of the people from.

I went through the normal steps and couldn’t hide my shock as I kept going and going. It was ridiculous how long I seemed to let out power before my magic told me to wrap it up.

Wow.

“Okay, as glad as I am that my magic is telling me now how not to hurt myself, I wish it could tell me when I hit like the halfway point or something,” I grumbled as I plopped back on my butt. I blinked out at the chaos around me and couldn’t hear anything going on, feeling a bit woozy.

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