Those with the tallest ears were elves. Dwarves’ ears were equally as tall, but they had a much darker complexion than elves, often with a silver or gold sheen. Undines had ears which were nearly as tall, and a sylph’s were a touch shorter. Dragons’ ears tended to angle back, not straight up. Dragons also tended to be big, not a single one Tala pointed out was under six feet, even the women.
The races of the gentil caste: nymphs, dryads, seraphim, and concubi, all tended to have a shorter, less pointy ear, though still much more of a point than a human ear.
Pixies had short points to their ears and triton ears were slightly swept back with multiple points like spiky fish fins. Salmaeri ears had a tiny spike, barely swept up at all. Troll ears angled out from their head not up or back.
Hobgoblins had swept back ears, nearly flat on top. Ogres had round ears like humans, as did beastfolk. Though in the case of shifters the story went that elves had “cursed” them to be that way long ago.
There were some other unique identifiers. Salmaeri universally had flame red hair, which explained Rook’s look. Pixies had vibrant skin tones, undines and tritons had scales over parts of their body, and so on.
I didn’t see any titans on the beach and when I asked Tala, she shivered.
“You won’t find many who like titans around here. Too much bad blood. They’ve been our enemy since the dawn of time. It’s hard to believe we’re making peace now.” She lowered her voice so only I could hear it. “Though given what they say about Valnea…”
The queen regent?
“What do they say?”
“That she’s mad, completely insane. Who knows what she’s capable of?”
“Like peace with your mortal enemies?” As much as I didn’t like Saldrea, that wouldn’t be a horrible thing for her mother to accomplish.
Tala shook her head. “No, like bringing our mortal enemy among us to wreak havoc.”
Oh.
Yeah, that would be pretty crazy.
“You think she’s in league with them?”
“Many do.”
Wow. I’d have to talk to Vyns about this, this afternoon.
A few guys approached us then — mostly focused on Tala — and our conspiratorial conversation ended.
But it lingered in my mind for the rest of the morning as Tala and I swam and played and flirted with guys — well,sheflirted — and sunbathed. All in all, a fun morning, though our little talk of the queen regent left me feeling on edge.
Because if Saldrea was as unstable as her mother, would it really be a good idea to piss her off?
Probably not.
Was I going to do it anyway?
Probably.
It was who I was. I didn’t react well to authoritarianfigures dictating how I or anyone else lived. I’d just have to be careful.
For my sake…
And for the sake of anyone close to me, like Rook, Myel, perhaps even Vyns… and now Tala. I didn’t want any of them to get hurt because of my issues with authority.
But that wasn’t always how things worked out.
VYNSIEL
“How isthe queen regent’s metal stability?” Izzy asked once we were alone, well away from others.
We’d had our time being seen around campus, strolling the stone walkways on the eastern side of the Ysalon River. I’d shown Izzy The Bower bar, Cliffside Arena, and the magical combat training facility. We’d then sat and chatted on the campus green for a while before going somewhere more secluded, a lookout atop the cliffs south of the lesser residence.
