“You’ve got this,” Rook whispered as Koar put a reassuring hand on my lower back… then slowly pushed me forward, in step behind me.
Whoa nelly, here we go!
Lhorine stepped aside, whispering, “Just tell them whatyou want for this world, how you’d like to change things. It doesn’t need to be eloquent, just heartfelt.”
Easy for you to say, lady.
I stepped up to the podium, even more blinded by the lights here. Were those lights hot? I was sweltering. I’d sweat through my blouse in no time.
“I believe in you,” Koar whispered.
And for some reason, his word, more than anyone else’s, meant something. Perhaps it was because of the stunning sex we’d had, but I thought it more likely from the honest conversation beforehand. He hadn’t held anything back, whether we’d been talking or fucking and I appreciated his honesty. If he believed in me, then I should be worthy of that belief.
“Ah… hey everyone, so… yeah, I’m your princess, isn’t that crazy?”
Silence
Okay, so not the best start.
Tell them what you want… how you’d change things…
Since I didn’t really have eloquence on my side, I decided for brute honestly.
“So… things in this world suck, am I right?”
There were a few laughs and snickers at that.
“Maybe it’s because I was raised in the human realm — which I should say is fucked up in its own way — but this whole class system you have here is way more fucked up.” More silence, but this time, I had the feeling it was because people were listening, waiting for more.
“When I first got here, I didn’t know I was an elf. I had a binding which hid my power and my heritage.” Wow, a coherent sentence with no curse words.Way to go, me!
“Everyone thought I was a nymph, so I was instantlylessthan others. Though, I was also surprised to find out therewere even more people below me in status. But that didn’t make me feel superior. I didn’t want to boss those others around. It just felt… wrong. Honestly it was having people below me in this whole class structure which made me feel uneasy. Back in the human realm, I wasn’t anyone important. Lots of people were above me in the grand scheme of things, but not many were below me, and those that were, they weren’t people I could boss around, just people who had it worse off than I did.”
I couldn’t really see the audience, but I hoped I had their attention now.
“So… yeah. I quickly learned I didn’t like the way things were here. I may be half elf, but I still feel like a common person. I want everyone in this realm, inallthe fae realms, to be equal, to have a fair say in how things are done. I’m not sure democracy always works, but it has to be better than this crap. So… yeah. I want to tear down the system, make everyone equal, help those who have less, and make it so people are judged on the merit of what they do, not on their race or the station they were born to.”
“She’s nuts!” someone muttered.
“Yeah, probably,” I responded without thinking. “But would you rather my form of crazy or Valnea’s?”
Ha! Take that heckler!
“What about the elves?” someone else called out, probably an elf.
“What about them?” I asked back. “If you’re asking if they’ll retain power over everyone, control of everything, the answer is: nope. I won’t be able to take away generational wealth, so it may take some time for change to really happen, but if everyone is equal, that means giving those who have nothing the same opportunities as those whohave everything. And honestly, I have no clue how I’ll do that, but that’s my goal.”
“Dreamer!” someone else shouted.
“And I say again, would you rather a dreamer like me, or a dictator — emphasis on dick — like Valnea?”
That got a laugh.
But once that died down someone else shouted, “You’re going to get us all killed!” The words echoed in the hall.
I didn’t have a snappy comeback for that.
“Look,” I started, finding the words as I spoke them. “If I could face Valnea one on one and deal with her, I would. I’mnotlike other elves. I care about people. I don’t want to start a war. I don’t want people to fight for me, die for me! If I thought it would change anything to turn myself in, I’d do that.”
