As’ad rubbed his jaw against his shoulder so he could scratch it without dropping the cart poles. “I’m really not sure.”
“For that matter, do we all consider the same ones faeries or animals?”
“Great question.” As’ad’s curls kept trying to get in his eyes, and he was ready for a lengthy (and safe!) distraction. “Let’s work through the ones we are familiar with, shall we?”
Rahma happily engaged. They quickly determined that rats, cows, cats, dogs, and most birds were simply animals. Phoenixes, rukhs, and gaganas seemed to fit into the faery category. Though they happily debated for several minutes whether or not a rukh’s massive size indicated faery status or not. As’ad felt that magic had to be a part of its makeup and, therefore, it could be included in the same division as a bird made of fire and one possessing an iron beak and copper claws.
His companion found those points valid, while also pointing out that they hadn’t established whether or not the inclusion of magic, in either a creature’s physical composition or its abilities, was what earned it the faery moniker.
“Everyone agrees that goblins are faeries, yes?”
“Of course,” Rahma agreed.
“Why? I don’t think ‘animal’ when goblins are being discussed, but what makes them a faery?” As’ad wondered.
“Does intelligence have something to do with it? Intelligence and magic.” Her eyes sparkled as she made her next point, and As’ad lost the thread of their conversation for a moment.
“Think about dryads, right?” she continued. “I know we don’t have any here, but everyone else on the continent seems to. And everyone else on the continent views them as faeries.” Her hands danced around, underlining, emphasizing, and organizing her thoughts. As’ad wondered if she would be able to speak if her hands were glued to her sides or holding something heavy. “So dryads are faeries who must have magic in their physical composition, somehow. The way they can melt in and out of trees has to be magical, yes?”
“No doubt,” As’ad agreed amiably.
“Andthey can converse with humans and live completely independent of anyone else.”
“You mean, not like cows or chickens per se, who could probably survive in the wild but would be eaten within a day?”
A gurgle of laughter bubbled out of her chest. “I suppose.” She went on. “I wasn’t thinking about whether or not dryads would be eaten, but yes. They are smart enough to fend for themselves and create their own society.”
“I have heard that there are places that are just dryad communities.”
“And dwarves!” Rahma was already moving on. “Dwarves are the same. Everybody calls them faeries. For the most part, they just look like smaller versions of humans, though.”
“Very hairy, little humans,” he felt the need to point out.
She snorted. “Yeah, yeah. The point I’m trying to make is that dwarves are considered faeries without being obviously magical.Dothey have magic? Orarethey magic in some way?”
As’ad made a noise in the back of his throat that communicated he had no idea. “What made you think of dwarves, anyway?” he asked.
“Oh”—she flipped her hand back toward the crossroads—“I think I saw one or two while I was interviewing those nice grandparents from Wahatan. They were part of a large caravan.”
After a few minutes of contemplation, As’ad had another thought to share. “What about pixies? They can fly and grant blessings to newborns, according to the tales, but don’t have a reputation for intelligence.”
Rahma made a face and tilted her hand from side to side. “They’re supposed to be flighty—”
“Ha!”
“Yeah, I get it.Anyway, they aren’t smart, but they can communicate with human speech, right?”
“So they say.”
“Hold up.” Rahma plopped to the ground. “I’ve got a stone in my shoe.”
While she took care of that, As’ad used the pause to check whether his pets needed water. Qamar chittered a few sleepy squeaks, and Fat Carl twitched his little paws and brought them to his mouth as if dreaming of food. The rest of the rats snoozed on peacefully.
“I’ve kind of lost where I was going with that.” Rahma stood and brushed herself off. “But I think it was something about ratios of magic to sentience, or something like that. Bleh. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”
“No, wait. Give me a second,” As’ad requested.
Her vague words had sparked a nebulous idea that slowly coalesced into something more solid.
