This particular room of the Paragon’s pocket realm—which I was betting was a study of some sort—was a bit of a mish-mash, much like the Paragon himself.
Of course, there was the necessary desk for anyone involved in fae politics—you needed a place to sign the thousands of papers that were destined to cross through your hands. But rather than something old, or fancy, or leafed with gold or something equally gaudy, the Paragon’s desk was crafted out of thick tree trunks, with rough branches supporting a wooden table top. Both the trunk of the desk and the sturdy branches that made up a chair that was pulled up to the desk appeared to be alive. The chair grew a couple of roses for a headrest while I watched, and the desk grew another supporting branch.
But just beyond the desk was a massive TV and a beautiful bookshelf that was stuffed with what appeared to be movies and video games.
An air hockey table was shoved up against a massive gold statue of a dragon head, and a model of a phoenix hung from the ceiling, as did a woodenswing.
The walls were mostly hidden by massive bookshelves—although a cooking station and racks of rainbow-colored potions took up a large chunk of the far wall. Some of the books, scrolls, and items on the shelves looked old. Like,reallyold. Like, possibly as old as the Original Creep.
“You have an awesome study, Paragon,” I said.
“Thank you!” The Paragon beamed at me. “I am fond of it. Now where is she…Aphrodite?”
“Mmert?” A pink skinned cat that lacked any fur at all—the Paragon’s much beloved pet cat, Aphrodite—peered over the shoulder of the phoenix model.
“There you are! Come down, my wild guardian! We have guests.”
Aphrodite yawned, showing off her white teeth, then hopped off the model—making the bird spin wildly—and into the Paragon’s arms.
“Oof.” The cat—she was a little overweight—landed on his chest. “Yes, hello. You are as beautiful as always!” He briefly cuddled his pet.
“Mert,” went the cat as he kept on hugging her.
“Ahem,” Queen Rime said after several long moments.
“Ah, yes! That’s right—you’re all here for tea! And I am going to bestow a very rare custom upon you—Aphrodite, our guests need tea!”
The cat touched her nose to the Paragon’s.
“Aren’t you sweet?” he said. “Yes, we’ll make a big pot of tea for them all.”
“Mmert.” Aphrodite leaped from his arms and landed on the ground. She flicked her bony tail straight up, then trotted up to Solis. She sniffed his shoes for a moment, then mine. She took a cursory peek at Verdant, pawed at the tassels on Rime’s boots for a moment, inspected Birch, and finished off with Fell.
The petty part of me smirked when Aphrodite sniffed Fell’s pant leg and then made a gagging noise.
“Have you got a good feel for everyone?” the Paragon asked the cat.
Aphrodite meandered over to the cooking station, where the Paragon was opening a locked cabinet.
He swung the doors open, revealing shelves of tin tea canisters wrapped in pretty blue fabric, and the cat picked her way through the tea.
“I’m surprised no one is complaining about drinking tea picked out by a cat,” I said.
Fell glanced in my direction. “You’re not just savage like an animal, you’re ignorant, too.”
“Fell,” Solis said in a warning tone.
“It’s fine, Solis. Ignore his squawking. But I still don’t get this.” I waved my hand at the cat, who was precariously hanging out of the cabinet as she stood with her hind legs on a lower shelf and her front paws hooked on an upper shelf as she sniffed a few tea canisters on the edge there.
“This is a treat—no—an honor I don’t often bestow upon others!” the Paragon said. “I have asked Aphrodite—with her superior taste and infinite understanding of relationships and emotions—to pick out a tea for our evening together.” He puffed up with pride. “My angel knows best what sort of tea folk need.”
I watched Aphrodite struggle to heft herself onto the upper shelf so she could begin sorting through the tea tins there. “Ah, yeah, I could go with that,” I said.
Dimly, in the back of my brain I remembered Hazel Medeis complaining about some unexpected downsides to drinking the Paragon’s tea.
Just as well I have my latte.
King Solis leaned in. “As strange as it might be, Aphrodite is very intuitive, and the Paragon asking her to choose for us indicates that we are high in his esteem. It is an honor, despite what one might believe.”
