"My head hurts," said Jack, cradling his head in his hands.
"I'm sure it does," chuckled Sam, handing him a glass of juice. "Drink this and you'll feel better."
"Said no one ever...who had good intentions," muttered Jack, taking the drink, while petting the cat, with his other hand. "What happened to me?"
Sam went over the events of yesterday, until he caught up to the present moment.
"I had weird dreams," whispered Jack. "I was riding a flying horse and people were shooting arrows at me."
"That would be a pegasus."
"Of course, how silly of me. It was a pegasus."
"You have a lot to learn," said Sam, kindly.
"I don't want to learn anything. I'm going home. I don't want to be part of...all this...whatever all this is. I'll take the cat, but I don't want to be a fairy, or a prince, or anything else. I'm going to my nephew's birthday party and then back to my place."
"If you do that, you'll be putting all those around you in danger. The fairies who want you dead don't care about collateral damage. And they won't stop looking for you, no matter what world you're in."
"Great," he sighed. "So I could get all the people I care about killed. Why is all of this happening now?"
"Who gave you the address to this shop?" asked Sam.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. He thought for a moment, then said, "I don't remember."
"Someone wanted you to wake up."
"Why? I was just living my life, minding my own business. I wasn't bothering anyone. I didn't even know fairies were real. I thought they only existed in fairy tales."
"That's what fairies want humans to believe, so they leave them alone and don't try to capture them and cut them up to see how they are different than humans."
Jack nodded. "I can understand that."
"Jade will be back here soon. She'll explain things and help you decide what to do."
"You said you could erase this whole thing from my memory and I could just walk out the door."
"It's too late for that. How good are you with a sword?"
"Are you really asking me that question?"
"Are you a good fighter?"
Jack started laughing but his head hurt too much to do it for very long.
"Tell me Sam, have you ever been to fairy?"
"Once."
"And?"
"It's beautiful, and more dangerous than anything you could ever imagine."
"Dangerous how?"
"I don't want to talk about it. Even that would be dangerous."
"So you definitely are not one of them."
"I am not."
"And this place? The interplanetary bookshop, or whatever?"
"The shop is a place where anyone can come and be safe. There are rules between species and all have agreed that no one can be harmed while in this shop. If someone breaks the rule, the punishment is immediate and hash."
"Do you run this place because someone is hunting you?"
"No. I was elected."
"You ran on a ballot, for this job?"
"Of course not. I didn't run for anything. I was just elected. I had no say in the process at all."
"Can you quit?"
"I don't know."
"Nothing here makes any sense."
"That's because you're from someplace else. No one understands those from a different place. The rules aren't the same anywhere. Do you truly think anyone here understands humans, or what they do?"
"I don't even understand them and I thought I was one."
"Are you hungry?"
"Starving."
"Come into the kitchen and I'll make us something to eat."
Baby was in the corner, eating a huge pile of cat food off a crystal plate, while Sam stood over the stove, making scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. Jack sat silently at the table, reviewing his pathetic options. "Basically, the only place I'm safe from certain death, in in this shop."
"While true," said Sam, "you can't stay here. Get the toast, will you."
"I thought fairies were tiny, like butterflies."
"Some of them are," said Sam. "Others, not so much."
"Does anything make any sense?"
"Everything does, if you're taught that it does."
"I guess that' true," said Jack. "This food is delicious. Thank you."
Sam nodded. "You know, you look like a fairy. Pale skin, icy blue eyes, you're body is more controlled than a humans would be, less warm. You're handsome, and buff. Stiffer, straight spine, very..."
"Okay, thank you, but don't care. No two humans are alike."
"True, but they have certain likenesses, that are missing from you. The human world is crumbling. Fairy has always been and always will be, unless they decide to end themselves. Humans are the new kids on the block and they're pretty stupid because they think they aren't."
"I agree. Is there more juice?"
"MEOW!!!"
"I think Jade's here," said Sam, smiling at the cat.
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