Danceria wrote:Sully shrugged "Knowing me, I'll probably do something offensive to those "esoteric laws" you mentioned earlier, that and the fact they'd settle things earlier means they'll be more comfortable giving me a black eye rather than going to court." [...] So, when can we go there and I can start my new life?" he asked excitedly, almost ignoring the fact that he was certain that he would have physical confrontation with beings several feet taller, bulkier, and more magically inclined than he is.
Amanda nodded slowly, eyes closed, attempting to make some sense of the prince's scattered thoughts. "Go... where? The Burrows? Just follow the gravel road down the hill. It'll take you about twenty minutes to walk it. Or do you mean Ascalon? If you want to go have a look around at where you want to work, we'll need to catch a ride."
Still leaning back against the front desk, Amanda slipped on her professional persona, her expression slowly becoming neutral and her tone of voice becoming politely, but distantly, interested. She'd given advice to more difficult people. "I'm a bit concerned that you're making plans based on the roughest sketch of our neighborhood. Let me try to fill in some details."
She took a breath, and then a deeper one, both to steady herself and to prepare for a long speech. "When I said that the Burrows-dwellers would try to work out their difficulties with you personally, I meant talking, not fighting. They're civilized people."
"'Esoteric' means that only a few people understand something. From our point of view, the Fae's laws are esoteric: only a few of us have even the slightest idea what they are. In fact, I don't think any of us really understand them. But they apparently make sense to the Fae. You could try asking Mab, one of the Resident Fae, but she's not the easiest one to get answers from. In any event, I think she's Queen of Earth's Winter Court, so she may not know much about how the Fae in the Freywold do things. Oh! The Freywold is the Fae forest just beyond the Burrows. We don't know much about it."
"The ogres live somewhere in the Freywold; they wouldn't tell us where. I'm not sure how to find them, except the hard way, and I don't recommend trying that. The Fae apparently have a general shoot first and ask questions later approach to dealing with problematic outsiders. If you don't think you can stay out of trouble with the Fae, I'd strongly advise staying away from the Freywold." Amanda neglected to mention that she had some names to drop to try to contact the ogres, because she didn't want Sully to enter the Freywold and never be seen again. Let him attend the school of hard knocks in the Burrows or Ascalon; he'd probably survive their lessons.
"Ascalon has bad spots, but unlike the Freywold, it runs by human rules. If you understand the law of the street and how to deal with a corrupt government, you'll be fine. Have you ever been to Singapore, or know of its reputation: absolutely spotless and orderly, but don't rock the boat? Singapore is a nice, juicy apple. Ascalon looks juicy, but it's rotten. The rot reaches the surface in the Uppers. Everywhere else, it looks good: absolutely spotless and orderly. But near the core is the rot, the mafias. But so long as you don't bite too deeply, you're fine."
"You won't need bodyguards in Ascalon's main city unless you're planning on making trouble for the mobs. In the Uppers, you're fine if you carry a gun and take an armed friend or two. So, you can work in Ascalon without being a pawn. Sandy does. I do. Sandy pays protection for his business, though. I don't, but I expect my office's landlord does. I don't approve of that, but changing a corrupt government isn't something one does overnight."
"Does that help clarify our situation?"
