While we were on the
subject of the Fae, Angela assured me that Bethany had always had a few Fae
"observers" since she left Neighborlee to pursue her rising star.
They were keeping watch on her. Angela had requested extra vigilance for
Athena's sake, since any threat that found Athena would latch onto Bethany.
After all, if our enemies figured out enough to identify guardians, past and
present, they might have the sensitivity to detect her mixed blood heritage.
After things calmed
down more, Angela determined the real draw for bringing Fae into town was Eden.
Our community center sat over a huge clump of the collected magic that defended
our town. Like, duh? We all knew that already. We figured that was the reason
Big Ugly or the Oil Slick, if they weren't the same, had manifested at New
Year's, caused time slips, and drained people.
The Fae were in town to conduct scientific studies of the shift in power flow and usage and analyze what had gone wrong over the years, to allow the enemy to siphon it away. If Big Ugly or some other enemy had been able to use the energy for their own nefarious ends, or if they had been draining it to make sure the guardians couldn't use it, no one was sure yet. It might take years of study. Then Angela gave me the disquieting news that the Fae experienced time differently than Humans did. Fae time wasn't along the lines of how God experienced time, while living outside of time, being a non-linear person. The Fae could spend years sequestered in their enclaves, living separated from Earth's time stream, and step through a portal to Earth and find out that only a few months had passed. Or they could go home for a weekend and return to Earth to find a century had passed. Sometimes Fae who had chosen to settle among Humans, or just to "vacation" among us for a few years, would get into serious trouble, send up a metaphorical signal flare for help, and none would come for weeks, months, or years. Then when help showed up, they would discover that the people back home had just gotten the SOS and had come as quickly as they could. There was that lovely time differential. So when the Fae said it could take years to decipher what had happened, what had gone wrong, how to prevent it happening in the future, Angela had no idea if it was years in Earth time, years in Fae enclave time, or any reliable translation between the two.
At least I knew why those people were skulking around town, and I decided to take it as a good sign when their numbers decreased to the point I wasn't seeing clouds of attendant winkies everywhere I turned.
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