V. Fairy Wings - Part 12

"You did what?"

"I had to."

"You stupid bloody idiot Gnome."

"I'm sorry."

Adrielle clenched her fists and stared silently at the Gnome. Wallace
looked at his feet and shuffled them on the floor reminding her
instantly of his sullen nervousness when he had called to fix her
weight compensation panel just a few days ago.

"There was nothing I could do." He said for the third time. "He has me
over a barrel."

"How much do you owe?" She asked.

"A lot." He shuffled his feet more. "I used to gamble a bit."

She sniffed contemptuously. Games of chance, like many of the vices
that afflicted humans and gnomes, left nymphs cold. Adrielle valued
only the material, she valued warmth, comfort, and good food. And she
valued anything that enabled these.

"You pay whatever this other gnome wants to charge me."

Wallace looked up at her. "You'll still do it?"

"I still get my full five percent, that's three and half
thousand."

"Absolutely." Said Wallace. "I'll guarantee it."

"I don't think you're in a position to guarantee anything." She said.
"But I accept."

The two of them walked in silence to the launch station. Inside the
room Dimitri sat on the low bench with his legs dangling, flanked on
either side by the two large gnomes. Wallace sat on the opposite bench,
holding his briefcase in his lap. Adrielle ignored them both and went
to the window. Nobody spoke.

There was something less convincing about the view from behind glass,
she mused, like a picture in a frame now, the context changing
everything. Gnomes and humans would kill everything with context. They
would frame the forests with fences, frame the land with roads, frame
the ocean with shipping lanes, frame the sky with flight paths, and
even frame the world with skyhooks. What was left was ostensibly
unchanged but would never be the same again, it had been changed by
context.

She thought about her own context, a nymph in the city, and she thought
about the context of this little escapade, previously just a chance to
get herself a fairy and make a little money, now she was being used
herself, manipulated by a cabal of gnomes. She considered quitting,
obstinately walking out right now and leaving them all to their shady
deals, but she had given her word and was possessed of a very
un-nymph-like conviction that she should stand by it. She was
fundamentally alone these days, more alone surrounded by other
creatures in the tower than she ever had been scratching a solitary
existence in the wild. It was scary at times, not having anything to
fall back on in case of disaster, she had no choice but to trust the
system to keep its part of the bargain and provide for her if she did
what it required. It had given her a perfectly new fervour that it was
important to do what you said you would.

Schmitt stood alone in the elevator watching the floor number tick its
way up the tower. He felt in his jacket pocket for the envelope stuffed
full of money, more cash than he had ever carried before. He was not
new to shady deals, to meetings with unsavoury characters in smoke
filled rooms, as a young man he had done what was necessary to build up
his business and it had sometimes entailed skirting the edges of the
law. There was a comfort zone dealing with little people, he always had
his size to fall back on, but nymphs were an unknown quantity, they
could be unpredictable and dangerous. This one in particular had a
record, Carla had dug it up, although she had not killed (it was not
unknown for nymphs to kill humans, they are fast and have sharp teeth)
she had been convicted of a violent crime. Give him gnomes any day, he
mused, the worst they did was pick your pocket.

He rued this thought the moment he opened the door, there were four
gnomes in the room, two of them distinctly bigger than average.

"What is this?" He demanded. The Nymph stood by the window but ignored
him.

"Herr Schmitt I presume." Said one of the two smaller gnomes in a heavy
accent. "Allow me to introduce myself."

"Why should I do that?" he said, determined to keep control of the
situation. He noticed the other, smaller gnome was holding the
briefcase that had yesterday contained the fairy.

"Because we have business sir." Said the gnome.

"My business is with the nymph." He said.

"My name is Dimitri son of..."

"I do not care." Shouted Schmitt. "I only have business with the
nymph."

Adrielle turned around. "No Herr Schmitt." She said. "Your business is
with the gnomes."

Schmitt looked from her to each of the gnomes in turn. The one with the
briefcase smiled nervously and clutched it to its breast. The one which
called itself Dimitri smiled in a disagreeable manner. The two large
ones stood either side of the one that called itself Dimitri and did
not smile at all.

"It is Wallace's fairy Herr Schmitt, he caught it."

"So it is stolen." Said Schmitt to himself.

"No." Complained the gnome called Wallace. "I found it fair and
square."

"You lied to me." Schmitt said to the Nymph.

"I told you my friends had caught the fairy." She said. "And Wallace is
my friend."

Schmitt noticed a look between the Gnome with the Fairy and the Nymph.
It was a look that suggested surprise at what she had said. More lies
perhaps.

"You told me your friends were Dryads."

"Yes." She said. "I'm sorry for that deception. But the fairy is not
stolen."

"If I may interject sir." Said the gnome that called itself Dimitri. "I
think we can offer a discount to the price."

Schmitt thought about it, but not for very long. "No." he said. "The
deal's off." And he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

Wallace looked across at Dimitri, there was something in the other
gnome's eyes he did not like, something like violence.

"You fucked it up." Said Dimitri slowly.

Wallace glanced towards Adrielle who stood facing the window, as if
entirely disinterested. "Not really." He said. "It was you."

Dimitri stood up, dropping from the seat so that his face was actually
nearer the ground than when he sat. The two larger gnomes stood up too,
they were just big enough to stay about the same height.

"You." Said Dimtiri slowly. "Fucked up."

"No I didn't." Wallace wined.

Dimitri stepped close to Wallace and said. "You owe me a lot of money
Clockwinder. Interest starting from now."

Wallace quaked. He looked across at Adrielle. She looked back at him,
sighed, and left the room.

"Well Clockwinder." Said Dimitri. "What are we going to do."

The two larger Gnomes towered over Wallace. One of them reached out and
picked off Wallace's pointy red hat. Wallace cowered from the
outstretched arm. "Take the fairy." He blurted.