Exton

I watch as the woman Raina storms off, then turn to look at the vampire. "She will not listen now, will she?" He shakes his head wordlessly.

"Then do you listen, Sieur Nick, and tell her, when she is calm, what I have said. The black one who was here a few nights ago can vouch for the truth of much of what I tell you now.

It is true that the Fae steal children, both Bright and Dark Courts. What I tell you now is the truth. Judge us how you will.

We of the Fae have many advantages. We are long-lived, we are strong, we have beauty, we have magic. Yet compared to the meanest human we are poor, for we lack something that the poorest of you possesses, at least in potential.

Let one of you play a song and I can play it again for you, perfect in every detail. Sing it and I can sing it again, note for note. Paint a painting and I can reproduce it, brushstroke by brushstroke.

Yet I cannot play or sing the song differently than I first heard it, nor paint the painting differently. I can copy, but I cannot create.

We of the Fae do not have the creativity of your race, and we never will. For lack of this capacity, we stagnate. We become bored and eventually, though it take centuries, we fall into what is called the Dreaming, a state where we live in a perpetual daze, neither living nor dead nor caring for anything.

For this reason, both the Bright and Dark Courts steal your children, for without the creativity of others, both Courts would soon be lost to the Dreaming.

Hear now the of differences between us.

We of the Bright Court steal children that are unwanted, that are endangered. Think of the woman called Susan Smith - would not her children have been better off with the Fae? Think of all the children who are beaten and starved and tormented and neglected every day by those of your kind. These are the children the Bright Court steals, and they are cherished as seldom a child is cherished in your world. They are our artists, our musicians, our singers, our artisans - those who give beauty and grace to our world. They are honored above all others for the gifts we do not have.

The Dark Court is different, yet similar. They steal any children, those who are cherished as well as those who are not. Yet they too honor these children, for without them, their world too would die.

Tell me, vampire - do you know what a whipping boy is?"

He nods. "The children of royalty could not be punished, so they had a close friend, a playmate who would be punished instead."

"That is so. Humans in the Dark Court are bonded with children of Faerie, and should they displease their masters, their friends are punished. Both Conal and I have been whipping boys for humans.

Now - as to Conal.

The Fae heal quickly, yet this comes at a price. For humans, healing comes so slowly that there is little pain. For the Fae, healing is excruciatingly painful. I tell you now, the night we were captured, Conal and I were flogged till the white of our ribs showed through. Look, vampire. See."

Here I raise my shirt and show that my back is as unblemished as that of a newborn.

"This means that Morgan can repeat her tortures indefinitely, so long as she is careful not to actually kill us. We go through agony when we are tortured, and through more when we heal. This is what I would spare Conal.

As for the children - 'tis true, they do not have freedom to come and go as they please; but none in either Court will raise a hand to them. They are well treated, even by the standards of your world.

I have spoken. Judge me and my kind as you will.

I must go."