LIFE IN THE FAIRY KINGDOM
L’Evallier, as leader of the Council, tends to keep Council meetings to a time limit given everybody thinks these are boring. This is one area where the Queen is in full agreement with the Chief Elf. But circumstances often conspire against the ruler and her advisers and they have been known to have all night sittings. There were several of these around the time of Eileen’s defection. Her departure caused enough tension - the all night sittings made things worse. The Council did blame her for this, rightly, and anybody who might’ve given her some leeway wouldn’t just due to being put through this. Eileen would’ve liked them not to bother on her account but knew full well there was no chance of that.
The ballad writers are highly respected but are limited in what they can produce. Their works have to be song versions of the classic fairy tales or to say how awful humanity is (with examples) and that’s it. Songs criticizing the way the Kingdom is run are definitely not welcomed. Favoured instruments are harps, guitars, lyres, recorders and flutes (though one or two balladeers have their own portable piano - it’s on wheels!). The Queen invites the balladeers to the Palace for her birthday, at Christmas and Easter and she chooses different ones each time. She wants to make sure they’re all obeying the rules. Performing for the Queen is a nerve wracking event, as it would be when performing for our monarch, but the rewards are high. Not only is the balladeer well fed and watered, they can embroider By Royal Appointment on their tunics if the Queen is happy. To date she has been.
The Council representatives have to face their constituents regularly though they try to limit this, preferring to stay at the Palace with all its privileges than be back at home talking witih their people. The Queen often has to push her Council to go back to their constituents though L’Evallier, Rodish (later Balkish) and, of all beings, D’Dathson the orc are particularly good representatives for their species. The Palace has its own postal system and the Council, as well as the Queen, gets more mail than they’d like. The Queen and, prior to her defection, Eileen are pretty good at dealing with their correspondence as are L’Evallier, Rodish and D’Dathson. Every so often the Queen moans at the other Council members over this. But to date they haven’t changed their behaviour here, yet they wonder why their constituents feel the Council is so often a complete waste of the ordinary people’s time.
Villages often organize their own day trips to the beaches and forests their ancestors visited. While these trips are not officially set in stone, they may as well be as the villages don’t alter their set schedules. There is communication between the villages so neighbouring places don’t go out at the same time. There is an unspoken arrangement villages will look out for their neighbours so nobody undesirable (usually these are considered to be sprites or trolls) invades while these annual trips go on. The Queen herself does not do this kind of thing, believing it to be undignfied. Eileen has been invited to be the guest of several villages she’s aided and has had a wonderful time at these trips, much to her cousin’s disapproval, not that Eileen cares about that.
The ballad writers are highly respected but are limited in what they can produce. Their works have to be song versions of the classic fairy tales or to say how awful humanity is (with examples) and that’s it. Songs criticizing the way the Kingdom is run are definitely not welcomed. Favoured instruments are harps, guitars, lyres, recorders and flutes (though one or two balladeers have their own portable piano - it’s on wheels!). The Queen invites the balladeers to the Palace for her birthday, at Christmas and Easter and she chooses different ones each time. She wants to make sure they’re all obeying the rules. Performing for the Queen is a nerve wracking event, as it would be when performing for our monarch, but the rewards are high. Not only is the balladeer well fed and watered, they can embroider By Royal Appointment on their tunics if the Queen is happy. To date she has been.
The Council representatives have to face their constituents regularly though they try to limit this, preferring to stay at the Palace with all its privileges than be back at home talking witih their people. The Queen often has to push her Council to go back to their constituents though L’Evallier, Rodish (later Balkish) and, of all beings, D’Dathson the orc are particularly good representatives for their species. The Palace has its own postal system and the Council, as well as the Queen, gets more mail than they’d like. The Queen and, prior to her defection, Eileen are pretty good at dealing with their correspondence as are L’Evallier, Rodish and D’Dathson. Every so often the Queen moans at the other Council members over this. But to date they haven’t changed their behaviour here, yet they wonder why their constituents feel the Council is so often a complete waste of the ordinary people’s time.
Villages often organize their own day trips to the beaches and forests their ancestors visited. While these trips are not officially set in stone, they may as well be as the villages don’t alter their set schedules. There is communication between the villages so neighbouring places don’t go out at the same time. There is an unspoken arrangement villages will look out for their neighbours so nobody undesirable (usually these are considered to be sprites or trolls) invades while these annual trips go on. The Queen herself does not do this kind of thing, believing it to be undignfied. Eileen has been invited to be the guest of several villages she’s aided and has had a wonderful time at these trips, much to her cousin’s disapproval, not that Eileen cares about that.