The dirty old man grins, then his grin turns into an unmistakable leer. He reaches out and runs a rough hand down Aedaith’s side, and says, “I’ve heard some of you Shy Folk swing that way.”
Aedaith whispers to him again, and he shudders a little, and says, “You talked me into it.” and leers again.
She smiles prettily, and says, “Yay! I can hardly wait!” and leads him off a little way. She gives Larrikan and Bandé an unreadable look, and gestures to the cart before she follows the man off.
Bandé and Larrikan look at each other, dumbfounded. Larrikan says, “She wouldn’t.”
Bandé replies, “Not unless he bathes first.”
The two dog foxes look at one another, then turn to the canvas covered cart. They look under the canvas where the man had loosened it. Mostly wooden crates, but one is on top, filled with jars packed in straw.
They lift the box out. It has room for six jars. The jars are thick glass with some runes cut in to them. The wide mouths are sealed with corks, the dipped in wax. More symbols were but into the wax as it cooled.
The two foxes have six crates out of the cart when a high pitched squeal comes from the bushes Aedaith took the man off to. That is cut off short, too. Both foxes turn and move toward the bushes.
Aedaith steps out of the bushes. She is fully dressed, and wiping blood off her knife, apparently on the dirty old man’s pants. Or half of them, anyway.
Larrikan and Bandé stop when they see Aedaith is all right. She tosses the soiled pant leg into the fire and asks them, “Have you got those jars open yet?”
Bandé says, “That’s what you meant!”
All three of the foxes start opening jars. Pixies slide out of them and recover slowly. As they come to, they are angry. Larrikan winds up telling them over and over, “It’s me! I’m your friend! We’re here to help!”
That mostly helps, but the downed pixies are angry and confused. As soon as they begin to fly it is clear it could be dangerous.
Finally, in the box at the bottom of the cart, Bandé finds one large jar. Aedaith and Bandé prise the wax off and the cork out. The Queen Pixie is slumped in the bottom of the jar. They try to get her out gently, but the pixies see her and start crying, “Queen!” and trying to get to her.
The foxes back away, letting the pixies have their Queen. They fan the black smoke from her with their wings, and she soon rouses.
The Queen struggles out of the jar, not quite ready to fly, and snarls, “Who did this?” She sees the foxes and says, “You! Did you do this?”
“No, ma’am,” replies Larrikan, “We came looking after you missed the rade.”
Aedaith says, “He did it.” and points to the bushes she left. They still shake occasionally.
The pixies roar and dart over there.
Aed looks at Larrikan and Bandé and says, “I only hamstrung him. I thought they’d be hungry.”