fantasy story ch6. Quee and the Latest Transcontinental Trade Agreement

Quee was there waiting, and as soon as everyone came in they all stopped to stare at the Quee’s skin, glowing faintly green in the dim, the luminosity lessening as Luna turned up the lamp. But the haunting greenness remained. The living color in the gray, so utterly different, so mysterious and magical and alive among the monochromatic details of the rest of the room.

“Hello, strangers,” Quee said, nodding, smiling with gray-green egg yolk disc eyes, nearly circular, featureless like the Oracle’s, without irises or pupils, very strange, but calm and friendly. Facial contours a strangely beautiful mixture of smoothness and angularity. An undeniable alterity. The difference between color and black and white. “Freddy and Luna, I didn’t know you two knew each other!”

“We’ve all been recruited to work on the same project,” Luna said. “By a Wizard named Ruby Regina, Rememberer of Red, and some halflings who’re obsessed with rights. I think we should talk about that. Maybe eat some mushrooms and cacti later or sooner.”

“Regina sucks, Wizards are bad, you should bail on, or sabotage, or hijack this mission, “Quee said. “Seriously. Wizards are the enemy. This is some Ancient One Style Deep Spiritual Shit I’m laying down for you right now. Should we have beverages?”

Freddy wondered what kind of weird scene he’d wandered into. He usually preferred to work alone, or with other thieves. but he’d done a lot of different things, sometimes with crews of people he didn’t know well, just to make a little money. This whole thing, though, seemed weird and potentially very dangerous. Too many unknowns, too much magic, not enough money.

“I revere Wizardry and trained to practice the arts myself at Ranger Academy,” Jessica said to Quee. “But I see where you’re coming from.”

Quee said: “I’m a little grumpy after reading about the latest transcontinental trade deal in the works between the high elders of the Elves of Elysium and the Brutal Dictators and Monstrous Masters of the Orcs of Uruk who were installed by Wizards, but whom Wizards portray as a natural outgrowth of the nature of the Orcs as a Race. The Orcs are considered uncivilized as a race of people, incapable of self governance and in need of the firm hand of a brutally repressive regime to help them realize their full productive potential through labor under horrible conditions in enormous soul sucking factory slums, which is what they secretly want but aren’t smart enough to realize anyway. So the Wizards and Elves installed dictators and high level technocratic advisory boards, and they are the ones who will negotiate and sign the big trade deals.) Also, did those halflings mention indigenous rights?”

“Ruby Regina did,” Freddy said. “But it sounded fishy.”

“Ahhh that was all bullshit,” Quee said sadly. “Big fake rich and powerful people charity stuff. The cover story of actually helping is good pr, and the organizations are good for penetrating and conditioning more of the world’s population to assimilate and integrate into full-on global capitalism.”

“Fuckin capitalism,” Freddy said, shaking his head. “That shit’s everywhere.”

“Quee and Jessica, do you two know each other at all?” Luna asked.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Jessica said.

“I’m Quee,” Quee said, and took her hand. “Good to meet you.”

“Quee hates Wizards even more than I do,” Freddy chuckled.

“I noticed!” Jessica blurted.

“Let me tell you really really why,” Quee said. “I’ll start from the beginning.”