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ReallyNotMichaelsMom t1_ix99a5n wrote

The fae aren't human, and it's pointless to judge them by human standards. There are some things to keep in mind, when dealing with them.

  1. Many of them (the most powerful) are very long lived, but they don't have many children. They have never learned how to deal with the angst of death. Humans have, which the fae don't understand.

  2. They are jealous of power and very territorial.

  3. It's said that the fae can't lie. This isn't entirely correct. It's more correct to say the fae don't lie. If they lie, they lose power and become more vulnerable to death.

  4. Because they don't have many children and because they don't understand humans, they can be enchanted by humans. Much like humans are enchanted by kittens or puppies. They can adopt humans. They can have children with humans. They can kidnap children (changelings).

  5. While they don't lie (if at all avoidable) they can tell the truth in such a misleading way that it seems like a lie.

  6. Actions speak louder than words.

If you look at Mr. Vesper's actions with this in mind, the story becomes quite different. The icy lady threatened both you and Mr. Vesper. As soon as it happened, he realized the only way to save you was to cut you out of his life. You kept coming back to the woods, calling attention to yourself, when maybe the Ice Queen would have forgotten you.

So, he sent a clear message to you and the Ice Queen. Unfortunately, since you're not fae, you didn't hear the message. He sent an absolute failure of an "assassin". This fae made noise to let you know he was there, giving you time to arm yourself. He was weak, even by human standards. He gave you a message from Mr. Vespers that he was to "get rid of you". Not kill you. He even swore to you that he wasn't a murderer. Basically, he was a messenger.

The message to the Ice Queen was that you were of no interest to him. He was willing to have you killed. (But since he didn't have you killed, we know that part wasn't true.)

He had your word, in writing (and possibly with a bit of blood from your fight), promising not to come back to the woods, and thus not drawing the attention of the Ice Queen again.

Finally, at great risk to himself, he showed up to your concert and applauded you.

He loves you. His rage about your parents was real. His nickname for you was a double protection. It meant your name wasn't known to all the fae, and it indicated that you were of little importance. Of course, by showing you off to his "friends", he showed them just how important you are. When you (a human) were able to use fae magic and he showed them that, some of them may have felt that fae power (which is the only thing that keeps them from the True Death) was being stolen and given to a human. They would never be able to get it back.

I really need to include a seventh thing about the fae, because numbers are important. But I think I'll leave it to you to find the seventh thing.

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Sauragnmon t1_ixbjn9o wrote

You missed the principle of obscuring her name - To know a being's true name is th have power over that being.

Her word was part, but she also, I think, might have grasped the gravitas of threatening to torch the forest. Many who have interest in the Fae know how much their forests are important to them. Threatening such scorched earth tactics is a declaration to practically the entire court that any hostile act by in honesty any Fae of that court would cost them all quite gravely. At that point, make no mistake, the crown would know, and declare you off limits.

I think more that Brio measured the risk carefully, as some can blend amongst a crowd quite easily when they wish, donning a mask of unremarkableness to move about amongst humans. You noticed him because he Wanted you to see him, to see his applause, attempting to make a gesture of amelioration, showing he was still proud of your talents, of you.

The Ice Duchess, as I highly doubt she was the queen, probably made her move to hurt both of you, to be honest. He'd tipped his hand showing you as his prodigy, revealing your importance to him. Her words were more directed at Brio, attacking on his age, his pride (and by the gods if nothing the Fae are proud) and his own talent, while outwardly praising you, perhaps to gain influence over you. He soured on her veiled insults, and lashed out, giving her part of what she wanted, to sever you two. At that point, however, she had no more moves to play, perhaps her actions were even at the behest of another who wanted to strike indirectly at him.

Never take the words of the Fae at face value, there's always a subtext or two. They won't lie, but the rather cutthroat nature of Fae court life very quickly teaches them to obfuscate so intricately you could read countless meanings from a simple sentence.

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Wishiwashome t1_ixb4an7 wrote

Fantastic! Bravo. I didn’t know all that about the fae, but I got he was trying to protect her too and he did kind of adopt her. Even the things he said about her parents were true to what he believed. I love the nuances you pulled out!

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lunareclipseunicorn t1_ixb9inm wrote

This is a really amazing analysis! Really I have nothing to say but I was going to make a dumb comment like "Lmao Vesper is like Phantom of the Opera"

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