With Sweet Peace is a short story written for Seanan McGuire's Patreon supporters.
| “ | Through this palace, with sweet peace; and the owner of it, blest, ever shall in safety rest... | ” |
–William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
Author's Summary[]
Uh-oh! Here we go again. Faerie needs therapists, but at least August knows what those are, and can help her father a little bit with trying to figure himself out. We're Undersea again, as the timeline marches forward, and August gets info Toby lacks.
Plot[]
Peter wakes August up and shares that her own rooms have been created for her. She loves getting to be a sister to Peter, but has been chafing at the constant company.
They eat breakfast, joined midway through by Patrick and Dianda and Simon. She asks Simon to show her the new rooms. As they walk, they discuss Peter's difficulties as a mixed blood. August wants to offer to shift his blood one way or the other, but wants to build up trust with his parents first before asking their permission.
They go to her new rooms, which include a room dedicated to cartography. It has a magical wall that allows her to see anywhere she's been, and may allow her some freedom to dream even as she is confined to Saltmist.
She tells her father how much his new spouses love him, and wonders why he holds himself apart from them. They have a very difficult conversation about Simon's time under Evening's and Oleander's influence.
August fiddles with her new window, including viewing October's home out of curiosity.
Characters[]
Mentioned
- Aster
- Dianda Lorden
- Patrick Lorden
- Evening Winterrose
- Amandine
- Dean Lorden
- Helmi
- Carmichael Kearney's soda shop
- October Daye
- Luidaeg
- Oberon
Locations[]
Continuity[]
- Reference to August's years spent wandering Annwn
- Simon says that Evening trades names from people who need their aid, and that she trained the Queen of the Mists before arranging for her to take King Gilad's throne. No one knows her name anymore.
- Reference to Patrick and Dianda's courtship, and Simon giving himself to Evening to protect Patrick.
- Evening gave August the idea to go looking for Oberon.
- Simon defied Evening twice while under her control: Once by putting Luna and Rayseline in a prison instead of killing them, and once by turning Toby into a fish instead of killing her.
- "For you, poppet, I would fight Titania herself."
Trivia[]
- August calls Amandine "Mam"
- Amandine restricted August's food when she was a child. At the time August assumed Amandine didn't want her to become spoiled. Now she thinks it was to keep her from learning to control her magic.
- Any name that Evening "owns" could be used to call her attention.
- Evening was around, by a different name and face, throughout Amandine's childhood. Whenever she visited, Amandine would become more cruel and bigoted.
- Evening was already in the Westlands when the Torquills immigrated there.