The Stolen Child — Page 21
The side of the bus reads “Liath Macha” – which is the name of one of two legendary horses from Celtic mythology. You can read a bit more about that on Wikipedia. It just amused me to make it the name of a bus line.
Edited to add some thoughts I tweeted:
How do you get around in the Otherworld? Currently most of the Fae depicted in Otherworldly Goods don’t have wings, so getting around requires a lot of walking or riding. It’s a magical world, so blipping here and there (“apparating” as She Who Shall Not Be Named put it) is possible, but the use of magic in a magical world seems like lighting a match in a room full of gas. I have not established this yet in text (or “in world”), but it’s a guideline behind my writing of this story. “Approach carefully” is the rule. Or to put it another way, when everyone can make magic, spare use is recommended. Like don’t start shooting in a “Mexican standoff.”
(Wow, there’s a term that might need revising. I don’t think Mexico had much to say in its origins.)
OWEN: I didn’t know you had a sister, Fetch. Or any family, I guess. You came out of nowhere, so I thought you always were.
Panel 2: Owen and Fetch inside the bus.
Owen: That must sound stupid.
FETCH: Nah, I get it. If only it were true.
PANEL 3-5: Owen and Fetch converse.
FETCH: I don’t get along with them. I come from an old line of Cat Sith on my mom’s side. She wanted me and Tara to carry on the tradition of haunting graveyards and cursing peasant farmers. But Tara went all corporate and I, well, I tried to follow my dad’s path. Kinda.
OWEN: What does your dad do?
FETCH: Not much. He’s dead.
OWEN: Oops. Sorry.
FETCH: No worries! He died when we were wee babes. He was a demon, see. He possessed souls and tortured hypocrites and generally created havoc wherever he went.
PANEL 6: Bus pulls up to a stop.
OWEN: Do you do that? I never saw it when you were with me and my dad.
FETCH: Well, I tried. The best I could do was play tricks on the wealthy, the powerful, the corrupt. Give them the misery they give everyone else. I couldn’t prey on their prey. It just seemed, I dunno …
PANEL 7: They exit the bus.
OWEN: Wrong? Cruel? Unjust?
FETCH: Redundant. To be honest, I felt outclassed.
Discussion ¬