The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherynne M. Valente [48]
“And the wolf says: ain’t what’s strong, but what’s patient.” Calpurnia tossed a palm frond into the fire. Penny tossed a clump of grass.
“No, he says: give me that egg or I’ll eat your mother,” huffed A-Through-L.
“Regional folkloric differences,” Calpurnia shrugged.
The highwheel pilot opened her jacket and pulled out several long strips of dark meat. She passed them around, along with a fancy oakwood flask. Penny gnawed her jerky contentedly.
“What…is it?” asked September dubiously.
“What do you think? Dried tire. I share and share alike with fellow velocipeders. Only fair; it’s a hard life. Don’t turn up your nose at it! It’s as good as any other meat. A little gamey, sure, but they’re wild. Not all fattened up like mutton. Go on, eat. And drink--that’s good axle grease in there. Just as nice as yak blood.”
Ell chomped his and swallowed it right quick. September chewed slowly. This could hardly qualify as food at all, let alone Fairy food. But it wasn’t awful, not nearly. And not rubbery in the least. It was as though someone had found an extremely skinny, tough old turkey and burnt it thoroughly in the oven. The flask smelled rich and salty, and when she drank she came near to spitting it out--or throwing it up--for it was indeed the closest thing to raw blood she had ever tasted. But she felt strength in her afterward, sinewy and springy and warm. Saturday ventured a little tire and a sip of grease, but could not stomach it. He nursed a bit of stone he had dug up from the earth instead. Penny stuck out her tongue in disgust.
“That’s not nice, love,” admonished Calpurnia. “Changelings, you know? No manners at all.”
“Is she? Really?”
Penny picked at her golden shoes. All changelings must wear identifying footwear, September remembered, as though from a hundred years ago. “Didn’t like the ‘chestra,” Penny mumbled. “Can’t play nothin’.”
“She’s right. I went to a recital and the poor thing was playing her grummellphone upside-down. Fortunate-like, I keep my pockets full of oilcan-candy in case I’m in need of bait. I offered her a handful and she jumped right into my arms. Took to the velos much better--practically born to it, you might say!”
“But a changeling,” said September, “that’s when a Fairy takes a baby and leaves a Fairy in the crib.”
“It’s more like…a cultural exchange program,” Calpurnia said, ripping off a chunk of tire in her teeth. Her eyes were wild and golden, and the starlight was all caught up in her wings. September tried not to stare. “Well, unless they leave a poppet. That’s just a bit of a joke. But usually, we swap them out again when they grow up, and everyone’s the wiser for solid communication between realms. It’s nice. Well, not nice, but fun. I’m not having that for my Penny, though! Princess of the Highwheels, I’ll have her up to be!”
“I talk to the little velos,” whispered the child. “They say: Penny, where’s your seat?”
“I don’t approve of the changeling orchestra. It’s not pretty, it’s just a zoo, really. For rich fairies who are in good with Miss Fancy-Curls herself to peer at. Couldn’t bear that for such a sweet thing as Penny. Time was, changelings were the toast of the town, fed with biscuits and new cream and got to dance at the Thistleballs in the spring, dance until their shoes wore through and then dance some more--”
“That doesn’t sound quite nice either…” said September uncertainly.
“Well, it’s a certain sight better than being strapped to a grummellphone until your spine grows W-shaped!”
“Grum’phone sounds like a cow chucking, anyway,” Penny groused.
“That’s right, chickie-love. And you never have to play one again. Anyway, I don’t approve of chamber music in general. It’s stuck-up on itself. Much prefer the velo horns.”
“What was her name before?” asked September.
“That’s private, no one needs to know that but her.”
“Molly!” piped Penny. “I was a Molly! And I had a Sarah and a Donald, and they were a sister and a brother. And I had a velo of my own! Only it wasn’t wild, and it didn’t talk. It was pink, and it had a little