Read Online The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online Page A

well that nothing happened, then. Your town would never have gotten over it, and The Tradition would have been kinked for years. That sort of thing can have serious consequences, dear, and a grave flaw in The Tradition gives an evil one room to move in. I’m not saying that would have happened this time,” she hurriedly added, “but just that you have to be very aware when you cross Tradition lines or break Tradition that you do it in a way that impacts the fewest people.”
    â€œI thought that The Tradition was only important for—for the special people,” Elena said hesitantly.
    â€œOh, no—The Tradition rules everything in the Five Hundred Kingdoms.” At least Bella didn’t sound at all impatient with Elena for asking so many questions. “Why, for instance, do you think that everyone in Otraria loves King Colin and Queen Sophia? That no one would ever whisper a word of treason about them, even though the only army he has never does much except march in parades and the only guards he has are old men inclined to nod off at their posts?”
    Elena shook her head. “The Tradition?” she hazarded.
    â€œExactly. Goose-boy Colin brought a smile to the face ofthe Princess Who Could Not Laugh, and that brought joy back to Otraria, as well as won him her hand and Kingdom. Now, precisely because of this, The Tradition makes certain that everything in the Kingdom runs sweetly and smoothly, from the happiness of the King and Queen down to the weather.”
    â€œOh, surely not!” Elena objected. “Surely the weather isn’t affected!”
    â€œYou think not?” Bella laughed, but there was a sad sound to it. “Then early in your training I should take you to a Kingdom that is laboring under an evil ruler, a despotic one. You’d see then that The Tradition guides everything down to the least and seemingly insignificant detail. Otraria is happy, Colin is a good King who rules well and wisely, and so—the land is fertile, the people are content, the weather is perfect in every season, because The Tradition creates a Kingdom to match the King and Queen. It would be very, very hard for an evil Witch or a dark Wizard to move into Otraria now; in fact, the only way that one could would be either by an invasion, which would take a very great force of arms, or by a combination of magic and treachery. Believe me, when it comes to the latter, that will not happen while I am Godmother here, nor as long as any Apprentice I train is overseeing things.”
    There was a steely tone to Bella’s words that made Elena sit up a little straighter and give the old woman a sideways glance. Not that she could see very much in the dark but—she had the feeling that if she could see Bella’s face, she would discover that the slightly dotty old woman that had offered her a position had transformedfor a moment into something very like the iron-spined general who commanded Otraria’s tiny army. Both of them might be old—but they knew their duties, and they would drive themselves and everything and anyone under their authority to see to it that those duties were performed.
    â€œBut there—that’s one of the things we do, you see,” Bella continued in a more normal tone. “We see to it that the conditions are fulfilled to make things as pleasant as possible for everyone. The main problem is that there is quite a bit of work, and not very many of us; there are Kingdoms that don’t have a Godmother or resident Wizard, Kingdoms where the assigned Godmother is overworked, or falls ill, or dies without an Apprentice in training. So things can, and do, go wrong. That is when The Tradition works against us, and for the evil folk of the world—The Tradition doesn’t care , you see, whether the outcome of a story is a joy or a tragedy; if the circumstances are there, it just makes things follow down set paths. And since we can’t fix