“San telanik du—Do not fidget,” Mamu told me as we walked into the courtroom. “It is unbecoming of a winged faerie.”

“But my wings aren’t fully growed yet!” I said. Mamu slapped me and told me not to use the Human tongue when talking because it was vul-ger. “Latas vinten san alenen,” I said.

“One day, you will be a lady of the Court of Winged Fey and you will understand. Now hurry up, we can’t be late for this.”

“Where are we going?” I wondered. Mamu had dressed me in my second best dress and the fabric made my skin itchy. I tried to hide my scratching from her so that I wouldn’t get hit for “fi-jet-ing” again.

“It is custom that all members of the Court be present when a _gaikan_’s sentence is carried out.”

“What is ‘gaikan’?” Mamu looked down at me and gave me the same look she gave Pati when he annoyed her. I said “sorry” because I didn’t like to make my Mamu mad, ’specially before we appeared in the courtroom.

Mamu sighed, not so angry now. “It’s a grown up word for khalan.” Traitor.