Gertrude thought that Rolan was underselling her contributions a [i]little bit[/i], but since he was willing to shoulder all the blame for messing with Tyaethe's fight, she was willing to let him off. Really, she wasn't particularly concerned with how Tyaethe felt or how she chose to express her dissatisfaction. Just one more old person telling her that she was a disappointment, so what? But it would be funny to send her off to Rolan to give him a dressing-down if the woman chose to confront her.

Well, he volunteered to be the entertainment.

---

Now that their task was complete and the deal was being rendered, Gertrude didn't have quite the leverage that she wanted when it came to brokering a contract. Still, she was eager to add a powerful faerie queen to her repertoire of companions if she could, so the attempt had to be made.

Besides, if a fool like Fionn was capable of using magic as he had been from his contract with a Niyar, it boggled the mind to imagine what a genius like Gertrude could do with the backing of the Moonlit Queen. How many steps closer would that be to unseating Aleksiya? At least a few, certainly.

All she had to do... was be nice for [i]five sodding minutes[/i].

Gertrude approached the Moonlit Queen and performed a curtsy. The formality left a bad taste in her mouth, but it was probably her best bet. It didn't hurt that virtually all of her superiors were [i]very tiny women[/i]. Aleksiya, Merilia, Fanilly, Gisela... if anything, it was her natural state. Many would liken the Moonlit Queen to a child, but to Gertrude she was any other ancient and powerful being in a tiny package.

...Though she still wanted to pat the woman's head.

"Gertrude, your majesty," Gertrude introduced herself with all the courtly grace of someone who had read what to do in a book once while bored, "as you can see, we are quite the accomplished group. Now that sod Rozenalt's shuffled off- er, now that Rozenalt has been dealt with, I imagine things will be a bit quieter around here. Ideal for your subjects, of course, but perhaps a mite dull on occasion. I would like to make a contract with you, with the promise that I'll show you plenty of interesting things as we continue our adventures. And if you deign to appear before me, perhaps even to participate. Had you wanted to witness Rozenalt's anguish firsthand, a contract with me could have allowed you to do so. I wouldn't want you to miss such entertainment, going forward."

...[i]Really[/i] wanted to pat her head.