Summervale

## Introduction

Summervale is a city near Esgrettio and the Seelie Court that Eran Iliakambar and Mosk Manytrees first encountered while Eran took Mosk to the Seelie Court for judgment.

## Appears in

Major canon:

*The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*

*The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*

## Description

'The town of Summervale began with sleepy wide roads and homely cottages and farmsteads with walls of bright cream stone with painted white window frames and fences. They looked like they belonged in picture books. The citizens were almost entirely Seelie'. As Eran and Mosk traveled through it the first time, they 'passed white fairy cows with red eyes and musical golden cowbells about their necks, so that the impossibly green valleys sent up chimes and rung deep notes from meadows near and far. Every field not growing golden grain was verdant with flowers smelling of honey and spices.

Small pink rabbits chased each other along green paths they’d stamped down with broad hind feet, occasionally leaping free and twisting their bodies in carefree delight. Butterflies in impossible jewelled colours supped at nectar, and bees buzzed in major scales.' Further into the town, 'the farmsteads and cottages gave way to proper streets with roads in the centre, carriages pulled along by finely coiffed and shining horses. At one point, he saw a brilliant jewel-green carriage pulled by horses shining teal and black', and other animals Eran didn't recognize also pulled some carriages. Some vendors yelled out their wares, trying to make sales. As they moved deeper into the town, it only grew larger. 'The one and two-storey homes and shopfronts resolving into crooked and straight buildings with ribbons draped outside. There were plaques everywhere beside quaint or regal doorways, denoting the names of who lived inside. Badger Silverfoot. The Marquis of the Tiniest Streams. The Hero of Walden. The Once-Queen. Some of the plaques were burnished until he could see his reflection in them. Others were aged. One copper plaque covered with so much verdigris that the original colour was lost. Shopfronts sold fantastic items at fantastic prices.'

The town had something called the Summervale celebrations during Midsummer. Gwyn ap Nudd went to them in the past, and missed the 'musicians and the travellers from all around, the fireworks at night.'

The town had many taverns, and Eran and Mosk spent the night at one of the worse looking ones that smelled of stale beer spilled on the floor, and 'the sediment-heavy scent of spirits'. The innkeeper agreed to let them stay via Mosk selling his body to other customers. Mosk only went through two customers, while Eran observed. The second worked some compulsion on Eran to make him freeze, which Eran found incredibly invasive and traumatic. Their room was 'serviceable', with fresh straw mattresses and feather pillows, and Eran visited the communal baths to clean himself and their clothes off. Eran couldn't sleep, and they ended up leaving before dawn.

After the ice plague came to Summervale, the surrounding area was deserted and barren. The city itself was 'ensconced in ice. Where the buildings had been tall, the ice was taller. In some cases it mimicked the shapes of the multiple storey buildings further up in the sky, as though it was trying to dream of its own city. It glittered and shone, sometimes opaque, sometimes transparent, never melting until Mosk touched it. Bodies contained like bruises within it dropped heavily to the cobblestone paths or crashed into buildings.

The main street was churned up and destroyed by the ice, so they walked down a side street until they reached the central village square that Eran recognised from last time. He saw the hotel where he’d been rejected from for not having enough money or anything to barter for a stay. That was the first place he’d learned he was considered a refugee by other fae. Now there were no bustling fae in rich clothing walking up and down the streets. No carriages led by all manner of animals. There were no birds, no fat plump pigeons, no insects humming and no flowers to be pollinated in the planters.'

Eran chose the hotel he'd tried first when they came to Summervale, and was rejected at, for their party to spend the night at during his second visit. 'They all walked up the creamy stone steps together and stood as a group on the polished floors, and the place seemed full of silence and echoes.' Julvia Dubna Vajat noted it was still quite clean, which Gwyn pointed out was due to magic.

'The floors were marble, with thick embroidered rugs muffling their footsteps. The walls were hung with paintings, the colours gauzy and soft, flowers seeming alive within their paint. None of the doors were locked, and all of the rooms were large. Some had many beds, as though intended for families and groups. Others had small beds. Others had nests. One had a large cocoon made of carefully arranged twigs, and Eran recalled that the receptionist had been some kind of insect fae, so maybe they catered to fae who used things like that to sleep. . . . Down one shadowy corridor, at the very end, they opened a door and saw a family of what looked like wild boars nestled together with their little piglets, until the largest shifted into a hybrid form.'

Eran and Mosk ended up staying in 'a room that reminded Eran of the forest they’d first stayed near when they’d left the Mantissa. It had a painting in it of a forest reaching across to the horizon that stretched from floor to ceiling, and Mosk had stared at it for so long that Eran had eventually needed to nudge him away. Mosk stopped in front of it as Eran put their pack down by the bed.'

Gwyn later declared to the Esgrettians that 'Summervale is free to be reclaimed by the citizens of Summervale. I know it goes against some of your natures, but I ask that you help each other rebuild as best you can.'

## References

1. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 1: The Ice and the Dryad. Accessed 24 May 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 3: The Not-Quite Incubus. Accessed 24 May 2021.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 2: The Deserted City. Accessed 24 May 2021.
4. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 4: Splendour. Accessed 24 May 2021.
5. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 5: The Dryad and the King. Accessed 24 May 2021.