Old Pete

**Old Pete** is a Seelie classless fae and currently serves as Gwyn ap Nudd's Storyteller on the Unseelie Court.

## Appearance

Old Pete 'was grizzled, wrinkled, even stooped. His hair was a salt and pepper shagginess that matched his messy beard.' He has bushy eyebrows, and when he meets Gwyn at the Seelie Court after Crielle ferch Fnwy's murder, Old Pete appears 'less than half the size of Gwyn, a motley gathering of mismatched layers of clothing, pouches and shoulder bags hanging from his waist, belts, both shoulders. Little bells tied into his hair and the ragged edges of his hems tinkled and chimed as he walked, and his nails were overgrown and hooked into unthreatening claws. His brown, wrinkled eyes shone, and were the most visible part of his face, the rest hidden behind a veritable bush of facial hair. It grew out of his nose, his ears, it sprouted thickly – white and grey – from his jaw and chin. He was one of the few fae who had chosen to age to a physical appearance of about seventy.'

## Personality

Old Pete can be laconic and playful. Gwyn calls him 'cunning'. Gwyn also notes that Old Pete is 'much loved amongst the [land] fae'. Old Pete seemingly disapproves of Albion's lack of hospitality when Gwyn comes to the Seelie Court to answer for Crielle's murder, as when Gwyn comments that when Old Pete next visits the Unseelie Court, Gwyn hopes to surpass the Seelie Court's hospitality, and Old Pete replies, glowering, 'It won’t be hard'.

He is even liked at the Unseelie Court, where he 'was unobtrusive and offered a constant source of conversation to anyone who was willing to talk with him. He was also respected and renowned enough that no one tried to harm him . . . The Unseelie fae seemed to accept him almost as willingly as the Unseelie trows had accepted their Seelie brethren into the night gardens.'

He possibly likes dogs and/or hounds.

He seems to intentionally keep his own age a mystery, as when Gwyn playfully remarks, 'That we could all live to such an age as you', Old Pete replies with a laugh, 'You’ll not get my age out of me that way!'

## Life

Old Pete is a classless Seelie fae. It's unknown if he was alive before Olphix and Davix created the classless as batteries, in order to gather power over time that the Mages would later take for themselves at their leisure.

At some point, Old Pete becomes Storykeeper for the Oak King.

When the Nightingale first returns from the underworlds and threatens to devour the whole world, a council gathers the most powerful Mages to stop him, which includs Old Pete, along with Olphix, Davix, underworld mages, and even some gods. They force the Nightingale back into his weaker bird form, then seal that single Mourner nightingale into an enchanted cage down a forgotten corridor in the underworlds. The council combines their magic 'to make one hundred different doors, one hundred different magical and non-magical locks' to keep him there, and stop anyone from freeing him.

When Gwyn is formally presented to the Seelie Court in his youth as he came out of adulthood and formally entered the military (possibly when Gwyn is 18 years old, before his first battle), Old Pete is in attendance. Gwyn notes that 'Old Pete had been kind to him, though distant.' At the same event, Old Pete takes on an apprentice Storykeeper.

After Albion becomes King of the Seelie Court, he promotes Old Pete to Inner Court. Old Pete accompanies Albion, Davix, Alysia mer Malakhy, and Oura Selich to meet with Gwyn and his Inner Court when Gwyn is crowned King of the Unseelie Court, and appears to write everything down on a scroll.

Old Pete meets Gwyn in place of Albion, Alysia, and Oura when Gwyn goesto the Seelie Court to answer for the murder of Crielle and her servants. Old Pete presents paperwork showing that Gwyn was disinherited and disowned by Crielle and Lludd Llaw Eraint, supported by Albion's Court.

When Albion marches on the Unseelie Court, Old Pete is the only Inner Court member to not join in the battle.

Since Gwyn requests Marika's help to ask for representatives from the Seelie classless fae as part of the Coalition of the Classless, it's likely Marika reaches out to Old Pete as an attendee. Old Pete later appears at the Coalition as one of the Seelie representatives, rather than as a member of Albion's Inner Court. There, Old Pete tenders his resignation to Albion's Inner Court. The Coalition decides on and imposes sanctions on both Courts to end Albion's war with the Unseelie Court, stopping them from sending their militaries against each other, outside of territorial disputes, for a decade. Albion is to stop bothering inter-alignment communities, and Gwyn is to stop assassinating Seelie Courtiers and calling in his life debts to disrupt Seelie politics. The Coalition also assigns two members of the Coalition to serve as observers at the opposing alignment's Court, to make sure they are following through with the sanctions, and Old Pete serves as the Seelie representative to the Unseelie Court, where he offers to serve as Gwyn's Storykeeper. Gwyn protests, as Old Pete was on Albion's Inner Court, but begrudgingly welcoms Old Pete into his Court, and offers hospitality.

After the meeting, Albion demotes Old Pete to Court status. Gwyn then teleports him and the rest of his Inner Court back to the Unseelie Court.

Old Pete's relationship with Albion permanently sours around this time, and got to the point that Albion refuses to see him. Gwyn assumes that Old Pete sent missives to Albion of his observations at the Unseelie Court, as the Spider Queen did for Gwyn of her time at the Seelie Court.

When Ash Glashtyn gifts Gwyn Grip, the jaatikokoira puppy, Gwyn notes that, of the gathered fae who are present, Old Pete doesn't balk, and looks on the scene with nostalgia, implying that Old Pete might have once had a puppy of his own.

## Special Abilities

### Fae Abilities

**Teleportation:** Old Pete can teleport, though it's not clear what it looks or feels like.

**Dra'ocht:** His glamour is 'gentle'.

### Magical Propensity

Old Pete is a powerful magic user. It's unclear if he's actually a Mage.

### Skills

**Mimicry:** Old Pete can mimic voices extremely well.

## Relationships

### Albion

Albion has no interest in seeing Old Pete because he believes that Old Pete has been corrupted by being around Gwyn. Albion even says that Gwyn 'stole' him.

### Ash Glashtyn

Ash notes that Old Pete would be upset at missing Eran Iliakambar and Mosk Manytrees' arrival at the Unseelie Court during *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, which implies they might be close.

### Gwyn ap Nudd

Old Pete seems to have known at least *of* Gwyn for a long time, since Old Pete remembers Gwyn when Gwyn was younger and eager and obedient. Old Pete calls Gwyn 'Bright One'. Gwyn seemingly wanted to take up a Storykeeper role when he was younger, and is typically suspicious around Old Pete, thinking he's got some gambit up his sleeve, but the pair seem to get along, and Gwyn seemingly trusts his advice during *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*. Gwyn comments to the Raven Prince that he can't wait until Old Pete leaves the Unseelie Court, though it's unclear if Gwyn is joking.

### Mikkel

Old Pete isn't fond of Mikkel, because Mikkel can, for some reason, Read him very easily.

### The Raven Prince

The Raven Prince seems to have some respect for Old Pete, and is shocked that Gwyn has Old Pete on his Court.

## Quotations

* 'I find the salt gets in my nose. But it’s pretty enough. Something out of a fairytale.'
* 'Old Pete looked harmless. But he wasn’t. He radiated power. Gwyn wasn’t sure how Albion had coaxed him onto his Inner Court.'
* 'I think you’ll find as you get older, the stories *stop* running together.'
* 'Believe it or not, Mikkel, I can tell that for myself, thank you.'
* 'I can sleep in a closet, if you’ll give me access to parchment and quills.'
* ‘Because this makes a far more interesting story, Your Majesty. Far more interesting than you trapping every creature in its bolthole, so that you may pick them off one by one.’
* Gwyn: 'He keeps wanting me to clarify things for him, but I tell him it’s a story and it’s his job to make it up. I look forward to the day when he no longer lives in the Court.'
* Gwyn thinking about Old Pete: 'For someone who was the living trove of more stories than could be counted, no one knew where he had come from, or indeed much of anything of his life.'

## Trivia

* When Old Pete takes on an apprentice Storykeeper, Gwyn was jealous, likely wanting such a role for himself, rather than a military career.
* Old Pete's potential office in the Seelie Court room during Albion's reign is a small room off the Seelie throne room 'that held only a single, grey stone table with some documents on it. Two chairs on either side. There was another closed door behind the chair where Old Pete sat.'
* Old Pete has 'decently appointed rooms' at the Unseelie Court.
* When Old Pete is present in the Unseelie Court throne room, he appears to sit 'at a small wooden table near [the thrones], writing quickly with a well-worn quill that looked like it might have once belonged to an ostrich. He hummed and sang, he sometimes talked to himself, and Gwyn had witnessed him become characters time and again, muttering words and sentences to himself in accents that were so accurate that it was astonishing.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10409742. Chapter 56: Islands.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 1 December 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29432541. Chapter 9: A Meeting.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 21 March 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2808781. Chapter 46: King.
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 20 June 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/3901096. Chapter 2: Orphan.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 4 September 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10796753. Chapter 59: Epilogue: Futures.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37093806. Chapter 28: Like Batteries.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 not\_poignant. "The Nightingale and Terho the Mouse-Lad." *The Fae Tales Verse, Archive of Our Own,* 5 May 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571246.
8. ↑ not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 November 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/2059069. Chapter 25: Soldier.
9. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9397818. Chapter 48: Exploration.
10. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
11. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 May 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/58235365. Chapter 32: The Dual-King.
12. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 27 October 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/28495692. Chapter 6: The Court of Five Thrones.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 27 September 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/49401356. Chapter 15: Own Yourself.