Heart of Fire

A Friendly Fae

"I understand that you don't believe me, and honestly I don't blame you. What I am telling you goes against everything you know. But once I saw you, I knew our fates were intertwined." She continues quickly as I am sure the look on my face is in perfect sync in how discombobulated my thoughts are. Realms? Mate? Fate? Is this for real? What am I supposed to even say to any of this. 

"So, your mate is in my what? realm? which you say is not here?" I ask her. She nods at me enthusiastically. I assume thrilled I even responded to her and did not just get up and walk away. Maybe I should. This is literally the first person I have met, or even spoken to. I just got here. Am I to just trust this? 

"Yes! I have waited over a hundred years to find the one who would lead me to my mate, and here you are!" I can see the joy in her eyes. It sparks a connection to her, and I feel as though I have no reason not to have faith in what she is telling me. It is just so weird as shit. 

"I know one thing, I don't feel any mistrust from her, and I think I can even feel her spirit? Which is very odd." Callisto says to me. 

"I do feel drawn to her. And I am very curious to know what realms are all about" I reply to Callisto. Ember is still just watching me and waiting for me to make my decision. I feel no pressure and it will be nice to have a friend here. 

"Well, I guess that means we should get to know each other. My name is Jade, and I am a Lone Wolf." I tell her in a joking tone. A bright smile spreads across her face as she bounces in her seat. 

"Oh Jade! I am so excited! Where do you want to start? I can tell you about me. I can listen about you. We could play twenty questions?" Her energy is intense, and yet I find I am not annoyed by it. I return her smile and think about the best way to go about being as honest as possible yet not give away some of my deepest secrets. 

"I like the sound of twenty questions." I tell her. So, for the next three hours we play round after round of twenty questions. I find that talking with Ember is easy and I become more comfortable as time passes. Once we got the easy and simple stuff out of the way and got into the harder questions, I felt she was honest and forthcoming. When I asked about why she seemed immune to my senses, not giving away which ones, she said that is a defense mechanism from their spirits. As Fae were once hunted to near extinction centuries ago for their magic. And many other in-depth talks about our personal lives, and the fact she has been in Grand City for a few years awaiting well me. 

A little over a hundred years ago one of the eldest among her community came to her and told her about finding her mate in another realm. That she would have to venture out into the world to find the one who doesn't belong (again me). The only problem with that was she had to wait. But once she found who she was looking for we would then learn how to enter the specific realm and she would enter it with me and then she would be able to meet her mate. I was humbled that someone else would spend that much time waiting for the opportunity to meet a stranger in the hopes of that stranger being willing to lead them to their mate. 

Ember suggested we make our way to the library as it was open now and along the way she would show me a few of the best places to eat. As we made our way into the very heart of Grand City where the library was located, I began to feel like my skin was vibrating or maybe buzzing. I slowed my pace and focused on the sensation. Ember quickly noticed the change in my pace and turned to look at me with confusion. 

"Jade, are you alright you look, well you look kind of green?!" She asked me her voice was soft, but the "looking green" part caught me off guard. Suddenly my vision was filled with an actual green wolf... and despite the weird sensation I was amused so much so I began laughing out loud. While Ember looked on in a panic. After a minute or two I managed to regain my composure. I did however still notice the odd sensation. Ember was still eyeing me cautiously and I couldn't blame her. 

With a large smile on my face, I looked right into Ember's eyes and said, "A green wolf?" A large smile formed on her face as she realized what had caused my outburst of laughter. Yet she still looked at me with a question. 

"It felt like my skin began to vibrate or buzz or something." 

"Oh, that makes sense. We have entered the heart of Grand City; this area is spelled to ensure any supernatural that enters is not hostile. It was put into place centuries ago to ensure all the humans who work at these sacred sites, like the library are safe from us." She sates matter of fact as though she was surprised, I did not already know this. I think I did read about it once years ago. 

"Well, that makes sense, does the sensation go away?" 

"Yeah, it takes a bit, and then you won't feel it again unless you come back with hostile intentions." She says with her eyebrow quirked up. 

"Makes sense, so how close to the library are we?" I ask, as I can feel my excitement rising the closer, we get to the library.    

"Another few blocks, there is a nice cafe across the street from the library that has amazing coffee, would you like to stop there first?" She asked with hope in her eyes. 

"I suppose a pick me up would be nice. But I really would like to start my research as soon as possible." I struggle to keep my excitement in check as Ember rolls her eyes at me and simply smiles with understanding. 

"I have learned that all things come to us in time, and there is always time for a cup of coffee." Ember says. It is my turn to roll my eyes while Callisto chuckles in my mind. 

"Says they Fae who can live for thousands of years, of course you have the time." I suppress my laughter as her eyes widen in mock offense and she puts her nose into the air and starts to walk away from me towards the coffee shop I presume. 

"I like her." Callisto says to me. I can hear the humor in her voice. "Yeah, me to, and I feel comfortable around her. It makes me confident in our decision to come here." I smile and follow Ember to the coffee shop.  

©2023 Lisa Enstrom / @JadeFyre2018. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without written permission from the author. This body of work is available exclusively on Wattpad. If you are viewing it on a different website or platform under a different username or title, it has been illegally stolen, and you may even be at risk of malware. Please do not support these sites, as writing is hard work and effort on the original author's part. Head over to Wattpad and let me, the original author know if you have encountered this situation by finding me @JadeFyre2018