Light and Dark

Chapter 1: Fey

Fey was first found at one of the entrances to the small village she now called home. Her adoptive mother, Jolly Riea, was the first to find her, sleeping soundly, tiny hand grasping a small piece of paper and the chain of a necklace. There was also a bracelet right next to her. The paper had a simple note written on it, 

"Whoever may find this, please take care of my sweet baby girl, Fey."

 "Who are you, little child, and who would leave you in such a way?" Jolly said just as she felt a single drop of water, filled with the loss of something most precious. "Now, let's get you inside before it gets any colder."

***
"Fey, Fey." Fey was suddenly jerked from her trance by someone whisper yelling behind her. Suddenly she felt a sharp jab from behind. Another paper airplane. Fey continued to give as much attention to her teacher as she could, but right as she let down her guard again, she felt a tiny prick fall in the same area as the last. As Fey leaned over, she saw, once again, a paper airplane greeting her. She picked it up and set it next to the last one, then turned back to teacher just in time to see her teacher looking over at her. "She is really trying to get my attention, I wonder why?" Fey thought.

***
Fey just finished that thought when the teacher started approaching. "Ms. Fey, what do we have here?" he asked, an unexpected gentleness audible in his tone.

"Nothing, sir!..." Fey exclaimed, the surprise compassion throwing her off.

"I see...  Ms. Kira is up to her old tricks," the teacher soothed, turning toward Taylor, who sat right in front of the girl he was after. "Ms. Kira, stop throwing paper airplanes at Fey and concentrate on the lesson. Her and Taylor need to know this for tomorrow." 

"Why do they need to know about this war for the Festival of Darkness?" Kira asked, her hands sending up whips of unnoticeable glowing smoke as her tone rose.

"You need to learn to appreciate what our ancestors and the queen have created and what an honor it is for you to participate in such a wonderful ceremony!" the teacher said turning back to Fey. "Would you mind staying behind for a minute after the school day ends, I think you'll be able to get home before dark." 

"Sure," Fey replied. "Now should we get back to the lesson?..." 

"Whoops, yes, now we left off at which battle?" 

"The Battle of Eclipsing Dawn, sir." 

"Yes, now this battle was very interesting because..."

"This battle is where the war started turning for the better..." 

"Right again, Ms. Fey." the teacher praised. "Now everyone, please bring out yesterday's homework so we can correct it as a class."
***
"What did you want me to stay behind for?" Fey asked.

"I asked because someone gave me something to give you," the teacher answered. He grabbed something out of a brown paper bag and handed it to the 14 year old standing in front of him.

"Who gave this to you?" Fey inquired.

"That's for me to know and you to find out..." the teacher replied vaguely.

"Well, anyway, what is it?"

"Just take this home and open it first thing in the morning, alright?" 

"Ok, this is weird, why would this happen to me?" Fey wondered as she left the building, a rectangular box securely gripped by her hands. "Alright."

"See you after the ceremony." 

"Bye." 

***
"I'm home!" Fey called.

"Welcome back honey, Taylor came with Kira, and since you three are going to need to get ready early tomorrow morning, Taylor will be staying the night with us, alright?" Jolly replied.

"Ok, love you, mom!" 

"Love you to, sweetie!" 

"So..." Kira said, jumping Fey as soon as she entered the room.

"So what?" Fey asked.

"Are you kidding, what did the teacher want you for anyway?" Taylor replied.

"He just wanted to give me something..." Fey said, pulling out the plain black box the teacher had given her.

"Have you opened it?" Kira squealed.

"No, he asked me to open it first thing in the morning..." Fey answered, looking down at the box, gripping it tighter.

"Odd..." Taylor murmured, her head tilting down slightly.

"Yeah, that is really weird," Kira consented.

"I'm sure he has a reason..." Fey assured.

"We should get to bed, after all, tomorrow is finally the day," Taylor yawned.

"Yeah, good night," Kira replied. She and Taylor climbed into bed as Fey set the box on the dresser next to her just before she lay her head on the soft, cool pillow behind her, thinking about the day ahead.