Birds woke me early the next morning, the first time I heard their morning song in 500 years. And the first time my rude awakening wasn't from Alm. But when my consciousness remembered where I was, I hopped up ready to start my day with enthusiasm. I wrapped my dress around me, grabbed a piece of bread, and climbed up to my lookout with wings at the ready. I sat there on the limb and watched the yellow star rise over the trees. When I finish my bread I put my hand down on the Willow.
I was free, content, excited, and not worrying about rules... "Thank you", I said to the Willow in my mind's eye, "you are a sanctuary". I could feel the trees happiness from my gratitude sink into my skin.
"Can I name you"? I asked aloud enthusiastically and the willow rattled an excited response. The thought to me seemed normal, but in Avalon I had never heard of anyone naming a tree.
I looked up and thought for a moment, "I'm going to call you Shae.. From the old language meaning Fae-Home, because Shae, you feel like home".
"Shae", The Willow whispered back to me absolutely delighted at its new name. Beautiful and kind spirits are the trees, though hardly as sociable as Shae. And I got this sense this tree was longing for company. Which would make sense considering it stood alone at the pond. I looked back up to the star that had risen above the tree line. It was time for exploring. I crawled back inside to look at my tools.
I attached my Fae blade and its holster to my ankle, and grab my green silk overalls that tied over my shoulders. It was loose, lightweight, and gave me the perfect camouflage for my area. And the legs went down to just below my knees so it hardly snagged on anything. I grabbed my empty pack and put the spider cord inside and draped it across my body.
I flew out through my entrance and turned toward the town. Sticking to the tree tops, I stopped on a branch about 4 yards from the ground. I had been flying for about 10 minutes at least, the town seemed closer than that ... The thought of how big the town was, now made me nervous. But not enough to turn me around.
"I'll just need to be extra careful", I told myself. Suddenly, a loud boom knocked me off my feet. I unathletically collapsed down onto the branch and covered my heart with my hand as if that would slow it down. I sat up slowly and looked in the direction of the loud boom. Curious, I flew to the right keeping safely hidden behind a tree. I peeked out and saw a gargantuan brick building. It looked old and falling apart, but it must have made some of those vines creeping up it very happy. The building was surrounded by a black road, and in the corner of the surrounding road where it met the tree line, was a huge... bin?
I ducked down when I saw the large being, though it was small in comparison to the bin. It walked out from behind the building with a pile of old wood in its arms and launched the pile into the bin with a loud boom. I jumped at the noise again before flying around to the other side of the tree.
"What's it doing"? I whispered to myself. It's unmistakably a human... Male... Lean... extremely tall... I studied him. He had short Brown hair and dark eyes. He was wearing blue pants, a white shirt that seemed dirty, and oddly, his feet were covered. I flew around the trees to land on the one that towered over the large bin. He was walking in and out of the building and tossing numerously diverse items in it. When he walked back inside he came out with a clear canteen of what looked like water. This time he didn't walk back into the building, instead he grabbed something from his pocket and made his way around the brick building to a large Brown cart... wagon?
I jumped again when I heard a metallic rumbling coming from the wagon and it wheeled itself down the black road and out of sight. I scratched my temple and waited for five minutes. He didn't return. No other humans appeared to be around, so I went to take a closer look.
First, I flew down to the bin and landed atop one side. I got down on all fours to see if I could spot anything of use inside the bin. Something silver caught my eye. I flew down and landed on some old wood before crawling into the pile to retrieve it.
"A bowl"? I asked myself as I crawled out. It was a metal bowl with ribbed edges, but it smelt like rotten honey wine, if honey wine actually went bad.
I opened my pack and my new bowl just barely fit. I rummaged around and found a thin flat piece of wood, that no doubt splintered off a larger piece, that was large enough to use as a tabletop. Though, this would definitely not fit in my pack. I flew up to the tree above and placed it on a large limb, so that I could come back for it I set it down, I looked towards the old building and back at the road.
"Y-up", I said to myself as I stood up. I flew down to the door that the human left open and peeked inside. It was silent. I flew in and immediately flew up to the top and perched myself on one of the beams above. "A home", I said quietly in awe, I could see the similar layout to a kitchen and living area, though it was old and empty. I looked around and saw a large bowl of thin metal spikes atop an old counter. I flew down to inspect it. I grabbed 1, then three more.
Table legs, I thought to myself and looked around eager to see what else I could find.
As I looked around, I noticed an entryway with stairs. I flew to the entryway and up the stairs that led to multiple rooms. 2 rooms were empty, and one room looked similar to the washrooms in Avalon. The third was vastly different. It was clean with polished wood floors and it didn't look as old as the rest of the house. Not to mention, the room was cluttered with stuff... Human stuff. I flew inside and over to the first thing that grabbed my attention, a box that held sheets of thin soft paper that felt like cotton. It was easily folded unwrapped and I added it to my pack.
I also took a small, silver, metal ... plate? ... We will call it a plate... that had a man's face carved on it. This room was filled with strange things; though some were familiar to me, Like a bed with blankets and a table with stuff. No doubt a desk or bedroom table similar to the one I had in Avalon.
But what gave me pause was an incredibly detailed painting of a young boy and an older woman. The painting was shorter than me but longer than I was tall. The woman was hugging the boy who was smiling ear to... rounded ear. He had short Brown hair and deep Brown eyes.
The man, it hit me, the human man that was carrying all this stuff was young in this painting. Reluctantly, I pulled myself away from the beautiful art to look around. The drawer to the small table next to the bed was left ajar. I lightly flew and hopped over to it to peek inside. There was a circular, thing, of something that smelled like mint, and I crawled inside to look around. I lit the drawer with my hand, and dug around to find a cylinder made of a material I wasn't familiar with.
But, if I plug this hole I could use it as a Cup!
I looked up when I heard a noise in the distance growing louder, "The wagon"! I yelled to myself and immediately stuffed the Cup into my pack and climbed out of the drawer. I flew, fast, down the stairs and to the door. But the man had turned the corner walking straight for me. I darted back up atop the beam grabbing hold of the spikes in my bag so they didn't make a sound as I waited for him to enter. I crouched down as he walked inside with a flimsy bag that smelled absolutely enticing. He strode over to the old counter and set it down to open it up. I watched the giant curiously from my perch two yards above him, as he pulled out bread stuffed with...enticing fillings, and began to eat. After three minutes of curiously studying him, I saw similarities between the human and I. Not just in mannerisms and looks; he had a contentment about him that reminded me of myself when I decided to leave Avalon. As I watched him walk up the stairs, I took my chance and flew out the door and back to Shae.
I flew through the entrance and pushed my pack down first. I unloaded my new items and lined them up in a row. I took the bowl out to the pond and tried to rinse off the smell. I used a nearby Pebble to assist my scrubbing and took it back inside. I did the same with the plate though that only smelt of metal, and I set it down to dry next to the bowl. I unrolled the cotton sheet and decided to cut it up for cloth. Useful though it seemed, it was so flimsy that I didn't think I could get more than two uses out of it and cut it up into pieces using my faeblade. I piled the various sizes of cloth then set the metal spikes against the wall.
At this rate I won't have much room, I giggled pleased with my findings.
"Shae, may I configure some shelving"? I asked the Willow, setting my hand on the wall. I felt a small trembling and proceeded. I placed my hands on the wall and pulled, pulling the wood out to make a counter and shelves. I have met horrible trees, and some decent trees; but no matter the tree, warping was uncomfortable for them, so I tried to avoid it. But Shae was just as thankful for me as I was for Shae. I placed my elixirs on half a shelf, my bowl and plate on the other side. My bread and food, as well as my canteen I placed on the counter. Looking at my progress I got so excited, and decided to fly back for the tabletop.
"I'll be back Shae", I announced leaving the Willow. The flight back to the Brick house was not as long as it was previously. I figured that was because I knew where I was going. And there it was... The table top, right where I had left it. But as I landed on the limb, I looked back at the house. I saw movement through a high window off to the left. I stopped myself for only a second before I smiled and realized, the only rules I now follow were mine. Also, I enjoyed the rush. I flew to the window and landed on the ledge just beside it. I crept around and peeked through the glass. The human was putting clothes on metal hooks to hang from a bar in a small room. Some clothes he was stuffing into drawers.
Boy humans are huge. I thought, and that's when I heard his voice. A soft but deep voice reverberated through the silence, "I know I'm getting there. But it would be nice if you could give me some help. I mean...just a sign that I'm not working this hard for things to go south again".
Was he talking to himself? I giggled. I mean, I do the same... at least now I know humans are as intelligent as the fae said they were. I flew back off toward the tree and picked up my table to leave. When I got back to Shae, I had to warp a slightly larger entrance to get the tabletop inside. Using a bit of my creativity and a little Fae magic, I attached the metal spikes to the table top. Boom! Table. I stood back proudly looking at my growing collection of items. I decided to keep my clothes on the table top until I could figure out some type of shelving for that, and then started to look at my new Cup.
"How do I plug this"? I asked myself. Warping doesn't work on it... Maybe heat? I thought to myself remembering my time with the metalworkers in Avalon. Turns out it didn't need much heat for me to mold the whole shut, though heating the material gave off a horrific smell.
"Thank goodness for the magic I learned from working with metal, Huh Shae"? The light from my entrance was fading and I realized I spent a lot of time on the table and cup. Quickly, I flew down to the pond to rinse my new Cup and return to my room. I used it to drink some water with a slice of bread that night.
"Now, food", I said to Shae as I took off my overalls. "I will search for food soon, and I bet you that brick house will have something", I continued as I took off my black body suit. I pulled on my white bodysuit, and tossed the black one across the room, "and I'll need to wash that suit tomorrow".
__
A month later, I had become more comfortable with my surroundings and the noises that accompanied the Otherworld and its creatures. I woke up after the yellow star had already risen with a growl of my stomach. I wore my overalls, and braided long golden brown my hair into place. I tucked my necklace into my overalls, and put my blade back on my ankle before I took off towards the house. For a few hours, I watched the man throw out some more stuff to see if anything he was throwing in the bin could be of use to me, as I had been doing for the past week.
Nothing today, I sighed and watched him walk back inside before flying off my perch and around the house in search for food. Food was my biggest concern today. I began to fly around the parameter of the brick house when I paused. I floated backwards looking into the brush on the right side of the brick house. I nearly missed a grove of trees that was hidden behind large untamed hedge and a metal gate.
I slowly floated and climbed through the thicket, and into the grove on the other side. The orchard was completely a mess, but to my delight was a orchard of fruit trees. Though most of the trees had seemed to have passed on from this life, there was a Cherry Tree, an orange tree, and a fig tree that looked to be thriving. I had been in search for food the past month, and only found a dying blackberry bush near the river I had come out of. I was in shock that there had been an abundance of food right under my nose this whole time.
I inspected the figs and concluded that they were not yet ripe enough for me to eat. Though the oranges were tempting; They are undoubtedly my favorite fruit, but were way too big for one Fae. I gladly picked a dark cherry for my lunch and dinner, and flew it back over to my post where I watched the human work. I carved out a bit of the cherry for lunch and ate as rolled it to the trees trunk, so the breeze wouldn't blow my dinner off the limb. I finished my lunch as I made my way back to the middle of the limb to watch the human a few yards below me.
It was the first time since I got here that I felt full, and in more ways than one. I laid down on my back atop the limb, close to the edge with one hand supporting my head and the other hanging over the side. I laid there content listening to the birds, soaking up the yellow starshine, and enjoying the breeze of the day as I watched the human continue to carry things in and out of the house and toss items into the metal bin.
Rustling was normal here. So, I didn't think much when I heard the rustling, but when I glanced in the direction of the sound, I saw a squirrel had stolen my cherry and was climbing away with my dinner in its mouth.
I jumped up immediately. "HEY THAT'S NOT YOURS"! I shouted before slapping my mouth shut with my hand. Slowly, I looked down to see the human man was looking straight up at me. I froze; staring at the giant whose jaw went slack, dropping the boards from his arms.
Oh no. I thought to myself as my wings drooped down. He rubbed his face with his forearm, and I dove back into the trees behind me.
"WAIT", I heard him shout. In reaction, I changed my flight path and flew higher into the neighboring tree, landing atop a high branch in a crouch. He looked so much smaller from the distance I had created, and I could just barely see him through the branches below me. But all he did was take a few quick steps... He didn't follow; instead, he turned around and picked up the boards he had dropped and continued working.
I stood up placing my hands on my hips in contemplation. Huh, he's not trying to follow me.... Immediately, I dropped the thought of the human and my face tensed with annoyance as I stomped angrily shaking the entire branch I stood upon.
"Stupid squirrels", I said squinting around in irritation. Since the rest of my day was now free, I decided to go get some water from the Creek I initially emerged from. I was thirsty and I knew I needed to test myself to see if I could find my portal. And I did, easily enough. I drank some water out of the Creek and sat there on a rock beside it, contemplating the humans reaction.
We've all heard stories of humans thirst for power and how they will stop at nothing to capture you when spotted. So, either this human wasn't like that or he didn't believe he actually saw me. The rest of the day and night I stayed with Shae and washed my clothes. I use my spider cord to hang dry my clothes inside the tree and decided it was best to steer clear of the brick house for a day or two. And I did.
I nearly bored myself to death by doing nothing but walking and flying around the pond, jumping in for a swim here and there. I knew I couldn't call Meeks just yet knowing that this area was still too new for me to call to her. By day three, I had finished the remnants of my stale Fae food and the small blackberry... and was craving a cherry.
Initially, I wrestled with myself on going back to watch the human, but my curiosity got the best of me per usual. So, I flew back there. When I got there, he wasn't doing what he had been for the past month. Actually, he didn't come out at all. I flew over to the tree across from his bedroom window, and landed on the limb that was 2 yards away but directly in front of it. Hiding behind the limb, I peeked over top of it only to find that the room was lacking a human but the window was open. Intrigued by this change, I flew over to the ledge of the window and peeked inside. Nothing.
I turned and flew to the edge of the house high above the ground and peeked around the corner only to find the cart-wagon was still there. I paused and turned around in the air. Slowly, I hovered back to the window again landing on the ledge. I quietly crept around the frame to peek inside the open window a second time. Nothing but the faint sound of water. Suddenly, the sound of water disappeared, and shortly after I heard a door open within the house, and saw him walked into his room with a fluffy large cloth around his waist.
I immediately darted back to the tree and crouched there on the limb I had previously hid behind. He crossed the room to the window, lifted his arms, and pulled down to shut the window. I stood up from my crouch with curious eyes, drooped wings, and lax arms at my side as the window shut completely.
He glanced into the trees as he turned to walk away but paused, his eyes finding me; he caught sight of me. He grinned, just barely, and ducked his head down slowly as if to give me the smallest non-threatening nod alerting me of his knowledge of my proximity. I stood there completely still, my heart pounding loudly as our eyes met. He turned and walked out of sight, and I turned ready to take flight. But something about his gesture stopped me. I heard the faint sound of a door and peeked around the large base of the tree.
I thought he'd surely run after me; but instead, he walked out past the corner of the house, this time in shorts, carrying a black bag. I watched him curiously as he took the black bag to a green box that was next to the big metal bin. He opened the lid of the green box and dropped the bag inside, before disappearing behind the house again.
"Huh-f", I huffed out curiously. The tension in my body fading quickly. "A non-threatening human", I remarked softly, my lips pursing into a frown of gentle surprise, "The fae would never believe this". I wanted to wait for him to come into view again, but I reluctantly withdrew myself away and grabbed a cherry before I flew off to Shae. My curiosity is definitely going to kill me.
I paced back and forth across my perch on Shae, "I mean...he seems harmless. But what if that's a trick"?
Shae creaked at me.
"So the Fae say", I responded and wagged my finger in contemplation, "but twice he's seen me now an not once did he chase after me Shae... I mean, no harm would come by hanging around there right"? I asked pausing my pace, "If I stay out of reach, that is".
Shae rattled lightly.
"No I don't want that to happen either Shae. I'd hate to relocate, not just because of this location but I'd miss you so much".
Shae creaked quietly.
"How about I give it a week"? I slowly started my pace again.
Shae was silent.
"Shae"?
Silence.
I stopped my pace again, "He'd forget about me by then don't you think"?
Shae creaked.
"...well you don't know that for certain", I said shaking my head whilst placing my hands on my hips as I looked up into Shae's canopy. Shae stayed silent before I felt a small vibration.
"Shae, I promise. I will not leave you unless they threatened to burn you down... I don't want to leave you! You're my home and my friend! But remember the reason we met in the first place was because of my curiosity and my need for adventure... so...", I ended in a lighthearted cadence.
Shae whispered softly, as I climbed down from my lookout and into my room.
"Thanks Shae... I love you too... Honestly, I have never loved a tree so much". I said and placed a hand on Shae's wall. My hand began to glow pink; a tree's version of a hug.
"So, it's decided then. I will avoid his sight for a week at all costs and then we will discuss it more". I nodded with a smile.