by Izzy Shows
He was right. As we walked through the woods it seemed to glide along the ground, not tangling with any of the sticks or leaves, as if it was a part of the forest itself.
"I've got to get some of this cloth for myself," I said. "It's amazing."
"I'm sure someone wouldn't mind teaching you, if you wanted to learn."
I cast a wary glance at him. "I'm not staying in Tír na nÓg, Kailan."
He shrugged. "I am not asking you to. I was merely making a point."
We reached the bridge in no time, now that we weren't moving through the forest as cautious creatures on the lookout for something attacking us at any moment. At first, I didn't see anything, but then Kailan instructed me to close my eyes. He passed a hand over my eyelids, and when I opened them, a resplendent golden bridge was in front of me.
"It doesn't seem to go anywhere," I said, looking at the other side of it.
"That's because you are not on it," he said, and he took my hand and guided me forward. When I stepped foot on the bridge, everything around me changed. The world spun, and I gripped one of the railings as if to steady myself, but found that I was not moving with the world. That was disorienting in itself, so I closed my eyes again, concentrating on the feeling of steadiness under my feet. The spinning finally came to a stop.
And then there was Tír na nÓg.
42
Tír na nÓg was unlike anything I had ever dreamed of. We walked down a path, the flora around us luminescent in the dim lighting of the forest. The trees seemed to move of their own accord, bending to brush against me, and I could feel the friendliness of the gesture. They weren't terrifying or imposing, but rather gentle creatures curious of me. I smiled up at them, lifting a cautious hand to touch a leaf on one of the branches that bent close to me.
The tree seemed to shiver at my touch, pulling away and then bending its branch again to brush against my head. I laughed aloud, delighted.
"I can't believe this," I said, my voice full of awe. I turned to look at Kailan, grinning at him. "This is spectacular."
His smile was brighter than my own—I don't think I could ever match him smile for smile—and I could see the pride in his features.
"I am glad you approve. Come, it is not far to the hall," he said, offering me his arm again. He had to walk on my right side so that I could take it, my left arm still in its sling.
As we walked down the path bright lights began to appear in the distance, and I could hear the chatter of a town. Anxious anticipation knotted my stomach; I just knew that I was going to disappoint these people somehow. They had created this idea in their heads of who I was—Kailan had called me a hero, Gods only knew what he had said to them about me—and there was no way I could live up to it.
Just then a flurry of tiny bodies zoomed up in front of us and I took a step back without thinking about it, bringing the two of us to a halt. It took a minute for my eyes to focus on what was in front of me, but at last I saw that they were about a dozen or so little pixies, all wearing miniature gowns and formal wear. Not quite suits, and their clothing seemed to be made of leaves and other natural materials.
"Oh, hello," I said, ducking my head, and bending my knees to curtsy. I didn't know if that was appropriate or not, but I hoped that it was the right thing to do.
My gesture was greeted by a chorus of musical giggling, and the creatures came closer to me.
"You're all so beautiful," I said, trying to smile at them, remembering that Fred had told me I had to compliment all of the Fae I came across. I couldn't be rude.
More tittering. A jumble of thank yous graced my ears, and I knew I had done the right thing.
"Is it true? Did you defeat the creature that hunted Kailan?" One small woman came close to my face, her little wings working overtime to keep her aloft in front of me.
I bit my lip. "He helped. I didn't do it all on my own."
"Don't be modest," Kailan said, his voice a soft murmur. "She took the Utakar into the sky and destroyed it, so that the beast came crashing down to the ground. It was a spectacular sight to behold."
The Fae all ooh'd and aww'd, and then several of them flew close to touch my hair, my cheeks, their little eyes so wide...
It took me a moment, but I realised then that they were mesmerised by me, by the picture Kailan had painted of me taking on this daring task. I wanted to tell them that he was exaggerating, that it wasn't really how he made it out to me, but the words stuck in my throat. They weren't quite true, because I had ridden the Utakar into the sky, I had fired the killing shot, it had flown down to the ground and I had jumped off it as it had died. He had told the truth, damn him, but was that really such a surprise? Fred had told me that the Fae were incapable of lying.
"You deserve a fair amount of the credit," I said at last. "Don't let me be the only hero here."
He shook his head. "This evening is for you. I wouldn't dream of taking even an ounce of it away."
I blushed and sighed, knowing that it was useless to argue with him. He would do as he wanted.
"Come, come!" The little Fae woman who had spoken to me before spoke again. "You have to meet the others."
So, we walked farther into the forest until it the path spilled into a beautiful little town.
"Wow," I said, all but whispering. "If only Emily could see this."
"What you see is unconquered Tír na nÓg, that which was never touched by the Courts or was taken back from them. We are free Fae, and we are very eager to share it with you," Kailan said. He was practically vibrating with pride.
At least I was doing well on the complimenting front. I was very anxious about that, that I might forget to say something, but so far, I had been well and truly awed by everything I had seen. If the rest of Tír na nÓg was anything like this, I didn't think I would have too much of a problem remembering to give compliments.
We went farther into the town, Kailan introducing me to every single person we passed on the street—and oh the people we saw. Fawns, centaurs, more pixies, and the most striking of all were the Sidhe. I had thought I would have trouble differentiating them from the other Fae, because Kailan was not a Sidhe and he looked almost human except for his breathtaking beauty.
But if I had thought him beautiful, there were no words to describe the way the Sidhe looked. They were taller than either of us, their cheekbones high and sharp, their eyes various hues of green and brown, some hazel, some pure gold. They came in all colours and sizes, but they were all devastatingly beautiful. The kind of beautiful that made your heart ache when you looked on them, the kind that drove the breath from your body and left your head dizzy.
I had no trouble remembering to comment on it, and I was thankful that giving compliments was the norm now, because glory I would have been embarrassed otherwise. They were all kind, giving me compliments in return and asking about my great and terrific triumph.
Just as I was starting to feel comfortable, settling into the dizzying beauty of this world, a creature like yet unlike the fauns approached me. He was enormous, easily seven feet tall and built like a freight train, his skin bronzed by the sun and his eyes dark as night. I had no name for him, his legs were like a large goat’s, and he had horns coming out of his head, not antlers. Yet he was beautiful, in a dangerous and thrilling sort of way. I was only a little afraid of him.
"You are the mortal mage," he said, his voice gruff and dangerous.
"I am," I said, bowing my head as I had done to all the other Fae. "It is a pleasure to meet you, and to be graced by the sight of you."
"And I you, little mage," he said, but if it weren't for what Fred had said to me I would have thought him lying by the tone of his voice. "What you have done should have been impossible."
I felt Kailan stiffen beside me, and I darted a quick glance at him. His eyebrows were drawn tight and down and his lips were set in a thin line—he looked offended.
I arched an eyebrow at him and then turned my attention back to the man. "I would agree with yo
u, except that it happened. As you can see, no one is hunting Kailan now. He would not have returned to Tír na nÓg if there was still threat to his person."
"That remains to be seen," he said.
"Do you think me lying?" My voice had turned icy as I realised that the Fae was insulting me in his own way.
He looked surprised for a brief moment, before his face settled back into that dark scowl of his. "I would not have thought of it had you not suggested it."
Right, because the Fae couldn't lie. They were all so used to this fact that he hadn't even thought about me lying. Well, perhaps I shouldn't have planted the idea in his head.
"Excuse us, we are expected," Kailan said, and he led me away without waiting for the Fae to dismiss us.
"What was that about?"
"That is Shayhen, a Satyr newly defected from Winter," he said.
A satyr, so that was the name for that particular breed of Fae. Somehow, knowing it did nothing to lesson my confusion.
"He is...difficult. He holds on to the way the Winter Fae act, expecting trickery from the rest of us and not trusting a word we say. You may have heard that to trust the word of a Fae is a dangerous thing, and I would do nothing to dissuade you of this fact for you are a mortal and unaccustomed to our manners of speech. But the Winter Fae are the worst of all of us when it comes to this, and we are not accustomed to being distrusted in the manner that Shayhen behaves."
I nodded, musing over that. I had thought that all Fae distrusted one another, but that would be a sad way to live indeed. Besides, they were all incapable of lying, you had to take the face value of what they said to heart. If someone said something had been done, how could you doubt them?
"I don't think he likes me," I said.
"He doesn't like anyone. Least of all human mages. The Courts each have a human mage that works for them, trained by them from birth, and Winter's is particularly nasty. I am glad that the Wylde Fae did not take up that practice, though I understand the sensibility of it."
"I don't," I said, wrinkling my nose. "It sounds like kidnapping."
He frowned. "I...had not thought of it in this way."
"Why would you even want a human in Tír na nÓg?"
"To understand their ways, of course. The world is changing, evolving, and we must keep abreast of it. They also keep a vampire, a demon, one of everything, really."
"How could you possibly learn of a human's ways if you take them in childhood?"
He laughed. "They are not kept away from the human world entirely. There are limitations to the way we can interact with your world, there are laws that keep you safe from us. Having a human on our side allows us more freedom. Or, well, them. It allows them more freedom."
"Have you not tried to befriend a human, so that they would want to stay?"
"It is not the kidnapping that you spoke of that makes it distasteful to the Wylde Fae. We are not very trusting of humans, as your history has proven you unfriendly to Fae in the recent years. There was once a time when we coexisted with peace, when the bridges between our worlds were open and the both of us passed between them with ease. Coming and going without worry, breaking bread, learning from one another. But that time is long since passed, as your kind has forgotten the old ways, and has turned from all that is magic."
I knew this, I had already known it in my heart, that humanity had forgotten what was a part of our world—yet it still saddened me to hear it spoken aloud. There was a time when it had been different, and it hurt that we had turned from that.
Kailan heaved out a sigh. "Come, let us put this sadness from our minds and turn to something more splendid—your party."
We were in front of a great hall now, that I had not noticed we were walking towards during our conversation. My stomach clenched again, but I nodded.
And inside we went.
43
A great cheer rose up in the hall when we entered together, and I couldn't help the immediate blush that tinged my cheeks. I ducked my head to look away from them, but Kailan cleared his throat, imploring me without words to look up and be a part of this. So, I did, not wanting to disappoint him.
It was a beautiful hall, lined with tables by the walls, with a great open space where everyone had been dancing. Now they had stopped, clearing a path straight down the middle that led to a great table at the far end of the hall.
I realised that table was for me, and that just made the anxiety all the worse. They expected me to sit up there? And I saw that the table was full of Sidhe, save for two spots that were clearly reserved for Kailan and me.
"We have to sit up there?" I kept my voice a soft whisper as I spoke, not wanting anyone else to hear how nervous I was.
"You're the guest of honor, of course you have to sit up there," he said, sounding quite bemused by my hesitation.
"Can't I like...sit in a dark corner...where no one looks at me?" I earned a glare from him for that one, and I heaved out a sigh. "Fine, fine, I'll sit up there. But you had better not leave my side for even a single second, or else I'm going to have a panic attack."
He nodded, looking very concerned, and then he led me up to the dais. As we walked down the line of various different types of Fae, many of them greeted me, some shouting from the backs of the crowd, others at the front giving quiet little words of welcome and then darting their eyes away from mine.
Were they...were they afraid of me? I couldn't quite believe that, it didn't make sense. I hadn't done anything to be afraid of, but that was the only emotion I could think to compare their expressions to. At last we were at the table, stepping up onto the dais and walking around the back to take our seats.
I tried not to sigh so loudly when I sat down, afraid of offending the Fae on my right, but I was well and truly relieved to not be worrying about tripping and falling on my face in front of them anymore. This was a lot of work, and it wasn't the type of work that I was fond of.
Give me a rabid vampire, an addicted succubus, a psychotic necromancer any day of the week over this. Those I can handle. Social situations? No way.
The Sidhe to my right leaned in close to me, her dazzling smile causing my breath to catch in my throat.
"Oh, hello," I said, forcing a smile to my now numb lips. I had smiled so much today I didn't know how much more of it I had left in me. "Don't you look lovely."
"Thank you!" She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a brief moment before she relaxed her stance and opened her eyes again. "And you are quite ravishing. I've never seen a dress like that before! Where did you get it?"
"Oh, this?" I glanced down at the dress. Was it so strange? "Kailan made it for me."
"I can't take all of the credit for that," Kailan said, leaning close to me so that he could talk to the Sidhe as well. "All I did was call the magic to life, her soul gave form to the dress."
"Ah!" The Sidhe exclaimed. "A beautiful dress to match a beautiful soul. How romantic."
"I'm Blair," I said, choosing to ignore the compliment, and moving forward with the conversation. I didn't know how else to handle it—Kailan had said that I would need to learn to accept compliments with more grace, but there was only so much that I could take.
"Oh, I know that," she said, laughing. "I am Aoin. Unlike Kailan here, I was born a Wylde Fae." She paused to wink at me. "So, if you have any questions about us, you should direct them to me, not him."
"You weren't born Wylde?" I turned my head to look at Kailan. "I didn't realise that."
"You can't smell the Summer on him?"
"I defected centuries ago, Aoin. When are you going to let this go?" I heard the edge in Kailan's voice, and realised that he wasn't as relaxed amongst his own kind as I had expected him to be. That was fair, though, as I was hardly relaxed among other humans. I couldn't very well expect anything else from others.
I spared Kailan a sympathetic glance before I turned back to Aoin. "What was it like, growing up Wylde?" I thought that perhaps if I got her talking about herself, then she would
stop poking at Kailan so much.
"Oh, truly magical. I cannot put into words how much it's meant to me that I grew up free. I've heard awful things about the Courts and what they put their children through, growing up to be fighters and politicians and having no say in their lives. Our mothers are so kind to us, tending to us like gardeners and yet allowing us to grow in our own way. We are allowed to choose our own paths, just as the Court Fae that defect to join us are. But it's truly tragic, don't you think, to have to grow up in that lifestyle?"
I shrugged. "It's not so different from the way some humans are raised," I said. "There are those who are guided by their parents to do one thing and one thing only, and then when they grow into adults they have no idea what they really want out of life."
She gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Really? How barbaric."
It would probably be rude to throw something at her... I thought to myself, if only to allow myself the comfort of having the thought in the first place.
"And how were you raised?" She leaned close to me, as if afraid she would miss a single word I said.
My eyes flickered, shutters closing on the windows of my soul, and my face turned into the mask that I had so carefully cultivated over the years in foster care. What was I supposed to say to a question like that? She was treating me like some exotic creature—and maybe I was to the Fae, but I...had my question been as rude as hers? I didn't think so. She was the one who had told me to direct Wylde Fae questions to her, and she had been only too happy to answer.
Maybe she had thought that I would be fine answering her question, given that I had opened the topic of conversation. And maybe I shouldn't feel so guarded; if I had any other life, it wouldn't have been such a bothersome question.
"I was given no guidance of any kind. I had neither a gardener or a prison keeper," I said, keeping my voice cool and quiet.
She clucked her tongue, a sympathetic sound I think, and patted me on my shoulder. "It must have been hard for you, then, trying to figure out who you wanted to be. And how did you become this...hunter, that I've heard so much about? It is not a womanly art, after all."
