“Thank you,” she gratefully said, with the elves turning to her curiously as she smiled at them while Snapper was just snapping her teeth towards the food nearby. “For letting us visit you like this, for treating us so kindly. We heard that, well, under normal circumstances, most visitors wouldn’t be allowed within your community or be trusted to speak with you about very different… beliefs. It warms my heart to see you welcoming us like this, even little Snapper here despite what she is. We’re truly thankful.”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” a ranger laughed shaking her head. “We’re the ones who are thankful for you. Lord Daniel Sorres and your friends saved us from a fucking horrible fate. We lost many good sisters that day, but we could have lost everything if you hadn’t come along when you did.”
“We were up shit creek without a paddle or even a fucking boat,” an elven child added, with Specca again forcing a smile in the face of her vocabulary. “You people are godsends, every one of you.”
“You are right about us being picky who we invite into our home,” another ranger commented, crossing her arms. “We don’t normally allow just anyone into our village. We have our way of life to protect after all, and this world is filled with plenty of shit-eating horsefuckers, as you are surely aware of. But this here isn’t our home, this is just where our freedom began after you rescued us. It’s not like we have any right to kick you out of this place, that and of course we could never turn away those who saved our lives. That would just be fucking rude.”
“You having a swarm did surprise us,” an elf mentioned with a shrug and weak smile. “At first. So did you having a succubus, an arachne, sand wraiths, a salamander woman, and even a man who took on The Sisterhood like a warrior from the heavens.”
“That last one still surprises me.”
“Me too.”
“All of you are something out of fables in this world. Seriously, we never expected anything like you people to be our saviors.”
“Yes, we’ve encountered many interesting faces during our travels,” Specca had to admit. “Our family is rather… unique. I’m glad to see you’re welcoming of them even though I’m sure some may have given you quite the fright upon first seeing them.”
“We weren’t that scared of them,” an elf waved away. “A little surprised, but we weren’t scared.”
“Yeah, we’re not that weak and cowardly,” another laughed.
“You two hid in your tent for two days after you heard they had a succubus among them,” a woman pointed out, causing the two in question to slump back as the crowd laughed at them.
“I wasn’t scared!” a child insisted raising her hand. “Not at all!”
“You’ve been sticking to me like tree sap these past few days,” her mother jested with a tap on the girl’s head. “And you have ever since you heard of them having sand wraiths walking among them. With the way you’ve been squeezing my hand I could have sworn you were scared.”
“Mom!” the child whined loudly.
“We were a little uneasy at first,” a ranger chuckled as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean just the idea of a man being that fucking brave and powerful to rescue us was shocking to hear, but also how he had so many… diverse monsters accompanying him. All of which were our heroes as well.”
“We’re thankful you people showed up when you did,” a woman insisted. “And we’re perfectly fine with whoever or whatever you people may be. At least we are now. I mean… you couldn’t really blame us, could you? A succubus? Sand wraiths? I even heard you have a harvester in your ranks. All of that just… took us a little off guard at first.”
“Though not as much as that one over there did,” an elf said pointing to the side. Everyone looked over to a large gathering of elves near the outskirts of the village, where women and children were watching something with growing cheers and laughter. Between the elves that crowded event, Specca could make out glimpses of blue light zipping around wildly and seeming to be the focus of everyone’s enjoyment.
“Is that…” Specca wondered before standing up and walking towards the spectacle. Nearly all the elves around her followed the nixie, also interested in observing something that Specca found to be both astounding and also unbelievable to witness.
“Catch me if you can! Hee hee!” Pip laughed, zipping around a wide field with dozens of elven children chasing after her. The agile fairy raced by one, flew circles around another, and soared low across the ground as the young elves wildly pursued her with playful laughter.
“Pip?” Specca said with a growing smile.
“When she flew down into our camp we did have some who grew fearful from her presence,” an elven ranger told her. “But your friends didn’t even have to defend her. While we’ve all heard terrible stories of fairies destroying elven forests, many in our community also witnessed that fairy fighting to protect us from The Sisterhood.”
“I was there when it happened,” another ranger spoke up, earning a surprised look from Specca. “Not only did I see Lord Daniel Sorres fighting those monsters who led The Sisterhood, but that fairy helped him battle their grunts as well. She used some fucking powerful magic, I mean really deadly stuff, but never harmed us or blew up our people with it. She only attacked The Sisterhood. She fought them off to protect us without giving any elf so much as a scratch with her power.”
“That’s right, she did,” Specca agreed. “She was very brave for jumping into the battle like she did. Truthfully, we were worried your people would have hated or even attacked her when she came with us tonight.”
“Under normal circumstances we would have,” the elven ranger smirked with a shrug. “But after seeing your tiny friend over there fighting for our freedom and protecting us, well, word of her deeds spread fast in our community. A fairy coming to our rescue and acting as our savior in our hour of need; bad reputation or not, we’re grateful for that fairy and her efforts, every single one of us.”
“As soon as she came here she only wanted to play with us,” an elven woman marveled. “We were cautious at first, we weren’t sure what to believe, but now it’s quite clear your fairy means us no harm. She’s been playing with the children and has never once threatened to blow us all sky high with her magic.”
“How is it this fairy is so friendly and safe to be around?” a woman asked Specca. “I mean it’s just fucking insane. You not only trained a swarm as your pet but a fairy also? How in Eden did you do that?”
“That swarm is not a pet,” a ranger scolded her. “She’s Lord Daniel Sorres’ daughter, he adopted her as his own child. Her name is Snapper. Show some fucking respect.”
“She’s… what?” the woman exclaimed. “Oh! Oh… I’m so sorry! I-I-I didn’t… I had no clue, I just… really? She’s… his daughter?”
“It’s alright,” Specca assured with a wave of the hand. “We were prepared for some tension between you and some of our company. Though we certainly weren’t expecting such great hospitality from you on this night. Spoiling Snapper with so much food, and your children are even playing with Pip in a friendly game. It’s… this is all…”
“This is amazing!” Luna cheered. Specca turned around and saw the butterfly sisters running up towards her with fluttering wings and a crowd of elves following them, each of the sisters holding armfuls of apples with even more being carried by their many admirers.
“Specca! Look at this!” Falla exclaimed, rushing up to the surprised nixie and holding up a shiny red apple. “This is incredible! Do you see all this? Can you believe it?”
“Luna, Falla,” Specca greeted as she saw Luna chewing on an apple that she shoved in her mouth while Falla was drooling at the sight of hers. “There you are. Wow, you both sure have a lot of… apples? I don’t think I’ve seen you two so excited to eat those before.”
“They’re not just apples, they’re worm-filled apples!” Falla cheered. Luna tried to say something, but there was too much fruit in the way that blocked her words. Specca blinked then pe
ered closely at the food, seeing that most of the apples did indeed have holes in them as well as worms poking their heads, or possibly rears, out from their homes.
“We got separated from the others when the elves swarmed us,” Falla explained before taking a bite out of her fruit, with the sight of a worm being ripped in half by her teeth not going unnoticed by Specca who showed a disgusted frown. “They just started handing these to us and wouldn’t stop. Oh my god, these are so good! These worms are huge and delicious, I love it!”
Luna nodded and mumbled something around a mouthful of chewed fruit and worms that just made Specca lurch slightly as she tried to force a smile.
“We know giant butterflies love insects and grubs,” an elf next to them said. “And we heard from our rangers that Lord Daniel Sorres had two giant butterflies in his company. So we’ve been saving every fruit and vegetable we find to have such things in them on the chance we might be able to bestow it upon our heroes as a gift.”
“My, that’s… just wonderful,” Specca managed to get out. “How very nice of you. Um, Luna? Please… close your mouth while you chew your… food.”
Luna merely started laughing and possibly choking as she savagely munched up two apples in her hands, drawing only amused smiles and friendly laughter from the elves around her. Falla swallowed her bite then chewed off more of the fruit, showing very clearly the sight of two worms being pulled out from their home into her mouth that almost brought a tear to her eye.
“I really needed this,” Falla whimpered in delight. “After everything we’ve been through, I was really craving some worms just like these. They remind me of the ones we used to catch back home.”
“I’m going to try to forget about this the next time we’re kissing,” Specca mentioned with an appalled grimace.
“What?” Falla asked with a raised eyebrow. “You eat raw fish all the time. I’ve even watched you eat a live one right in front of me and you didn’t hear me complaining then, did you?”
“Actually, I did,” Specca pointed out with a dull expression. “Your exact words were, ‘I’m never letting you kiss Daniel with that mouth again,’ remember?”
Falla slowly chewed her food before looking away without saying a word, with Luna now being helped by elves who were frantically administering abdominal thrusts to the giant butterfly who was certainly choking while still laughing and gasping for air around her food. After she coughed out the chunk of apple in her throat and Falla eyed over her collection again, Specca rolled her eyes and looked back over to where Pip was playing with the elven children.
“Still, it is wonderful to see everyone getting along so well,” she said with her smile returning. Out of the corner of her eye she caught an elven child slowly holding some roasted meat on a stick towards Snapper, and turned her head just in time to smile at the swarm who quickly bit off the end of that stick to viciously devour the tasty treat.
“Hee hee,” the child giggled. “I thought she might be hungry still.”
“This one is always hungry,” Specca mused as she held the lively swarm in her arms. “Though you don’t need to spoil her so much. She gets plenty to eat at home, Cindy always makes sure of that. Wait a moment, where is Cindy?”
Looking around she saw elves moving about the settlement while many were crowded around herself and her family, however a few others in their group remained unaccounted for.
“Has anyone seen Cindy or Alyssa? Or Rolian? Or Felucia?”
“I think your friends are over there,” a ranger said pointing to the side. “I saw your witch friend doing something with those two sand wraiths. I think your arachne and salamander woman friend are with them as well.”
“I saw that witch riding the arachne into our camp,” another ranger mentioned in disbelief. “I mean… she was riding an arachne. I… I can’t even…”
“There is no end to the marvels and miracles these people perform,” a woman spoke softly.
“Alyssa is with all of them?” Specca wondered, then showed a worried frown as she realized why. “Oh, of course. They’re at Sheal’s civic punishment. Oh dear…”
She started walking that way before noticing Falla and Luna remaining behind, both sisters holding their apples close with uneasy frowns as they clearly didn’t want to follow her.
“Girls?” Specca wondered. “Aren’t you coming?”
“If I watch what happens to Sheal it’s going to ruin my appetite,” Falla complained shaking her head. “I haven’t eaten much in days and these worms are really tasty. I don’t want to spoil my meal.”
“I don’t want to see what happens to her either,” Luna softly said. “She’s going to be in so much pain and humiliated in front of all the elves. I don’t want to watch that.”
“I’m not looking forward to her sentence either,” Specca sighed. “Though to be honest I’m more curious what the others are doing with her. And I want to make sure Rolian and Felucia aren’t causing any trouble.”
She quickly yanked her hand away just before Snapper could chomp on it, taking a moment to catch her breath before forcing yet another smile to hide her agitation.
“That and I believe Snapper wants to be held by Cindy again. At least that’s what I’m choosing to believe right now. So yes, the little darling needs to be returned to her at once.”
“You have fun with that,” Falla replied as she walked over to the crowd spectating Pip. “Let me know if there’s trouble, and I’ll be sure to head straight home with these beauties where it’s safe.”
“Sorry, but I’m kind of hungry too,” Luna sadly said before joining her sister. “Tell Sheal I’m sorry for what’s going to happen to her. Really sorry.”
“Yes, so am I,” Specca drearily agreed.
“Is there a problem?” an elven woman asked her. “Is something happening with your friends?”
“The salamander woman in our group is making a public apology of sorts,” Specca answered with a troubled frown. “I believe she’s being prepped right now for her… punishment.”
“I see,” the elf replied with a confused look. “If I may ask, how exactly did that salamander woman become friends of yours? I hear Lord Daniel Sorres even approves of her stay. Is she one of his concubines as well?”
“No, she’s… just a friend,” Specca said shaking her head. “I’m sorry, it’s a rather long story. If you’ll excuse me I have to go check on her and the others.”
“Allow me to escort you,” a ranger quickly insisted stepping forward.
“I can take her,” another argued stepping closer to Specca.
“I want to feed the swarm some more,” a child added as she held out a mushroom and meat kabob towards Snapper who quickly focused her eyes intently on the food.
“Oh my,” Specca stuttered with a weak smile, watching as many elves quickly surrounded her with heightened interest. “That’s quite alright, really. Um, please, not so close. I can manage just fine, I promise.”
“Nonsense,” an elf said pushing her from behind, with the nixie letting out a yelp as she was scurried off with the crowd hugging her on all sides. As they made their way towards where Specca’s companions were gathered, Luna and Falla glanced back to see their co-mate being escorted by a wall of elves that was very thick and overly enthusiastic about accompanying the shy nixie.
“Swallowed her whole,” Falla commented before taking a bite out of her worm-filled apple.
“I hope Sheal is going to be alright,” Luna worried. “I like her. She’s not mean like salamander women normally are.”
“She’ll be fine,” Falla assured as she munched on her fruit. “Alyssa’s punishments may be extreme, but they’re not lethal. Sheal will live. She’ll be walking funny for a week at least, but she’ll live.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Luna frowned before nibbling on her apple.
“Just try not to think about it,” Falla reasoned with a gentle pat on her sister’s back. “Let’s just enjoy our meal and the sight of Pip playing with the ch
ildren. That should help calm you down.”
“They are having fun out there,” Luna admitted with a small smile. “It’s so nice to see their children playing with her like that. I was worried when they saw she was a fairy they would have tried to hurt her.”
“I was too, but it looks like we were worried about nothing. They already see that Pip is a kindhearted girl who only wants to be happy and play with others. It’s moments like this that really-… wait, what is she doing?”
The sisters watched curiously as Pip had suddenly stopped in midair during the game, with the children slowly halting around her as they saw the fairy hovering above the grass without moving. Slowly her glow turned from blue to yellow, with Luna and Falla looking to each other in puzzlement before everyone heard a bird’s echoing squawk high in the air above them. Looking up the butterfly sisters could barely make out the bird’s silhouette in the sky as it flew in circles against the starry backdrop.
“Huh, a bird,” Luna said before taking a bite of her apple.
“Yeah, it’s just a… bird…” Falla slowly said, with the sisters then carefully turning their sights back to Pip as the fairy was still motionless in the field. “Um… you don’t think she’s going to-”
Without warning a large torrent of magical energy blasted up into the sky from the tiny fairy out of a radiant golden casting ring above her, the searing stream of power lighting up the surrounding settlement as everyone quickly took notice with gasps and startled screams. The beam of rippling white and crimson energy veered around in the air before suddenly stopping, leaving only dust swirling around the field by the fairy as everyone else was frozen in shock from what they just witnessed. After a moment a charred, featherless bird dropped onto the grass next to a young elven girl in the field, the child slowly picking it up with wide eyes before looking around at everyone in bewilderment. Luna and Falla were stunned with wide eyes and open mouths while nearby elves were rendered speechless from the sight.
Slowly a few children approached Pip, seeing the tiny fairy sitting atop a dandelion while trembling with fearful eyes.
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act I Page 39
