Fran was no fool, she knew she couldn’t drag them both out at once, she would need a new plan. Looking out the window she finally caught a break. Underneath her was the animal pins; it wouldn’t kill them to fall the two stories there. Directly under them was a six foot high pile of hay with a nice deep mud puddle at the bottom. It would be messy, but it was their only chance.

Pulling a fat arm over her shoulder, Fran barely managed to haul Olga to the window, and Thed was no picnic either. Ultimately pushing them out the window was saving their lives, but Fran couldn’t deny the satisfaction she felt when each went over. When Thed had safely splashed in the mud, Fran had to go. Although aiming dead center for the hay pile she missed slightly and rolled sideways into the mud besides the still passed out lumps. She wanted to just lay there, but the inn was starting to burn even more, sparks were shooting out the windows she had been standing in just moments before. Between the growing uncomfortable ness of the heat and the annoyed looks of the few animals they had, she knew she had to get out of the pins. Dragging each of the lumps about twenty feet away from the inn the responsibility for them lifted. Her horses were each starting to panic as the hay pile in their pin had caught fire as well. Climbing the fence she lept onto the nearest of the two, she had to use a little more force than normal to get his attention, but she managed to guide her horse, Reroik across the pin and grabbed the pitchfork used for shoveling manure.

Using the pitchfork like a spear or javelin, she managed to hit the wooden gates in the rusted look. The gate popped open, and Fran felt her adrenaline start to disappear. Exhausted she barely managed to keep hold of Reroik’s mane as he and the other horse Meo made a mad dash into the woods. Behind her there was a loud crash as the inn gave in on itself, and with it any thought wanting to stay was gone.

Unable to sit up from exhaustion, Fran didn’t know what spooked the horses, but she was suddenly thrown off. Crashing into a the hard ground, she knocked her head against a raised root and knew no more.

Chapter 3:

A small chipmunk had come down from the high limbs one of a large tree. Sniffing and shifting through the piles of leaves, it curiously sidled up to a particularly large pile of leaves. Frightened by movement, the timid creature ran back several steps. When an entire side of the mound moved he shot back into the trees, staying there for weeks frightened of leafy monsters.

Fran wanted to stay still, she ached everywhere. But her body automatically curled around her pained stomach. Pushing her self up into a cross legged position she ignored the pain so that she could get a grip on where she was. Unfamiliar trees were everywhere, not a path in sight, the facts quickly settled into a single thought. Annoyed she flumped back into the bed of leaves on the cool earth. She was lost.
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Since arriving at the fairy court, each of the trio were outcasts. It was heavily frowned upon to live with humans for extended periods of time, and although there were many fairies who chose lives as house folk, they rarely sought refuge back amongst their brethren of the natural world. They had a single saving grace, which luckily had enough leeway to have them accepted at all but also enough left to get them homes. Att’s people welcomed back their lost sister, who intellectual’s insight was highly valued in their circle. Pree’s people were not native to the area so she stayed housed with Clarry in the inner court. Each kept to themselves and each other, they didn’t speak of the missing piece of their hearts but it weighed down heavily upon them.

It had been several months since they had left, it was a warm autumn morning. Att had come stayed the night with a sick Pree. Out of the three, she had been doing the worst. Att had stayed the night when a high fever had knocked Pree unconscious. Clarry had run from room to room getting supplies throughout the night, but she was cautious. Neither of them wanted to attract attention to their bedridden companion. She had been their trump card, and if the Court knew that she was ill, she would be removed from their watch. It was almost day break when a strange thing happened, in a manner of moments Pree’s fever disappeared. Her fitful convulsions of pain had subsided and she settled into a deep sleep. Both tall and short fairy stood a the bedside in shock, it was like a cold wave had crashed over them. All their minor aches from being awake all night, the sores from digging out the ice from the freezers, the bruises from kneeling on their knees for hours, at the moment Pree’s fever had gone done all their own afflictions had stopped hurting as well. Neither spoke, nervous of what this meant, they finished cleaning up the room and without another word went to bed.

“Clarry!” Still in her nightshirt, the tall lanky fairy crashing in actually had to stoop over so as not to hit her head on the ceiling. “Clarry! Wake up! We have a problem!”

“Att, for goodness sakes, I’m getting some well deserved sleep.”

“Oh Clarry! Just get up! Look at us! Our wounds are healed, and I just checked on Pree and she’s doing great! Something is wrong!” Att continued to scream, but her anxious shriek was too high a pitch to understand. Incapable of ignoring Att any longer, Clarry sat up in bed. However after checking her wounds and finding them healed as well, she was raised to a state of panic. The epiphany came to them both at the same time, at the same moment a wave of psychic energy pushed through the faerie sanctuary, all were shoved to the ground.
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All except one that is, erect at the top of the highest platform stood a single man. He watched amused as people below him fell, thumbing the buttons on his vest thoughtfully. His other gloved hand ran through his dark chocolaty locks, stopping at the two beads behind his right ear. Fingering the carved letters until they burned beneath his fingers, the pulled them out to roll playfully. The letters burned like a fuse, at the last curve of the final letter their was a sparking noise and the two beads launched from his palms.

Shooting down the high from the high platform the beads sparked and ignited until like shooting stars they flared above the heads of the recovering populace. At the border of the faerie city the lights went out and the beads progressed in a slower fashion. Hovering around trees, flighting from branch to branch, leaf to leaf, until they reached the outer border of the faerie court. Each bead fell to the ground, burying into the ground their was silence, except for the natural sounds of nature.

A blue jay settled onto a strong branch, taking a moment from flight to preen. Picking at his sapphire wings he accidentally pulled one out when there was a barrage of loud popping noises from below, timidly the young bird settled further onto the branch until he could glance down. Beady eyes searched the forest floor, caught by the shuffling of dirt, he watched curiously as what appeared to be two foxes crawled from beneath the soil. Once above ground they shook the dirt from their amber coats, sniffing the ground. One took off in one direction, ghostly silent past the faerie boarder, the other startled the blue jay when it’s white glowing eyes found him amongst the tree tops. The blue jay bolted noisily through the tree tops, singing in a piercing cry to ward off other birds in the area, while the second fox darted out following a path parallel to those of his brother.

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Hunger pains had driven Fran out of her self-pity party, and as she searched for edible plants she tried to formulate a plan of action. Wallowing had never been a lasting attitude for her, and once she had started filling her stomach with mushrooms and other foods, her practical piece of mind came back. First she would look for a clearing, anywhere where she would have a larger view of the sky, then she could mark the sun’s path and find general directions. She would also be looking for covered places and places of fresh water, in case she was out in the wood another night. Last night in all the ruckus she hadn’t noticed but thankfully one of the horses had been loaded with a pack, but more thankfully the pack was shredded during the dash through the forest, Fran had found several useful items including a canteen and small knife. Within a day or so Fran hoped to be somewhere, she just didn’t know where yet.

It had been several hours, and so far Fran’s plan of action had been followed through without any hitches. She had a general idea of where north and made several little markers with stones, lest she need direction at night. She’d found a large space under a tree for shelter and warmth, and a small stream nearby. Gathering firewood was trickier though, Fran searched for older drier wood that would burn faster, but it seemed that it was far and few, even high flammable moss was rare. She’d been without matches though, and had to guess which rocks to bang together to hopefully get sparks. That was when the plan failed, she tried desperately for some time to catch a spark for fire, but it was in vain and when the setting sun brought less light Fran had to re-think her options. Instead of light she would have to be smart, taking her valuable twigs she made a circle around her sleeping area, praying that she wouldn’t be too exhausted less them alarm her to company. Dark had settled by the time she finished, she had to grope blindly back to her shelter. Curling up in the very back she wasn’t nearly as cold as she thought she’d be, it was still the edge of summer and under the protection of the tree she felt no wind. Against better judgment, weariness weighed down on her eyes until she fell into a light sleep.

Blearily Fran twitched awake, something tingled in the deepest part of her mind. Suddenly alert she gazed out into the blank darkness, with no moon to even see the hand in front of her face, she had no luck searching for what had set off her inner alarm. Her heart was pounding in her chest, twitching again, her ears strained against the silence. Imagining cracks and creaks, the adrenaline roared her awake. A flicker caught her eyes, out of the darkness she was staring at two small orbs of white, frozen she watched in horror as those two were joined by two more. She blinked and they blinked, her leg muscles tensed and she fought the desire to run away, the small voice of rational was could barely be heard over the thumping in her chest, but it was enough to know that running wouldn’t help her. Minutes felt like hours, until the orbs disappeared, like a candle light snuffed out, Fran was left to wondering if they had been there at all.
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Early morning sunlight did little to ease Fran’s tension. After the orbs, or what she had figured when there was less adrenaline shaking her brain, eyes, had left, she had slept restlessly, the feeling of being watched never left. Dressing down to her under garmets she walked slowly to the creak, she felt like an animal scared of a hunter, always alert, tense and unfortunately paranoid. She’d almost screamed when she saw two foxes playfully running around her, she’d instinctually ducked behind several trees when she heard birds cry.

Flopping onto a rock on the edge of the stream she soaked her feet and rubbed water over her body, she was too tired to care about being clean or hygienic, it just felt good. Fran hardly ever dreamed, and last the night before had been nightmare enough, tossing and turning against the rocks in the soil around her left her bruised and the wary paranoia had left her feeling more tired than rested. Getting back to her camp she was met again by the two foxes, they had found her clothes and food and scattered each all over the ground. Yawning Fran set to the task of picking up, checking off everything in her mental list. Stopping she looked over everything in her hand, then looked all around her camp, the foxes had disappeared, and so had her dress. Frustrated, she put on the clothes she did have, which was just her shirt and belt, she was glad that she hadn’t removed her under clothes. Scooping up the last of her mushrooms she gobbled them down as she studied the rock compass she had made. Looking to the sky, she saw that it was still accurate, so she chose a path that would eventually lead to her home town. Although she was skittish of the idea of going back to her guardians, she needed to stock up on supplies. Against Thed’s and Olga’s effort, she had managed to make several friends in town, so she would gather supplies and then start a proper hunt to find her friends.

Setting a pace, she reviewed what foolishness had come over her last night. Never before had she thought of escaping so clearly and never come close to what she had accomplished. It all puzzled her greatly, because the biggest fact of all was that now that it was done and over with, she couldn’t believe she’d stayed so long.

A little over an hour after setting off, a fox was back, dancing around so innocently. Fran eyed him warily, surely he’d had enough mischief. Running between her legs, she tripped, stumbling she grabbed a tree for support. She wanted to kick herself, but more than that she wanted to kick the little devil, turning round she eyed him darting through the bushes in circles around her. He was fast, and chasing him seemed like more effort than she was really ready to throw away, so bitterly she just took a rock and threw it at a bush he’d ducked in. Shocked, Fran realized that there had been a crack on impact, irked by what her temper had done she walked to the bush. Shock turned to more anger, the rock had hit a branch so that fear was relieved but there in the bush were both foxes and her dress. Jumping towards her clothes, she narrowly missed the edge of the cloth as the foxes grabbed the clothing and took off. The illusion of the being so fast was gone, since they were both running for her, to her disappointment they dress hindered them very little. Sweat dripping, exhaustion weighing her down, she barely managed to keep on them as the ran between trees.

Tripping over her own feet she looked forward, she was surprised to see that the foxes were sitting patiently waiting for her. Fran was not stupid, she realized her foolishness again, her temper had gotten away from her and now she was even more lost, and judging from the strange un-fox like behavior being led into a trap of some sort. Slowly getting to her feet, she started backing away slowly, so as not to alert them with sudden movement. All of the feelings of panic the last few days had left her drained, nothing but coolness met this new problem. She had no idea how close she was to the trap or how far she was from where she had started. Inching backwards at a painfully slow pace, her back met a tree. She kept her back to the tree and tried edging her way around, but halfway around she met another tree and then another. Frustrated she let her self peak behind, there was now a wall of trees around behind her, the last bit of panic rose then fizzled out. She was stuck and resigned with her pace, since she now realized that she didn’t have to run to follow the foxes, so she walked along leisurely, what little control she had left in the situation she would cling too.

After another hour hiking there was a field and in the middle of the rows of cattails and weeds was a simple cabin. It had a flat roof and no windows, getting closer she saw the door had no handle either. The foxes had disappeared again, she thought she saw them digging into the ground but glancing again it must have been her imagination. So now she stood half naked (the foxes still had her dress), with no guide, no way back, and no way to get in. Fran’s temper had had time to smolder, pacing the outside of the cabin she kicked a couple of the wood pieces making up the wall, seeing if anything came loose. Banging with a stick she found on the ground she called out to the unknown summoner. Back at the door she continued her rant, stick unconsciously held firmly in her hand.

“What is your problem? I’m tired and hungry and this is not the time to play games with me! Why are you doing this? My clothes are wrecked or missing! My body is sore and tired! Did I do something to you? Something to justify your devil foxes leading me all over. Leave me alone!” A small burning tear fell from an eye. Pulling back she swung the stick with all her body weight into the door. There was a reverberating smash on impact, heaving from the exertion she watched horrified as first the facing wall, then the right wall fell inwards. After a breath there was a loud crash from the back wall and the roof falling and finally the left wall collapsed forward. All that was left was the handless door. Unsure of what to do next she looked frantically at the edges of the meadow around her, half expecting an angry witch to come out to squash her.

The coat as clear, but there was one place yet to check. Sidling away from the door a few feet she judged whether there was enough space for reaction time, for whatever was behind the door. After taking a deep breath and a moments hesitation to mentally kick herself, she slowly slid a foot over several feet, then ever so slowly brought her body with her. This squat walk continued for a couple more steps and then one more brought the back of the door into view. The back of the door, and one unconscious bleeding child.

Chapter Four
Wild thunder in her chest, the sight of blood nauseated Fran to the point of being faint. Struggling to breath and control her self she hurried to the child, trying desperately to put her victim before her fear.

She carefully brushed aside the soft honey locks and braids, to expose the wound. Letting just a small sigh of relief escape her lips, she used her shirt edge to clean up the blood. The cut was small, she had mistaken tribal paint for blood from her position a moment ago. But the small girl hadn’t woken and that did worry Fran. This time she looked to the field edge for help, anyone but still she was alone. Looking back at the small figure in her arms, she gave a yelp of surprise. Before, she had been preoccupied with the blood, but now she saw the pointed ears she had tucked the hair behind, and she recognized that some of the tribal paintings were in fact Elvin letters. Several she recognized from Att trying to teach her, lessons in faerie lore and an outside world she’d never seen, the world of magic.

The small child on her lap both pulled her heart strings with worry and fear. For just a second Fran contemplated leaving her there in the field, she was in no danger and would have been found eventually. Just as quickly as the thoughts and fear came, she banished them. She would never forgive herself if she left a child, especially an unconscious one, alone when they needed help. She was surprised at just how light the faerie child was in her arms, weighing no more than a cat although almost ten times the size of one.

The foxes were no wear in sight, Fran took a deep breath, contemplating on her direction. The many trees around her gave her an idea, and although feeling foolish about it, it was the only thing that came to mind.

“Um, Mr. Tree god, or Mrs. Tree god…” she waited for a sign, but there was nothing. So she tried a different approach. “Beautiful and kind spirits of the forest…” Tingling she felt more than saw the forest eyes direct themselves at her, getting braver she continued. “On my way here, you blocked me from turning back. I know now, no way to go. As sure as you are wise, I am lost, and if you must stop me from going back, I accept that. But now I have this child of the wood, and she needs help. The wound is not serious, but I need to get her to help.” There was a whisper around her, it was no more than the soft rustling of tree leaves, but straining she almost heard words. When even the bushes began to shake, Fran realized she had mistake in her speech. Spirits of forests lived long lives, and saw the true order of things, to lie to them was a great offense to there pride and wisdom, even if the lie was by an accidental omit.

“Excuse me.” She felt again the trees direct there attention to her, a single bush was continuing to rustle violently. Unsure of whether to interrupt the bush she stared at it awkwardly, coughing. The tree closest to the bush seemed to notice, a small but long root came up from the earth and lashed at the bush, it fell silent quickly. Once the root was back in the earth, Fran continued. “I’m sorry to admit that in a moment of foggy anger I was the indirect cause of her injury.” The bush shook once in what Fran fully felt as an “I told you so” gesture. “But, believe me, I am horrified and sick with myself. I understand if you are angry with me, but first let me help the child. Lead me to what ever place you want, just as long as I can get her somewhere safe.” This time the trees rustled for only a minute, slowly the shape of the forest changed. The woods thickened all except one space in the wall of the field, Fran recognized this as a path for her. Grateful she took of at a run towards the opening, crying out thank yous to all the trees.

Alternating between walking and running she followed a long winding path the trees opened for her. Several times when she slowed down too much, small roots would sting the back of her ankles. Aware that the fast pace was part of their judgment for repenting on her crime, she took the stings with no complaint and would speed up. After several hours she started seeing lights up ahead through the trees. They were only glimmers though, against the darkening sky, and no matter how she walked they stayed there distance. Getting colder, she held the faerie child closer to her body, after all this it would seem such a waste for her to turn into ice. The trees would no doubt punish her, blaming the condition on her slowness. When it was almost truly night, and her stumbling on the uneven forest floor more often, a light started getting closer. Delighted she quickened her pace and ran with all that was left in her empty body.

Into yet another field, she chose the nearest building, running into the door and through it, she alarmed several men playing cards at a table. She hadn’t eaten all day, no water in hours, she had put everything into the final stretch, her brain felt scrambled. Even though she knew how light the child was, her body crumpled under the weight when she stopped. The men had started to her almost as soon as she had entered the room, she tried lifting the child to them, tried telling them to help her. But her arms wouldn’t move, the words seemed foreign and garbled, and the tears of relief filled her vision until the blackness overtook the exhausted girl.

Fran curled into the soft blankets covering her naked body, vaguely alarmed at the idea of not having any clothes when the last three people she saw were men. But at that very moment when the sun came in through a window and light up through her eyelids, she felt better than she had in her entire life. There was a warm scent in the air, sweet liked baked cake, the smell came in through her nose and filled up the empty spaces inside, until she felt so happy that she was able to sit up in bed and face the new day with no fear.

“Morning sunshine.” A tall man had his back to her sitting at rounded wooden table, thumbing through a newspaper and sipping at something in a mug. He kept his back to her, reading and taking a drink occasionally. Fran studied his back, his dark locks of ash brown, his hair was thick and slightly curled at the tips, and the pale slender neck. He had a long frame, but solid shoulders, all decorated in very nice clothing. Even from across the room Fran knew he wore fine clothes of silk and other expensive fabrics. Slacks and a white shirt, a dark vest as well, it must have been unbuttoned sine it hung so loosely on him. Sensing her gaze, she supposed, he gestured towards the dresser by the head of the bed.

Wrapping the blankets around her she slide to the edge of her bed, glancing nervously at the man.

“Don’t look, ok?” He said nothing, but instead made his way out the door, never taking his gaze from the paper. Unsure if that made her nervous or grateful, she checked the door to make sure it was closed and the curtains drawn on all the windows.

In the first drawer, she found her clothes, including the dress the foxes had taken, cleaned and stitched back together. All except her cloak, in the second drawer however, there was a replacement, along with socks, which she hadn’t had in the first place. Fully dressed, she wandered to the restroom to find a brush on the edge of the sick and a mirror. her reflection was not a pretty sight- although clean, her hair was in disarray and there were dark bruises beneath her eyes. Brushing her wild hair until it was as good as it was going to get she was at a loss. She had already imposed a lot, and now alone she wasn’t sure what to do, fidgety the only thing she could do was habit, and habit was to make the bed. She was tucking in the edges when the door opened again.

“What is this? We got a maid?” A tall blond entered, dressed as nicely as his dark counterpart. “How fantastic.” Gliding across the room he took Fran’s hands in his and kissed each, she was shocked but when he went to kiss her cheek he was on guard. A quick slap across the face, she stunned him, but all at once he burst out laughing. “Haha, well it’s over so soon. But alas, my beautiful flower, I shall never forget you.”

“Stop messing around.” Still reading the paper the first man had finally spoken aloud. Fran surveyed them both, they didn’t seem threatening, but she knew there different kinds of dangerous. Still fidgety, her fingers tapped nervously against her thigh, as the blond looked her up and down too. Fran watched as the blond got bored and hopped over to the cabinets, shifting through boxes, probably for something to eat, while the dark haired man sat back down in his chair from before. Settled in and sipping at his mug again, it’s like he’d never gotten up.

“How is she?” Fran’s words were whispered, which was all the courage she could manage. Her fear was waning but uncertainty and the unknown were enough to make anyone nervous.

“Eh?” The blond one stopped stuffing his face, but his mouth was full so he looked to his companion. “Phish phide.” Food pieces flew out, and something resembling jam and juice dribbled out the corner of his mouth.

The Fran and the other stared him disgustedly. He was still trying to talk with his mouth full, and food bits were flying out around him. Setting the paper aside, the one Fran was starting to like more, got up and took a towel from a drawer throwing it at his friends adding, “Please stop.”

He actually looked at Fran as he walked back to his chair. “She’s fine. The bump on the head was nothing, she was actually asleep before then. It happens time to time. She sleeps a lot.” After he settled back in his chair but before he’d picked up the paper again, Fran felt compelled to keep talking. She’d prefer to talk to him than the other.

“Wait. Where am I? Who are you? Why did you help me?” Fran felt a wave of gratefulness at her self for keeping her voice steady and even.

Suddenly he stood up and was all smiles. Fran was never one to blush, but his face drove her close, she realized that she hadn’t looked at their faces before. Each of the young men were incredibly handsome, with similar features of large eyes and strong jaws. They also had pointed ears, Fran would have kicked herself for not noticing but they were now where as prominent as the child’s. He took several firm strides and was in front of Fran still smiling. He took her hand and lifted it to his mouth, a ripple of fear sent a shudder through her, just before his lips touched her hand she yanked it out his hand and stuck it and her other in her pockets. “Just answer my questions please.”

He looked taken aback for a second, but he composed himself and credited her actions to peculiarity, at least he hadn’t been slapped. Gesturing her to his chair he answered her few questions. “Sorry for not introducing myself sooner, my name is Aurum and this oaf is my cousin Emlen. We are-”

“Faeries.” Fran interjected.

“I was going to say appreciative for you concern of my cousin, his sister.” Chuckling to himself. “But yes we are that too. But to answer previous questions, my cousin Bennett is going to be fine, even if you hadn’t found her. We do appreciate your concern though, you had no idea of the situation and you put your body through tremendous troubles for her sake. We uh…faerie folk… are serious about debts. So we took care of you for the last few days-”

“Wait, days?!” Fran’s eyes were huge, losing days out of her life frightened her. Losing control and not having a piece of her life scared her, she held a hand up to silence Aurum for a moment, to get her thoughts back in order. She did her best to keep her face still, while calming her heart. When she as ready after a minute she let him continue.

“You have spent the last few days in this cabin on the edge of our kingdom, or clan, or village, it just depends what you want to call it. But I’m guessing you want a little better answer as to where, and to answer that preemptively, you are deep within the western forest, about a five days walk from the town of Sindser.” He was still smiling, and Fran was still uneasy. But now she had another reason to be nervous, a nervous energy that was slightly more erratic than hope.

“So I am in the faerie kingdom? Really?” She was practically jumping up and down in her seat with anticipation. “Maybe you’ve met my friends?”

“Your friends?” Aurum was skeptic. “What did you little humans friends from town sneak in one day?” He laughed it off. Picking up his cup and saucer he started to clear the table.

“No. They’re faeries too. Their names are Pree, Att and Clary.” Fran was standing now, Aurum had stopped cleaning, and Emlen’s dropped jaw was dribbling food.

Spluttering, Emlen spit his food out into the sink. “How do you know those names?” Aurum finished taking to the dishes to the sink, then he too looked at her expectantly.

“I told you. They are my friends. So they’re here then?” Fran was already making her way to the door, but Aurum had crossed the room and stopped her from opening the door. Aurum kept silent, he wouldn’t even look her in the eye. This time it was Emlen to answer.

“You can’t leave. Even if we believe that your friends are here, as you say. You still cannot leave, because no one knows about you. Not that our kind dislikes humans, or most of us anyway, but having you here would still cause a riot.” Emlen had joined them on the other side of the room by then.

“Well then bring my friends to me.” Fran straightened herself for the fight, but the other two had no signs of objecting. Instead they each smiled.

“Well I guess that could work. But they’d have to come at night, wearing cloaks would make them less discernable and anonymity would be for the best. I will leave and make the plans, as I can make the best excuse to see them.” Aurum left quickly out the door, Fran was happy but their behavior left her full of questions more than anything.

Emlen bowed goodbye, then he too left, not before locking the door behind him. Fran stood still after the faint click, a lot had happened in a short amount of time. But now she was alone, caged, but the most important thing was the hope of seeing her friends. For an hour or so she just cleaned up around the small cabin, even though it wasn’t all that dirty to begin with. Fran took note at the fact that no matter what cabinets or drawers she looked in, there wasn’t much of anything, discerning that no one actually lived in the cabin.

Fran couldn’t quite see what the cabin was used for at all. There were several books in the closet, a single jacket hung on the back of the washroom door and lots of food. The food didn’t surprise her, she’d seen Emlen just snack, and he eaten like a starving man with his first supper.

And then she found the drawer full of chips and cards, sighing to herself she’d figured it out. It was nothing more than a fort, a place for young men to act like idiots. Then when she found the hidden cabinet full of liquor she knew it was time to leave. She’d lived a life bruised by the idleness of men and blood of liquor.

Running to the door she tried un-jamming the lock, but it remained closed. Turning to windows she tried opening them, but they were either too small or they wouldn’t open all the way. Frustrated she picked up a chair, debating for just a moment before throwing it at a window. The glass shattered and the wood splintered but it wasn’t enough, taking another chair as a victim she broke the back off and used it to scrape along the edges of the window, breaking more class and wood away. Using a third chair as a ladder she stepped backwards on the frame. Small bits of glass cut into her hands, the blood wetted her already unstable grip and she fell back. The window was only four feet off the ground, so he must have been kneeling underneath it, for when Fran fell backwards she fell atop someone, knocking against each other over into the mess she'd made of the window.

Fran lay on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. The man she hit, stood up, brushed himself off, picked her up and threw her back in the cabin through the window. Cursing her luck Fran just stayed on the floor, but she listened as the man boarded up the window. Fran turned on her side and watched him enter the room, he bowed to her slightly in acknowledgment then took a seat in the remaining chair. Taking a book out of his pocket he read for the next few hours, and Fran just stayed on the floor cursing.

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“Good evening my nettled flower!” Emlen waltzed into the room, rushing to Fran’s inert form he gathered her in his arms, spun round several times then deposited her onto the bed. “Why so glum chum?” Noticing the boarded window and his friend, his mood was tinted with curiosity. “Myles, dear friend, what on earth have you done to the window?”

“It wasn’t me, it was her.” Fran jolted upwards at Myles dead pan statement of the truth. Emlen’s face was that of shocked entertainment.

“And why pray tell, stinging bud did you do that?”

“What did you call me?”

“Come my bruising blossom what business was so pressing that you felt the need to bash and break?” Emlen surveyed the damage as he spoke.

“It’s my own business.” Fran sat up straight on the bed, the best she could do now was to stay on guard.

“Now biting bella, we mean no harm? Surely we would be gentle-”Emlen was cut off when he had to duck from the lamp Fran threw.

“Emlen, leave her alone. Myles start the fire, then dinner. We have guests.” Fran kept her gaze on Emlen, it was so intense that she didn’t see the ruffles until they consumed her.

“FRAN!” A loud squeal of delight rang right in her ear, she was shocked, but her heart was stuttering for another reason. Hot tears fell from her eyes, she’d never been held by her friend like this before, but the scent, the warmth, it was all familiar. “My long lost love, I’ve missed you so much.” Pree broke off sobbing into Fran’s arms, Fran broke down as well. Fran’s heart felt it was going to burst when the embrace was joined by two others. Clarry set her hands on each of their arms, then leaned her head in, mumbling prays of thanks to the gods. Att’s long arms encircled the other three and she placed her cheek upon Fran’s head. They held each other and cried until dinner was ready. Then men just stayed out of the way of the emotional landslide of release.

Dinner was a joyous occasion, filled with laughter and memories and tales of new adventures. However, with Fran, it was tainted with guilt for her feelings of jealousy. She was glad to find her friends well, but their happiness of the last few weeks had nothing to do with her, and with that deep inside doubt was placed of their affections. The faeries on the other hand, too had guilt, for their tales of happiness were nothing but lies, meant to spare their friend. Since the moment they had arrived, they had been ostracized. Pree barely remembered their time due to the sickness she had felt, but thinking it was the best thing not to worry Fran they filled in the gaps with nice tales of the faerie realm.

The men ate beside the four, joining in on some of the laughs, but mostly staying silent for the others sakes. Aurum in particular listened intently, never really interested in his human neighbors, he was willing to learn why this young (especially for his people) girl would venture so far for his kind. He’d never heard of an attachment so strong between the two kinds of folk.

Excitement had both kept Fran awake, but also driven her down. When it was apparent to the entire table that she was falling asleep sitting up, her three friends tried to excuse themselves. Alarmed Fran tried to keep her friends with her, but she had no energy and when they got her to the bed, they left with no more resistance. Emlen and Myles left with them. Emlen to flirt and Myles to protect them from Emlen.

Aurum settled for cleaning up the cabin. Neither of the men actually lived there but with their human guest, now they had to, both for her sake and theirs. Should someone find her, a human, in their cabin un-chaperoned the consequences would be dangerous.

At one point in the night, Fran awoke to whispering in the room, with no choice really, she listened in.

“I’m saying that she should leave soon. I have no qualms with humans, but that does not mean I believe they should be allowed in the heart of our people. We have others to consider, not just them.” Even under the fog of dreaminess, Fran recognized Emlen’s silky voice.

“Perasilaous aside, do not forget that those two our of my kingdom. I have a responsibility to take care of them.” Aurum’s voice was firmer than she had heard it yet. Fran vaguely wondered why the name he said sounded familiar.

“Have you forgotten the rest of your subjects? What of your responsibility to them? We need clearance from the high council to leave the village ourselves without punishment, how will we aid them. We can’t have the human girl-”

“Her name is Fran.” Fran’s heart warmed with this little thought by Myles. She’d realized at this point, that they were talking of her and her friends, but a lot of the conversation wasn’t making much sense, she had to filter through a lot of information. Fran didn’t want to risk turning over to examine them during the silence, but even without looking the weight was slowly pressing against her.

After several minutes there was a scraping of a chair and then the opening and closing of the door. Fran didn’t have to wait long to find out who had left.

“Myles, what do you think we should do?” Aurum’s voice was soft, Fran imagined it like the dying flame on the last of a wick.

Myles paused for a moment, Fran could hear his steady breaths. “I think that we should tell someone. One of the more forgiving elders would not overlook the debt of taking care of Bennett. They will decide what is best and we will obey their decision.”

“That is a horrible idea. What is wrong with you Myles?! You can’t be serious!” Aurum was now in a hushed yell, the light in the room flickered. “We have to take care of them. We will allow Fran to get better and then escort her to the edge, if her friends go with her then we don’t have to worry. We can just convince or distract Emlen so that he will go along with it. That way no one will know, and no harm will come to anyone.”

“Or we can do that.” Fran may have been imagining it, but Myles sounded a little smug. Silence once again settled in the room, this time it was more relaxed. Fran found relief in their decision and was able to drift back off to sleep. Aurum and Myles finished drinking their glasses of cider, then Myles said goodnight and left. Aurum paced the room for awhile, making the decision was done, but following through with it would be harder. There were too many places where the plan would be shot, too many variables that could turn. After twenty laps he decided that blackmailing Emlen would be the best insurance, he didn’t give second thought to loyal Myles. After fifteen more laps he figured out an excuse for the other three faeries departures to be discreet. But even after going over again and again in his head, the plans and action to be taken, when he finally pulled out a blanket and lay on the floor, he was still forgetting one thing.
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At piece and refreshed, Fran woke to her three friends already by her side. Joined by the three men, who’s home they had invaded. That day and several following it were filled with nothing but bliss and laughter. The girls and boys played games, danced, and talked about the world. During the perpetual wheel of happiness Fran lost herself, pushed the outside injustices to the back of her mind and had fun. It was the first time for her, having a group of friends to romp around with, the faeries had been there when she was growing up but it was far and few times that she saw them in physical form. And here in the village was the first time, ever, that they were human full sized, a true family for Fran. But as is the fate of all things, there was an end.

It had been almost a month since Fran had rushed through the cabin door, when the merriment settled. It had been rainy that day, and the group thought it would be fun to roast treats on a fire. Fran was leaning in to put another piece of wood on the fire place when the conversation turned colder.

“Aurum that is what I’m saying. Early philosophers but the world onto to small a dial to measure it. Faeries are too narrow minded, for under stable reasons, but narrow minded non the less. I have an excellent book back home that I will have to show you, written by a brilliant human if you can grasp that.” Att defended against the earlier claims of the nature of living creatures being inherently called to war.

“Gee, thanks guys.” Fran turned away from them, playing hurt.

Laughing the faeries coaxed Fran back from the corner. “If you indeed have this such a profound book, written by-” Fran glared at Aurum. “Don’t give me that look. I was going to say by a well-rounded thinker. Anyway, if you have such a book then bring it tomorrow.”

“Not here, this isn’t our home. Back at the Inn is where I have the book…” Att trailed off as a cool wind swept over everyone’s heart. Fran in particular didn’t know what to do. Should she be angry or sad or frightened? Fran had been ignoring the facts, but now the facts were staring her down.

“The Inn was burned down.” Fran hadn’t realized she’d been the one to speak until she realized that know one else knew what happened that night. “So this place is your home now.” The unsaid statement of her lack of place to call home was too much.

“So where will you go when you leave here?” Emlen tried to have light a tone as possible, but the truth was the blackmail was wearing thin and the human made him more and more nervous lately. Myles collected the food from the floor, no one seemed hungry anymore. Aurum waited patiently, a part of him regretted ending these days, but common sense said that Fran belonged with other humans. The three men also felt on edge, although they never mentioned it to the women, but folk were starting to talk about how much time the three female faeries were spending in their cabin. And for whole other reasons this was suspicious.

“I-I don’t know actually.” Fran avoided everyone’s eyes, keeping her own to the dancing fire. “I guess where ever my friends want to go. It doesn’t matter to me, but I’m sure Att, you have some good recommendations we can all go live…?” Fran looked to her friend for support, hope was still in her and then it was gone.

“We are not leaving with you Fran.” It wasn’t Att but Clarry that spoke. She was looking straight at Fran with her thin caramel eyes. Aurum’s heart twisted in his chest, this was an unforeseen problem. He had risen to the outskirts of the fires glow in order to watch, but it was painful now. Painful to watch Fran’s desperate looks to her friends for some sort of denial or call of a bad joke, but non came.

“Is something wrong? Did I do something?” Fran could only whisper desperate questions, fear plaguing her soul.

“Of course not dearie.” Clarry was more like her self then, a mother to
Fran, her voice was kind and firm. “We love you very much, and would love to keep living with you.-”

“Then why don’t you?” Fran wasn’t crying yet, she refused to cry. Instead her mind tried to grasp any sign of hope in her friend’s words, a sign that things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

“Fran. Come now child. You knew that we wouldn’t always be able to stay together like this. It’s time for you to go home, your mother and father must be worried sick.” Fran stood at this, rage filled up every space that the hope had vacated.

“Don’t call them that! I will never go back to them!” Screaming at them, Fran felt childish. All three of them had the same placid look, like a mother tolerating her spoilt child’s tantrum. This made Fran even angrier, they were condescending in her eyes, resigned and filled with knowledge and pity. “You are my family. Clarry you’re my mother, that woman was nothing to me. You know full well that I was nothing to her.” Fran was pleading now, on her knees before the stony faced Clarry. But Clarry was the one to plea too, she had always been the parental figure to them all, the other two followed her advice and will.

“Stop that. They are human beings who made mistakes and it is not your place to judge them. And whether you like it or not, they are you’re family. We cannot be your family any longer and that is final.” Finally Fran cried, deep heaving sobbs that quickly pushed to an anxiety attack. The only ones she’d cherished in her life had finally pushed her away, somewhere down in the depths of Fran’s heart there was a crack.

Aurum had been watching the cool gazes of the faeries but somewhere on the perimeter of his hearing, over Fran’s sobbing, he had heard something, like a break. Leaving it to his imagination he decided it was time to interfere, he just needed to find the right words. But after several minutes Fran was not calming down and he still had nothing to say. It was Pree who bridged the gap that had formed, taking Fran in her arms she cried with her.

“Fran I don’t want to leave you.” Sniffling and choking on tears, Pree tried to calm herself again so that she could talk to the agonizing loved one. “But Fran we can’t-”

“Pree that is enough.” Clarry actually reached over and clapped her hand over Pree’s mouth. “You need to stop this at once. Both of you.” Clarry’s well meant demand was hard to meet for them. Each of them had opened floodgates which neither knew how to close. Raising from her chair Clarry made her way to the door, Fran tried scrambling to her feet but fell on her stomach, her fingers reached out and clutched at Clarry’s hem.

“No. Don’t leave me yet.” Clarry’s entire body softened again, reaching down she un-clutched Fran’s hands from her hem and took them in her own. With more strength than a petite plump woman of her size should have, she raised Fran to her feet, then guided her back over to the blankets in front of the fire.

Kissing Fran’s forehead and stroking hair away from Fran’s face, she gently replied. “No one is leaving yet. I just need to talk to Att and Pree outside for a moment, then we will come back inside to you. I promise.” Kissing Fran again, she beckoned the other two and went outside. Worried and down, Att and Pree felt no choice but to follow their guide outside.

The door was almost closed when a hand shot out and blocked it. Aurum opened the door so that he and Emlen could come outside as well. Myles had stayed inside to clean up the forgotten food and to keep an eye on Fran.

“Leave. This is our family’s business.” Clarry had the hard edge in her voice, bigger men than these two had cowered under her.

“Unfortunately ladies, this problem does not pertain to only the members of your family.” With raised hands in surrender and a light tone, Emlen tried to break down the icy situation. Unfortunately it was not the melting of ice but the breaking of stone that was needed and his sunny disposition had no affect.

“We stay.” Aurum closed the door with finality. For a moment Pree and Att waited patiently, if not anxiously, but then the wall came down. Clarry crumpled under the sternness of the young man, sitting on the bench along the wall she aged drastically in the span of a few moments. She took several slow deep breaths before continuing.

“Young men,” for in fact was the eldest of group in years not just appearance. “I do not know what you know of my kind, but give me a moment to explain. I need you to understand that we cherish that frail girl more than anything and we are not to be judged by outsiders unknowing eyes.” When Clarry took a moment to gather and organize her thoughts the others settled in comfortable positions.

“You are faeries of the land, when you are born you are each bonded with a plant. You take on the life spans closer to plants if not long human life spans. When I was born, my mother was a banished faerie of land, in a complete form she wandered the towns of man. Taken in by a rich man my mother tried raising me as a human child, however with no connection to a plant I was sickly and bedridden for many years. My mother too had no connection to a plant and in my fourth year she died. The gentlemen who had so kindly received my mother now scorned me, the bastard child. In the dead of night, he took my sickly formed and threw me into a river and decided me dead.

“After an hour of floating down the river, because of course I was not dead in the slightest, I became wedged between two rocks at the edge of a waterfall. As you well know our folk’s minds develop much faster than our bodies, thus being fully aware of my choices I chose the easiest. The water was numbing and the light of the full moon haunting for my starved mind. I knew I was to die then, either by drowning or by the fall, it was my choice. Un wedging myself and actually pulling myself upon the larger of the two rocks, I prayed to the god of world and fell back.” Clarry’s voice trailed off as her eyes seemed to wander of the tree line in the distance.

Aurum listened with frightened fascination, this small woman faerie had lived a harder life in a few years than he had so far in his expansive life time. Emlen stifled a yawn at the old crones stories, he had no interest in this story of horror and hardship because he could never relate. His life had been easy and carefree for decades, hardship was nothing but a fairy tale to him.

Pree and Att were still beside Clarry but each was looking away. Pree’s eyes were fixed dreamily to the moon, she was the only one to have heard Clarry’s tale before. Att’s eyes stayed upon her clasped hands, the other two had been together long before meeting her, never an outsider but not quite held in confidence. The other two had only alluded to their momentous lives and it was not in her nature to pry. But listening to this story now with these near strangers, she was confused if the pangs in her heart were for Clarry or the jealousy of being on the same confidence as the men.

“Good Clarry, you are alive now and I feel like this story has another beginning which you haven’t explained yet.” Aurum guessed he was the only one aware how long the silence had spanned.

“Ah, yes. Well just as I was free in the fall something swung upwards and grabbed me. As I mentioned before my mother tried raising me as a human, well although I was thoughtful and smarter than an average young human child, the idea of being of faerie folk never occurred to me.

“But as I fell, water sprites that dwelled in the river gathered their energy to save me. I spent several years in there care, for they took more human forms to watch over me. But I was still sickly, not being a water sprite I could not bond properly to the water. At the age of ten I was once again at death’s door, what little life energy I was born with was burning out. God was watching over me however, a hunter had come to the river to quench his thirst.

“You are bonded when you are born, so you may not remember but watching others bond you may know what happens. You life energy is a tightly wound spool of thread that ties you to your bonded plant. As I lay in the shadow of the tree, I watched as the thread that I had tried bonding to the water was taken in my hunter. My faerie eyes watched as my life thread instinctually tied itself to his, and then there was pain.

“He was a middle aged man with plenty of strength and youth, and when our bond was tied it spread like fire through the thread into me. And this happy accident saved me, I quickly took in the energy his body was releasing. The biggest difference between humans and faerie folk is not our looks, nor our abilities, nor our culture. The biggest difference is that humans are able to regenerate their life’s energy, while we faerie folk must draw it in. With my new energy I transformed into the small body of our people and followed the hunter around until I was strong enough to leave him.

“I taught these young faerie women to do control their life energy so that they may bond to humans as well. We were together several years before we came across the small baby that is now our beloved Fran. But that is a story for another day.” Clarry stopped again for to catch her breath.

Aurum was dumbfounded at this news. He had wondered how they had lived with humans, but humans have gardens and woods around them. It never occurred to him that they would actually bond with humans. Even Emlen’s attention had been drawn with the end of her tale, as pampered as he was he knew how to respect strength.

Clarry didn’t know how to continue, after a long pause she still had her face covered by a handkerchief. Att was the one to step end their tale.

“We have known our Fran for many years, meeting her when she was just a baby. We knew it was wise to not bond to her for her young age, and we had not yet chosen to live with her. Each of us took to bonding with adults close in range to her, however we slowly learned that the more polluted the person’s mind the more polluted their life force. It sickened us and we forced to constantly change hosts, until finally in Fran’s seventh year. Over the course of several months we each bonded to Fran’s life energy. It took almost a decade to see the result, and by the time we did realize it was almost too late. Two full-fledged faeries and half of a third was too much on her, we were drawing more life energy than her body could create to live off of. We almost killed her because of selfishness, pulling off of her slowly and latching onto the adults around her once again was hard. Even with only half of her energy polluted by the adults Pree was feverish and injured herself. We took the chance to leave her, not because we want to, but because Fran is our cherished loved one and we will not kill her.”

“Why not bond with plants around her then?” Aurum’s opinions of their harsh actions had softened only a little. He wasn’t sure how true he could accept their words, but he also knew his own experience of drawing energy was much different than other faeries, closer indeed to Pree’s if not the same.

“After so long it became harder to bond with plants without outside assistance. The plants could feel no connection with us after so long, we needed another faerie or even another spirit of nature, but the humans had long since driven nature spirits away.” When Att stopped speaking there was only the noise of Clarry’s sniffling.

Emlen eventually shrugged the story away and left the group on the porch to go to his own home for bed. Back in his cabin he undressed and was soon fast asleep. He dreamed of other kingdoms, where what he knew wasn’t as certain. Anxious and fitful he fought against the encroaching fate, struggling with all he thought he knew, gaining everything he needed but losing it in all at the next turn. He tossed in his sleep against the nightmares and demons, until finally a calm wave of serenity as if by magic settled over him and he dreamt no more.

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Back on the porch a lantern left out reached the end of it’s wick. The small flame illuminated the foursome with dim light until it sputtered and drowned under the wax and died. Left in their thoughts no one registered the sudden spell of darkness. Each was too wrapped up by their thoughts.

On the other side of the door the two left had kept them selves busy. Fran had at first stared into the fire until her eyes were beyond dry. The heat had dried her eyes until it pained her, but she wouldn’t look away. She wanted to focus on that little pain so that it would buoy her in the waves of torment from earlier pain. When her mind started to wander to the idea of losing her only real family she rose away from her seat. Myles had been cleaning up the leftover dishes and food left about, Fran decided to help him. In her absentmindedness she spilled a glass of berry wine across the table, but for the next hour while the others were outside she scrubbed away. While Fran scrubbed her thoughts started to wander again, whether Myles intentionally did it or not she didn’t know, but her thoughts were penetrated by his gentle singing.

While she scrubbed she listened to his melodious voice as it brought to life the natural lore of the faerie kingdoms. It was a long ballad of the entire world, verses of the flowers, of the trees, of the water and of the creatures. When she was done scrubbing the table spotless he was still singing of the sky, of the clouds, of the sun and of the moon. She lay on her bed and her mind drifted in and out of the song with each description of wind, of rain and of snow, until she was running and dancing in the landscapes of her dreams.

Myles stopped singing when he heard Fran’s light snores. Finishing up the busy work he’d assigned himself took only another minute. Then he crossed the room so he could pull the blankets over her and tuck in the edges. He brushed her hair aside from her forehead and kissed it lightly, smiling sadly he let the fire burn to embers and left.

When Myles came through the door, the trance of the group was broken. Not by his presence but by his exclamation of surprise.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing the group sat a small angelic child. Laughing at Myles she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. Soft cascading curls of liquid sunlight rippled around her, her sky blue eyes looked through long lashes at him. Her delicate hands reached up to cup his face gently. Her smile was so bright in his eyes it made the dark even darker. He smiled once more but unlike with Fran this was a soft smile of warmth.

“My Myles, where have you been all night?” For such a small figure, her voice was rounded and mellow.

“Little Bennett I had to sing someone to sleep before I could come to you.” Myles took her hands from his face and took them in his own laughing softly. “Bennett if it is indeed as late as you complain, you could have gone to bed. I would gladly have seen you tomorrow.”