Eventually I'm able to pull myself together. I take a deep breath and think. What are my options?
I can do nothing, go on with life as if nothing happened. Except no one can see me. And I can't touch anything. So that's a terrible idea. I can do nothing and simply sit here until... I don't know. That's an even worse idea. I can try to figure out how to get back, but I have no idea where to start. I can try to find my uncle, but again, I don't know where to start. Maybe I could go wandering around the forest to see if I can find him? But I don't even know how big the Faerie Realm is. If it's the size of the whole world, then finding him randomly in the forest isn't likely at all.
I could go back to the faerie. Or to the oak, where it was taking me. I don't like that idea. That faerie did something to me, and I don't want to go back to it. What about the oak. The faerie said I should go there to... talk to the forest? It actually makes some sense, now that I think about it. The forest has always felt alive, and earlier today it seemed even aware. So maybe the forest is some kind of a living... creature? Alive and conscious in the Faerie Realm, so much so that some of it leaks into the real world?
I think about it for a while. Yes, going to the oak seems like my best option. I know where it is, unlike all the other things I might try to find, and even though I don't know what the forest wants with me or will do to me, I know the forest in my world. It has always felt protecting, not hostile, at least as long as I follow its unspoken rules that are more a feeling of what's right to do and what's not in the forest.
So I head back into the woods. The sun is almost fully up, the trees of the forest casting long shadows on our yard. It's still cold, but it's getting warmer. It's not going to get above freezing today, though. It's not that kind of a warm day. Which is good. A little above freezing is always worse than a little below freezing.
The walk isn't long. In fifteen minutes I'm nearing the oak. It's still hidden behind some trees when I first hear the voice.
"...was walking through the door?" the voice says. It's a strange voice, like rustling leaves and softly howling wind and small icicles forming on trees, and a tiny stream bubbling down a hill in the spring. It catches me so unprepared I stop on my tracks. For a second I simply try to understand what I heard. Not the content. The sound.
"Uh... yes," someone answers. That voice I've heard before. It's the faerie. I move a little closer, to peer around some trees to see the oak and the faerie.
"and she is in the in between now?" the voice says. I can't see who's talking. I suppose it must be the oak, but the voice seems to be coming from everywhere. The forest. It said we have to go see the forest.
"Yes." The faerie says. It is clearly uncomfortable, like a child being told off by a parent.
It has done something wrong?
Wait, did the forest just say she is in the in between? Are they talking about me? What between?
It sounds like the forest (Forest? Forest. It feels right.) sighs.
"you are a reckless little creature," the Forest says.
"I know, I..." the faerie begins.
"you will make this right," the Forest continues as if the faerie hadn't spoken, "you will get the child back to her world."
"I thought maybe you would be able to do that. That you would tell me what to do," the faerie seemed a little desperate now. "I know how to open doors between the Faerie and the human world, but I don't know how to get anyone but myself in and out of the In Between."
"you know we have no power in the in between. we cannot help you where we cannot go. we cannot even see her in the in between."
"Uh. Yes," the faerie seems like its about to say something more.
"but the power of the token on her is strong. we can feel it, even if only vaguely, even when she is in the in between. she is close."
Token?
The faerie darts a look around and looks like it's about to leave, but then stops itself.
"One more thing," the faerie doesn't seem like it wants to say anything more, but is talking anyway. An irritated, waiting silence fills the air, "The girl was in the forest this morning apparently looking for a way to get some relative of hers out of Faerie. He got stuck here some time ago..."
"very well," the Forest cuts the faerie off mid-sentence, "you are allowed, this once, to bring a mortal into the faerie, if it is her will to look for her relative, but remember, there is no guarantee she will ever return to her own world."
There are too many emotions and thoughts going through me to make sense of what it all is. The faerie bows its head and is about to leave.
"and remember," the faerie turns back to face the old oak, "until she is back home, she is your responsibility."
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The topic for tomorrow is Path.
~matu
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