The Grand Oak falls silent, and the faerie suddenly turns around and flies toward me. My first thought is to keep hiding to see what happens next, but it's too late: it almost bumps into me. Well, maybe this is for the better: now I can ask it my questions and get some straight answers.
"What am I between of?" I ask to start from somewhere.
I want to hear and understand it all. And it seems that the faerie wants to tell me. It seems sincere and sorry and that it wants to make it up to me. It explains the realms and what is In Between, and although it is all super weird, it still makes kind of sense. At least all the weirdness that I have seen today fits with its explanation.
The weirdest thing of all is that two things can be at the very same spot at the same time without having any influence on each other. When it pushes its arm through a bird in the other realm, I cannot believe my eyes. Is the world finally gone grazy? But how else could it be? Otherwise we would constantly bump into objects in the other realm. This is just mindboggling.
But then I remember that I am no longer in either realm and can bump into everything but cannot do anything. My only hope now is this strange faerie that I shouldn't trust; and it turns out that it has no idea how it could help me. The painful feeling of loneliness that overwhelmed me at my home door starts to creep back. I am the only creature in the In Between, with no way out...
"Hello, my name is Lin," it suddenly says.
I am so surprised that I forget about everything. And then I realise... I am not alone, as long as he stays with me. The thought makes me feel a lot better. He promises to teach me to Manifest myself. I guess that means how to get out of here.
Although I know that he does not know how to teach me, it means a world to me that he is determined to do it together with me.
Lin and Charlie. He and I. Together. That is the start, and now I have a mission to focus on.
~ x ~
The Forest looks new in the bright winter sun. The trees look the same as always, as they have looked for a thousand years. But it is full of chillshrooms and big-eyed squirrels and purple mistletoe growing from tree branches, and even a few faeries -- besides Lin, of course. I can also see many tracks on the snow, some made by mysterious differently-sized feet. I can't imagine what kind of creature could make such marks.
Seeing into the Faerie Realm makes the world look like a very different place.
We walk toward the sea, as there is a faerie village near the shore, beside a high limestone cliff. I sometimes climb on the top of the cliff because there is a wonderful view to the see. It is steep and fairly dangerous, so I haven't told anyone that I have done that. I have thought that I have been there in peace and complete solidute, without a clue that a village full of faeries was just beside me.
"Be carfeul of the seagulls," Lin says as we approach the shore.
"Why, do you have dangerous seagulls in your Realm?"
"No, I mean regular seagulls, from the Human Realm. They often fly pretty low and they have sharp beaks."
"And...?"
"When you are In Between, you can't influence things. That means that if a seagull hits you, you cannot stop it and it hits you like a horsewagon. Fortunately you can see them, so make sure that you duck in time."
"Ah, okay. " We fall silent for a while.
"So, you live in this village?" I ask finally.
"Er, no. I don't live in the village. I live in the forest."
"And why so, if faeries do have villages?"
"It's hard to explain. I told you that I am not like other faeries, and... well, it's complicated. I rarely come here. I am not wanted."
"Oh, you must be lonely," I say. Lin turns to look at me, and I see him smile sadly. Like he is sad because what I say is true, and a smile because someone actually understood how he feels?
After a second, he pushes whatever thought he had in his mind aside, and points toward the village.
"We are almost there. Now we want to find Filandis. We're gonna need an expert in magic potions."
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The next topic is Copper.
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