I wave a hand at Morning Star, to hush her, as I duck down behind a branch.
"Really, I can't see so well, there's trees in the way!"
"Shh, she might hear you!" I hiss. She scoffs.
"Humans can't hear anything, least of all stars, silly!"
I pause.
"Yeah, okay, but still!" I peer around the branch and watch her as she walks up the hill. "Besides, she's not doing anything, she's just walking."
"Looks to be in an awful hurry, though."
"Can you see her or can't you?"
She winks playfully. I roll my eyes, a grand display so that I know she sees, and then hop after the human.
She gets halfway up the hill before she starts shouting.
"Hello?" she says. "I'm looking for a faerie."
My heart does a little somersault in my chest.
"Oh, my," Star says, but I don't pay her any mind. She's looking for me. Me. No one has looked for me since... forever. This is amazing! Maybe she'll--
A flash of green and a shock wave erupts from her, knocking me back. Well, the Token just got activated, I think, staring up at the night sky. Star looks down on me.
"You okay?" she asks, sounding actually concerned, which is nice.
"I'm fine," I assure her and sit promptly back up, to look at the girl again. Charlie, that was her name. I look at Charlie.
She looks around. Seems like she felt it too, even if she probably doesn't know what it was she felt. She probably feels different now, she should be more "awake", whatever that means in practice. She does seem a bit more uneasy, if nothing else.
"Hello?" she tries again as she resumes walking. She doesn't stop calling. I fly after her, hidden in the trees, but don't answer. The Forest doesn't answer either. I'm not sure she could hear -- or understand -- if the Forest did answer, but they don't, so it's no matter.
She's almost at the top when she stops again. She stares into the forest, which is weird because there isn't anything there, except the Forest itself and--
Oh.
Oh, there is something there. A Door. An old, old, old Door, last used centuries ago, now covered in spirit vines. Also shut. Firmly shut. And she can still see it. I don't know how well, but she clearly knows there's something there, she's staring right at it... Why on earth has the Forest made her see closed Doors? Why on earth has the Forest done anything?
This is totally my fault. Ohh, I hope this won't come back to bite me in the butt.
"What is she doing, why did you stop?" Star asks, trying to look down past the trees. "And this time I really can't see, I'm not just goofing around."
"She can see a closed Door!" I yell in a hushed tone. She's probably able to hear me now, though it should only be the sound and not the words.
"Ooh, that's exciting!"
"Also really weird, I don't know what's happening!" I pause. "Well, I know she was Marked by the Forest, but I don't know why."
"She has a Token?"
"Yeah, a dark green one. Translucent."
"Mm, yes, the Token of an Older Forest. Interesting... She's getting away, by the way."
I whip around and sure enough, Charlie has continued to walk up the hill. I send a quick glare Star's way and then rush after the girl.
She stops in front of the remainder of the door that I made. It wasn't properly Established, so it has faded somewhat in the past days, but the potential is still there. It would be much less of a strain to create it this time. Or to recreate it, I suppose. I wonder if she wants me to open it again?
She starts talking again. She says she's looking for whomever opened the door -- me -- and is looking for something. Her... unkle? I look up at Star.
"It's a type of relative," she explains. I nod. I'm glad she's here, she knows a lot of terms Humans use, while I... don't. "The brother of one of her parents'. Probably the one from her house that got stuck in the Faerie Realm."
"And she's looking for him now? How long has it been?"
"Thirty years, I'd say."
"Oh, well, that's not long at all!"
"It is for a human."
I frown. Human lives are so short.
"Time works different in the Realms, though," I point out. "He's probably not much older than her at this point."
"True," she says. "But for them, it's been really long."
"I just want to talk," Charlie says. I really want to talk to her as well, but... I'm not sure I should. It's forbidden, it's one of the only rules I've been given, and there's a good reason for it. There must be a good reason for it.
I just wish I knew what that reason was...
She sighs, looks around once more. I hesitate.
"What are you going to do?" Star asks. It's almost sunrise, she has to leave soon.
"I... I don't know," I say. What should I do? What should I do? "I don't know!"
She sighs again. Starts moving. Steps through the Door.
I panic.
~x~
I didn't mean for it to end up like this.
Although, to be fair, I didn't mean for anything. It was pure instinct. She collapsed immediately.
"What did you do??" Star shouts from up above.
"I don't know! I-- I tried to open the door!"
"While she was halfway through??"
"I wasn't thinking, okay! I just... I didn't want her to leave!" I pause, fidgeting in a tree, look up at Star. "What do we do?"
"Really, the question is what are you going to do," she says and I turn East, where the first Rays of the Sun are already shining above the horizon. Oh, no... "I have to go real soon."
"I... okay. Well, what should I do?"
"First, you calm down." I take a deep breath and nod. "Then you go check if she's still alive. And then you take her to the Forest."
I whip eyes to look at Star. Her light is already fading. "But what if she's dead?"
"You still take her to the Forest. They'll know what to do either way." I nod again. Star sighs, glances at the Sunrise. "I have to go now. Take her to the Forest! She was Marked, it's going to be fine! Probably."
I watch her close her eyes and fade out completely.
"Yeah... probably..."
I fly over to Charlie's form, still laying motionless in the middle of the path. I try to look her over the best I can, while still maintaining a good distance. She is breathing, white puffs of air appearing in front of her mouth in a slow, but steady, rhythm. So that's good, at least. The next question is, will she wake up?
Ohh, I'll have to get closer, won't I?
Carefully, I inch my way towards her and Manifest myself in her realm, so that I can touch her. Her nose is cold. Of course, that is only relative to my temperature, and I don't know how warm humans usually are, this being the first one I've ever touched so--
I'm touching a human. Oh wow.
I squeeze the tip of her nose. It's soft and squishes under my hands, but keeps its form, like a mushroom. I poke at her lips. They're moist and softer than the nose, but the skin is cracked in a few places. I press a hand against her eyelid. She twitches.
Shit.
A soft groan escapes her and her eyes squeeze more shut. I scramble to get away from her face and fly backwards, submerging myself in the wisp, the semi-corporeal plane in the middle of the Realm of the Humans and of the Faeries. The In Between.
She's Marked, so she should be able to sense me even in the In Between, I think, as she pushes herself up from the ground and rubs her eye with her sock-clad hand. She can sense me, but can't see me, so that should be enough--
"Ahhh!" she shouts and clambers backwards.
I blink, stare at her. She stares back.
"Uh..." I say. She squints, leans in a bit.
"You're... a faerie, right?" she asks. This is... weird.
"You can see me?" I ask. I don't know why I ask her, it's not like she can understand--
"Yeah, I can see you?" she says and oh my stars, she can understand me as well??? She glances to the side as I stare, mouth agape. "Was... was I not supposed to? Did you want to stay hidden?"
"I-- no, it's-- I don't... uhhhhhh..."
I have no idea what's happening but something is weird, something is wrong, why can the girl see me when she's not supposed to, how can she possibly see me when I'm in...
Oh no.
"Are you the one who opened the Door?" she asks.
I'm in the In Between...
"Yes," I say.
...but so is she.
_____________________________________________________________
Look at me, getting stuff done early! Although I did write half of this yesterday, so that helped lol
Anyway, next topic is "Bear"
Toodles!
Pie out.
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