The Trouble with Time, Part 2.4 - Audience

Kevin doesn't have time to stop her, before Alice yanks the door open. The cold rushes in, hitting them like a brick wall.

"Close the door!" he shouts and she slams it back shut. They all shiver for a moment, before heat returns to the small room.

"Why is it so cold?" Alice exclaims, spinning around and looking accusingly at him.

"It's the middle of the winter??" he exclaims back. "Did you already forget?"

"I thought it worked different in the Wilds! Why the hell didn't we take our coats then? We're going to freeze!"

"What you're 'going to' is stick out like a sore thumb if you waltz out there in a down jacket!"

"Why are we yelling!?" groans Sam, who has leaned back against the wall and is holding their head in their hands. The other two mutter quiet apologies, but they wave their hand to dismiss them. "So what is the plan vis-à-vis warm clothes, Kev?"

"There should be some stashed here," he says and walks, still a bit wobbly, over to a very dusty chest tucked into an even dustier corner.

"I don't know why you were nodding like you were ready to go if we still needed to get clothes..." Alice grumbles. Kevin gives her a look but doesn't comment. Instead he props open the chest and starts to dig around.

"These are old, like really old fashion," he says as he pulls out one garment after another. Most of them are too light for the weather, but he knows there's some winter appropriate clothes too. "But I guess it'll pass as vintage."

"Why do you have a chest full of really old clothes in a house in the Fey Wilds?" Sam asks as the two walk over. Alice bends down and picks up a light green, short sleeved tunic.

"This is..." Kevin starts, but then pauses. He considers how to explain. "This was the place I stayed at when I wanted to visit the Seasonal Fairs. And these are some of the clothes I'd wear to... you know, blend in. Which is exactly what we want to do now."

"Didn't you say that door hadn't been used for like 70 years?" Alice asks. Kevin nods. They stare at eachother for a moment. "Dude," she says. "How old are you?"

"Well now, didn't you know it's rude to ask a Lady's age," he says, mock offended. "Or a Lord's, in my case... Here," he chucks a navy blue coat at her face, "try this on."

~x~

After twenty minutes or so, they manage to find fitting clothes for all three of them. Alice was the easiest, the coat Kevin threw her fits nicely, even if the sleeves are a bit long. She also managed to find herself a long scarf, knitted loosely from white wool. He didn't need to weigh his options much either, pulling on the light gray peacoat he used to wear often as soon as he found it. But Sam turned out to be quite the problem, all the coats and jackets made for Kevin too big for their small frame. Eventually they found a cloak, which coupled with a sweater would keep them plenty warm.

"Right then, everybody ready for real this time?" Alice asks, readjusting her scarf. The others nod and she opens the door once again. The cold air rushes inside but clad in their brand new winterwear, they push through and out of the house.

It is a beautiful day. There's a thick, fresh blanket of snow covering the ground and the trees around, and it glistens in the almost harsh sunlight. The house -- which is more of a cottage than a house -- stands alone in a small forest clearing. There is a gap in the trees where the road to-and-fro from the house leads. There are no tracks anywhere, except those of an occasional rabbit or other such animal.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Sam asks, even though they're looking around in wonder. "The snow I mean. And the tracks we'll leave?"

"Luckily no," says Kevin and starts to lead the group down the snow-covered road. "Assuming the wards are still in place, which they should be. No one who doesn't know the house is here should be able to find it."

"That's a lot of 'shoulds'," Alice says. "How much can you trust those wards?"

"Well considering I created them..." he says but trails off. "If you'll feel better, I can make our footsteps look like animal tracks."

He digs through his backpack for a moment, before pulling out a small bag. He pours some dry leaves, twigs and small bone pieces from it onto his palm. He mutters an incantation and squeezes his hand into a tight fist, crushing the ingredients. He reopens his hand and blows the dust into the air, where it swirls and sparkles for a moment, before falling gently to the ground. And as the three of them look down, the tracks that were previously their foot prints, are now the prints of deers.

"Happy?" he asks and Alice gives him a small smile. "Good, let's get a move on. We'll want to get to Tirduchrainn before nightfall."

They continue down the road, the snow crunching beneath their shoes. All around them are the soft noises of the forest, wind gushing in the trees and the chirping of birds. Kevin glances up at the sky, at the sun denoting the approach of midday. He goes to pull up his sleeve to check a watch, before remembering he doesn't have one on his wrist for this place. Instead he pulls out the pocket watch. He spent a long time last night searching for this, so if it turns out it's not keeping time anymore... He flips the cover open and lets out a small sigh. The clock ticks steadily forward, and based on the sun it doesn't seem to be slow.

"So what time does 'nightfall' come in the Fey Wilds anyway?" asks Alice. She's scooped up a handful of snow from the ground and is forming it into a ball in her hands. "I mean, it's winter, does that mean it'll be really soon?"

"Yes and no," says Kevin, tucking the watch back into his coat pocket. "Yes, the sun will set soon, but then it'll be twilight for longer than it is on Earth. And there will still be a lot of people and lights around until the evening."

"And by 'people' you mean fae," Sam says.

"Obviously," he says. "Humans aren't the only 'people' you know."

"Just wanted to make sure," they say. They look to be quite deep in thought, and he can sense a bit of stress eminating from them. Well, there's always a bit but now there seems to be more than usual. That's... probably not good.

"How likely are we to meet other humans?" Alice asks, bringing his attention back to the moment.

"Chances are practically zero," he says and she hums, disappointed. "There are some, as I understand, living in the capital under the protection of one fae or another, but generally speaking... The Wilds aren't a good place for humans to be." He pauses. "As you know."

Alice hums again. There is a moment of increasingly tense silence.

A gentle melody starts playing from Alice's bag. She almost jumps at the sound and starts to frantically big through it. She pulls out the conch shell.

"Vanessa," she breathes into it, her voice soft as a feather and just as light.

"Sorry I had to hang up on you earlier," echoes Vanessa's voice from the shell. "Tasiel, um, she's a lady-in-waiting they assigned to me... She came to check up on me, because apparently we're going on a trip soon."

"Where are you, Vanessa?" Alice says. "Tell me, we'll come pick you up right now."

Vanessa laughs, the sound tinged with melancholy. "I can't tell you," she says. "That would be cheating. You need to find me."

"That's bullshit," Alice grits through her teeth. "Also you're going on a trip? How am I supposed to find you, if they keep moving you!?"

Vanessa is quiet for a moment. "I'll tell you this much," she says finally. "I'm currently in the capital, and the trip is somewhere really close by. I think it's only for a day, there's some special--" She cuts herself off. There's noises in the background, almost like talking but too far away to tell.

"I need to go," she whispers. "I'm sorry, I might not be able to anwser often, since-- Yes, Tasi, I'll be right with you!" The last part said to another direction. "I'm sorry. I'll see you soon, I know it."

Then, silence.

~x~

"At least we know we're on the right track," says Kevin. Determination settled into Alice as the call with Vanessa ended and she's been marching quiet and focused since then, stopping only at crossroads to wait for him to point the right direction. "Since she said she's kept in Tirduchrainn."

"Currently," says Alice. "Which is why we need to get there as quickly as possible."

"And we will," he assures her.

"What's the plan then?" Sam, ever the voice of reason, asks. "We get to the city and then what? How do we locate her?"

"I..." Alice starts and then stops. Her face twists into a grimace. "I'll figure it out once we get there."

"Well, like I said, when dealing with fae, it's important to be flexible," Kevin says with a nod.

"I... don't remember you saying that," she says, squinting at him.

"I didn't? Huh," he says, thinking back to the earlier morning. "I guess I just thought about it. It's still true though." He points a finger at her. "The biggest strength and the biggest downfall of fae is their need to be literal and methodical. And I do not use the word 'need' lightly here. For fae, their words are their everything."

"Hah, kinda like you," Sam says. Alice snorts, tries to hide it behind her hand. She fails. Sam grins widely and the two share a laugh.

He stares at them, deadpan. "Are you done?" he asks as their giggles die down. "Thanks for that."

"Sorry, Kev," Sam says, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "But you can be a bit... pedantic about the wording of things."

"Noted," he says. Then he tenses.

Off in the distance he can see someone walking towards them. Two someones.

"It's go time," he says and the other two tense as well. "Just act normal. We're just walking down a road, they have no reason to suspect anything."

As the figures approach they turn out to be just two regular elves. They're chatting together happily as they walk and pay no attention to anything else. In fact Kevin isn't even certain they notice other people are on the road. He lets out a long breath when they finally pass by.

"Looks like operation blend in is succesful," he says. "At least for now."

"It's about to be put to a bigger test though," says Sam and points ahead. "There's a lot more people there."

He blinks, surprised. That's weird, there didn't use to be people around these parts. But as Sam says, they're steadily approaching a junction with quite a bit of traffic. Not only pedestrians, but carts and riders too.

"What the..." he starts, but is interrupted by a loud whistling behind him.

"Side of the road, old man!" someone shouts and then Alice is tugging on his arm and pulling him to the shoulder. A wagon pulled by two oxen rumbles past them, inside sitting a whole family of wood elves. A small child peeks over the side and waves at them. She waves back, but he's too stunned to do anything.

"What is going on?" he mutters aloud.

"I thought you said there isn't supposed to be many people here!" Alice hisses.

"There isn't! This is the farm lands, there's nothing here, except-- oh no."

"Well that's not good," says Sam as Kevin sprints off. "Kevin!"

Kevin runs. He runs past the wagon that passed them, he weaved throgh the crowd milling about the intersection. He runs down the road and up the hill. There he stops and catches his breath. He looks down into the glade.

Alice catches up to him soon, barely out of breath, and Sam a moment after, panting heavily.

"What was that about?" Alice asks.

"Don't like running in snow," Sam wheezes.

Kevin stares down into the glade.

"I have made an error in my judgement," he says. "This is the worst time we could be here."

In front of them stretches out a large open area filled with stalls, little popup shops, stages, decorations. Everywhere they look there's people. Elves and faeries and banshees and all kinds of fair folk walking about, chattering and laughing, eating, drinking, watching.

"I'm afraid there's going to be a bit of an audience wherever we go," Kevin says through a thick dry lump. "For you see... it's almost Winter Solstice."

_____________________________________________________

Done and done. I honestly wanter to write a bit more about the Seasonal Fairs, but as it is I don't really have the time or the energy atm. And this is a great place to stop I think. I guess this won't be much of a stealth mission after all lmao

The next topic is... "Tart"? Was that it? I gave it to you already, you know what it is. Toodles!

Pie out.