September tale 2021

Hello! If you're new here, here's how this works: in the beginning of the month, I ask a question. I get answers from people, hopefully. I take one of those answers and write a short story based on it, then put it out on the last day of the month. Sometimes they're actually pretty good, and sometimes they're a real mess. But at least every time I put some words on paper. Screen. Whatever.

Here you can find that story.

Which, for the record, I literally wrote in less than three hours on the last day. That means that while it's not very good, I'm kind of impressed with myself. Not for my procrastination, but for the fact that I managed to write 2600 almost decent words and then cut a hundred words off all within three hours.

I also read it into an audio format, if audiobooks are more your thing than actual written words.

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If September was a mythical creature, which mythical creature would it be and why?

Menninkäinen, because they live in a damp and mossy and dim forest, exactly like forests are in September (answer from Maria)

The nights were longer than the days, finally. It had been a long summer of hiding from the blinding light and the paralysing heat in the dim, almost cool of her home. The forest smelled like fall, like rain and earth and decaying leaves. It was perfect. Havu was unusually happy as she padded along the tiny path on her way to the best mushroom patch of the forest. She hoped the snails hadn’t gotten to all of them yet. She would make a great soup for herself if there were enough left.

It was still almost too bright outside. She had left her home just as the Sun finally stopped lighting the very top of the canopy. From somewhere high and clear it would probably still be possible to see the edge of the Sun before it finally disappeared behind the horizon. Usually she wouldn’t go out this early, but she had a busy night ahead, and she wanted to get a start on that as soon as her eyes could take it outside.

***

The final Ray lingered. She knew she shouldn’t. She would start to fade if she stayed much longer. Tuike had only found the patch of forest today. She could go anywhere, and usually she hopped around, but today she had stayed until her siblings had started to make their way elsewhere. And even then she couldn’t make herself leave. There was something comforting here, in the way the ancient trees seemed more solid that a lot of other places in the world, in the way the moss and lichen clung to everything there was, in the way the leaves were turning from their summer green into yellow and red and orange, shining almost as brightly as she and her siblings.

Tuike sighed. She had to go. She hopped up some roots and took flight, her wings fluttering behind her. She turned to give the forest one last look. She would be back, but the nights were getting long in this part of the world, and she was already impatient with waiting for the next time the Rays would flood the forest.

That’s when she saw it. A creature, making its way along the dim forest floor. She had never seen anything like it. And then it turned. No. Not it. She. She turned to look at the Ray, and their eyes met for just a moment. They looked at each other, both of their eyes wide with surprise. And then she disappeared from sight as Tuike slipped into the open air above the canopy. Tuike blinked, and stared at the leaves below her for a heartbeat longer. Then she flapped her wings and rose towards home to rest for a bit before hopping on to somewhere new.

***

Havu wasn’t sure what had just happened. She couldn't see. She blinked, and her vision flashed white. She had looked up, and there, jumping off a huge tree root, had been the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, flickering softly with an internal light that was too much for her poor eyes to bear.

She simply stood in wonder for a while, her vision slowly returning. She looked up, but there was no one there anymore. Of course there wasn’t. She would have seen the light well before she looked. But a part of her had hoped anyway. She stayed a little longer, then continued on her way.

But she couldn’t forget it. All night she found her thoughts circling back to the bright creature in her forest. She kept wondering what the creature was. Who she was. Why she was there. Why she’d never seen anyone like her before. Havu had lived in the forest her entire life, and she thought she knew everyone there. 

***

Tuike came back. She’d known already when she left that she would, but she wasn’t sure why. She rarely spent days in the same place twice; there were so many places in the world to spend them at. But something about this place kept tugging at her, as it had the day before, strongly enough that she was there again. There was something about this place that just felt like a good place to be.

And, if she was honest, she hoped to see the creature she’d seen right before she left last time. She’d been to so many places in the world, seen so many things, animals, people, but none of them had been quite like her. And that alone was enough to awaken fascination in Tuike. It was something unexpected, something new in a world she thought she knew inside and out.

But Tuike couldn’t find her. She spent the day bouncing around in the forest. To anyone watching, it would have seemed like a normal day. She played with her siblings, watched some squirrels prepare for winter and followed a huge bear on her way as she roamed the forest eating every berry that hadn’t already been eaten by someone else. But on the inside she was searching, every brightly colored leaf spinning in the wind, every bird taking flight caught her attention. A dozen times Tuike thought she caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of her eye, but every time it was a mouse or a snail or the wind blowing a dry leaf along the ground.

As the Sun began to set, a weight settled in her stomach. Tuike hadn’t managed to find her. She was unreasonably disappointed, for a reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

***

Havu was awake far too early. The Sun hadn’t even set yet, and she was already preparing to go out. And then, suddenly, she was ready to go, but it was still too bright out. So instead she paced nervously back and forth in her burrow.
After an eternity the twilight had settled enough so that she could go. She scrambled out, almost tripping over her feet, and hurried along the path. She didn’t run. That would be ridiculous. She made her way along the same route she had yesterday. To the same place. The place where she’d seen the angel. Because that’s what Havu had decided she must be. No one else would be that beautiful. She didn’t think angels actually existed, but the fairy mother always told stories about them. It didn’t make sense for them to exist, but neither did it make sense for her to exist, so that seemed to fit.

Havu slowed as she came to the bend in the path where she had seen the angel yesterday. There was no one there. She started to feel stupid. Why would the angel be here again, at the same time of day? Angels could be anywhere, or at least Havu thought they did, and there was nothing special about her forest. She sighed.

There came a soft, surprised sound from behind her. Havu spun around, and there she was. The angel that had been there yesterday.

They stared at each other for a moment, until her eyes started to water from the brightness. Then a shy smile appeared on the angel’s face.

“Who are you?” she asked Havu. Her voice matched how she looked, like the twinkle of stars.

“I… I’m Havu,” she stammered. It took a few heartbeats of gathering her wits before she continued. “Are you an angel?”

The angel laughed, and it was the sound of tiny bells.

“No, no I’m not,” she told Havu. “I’m a Ray. We come here every day to bring light. My name is Tuike.”

“Oh,” Havu didn’t know if she was disappointed or surprised. “That’s why I’ve never seen you before. I can’t be out here when it’s day. It’s far, far too bright for me.”

The Ray thought for a moment, then nodded. The next second her face slid into a look of concern.

“I’m not too bright for you, am I?”

Havu considered lying, then decided against it.

“You are,” she admitted. “But that’s ok. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as you. My eyes hurt some when I look at you, but it’s worth it.”

Tuike nodded again, some but not all of her worry gone. Then she looked up, and her brow furrowed again.

“I have to go,” she said, turning back to Havu. “I’m sorry. I’ll be back tomorrow?”

And with that, she was gone, and Havu was left blinking in the dim forest, waiting for her vision to return.

***

She was back tomorrow. But now Tuike knew she shouldn’t expect to find Havu until it was getting dark, she wouldn’t be out here. As the Sun went down, she made her way through the ancient, now-familiar trees to the place where they had already met twice, hoping Havu would come find her again.

She did.

“I thought I knew the world well,” she admitted to Havu. “I never realised there was a whole other world that came out at night, in the dark, when I wasn’t there.”

“There is. It’s beautiful,” Havu smiled. “Not as beautiful as you, but beautiful nonetheless.”

“I wish I could see it,” she said.

“But you can! Just stay here the night, and I will show you everything.”

“I can’t,” she said. “We can’t live in the dark.”

“It’s never dark when you’re here,” Havu tried to be encouraging. Tuike shook her head.

“I need to be with my siblings. I know you think I’m bright, but I alone am not enough. If a light is too small it will go out, unable to keep itself going unless it is with others equally bright.”

***

“Tell me about the night,” Tuike asked.

Havu thought about it. What to tell. There was so much there, and she loved every bit of it.

“It’s calm, and it’s quiet. There’s a lot more animals and everything around during the day, moving around and making noise. I’ve never even seen how bad it gets. I only see the twilight of it, but I can sometimes hear all the birds chirping away during the days. In the night it’s just me. And the owls and some others who don’t make much noise. It’s peaceful. And it’s cool. And there’s room to be yourself.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It’s not. I like being by myself.”

***

“You said you come with your siblings to bring the light,” Havu said. “How many siblings do you have?”

Tuike shrugged.

“Oh. I don’t know. A lot.”

“That sounds… crowded. Stifling? Being surrounded by so many, all the time.”

“It’s not,” she said, then realised that was exactly what Havu had said about being lonely in the night the other evening, and smiled. “It’s a crowd, sure, but I like them, and they like me. And it’s never boring when you have people around you all the time.”

Havu let out a little laugh. It was like cool water in a tiny forest stream. It made Tuike happy.

“I’ll believe it’s not.”

Tuike closed her eyes for a moment. She was feeling faint. She looked up at the sky. She should have already left, if she knew what was good for her. She stood and dusted off her skirt, even though there was nothing there.

“I have to go,” she said. The look on Havu’s face immediately changed. Then she looked at her, closer than she had all night.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. But I need to go. I’ll see you again tomorrow, okay?”

Tuike pushed off the ground. She wasn’t ok. She shouldn’t have lied. The late nights were taking a toll on her. Too much time in too dim a light. She shouldn’t keep doing this. It would end badly. She knew it would. 

***

Havu’s heart soared again at the sight of Tuike, sitting on the root that had become their spot. As she hurried over she realised looking at Tuike didn’t hurt as much as it had in the beginning. Havu’s eyes were getting used to her brightness.
Havu smiled as she came to a stop, but as Tuike turned to look at her, her eyes were full of sadness.

“I can’t come back anymore,” was the first thing Tuike said. For a few heartbeats

Havu’s mind was simply blank.

“What?”

“I can’t keep staying this late. I’ve already begun to fade.”

The way Tuike said it made Havu scared.

“Fade?”

“I told you. I can’t stay away from my siblings for too long. My light is too small to survive without their brightness around me.”

Havu had never wanted to be bright. Bright had never been a good thing to be. Now she wished for nothing more than to be able to have a light of her own to add to the Ray’s, so together they could keep each other alive and happy.

“Please don’t go,” Havu gently took her hand. It was warm, but not hot, like she had expected. It made her skin tingle where she was touching it. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but one that filled her with happiness that settled comfortably in the bottom of her stomach.

“I have to,” Tuike wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I never should have stayed this late. One evening doesn’t make much of a difference, that’s easy to recover from, but I can’t keep doing this. It’s slowly killing me.”

Tuike pulled her hand away, pulled something out and placed it in Havu’s hands, closing them around whatever it was.

“I have to go. But I want you to have this. It will shine only a little longer, and even the faint glow will fade by the end of the night, but even after it’s faded it will remain, and maybe you will remember me by it.”

And with that the Ray pushed off the ground, her wings taking her higher and higher. Havu squeezed her hand closed tight around the gift.

“I will never forget you,” Havu whispered after her as she disappeared through the canopy.

***

Every night Havu went and checked if her letter was still in the space between the root and the rock. There had been so much she had wanted to say, but there hadn’t been enough space. And besides, she didn’t even know if Tuike ever came to this area anymore. She could go anywhere she wanted, after all. There was no reason she would come here specifically.

But then, one night, two weeks after she had left it, it was gone and replaced by a letter from Tuike. Havu smiled, feeling alive for the first time since the Ray had left, as she unfolded it and began to read.