As the white light subsides, Sweiza finds herself in familiar territory. The room, the bed, the vanity; she is standing in her room with the window behind her. She raises her hands up and lets out a yawn.
“I’m finally home!” She is finally home, after nearly two miserable weeks. No Strife, no pirates, no sassy Brynhilde, no Sprite…
She walks forward towards the small table that his matchbox normally sits on. She remembers she doesn’t have her rucksack. Brynhilde was last on Sentinel Island at the mercy of Salmira’s desires; Strife was also last seen on the Sterling Blue. Sweiza can only assume the former has some perilous mission to accomplish (like herself, if not a bit of an exaggeration), and perhaps the latter perished with the Sterling Blue being sunk. Sweiza lets out a shudder at the thought. However, her thoughts quickly coalesce back to the present. Her bed. She looks up at her vanity and notes her armor; it quickly disappears at will. Sweiza turns around and lets herself fall on the bed - a brief smile of relief on her face. She deal with what is going on in her life momentarily; for now she feels she deserves some sleep.
—
“What is it you desire?”
Sweiza’s focus is on the desert and rock formations in the distance. She looks down and sees the large rock formation she sits on; it juts out of the ground at a straight angle; some three hundred feet by her reckoning. She looks around. She realizes where she is.
“Demi, do you know of Salmira?”
“I do. She is like myself, but of a different nature and then some. She is part of the reason I exist.”
“What do you mean? Wha, wait~!”
Sweiza curses her luck as everything around her dims.
—
Sweiza comes to and her first instinct is to stretch her arms and legs; one of her legs straddles the side of the bed, while both of her arms rub up against the headboard. Her eyes finally open. Her peace of mind is broken abrubtly as she notices Salmira standing on the left side of her bed.
“Do not take my generosity for granted young one.”
Sweiza quickly scrambles out of the bed and to her feet. She doesn’t get chance to ask much other than a confused, “What do you mean?”
As if to repeat her previous encounter with Demi, everything around her turns white as her room fades.
“Wait! I’m not ready!”
—
As the white light fades and the landscape coalesces into shape and color, Sweiza finds herself standing facing a clearing. There is a village of sorts in front of her. It is, however, the houses and huts are smaller than she would expect normally. The village itself isn’t particularly large, some three hundred feet (by her reckoning) inside the clearing of pine trees and various rock formations. Due to the small houses, she assumes that whatever lives here is in fact of a smaller stature. She steps forward, but is startled by a twig snapping behind her. She turns around and lets out a glare. There is bright white light that momentarily pops in front of her and she hears a pop in her right ear.
“Salmira! Stop doing that!”
Salmira simply waves her right hand, it drops and her left hand cradles her right shoulder. Her left hand too drops; she then focuses on the village behind Sweiza and motions with her right hand the same.
“Do you recognize this area?”
Sweiza looks around again, and notes some of the trees in the area are crystaline and a crystaline white with varying hues of blue, violet and pink. Still there are other petrified trees that appear to have been chopped down. What is living is pine trees and varying types of oak and maple trees.
“I’ve heard of this area. Is it Stardew Valley?”
“In reference to your time, it would be called that. However, in this time frame it is known simply as Sprite Valley. In relation to both, it is still considered forbidden. Do you know why?” At this point Salmira is clucking her right arm with her left hand.
Sweiza’s eyes shift up at the sky as she thinks thoughtfully. Her mother and father allowed Sprite to live with her; but when it came time to investigate his homeland, she was quickly rebuked. Supposedly only death lurked in the area; and supposedly it was the reason why Sprite numbers had dwindled. Sweiza had always figured it was the dragon on Mount Surt that was responsible, or something similar.
“The dragon, or something similar?” Sweiza comes up with her answer. Salmira simply shakes her head.
“Did you not stop to consider that if that was the case, she wouldn’t have taken you to Mount Surt?” Salmira’s hands are folded in front of her hips at this point.
“I just don’t know.” Sweiza having learned her lesson from before, doesn’t argue with Salmira. Salmira’s eyes close and she lets out a brief smile.
“As you know, the ‘guardian’ of your village is Lady Strife. She is the one that made that rule, and it exists for good reason. In this time frame, Odin has explicitly forbidden anyone to travel in this area and the transportation of any mystical beasts from this area; anything related to faerie in particular, and especially Sprite. You do know why?” Salmira maintains her current standing pose and calm demeanor.
“Because they are considered pests or unpredictable?” Sweiza looks up momentarily as she things about it again.
“Correct. Those crystaline trees and formations that you see, are the work of the Sprite. They secret that crystaline substance as a byproduct of anything they eat. I’m sure you’ve noticed the same from your Sprite friend. What did you call him? Sir Dewey?”
“Sir Dewey Herschel. I’ve seen him do it a few times. It always looks like a light that shines from his hands and then it hardens to whatever he was focusing on or touching at the time. Mama and Papa were not amused the first time it happened with the plates and cutlery, they…”
Sweiza stops and winces expecting a pop in her ears. Instead her eyes slowly open to see Salmira standing next to her and facing the Sprite Village.
“Sprites will consume anything if hungry enough, including the very substance they secret. Not that it is good for them, but that would also explain the petrified trees - they’ve been eating them.”
Sweiza grimaces at the thought of eating wood. She remembers Sprite doesn’t particularly like anything vegetable related, especially when it is tasteless, bland or something like plant root.
“What wipes them out?” She asks it curiously, facing Salmira.
“For the very reason that they are pests in Valhalla, is the reason they are forbidden creatures in this time frame… by decree of Odin himself. It is also by Odin’s decree that the Sprite be wiped out. They pose a threat to Gungir Tower and the materials being used to build it. As I believe Lady Strife told you, she is the one tasked with wiping them out.” Salmira says it, staring hard into Sweiza’s eyes.
“Is? Then why am I here if this village, ‘Southerly?’ that you called it, hasn’t been destroyed by her?” She says it, again quizzically as she eyes the village and then Salmira.
Salmira points off into the sky. Sweiza follows the witch’s gaze and then her finger. She gives a heavy frown the minute she sees the Lokul moon, high in the sky.
Dismay and concern fill Sweiza’s voice, “Why did you choose to send me here of all times? You do know what is going to happen don’t you?”
Sweiza becomes frantic at the thought. Every six months. That accursed moon. Her Lokul cycle. She feels it fill her mind. That damn moon, and then that thing that sometimes afflicts her…
Salmira cradles her elbows. “Miss Serif, certain events must transpire in a certain order. In this case, this particular village must be moved to prevent extinction of the Sprite. You are tasked with convincing them to move. Lady Strife will be here in about two months. The Sprite will not just up and move due to the demands of an outsider, nor will they believe your plea; you are a Valkyrie after all - something you know they hate. They in fact, have a very low opinion of you. It will be your job to earn their trust and get them to listen to you. I am tasking you with guard duty for that reason. Good luck.”
Salmira turns away from Sweiza and fades as she walks into the distance. Sweiza’s face grimaces further into dismay. However, she snaps back to the present as she hears several voices and the familiar sound of Sprite wings beating behind her.
She turns around to greet them. She eyes the flock of them which keep there distance some thirty feet away. She recognizes the body language and the look in their eyes; but it is their chirps and clicks that give it away. They are concerned, the same way Sprite was concerned when she first met her. However, now the Sprite in group unison seem to be more frantic about the ‘invader’ at the doorway to their village. Knowing they can understand her, she bows and speaks in high speak.
“Benevolent Sprite, please listen to what I have to say.”
There is silence among them; their wings flipping and battering on occasion in bewilderment. Sweiza drops to her knees with her hands to her chest and her face to the ground.
One of them finally speaks up, “You are not welcome here.”
“Please listen!”
Another speaks up, “Speak and then leave.”
Sweiza stands, and is frantic with her arms as she leans forward, “A Valkyrie will be at this village in two months. She is going to destroy you!”
There is clicking, chirping, and murmuring amongst them; then laughter from others. This is a silly sight to them; that a Valkyrie would concern themselves with their kind.
“I’m serious!”
One of them flies up to her. It beams at her as its eyebrows shoot up in amusement, “We don’t believe you.”
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Its face turns to horror as Sweiza’s armor appears. With not knowing a better way to be serious, she clicks her greaves together and stiffens her body, “Then I will be your shield until that time. I will watch over this village…” Sweiza stops momentarily and quickly makes up a lie, “…to prove my sincerity.”
The sprite in front of her flies back to the others. Several of them zip in front of her, eyeing her intent with their own. There is more murmuring and clicks and they fly off.
“Wait!”
They don’t listen to her and leave her to her own devices. This task, in Sweiza’s mind, has just become harder. If not for the Sprite, then knowing she’ll have to deal with an unhappy Strife, and then perhaps that accursed moon as well.
Sweiza lets out an “Oh!” in disgruntled dismay and turns her back to the village as she drops into a squat. Her hands come up to her cheeks and she frowns as she looks down at the ground. This is not what she meant when she wanted to be a knight.
---
At first Sweiza simply tries standing there, then occasion a squat as before. However, the boredom, and ensuing doldrums do not take to set in. She readily attempts to pace the open entrance to the village and finds some relief. As the hours wear on, she alternates between these activities. It does not go unnoticed by the sprite. One, of varying pink hues and colors, flies up to her. Sweiza does not expect it to be a childish, but male voice. It flies up to her face and then thrusts its head towards her; it beams a childish grin and then flies off. Sweiza’s head cocks to the side in thought at it, she never remembers Sprite acting like this, he normally had a sense of urgency about things - especially food.
An idea sparks in her head on the thought of ‘food’, that might be the ticket. She quickly goes back to pacing the entranceway.
---
Some hours pass and Sweiza gets bored patrolling the entranceway. She decides to circle the perimeter of the village and then walk through various areas, inspecting the different plants, crystal like trees and Sprite homes. Of course, the Sprites stear clear of her on the opposite side of the village at all times. A few of the braver ones fly up to her, chattering about her purpose here. The response is normally the same, “Not wanted,” “Go away,” “Leave.” Having had enough of this, the next one to fly up and try it, a gold and yellow sprite, this time female, Sweiza starts clicking and chirping at it in their language. It simply jolts in surprise and flies off. Sweiza notices an immediate shift in their behavior when they find out she can speak their language. A few fly up to test out this rumor; they fly off after finding out the truth. One sprite does comment that she (Sweiza), doesn’t speak the Sprite language very good. Sweiza simply wrinkles her nose at the sprite and shoos it away.
Boredom creeps in again and Sweiza chooses something new. She makes a beeline for the center of the village and drops to a crosslegged sitting position. Her arms cradle her elbows in her lap and she closes her eyes looking straight forward. More whispers, clicks, chirps and murmurs from the Sprites at the behavior of the young woman. Some, rather, enough of their numbers, fly up to investigate the girl’s behavior. Sweiza finally pops open one of her eyes at the sprites directly in front of her and gives out a simple, “Boo!”. They dash off some distance away and then turn around giving angry clicks at her. Sweiza lets out click and chirp said in a way to mean, “Your welcome.” The sprite are not amused.
---
Sometime towards evening, Sweiza curses her luck at not having tent; for that matter, she wishes she had her rucksack still. Feeling vulnerable towards the front of the village she retreats towards a rear rock outcropping and a lower trench that is hidden from the front. Her best attempt at a pillow was to gather leaves from outside the village. The sprites as usual vacate the area she dwells. She gives it no notice and leans to her side as sleep finally overtakes her.
“What is it you desire?”
A groggy Sweiza lifts her head. She hoists herself to a sitting position and looks around at her surroundings. She is in the small clearing of the Sprite village. Everything seems to be the same, except it is overcast and only the moon of Lokul provides light towards her surroundings. She can clearly see sprites are either flying here and there, or simply sleeping on the ground.
“What is your desire?”
Sweiza quickly dusts herself off and brushes leaves out of her hair. She turns around to the voice and scowls.
“Demi, is this another one of your tricks?”
Sitting there, up on the rock outcropping, Demi simply shrugs. He simply stares at her blankly.
Sweiza’s lips purse again. This time she fights the urge to give into his trickery and tries to muster some form of conversation.
“I really could use my rucksack. Are you capable of getting it?”
“Have you tried asking Salmira?”
The world starts to darken and Sweiza feels the heavy urge to sleep overtake her.
---
Sweiza suddenly comes to. Her eyes narrow at the pink sprite sleeping on top of her stomach. She has the urge to shout “Hey!” at it, but refrains from doing so. Instead she shakes her head and looks up at the sky. The moon Lokul looms down on her. She scowls at and sticks out her tongue for good measure. Not to be outdone she uses both hands to give the middle finger at it. She really doesn’t like Lokul and will not hestate to remind the moon of this fact. Again, the thought of hating an inanimate object plagues her mind; she shakes her head and dismisses it. Instead, she looks over to her side at the rest of Southerly.
A few sprites here and there sleep in different areas - on the ground, on the roofs of huts, sometimes inside said huts. Not to be limited by day, a few sprites fly around doing nothing in particular - Sweiza can only assume they are socializing in some sort of maneuvers involving body language. Regardless of their location and intent, their glowing bodies illuminate the village much like fireflies, if not much brighter. To Sweiza, it looks like the glow of a full moon illuminating the ground, only the lights move.
Sweiza finally looks towards the rock outcropping next to her. She mouths Salmira’s name. Nothing happens. She lets it out as a whisper so as not to disurb the sprite sitting atop her stomach. Nothing happens. Sweiza looks back towards the sprite village. At least something is happening there. She looks back to the rock outcropping and resists the urge to shout Salmira’s name. She looks back up and sees Salmira standing over her. Sweiza lets out a stifled ‘eep!’. Salmira shakes her head at the girl as she sets Sweiza’s rucksack down next to her. Salmira disappears in typical fashion. Sweiza’s eyebrows shoot up and she resists the urge to chuckle about it. Instead she mouths “Thank you Salmira.”
Sleep soon overtakes her.
—
The next day a commotion from several sprites alerts the village. They speak of a ground creature that sometimes chases them. It is back. Upon investigating it, Sweiza found nothing. A few days later the same thing occured, this time closer to the village. This time Sweiza takes up an attack posture with her bow and sits for several hours before unleashing an arrow at it. It bleeds out for about half an hour as Sweiza tracks it. The Sprites are not impressed when she brings it back to the village. The sprites refuse the offering of the beast as food, so Sweiza helps herself. Cutting and dressing the beast gets their attention.
However, they are not impressed at the non-sprite that created a fire for the first time; her ‘magic’ was uninteresting to them. A few of them get curious at the ‘cooked’ scraps of meat that Sweiza eats. She makes no attempts to shoo them away. This gets the attention of other sprites; their begging doesn’t go unnoticed as she chucks several scraps of meat to them; their flying and stealing from each other simply amuses her.
Over the course of the week, the Sprites of Sprite Village become more acquainted with Sweiza and vice versa. Her normal patrols and sweeps around the village take form as she checks around different huts, keeping an eye on sprites, and otherwise checking different rock outcroppings and vantage points from the limbs of trees. Her sleep schedule becomes disjointed as she spends a few hours awake during the land of the living, and then jettisons back to sleep and wakes up after a few hours; come nightfall “the land of the dead” (as she calls it), Sweiza repeats a similar schedule. To her benefit, she has a rucksack, so she can pitch a tent, but chooses to sleep out in the open as an act of good faith for the sprites.
The ‘fire’ that they are so unimpressed by, does not keep them from experiencing its warmth, the same as Sweiza. At points she has to shoo them away to keep them from getting burned.
---
Sometime later into the second week as Sweiza is midsquat with her her bow and arrow pointed at a bird in the trees, she is interrupted by a lavender and pink mix colored sprite flies up to her. Rather than making an amused display or attempt to fly up and then hide, it hovers about a foot from her face and lets out several clicks and chirps. She doesn’t give it much attention. It then chirps and whistles at her. Her eyes dart to it once and back to the bird. It makes no attempts to show amusement or hide from her. Instead it hovers about a foot in front of her face. It lets out several clicks and chirps at her. Her eyes dart to it and then to the bird; she hurries herself to pull back the bow string and it lets out a squawk. As she is about to release, she hears a “Hey!”. The bird is startled and flies off. Sweiza lets out a sigh as she stands up. Her bow collapsed in one hand and the arrow in the other, she eyes the sprite.
“Yes?” She says it, disappointed that her prize got away. The sprite lets out several excited chirps and then whistles. One more squawk and several sprites fly up to her. They seem very excited.
The pink and lavender sprite speaks up, “We’ve been tasked by the elders to break down the crystal trees in the village. They’re starting to look unruly.”
Sweiza looks over at the crystal trees; they are starting to look thicker around the base, but especially around the branches. Her head turns back to the sprite. It lets out a chirp with a smile on its face.
Her eyes look straight up and she blows up at her hair. “…and in exchange for helping you?”
The sprite shakes its head, “In exchange for doing it for us, we’ll keep watch for you while you are asleep.”
Several of the sprites fly up to and crowd in front of Sweiza’s face. Some smile, others give hopeful or mischievous eyes. She figures it is because she is bigger and can break the crystalline structures easier rather than them using their teeth and claws. Sweiza simply lets out a sigh and goes to work. She walks up to one and punches it. It hurts, but cracks slightly. This will not work. She remembers something from one of the rock outcroppings; walking up to it she jumps on it and almost falling on herself, but her weight does the trick and one of the loose rocks breaks free. She picks it up and turns around to her task. Several sprites are behind her and eying her with intent. She lets out a squawk at them and they disperse. She walks up to the crystalline tree and smashes it with the rock. It shatters. Several of the sprites fly up to the smaller chunks and start flying off with them. Sweiza shakes her head; they remind her of Dewey when he would fly up and steal shiny things from her.
Most of the day is spent on this chore. Tired and exhausted, Sweiza finally retreats to her normal sleeping spot at the rear of the village. Sleeping longer than normal, and closer to nightfall, she wakes up. Now there are many different sprites sleeping around her, if not on her. She has to shoo them away. The realization doesn’t kick in yet. Instead, her concern is her normal task at this point. She heads towards the front of the village to keep guard. However, an involuntary breath takes her and a smile creeps on her face at the sight before her. At least twenty sprites keeping watch at the front of the village.
This job isn’t looking so bad or boring to her at this point.
—
As the weeks go on, Sweiza and the sprites become better acquainted. She hunts for them, they help guard for her. Together they alleviate boredom and tend to the village, breaking crystalline trees and keeping them tidy amongst other things. Stories get swapped; Sweiza’s seem to be more interesting to the sprites as she tells fanciful, but highly exaggerated fairy tales. Because of this Sweiza is designated village story teller. These good times do not go unnoticed by the moon of Lokul. Under its light, and with it high in the night sky, its effects slowly take hold of Sweiza. It starts as an ache in her pelvis - her curse of being female. Guard duty becomes harder as the starting week ‘aches’ on. With luck, she could avoid the other curse, but it isn’t to be. Her eyes start to take on a hue of yellow, before becoming that very color. It starts out less noticeable, but her body becomes covered in hair. She can feel it as some kind of instinct taking over. She has a desire to fight anyone and anything - including the sprites. This fantastic and mythical beast in front of them only serves to win them over further - it is an outcast beast like them. They understand it as a werewolf or a human that suffers from wearwolf syndrome. Sweiza understands it as being afflicted by the ‘berserkergang’ or to ‘become bear of shirt’.
During guard duty during the middle half of the second week, Salmira finally appears to Sweiza. Sweiza continues to sit crosslegged at the village entrance; but she shakes shakes and her voice comes out hollow and low as she looks up at the witch.
“This was part of your plan?”
Salmira simply folds her arms in front of the girl and her head shifts towards the path in front of the village.
“You couldn’t possibly take down Lady Strife, she has had prior training and some experience as a Valkyrie for a time now. However…” Salmira looks over at the girl’s face, clad in body hair, “…you should find her quite agreeable once you exchange blows with her.”
“…and what is that supposed to mean…?” Sweiza says it forlorn.
“Oh, look at you. The effects of berserkergang will wear off once you’ve had an outlet for it.” Salmira says it almost whimsical.
Sweiza tilts her head to the side, frustrated, but having given up at her curse.
Salmira bends over at the girl and brushes a strand of her ‘normal’ head of hair, out of the girl’s face.
“It’s okay. Your respite will come soon enough. Lady Sprite is just about an hour or two away.”
Sweiza looks towards the path in the forest leading to the village. When she looks towards Salmira, the witch is gone. Sweiza stands up and runs to the center of village. She alerts them all about what is to happen.