The start of day three I awoke and Revus was still gone. Like Faraine had mentioned the previous night, she requested Rhys go search for clues about the missing fairy, but he could not find anything. Later that evening, the leader of the fairy hunters returned for the second time and talked with Rhys. According to Faraine, the talk was thorough, the fairy hunters seeming to believe us somewhere in Valnia.
That night, I reconfirmed Faraine’s promise that we would go look for him tomorrow if he was not back by morning. Unlike in our argument from yesterday, Faraine was much more open to the idea. We came to an agreement that, as long as I show her that I can fly on my own and I can keep my condition under control, we would go look for him first-thing tomorrow morning. She informed Rhys and his family about our plan and asked them to hide us inside their clothes while we search the town. With their approval, we went to sleep, Revus’ absence burning a hole in the bed. The same nightmare caused my sleep to be restless like the night before.
---
“You better keep your promise,” I bark, “Otherwise, I’m going alone.”
Faraine sighs, “Don’t worry, I will.”
“Good,” I declare, breathing furiously as I summon my wings. Glancing over my right shoulder, I quickly inspect them from top to bottom. Doesn’t seem like anything’s wrong. Shifting my gaze to my left wings, I continue my scan. They look fully healed.
Standing atop the central table within the main room of Rhys’ house, I walk over to its edge. Rhys, Sana, and Shelly are all seated at the table behind me. Rydel, their son who has come in from the shop, sits next to them. The light chatter from the elves is drowned out by my own frustration. I glance at the window left of the kitchen, the bright, morning light shines into the room. Beyond the glass barrier, flaming leaves are plucked from the Valnian trees and breeze by the window.
I look back at Faraine as she says, “Remember you need to remain calm. If the ice-”
“I know!” I snap. I take a deep breath, exhale, and start to calm my breathing. “I know. I’m just anxious.”
“I’m sure you are,” she mutters, “I am too.”
“Here I go,” I announce. I flap my wings and rise into the air without difficulty. Good. I smile eagerly. I spin around while hovering in place and see Faraine and the four elves focused solely on me. A rush of energy and nerves flood my body. I take another deep breath and shoot into the air.
I fly toward the ceiling, my skin tingles from the cool breeze as my hair flutters behind me. As I reach the wooden beams that support the roof, I quickly begin looping over them. “Oh,” I stop as I almost crash into one of the cross beams. Too close. I lick my lips, a grin sneaking out. Let's keep going. I dart away from the beams and start spiraling downward, around the hanging lights. “I missed this so much!” I joyfully shout, spreading my arms out wide as the air rushes past me.
I turn away from the lights and descend toward the floor. As I pass the top of the table, I lean to my left and arc under it. I zoom just above the floor, weaving between the legs of the chairs. When I arrive at Shelly’s chair, I emerge from beneath her, then soar around the young elf. Faster. I increase my pace, speeding through the air faster than I have in weeks. I complete my helix around the elven girl and I stop above her head, hovering in place.
My chest expands and contracts as I breathe heavily, sweat building on my skin. Smiling, I look down at Faraine and start to glide toward her. Upon my landing on the table, the elves start clapping, which they follow with a flurry of unfamiliar words. I spin around, facing the applause, and smile wholeheartedly.
“Any idea what they’re saying?” Faraine inquires as she walks up behind me.
“Yeah, I think so,” I reply, turning to face her. I ask, “So, we’re going now, right?”
Faraine sighs, tilts her head, and starts to walk around me. I feel her eyes slowly analyzing me. She raises my arms to look beneath them, brushes my hair to the side to check my neck, and walks in front of me, asking, “You don’t feel cold anywhere?”
I shake my head, “No.” I smile widely, “I feel great.”
“No ice anywhere?”
I start to pat myself down checking myself for any unbeknownst ice. “I don’t feel any.”
Faraine steals a glance at the door leading beyond the safety of Rhys’ house before facing me. She takes a deep breath, then exhales, trilling her lips, “Alright, let’s go find Revus.”
“Finally,” I release. I look at the door and clench my fists. Just wait Revus, we’re coming.
Faraine snaps her fingers, drawing my attention to her. “I know I don’t need to remind you, but we’re not going out to explore.”
“Remind yourself,” I rebuke, “I could care less about the town. Revus is way more important.”
“I agree, but what we’re doing is also risky,” Faraine states, “Revus has been gone for three days now. He could’ve found where the fairies are and is trying to rescue them.”
“Yeah, or he could be captured,” I gulp, “or worse…”
“No thinking like that,” Faraine scolds, “We both know Revus won’t die just like that. Like I said last night, he’d definitely not go down without a fight.”
I sigh and slump my shoulders, “Yeah, you’re right. But that doesn’t mean he’s safe.”
“And that’s why we’re going to take things slow. I know you’re in a hurry, but the last thing we need is getting ourselves into trouble so let’s just be cautious. Even if it takes all day to find out where he is, that’s fine,” Faraine says, waving her index finger critically, “We can always go get him another day. Information is our goal for today.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Alright, I’ll let Rhys know we’re ready to go.”
I watch as the blue-haired fairy flies toward Rhys, a trail of red glitter following in her wake. I turn toward the door. This isn’t like you Revus. You wouldn’t be gone this long without saying anything.
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The elves stand up to finish getting ready for the trip. Rhys and Rydel grab two woven baskets. While they do that, Faraine returns to my side and says, “Once they’re done, we’ll leave.”
“Are we going with Rhys?” I inquire, “And where are we hiding?” I glance at the woven baskets. Those?
Faraine points up at Rhys as he pulls a brown hooded cowl over his head, the cowl rests on his shoulders and covers the top of his torso. “Under the hood, near his ears so we can direct him through town.”
I gaze up at the giant elven man and gulp. I take a deep breath. This is so we can find Revus. “Alright,” I reply, “Let’s go.” I rise back into the air. Faraine follows and we approach Rhys. Gradually, the size discrepancy magnifies. I arrive in front of his face, his eye acting almost like a mirror for me. I wave as I pass by, his eye suddenly moves and locks onto me. Jolting away, I collide with Faraine. He chuckles. The laugh is light, but to me is still loud and deep.
“Sorry,” I mutter, staring back at Rhys’ giant, glistening, blue eye.
“It’s okay,” Faraine replies. Rhys holds one side of the brown fabric covering his head, allowing us entry. I follow behind her as she flies over to his ear. She leans in and says something in Parazic.
I sigh. Would be nice to know what’s being said but… I tilt my head, watching Faraine. Too much work. I’ll just let them translate for now and learn it some other time.
Faraine turns to me and states, “It might be uncomfortable, but to avoid being seen, we’ll ride on his head.”
I look at the elf’s wavy blonde hair, “You sure?”
“Would you rather hang from his ear?”
I turn to his large, pointed ear. Hang from that? “Not… really…”
“Then let’s go,” Faraine motions with her head, “We’re losing daylight.”
We fly over to the side of Rhys’ head, latch onto his hair, retract our wings, and begin to climb between the hood and his hair. The long, thin strands of hair tickle my skin as I brush past them. Laying on his head, I crawl forward slightly, enough to peek out from under the hood, while still remaining hidden.
“You all set?” Faraine asks from my side.
“Think so,” I murmur as I glance at the blue-haired woman.
I watch as she grabs a golden lock of hair and forcefully pulls up. Immediately after, Rhys starts moving and speaking. Faraine moves back down his head and disappears. Focusing in front of me, Rhys turns toward, makes his way to, and opens the door.
Here we go. As we head outside, a light breeze catches the hood. Oh. I slide back slightly, trying to stay hidden as Faraine crawls back up next to me.
Shelly and Rydel start speaking, followed by Sana, with Rhys chiming in at the end. I listen to them talk as we move around the house and pass by the flaming trees. Reaching the front of the Rhys’ property, a single dirt road lies ahead, with the enōōfen town awaiting us on the horizon. I take a deep breath as my stomach swirls with nerves. I tightly grip the golden wires as we approach town.
“Don’t get too excited,” Faraine comments, “From what I know, Galegarde isn’t much.”
“No?” I question, glancing at her, “Why not?”
“It’s a town on the edge of this country so it doesn’t have the support of the larger cities.”
“Regardless, it will be nice to see what it’s like compared to…” I trail off.
“Compared to?” Faraine repeats.
I face her, “Compared to the city from my previous life.”
Faraine nods, then looks forward, “I understand.”
Looking forward, we lay there silently listening to the elves’ chatter. Step by step, Galegarde grows in size. As we approach, another road appears on the left and merges with ours. Gradually, more and more enōōfen dot the road. Their appearances vary from young to old, their hair a multitude of browns, blacks, blondes, reds, and grays.
Before Galegarde is a massive front gate whose top arches. Two giant rectangular pillars, each dwarfing the enōōfen, bridge the gap between wall and gate.
Rhys waves his hand as he says something to some enōōfen sitting by the gate. The people are dressed in a simple, dark brown uniform. They each have a spear leaning against the wall near them. Their rough voices resound from under the gate and, after a brief conversation, Rhys walks past them.
“Phew…” I exhale as we enter the town.
“Doesn’t seem like we need to worry too much,” Faraine notes.
“Yeah…” I reply, glancing at her. Then, I look ahead to the fresh sight of town.
Light-brown dirt streets run through the town. The large wooden buildings have a slight red-orange hue, similar to the flames of the Valnian trees. Most of the buildings have massive, rectangular pillars that act as their main supports, giving them very flat, yet powerful designs. The angled roofs are constructed from dark-brown wooden planks. Similar to Rhys’ house, most of the windows are square, and several of the structures only appear to have a single door. Resting above each door is a diamond-shaped glass fixture with a faint light coming from it.
Like Faraine mentioned, the town lacks decoration, seemingly built for functionality and to be durable. Only a handful of buildings have a porch in the front, with many lacking any form of yard. Unmaintained weedy grasses cover the ground in areas without foot traffic. Small, dark paths sneak between several buildings’ shadows.
It’s pretty… basic. The buildings are so small and there aren’t any axiom powered machines. I purse my lips. How lackluster. I guess I was getting my hopes up for nothing, but it’s nothing like Svelta… I sigh as I scan the town again. Not even remotely close.
“Looks like this place is mostly humans,” Faraine remarks.
Is it? I start focusing on the people in town, surveying their appearances. Most have slightly tanned skin and rounded ears. Their attire mostly consists of a combination of leathers, furs, skins, and woven cloth. The clothes all consist of natural browns, whites, greys, and blacks. I continue to observe the people as we head deeper into town.
“I don’t see any other elves,” I glance at Faraine, “Do you?”
“No, but we’ve only just arrived,” she answers, “Remember we’re here to look for Revus, not sightsee.”
“Right…” I focus my attention on the buildings again. Where would you be? “Does Rhys know where the hunters are staying in town?”
“He said he does,” Faraine answers, “but I told him to explore town first to not make it obvious that we’re going there.”
Rhys walks through town as he and his family do some shopping. They stop at some markets to pick up some food for meals and buy some things they need at their house. While they peruse the stalls, I observe the surroundings, looking for anything out of place or anywhere Revus might have gone.
A few hours into our excursion, my stomach starts to growl. I look over at Faraine as she locks eyes with me.
“You hungry?”
“Did you hear that?” I embarrassingly ask.
“A bit,” she smiles, “That’s okay, I’m also getting hungry. Give me a second.”
Faraine crawls down Rhys’ head and, after a few seconds, returns. Almost immediately, Rhys starts speaking, the others joining in on his conversation.
“So, are we going back to their house?”
“No,” Faraine answers, “I asked him to find a place in town.”
“But how are we going to eat from here?”
“We’ll hide in the baskets.”
I tilt my head, “Isn’t it too risky though?”
“Possibly, but what we’re doing is already risky,” Faraine replies, “If we can learn something new, then that’s great.”
“Yeah, but if we don’t then what?” I argue.
“Then we’re putting ourselves into unnecessary risks, but that’s no different from what we’re doing right now.”
While Faraine and I continue to talk, Rhys walks up to a building. The hood suddenly darkens as we enter.
“Looks pretty busy,” Faraine comments.
Glancing about, I see dozens of tables, most of which have people seated around them. A handful of windows dot the walls allowing for a moderate amount of light to enter. Several lights hang from the ceiling, with more spaced evenly along the walls. Similar to the rest of the town, it is very rustic as almost everything inside is made of wood.
I feel a pit form in my stomach, “Faraine, I’m not sure if this is a good idea.”
“It’s okay, if you’d rather we stay on Rhys’ head… then we can do that.”
“I’d rather not but…” I survey the room, checking out the various groups of people seated within.
Gradually, Rhys walks through the busy tables, heading to the back of the building near the corner. As he progresses to an empty table, my eyes lock onto a group of five sitting at one of the adjacent tables. Among them, two people catch my attention. The first, appears to be a woman with short, white hair and pointed ears. The other, is much smaller than everyone else at their table, she has furry, black, cat-like ears atop her head, and a tail.
“Woah…” I murmur.
Rhys sits down at the empty table, facing the group that I am focused on. The elf has their back facing us. To their right are two blonde, human males. Next is the black-haired, cat-like woman whose green eyes glare in our direction. In between the elf and cat-girl is an older man with short, gray hair.
“Faraine!” I excitedly shout, pointing at them, “What is-”
Faraine quickly jumps onto me, covering my mouth, and pushing me down behind Rhys’ hair. “Shhh…” she quietly whispers as she pulls her hand from my mouth.
“What are you doing?” I irritatedly hiss.
“I think that beastkin can hear us.”
So that’s a beastkin? I slowly rise, peeking out over Rhys’ hair, to watch the cat-girl. She is talking to the blonde man next to her. Her green eyes shift and seemingly lock onto me.
Instantly, I duck down and quietly ask, “What do we do?”
“For now, just remain calm,” Faraine instructs, “We don’t know for certain. Once we leave, I’ll ask Rhys’ to see what they do once we’re gone.”
I gulp, “Okay…”
Urrrrrr.
My stomach growls once more. Looks like I’m not going to get to each much. I sigh.