Nuada listened to the wind. It was whispering to him, telling him secrets, guiding his steps. Him and his entourage had long followed the wind. Dancing from place to place, sometimes high above the earth, in the sky like a bird. Other times it was a gentle breeze, strolling through the trees. Today it was excited, keeping a secret even from him. It had a surprise.
With a laugh the procession took up the dance once more. The wind was in a hurry today, leaves shook as it careened past. The sprites followed with equal abandon. The king leading all the lords and knights with a light step. Stepping on branches to soar up above the treetops. The anticipation and excitement were contagious and soon birds of many kinds were flying around the entourage, their songs filling the air with a cacophony of sound. Yet it was music as much as noise.
The wind brought them down from the treetops into a small meadow in the midst of the forest. Then it faded to less than a breeze, more like a caress. The meadow was larger than a glade, and a small brook babbled happily through it. It was filled with all kinds of flowers all in bloom, their bright colours shining in the sunlight. As the party landed a hush fell upon birds and they all alighted in the trees surrounding the meadow.
Nuada stepped out boldly before his entourage. The wind’s surprise was waiting for him here, he could feel it. He waited for a long moment, though for what he was not sure. Then the wind whirled once more and stepping from the forest were nymphs. Dryads of tree, bush, and flower. From the brook sprang naiads. They formed a group opposite to the sprites. The sprites straightened up and then bowed, and the nymphs elegantly curtsied. Then the birds began to sing once more, this time a much more melodious and unified song.
The two groups came together and began to dance, their moves inquisitive and cautious. Though as the dance continued, they picked up the pace. Arms linking and eyes locked. The first dance was one of intrigue, searching out their companions, their partners. As the song gently slowed the dancing pairs all came to a halt then Nuada clapped and cried out.
“We have at last a true Court!”
Then the true party began. The birdsong rang out and the court began to dance with vigor. The wind swept through the meadow filling the air with leaves and petals. The dancers surrounded by floating and spinning petals. Some of the lords took to the air with their partners. Dancing above the heads of their fellows.
The dances continued all day, from morning past afternoon, at dusk the gasping dancers paused to rest the birdsong finally coming to an end. Filling the meadow came all manner of fairies bringing refreshments, honey drenched nuts, and berries. The pairs relaxed in the meadow laying between the flowers eating and teasing one another. As the mists rose and night fell the fireflies filled the meadow and put on a mesmerizing show to the applause and cheers of the court.
Pixies and leshy hid in the safety of the trees and watched the ongoing party with intrigue and apprehension. This was not their place. They knew, though they knew not how they knew. As they watched a longing came over them to find their own court and so they slunk back into the shadows and began to search the dungeon’s domain for a court of their own, for a king and queen of their own. One unseen and hidden, unlike the court filled with light they had left.
The party guests didn’t notice their watchers, nor that they left, so consumed were they with the party. Beneath the fireflies a troupe of spriggans emerged to perform a strange play. Then fairies riding skyvaders performed aerial acrobatics, the court shouting praise and cheering for all of the entertainment. All night it continued until finally the dawn began to break over the secluded meadow.
The birds cried out with the dawn, and the festivities came to an end. A solemn silence came over the court and the entire court came into ranks with an aisle through the middle. Nuada and his bride glided down the aisle. Fairy knights saluting and sprite lords bowing low as the royal couple passed. On the other side the nymph ladies curtsied for the regal pair. Finally, they came to a halt in the middle of the assembly. The aisle closing behind them as if it had never existed.
“My dearest Queen, I have found you at last. Led by the wind all these years, with but half a court, lords without their ladies. I am finally complete, these dances and festivities lacking compared to the rejoicing of my heart.” A pair of spriggans approached and gently laid a crown of blooming flowers upon the dryad queen’s head. “The wind has whispered to me your name fair maiden. You are Queen Mabel, the Queen of Spring and Life.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
At his words the wind rustled around the couple dragging petals and leaves from the plants surrounding them to surround them in a wondrous whirlwind. A change came over the fair queen and she began to bloom. Leaves and petals growing to cover her in a beautiful dress and veil, the flower crown now part of her body.
“And you shall be my King. King Nuada, King of Summer and Wind. May our Seelie Court grow in the light, spreading life and cheer to all the forest. Now I am complete with you.” At her words the spriggans approached again and laid a crown of leafy twigs upon his head. Then he lifted her veil and kissed her before the assembly.
The cacophony of the birds arose once more along with the wild cheering of the rest of the Seelie Court. The attendant fairies emerged once more with freshly collected dew in cupped leaves, as well as all manner of fruit and mushrooms from the forest. The celebration of the newly established court and wedding of their King and Queen began in that meadow and what followed was a tour all across the forest in the sunlit glades and ponds. Each lord and lady with their knights remaining in their glades after the party continued on through the forest. Finally, the King and Queen returned to the flowery meadow and rested from their tour.
Now all the open and sunny parts of the forest were their realm, all within the domain of the dungeon. Mandrakes and fairy knights serving as guards for each of the smaller courts. Spriggans and fairies served as attendants. Birds and insects and small creatures all paying homage to the newly established lords and ladies, and most of all the King and Queen. Feasts and dancing continued in the day, and at night the fireflies wove through the air in mesmerizing patterns. The forest itself shifted to protect these glades of beauty and euphoria, the ways through the woods now twisting for all those who were not of the dungeon.
And deep within the dungeon, upon a rather unremarkable tree a gem glimmered strangely at the addition of these new dungeon denizens who had brought speech and clever thought with them. The dungeon began to absorb these new things and change, it was already changing actually, as before Mabel received her name, she had been incapable of speech. But the dungeon and its creatures grew and adapted quickly, first in shape, but now in thought and speech and society.
A pulse came from the gem and the Forest Lord rose from its patrol of the dungeon’s borders. It had been watching as one of the dungeons nixies had been slain by the pair along the shore. They had remained on the border and hadn’t tried to push farther into the dungeon’s territory, so the Forest Lord had not called a hunt down upon them. It had been content to watch some fellow hunters at work, but soon they had left again, and it had been waiting. Now there was a call. The dungeon wished to congratulate the new King and Queen on their marriage, and anyone of lesser rank could be seen as a slight.
The Forest Lord’s frightening form loped through the forest silently. Packs of coin-shith formed around it from the gloom. Wolpertingers leapt and flew along through the low branches of the forest. Great stags and their herds joined the group as it slipped through the undergrowth with nary a snapped twig or rustling leaf. This after all was not a hunt that they were on, there was no prey to chase, no fear to spread, so they were silent. Finally, the group came upon the meadow of the Seelie Court.
Mandrakes that were supposed to warn of intruders kept a fearful silence as the dreadful form of the Forest Lord passed by. The fairy knights hid and the spriggan attendants froze pretending to be shrubs and bushes. A cold wind blew through the meadow as the Forest Lord entered. The music and celebrations coming to a grating halt at that moment.
Its deer skull head cocked to the side as if listening to some unheard voice as the Court watched with bated breath. Then it waved a fearsome claw casually and a shining silver stag trotted from the forest followed by a golden doe. The creatures approached the King and Queen and knelt beside them and finally the King spoke.
“Welcome Cernunnos, Lord of the Hunt, Protector of the Forest, and Master of all horned creatures. Thank you for these wondrous mounts, and for protecting our lands from any invaders. The wind has told me much of you, but I see that you are even more powerful than I knew. Please grace our glades with your presence whenever you desire. We are safe due to your vigilant guard after all.”
The Forest Lord bowed to the couple upon receiving its name, and then gently laid something in the grass before turning back to the forest and quickly fading away from view in the dim light of the forest. A spriggan attendant quickly approached and picked up what was left in the grass and brought it to the King and Queen of Spring-Summer. In its gnarled wooden hands lay a deep emerald egg.
“Ah, not only mounts, but also a guardian of our own for our royal meadow. The Forest Lord is too kind.” The Queen took the offered egg and passed it to one of her naiad handmaidens. “Iara you are to care for the creature and make sure it hatches, it will be a fearsome protector one day.” The nymph bowed and quickly went to prepare a nest for the egg.
The cold wind that had caused a shiver to pass through the Court changed to a gentle breeze, now comfortable. The festivities were soon rejoined. Birdsong rose once more, fairies, sprites, and nymphs dancing and singing as the spriggans swayed to the rhythm. The Seelie Court of Spring-Summer had been welcomed as part of the dungeon.