Chapter 12
On Pixie Dust
All pixies produce a fine, dust-like powder with magical properties. They particularly produce this when they are afraid and trying to hide, but sometimes will do this when they are especially happy.
What does the dust do? When pixies use it, it helps them camouflage themselves, where they cast a glamour that lets them appear like part of the background, a leaf on a tree, a flower in a garden, a stone or other bit of the background. If a non-pixie ingests a large quantity of it, they may hallucinate, usually pleasant scenes that involve the feeling of flying away to a marvelous location, sometimes with visions of taking place in adventures there. If a susceptible person gets it in their eyes, they may have visions of distorted reality, like seeing a bear or lion standing where the pixie was.
There are alchemical formulae that use pixie dust to create illusions of great strength and to hide objects in plain sight.
Because of the druglike effects of pixie dust and its use in alchemy, there has grown a black market in the dust, and a nasty business of pixie rustling has arisen; pixies as a rule have been driven out of many areas because of this, and live in mostly remote areas because of the trade.
People of the Aos Sidhe, whether Daoine or Darion, because of their inborn immunity to most common glamours are immune to the camouflage effects, although the drug effect when refined by modern methods can be quite potent. Some people are strongly allergic to the dust.
The Guide to Pixies and Other Small Beings by Tarry Gebrin
Just after the sun managed to rise above the horizon, Byrony passed Rust as he left the headquarters tent on his way to the assembly center where he would meet the rest of the team heading to Xendo’s Freehold. His face was already wrapped in a thin fabric scarf to protect him from the ever present dust and resting on the top of his head, snugged between two of his spikes was a pair of tinted goggles.
“A real desert Dragon look,” Rust said.
“It’s better than breathing sand,” he replied. He touched the tip of his cloth covered nose as if to emphasize the point.”
“No doubt. Wait a second. I’ve got something to give you,” Rust replied, then dashed to her desk.
Byrony nodded at the logistics officer, and adjusted his cloak while he waited. He was wearing standard desert issue, cloak, riding pants, boots supposedly protective against biting things, gloves, but he found the garments oddly awkward to wear. Rust quickly returned with a small sheaf of papers. She still had that harried look about her; he suspected she’d been up for hours getting everything read for the trip ahead.
“Here’s the list of the gear we packed for you. You might want to take a look at it. And of course, they’ll expect you to return everything you don’t use, and maybe an explanation for what you did use, and why.”
“That’s normal.” He glanced at the inventory list, items some of which he didn’t even recognize, and their cost. “You think we need all this stuff? I suspect this is going to be pretty cut and dry.”
“Well, the last page is the gear you requested, and I bet you’re most likely to use. It’ll be in the wagon with Lero Bluestone, and we both know he knows how to use it all. The middle page is the emergency gear I want to take, just in case. It’ll be in its own wagon, with one of the junior investigators driving it.” Rust held her hand up, trying to keep Byrony from saying anything. “It’s rough country out there and you won’t be able to get out of trouble by slipping into no space. Humor me on this one.”
“All right, all right,” he said, nodding. “I give in on that one. You convinced me last night. If you get tired of working for the DIC, you could go into business writing horror stories just spinning tales like that. You had me convinced that if I didn’t haul all this stuff, I’d end up being speared by a Lillu, dying of dehydration and getting eaten by a lion scorpion.”
Rust smiled ever so slightly at his description.
“I admit it feels odd not being able to go to no space – even here, where we can still use it some, it feels like there’s a block around my head. And you know what the DIC manual says. Always have a backup plan.”
Rust nodded, smiled a small flash of a smile, and her ruff colored slightly with relief. He had put up some serious resistance when she started telling him about it. “Exactly. Now the first page of the list is the items the home office insisted that I send with you. Sorry to burden you with an extra wagon of junk, but feel free to ignore it, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know how well they’ll work in a zone deep in the Gray Lands, even, which is probably why they told me to send it out. You saw the trouble we were having yesterday. That might be true even for some of the things you requested. Some magic works there fine; some gets totally blocked, and we don’t understand why. Not really. Rumor says it’s because of some leftover from the Sundering, but there might be something else causing it. We just don’t know. And home office wants to know what they can rely on.”
Byrony nodded. “Probably won’t find out the cause of things this time, either. We’re going into the no-space doesn’t work zone, but we’ll be far from the heart of the zone. Don’t know if any of our people have ever made it that far in.”
Rust nodded. “No record of it anyway. One other thing. The Jinn man, Hazin. He wants to go with you. He’s very anxious to catch up with his team.”
“Does he now?” Byrony lifted his scarf enough to scratch the end of his snout. “Scarf or sand. Both of’em are going to drive my nose crazy.”
“Do you have a problem with him leaving?” Rust asked.
“Not really. I talked with him over an hour last night. He’s a soft spoken person with few words. It was had hard to get much from him beyond the names of the dead miners, and the fact that they were dead, and Xhindi, his leader sent him back because he smelled Blazendraught, and instead of the ten days it took their party to make it to make from Runi Blahan to Xendo’s Freehold, he crossed the desert in six and a half days.” Byrony shook his head. “Kept telling me that the DIC ought to give him a reward for doing it so quickly.”
“You think he’s telling you everything?” Rust asked.
Byrony shrugged, and held up an arm where he wore a bracelet with several touchstones on it. “I had him under a truth field, but who knows how well that works out here? Nobody’s really studied touchstone magic out here either.” He stuffed the papers into a bag hanging from his waist.
“Give him this,” Rust said, pulling a small pouch out of her pocked.
“What’s this?” Byrony asked.
“Miscellaneous expenses. We’re budgeted for small rewards.” Rust gave him an enigmatic smile. “It’s the big things that kill us.”
Byrony took it and nodded.
“Good investigations, Investigator,” Rust said. “Get back in one piece so we can get out of this Lifegiver forsaken place.”
And with that, she headed back into her office.
It did not take him long to get to the assembly area after that, where he was introduced to the local guides who would double as guards, two jinn men named Urqat and Zhars, and a Peri who wore shapeless, loose clothes that still let her wings out and were designed to wear riding; but most noteworthy was she went fully veiled. Peri were almost notorious for their beauty. When doing work like this, they often hid their faces, to keep their looks from being an interference. Her name was Skyblue, and she would ride at the head of the little caravan, while the jinn would ride at the flanks, scouting for trouble.
Byrony looked at the four DIC guards. Like him they wore the standard desert issue, and carried bows and swords, but he knew from experience that these people were more trained in policing work than in fighting monsters like Lillu, but they might keep people from stealing from the wagons. He nodded at them, and they took their place on the sides of the wagons.
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“What are these animals?” he asked, walking up to the first wagon. The animals harnessed to it, just two, were big and red and horned, with a long forelock of hair that dangled over their eyes. They stank, a bitter, nasty odor.
“Eshtan oxen,” the Peri woman said. “Very strong. Eat anything, except people. Don’t need to drink often. Alas, not as fast as Syenah Griffins, but they can pull massive weight.” Her voice was light and musical, almost birdlike. “They don’t spook easy. Will kill Lillu.” She patted the one on the right, and it tossed its head in a playful way at her touch.
A man wrapped in even more layers of think cotton cloth sat on the wagon, along with one of the local hires. He was not Dragonkin, but sported the bright blue eyes of the Daoine.
“Good morning, Inspector,” he said.
Byrony nodded. “Ready to get to work?”
“Soon as we can. I think I have all the equipment I need to set up an analysis workbench. The sooner, the better. I don’t do well in this much sun.”
“Don’t think most of us do. The sooner done, the sooner home.”
After a quick look at the rest of the caravan, Byrony let the Peri woman lead him to his mount, and with a signal, the group moved out.
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The shopfront beckoned on a side street of Comrie, only a couple of blocks from the Dragon Web office. It was a small storefront, with a display of toys and tools and curiosities in the front window to tease the passer-by with the wonders within, and the sign overhead had a picture of a gnome, and the text in bold red lettering: Spinnik’s Curios and Curiosities.
Two women, a tall Daoine lady in a practical green travel dress and cloak against the chill of the day, and a shorter, bauchan looking woman wearing a plain gray work dress, and a well-made coat. Persons passing them by might have, at first glance, assumed they were highborn lady and her servant. But they would be wrong. The way they walked and chattered would tell at second glance that these two were friends, and the bright blue eyes of the shorter woman would make it clear that there was something else going on.
“I had forgotten what a nice town Comrie is,” Elaine Allyns said. “And now with you leaving, I won’t have any excuse to come visit.”
“I’ll give you an excuse,” Gan Thistleberry said. “I’m glad you checked your bags in already, Elaine. That gives me one of the best reasons I know to come to Comrie. I didn’t want you to go home without stopping at this shop. Master Spinnik’s is reason enough to come here from time to time. You’ll never know what you’ll find here. He always has some of the loveliest treasures.” She sighed. “I bought so many little things I used in class here. I hope Melusine remembers to check here from time to time.”
Gan pushed through the door of the shop, and bells jingled as she walked through the entry, with Elaine quickly behind her. As Elaine entered and looked at the walls filled almost to the ceiling with brightly colored boxes, toys, kitchen items, books, knickknacks, bangles, and curiosities, a bright smile broke across her face.
“Oh what a darling little shop! How come I never knew about it before?” she said. “I love shops like this! Have you been hiding this from me, Gan?”
“Well, it opened after we finished our schooling here,” Gan replied. “Otherwise we’d have spent all our pocket money here when we were in school. I swear I didn’t hide it from you, though. The subject just never came up.”
“I don’t know where to start looking,” Elaine said.
Two other women were leaning on a counter where there was an assortment of jewerly and hair ornaments on display and in a case. One of them looked at the two newcomers. “It is just that kind of place!” she said, grinning.
Gan gravitated to a shelf where a number of old books, their bindings showing age but sound and hale still, were sitting. She pulled one off the shelf. “And, Elaine, you can’t really blame me, since you have so seldom come back to Comrie. What is it, twice in the last fifteen years? And both times in a mad rush? I never had a chance to show it to you before.” She opened the book, and thumbed through the pages, then sighed. “It’s almost what I want.” Carefully she replaced it on the shelf. “But it’s just a rehash of Master Kopkin’s work. Some day, maybe.”
“Why don’t you start here?” Gan suggested. She pointed to shelves filled with dolls, toy soldiers, play things of all shapes and sizes. “Maybe you could find something for Tam? I suspect he’d like that.”
“You might be right,” Elaine said, moving to the crowded shelves. “He’s going to be pouty that I left him in Nannie’s care so long.”
The shopkeeper, a stalwart old gnome who wore the traditional red cap of his people, stepped out of the back and walked behind the counter, with a box to show the jewelry shoppers. and gave the two women a wave and a warm smile. “Ah, Mistress Thistleberry, lovely to see you today! I’ll be with you when I’m through helping these lovely ladies.”
“So you come here often enough that he knows you by name?” Elaine asked, as she looked at a toy periscope. “No, that would just get Tam into trouble with Nannie, looking around corners,” she said, putting it back down.
“You’re probably right about that. How about some toy monsters?” Gan pointed to some wooden figurines of Trolls, giants and other Shadowland undesirables.
“He does like them. But he has so many!”
“Maybe some heroes?” Gan suggested. She picked up a figure of a Daoine knight in full armor.
“Same thing. I guess I’ll just keep looking,” Elaine said, and walked further down the toy section.
Spinnik finished helping the women buying jewelry then hurried over to Gan.
“ Can I help you find anything today? Trinkets for your little ones? And who is this lovely lass you brought into my little place to brighten my day?”
“Ah, Master Spinnik, this my old friend Elaine Allyns. She came up from Allynswood just to spend some time with me for a few days,” Gan said. “Alas, I’m not going to be buying trinkets for them any more.”
Spinnik looked shocked. “Did...did something happen? Were they of the wrong quality?”
Gan shook her head. “No, they were excellent as always, and the children that won them loved them. No, I’m going to be moving to the Allynswood estate in the near future. I told my replacement about this place. I hope she’ll be coming here, too.”
He sighed. “You’ve been such a good customer. When you get settled down, let me know how to get in touch. Sometimes, I put out a catalog. Allynswood.” the gnome asked, scratching his head. “Where might that be? I’ve not heard of that place, myself.”
“It’s south of Waterford by Glint,” Elaine said, somewhat amused. She might be Daoine nobility and owner of a huge estate, kinswoman to the Bear himself, but An Lar was big enough that people who were not of the court hadn’t heard of many of the great families.
“Ah,” he said, nodding. “That I’ve heard of. I’ve a cousin who lives down that way. Don’t get to see her very often. Running this shop, well, it takes up most of my time.”
“That I can believe,” Elaine said, nodding. She continued looking at the selection of toys. “I wonder if Tam would like one of these,” as she looked at a toy sword. “He’s getting to the age that his old toys are too young for him, but he still likes to play. It’s hard to know what he’d find fun at his age.”
“It’s a fine bit of gear for a young lad,” Spinnick said. “Guaranteed not to cut anything, but the touchstone buttons on the haft can be set to make it be a lightweight, flexible sword suitable for bashing brothers to all the way to where it has the weight and feel of a real steel blade of the same size. Makes it a useful thing, less a toy than a practice blade for a young man beginning to train in arms practice if that’s where he’s at.”
Gan left the two to discuss appropriate toys for young Tam and moved deeper towards the back of the shop where there was a whole array of books, kitchen gear and other things a practical minded person like her found interesting. She found some herbs she was wanting, some wind chimes and light catchers, made of glass and beads and metal, all highly reflective, to dangle from the eves of her house and trees. “Something that might amuse pixies,” she said.
Further down, a book caught her eye. “Now this looks interesting.”
It was sitting on a shelf of salt shakers, herb grinders, and other small appliances, stuck between two cookbooks. “Tarry Gebrin: The Guide to Pixies and Other Small Beings” the spine declared. After thumbing through it, she added it to her pile.
But just as she was about to turn to the front of the store and take her finds to Master Spinnik’s counter, she saw it.
It was laying on the top of some tin cake pans, next to a jar filled with cooking spoons and spatulas, sitting there like an afterthought, unappreciated, but to her discerning eye, she knew better. It deserved to be displayed far more prominently.
She picked it up, ran her fingers down the round wooden shaft. She spun it, and it twirled perfectly. Putting her other selections down, she held it in both hands. It was the perfect width.
“Where have you been all my life?” she asked. “I’ve dreamed of you. I’ve yearned for you. You’re definitely coming home with me.”
“Oh Gan,” Elaine said, coming to find her friend. “This store has the best toys. I even found something for Arriane, although she’ll claim she’s too old – what are you doing with that rolling pin?”
Gan smiled at her friend. “This isn’t just a rolling pin, Elaine. It is a master work, the prize at the deepest depths of a dungeon, the golden apple of rolling pins. It is a flying carpet for pie crusts, a magic fountain for the best cookies, a tool to make the average spectacular.”
Elaine laughed. “I think you must like it. I knew you liked to bake, but if it’s so wonderful, you must buy it! Treasures are treasures.”
Gan nodded. “I’ve been looking for one just like this for years, now, ever since some scoundrel at the school ran off with my old best rolling pin. This is a good omen, Elaine. I’m sure I’ll have all the time I want to bake once I move. One day soon, I’ll make you one of my peach pies. They’re almost famous here in Comrie. Then you’ll see!”
Laughing together, the two women went off to pay for their finds.
Shortly after, Gan walked Elaine to the Dragon Web station.
“It’s been wonderful having you here for a few days,” Gan said. “Makes me remember all those days we drove the teachers crazy when we were in school.”
“Pretty soon, we’ll be able to make up for all the time we missed. Being together is so much better than letter writing,” Elaine said.
“Maybe you’ll have heard from Gweir by the time I get settled in, and then you can tell him the news. I’m kind of curious what he’ll say.”
“Maybe...but from the way he talked, I think it’ll be a little while yet. I hate when he goes on these training missions and they won’t let us talk to each other.” Elaine sighed, but then brightened up. “But I’ll be sure to let Tam know you’ll be coming soon. He was pretty impressed with you when you were at my place. Let’s hope he stays impressed when you start giving him lessons!”
Gan chuckled, but then gave her friend a hug. “Thank you so much!”
“Oh, silly goose. Thank you for coming to me first! I’m so looking forward to having you to myself again.”
The clock tower chimed the hour.
“O dear, I have to run, or I’ll miss my carriage! Later!” With a final wave, she dashed off into the Dragon Web office.
Gan took a deep breath. “Well, I guess it’s time to get serious about packing,” she said, and headed home.