“I’m not here to do something bad to you.”
She felt like she should’ve been assured in those words, but she couldn’t quite find herself willing to believe it. Though… he really didn’t seem to mean any harm. She tried her best to relax—to stay calm, just in case Caenum woke up—and asked, “Then what are you here for?”
The sailor took a step forward but, undoubtedly realizing her hesitation, stepped back again. He sat down instead. “I saw you and your friend getting onboard. Gotta admit, it takes a lot of determination to do something like that. You don’t have to worry, though—you chose a good ship. No one’s going to throw you out into those waters.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Oria pointed out.
“Well, I assume you already know what you’re getting yourself into. You’re determined enough to make it this far, after all. So I wanted to ask you something else—what do you plan to do when you get there?” His tone was kind, if not a bit wary. Upon hearing it, she eased a bit more. “Or, maybe let me ask… what are you looking to find in Fleyw Bresh?”
“I… don’t know, honestly,” she admitted quietly. She glanced at Caenum, who still hadn’t stirred from his spot. “All I know is that I want to stay with him. I believe… I’m supposed to be with him.”
The sailor let out a half-mournful chuckle. “I wish I had your kind of conviction when I was your age. Maybe I’d be doing something other than fighting Daphni’s waters every other day.”
“Does… that mean—”
“Why do you think I’m down here, and asking questions? We all know a kindred spirit when we see one.”
“We..?”
“Everyone on this ship. Some of us hail from True Qizar, while others were originally from Fleyw Bresh. We’ve seen a couple of faces come and go, too—kids like you and your friend here. We’ve all experienced, or one way or another, the feelings you kids are going through, and we always try to help. With… a small payment, if it’s alright with you.”
Before she could become panicked again, he showed her what he was thinking of—a small stack of letters. His smile grew, but it was more wistful than before. “None of us can leave the boat for too long—there’s too much we need to do, and we don’t have a lot of time before we have to leave. But a lot of us have found our homes in Fleyw Bresh. These are our letters to those homes—the only fragment of them we can really be close to, without getting into trouble. There’s a woman in town you can give them all to, she’ll know what to do with them from there. Can I trust you to deliver them?”
“This has to be important to you,” she pointed out. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to believe about the situation. “Why are you trusting me with this..?”
“Because I know you’re like us. I’m not asking for anything long-term—just this once. And it’s not going to be too hard to find the woman, as long as you can follow directions.”
Slowly, Oria nodded. “Alright. I’ll do my best…”
“Oh, and one random question, too.”
“Yes..?”
“Do you know what’s waiting on the other shore?”
“Hm..?”
“Things are done a bit differently in Fleyw Bresh. For starters, you’ll probably get a lot further knowing their language—ours isn’t used too often outside of dedicated communities. Then you’re going to need to know how to match the humans. Not all the time, obviously, but I assure you things’ll be easier if you do. But I… suppose I might not have to say all of that. Seems like your companion’s a fairy of Fleyw Bresh, so he’ll probably be much more capable of explaining it all to you than I am.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
…
She told Caenum about what had happened when he woke up. It turns out he might’ve known the woman in question—or, at least, somewhat more familiar with where they might find her. He was able to confirm it when, surprisingly, all of the sailors invited them to eat. The sailors were kind enough to let them stay in the proper quarters; they were even willing to help her assure Caenum that nothing was going to happen between that moment and when they reached the shore.
That seemed, though, to only half solve the problem. He spent all of their time on the ship between states of near-distress—barely calmed by their reassurances—and of a kind of numbness. His mixed feelings upon reaching the shore was clear.
Unfortunately, however, she couldn’t find herself able to be comforting. They stepped out to see crowds of strangers, speaking the human’s tongue, with fairies, goblins, and children of Fleyw Bresh darting around. Even after the first sailor she’d met said his words of farewell, and Caenum seemed ready to go, she found herself incapable of making another step forward.
It was the first time she saw Caenum smirk in the whole journey, and he asked in a playful tone, “It’s weird finding yourself in somewhere completely unfamiliar, isn’t it?”
Oria realized then what she was doing. “Ah. I didn’t mean—”
He shrugged. “I don’t care, you know. In fact? Maybe this is a good thing. Now I can help you, the same way that you’d helped me.” He gestured out into the streets. “It’s not as confusing as it first seems, I promise. Let’s find that woman, alright? I’m pretty sure I’ve met her before, she’s another fairy that lives around here.”
“Is this your hometown? I’m sure the sailors wouldn’t mind if we first went to find your parents…”
The statement renewed all of his apprehension from before, but he brushed it off with a nervous laugh. “I’m sure neither of them are home around this time, anyway. That and it’s on the other side of town. The woman’s a lot closer, and it probably won’t take nearly as long.”
“Alright, then…” She knew that there was no point in arguing… however much she wanted to.
She found something else to consider, though, other than all the things he wanted to avoid. In True Qizar, everything she saw was made specifically for fairies; the biggest things ever got was what was meant for the goblins, which more often than not were on their own islands. But in Fleyw Bresh, things were built for its children—for humans.
And she had, somewhat, underestimated exactly how big they were.
She kept glancing around them, trying to make sense of the magnitude of it. A town could fit in a single one of the humans’ buildings. From her position, it felt like this port was bigger than the entirety of Salini, though she knew that wasn’t true. All fairies flew at eye level to the humans, too small to be seen otherwise. She’d never been quite as aware of how small she really was.
Caenum glanced back at her, and casually asked, “You don’t know how to match the humans, do you?”
Her silence was the only kind of response she could think to give. He thought it meant something a bit different, though—that she hadn’t understood him.
He gave a casual gesture to a group of strangers. They looked the size of humans but, after a moment, she realized they had the wings of a fairy. “It’s kind of like what we do to make things a little more practical. I’d show you, but that’ll be a bad idea to do here. We use magic to make yourselves the size of the humans—not all the time, usually just whenever we go out. We can’t deny that these towns were built for humans, after all, so it makes things a bit easier.” He gave it a bit of consideration. “We can practice that later. You won’t need it to talk to the woman or my parents.”
He paused and gave her a curious look. “What’s that face for?”
“I… wasn’t confused. I know what it means,” Oria mumbled. “We… consider it a bit differently in True Qizar. It’s thought of as stripping ourselves of the characteristics given to us by Orestis—of matching the humans, who many consider to be ‘lesser’ to us. It’s associated with exiles. They are forced to take on human size and to lose their magic. When they awaken, they are torn apart from all things that made them a fairy… if they survived Daphni’s waters, and if they could recover from something so engraved in them to be taken away, that is…”
Caenum was quiet for a few moments. “I’m not going to force you, if you’d rather not. There’s plenty of fairies who don’t. I… might’ve forgotten, a bit, of what makes our two nations so different.”
Oria shook her head. “We can think about all of that later. Let’s just focus on finding that woman and delivering these letters. We’ve still got to find your parents, too, then we can consider everything else.”