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9/16/04

Somehow, even the grandeur of Niagara Falls could not compare to this. As Simon looked up at the mountains towering above him he felt a sense of awe he had never experienced before in his life. They were simply breathtaking. Giant slabs of stone piled against one another, stretching for what seemed like miles before the bright blue of clear skies appeared above them, so vertical and narrow it felt as if they would topple over at any moment.

He was familiar with the Blue Ridge Mountains, of course. Em had referred to those as “lousy hills. If you want to see real mountains, go to the Canadian Rockies.” So he had. And she was right. The mountains of Virginia were nothing more than hills compared to this. Speckled gray rock rose to juts and points, occasionally broken by small lines of trees or a winding road. It was simply amazing.

This was to be Simon’s last stop. He had canvassed the whole of the continent, from sea to shining sea, and had saved this one place Em spoke so fondly of for last. He glanced down at the map he’d ferreted away from the visitor’s center. Banff National Park. The resort where he was staying was not far, with tour buses running frequently, so he was free to spend as much time as he wanted in the wilderness.

He chose a route well outside the cleared paths. Not only did he want to avoid human detection, he wanted to avoid all traces of humanity. He’d gone from cities to towns to rolling countryside, traveled by boat, car, truck, and airplane, and he now knew it for certain: he much preferred areas of untainted wilderness. As pretty as blinking city light might be, they could never compare with the splendor provided by nature. The human realm was no place for feien. They ought to be out in the wild among the trees and streams and animals.

Of course, Simon knew not to view animals too lightly. Several near-disasters with dogs and cats had taught him that. An owl or hawk could snatch him right out of the air and make quick work of his tiny body. (Though he was taller than most every other feien, he was still no more than a small animal to a predator.)

Since he could hardly carry the map with him, he plotted his path based on several indicated landmarks and threw the map away. It might have served as a shield in a pinch, but Simon had something better. He took several nearby grasses and leaves and knotted them together into long chains. He then tied the chains of foliage around his body, mindful not to dislodge the emergency transponder hanging from his waist on a rubber band. He augmented this odd vestment with twigs in some places and was finally ready to set out. Crude but effective camouflage.

He followed first a small stream that meandered through the woods. The water was cool against his feet and small fishes and insects swam about him, curious. The trees of the forest provided a comfortable cool shade against the sun. After perhaps half an hour, the stream joined another, and at this point he turned sharply west. The ground rose steeply and the trees thinned. It was perhaps another half an hour, judging by the lengthening of shadows, and he reached a magnificent cliff. A river below had borne down through the rocks over thousands of years, forming a small valley which afforded a most wonderful view of the undeveloped area. Simon sat to rest here, reveling in the sight.

Of course, his joy was short-lived. Two boats from a local rafting company, each laden down with yellow-vested and helmeted tourists, came barreling down the river rapids. Simon frowned at them a moment before standing to leave.

He started to continue back along the way he had come when a thought struck him. Looking up at the cliff above him, he wondered how far up it he might fly. Certainly he could make his way back down later if he wanted to, and the jaggedy rocks provided plenty of small outcroppings big enough for him to rest on. Freeing himself of his twigs and leave, he set off up the mountainside.

Had Simon not been an air feien he might have been upset by his course of action. The rock face above was dizzying, the ground below more so as trees and bushes shrank into mere dots of color. Only the feeling of the air around him buoyed him along. He felt safe in the air.

Every so often, he would stop to rest a moment and mark his progress. Unlike human climbers, who had to carefully test each hand and foothold, Simon bypassed all obstacles and flew. Still, it took him quite some time to make his way a decent distance up the mountainside. His timing was excellent: the sun was just passing the peak when he started and continued to move in that direction, keeping him shady. He rather preferred dark places to bright ones. Medium light was best, but if he had to pick, then dark over light.

He came to rest on a small ledge softened by rain about halfway up. This, he decided, was far enough. As enticing as a journey all the way to the top might be, it was rather too much. If he went all the way up he would be too exhausted to return without his wings giving way and leaving him to the mercy of the rocks below. Furthermore, however romantic he was, he wanted to get back to the resort before nightfall. He was no fool. It was much safer there without the predators and with the benefits of food and shelter. Perhaps someday he would establish a feien colony in the wilderness, but that day was not today, and certainly not without the aid of other feien and in unfamiliar territory such as this.

The view from the ledge was, of course, beyond fantastic. Speckled gray, white, and black mountains cut jagged profiles against the deep blue sky. Below, the dark line of the shadowed river cut through the trees. Wind hissed across Simon’s eyes. Perfection.

Simon sighed and slid back against the rock. He would stay here a bit longer, at least, but soon he would have to start heading back. The sheer height of the mountains meant it grew dark early in the many crevasses formed by the range.Unlike Corvus, he could not see in the dark.

Far to the north he heard the cry of a bird. He crawled on his knees in that direction, scanning the air for sign of any prey, but could make nothing out. Since that was to be expected (there was a reason he wore glasses) he decided instead to sit back and try to see if he could sense the bird’s location. It was the sort of thing Corvus and Yasha had tried to teach him. While he was not particularly good at it, it made sense to try.

What he felt surprised him. No sign of the bird -- that was nothing more than a pipe dream, really -- but there was some sort of... energy? in the rocks above. Not far above, either. The next ledge up.

Curious, Simon stood and stretched out a moment before launching into the air once more and journeying three feet further up. His eyes went wide. There was a cave here! A very small cave, really, no more than eight inches high, but a cave! It stretched back into darkness Simon could not see.

A chill instantly entered his bones. Was this a bird’s nest? Yet there were no signs of any bird droppings or nest materials. Certainly no land creature could exist at this height. Perhaps it was just a cavity carved out by the elements, a random molding of the earth? But what was this energy he felt? Simon landed and bent over to take a closer look.

At once, something dark came flying at him and he stumbled back, nearly off the edge of the cliff. Only the fact that the projectile knocked him to the ground and pinned him there prevented him from flying off the edge. Unfortunately, while he himself did not fall, his glasses were knocked clean off his face and went whistling to the ground below.

“A VISITOR!”

This was certainly no bird. This was certainly no animal. Simon gasped and nearly shrieked in surprise. From the moving blob it look like-- but surely not--

“You have come to visit Yanvir, yeeesss?” continued the voice. It was high in pitch, squeaky even, but identifiably male. The words were spoken so quickly they nearly ran together and the speaker seemed to have a peculiar sort of accent.

“What? Who? My glasses!” Simon managed, horror on his face.

“Grasses? No no no, Yanvir has no grasses. Grasses are down below. You want go down below? Yanvir put you there. Okay, ready?”

“NO!” Simon cried. The last thing he wanted to do was to follow his glasses on their trip off the ledge. Surely he would activate his flight magic and save himself, but not worth the risk at all.

“Okay, then, you come inside?” the excited voice prattered on. “Yanvir not have guest LONG time, but he here to solve your problems for a price! Yes he is!”

The weight lifted off Simon’s chest. A moment later the air feien stood, reaching instinctively to his now-bare face, and blinked.

From the vague silhouette, whatever was in front of him looked damned near like a feien. The form was hard to make out, as it was mostly black in color and blended into the cave entrance behind, but it was about the right size, seemed humanoid enough in basic shape with the addition of wings, and was talking. Furthermore, it was gesturing wildly at Simon.

“Come come come! Yanvir not stand outside all day long! Come inside!” The shape scampered into the cave entrance, going to all fours in the process.

“Wait!” said Simon. He was reluctant to follow this strange creature into what was presumably its lair. “What are you?”

There was a pause, then the noise of the creature scampering back. “What, you blind? Yanvir ish feien! Oh! You come to Yanvir to stop blindness? That biiiig request indeed, but not to big for the Great Yanvir!”

“You’re a feien!?” Simon knew enough of feien history to know that made no sense. “But how! They’re all dead! Or did Corvus summon you? But then how did you get all the way out here?”

The strange feien broke out into laughter. “Yanvir not dead! Yanvir live forever! Long as the rocks and the trees and the shadows! You is very silly for feien, you know? Want solve blindness or not?”

“I’m not blind,” corrected Simon. “Just hard of sight.”

Yanvir nodded solemnly. “Me make eyes soft for you. Come in! Come in!” He dashed back into the cave.

A feien? An immortal feien? Simon steadied himself and reached out for the wall to guide himself in. He had to be careful, for as Yanvir’s short form had no difficulty navigating the entrance, it was slightly harder for Simon, who was at least an inch too tall to move around with any degree of comfort and safety.

Yanvir’s excited laughter and babblings echoed through the miniature tunnel. “Yanvir great, oh yes, Yanvir greaaat,” he sang. “Yanvir know if wait long time, feien one day come!”

Simon felt something soft in the darkness in front of him. Cloth. He pushed it aside and ducked into a meagerly lit room. There were two orbs, one on either side, which glowed very faintly with magic. It was just barely enough for Simon to distinguish what looked like an open area filled with scraped. His toe kicked some hard and light and he looked down. The small white fragments at his feet looked like bone. The chill returned.

“Yanvir not have much to eat, but, you like mouse?”

It was then that Simon spotted a larger, conical-shaped piece of bone. A mouse skull. The bones were mouse bones. It was little consolation. “No, thank you.”

“Okay, now, we make deal!” The energetic form plopped down in the midst of a dark blue area on the floor. When Simon’s foot felt it he realized it was more cloth. A seating area. He sat, glad to not have to crouch and touch the ceiling any longer.

“So, you is wanting eyes soft then?”

Again, Simon said, “No, thank you. What are you doing up here?”

“What Yanvir doing? What Yanvir DOOINK!? Yanvir ish solving problems, that is what, of course! All feien in Yanvir’s lands come to Yanvir for help!”

“Lands? You rule an area with other feien?”

“What you mean, I rule area with otra feien? YANVIR IS LORD AND MASTER OF ALL THAT CAN BE SEEN FROM MOUNTAINS!” The little figure jumped so high he nearly scratched his head on the roof.

“Beg pardon,” said Simon, “but isn’t this a national park?”

“A hwuh?”

“Owned by the government?”

If Simon could have seen better, he would have seen Yanvir’s eyes go wide with shock. “No! Yanvir’s lands! No one take Yanvir’s land! Tell Guv and Mint get their own! This land, all land see from mountains, is belonging to Yanvir Pierre du Klausheim!”

“Yanvir what?”

Yanvir’s face now fell. “Yanvir Pierre du Klausheim!” he repeated, slightly quieter. His energy was quickly back. “What you mean, come seek Yanvir and not know Yanvir whole name!? All feien is knowing Yanvir Pierre du Klausheim! Yanvir Pierre du Klausheim is greatest and biggest of all feien!”

The last statement was dubious. Yanvir could not be more than six inches tall. Simon shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are.”

“HOW YOU CAN NOT KNOW YANVIR PIERRE DU KLAUSHEIM!?!?” Yanvir’s voice echoed quite loudly and he suddenly dropped back to the floor and took the cloth and folded it over his little head. “YANVIR IS SAVING ALL FEIEN AND IS MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD!”

“I thought Julius was the most powerful,” remarked Simon, surprised.

Now Yanvir was angry. “JULIE-FOOLIE NOT MOST POWERFUL! YANVIR MOST POWERFUL! Yanvir prove it! Yanvir make Julie-foolie merge with gemstone not want! Did biiiiig switcher! Made gem look like other it not! Julie-foolie make big a** of self and not notice and bond with anyway! Ahahaha! Ahaha!” He laughed like the Wicked Witch of the West in the middle of a bout of hiccups.

Simon just stared. What more could he do?

“You want mouse?” Yanvir asked for the second time, yanking a piece of raw haunch off a rotting carcass and waving it under Simon’s nose.

Simon doubled over, gagging. “No, no thank you!” he choked out, tears springing to the corners of his eyes. It reeked worse than anything Simon had ever smelled before. Yanvir placed it back with the rest of the carcass and the cave’s odor returned to normal.

“So, now, business,” said Yanvir. “You come to Yanvir to fix hard eyes. What you offer?”

Simon shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t come here to see you. I didn’t know you were here.”

“But...”

“I was just in the middle of a journey. I’ve traveled across the whole country,” Simon said.

“But... you no come see Yanvir the Great and Mighty and Munificent to solve problem? Fairies come see Yanvir solve problems for many, many years. Yanvir very famous and all feien know him. This because Yanvir most magical of all fairies and do anything, even bring back dead.”

Simon went to push his glasses up on his nose, only his glasses were not there. “Bring back dead?”

Yanvir rolled back. “Yep! Yanvir only feien who do this. Julie-foolie maybe can, but never want to. Me think he can’t and simply say it bad because very jealous of Yanvir, Yanvir being most powerful and all.”

Simon frowned. “But that’s not right. Corvus resurrected a gemstone. Clearly you are not the only feien with that sort of magic.”

“WHAAAAT!?!?” Yanvir leapt up and pounced on Simon, knocking the bigger feien to the floor again in a flash. “No! This not right! Yanvir only feien who ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER bring back dead! Ever!” Spittle hit Simon in the face.

Once again, Simon was at a loss for words. He wiped his face off with his hand. “Okay,” he said meekly.

“You lie! Say you liar!”

That Simon could not do. “But it’s the truth. Corvus brought back a gemstone before I left. I didn’t actually see him do it, but I was told.”

“Who this Corvus?” demanded Yanvir, trying to shake Simon. He was almost pitifully weak.

“Corvus is the summoner feien. He summoned me.”

At that Yanvir started to laugh. His laughter quickly subsided into gasps. “Make sense now. This because Yanvir make Corvus.” Yanvir smiled.

“I was told that Julius was responsible for creating Corvus, along with the High Council.”

“YANVIR IS HIGH COUNCIL!” screamed Yanvir, causing Simon to flinch away. He tried to shake the bigger feien some more. “Yanvir is high council!”

That would explain it, then. How Yanvir was still alive, how he might be able to reincarnate a gemstone, and all of his claims. The only confusing part was how this clearly deranged individual had gotten onto the Council in the first place. Then again, Yanvir said no one had come to visit him in some time. Perhaps the lack of contact with others drove him insane.

At long last, Yanvir crawled away from Simon and curled up in a little ball, pulling part of the cloth over him as he did. “Sleep now,” the little feien sighed. “Sleep now.”

“Wait,” said Simon, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He still had more questions to ask.

No response.

Simon sighed and wondered what to do now. Should he just leave Yanvir like this, living in this little cave? It was sadly tempting. Perhaps he could leave and come back? Would he be able to find the place again?

“Yanvir ees WAITING,” a little voice suddenly demanded.

“Huh? Oh. I was just thinking that if you’re going to sleep, I should probably leave.”

“What!? You leave Yanvir?” The little voice sounded close to tears. “No leave Yanvir! You Yanvir friend! No one come visit long time, but now finally visit! You stay, and later take Yanvir to see summoner. Okay?”

“Um, sure,” said Simon, leaning against the closest wall and frowning. “But he’s on the other side of the continent.”

Yanvir sat up and looked at Simon. “What that mean?”

Simon blinked. “He’s very, very far away. Just to get here from there took me a month.”

“A month?” Yanvir whined. “Where it at? What realm?”

“Realm? He’s in Virginia, in the United States.”

“ACK! ‘Ginia! That East America! That Julius’s! But okay, I know ‘Ginia. We go there now.”

Simon sighed. Poor, confused feien. “We can leave now, but it would take us at least two days if we can find the right flights...”

“Fly? Ahaha! You stupid!” said Yanvir. Simon bristled. He was many things, but stupid was not among them. “We not FLYYY, we PORT! So now, tell me where this place be. What be, maybe marker? There a marker for this place, yes?”

“A marker? What’s that? He lives in Roanoke, Virginia, in a house.”

“A maaaarker,” groaned Yanvir. “A fairy place. Maybe have a plant.”

“Oh, yes, there’s a plant. It’s the downstairs computer room. It’s the one I was summoned from.”

“Oh, really? That good,” Yanvir nodded. He scrambled back to Simon somewhat wearily. “Okay, I can find it. We go now.”

Simon opened his mouth to object, but too late. The cave around him abruptly disappeared, replaced instead by a surprisingly familiar sight.

The sunroom office. To one side sat Emperial’s desk and computer (presently unoccupied) and to the other, the feien fairy plant. Simon blinked. This made no sense. Surely he had not just gone from northwest Canada to the southeast United States?

“Simon!?” a voice from further within the house yelled. There was the sound of footsteps.

“Hm,” Yanvir said, looking around the room. “This is interesting.”

The heavy, furred gray curtain which divided the downstairs computer room from the rest of the house flew open. Djerod was standing there, pale and shaken. Simon quickly stood up.

“Admiral!”

“Simon! What the hell?” The Rhean moved a hand to his ear a moment. “No problems here, it’s Simon. Simon, what do you think you’re doing? You just tripped every alarm in the house! Who is--”

“GAAHHHHH! HUMAN!” screamed Yanvir, jumping off the side of the table. He landed out of sight on the hardwood floor below with a small crash. Simon just blinked, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he really had just crossed the whole of the continent in what seemed like the space of a millisecond.

“Simon!? Is Simon back?” came Emperial’s voice. She quickly thundered into sight behind Djerod. “Simon! You’re back!” Ducking under her shocked father’s arm, she pushed past her chair and picked Simon up, squeezing him gently.

“Hi, Emi,” Simon said, looking over to see if he could spot Yanvir. The entire room was one large blur.

“There was another one,” Djerod choked out, pointing to the now empty patch of floor. “He went under the table.”

“Another one?” Emperial asked.

“Yes, that’s Yanvir,” Simon said.

Emperial looked at Simon quizzically and knelt down, placing Simon on the floor beside her. She peered underneath the painted yellow dresser. Huddled in the corner was a tiny trembling ball of black. “Hello there. Are you quite alright?” The little ball did not move.

“Where is he?” asked Simon.

“Oh! You’re glasses are missing,” Emperial realized. “He’s in the very corner there.” She pointed helpfully.

Bending to fit, Simon stumbled over to Yanvir’s side. “This is my human bond, Emperial, and her father,” he explained.

“You never said anything about humans!” Yanvir said fearfully. He was huddled beneath small wings. Emperial looked curiously at Yanvir’s three tails, which twitched wildly (and which Simon had been unable to make out before now).

“Oh, it’s okay,” crooned Emperial. “Are you hungry? Tired? Cold? I can get you some food. We’re really quite nice here. There’s no need to be afraid! Come on out. We won’t hurt you.”

“It’s the truth,” Simon said, keeping a short distance away from the unpredictable little feien. “This is where I live, with these humans and the summoner, Corvus. Emi is Corvus’s bond, too.”

“Bruu,” went Yanvir.

“Oh, brother. Kancho, hand me those Reese’s Pieces on the desk?” There was some shuffling as the bag was passed down tot eh floor and Emperial removed a little handful. She stretched her hand underneath the dressed. “You want a bit of chocolate? A little piece of chocolate just perfect for a feien? Here, Simon, give him some chocolate.”

“I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” Simon mumbled, but took a piece anyway and carted it over to Yanvir’. “Here.” He held it out.

“What that?” Yanvir demanded.

“It’s chocolate. Food.” Simon hit it with his other hand so the hard shell cracked and peeled it open, revealing the peanut butter-flavored interior. Not technically chocolate, per se, but close enough. He scooped out a small finger and put it to his mouth. “Very good. See?” Certainly better than rotten mouse meat, anyway.

Yanvir looked at Simon suspiciously. He put a finger into the candy piece and tasted it. “Mm, this quite good.” He snatched the whole piece from Simon, rolled so he was sitting, and started digging in. The piece of candy was gone in mere moments.

“I have more,” said Emperial, “if you’ll just come out. Lots more!”

“Hmm,” said Yanvir, pondering.

“Wel, I’m certainly not staying under here any longer,” Simon said. It was dark and dusty and he had to stoop uncomfortably. He started moving back out.

“WAIT! You said you not leave Yanvir! You stay!”

This was quickly growing tiresome. “No, you come with me and go out. I can’t fit down here.”

“Chocolates!” Emperial added helpfully.

“How much chocolates?” asked Yanvir suspiciously. Emperial opened her hand to reveal a good dozen.

“And you can have them all,” she promised. “And we won’t hurt you. So come on out!”

Slowly, Yanvir crept forward. A relieved Simon followed behind. Once he reached the dresser’s edge, Yanvir stared at the hand full of chocolates and considered.

Simon, who had really had enough of this, solved the ancient’s dilemma. He placed one hand firmly on Yanvir’s back and pushed him out. Yanvir went tumbling into Em’s hand into the pile of candy.

Djerod leaned over to look at this newcomer. Black, with small curled wings, white skin visible on his face and chest, blue and orange hair, three tufted tails (two blue, one orange), and light green clawed hands with tiny batwings on the wrists. He opened his little mouth wide, revealing small fangs, and clamped down on a piece of chocolate. “Mmfgh!”

Emperial giggled. “You have to break the outside first.”

“Is Corvus around?” Simon asked.

“Back porch,” said Em, helping Yanvir to break the candy open and gorge himself.

“Yanvir come here meet Corvus!” said Yanvir between mouthfuls of food.

“I don’t understand, where did he come from and how did the two of you get here from northwest Canada?” Djerod asked. So they had been tracking Simon using the transponder all along. Simon frowned.

“He’s an immortal Ancient, or so he says. He also claims to be a member of the High Council.”

“YANVIR IS HIGH COUNCIL!”

“Yanvir is so cute,” Emperial grinned down at the little feien.

“He was somehow able to teleport to the fairy plant,” continued Simon.

Djerod frowned. If the plant constituted a security risk it would to be moved outside the house. He looked down at Yanvir once more, decided to leave that discussion for later, and quietly left the room.

Simon watched Djerod’s retreat curiously, ignoring the noises of Yanvir and Emperial. “I’m going to go see Corvus,” he announced, and made his way out.

There was a good deal to talk about, but first things first: he needed a new pair of glasses.

9/18/04

TODAY YANVIR IS USING COMPUTER AGIN AN PLAYING GAEMS!1111!!!!! IS NOT EASY TO HIT TWO KEYBOARD KEYS AT ONCE WHEN FAIRY, SO YANVIR USE CAPS LOCK AND NOT CARE. BUT MAKE GOOD DANCER1

FAIRY ON KEYBOARD MUST HOP KEY TO KEY, SO CALL DANCING

EMI SAY THERE DANCING GAME. REVOLUTION! YANVI IS LIKING REVOLUTION. YANVIR TRY LEAD REVOLUTION AND GET YELL AT BY BIGWIG FEIEN WHO IS NOT SO STRONG AND GREAT AS YANVIR, BUT HARD ARGUE WHEN THERE TWELVE OF THEM. YANVIR IS 13.

YANVIR NOW MAYBE GO PLAY OUTSIDE HEARD JULIE-FOOLIE IS HAVING SHOP MADE??? GO FIND JULIE-FOOLIE AND KEEL HIM BAD! THIS YANVIR WANT DO LONG TIME. U SEE JULIE U TELL YANVIR AND YANVIR KILL FOR YOU. THIS BECAUSE JULIE BAD PEST. YOU SEE.

ALSO YANVIR GO SHOP MAKE FEIEN GIVES HIM THINGS

BUT NOT TODAY BECAUSE PLAY GAME IN FUNNY WORDS CALL GAPINEES. MAKE THINGS GO DOWN, PUT SAME COLOR, THIS MAKE COMBO! YANVIR VERY GOOD AT! IF YOU WANT SEE YANVIR DANCE GAME, LEAVE CANDY THEN GO