Welcome to Gaia! ::

There are probably a thousand ways someone can describe summer, but the single most descriptive word is sticky there is sticky as in homemade ice cream, that goes hand in hand with the hot months, there is sticky as in honey, that can be harvested, there is sticky as in cotton candy sold at the county fair and there was sticky as in sweat from which even the cool of night would not let you escape.

The dry heat that came with daylight was wished away on the evening breeze, yet even that mildly friendly caress did nothing to dry the moisture from her skin, but it was by far a more functional time of day to garden, when one wasn’t likely to get heat-stricken.

With Tiki Torches set out for light, citronella keeping the night fliers away, Trivii sank her spade into the soil that she had let soak with the hose for the last hour. She had put the pixies and the prince together painting her herb pots, and knew she only had about twenty minutes before war broke out, they were always fighting worse than siblings.

Sometimes learning about the history of the two races was almost worth the chaos of asking about it.

Talk about sticky. She smiled. Looking at Nell, “Vocabulary lesson darling… I am very vignette. A term used for more than just gardening.” She trailed into a hum half singing an old song under her breath, She tipped her vignette trumpet vine from its flimsy black container before loosening the roots and tamping it into the hole.

Completely oblivious Nell played in the shadows cast by torch light.

Sighing she settled her little version of a Faery House at the root of the vine just in time to hear a pot shatter.

Trivii was sleeping again. but Nell didn't mind. Her Mother appeared incapable of just enjoying the silence. Today's nap was on the recovered sofa in the den, which meant she could explore the room and entry hall.

Swirling in her shadows the wisp swung around the room, imagining faint sounds of chiming brass bells or the occasional whip of silk as she spun to the gentle tap and thrall of a fife player no-one could hear but her.

There was more still for her to see, she knew. The world did not end at the threshold or window pane! She wanted more.

Spotting the shadow clad gem, in her laps of the den, Allure halted, eying the sparkling red-orange of the carnelian cabochon.

Which seamed to have life all on its own it had to be magic.

Magic of the darkest sort.

The sepia toned Faery looked this way and that. What a prize his people would find if he were too....

Ducking back to her mother Nell tucked herself into the crook of Trivii's arm with an almost sigh, the shadows tapered and curled inward, clinging to the polished stone surface like a fog.

Stomping his foot, the prince almost fell from where he perched in the air, as the process had him folding his wings down for the moment. Startled he quickly righted himself and departed, embarrassed and pleased there had been no -one to see his error.

The last of the berries from August, Trivii stared into her freezer, before withdrawing the double bagged quart of raspberries. The Pixie menace was gone for the moment leaving her alone with Nell, a perfect chance to whip up a treat.

Nell drifted into an unoccupied corner of the counter to study her mother, the woman had obviously gone insane, muttering to herself.

Chuckling Trivii placed the delicate fruit in a bowl of warm water to defrost while she went rummaging for a couple large sauce-pans. Coming up successful she set them on the stove, starting water boiling in one she went hunting until she came up with a bag of rice, which she set aside. Returning to the berries the cat-girl pried open the freezer bags and broke off a small piece which started to crush and bleed about her hand as she dropped it in the warming water the liquid shifted into a vibrant pink. Rinsing her hand clean, she sighed as the scent began to permeate through the kitchen.

The wisp couldn't help herself as she drifted closer to rest in the fruit bowl.

Trivii laughed when she spotted the wisp. "Nelli its a shame you don't eat, I am hell on wheels in a kitchen." Shrugging she turned and measured rice into the water, stirring it carefully. She didn't really think that the wisp could understand her yet so she remembered out-loud. "When I was younger I ran a large household almost by myself for the Master and his Wife... preparing for parties, writing menus. Entertainment."

Shimmering slightly Nell drew in her shadows, what was mom talking about now?

Reducing the heat she glanced back at Nell and sighed. Not that any of it was important. She placed a cover on the rice and reclined against the counter for a moment of memory. "No need to worry Nell, I'm just a little homesick, it happens. I wonder about you though, who you were, who you'll be. You don't even know what I'm talking about do you?"

A brief flash of energy and vague sweep of shadowy tendrils was all the reply she could give her new mother, Nell had been someone once, a very long time ago.

Turning to stir the rice again she saw the moment of alertness in Nell and smiled. Moving quietly across the kitchen she pulled cream from the refrigerator and moved the sugar canister closer to the stove, she added the sugar first to keep the cream from curdling and then slowly stirred in cream in equal parts to the rice, watching over a long number of minutes as the starch from the rice thickened the cream. Finally removing it from the heat

Putting away the saucepan she hadn't needed, she pulled out a pretty glass bowl and layered some raspberries, some pudding, some raspberries, some pudding until all of both were in the dish. Smiling at the effect Trivii said "Yeah, I've still got it."

Wanting to see what her mother still had the wisp whirled forward to look in the bowl only to flop on top of it quickly stuck in the sticky suction of the pudding.

Turning to carry it to the refrigerator so it could set up, she blinked and blinked again. The set it down again and laughed, "Not yet Nell we can't eat it until its had a chance to cool and set up." Using a pair of tongs the cat-girl carefully pulled Nell free, still laughing she rinsed her off in the sink.

Part of having a home that was entirely her own that Trivii treasured most was the solitude when she wanted it and the energy that filled it from rafter to floorboards she was grateful. But there was a day meant for Thanksgiving where prayers we said and with them a blessing with good friends and laughter Thanks were said, that they could all be together.

On this day and this day alone, her hearth was empty and her kitchen was quiet. While the homes of others were bursting at the seams, it was just the cat girl and Carnelian... Give or take a Pixie or two.

Wrapped in a blanket she sipped her tea and watched the fog roll in beyond her window and knew with every bit of her soul that her family was out there, with no-one to protect them. Subject to the Mistresses wrath, extending a hand she flexed out her claws and watched the lightning arc from one finger to the next.

One day.. One day she would free them. Curling her claws into her palm, blood pooled as she renewed her vow, like she had every year on this day since she had fled. One day she would act, one day she would be passive no more. Extending her fingers again she breathed, sending her will out to the universe.

Ever the silent observer, Nell hovered in the background. This woman was different from the mother she knew.

A Quiet World

Sneaking was what shadows did best, and Nell though rather brilliantly colored for a Wisp, was still a Shadow. A memory and a bit of a lost soul captured in stone... Not just stone but in her case, Carnelian.

Like a child, mimicking a super spy the little wisp ducked down the hallway while her foster mother worked... who could possibly have fun in front of that glowing screen all day?

In a dance like flourish she pulled herself into a room at the end of the hall, it was little more than a storage room now, but it would be an office soon... whatever that was.

Nell liked the empty rooms, they had personality, like an old friend, even if they didn't talk to her..

What was that?

Another wisp? Approaching it she could see it was brightly colored with swirls of energy just beneath its polished surface, wrapped in shadows, it was just as curious of her as she was of it...

Moving forward she bumped into it and recoiled attempting to taste its aura with her own tendrils of darkness, and yet somehow she was rebuked!

Attempting the approach again she came from the side, and yet this new Wisp pushed her away again...

Greatly offended, Nell gathered up her shadows and ran at the other one, colliding with the new Wisp she felt something, give, and shatter! In the rain of white and silver there were shards on the ground and reflected brilliant red and orange back at her...

She had killed it! Horror struck Nell fled the room.