“Amber, no one requested your presence. What are you doing by our circle? Go play somewhere else until the celebration is over.”
Taken aback by the harshness of the other faerie’s words, the young Earth fey fidgeted on the spot and try to cool the blush that had spread across her face. She knew that she wasn’t always the brightest flower in the patch, but no one was that mean to her about it. Perhaps she had simply pushed her luck too far, for it seemed she was far from welcome in the ring where her fellow fey were dancing in celebration of the coming summer. She decided to give it one last shot, just in case.
“Please, I promise I won’t bother anyone-“
“No. Go find another circle.”
Amber shrunk back from the irritated faerie and fluttered away, trying to keep her flight straight and the tears from leaking out. They treat me like I can’t do anything. Why can’t everyone just be friendly to everyone else?
Eventually, she felt that she was a safe enough distance away from the festivities to let out some emotion. She landed in a thick patch of grass and weeds and started stomping around. Best to let our her anger and bitterness here than in front of the others, who would undoubtedly start teasing her again.
She kicked pebbles and clenched her fists, she stomped and cried, and she even screamed once or twice. Eventually, slowly, the anger ebbed away and she just felt empty. She was certainly nice to everyone. So why were so many people mean to her? Amber couldn’t make any sense of it. Rather than keep up her worrying, she carefully settled into the tall stalks of grass and laid her palms on the solid earth. It was damp from the day’s mist, and cool to the touch now that the sun had gone down. She could hear the sounds of distant celebration from many a faerie ring, but pretended just to hear the music and not the chatter of fey. The little faerie scrunched up her eyes in an effort to keep pictures of the others out of her head. She didn’t want to think about the fun she was missing out on. Amber only wanted to listen to the music of the fey and relax with the soil and the plants that she loved so dearly.
Just as she had begun to achieve peace, it was broken. There was a loud, uneven noise that vibrated through the ground near to Amber. It grew increasingly louder, and the pebbles on the ground started to shake with its closeness.
Footsteps! It’s a human.
Amber rose from the ground and narrowed her eyes in the direction of the clumsy stomping around. How dare a human come and disturb her while she was just beginning to rest? She pouted in frustration and raised herself above the weeds to look for the offender.
And there he was. A little blond boy, no more than ten, was tromping through the grass chasing what appeared to be a ball.
Amber flew nearer and perched among the spidery branches of a bush nearby.
What a clumsy boy. He kept tripping over bumps in the ground before catching up with his toy, and then throwing it away only to repeat the journey. And so rude! Did he have no consideration for her feelings? Or any other creature that might be resting on the ground? She would show him. She would take that ball right from under his nose and, being a mortal, he would never know what happened.
She fluttered closer, her caution coming more from instinct than from real fear. He couldn’t see her, so what was there to truly be afraid of?
As she watched, the boy tossed the ball in her direction. It curved over her head and landed near a tangle of bushes. Amber took her chance.
She darted over to ball and pushed it along the ground until it rolled into a web of branches and leaves. She kept pushing it until it was as far and deep as she could get it, and then covered it with leaves and berries.
“Ha! He’ll never dig this out.” Amber’s wings fluttered and a smug look rested on her face.
There came a rustling noise, and then Amber could hear the boy’s heavy breath as he panted from all his hard play. He stopped near the bush and crouched down. Eager eyes searched through the bushes, looking to win back the ball from nature’s grasp. Amber smirked.
All of the sudden, the boy spoke up. His voice was casual, as if he were speaking to a good friend.
“Excuse me, missus, but could you help me? I lost my toy.”
Amber’s eyes widened incredulously, and she scanned the outside wildly. Was there another human nearby? Who was he talking to?
“Excuse me, but I really need help. I can’t fit in there.” He implored again.
“M-me?” Amber stuttered, still disbelieving.
“Yes, silly. Who else could I be talking to? I think my ball fell over here. Could you please help me find it?” The boy’s voice was earnest, and his brown eyes were wide and hopeful. As angry as she had been earlier, Amber felt all her bitterness vanish. She just wasn’t the type to hold a grudge, especially to someone who was so nice. At the same time, she was frightened. She had heard stories of what children with the Sight did to faeries they caught.
“I-I… yes, I suppose I could help you look.” She said, pushing past her fear. This boy did not seem the type to harm a fly, let alone tear of a faerie’s wings. Amber pushed her way back through the branches to where she had hidden the boy’s ball. She was glad the child could not see her guilty blush as she uncovered the toy and pushed it out through the bushes and into the open air. At the edge of the leaves, she hesitated. Should she go out and expose herself to this little human who could see the fey?
Amber sighed. If she had gone this far to help the human, she might as well go out and meet him properly.
With a final shove, the ball rolled out into the open and the boy let out a squeal of delight to be reunited with it.
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” He beamed at her and tossed it up into the air. After it landed back in his arms, he squatted down and craned his neck so that his gaze was level with that of the faerie before him.
“My name is Sean. What’s yours?” His brown eyes were alight with curiosity. Though he spoke in a friendly and bold tone, Amber could tell he didn’t interact with faeries much. Why else would he look like he was holding back a thousand questions just behind his lips?
“I’m Amber. I’m a faerie.” She spoke the words slowly, as if the boy might not be able to understand her. She was pleased, at least, that the boy spoke Gaelic to her. At least they had that in common.
“Oh, I know. I know stories about faeries. And I see them in the fields. But I’ve never been so close to one. Well, one who didn’t fly away.”
Amber couldn’t help but take a liking to the boy before her, human or not. His simple innocence and kind demeanor were much preferred over the snappish fey that awaited her back home. She smiled at him, feeling her own friendly personality returning after being swept away by her anger earlier.
“Yes, we do get startled by humans sometimes. You would get scared too, if you were only one foot tall and some bumbling giant came tromping through the grass!” her words were serious, but the grin on her lips turned them into a light joke. Sean’s laughter bubbled out of him, and Amber laughed as well.
“You’re very nice, Amber.” He said.
“Thank you. You’re very sweet as well.” Her compliment made the little boy glow with pride, as if no one much complimented on a regular basis. Though Amber couldn’t think why not. He was a perfectly fine lad, as far as she could tell.
“Do you… do you think we could be friends?” Sean said, suddenly looking very shy.
“Do you think you could share that ball?” Amber asked with a sly grin, which grew when Sean gave her an enthusiastic nod.
“Come on, I’ve got others toys you can see too!” He said, and stood up so fast Amber had to jump backwards for fear of being knocked over. “This way!”
Amber flew after the little boy as he ran towards the far end of the field. It wasn’t like she had anything more pressing to do. She had a friend, and it was someone wouldn’t care how sharp her wits were. She had a friend.
Thaein Community Member 
|
|
