Private Tales Once upon a time

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane landed on the porch of the largest building that resided on the snails back with wide eyes. Like every elvish child she had dreamed of attending the great Tea Party. She had thought about what she would say to the Mage and the Hatter, how she would curtsey to the Lost Princess and discuss things like Wuffletumps and Bingwazzles. Never did she think that she would get the chance though. Tentatively she put a hand on the door knob and entered.

The music was louder inside than it was out and it was a struggle to fit through the frame with her wings even tightly pressed against her form.

"E-excuse me?" she asked quietly. The Princess, like in the stories, was sat at the head of the table clapping her hands as the mage made tea dance through the air. All of them turned to look at the newcomer.

"Join us!"

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie watched the flying elf overhead. She gained enough altitude to reach the top of the shell quickly. She seemed to be quite a nimble flyer, rather than a distance glider.

The head of the snail passed her by. Fynaurie shuddered at the sound of that one big, slimy foot moving across the ground.

"Gross," she muttered. She took a running jump and managed to clatter into the platform around the lowest level of the shell. She scrambled to pull herself up.

Fynaurie tilted her head back and looked at the stairs with trepidation. She was out of breath, but managed to save some of it for swearing every other step until she reached the top. The snail was slowly turning into a road through the woods. The canopy was far above the snail's shell.

She stepped through the door and barely even looked at the table.

"I thought...we were...a team..." She huffed at Caliane. There had been no mention of being a team whatsoever.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane was sat amongst the party-goers when the Sky Elf walked in. She raised a delicate brow at the irritated and bitten off words and gave the other woman a slightly irritated frown.

"Now you want to be a team? You dismissed the Travellers missing back in the forest, ignored my questions, refused to even give me your name and then wanted me to parade off my wings like some circus act-!" her voice raised slightly at the tail end of the sentence. She puffed out her cheeks and scowled at her for a moment more before seeming to realise she was in company.

"Apologies, Princess, for my outburst. You see... we have travelled a long way, from another world."

 

[Fynaurie]

"Wot?" went Fynaurie. She was knocked back by each and every one of Caliane's comments. The 'another world' line was the body blow to finish it off.

She stood on the floor before the party. Fynaurie twisting her heel to draw a semicircle on the door with her two.

"I thought your wings were beautiful," she muttered quietly, looking at the floor.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

The fire from her wings began to ebb as she got her anger under control.

"Thank you," Caliane cleared her throat a little, unsure of how to deal with the elf now she looked so abashed and ashamed of what she had said. Perhaps she was young and simply didn't realise how things came across. With a small sigh the red-head glanced over to the tea party still going on, the members seemingly unconcerned about their newcomers little drama.

"I think we're in the book," she explained.

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie sighed. There wasn't much visible through the windows, but she still had a sense of the snail moving through the forests.

"We can't be in a book," she said, approaching the table. There was not much conviction to her voice.

They were, after all, riding a giant snail. Fynaurie didn't have her glaive, just a knife at her belt. It didn't feel like enough to pretect her from an entire book's worth of fairy stories.

Elven stories rarely, very rarely, had happy endings.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"Oh but you are my dears!" it was the pretty woman with white hair at the head of the table who spoke. A plastic smile was plastered over her face and a tiny crown sat atop the waterfall of waves that ended at the floor. Caliane grimaced a little. The Princess in the books had lost her mind after being cursed, she wasn't sure it was a good thing it was she who was agreeing with her.

"It makes the most logical sense," the turtle in the top hat nodded slowly. "Tell us, how does the tea party end?"

Caliane tried to keep the grimace of her face. If she remembered correctly it involved snail stew and a bloody massacre.

 

[Fynaurie]

"The most sense..." Fynaurie muttered. Most in this case was the operative word. It didn't make sense, they were simply short on sensible answers. The idea that these people knew they were in some magical fucking book didn't sit right with her either.

"Wait!" went Fynaurie sharply. "Did anyone else come this way?" she asked. If the entire camp had vanished then they must have been here too. Probably. She wasn't about to go guessing how this magic worked.

"Oh yes we've seen lots of people. Can you describe them?" replied the turtle.

"Er...confused?"

"There were some folk who rudely turned down our invitation to join us for dinner. Dressed in bright colours?"

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"That'll be the Travelling People," Caliane grimaced. She hoped they were okay, these woods had never been pleasant places in the books even for the heroes who managed to escape them. With a long, painful sigh Caliane got to her feet and set the little chipped teacup down on the table. Her eyes were on Fyn now.

"We need to go out and find them, they'll be worse off on their own," at least with two elves who knew the stories they might fare a little better.

 

[Fynaurie]

"Oh no no no, you can't do that!" declared the woman at the end of the table. She sat bolt upright, turning her head sharply from side to side.

"Why?" asked Fynaurie. She was already worried they were about to be prisoners.

"Everyone knows it is not safe to travel through this forest except by snail!"

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"There are people... people from our world who are not travelling that way who might be in danger. We need to get them home."

Caliane didn't particularly want to go wondering off through the forests either but it was the right thing to do. Her moral compass never wavered from its Northern point, even if it meant her own death. She had proven that over and over the past few months she had spent outside of Thyasari.

Her wings shuffled and she began to make her way to the door.

"Come on, we have to get going."

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie wasn't built for leadership. Her Squadron commanders had made that abundantly clear time and again. She was far more enamoured with her position - one of the elite dragoons - than she was attached to the responsibilities that came with the role.

Their people had remained isolated for many years, keeping their lands safe, leaving plenty of food for the rohk. Fynaurie liked the independence of scouting beyond their outer towers, the wind in her hair.

She followed the winged elf out of the tea party. Fynaurie paused as she reminded herself that this wall was built into the pearlescent shell of a snail.

"You know can bloody fly back," she said, looking through the deep, dark woods to the opening the snail had gone through. It seemed slow, but that single foot had propelled them quite deep already.

Of course, the ending was never pleasant for the snail either. Betrayal and deceit. Consistent themes for elven stories passed down by word of mouth when very real faeries had been a danger.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"How else would we get back?"

Caliane raised an eyebrow at the other elf and looked at her as though she had just spoken in tongues. To not fly for an Avariel was like for a fish to not be able to swim. Pushing open the doors once more so they stood on the tiny little balcony of the snails shell she spread her wings. In the darkness they began to glow with that white fire once more, bringing light to the shadow.

"Usually, I have to tell people to try and not throw up but as you are a flyer already..." Cali shrugged and grabbed the other woman's hand before she could protest, hurling her close and launching them off the edge of the shell into the darkness.

 

[Fynaurie]

"When we get back, I'm going to have Vaxor carry you on his talons without saying anything first!" she huffed. "Except he'd forget you weren't food and bite off your head."

It was an idle threat and she was glad not to be left on her own. Glad not to be walking back. There was truth in what she had said. The rohk were intelligent, but their minds did not work like an elf's.

There was movement below. Fynaurie couldn't hell but look. There were almost indistinct shapes in the shadows. They only seemed to take form when she studied them carefully. She decided that was her night vision adapting.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"Quit complaining, do you know how many people want to be in the position you're in right now?" Caliane glanced down at the top of the girls snowy head and then shook her head, returning her keen gaze to the way ahead. Despite it being dark, much like a bird of prey, Avariel eyes were incredibly sharp. The figures she could make out below were too large to be humans so she sped on, the white blaze of her wings leaving an imprint behind her.

"What is your name anyway?"

 

[Fynaurie]

"Yeah, but those people don't spend all their time flying anyway," she replied. "And its Fynaurie, fifth dragoon squadron," she added proudly.

What Fynaurie didn't realise was that the shadows below were so formless because they were never drawn in the book. Only when they took shape in her mind did they take shape down on the forest floor.

"But I appreciate the lift now..." she hissed. She turned her eyes ahead of them. Fynaurie sighed with relief as they cleared the forest.

"Least its easy to follow the snail's trail back. Ick."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"Caliane, a pleasure to meet you," she wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not that they hadn't come across any people in the forest. Not finding them didn't necessarily mean they weren't still in it, probably in the bellies of some of the creatures they had just passed.

"Hey, look!" hope was restored as the view of a tiny spark of fire appeared ahead of them. Not many creatures here would start a fire, it was a very human thing to do at night. She hoped it meant they had found their wayward friends, even if she had no idea what to do once they had found them.

How did you get out of a book?

 

[Fynaurie]

"I see!" Fynaurie called back.

She wasn't certain she had been a pleasure to meet for Caliane just yet. Mostly she had been rather rude.

As they came down the group around the fire stood up and huddled together. Several brandished weapons. Fynaurie realised at least one of those weapons was a pan.

They were dressed in relatively bright colours for a group of human peasants. They had to be the caravan.

"Oh what fucking next? Flying elves who eat babies?"

"Don't remember any pictures of flying elves in the book!"

"You ain't ever looked at any book Marsh! Even the pictures!"

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane landed surprisingly lightly considering she was carrying a whole other person. She released Fyn the moment their feet touched down and then folded her wings tight against her back, glancing around the group of assembled Travelling Folk. Their comments, despite the situation, caused her to smile. It was nice in a weird way to be surrounded by something normal.

"We fell through your book, we're from your world. My name's Caliane and this is Fynaurie," her green eyes lifted from them to their surroundings as she tried to place where in the book they were. "Now we've found you I guess the question is how we get out of here."

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie immediately looked upwards. She hoped that perhaps above her she would see their own world - giant sized - above them. There was just a night sky. Stars twinkling far more brightly than they should. She silently chastised herself for even looking.

"Get to the end of the book?" offered Fynaurie.

She winced. Less than a second after catching herself doing something foolish her mouth continued without checking in with her. It was why she was frequently placed on the less glamorous duties the dragoons had to offer.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

"That... might not be a bad idea," Caliane said thoughtfully, her fingers brushing over her jaw and chin as she tried to remember what stories had come after the Tea Party on the Snail.

"Apart from the fact it is more likely we die the further on we go!" one of the travellers exclaimed. There was a series of raised voices giving similar sentiments.

"It's that or we stay in here forever, unless anyone else has another idea?" Cali raised a brow and looked around. The Travelling People all cast their eyes down or avoided her eyes awkwardly.

 

[Fynaurie]

"Really? I mean...yes," went Fynaurie. She took a step closer to Caliane. As if they were some kind of team here to rescue them.

Fynaurie certainly looked as if he belonged to something. They were markings on her thick leathers to denote Squadron and rank. Not that anyone would know what they meant. She was diminutive, without her glaive or rohk, but she tried to stand a little taller.

"Anyone of you...actually read the book to know what was on the next page?" Fynaurie asked.

A small boy wearing bright red trousers raised his hand.

"It's the talking flowers.."

"Sounds nice enough," started Fynaurie.

"An'a weeds that eat folk."

"Oh."

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

But they had arrived in the flowers, hadn't they? God were they going backwards, going further into the book? Fyn must have opened it closer to the end of the book than the Travelling Folk had. Cali sighed and ran a hand through her thick locks. Well at least they knew their way there it was just... back through the terrifying forest.

"Let's stay here for tonight," Caliane nodded at the group as if they had set up the camp on her orders. It would be safer to travel with at least a little light, things were always worse at night in children's nightmares and that's what fairytales were really.

She began to walk around the clearing and carefully set a series of small fires to protect the camp and illuminate more of the space. Shadows were always bad.

 

[Fynaurie]

It struck Fynaurie then they they had started to take on some responsibility for these people. Her people were quite insular, they looked after their own interests first.

And no one - absolutely no one - entrusted Fynaurie with too much responsibility.

Shit

Fynaurie dropped to her haunches and checked what she had. There was a short curved blade against her back. More for hacking vines and undergrowth than a weapon. The small knife in her boost was for cutting loose straps in an emergency, the blade only a few inches long.

There was a tinder box, a full waterskin, some entirely irrelevant maps, and some dried meat. She tore that into pieces and sought out the children to give some away.

"You want some?" she asked Caliane. Flying was tiring.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane had just sat down with a tired sigh when Fyn appeared beside her with food. Her stomach rumbled loudly and with a smile of gratitude she took the offered jerky and began to chew on it in tiny bites. She was watching the Travelling Folk with interest; the way the mothers fussed about the children who ran from the women to the men who scorned them for making such a racket.

"Humans are odd," she proclaimed quietly. Cali's people much like Fyn's were focused on themselves. The Avariel had gone so far with it that they had sealed themselves away for the past two Ages and left the rest of the world to it. Her wings shuffled and the white feathers reflected the firelight.