Chapter 165: Extras #8

=::= Willow's PoV =::=

Even after being here ten months, I still marvelled sometimes at just how big this castle was. It seemed to go on forever in every direction, including up. From down in the courtyard, the north tower stretched up so high you'd think the top was above the clouds.

Its vast size made it an easy place to live without anybody knowing I was here. Though I did have some advantages on that front. For one thing being three and an eighth inches tall made it fairly easy to hide. And being able to turn invisible made it easy to hide in plain sight.

That might have made it a lonely place for me, but I was used to being alone. Even back on Earth with my parents' troop, surrounded by dozens of siblings and hundreds of other pixies, I was almost always alone. I was shunned by pretty much everyone except my Ma and Ba. They were the only ones who were nice to me, but with over four dozen other children around they only had so much time for me.

Ironically I had more friends here than I did back home. There were only two of them, but that was still two more than I ever had before. And both of them were fae, which wasn't that big a surprise really. I was the only pixie around for dozens of leagues.

My fae friends also helped me stay undetected, which was fairly easy for them since they were part of the noble family who owned the castle. Elise let me have the bottom drawer of the dresser in her huge bedroom, and with a bit of magic I made a hole in the back of the dresser to give me access. I also had small holes in the stonework above her bedroom door and next to her window, so I could enter and leave her room and the castle any time I wanted.

This morning I flew lazily down the huge hallway, staying up near the ceiling where I was well above the height of even the tallest fae. And I kept myself invisible. Apart from my two friends, I couldn't let anyone else know I was here.

Lady Maeve Brádaigh, matriarch and leader of Clann Brádaigh, did not like having pixies in her castle. Apparently that was thanks to my Ma and Ba causing trouble several decades ago, when they spent some time here before they moved to Earth.

The halls weren't busy, it was still early yet. At only an hour past sunrise it was mostly staff and servants up and about. And I was in the wing where the important fae lived, they didn't tend to get up till about now.

The door to my left opened and I smiled as one of my friends emerged. I dipped down and settled on her shoulder as I became visible.

"Good morning Saoirse!" I greeted her as I grabbed a handful of her long blonde hair to steady myself.

She smiled, "Good morning Willow. I'm on my way to meet my parents for breakfast."

I nodded, "Yeah I figured. I just wanted to say hi before you disappeared into Maeve's part of the castle."

The tall young fae gave me a sad smile, "Are you missing Elise already? She can't have been gone more than an hour yet."

That brought a blush to my cheeks as I confessed, "I slept in this morning, so I didn't get the chance to say goodbye. And it's the first time she's gone back to Earth since she brought me here? It's the first morning she wasn't here when I woke up."

I never did find out exactly why she'd returned to the human world that day last July. She said something about seeing a couple humans, and I got the feeling maybe the meeting didn't go well, or something about it made her sad. She didn't like to talk about it though, so I never asked for more details.

Not that it mattered. What did matter was her being on Earth that day meant that the two of us were in the right place to meet each other. We became friends almost right away, and that night she smuggled me here to Otherworld.

My Ma and Ba often told stories of Otherworld, so did some of the older pixies in our troop. They made it sound like a bad place though. They talked about how there was no internet and no anime, no maple syrup and no hard lemonade, as if those were the most important things in the world.

They were wrong though. About the syrup and lemonade at least. Lady Tegan and her wives had the lemonade imported for them, and there was enough of it stockpiled in the castle cellars that nobody noticed when a bottle went missing now and then.

And way back before I was even born Lady Tegan had a bunch of sugar maple saplings brought over and planted here. Now there was a large stand of them growing alongside the forest to the west, and every spring they were tapped for their sap. Lady Maeve's estate was the sole source of fae-grown maple syrup in all Otherworld, and it was ten times better than the Earth stuff.

For that matter I wouldn't be at all surprised if some enterprising fae alchemist was hard at work trying to decode the mysteries of the hard lemonade. Perhaps we weren't far off from enjoying fae-brewed fizzy lemonade made with Brádaigh estate-grown lemons.

Saoirse sounded sympathetic as she said, "I'm sorry Will. You know Elise won't be gone long right? She'll probably be back home at dusk."

"Yeah I know," I sighed. "I just wish I could have seen her off this morning."

She gave me an apologetic look and said, "I'd invite you to stay with me but I'm off to have breakfast with my folks. And you know how my mom is..."

I nodded. My wings fluttered as I rose up off her shoulder. "I'll go buzz around the kitchens and find myself some breakfast. Can I meet up with you after?"

"Of course," she smiled. "I'm supposed to do sword training this morning, so I'll be in the courtyard. Or you can catch me back here first, I'll have to return to my room to get changed before the lessons."

"Thanks Saoirse," I said. I made myself invisible again as I watched the tall blonde fae turn and head for her parents' private chambers. I knew better than to sneak along after her. Lady Maeve had some enchantments around her private part of the castle that would alert her if anyone invisible tried sneaking in. I was positive that was thanks to my Ma and Ba as well.

So I flew alone and invisible in the other direction, and made my way down to the kitchens. If I were back home I'd be out hunting for breakfast. And with so many other pixies around, it wasn't easy to get a good meal. Here, there was all sorts of game to be had and it tasted way better than the food on Earth. But I was feeling lazy and I missed Elise, so rather than hunt up something healthy I decided to just spoil myself with some comfort food.

The kitchen was crowded and busy, it was almost like an obstacle course as I swerved this way and that to avoid the various staff all rushing about doing their thing.

I spotted my quarry on a high shelf, and drew my sword as I darted in for the attack. A moment later I had a large chunk of candied fruit impaled on the end of my katana, and I extended my invisibility to envelop my prize before anyone noticed it floating off on its own.

Back on Earth I never used to wear my sword around all the time, nobody did. Only the guards were armed, and even they only wore their swords while on duty. I started wearing my blade constantly about a month after moving here, when I very nearly became lunch for a hawk while I was flying around outside the castle.

That near-miss reminded me of something my parents told me that hadn't really sunk in before. On Earth, none of the larger animals had yet figured out they could eat us. Here, pixies were very much on the menu for a variety of beasts.

As I started to fly off with my meal safely skewered on the end of my sword, I spotted a small pitcher of maple syrup being carried out of the kitchen on a tray of food. Along with the syrup were platters of bacon and pancakes. It was all probably on its way to Lady Maeve's private dining room, but I chased after it.

Still invisible, I dove for the pitcher of syrup. I pulled up at the last second then settled down gently, just low enough to dunk my piece of crystallized fruit in the sweet sticky nectar. The fae maid carrying the tray hadn't noticed anything, she was paying attention to the hall around her rather than staring at the food she was carrying.

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With my breakfast ready, I launched myself up and away before the maid crossed the threshold into the warded part of the castle.

Then I flew into the study and settled down ontop of a bookcase to enjoy my meal in private.

About an hour and a half later I was sitting perched atop the doorframe to Saoirse's bedroom, waiting for for my friend to return from her morning meal. She was a little overdue and I worried I'd missed her. Or that there was a change of plan and she wouldn't be coming back this way after all.

I was just getting ready to go look for her when I heard her voice, and to my surprise I heard Elise's voice too. A moment later the pair of them rounded the corner together and came into view.

"Hi Willow!" Elise waved as soon as she spotted me.

I was still invisible, but she could see me thanks to my aura.

I dashed over and landed on my best friend's shoulder, becoming visible in the process. I was grinning and in my excitement my words tumbled out all at once. "I'm glad you're home how was the trip what happened is everything ok why'd you come back so soon?"

Elise smiled, "I'm fine, don't worry! Let's get out of the hall so we can talk without someone seeing you, silly pixie!"

Saoirse's huge bedroom was set up like Elise's. It had a high ceiling, thick carpets on the floor and decorative tapestries on the walls. A large fireplace was set into the wall opposite the enormous poster bed. There was a big heavy wood wardrobe and dresser in one corner, and a desk and chair in the opposite corner. And on the outer wall was a tall narrow window, with a small table beneath. A pair of big padded chairs were positioned on either side of the table.

The windows were glazed, but fae used hand-blown glass which was never as clear as the stuff humans came up with using their technology, so you couldn't get a good view through it. Fortunately the weather here was nice most of the year, so they tended to just leave the windows open.

Elise flopped on the foot of the large bed and lay on her side, Saoirse sat at the head of the bed with pillows at her back, and I settled crosslegged on the blankets between them.

Once everyone was comfy I looked at my best friend and asked, "So spill! What happened on Earth, why'd you come back so soon?"

I had a feeling she'd already been through the story once with Saoirse, but perhaps not in full detail. She grimaced as she explained how it was actually terribly boring, that the Duma on Earth wasn't a hill at all but they had to dig under a field to find it.

Then she described how the humans would catalog little tiny flecks of dirt, putting each one in its own little protective baggie as if it was a precious gem or something. She had both me and Saoirse giggling as she described the reverence and respect the humans gave to each little bit of brown and grey muck they'd gathered from the soil.

Elise went on to explain how she got bored and tried to do some exploring. She told us about the locked antique cars, then the locked cabinets she found in a tent. That's where the story took a turn for the scary, as she described the big angry human who sort of cornered her in there, and how he took up a shovel as if it was a club or war hammer.

The grins vanished from my and Saoirse's faces and I asked nervously, "So what happened? He didn't try to attack you did he? What did you do, you were unarmed right?"

The tall blonde fae added, "Why didn't you mention that to mom or Tegan at breakfast? Or did you already tell Tegan before you left Earth?"

Elise shrugged, "The human didn't really do anything. He acted threatening, and I'm sure he was trying to scare me? But he didn't actually say or do anything to hurt me."

She added, "And yeah Will, I was unarmed. If he had tried anything the only thing I could have done was scream for my mom? She'd have... I don't know what she'd have done. But I don't think it would have gone well for the human. According to the stories, mom can get kind of 'extremely violent' when people threaten her family."

"What's she done that's 'extremely violent'?" I asked.

Saoirse looked at me and said, "Before I was born there was a mage Knight of the Realm here, who was a real jerk. He put my parents in the dungeon and told Tegan he was going to kill them along with Kelly and Keira? They were still finding bits of that guy's bones in the courtyard cobblestones when I was in my twenties."

"Holy crap!" I gasped. It was hard to picture Lady Tegan being such a violent killer. Not that I actually knew her personally, but all the times I'd seen her she seemed to be a happy, friendly, peaceful person.

There were a few quiet moments, then Elise finished her story.

After the scary encounter she decided she'd had enough of Earth and the humans. The professor in charge of the site offered to take Elise and her mom out for breakfast or to tour the area, but Elise just wanted to come straight back home. And since they were at a Duma, Lady Tegan was able to bring them back immediately. They were only on Earth for less than an hour, and got home in time to join Saoirse and her parents for breakfast.

With the story concluded, Saoirse commented, "You really should mention that stuff about the human guy to your mom, Elise. That's exactly why my mom didn't want me to go with you, you know? Since the humans went public about us last year there's been lots of stories like that. Even though it's supposed to be peaceful and friendly, they say some humans don't like us and want to hurt us or worse."

"I know," my purple-haired friend sighed. "I just didn't want to cause any trouble, and like I said he never actually did anything. I warned the professor about him, just in case? But I don't want to make a fuss. I'm ok, I'm home and I'm safe, so I don't think it's a big deal."

I was quiet again for a few moments, then finally suggested "Maybe you two should start learning some fighting spells? Like defensive, offensive magic? So you can protect yourselves even if you're not armed."

"We will," Saoirse replied. "Both mom and captain Gaelen say we're too young right now though."

Elise grinned, "You know there's a book full of those spells in the study? It wouldn't hurt for us to have a look through it. Maybe we can pick up a few things?"

The tall blonde rolled her eyes, "Unless you've suddenly got your mom's magic talent it'll take a lot more than just reading a book to learn those spells El. And anyways, we're supposed to be getting ready for sword practice now, remember?"

"I know," my best friend sighed. "Still, it won't hurt to have a look at that stuff. After practice I think I'll visit the study and find myself some reading material."

The three of us got up, and I accompanied Elise back to her room as she went to get changed for her training session. The rest of the morning was spent doing sword training in the courtyard.

Elise and Saoirse had a couple of the soldiers instructing them, and I stayed invisible and did some sword training and practice by myself. Training alone was sort of like being back at home, except I wasn't really alone anymore. I was with my friends, and I was happy.

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