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"Impressive dive you did there, I would give it an eight out of ten" Kat lightly thumped him. Darren feigned pain in his arm and Kat laughed. She liked Darren. They had been working together for quite some time and he could always make her laugh. Kat grabbed another berry and Darren at the same time dragging him onto his feet. "It's late, we have to go" It took them a few minutes to fly to the largest oak tree in the forest. As they neared the entrance Darren stopped Kat. "Kat, there is something I have to tell you" Kat was taken aback by Darren's tone. She remained quiet and allowed him to continue. "I won't be with you on the next mission. The Queen has released me from my duties. I retire today" Darren nodded. Kat was excited and scared at the same time. Being alone meant that she was going to be sent among humans. You had to be a good warrior Fæ to be sent amongst humans. It was an honor few received. Kat asked Darren if she looked oki. He didn't reply, he just embraced her closely, kissed her forehead and then flew away. She watched him for a few seconds then proudly approached the two elven warriors who protected the entrance. They let her past. She flew through the huge trunk of the oak tree. The deeper into the tree Kat got the more nervous she became. She reached the main entrance where she would greet the queen. She stopped and took a deep breath. Folding her wings away gently Kat knocked on the door. A sweet voice called out for her to enter. Kat pushed the door open and walked through. "Please Kathryn, that is unnecessary. You can rise to your feet" Anne-Marie laughed and Kat noticed it sounded like small bells and the beautiful chirping of birds. "You are to serve the prophet" Anne-Marie said A stir went up amongst the fairy folk that were in the hall. A quick look from the Queen silenced them all. Kat was careful to keep her own reaction to herself. Anne-Marie spoke some more and then told Kat to see a Leprechaun by the name of Marc. He was to tell her the rest and more importantly how to get to the prophet. Kat bowed gracefully and then left. It took her a little while to find the Leprechaun. She had to ask several trees if they knew where he was. Kat discovered that Apple tree's were the most helpful. "Looking for me?" Kat looked up and found a Leprechaun sitting dappled across a tree branch. "Are you Marc?" Marc laughed and Kat joined him. She liked him already. Kat ignored the "little". "Yes," she replied calmly, alighting on the branch next to him. "That I would be." Marc grinned. "Then I suppose I should take you to her." "Her? The prophet is a woman?" "But of course. Why else would you be picked? As I'm sure you know, female warrior faeries are somewhat rare, and you're the best of them." Kat scowled. "Now, now," said Marc, placatingly. "I did not mean that you were picked merely because you are female. Only that you were selected over the other 4 male warrior faeries selected for this honour, for that reason." Kat's eyes narrowed. "Other four?" "There were five fae selected as good enough to take this position. You were chosen out of them because you were qualified, and Anne-Marie thought a female fae would startle the prophet less. Let's start walking, we have a way to go." The two settled on the ground, Kat concentrating and growing to the same size as the leprechaun standing beside her. She neatly folded back her wings, and Marc grinned. "Neat trick," he commented, leading the way. "Thank you," Kat replied as they walked through the forest. "'Anne-Marie'?" "The Regent Queen? Surely you met her." "Yes... but why...?" "Everyone knows that Mab is the queen." "Yes, of course - but Queen Mab has been missing for 2 and a half years now!" "The humans have her," commented Marc, casually. "But that doesn't mean she's not still alive. You, as every other fae sent into the human realms does, must keep your eyes open for signs of her." "The humans have stolen our Queen?" "Don't go spreading that around. You're only allowed to know because you're going to their realm, and you're needed to keep an eye on things. And *don't* let it distract you from your other job." "Just what *is* my other job?" "Didn't Anne-Marie explain it to you?" "She said that you would." Marc muttered under his breath. "Typical! Right, well... The prophet's name is Jade. She's about 16 and doesn't really know what to do with her gift. She sees it more as a curse, to tell you the truth. She has power, she doesn't know how to direct it, and there's people who realise and want to use her for their own purposes." "Right. So what do I do?" "You teach her, and you protect her. Help her to control the magick, and thwart the others who will try and use magick to control her. They're only human, so of course they have no idea what they're dealing with." "And what are they dealing with?" "The daughter of the Goddess." Kat drew in a sudden breath. "And does she know?" "Know? Of course not, how could she possibly know? She was raised as the daughter of a farmer and his wife, looking after chickens, pigs and cows. The power rose in her 3 years ago, and she managed to keep it a secret for two, but now it's spilling out. Her "father" thinks she's possessed, and soon the villagers will start calling her a witch. You have to convince her to leave. Take her to a monastery, perhaps, or into the wilderness, somewhere away from people unused to power. Hide her, teach her, protect her. That's your job." "Alone?" "Yes." "Right." Kat nodded her head in a determined manner. "Keeping out of sight?" "You may let the prophetess see you. She thinks she's going mad, so you'll have to convince her you're not an illusion." "Can do. Magickal attacks only?" "Oh no. Physical as well, I'm sure - but they will come later." "Ok. Does that cover everything?" "I believe so, yes." "Ok then. Where's the prophet?" Marc pointed. They had just reached the top of a hill, and nestled in the valley below, was a small village. "That's her village. She lives there." He pointed to a small farmhouse on the outskirts of the village. Kat smiled cheerfully, and unfolded her wings. "Thank you, Marc. I suppose this is goodbye?" "For the moment, yes," he replied. "But we'll meet again before this is over." Kat smiled. "I have no doubt about it. Now if you will excuse me, I have a prophetess and daughter of the Goddess to meet." Kat instantly shrunk back to her usual height of 2 and a half inches, stepped through the barrier of faerie and human realms, and flew towards the farmhouse. Marc watched her go, then turned and trudged back into the forest. *** Kat settled on one of the rough wooden beams that held the roof of the farmhouse up. She'd wriggled through the thatching, and was slightly tired from all the flying she'd done. Not that she hadn't enjoyed it, of course. The farmhouse was warm and cosy, with freshly baked bread on the table. Kat guessed that it was almost lunch time, and kept a sharp eye out for Jade, as she nibbled on a berry. A large matronly woman, whom Kat assumed was Jade's "mother", placed fresh churned butter on the table. Then she moved to the window and clanged a large bell. After a few moments, people began entering the house. Kat peeped at them as they moved to the table - an old man, two boys, and a girl. The boys were obviously true sons of the farmers, but Jade was something else. The second Kat laid eyes on her, she knew that there was no way Jade belonged to this family. She laughed along with them, took good-natured teasing from her "brothers", and teased them back, but she didn't look anything like them, really. Jade's skin was pale, where theirs was darkened by working in the sun, and whilst they all had dark hair, Jade's shone with a lustre that no mortal genes could produce. *That* was the daughter of the Goddess. Kat's only problem now lay in how to approach her. She nibbled on the end of one lock of hair as she thought. Obviously she couldn't just appear in front of the entire family. Jade would have to be left alone for at least a short while after lunch, decided Kat. She would approach her then. With her decision made, Kat settled down for a nap. When she awoke, Jade was alone, sitting by the stove, darning stockings. Deciding that this was the perfect opportunity, Kat righted herself, flew down, and alighted on the patch Jade was sewing on. Jade jumped up in astonishment dropping everything on the floor. She went to scream but the noise didn't come. She looked a bit surprised at that and stared at Kat. She shook her head and then started squatting the air very close to Kat. "Shoo fly, go on, get out" Jade just stood and stared trying to work out if what she was looking at was really what she thought it was. A few minutes passed and then Jade's mother walked in. She saw Jade standing there shaking and muttering to herself. Kat quickly flew out of sight. Jade was ushered to bed and Kat followed. Jade was soon asleep and her mother left the room. Kat sniffed the drink that Jade's mother had given her and nearly keeled over. It was a very potent drink to help humans sleep. Kat settled onto Jade's pillow and wondered if entering her dreams would be possible now. She mussed over it for a second and then decided to give it ago. She needed Jade not to be afraid of her. Kat eased her thoughts into Jade's mind and was shocked at the pure power that lay beneath. She struggled to get into Jade's dreams but did eventually make it. Despite the drink Jade had her mind was rather alert. Her dreams however where definitely affect by the drink. Kat wondered how often Jade was given it and whether that had dampened her magical senses. Kat got caught up in Jade's dream which was very odd. Everything seemed to be viewed through shattered glass as it all seemed warped and disproportionate. She carefully weaved herself through Jade's dream searching for Jade. She found Jade sitting under a tree which looked very familiar. When Kat got closer she realised why, it was the tree Kat lived in. Kat wasn't sure what that meant but she didn't have time to dwell on it as a very beautiful voice filled the air. She saw a figure of white light walking towards Jade. Jade noticed it to and got up and ran towards the figure. She went to embrace the figure but couldn't seem to grasp it. Jade slumped towards the ground and cried. The figure spoke to Jade in a sing song type voice telling her not to worry that soon the time would come. Jade asked what would come but the figure was gone. Soon Kat found herself falling and noticed that the dream had changed. Kat thought now would be a good time to get out. Plus she was tired from being in Jade's dream and she had to think about what she saw. *** Over the next few days Kat watched Jade. She was rarely left alone much to Kat's annoyance. However her patience paid off. On the third day Jade was allowed to leave the house. Jade had grabbed a bag and filled it with food and went for a walk. Kat followed. About a mile away they walked into a valley. Jade walked towards the center of this valley where there were huge trees that hid a small pond. Kat loved the way the sunlight shone through the trees and reflected off the pond. She instantly fell in love with the place. She allowed herself a chance to fly around while still keeping an eye on Jade. Jade settled down by one of the trees that had a huge opened down the bottom. She pulled out another bag that was hidden in the tree and then thanked the tree. This caught Kat's attention and she fly closer to Jade. Jade crossed her legs and opened the second bag. She pulled out a sketch book and pencil and opened up to a fresh page. She started drawing and Kat watched fascinated. Jade drew the tree and the figure that Kat recognised from Jade's dream. However the clarity was amazing considering how dazed the dream looked in the first place. All those traces were gone. Jade stared at the page for awhile and then made some comment about something missing. Kat leaned forward trying to remember Jade's dream but nothing seemed missing to her. Jade picked up her pencil again and started drawing in one of the upper corners. Slowly the image started taking on form but Kat couldn't see what Jade was drawing. When Jade finished she put the pencil down and looked at the picture. "Yes, that was what was missing" Kat leaned over a bit more to see what Jade had drawn. She slipped and fell off the small branch she was sitting on when she saw that Jade had drawn her. Kat landed on Jade's sketch pad with a small thud. Kat sat there, looking up at Jade.
Kat carefully entered Jade's mind, and gathered all occasions when she had been seen, and carefully tied them together. Then she wandered around, finding a dark and disused corner of Jade's mind, and then tied the memories securely there. She would release them when Jade was more ready to deal with them, as it was obvious that she, despite her dream recall, was not ready to deal with such things with her present mentality. That done, Kat removed herself into the more recent area of Jade's mind, and placed a memory of dozing by the pond in her recent memory, and then removed herself completely from Jade's mind. Standing in the clearing, Kat closed her eyes and concentrated again. In a few moments her wings vanished and the sparkling luminescence of the fae faded. Standing in her place, was a fairly normal looking human girl, about 19 years of age. Kat checked her clothing, pleased that *this* time she had remembered to change the dress to human clothes. She had a bow and arrows, and looked the part of a regular human traveller. Kat reached down, and awakened Jade with a touch to her forehead. Jade sat up groggily, trying to remember why she was asleep, and recalled dozing in the dappled sunlight. She focused on the girl standing in front of her, and blinked.
Kat stayed the night on the farm, spending the entire time entertaining Jade and the rest of her family with tales of the world beyond their village. As she spoke, Jade became more and more interested, and the trip into the village for stores topped it off. As they stood in the village square, Jade turned and grasped Kat's hand tightly.
As promised, Kat arrived at the farm at sunrise the next morning. Jade was seated by the front gate, belongings in hand.
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at was laying comfortably watching the sun slowly rise. She loved the way the light splashed through her tree and a beam of light soon settled onto her leaf. She lay there lazily until she remembered what day it was. She moved excitedly and quickly and fell off her leaf as a result. Kat soon gathered her bearings and maneuvered herself into a dive. As she watched the water of the pond by her tree coming closer and closer at a rapid speed she allowed herself a small chuckle. With very little distance between herself and the pond she did a flip and gracefully spread her wings. She landed with her feet just above the water. She grinned at herself in the pond surface while checking her appearance. She felt exhilarated. She turned to see her partner laying on one of the tree roots that reached out towards the pond. His legs were dangling in the water and he watched her while he ate wild berries. She flew over towards him and sat down beside him while grabbing a berry for herself.
