Haven in the Woods

[Ander Valman]

Ander followed most of what Illilli said, although most of the names of places and people just confused him. He had never heard such names before!

He also understood the vague references to sex, and was hard pressed not to blush, as is often the way of young teens, even though he knew the difference between consensual sex and rape.

Ander listened raptly none-the-less, his mind grasping at anything that would allow him to escape the realities of his own problems.

When Illilli paused, Ander jumped in, cutting off any response of Gelden's.

"She had baby humans?! But ... she was a dragon. How could humans... do that ... to a dragon? And get her pregnant?"

Ander tried to hold the blush that threatened to crawl from his neck to his forehead in check fiercely, but succeeded in only looking like he was in pain and uncomfortable, as well as blushing. At the same time, he somehow managed to look defiantly between the two ladies... creatures? ... as if daring them to challenge what he knew of how the world worked.

[Geldenwing]

The tiny woman hugged herself tightly and gave the floor a look of true depression as Illilli continued the story. For Illilli, it was family history - she could feel for Anna and the pain that the dragoness had been put through. But for Gelden...she'd know Anna, personally. She'd laughed and cried with the woman, and called this place home though Anna had owned it. She'd loved and lived in the woman's presence, and to hear what had been done to her so long ago...

Gelden felt an ache in her chest, tight and heavy. It was similar to what she felt when she missed her husband or children, but close to what she felt when she missed her red-eyed friend, or the princess, or...

Anna.

What had emerged from those eggs had been the final disgrace. She was sure that Anna had sobbingly cared for the little ones, raised them and loved them. Illilli would not be here if she hadn't. But oh, how it must have hurt, to be so violated and then raised the spawn of that very act. Gelden felt a hot tear slide down her nose and drip from the tip, followed by a second. She couldn't bear to think of her friend in such a state.

The fae raised her tear-stained face to look at Ander, her charge. He was blushing and curious, and so young. It didn't take much when the male had the upper hand.

"They bound her. With magic."

The fae's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat loudly before she continued.

"In human form. That's how they did it. If you're in the right form and you're r...s-seeded..."

Gelden held herself tighter, as though protecting herself from an invisible evil. She had birthed her children by choice, with a man who was gentle and loved her. But she had been attacked before too, in both her small and large shapes. It was rare and she'd always managed to escape...but what had happened to Anna could happen to anyone. Gelden had never felt this fear as acutely as she did now.

[Ander Valman]

Ander nodded after Gelden spoke, understanding that magic could do things that were both wonderful and horrifying. He stood, suppressing a shudder.

"I think..." he looked between the two ladies, Gelden staring at the floor and Illilli seemingly lost in her own thoughts. "I think I need to go for a walk."

He turned away from the two, sensing that at least one of them might need to be alone. Ander himself wouldn't mind company, but he was somewhat sensitive to others' feelings and needs. He began walking for the door, hardly noticing as the glowvines brightened as he neared, lighting the way out of the cave.

Once outside, he stopped and looked around. Breathing in the forest air, Ander tried to decide what he would do. For the short term, this was as good of a place as any for him to stay, so long as he could control the magic enough not to hurt his two new friends. But he wasn't sure if he could do that. And he wasn't ready to consider the other possibilities ... yet.

[Geldenwing]

The fae watched her charge leave the cave in silence. She didn't want to stop him; a walk sounded like a positively fabulous idea after hearing this part of the story. The faerie's heart was aching for Anna, and she continued hugging herself tightly, defensively. If it hadn't happened then Illilli wouldn't be here as a friend and Gelden would lose out on the new experience; but at the same time if it had never happened in the first place, maybe the wildness in Anna wouldn't have come out at the attack. Maybe Anna would still be here. And her family...maybe they'd still be alive...

The fae shook her head to clear such thoughts. It had happened and Illilli was here now; what was there to be concerned over anymore? It wouldn't change anything. The fae felt her spirits slowly start to lift to their natural high, though it would be a few minutes before she was cheerful again.

Gelden looked toward Illilli after Ander had gone, her eyes still sad and bright. Illilli seemed to be having difficulty continuing, and the fae admitted to herself that she didn't want to hear anymore of her friend's old pain - it would dampen her ability to cheer up. Instead, Gelden saved them both the trouble - she nodded to Illilli, a curt little move which indicated she understood the dragon lady's hesitation, then started after Ander.

"I'll come back later. Take your time."

With a final and completely uncalled-for wink, the tiny woman slipped from the cave, loosening her arms to swing merrily at her sides. Just smelling the fresher air as she approached the entrance was enough for her; nature never failed to raise a wood creature's spirits.

She came out of the cave beaming, and her cheeks puffed out with her excitement. A walk sounded delightful! She approached Ander with more spunk than necessary, practically bouncing with each step, and hopped up to peck his cheek before starting a delighted little dance in the moss. Obnoxiously cheerful was just the beginning.

"Want some company?"

[Ander Valman]

Ander heard someone coming, but just continued to look out at the area. His eyes searched the trees and bushes, not really seeing anything that they touched. When Gelden jumped up to give him a peck on the cheek, he almost fell over. He hadn't expected anything quite so upbeat from the little... he still wasn't quite sure what she was. He shrugged it off though, and nodded in response to her question.

He didn't say anything at first, just walking off in a random direction into the forest. He kept an eye on where he was going, having learned a little about wandering through the woods in his short time there. He wasn't exactly a woodsman, but he was a little less than helpless.

After a few silent moments, Ander turned to Gelden, but quickly put his eyes back to the ground as he almost tripped over a fallen log.

"Do you think she'll be alright?"

[Geldenwing]

"I don't know."

The fae answered honestly, her tone still perky despite the sad topic.

"I knew Anna, like in person...it hurts to hear about her past like that!"

The cheerful tone only just barely wavered at the horrible thought, but the faerie's mood had shifted so thoroughly that within seconds she was right back to happy-go-lucky. She skipped ahead of her charge, waving her arms back and forth like pendulums and whistling a tune. What she really wanted to do was roll in the grass, happy like a dog or horse...but she didn't think Ander would appreciate or join in on the fun. Maybe they could find a hill to slide down...

She suddenly stopped skipping and circled back to fall into step next to her charge, struggling to match his much longer strides with a beaming smile. He was so tall! Or maybe...thinking on Illilli's own height...maybe the fae herself was short!

Now the tiny woman fell back and began trailing Ander directly, putting her feet where his had been to compare the sizes of their steps. She pouted at how much large the normal teenager's prints were than her own itsy bitsy feet. But it was her lot in life to be short; nothing could change that.

"I wonder how much longer until it turns cold?"

She looked around the forest surrounding them. It was already a bit nippy, but hardly enough to dull the woman's spirits. She did hate winter, though.

[Illilli]

Illilli puttered around in the cave on her own. The retelling of what turned out to be her ancestoral story, and not just a family children's tale had hit her hard and left her quite dazed.

It was a rough thing for her to realize her family line had such dark beginnings. She new the rest of the story and it fluttered through her mind as she mechanically continued to clean the little pond.

***
All of the eggs but one had hatched into males. They took all the males from her leaving her only with the one girl she named Shu-ze. Shu-ze was a darling little girl covered with the natural tatoo-like markings that were inherited by all her descendants.

Shu-ze enjoyed playing in the dirt and sand and one day while playing alone she found one of the bespelled stone heads and brought it to her mother.

A wicked gleam had appeared in Annilllilliana's eye and she moved her daughter to the side, changed form and melted the stone head in her fires.

Finally free, Annillilliana picked up her daughter and left the place of her tortured far, far behind.

***
Illilli always felt better when the end of the story came and they escaped. She started working on some dinner for when her friends returned.

[Ander Valman]

"Well, I hope she'll be alright," he said, crunching over a small, bare bit of brush.

Ander watched Gelden as she skipped ahead, wondering how someone so small could have such boundless amounts of energy. She also had one of those quicksilver moods, changing faster than the weather in a Tian Xian winter.

Suddenly, the little woman was right next to him, his concentration having wandered long enough for her to zip back to him and stare up at him. He was amazed at how much shorter she was than him, and though she seemed a little childish, he somehow had the feeling that she was much older than him. His thoughts went back to Illilli's story, and Gelden saying she had known Anna, and he rephrased his thought. Much, much older than he was.

Gelden suddenly dropped back, and Ander half turned to watch her. She was placing her feet in the impressions left by his own, and now she was pouting. Ander tried not to laugh.

"I wonder how much longer until it turns cold?"

Ander shrugged, but didn't have time to answer as he tripped over a matted piece of brush. He had forgotten to watch where he was going, and fell forward, luckily not landing on anything that could hurt him. He rolled over and stared at Gelden for a moment in shock, then began to laugh.

[Geldenwing]

Ander's shrug was about the closest she herself could get to an answer. There was no telling when the seasons would change. They could be as random as her own moods.

Suddenly her wayward teenager fell forward and flopped against the ground in the most graceful, gangly fall she could remember seeing. Gelden's eyes widened as she stared at him, and she was still staring when he rolled and looked at her. She cocked her head sharply to the side, a bird inspecting a curiousity...and his laugh brought a bright smile to her face.

"Ander you fell down!!!"

She giggled loudly as she leaped over to kneel next to him, grinning as she inspected what she could see. No rashes, no bruises, nothing that meant he'd been damaged. Just an amused teen. The fae grinned even wider and started laughing with him.

Then she pounced.

She was no better than an overgrown puppy, really. She scraped her hands through the leaves and dirt and twigs, tossing clumps into the air to cascade down and adorn them both in a thin layer of foliage. With leaves and sticks in her hair, she collapsed onto the ground and rolled onto her back, splaying her arms and legs to form a forest angel. Once done she sat up and stepped back to inspect her work - a Gelden-sized imprint that had scattered the various objects lining the floor into an angel pattern. The faerie smiled brightly and waved at Ander.

"You make one!"

[Ander Valman]

Ander laughed harder as Gelden leaped on him. He wrestled with her momentarily, like he used to with his father's large dog. Oddly, the thought didn't depress him like it normally would. He was with friends, now.

Ander added his own shower of dried leaves and twigs to the small handfuls Gelden was putting up in the air. The little woman looked funny with twigs and leaves hanging from her hair, but likely no more so than he himself looked.

Then Gelden jumped off and began flailing her arms on the ground. Ander watched her for a moment, confused, until she got back up and inspected her work. Ander had made snow angels before, on the rare occasion there was enough snow for it, but that had been years ago, and a younger Ander.

However, he was caught up in the spirit of the moment, and when Gelden instructed him to make one himself, he cast around for a clear area where he could lie down unimpeded. He quickly made his own angel, flapping his arms while lying on his back like a madman.

The image made him laugh until his sides hurt and tears streamed down his face, and he quickly rolled over to his side before he ruined his dead leaf angel. He looked down at his handywork, then looked at Gelden with a laugh.

"I think mine is too big to be an angel."

After another few moments of laughing, he turned to Gelden again. "Now what?"

[Geldenwing]

"Pfft, angels are every size ain't they?"

She only knew the idea of angels from listening to humans chatting about them. Fae had no need for magical beings watching over them or protecting them or whatever it was angels could do. Fae just needed the woods and they were happy.

Gelden was still giddy with excitement about playing in the dirt, and seeing Ander open up and be so happy was an extra-special treat. She didn't want him to ever frown again; she wanted him to laugh and smile until all the pain he felt inside died and went away, like it did for her.

She had to settle for games and mischief. The tiny woman suddenly braced herself and shook her head hard, spilling most of the assorted leaves and twigs from her hair, then ran over and poked his upper arm hard enough to leave a small spot.

"TAG!!!"

Her shriek lapsed into loud giggles as she turned and sped away through the forest.

[Ander Valman]

"Pfft, angels are every size ain't they?"

Ander shrugged, having no idea what size angels came in. He reached up and brushed his hands through his hair, shedding most of the leaves and twigs but those that were twisted and tangled. He couldn't remember the last time he had simply had a good fun time. It certainly wasn't in these woods.

His smile slipped only long enough for Gelden to poke him and yell "Tag" before he broke into a big grin.

The little girl ran off, giggling loudly, as Ander rubbed the spot where she'd poked him a moment before fully realizing what was going on. He suddenly dug in his toes and sprang forward, running for all he was worth as he dodged debris and standing trees to catch Gelden.

It took a few moments for him to catch up, but he saw her making a rather large circle, and cut to where he thought she might be next. He was correct, and as he neared, he made one final lunge to tag her, throwing himself off balance. He felt his hand touch something ...

... but he had no idea whether it was Gelden or something else as he tumbled head over heels down an embankment, landing unceremoniously on his backside at the bottom. His head spun from rolling down, and he was having a hard time catching his breath.

However, the big, silly grin remained.

[Geldenwing]

Without using her wings to fly, Gelden could only move as fast as she could run. She wasn't a slowpoke, but she was only four feet tall. Ander's long legs were double the length of her own, which meant every one step of his was equivalent to 2-3 of hers.

She did have the advantage of over-enthusiasm...but Ander's finger suddenly poked into her arm anyway. Her wayward teenager was off-balance enough to tumble head-over-heels down a tiny hillside. Gelden's immediate freak-out instinct died when she saw the grin plastered on the boy's face, though her brow creased with some worry. She itched to check him over and make sure he wasn't hurt or scraped too badly...but she was still at the top of the "hill," and he was at the bottom.

A smile lit up her face and she held up one finger.

"You wait here!"

She vanished from view to run back toward a large, fat old tree that was molting. Its older bark was peeling off in chunks around its trunk, and Gelden grabbed one of the edges and pulled until she was satisfied with the chunk - large enough she thought to fit either her own tiny bottom or Ander's people-sized one.

Grinning and giggling again, she raced back to "their" embankment and plopped the bark down. Her own self followed behind, and she pushed herself forward with an insane shriek that once again echoed off the nearby foliage.

It really wasn't that steep and worthy of such excitement...but as the bark served its purpose as a makeshift sled the faerie threw up her hands and laughed as it slid down the small slope until she hit bottom. At the bottom the bark skid to an easy stop and the fae lept off to grab Ander's hand and try to drag him up and toward the slope. All thoughts of checking him for damage had flit away with the slide.

"You gotta try this!"

[Ander Valman]

Ander turned awkwardly as he lay on the ground, still laughing. His cockeyed view of the world and Gelden peering down at him didn't do anything much to help cease his laughter. The little girl disappeared from view after shrieking something down at him, and Ander finally decided to try his luck at getting up. After a few moments, he managed to push himself up on to hands and knees, just in time to watch Gelden come flying, relatively speaking, down the slope to stop in front of him. It took him a moment to realize that she had slid down on a large piece of bark.

Gelden then jumped up and grabbed his hand, trying to drag him up the slope. Ander followed easily enough, shrugging as she dragged him. He got to the tree that Gelden had used to peel a section of bark away, and using great care, he managed to get a piece that he thought would be large enough for him.

He ran back to the small hill, setting the bark down and plopping down on top of it. He pushed himself and slid ... a few inches. He gave himself another push, and this time moved a foot. After several failed attempts, he turned to Gelden with a mock pout.

"I'm too big and heavy."

[Geldenwing]

Gelden felt sad all the way down to her tiny little toes and pouted for him. Moments later she perked back up with a grin and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"That's ok! We'll just do somethin' else!"

She looked around the area now, but her burst of energy was starting to wear thin. Oddly enough she actually felt a surge of laziness and decided to act upon it. She plopped her little bottom against the edge of the "hill" and stuck her feet out, using the natural slope as a recliner. The moment of silence was enough to call up happy times with her own family, who she hadn't seen since she'd been courted and married.

"My family kicked me out too. They were mad 'cause I married a human but he was real good to me and then we had kids together. But they're all dead now."

Despite the words themselves, the tone is still just on the borderline of cheerful - the closest to distressed she could manage after an afternoon of such fun. Because she was totally convinced they were all dead, she wasn't as sad as she'd been before. That was a fact and there was nothing she could do but just be happy anyway. She wasn't human; she was a fae. She'd seen how depression could destroy a human completely and she didn't want any part of it. Whether or not her family was dead didn't change the fact that she herself was alive. It was an animal's view of the world - the ability to continue on despite missing her mate and offspring.