Turning around he started addressing the entire group again. "It has been a very long time since I have seen the village and met with the people," Aral said trying to gentle his voice. Looking at the Dowager, since he realized that most of the council deferred to her, he continued, "Is there someone who could show me around?" Both surprise and relief filled Griselda with this request. "This would be a perfect way to get the Herald out of the council chamber so that I can talk with the others," she thought to herself. "But who should go with him?" She would have had Fiddlefaddle as her man servant do it but he was back at the mansion and she did not want to wait for him to arrive if she summoned him. Drat was with Dree and most of the other minions were off or busy. It was Aralt who solved the problem by asking if the pyksee was available. Not having a better choice, and with Ffion’s approval, soon Aralt and Meen were walking down the streets of the village.
“We haven’t been able to play leap the frog lately because my toad friend can’t hop until his leg heals. Do you want to play?” Meen asked. “Not at the moment but I might. I was thinking about a game I used to play as a child but it would take more than just a couple of us and we need someone taller than you or me,” answered Aralt. “As a matter of fact, they would have to be really tall. How about your friend Hungry?” Not realizing what Aralt was doing, Meen answered maybe a little more truthfully than she should have… “You mean Dree? I don’t think he can, the council has him staying in his room in the caves under the Baron’s mansion.” Before the pyksee realized the importance of what she had said, Aralt quickly asked Meen to pick up something to drink for him at the tea shop he had visited earlier that day. As she bounded off, the Herald watched her go and smiled. “Now to get rid of her while I check out the caves,” he said to himself.
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"Hhhmm, the Sleeping Sisters are also involved," Aralt realized when he recognized the bird as a magpie sitting in a tree behind the other minion. "I do wonder what this council has been up to in my absence." As Meen caught sight of the Herald coming out of his home, she quickly jumped the last log as she tried to get back to the council chamber to alert the others of his approach. "This spying stuff is fun," Meen thought to herself. "I can actually play my favorite game of Leap without even getting into trouble." But she apparently did not need to worry too much of Aralt beating her to the council chamber. "He seems to be stopping at several of the local shops and apparently taking his own sweet time to arrive at the chamber. I wonder if he is part Pkysee like me since he seems to be playing instead of worrying about getting to the meeting," Meen pondered for a moment. Aralt even stopped by the local brewer to place an order of Dragon's Brew to be delivered to his home later today. It wasn't until he finished his tea and biscuit at the teashop that he finally started towards the chambers. "That should have given those silly council members plenty of time to arrive," he smiled, knowing that he was subtlety letting them know who will be in charge of this meeting.
"But I would have to surmise with this mix of citizens here, the Troll and the young Nyte Shade must be important as well as the older couple in the corner." As if they heard his unspoken thoughts, the older couple both turned their attention to him.
"This is Queen Ffion of the Shadows' Realm, King Dulbbe of the Trolls, Awena of the Sleeping Sisters, and Efem the Tree Mother. The others are citizens of the Realms who are here to witness this historic occasion. We also have Augustus, The Earl of Grey, who is also the editor of the local newspaper, The Bellwether, to record this news worthy event." Aralt let the silence last a little longer when the introductions were completed. "I must show them I am in charge here," he thought as he silently walked to a corner of the room so all had to turn to see him. "I am Aralt the Herald. I speak to and for the Dragons and the Clans and will prepare the way for the return of the Dragons. Soon they will return and we must be prepared to make sure they cause no chaos nor reek havoc among the fae folk or the Outies. I will meet with their leader, the most powerful of their kind - a Wish Dragon. Upon her return I will re-establish the rules of order laid down by me in the past for their conduct. If I need your assistance, I will ask for it then. I expect you will all be available and require each of you to have a runner or setup a message system so that I may contact you when I need your assistance. If there are no questions, then we are adjourned," he finished as he started towards the chamber doors. "But what about Hungry?" Meen uttered to Queen Ffion. "I mean Dre..." she started to add before she saw the look she was getting from all of the others. "Opps..." she muttered as she tried to find someplace to to look other than at everyone who was glaring at her.
Deciding on a new tact, he stopped just short of the doorway and turned back towards the council. "I am sorry. Being alone for so many years has made me a little brusque in my ways. I am concerned for the safety of everyone in the Realms and sometimes I do not present myself as cordial as I should. I have been gone for so long and so many things have changed, I would like to meet with all of you to see what I should know that will help me prepare for the Dragon's return," he finished as he sat down in one of the nearby chairs and awaited their response. It was slow in coming. Actually it was none as no one wanted to be the first to speak back. "I came on too strong," Aralt realized as he waited. "I will have to start this." "Dowager Griselda, I am honored to be met by a member of the Dragon Clan. I will rely on your assistance upon the Dragons return as you are one of the few who really understand the importance of what I need to do. We must keep the Dragons under our control if we are to maintain the peace and harmony of our way of life." As the Dowager remembered the incident with the scroll showing her past and why the Dragon clan was formed, she knew that their decision not to tell the Herald about Dree, the Moon Dragon, had been for the best.
Not everyone else was smiling though. Especially not the town council members who had glanced at each other when Aralt had disappeared behind his doors and now started back to the council chambers. They definitely needed to talk. Shortly all of them were sitting around the conference table thinking about what to say at the meeting. Each of the councilors had their chief minion there in case an errand or message needed to be delivered awaiting in the chairs spaced against the wall of the chamber. Even if they were longingly gazing at the buffet table that Granny Flare and Cornelia had setup for everyone to snack on, they understood the importance of the events of day. Finally it was the Dowager who started the conversation. "Well, that went well." Those four words were all it took to get everyone talking at the same time. "Who would have thought he would be so short and I don't just mean in stature," snapped one member. "How can he think I will let him stay on the grounds of my castle," growled Queen Ffion. "What are we going to do now?" both Awena and Dulbbe silently thought to themselves as they listened to the others talk.
Each of the council members sat quietly, thinking about the Baron's question. Indeed, what do we do now? It was a quandary. "There is one thing we probably should do," grumbled Nemmer as he watched the others staring at each other around the table. "Maybe we need to hide Dree until we know more about this Herald business." It took a minute, as the others were heavy in thought about the situation, before they realized what Nemmer had just muttered. "Nemmer is right," smiled the Dowager. "Dree should be hidden until we know enough about Aralt before they meet. We don't want the two of them to get off on the wrong foot. But I also don't think they should meet until we find out what the Herald's plans are first." After a short discussion, the rest of the council agreed with the Dowager, but who to send? For they needed to distract Dree and to keep him away until the council had their chance to find out Aralt's plan and that wouldn't be easy. "I could send Meen," volunteered Queen Ffion as Meen jumped from her chair when she heard her name. "No disrespect to you or your minion, Queen Ffion," answered Awena, " But we need someone who might be able to distract Dree as to the arrival of the Herald but not spill the beans about him. Meen would get so caught up playing and probably tell Dree everything since she is a twiddletop when it comes to keeping secrets." The conversation continued for some time, going back and forth on who would be best to inform the Dragon, but it wasn't until Dulbbe, the Troll King, made his offer before they selected the messenger.
Realizing that his boss was both correct and actually giving him a compliment, Drat blushed slightly and bowed his head. "As you command Sire," he replied as he departed on his errand. "Well, it got me out of what looked like a long and boring meeting," thought Drat as he darted down the street to the caves under the Baron's mansion all the time working up a plan to keep the Dragon busy without letting him know he was being hidden away again for now. "I wonder if I can get him into a game of Tic Tac Toe? That could take a while if he doesn't know that secret. But I will definitely need to let him know that it doesn't require body parts or eating."
"What are we to do now?" replied one member followed by "What do you think he will look like?" from another council member. In the middle of all this chaotic noise, Fiddlefaddle leaned over towards the Baron. Being the Baron's all around handy man and procurator of travel arrangements he quietly asked, "Do you know where he will be staying since we don't have what the Outies call a hotel here in our small village?" With that small question, the noise stopped instantly in the council chamber that one could have heard a pin drop if one was listening for that pin. Finally, Nemmer was the one who broke the silence. "There is a room over at the Rusty Nail Pub. I was just there this past week with my fellow archers and I am sure I heard the owner mention he had a spare room available." Which of course set up another flow of highly opinionated views on that suggestion. "No, I don't think that is a good idea," replied Awena. "I walked by there on my way to the council meeting and heard that the little old lady that owns the place just picked up a set of Peerrots (in the Outie world would be known as parrots) that squeal 'Rise & Shine and Git Out' every morning now. I don't think we want our guest to think we don't want him here," continued Awena. At that moment a golden coach pulled up in front of the Village Council's building. All the members stood in anticipation for the Herald to exit the coach. As he did he simple stepped down, gave everyone a cold look, paid the coach driver, and then turned towards the center of the Village as if looking for something. He then proceeded to walk off and left without a word of acknowledgement or greeting as the coach departed in the opposite direction. So, just like the Pied Piper in tales of old, the Herald continued walking down the center of the small village neither looking left nor right with the Council members (now with a few curious villagers who were wondering where the parade was going and what was it for) all following behind him. Little did they know that Aralt was focusing on the ley lines of the area. He could feel them and though it had been many many years since being here, especially without the Dragons to feed them, the lines were still here, though very faint.
"If he thinks he is staying at my castle without an invitation or greeting, I don't think so!" Ffion growled to herself as the crowd all turned towards the Shadows' Queen castle. They all continued walking down the road like a gaggle of geese following the Herald's lead as he walked into the courtyard of the Shadows' Queen's castle and proceeded to the back upper garden where several of those following soon realized it was the same garden where the young Wish Dragon had transformed into a Moon Dragon. Aralt then went past the waterfalls (that covered the entrance to the secret cave that held the Dragon tablet recently taken by a Borrower) towards a wall covered with bramble vines that grow only in a darker corner of the garden. With his arms raised and the stone in the locket glowing that he always carried with him, Aralt spoke. " Rise to the left. Shift to the right. Reveal these doors to my Sight." Magically the brambles began to pull to the left with some shifting to the right, soon a massive stone door appeared that slowly opened for him. Apparently, by everyone's stunned reaction, Aralt realized that most of these simple people didn't know about the Dragons' Cave below. He finally decided to address the crowd of followers and turned to face them. "Excuse me. This is where I'll be staying. It has been a long day. I will meet with you tomorrow," and with that walked through the now open doorway with them shutting behind him. All the villagers stood there stunned with their mouths hanging open, wondering just what had happen.
I am not called Snoop for nothing as I realized this could be another story for the newspaper. Granny then started to tell me about a frog family that has lost it's lily pad. She was trying to help them move into a tree stump by the river by raising funds to make sure their new home would be safe and secure. "Especially by flooding," she told me as I was leaving. But I couldn't leave until I knew her secret in staying cool in this heat as she certainly looked tidy. She too winked at me and said "My secret? I spray it on first thing in the morning and it keeps me cool and comfortable." Not wanting to get more details in her grooming technique, I left it at that for if I stayed another five minutes by her ovens I might be the next heat victim Thinking of what Granny had told me about this poor frog family, I decided to check out the river. Would anyone be down at the local swimming hole trying to keep cool? When I got there, it was empty. Not a person in site, but when I put my foot into the water I understood why. Even that was hot! Out of the corner of my eye I did see Meen, the Pyksee, bouncing from toadstool to toadstool in a nearby meadow but she disappeared before I could talk to her about how she was staying cool.
"We should all have something like that!" I realized. "Instead of sitting in a tub of water, we could have cold water poured into a bucket with a bunch of holes in the bottom and have it drip down. I'll call it a 'shower'. This is brilliant!" Snoop then rushed off to Ironmonger's Hammer and Spike shop to pick up his bucket list of supplies to build his own 'shower' to keep cool.
The Baron sat on the left of his mother, the Dowager Griselda, while Awena was on her right side at the front of the room. Everyone else gave respect due to the new royalty of the Realm - the new Queen Ffion and Troll King Dulbbe, who sat facing towards the head table wondering what this meeting could be about. The Gooblin King was not into protocol. He preferred to sit off in the grey hidden shadows of the back of the room observing what was going on. He told others that he preferred to be off to himself, but most believed it was because he couldn't stand all the bright lights.
In the section reserved for the minions (so they could be called upon to deliver edicts from the council) Arnie had taken one of the seats because she had never sat at council before. It's not like a 'Borrower' is invited to many functions since they have a tendency to 'find' things that they take with them when they leave. Leaning over to Meen she asked in a low voice "What's so important about a dragonfly? I chase them all of the time when I am not out borrowing." Meen whispered "I am not sure if it's the same thing. It could be I suppose, but I remember once that the old King of Shadows' referred to having a relic of one posted in an ancient scroll. It was an ancient way of sending important messages when the Dragons where around."
It was that new style of cleaning she had shown to some of the other house Brownies at her last convention that he had written about. She called it 'vak-u-ming' (whatever that was). "It will never replace the broom," Snoop thought as he continued watching her clean. "There must be a meeting going to happen today," he realized when he also saw the brewing tea pot and cookies. "There sure are a lot of cookies and cups, so it must be for a full council meeting. Maybe even some VMPs (Very Magical Persons) " Snoop muttered to himself.
"At least the tea is better than what I brew at the Bellwether," Snoop thought while he slowly sipped a little. "I might have to make this cup last a long time since it doesn't appear that anyone has arrived yet but Granny Flare."
"You were right," Dulbbe said to Drat. "It was uncomfortable besides being dirty too. I don't want to have to use that route again unless we absolutely have too. I mean, I can usually see well in the dark, but not in that pitch black hole you took me through. I don't know how you did it because I could not see my hand in front of my face! And don't tell me what was making that sound when were were walking around down there... I don't even what to know who or what it was," Dulbbe finished with a shudder as he brushed his clothes with his hands. "Sorry Sire, but you did say you wanted to get here fast," Drat answered (but not before Snoop noticed that the rat had answered with a small smile on his lips). Still smiling, Drat stepped aside and motioned for his King to enter the council chamber first as he followed. "Interesting," thought Snoop. "I wonder who else will appear." Just as he said that, the coach with Queen Ffion pulled up being pulled by no less than four Nytemares. "She must have been in a hurry," he decided. "This must be important!" As Snoop continued to sip on his tea, he was able to observe several more arrivals for the meeting. There was Hewy, Hir'aeth the Gooblin King, the Goodie sisters, Awena from the Sleeping Sisters, the Baron and his mother the Dowager, and even Dewin the Wizard. All VMPs indeed! It was the last guest that appeared the made Snoop realize that he had to get into the meeting somehow. It was that young Wish Dragon who had transformed into a Moon Dragon, Drai'ochtluan. "I am glad that he likes to go by 'Dree' for short," Snoop sighed to himself. "I would have to look up the spelling every time I want to write it down."
Not realizing that Snoop meant it as a bad thing because she liked to jump everywhere, she shrugged his comment off and pulled on his sleeve again. When she thought she had his full attention, she delivered the message she was sent out with. "The Council asks if you would join them in the council chamber. They said they did not want to start without you." Snoop was flabbergasted... how did they know that is exactly where he wanted to be?
"I am loosing my touch! Some of the biggest stories in the past several years let alone decades and I wasn't there! I didn't even know about them until afterwards," he grumbles. "And that came from one of the minions who was there when I wasn't!"
"How could this have happened?" Snoop thought as Meen went on and on about the events of the past couple of weeks that were unknown to this roving editor/reporter. Somewhere towards the end of the telling, Meen remembered what she was supposed to be doing and bounded off leaving Snoop just standing on the street corner in shock. "I must get this confirmed!" thought Snoop as he ran into the Bellwether office and hollered "Stop the Presses!"
"It was me who first reported the possibility of a Borrower finding a Dragon Tablet. I even was the first to report when the Elifant escaped!"
As he started for the door to check it out more, Snoop's unbridled curiosity took over - little did he realize that this time his story may be more than he was looking for...
While Dulbbe was searching the tunnel, Arnie, the Borrower, was feeling pretty gloomy. She wasn't getting any help finding out what it was that she had found and felt like she was just running around in circles... or actually very long tunnels. She realized that she needed to find someone, and soon, who could get her out of this mess she was slowly finding herself in. In the meantime Hunter, the Shadows' King, after revealing to his daughter, Ffion, what he knew of the book that was in the tunnel before the Borrower had removed it, thought maybe it was time for her to meet the Sleeping Sisters. (That story was available to subscribers only - but it is never too late to sign-up or by sending me an email to read it).
Even annoyed about the message, Awena did know of her responsibility as a Sleeping Sister to teach Ffion of her heritage. While Meen waited in the receiving room for her response, Awena started pulling out books and scrolls to send back with Meen until she could come to Hunter's castle herself to meet with Ffion. "This will have to do until I arrive," she decided after putting another book in the small pile. Realizing that there might be too many books and scrolls for Meen to carry, Awena sent for a small satchel to put them in for the trip back to the castle. Now if Hunter had been more willing to communicate with her or if Awena hadn't felt like she could solve the problem of the Borrower on her own, a lot of confusion could have certainly been avoided, but then that would have shortened the story (*smiling*).
Ffion picked up the one that fell closest to her which was titled 'Awena's Primary on the Language of Flowers'. Now this could be interesting. Then she heard Meen tell the King, "Sire. The Sleeping Sisters are not available to come now, but sent these books and scrolls so that Princess Ffion may start her schooling immediately until they are available to come to answer your summons."
"Schooling! It was "summer" - who wanted to be doing schoolwork when there was fun to be had out in the Realm!" screamed Ffion in her mind. She watched to see what her father's reaction from the Sisters message would be. When he jumped up from his throne, a small smile escaped her lips... that was until she realized that the King was demanding Meen to find the Royal Tutor to begin her lessons. "Oh no. There goes summer!" As Arnie was heading to the hole by the old oak she had fallen into when she found the Dragon tablet, she was totally unaware that at that moment she was the most popular being in all of the realms. Everyone (and every thing) was looking for the Borrower with the Dragon tablet.
Even C.O.G. (Cooperation of Organized Grunts) had called a special meeting to see if anyone knew where a Borrower could be found. It was all very frustrating and not just a few tempers were short...
And across the Realm, two more of the searchers were on a mission of their own. "Tell me again why you think the Sleeping Sisters will help us? I mean, they usually don't get involved in any of the events of the realms. Why this one?" asked the Baron as he and his mother, the Dowager Griselda, were walking to the Sleeping Sisters house. "Also, I would like to know how you know where they live. Hewey, Efem, and the others had to be lead there by a bird."
Stopping in her tracks, the Dowager turned to face her son. "They don't do that," she growled at him with irritation in her voice. "The Sleeping Sisters have been guardians of the realms as long as I can remember and they know of many secrets and prophecies which they study and explore to keep all of us safe. Now, if you would be quiet for a while as I think on how to approach them, it would be appreciated!" Getting a nod from her son who decided it was best not to say another word for a while, they both started back down the trail. While on another hillside overlooking the waterfall, something was watching Arnie as she stepped through the water and started exploring around the pool. "How dare someone come into my garden," it thought. "Something must be done about this..."
For little did it know or care that at that moment it was the only one who knew where the Borrower was ~ even though it didn't know it was a Borrower. It just knew someone was in it's garden! |
GreetingsWelcome to my blog. This is where I will reveal the magic of my Fae and their stories and share with you some of the success and pitfalls through the journey of doll making, sculpting, and other crafts that all come back to my dolls in many ways. Archives
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