A Fateful Journey

There weren’t always dragons in the valley.

Once upon a time, this world was free from magic.

We went about our lives with peace and purpose.

Then the dragons came.

Some say they brought the magic with them, but I now know that they came as they are duty. Bound to protect those worlds where supernatural forces dwell, and this is the tale of how I made this discovery! Here be dragons and thank goodness for that!!!

****As I look over Sesheire valley from my campsite at the top of one of the more level peaks of the rusty mountain range, I am thinking how good it is to be back. It's been a very long time, so much has happened......but very little has changed in this small valley.

I have a deeper understanding of why my family keeps coming back here....and why my mother decided to make this our home.

My tea kettle is whistling over the fire and the smell of warmed sausage and cheese bread is telling me that it's time to sit down and enjoy my dinner.

I invite you to sit with me as I tell you the tale of how I came to be here.......the last place in this world that I expected to be and the only place in the world where I always planned to be, and all of the steps in between. ****

Our village in the valley was small, not the smallest... just quite close knit and cozy. Everyone knew everyone, and everybody knew about everybody......it was safe and homey.

My sisters, my Da and me all lived in a small 2 level hut ....it wasn’t as cramped as you would think, and even so the pig, the ferret and the dog running under foot always seemed to find places to hide from all of us. Especially when they had snitched some of dinner.

You may be wondering why we have a pet pig & a ferret; I will get to that.

While stretching a crick out of my neck from the constant tossing & turning on my now battered lump of a pillow I was trying to decide which would win out, my lethargy from dismal sleep or the hollow pit that was forming in my stomach. Turns out hunger wins every time.

I rolled to a sitting position then made my way to the rope and branch ladder that hung from our bunks. Blearily Scampering down the ladder, I mentally ticked off what I needed to do this morning. As I went past Tilly, her sunny tresses forming a perfect cotton top on her pillow, she rolled flinging her arm out at the ladder and making it sway a bit and making me stumble on the next rung. I made a mental note to ask Da, again, to install a solid ladder for our bunks. He felt that the rope ladder made waking up more exciting. If he had seen where my foot landed today, he may have felt differently. My left foot had settled perfectly right in the middle of Janey’s long obsidian waves which were currently tied intermittently around a large swath of the ladder rope. The house sprites had been busy last night. Janey and the house sprites had some serious disagreement, neither side was truly in the right, but the disagreements were so petty that when weighed against the help that the sprites provided around the house and property. Da refuses to take sides and rightly so, the house sprites were one of the very few good things that had come with the onslaught of magical forces and for Da, especially when we were small, he needed all the help that he could get.

It was tough being a dad with three small kids, but Da never wavered in his determination to raise us up right and to keep us safe. Many of the townswomen offered to help with us but withdrew once they realized that Da was unable to release his feelings for our mother.

Some though were kind enough to help with no ulterior motives, they just realized that Da was in over his head. They are good people, and subsequently always had Da’s help when they needed it. They also received a more generous amount of help from the rest of the menfolk in the valley, with extremely healthy marriage prospects

Da always said "Do good and good will find you".

Da had always maintained, ever since I could remember; that I had changed him and made him the person that he is today. That was Da sweet, loving, sentimental, warm, with a sense of fun and energy that belied his age. With a soft and nurturing streak that nobody suspected due to his no nonsense work ethic. He was the best Da, but I will admit that I was a bit biased.

The townsfolk always said that I looked just like my mother, but I bore no resemblance to the woman in the portrait locket that I kept. Da had given it to me when I was old enough to be curious about mother and careful enough to respect the heirloom.

The image was of a slender, elegant woman with flowing white hair. She seemed tall even though she was seated, and she wore dignity like a cloak. Her grey blue eyes always seemed to look straight out from the picture.... unwavering and calm.

I was none of those things, I took after Da if I were to be honest, I thought to myself as I went to the kitchen. I was going to make myself a sandwich when I discovered a suspicious lack of the bread that had been there yesterday. So, I tossed on my jumper, grabbed a basket and slid into my boots as I went out the door.

Bread was a big part of my day. And I wasn’t about to miss out.

Miss Sally ran the bakery, what she lacked in height she made up for in her personality and her baking. She was a genius, plus she had a huge crush on my Da, but a lot of the ladies still did.

It was chilly as I stood in line for Miss Sally's work. It was supposedly spring, but it felt like fall to me. I was still pondering my Da and mother (I never knew her, she died when we were incredibly young, but I never truly missed her.) I had Da and Worlyn our dog and my sisters...Zor the ferret and Borry the piggy and gorgeous Alla our horse and all the townspeople.

Tilly however felt Mothers loss keenly, she swore that sometimes she could still see mother by her bed.

Everyone in the early morning line for Miss Sally’s were chatting about the day ahead.

I was feeling introspective this morning and ended up staring into the puddle at my feet.

Much needed rain had come down last night and while it was needed it still made for cold and wet ground on my morning bread run, my reflection stared up at me....a wavery image of reddish brown tangly curls framing a set of green eyes on either side of an upturned nose and a generous handful of freckles. I definitely took after Da!

After what seemed like a few seconds, but was clearly a lot longer, I was at the front of the line and took my pick of the bread cases. Miss Sally's shelves always seemed to magically refill themselves, it was simply hard work on her part, but it seemed like magic. I paid my coppers for the two loaves of bread as they were wrapped in the cloth that kept them fresh and drooled over the sausage & cheese pies. (Sally spiced them so well and they were my absolute favorite

and they tasted wonderful with a side of cold pickles!) “Not in the budget today.” I say to myself, or for the month if trade kept slowing like this!

As I padded home I pondered on the budget. Last year, trade had been fast flowing and difficult to keep up with. This year trade had slowed to a slow and intermittent pulse.

Nevertheless, Da remained positive. He said that when work is busy… do the work and when work is slow prepare for when it will be busy again! But we could only prepare so much and then we just shifted into busywork…which had everybody jittery and chafing.

I came out of my thoughts upon hearing the high-pitched screeching that could only mean that Janey was awake and was having it out with the sprites…AGAIN…. My head came up Just in time to see the worn rust colored cobblestone path that led to my front door step- the white of the house and the brown of the roof and trims were coated with the fine red dust from the mountains that never seemed to come off of any of the buildings hence very few of the houses were colored white.

But Mother had insisted on the colors of the house, even mixing the paint specially herself.

I felt that the dust on white gave it a comfortable feeling, Tilly said it just looked dirty.

Da always told her, if she didn't like it…she needed to wash it, and that was the end of it.

She learned to keep quiet unless she wanted to be fixing what she felt was wrong…we all did.

A Put your money where your mouth is kind of thing. But it made for a very calm household.

Da might love us, but he was never one to tolerate nonsense. And that practicality could be felt in every bit of our home and the land that it sat on. Da's personality and energy was spread throughout our land…it felt like him…...almost as though he was a part of it.

It always made us feel safe, he was our rock…….and honestly in many ways the rock of the town as well.

People would feel relieved at the sight of Da and they had started to behave the same way around me.

I began noticing it the summer that I turned 13……. four years ago.

It perplexed me, but also made me proud.

I had barely set a boot in the door when Jing(our "kitchen" sprite) made off with the bread like magic. But there were no mages around these parts and Da discouraged any talk of magic in the house, so we chalked it up to not wanting to be reminded of Mother.

Janey was busy with her ongoing issues with the other house sprites and Tilly was at the kitchen fire with Borry sharing a steaming mug of grall (a slightly sweet ,very strong heavily spiced tea with milk that the sprites had shown us…possibly to get us all addicted to so as they would not be tossed out as they were the only ones who knew where to get the ingredients- like that would ever happen !)

And a blanket, I slid beside Tilly under the blanket , and she silently held up her mug to me without looking….it would be a long day and we were going to need strength!

I took a long pull; it tasted a little better than normal and it was effective in both wiping the chill from my bones and drowning out Janey & the sprites…who were getting louder.

"So, think of anything that you want for your birthday yet?"

"Oh, you mean the one from last year. Or the one coming up??"

Tilly smiled , she knew we hadn't had the time to celebrate any of our birthdays last year and this year we wouldn't have the money, " Either one"

"Honestly, I wish something really special would happen. But barring that….Id really love a Sausage and cheese pie!!!!! It’s been soooooo long!!!!!"

Tilly shook her head, she preferred desserts, "it’s only been 3 months!"

I wrinkled my nose "Which in tummy years is forever! Last year I ate 2 a day!!"

She smiled" Which is probably why you filled out so quickly! Although to be fair you have always been the curvy one of us, I wish I looked the way that you do in a dress"

I hung my head a bit, Tilly was rail thin no matter what she ate…she had always been self-conscious even though a lot of the townswomen would kill to eat the way she does and still look the way she does and have told her so repeatedly, We had all accepted that Tilly would probably never really fill out.

I thought that she was drop dead gorgeous with her waist length blond hair and grey blue eyes……but it was still hard on her when every time she wore the wrong outfit, she got mistaken for a boy even with her being well into puberty.

"Hey" I said quietly " you're probably just a late bloomer…Mother didn't fill out till late you know."

Tilly heaved a sigh "I know, but I don't want to get my hopes up anymore.

Saaaay, could that something really super special be for me to grow large breasts overnight???" She wiggled her eyebrows and we both cackled , we were busy laughing when Janey slid in beside us and snaked the mug for a draught.

Janey raised an eyebrow " have you been letting Borry drink this stuff again?" She Eyed Tilly

Who lifted both shoulders with an "Ehhhhh!"

Janey muttered, " You're going to give that pig an ulcer."

I laughed" Borry has a better stomach than we do! You're just irritated because you know that you won't be getting any Grall for a week."

Janey twisted her mouth and said "True." while taking another sip.

Just then Jing poked her head above us and handed me a sausage and cheese pie….along with a side of pickles.

I stared at it, my mouth watering "where did you get this Jing??? Did you make it for me?"

If she said yes, I just might hug her.

"In your bread bag miss" Jing looked a little surprised.

Janey & Tilly both turned to me and eyed me suspiciously.

I was confused " No, there were only 2 loaves of bread , I didn't have money for more. ……oh, wait a minute, Sally knew my Birthday was coming up she must have snuck it into the sack Yay!" I was smiling and reaching for the pie greedily.

Janey smiled wistfully "That's really nice of her!!"

Tilly snorted and with a wry smile and said, " Miss Sally's crush on Da is getting worse!"

"Maybe she just wanted to be nice to Eveny, you’re such a cynic" Janey rolled her eyes while snagging a piece of the pie and a slice of pickle.

"2 months before Eveny's birthday??" Tilly raised her eyebrows pointedly at Janey while munching pie and pickle slices that I didn't even see her grab….wow she was fast.

"Ok, yeah, you're right" Janey went for a second piece like a predatory bird.

I swiped the pie out of her reach and carved myself a triple chunk and snapped up the pickles, I loved my sisters dearly….almost as much as the pie!

As I bit into that slice of pie all was right in my world in that moment "I hope her crush on Da Never goes Away!!!" I said around a mouthful.

"Agreed!!" Janey & Tilly chimed in unison while scooping up more pie

I gazed ruefully at it and sighed " We should save some for Da……"

"Nope, he is allergic to sausage" Tilly was eyeing the last piece

"No, he is Not!!" Janey was also eyeing the last piece

I looked from one to the other, silently promising to buy Da a pie when money was better and said, "Good enough for me!" And scarfed the last piece….it was good!

"Hey!!!" They chorused.

"You snooze, you lose!!" I smiled around a mouthful

"I wish there was another pie!" Janey sighed

"I wish there were Lavender cookies" Tilly mumbled

"I wish we had fish for some of Rosey's herbed fish pies" Janey went on

"Ooh, ooh, I wish we had beef for stew!!" Tilly's eyes lit up…she loved beef

"Well, I wish we had more pie, a bunch of fish for today's midday meal, Lavender cookies, and A nice chunk of beef with the bones for soup and stew!!! I wish we had it all!" I put my arms around my sisters, and we all sighed wistfully.

It was at this moment when our Da (who apparently had been standing in the kitchen archway the whole time) chose to clear his throat …… loudly.

"Janey, a word" the deep baritone of his voice bounced around the kitchen rafters, and we could all hear in his tone with crystal clarity that Janey would be mucking out the horse stall for a while.

I peeped at him as Janey stood ,emptied the mug in one go and handed it to me. She brushed herself off , squared her shoulders and looked determined to face down whatever punishment Da had in mind with stubborn dignity.

I didn’t envy Da , we never made raising us easy………but he never shied away from hugs or discipline, he was always fair and pragmatic.

Janey marched over to where he stood - all 6 foot 8 of his lean muscled frame filling the doorway ,hair and beard looking more gingery than usual- and Da cocked an eyebrow as he moved aside to let her pass to where she would be shoveling dung for a good chunk of each day until peace was restored to the house.

The sprites were not happy with their current situation either.

Like I said, Da was fair.

Once the morning meal was done (Janey ate her food in the stables while she worked and prayed there wasn’t any sprite spit in it) the day passed quickly in the normal routines.

It was peaceful as both the sprites and Janey had truly despised jobs to focus on instead of antagonizing each other.

At the midday meal we ate outside in the yard as usual, due to the sad fact of us not being clean enough to sit inside.

We all ate at Rosie's fish pies together in companionably fatigued silence ( sprites, horses, dogs, ferrets, pigs, daughters, and father…and probably some spiders too) before returning to our tasks.

It was a good day!

Sausage & cheese pie with pickles and then Fish!!!! I was so happy!

I didn’t even know we had fish; Dren must have gone to the lake today. Bless that little sprite!

During the meal, I caught Da looking over at me with a worried expression, but I was tired & hungry and would just ask him what was wrong later.

On the way back to our workstations, Tilly caught up with me

"Thank you!" She smiled so wide at me

I blinked and the confusion must have shown on my face because she elaborated quickly

"For the cookies!......the lavender cookies!"

I shook my head

"You know the cookies we were just talking about them this morning, and then I found a whole tin in my bag" she looked exasperated

I shook my head again "No sis, as much as I would like to take credit for it and I love seeing you happy, I have no part in this"

Tilly clearly thought I was fibbing hard, she hugged me "Ok, you don't know anything about this, sounds good. But just so you know, these made my whole week!"

And then she skipped off back to work, leaving me very confused.

Lavender cookies were Tilly's absolute favorite sweet, and they were also hard to come by unless you were in larger cities and then they were only available in high end shops.

One of the traders that Da dealt with had brought some when Tilly was around 5 and she fell in live with them. She kept saying that they tasted familiar, which was impossible, but she was 5 so no one told her that.

Every year when Trader Johan came through, he brought her a large tin of Lavender cookies.

She would ration the cookies throughout the year, and those tins were precious to her so she would store her valuables in them.

Maybe Johan had come early??

I shrugged and was about to walk back to my station when I caught Da looking even more worried at me. He frowned and turned away before I could ask him what was wrong.

Today had been strange enough as it was but in a good way, no need to borrow trouble I told myself as I walked back to work. A few pies and some cookies were good things, and there were rational explanations for it anyway. That's what I kept telling myself anyway.

Da was also a bit of a blacksmith, he had picked up the trade to help with expenses when we weren't any bigger than the sprites. But he had kept at it even after the farm became more lucrative. It seemed to reduce his stress, and everyone said he was a natural at it.

We all surmised that Da had had to become a Jack of all trades when Mother became pregnant.

And he had just kept adding to his repertoire of skills over the years…along the way teaching us girls the trades that he mastered.

It was a great boon that Da learned things unnaturally fast.

And that he was a good teacher who was inclined toward being practical (some people still felt that education should be limited by gender or status….Da would have as much a part of this way of thinking as he would with the latest fashion trends. And We ALL wore loose jumpers and shirts with sturdy calf high boots, that was Da's idea of fashion sense .)

I remember Someone at our local tavern once told Da that he "should" be putting us "girls" in dresses and leave the work clothes to "men"!

Da stated that we were on a farm, dresses were not practical and would only slow us down.

On a farm. You worked day and night!

If you didn’t work, then you didn’t eat.

Fashion was a luxury we could indulge in if budget allowed, when we had spare time.

He then resumed his nightly 2 pints of ale

(He went to the tavern to have said 2 pints to remain visible and be somewhat sociable to assuage rumors.

Da would always say- If people don’t see you, they begin to make up stories in your absence- best to control the narrative!

He went to the tavern Even though he despised spending the money when he had a brewing apparatus in our farthest farm shed at home.

He picked up brewing ale easily too!

And Da's homebrews fetched a pretty penny, they were far superior to our local taverns.)

The evening meal saw us all freshly cleaned off and in our nightclothes.

There was more chatter at the evening meal, which was lighter fare. Mostly soup and some chunks of bread.

Sadly, no beef, although I was holding my breath a bit.

All dishes were cleaned by the person eating from it and placed to dry in the rack- if someone slacked, then they had twice the work in the morning before morning meal.

Some of us partook nightly of either some of Da's lighter herbed ale or some of Rosey's ( secondary kitchen sprite and surprisingly good herbalist) pain free sleep tea to ensure a deep sleep.

Neither seemed to work on me, at one point I even mixed them together….it was horrible and still didn’t work.

We all trundled off to bed after the dishes were put away and the table was reset.

Janey was in bed first and already asleep and snoring away when I put my dishes away.

Tilly leaned over to me" wow, we snore hard hunh!" She gave me a look of pity "I am amazed that you haven't taken to sleeping on the roof"

"I tried; I almost fell off " I sighed "I wish she would quit snoring!"

Tilly laughed

She was wearing a very blousy night gown which was odd as she favored short nightshirts.

She saw my questioning look and explained " I feel puffy today and my breasts are sore. I know it’s too early for my cycle, but my clothes don't seem to fit right tonight. Everything is too tight."

We both knew what that meant, we eyed each other, and I said" uh oh, better put a towel on the bed just in case"

Tilly shook her head "I know, but I don’t think that's what this is. Better to be safe though"

As I watched Tilly leave, it occurred to me that either she was allergic to something and swelling or her bust was filling out…….that was disturbing. Perhaps she was finally filling out, if so, I was happy for her.

I was still unsettled as I made my way past the Sprites quarters to bed.

As I checked on them, I ruefully wished to myself that they had more space right now. It was getting cramped for them and that's no way to sleep.

The sprites were mostly communal sleepers so Da had added a large , what amounted to a shed , addition onto the back of the house from found and salvaged materials.

They were deeply touched by what was for Da a very practical gesture. He really wanted our living space back at nights, as Da had a bit of sleeplessness most nights….well until he perfected making ale.

And they made the most of their space year in and year out. Whether their numbers grew or shrank, they never asked for more…they just made do.

Da would build an additional large shed by the end of the year, but I wanted them to have it now!

They were all a part of our family, and we treated them as such.

It had been much the same with most families that had children since the change. Once the family's children were born, House sprites began showing up in their homes. It was the oddest thing.

As I walked down the hall to us girls’ room, I ended up missing the large shed appearing silently out of nowhere beside the Sprites sleeping quarters. My Dad, however, did not. As I would find out tomorrow afternoon.

As I climbed up to my top bunk, I felt pensive.

The great thing about having the top bunk was that I got the window.

My mind was always restlessly working at top speed and so it helped to have the moon's light to fall asleep to.

The moon was high in the sky by the time I had decided to get some rest.

No sooner had I laid down with my blanket over my head and shut my eyes, then a blinding blue flash burst through the little window above my bed.

Seconds later I heard and felt a deep resonating thunk in the yard.

My heart was beating a mile a minute and my stomach was threatening to climb up my throat- I had a bad feeling about this.

I came out of my bunk -down that ladder - and flew through the back door in one breath.

I didn't need a light as our back plot of land was lit up as though it was midday.

It should have been cold, but it was warm as a kitchen fire. There was no smoke, which was a positive sign.

I walked a bit further outside into our yard and just froze.

I stared gaping , In the middle of our land was a large indigo ball….that was on fire…blue fire!