Exordium

Faerie left her house before the sun came up in the morning. She was going to visit Ason today and she was so excited she had hardly slept the night before. She and Ason had met in the woods a couple of months ago while Faerie had been out checking animal traps with her guardian, Rey. Ason’s family had been refugees at the time and he had initially been suspicious of Faerie’s presence in the forest. By the end of their first meeting, though, Ason had given Faerie a beautiful heart-shaped locket to wear that had changed her life.

Ason’s locket had awakened the emotions that Faerie and her ancestors had long ago learned to suppress in favor of following logic and reasoning. In addition to activating Faerie’s emotions, the locket had also awakened the emotions of the people that she had gotten close to. Rey, their neighbor, Xenin, and several other people in the village had started to show signs that Faerie had first recognized in herself after starting to wear the locket. Rey and Xenin had started to spend a lot of time together, exchanging meaningful looks and disappearing to Xenin’s house together for long periods of time. They seemed to really love each other and Faerie hoped it was not just a short-lived phenomenon due to the sudden, overwhelming surge of emotions that were new to them.

Faerie’s people had not married or procreated outside of a lab in hundreds of years, so being in an interpersonal relationship was new for all of them. She hoped that the transition would not be too difficult for the people experiencing it. Several of the boys in the village had shown a great deal of interest in Faerie, herself. She was flattered by all the attention, but she wasn’t interested in anyone except Ason. As soon as her emotions had awakened she had been drawn to him almost against her will.

Ason and his family had been driven from their ancestral lands by governmental agencies trying to hunt down individuals and groups of people who were not in compliance with the directives of the Great Shutdown. In 2033 it was decided by the global government that all forms of electronics should be shut down to protect the people of earth from the dangers of artificial intelligence. It was also decided at that time that procreation should be done only in a lab to control the expansion of the population that had put a strain on the earth’s resources. School curriculum had been modified to begin teaching the importance of logic and reason over emotion in all aspects of life. The curriculum helped the population accept the importance of the Shutdown and ensured that future generations would comply with the measures undertaken to preserve life on earth. A few small groups of people, including Ason’s ancestors, had managed to find areas to occupy where they could live their lives without discovery. The “revolutionaries” had given up their technology, but had refused to give up their feelings or their right to marry and reproduce. After leaving their homeland two years ago, they had been living as refugees, surviving wherever they could avoid detection.

After Faerie and Ason had met in the woods she had believed she would never see him again. They met again just over a week later when Faerie and Rey had taken their pelts to a marketplace to trade them. Ason’s family had taken ownership of the booth they went to trade with and he told Faerie that he and his family planned to stay in her village.

Since finding each other again Faerie and Ason had seen each other a few times. Besides the day in the market they had also seen each other around town a few times. They had quietly spoken about how Ason and his family were doing and how he and his parents had ended up taking over one of the farms outside town. The previous owner had come into contact with Faerie and the locket and he had been having a lot of difficulty with the emotions he experienced as a result. Mr. Arton had taken over guardianship of seven children over the years in order to get enough help to run his farm. After his emotions were activated he had a lot of difficulty facing the fact that he had used his position as the childrens’ guardian to obtain free labor until the children reached the age of independence. When the time came to leave the farm, the children were simply turned loose to fend for themselves without the ability to perform any labor outside doing whatever specific tasks Mr. Arton had assigned them to. The children that had left the farm had ended up living in the forest with the other refugees who took them in to keep them from starving to death. Mr. Arton signed over ownership of the farm to “atone” for his exploitation of the children in his guardianship on the condition that Ason’s parents would take responsibility for their care and training.

The farm was far enough out of town that the family should be able to avoid unwanted attention from authorities. They just had to avoid going into town together.

Ason had shown up at Faerie’s home unexpectedly the previous evening. He had sat at the table with Faerie and Rey and talked about his history and his family. He had asked at the end of the evening if Faerie would like to come to the farm the following day for a visit. With Rey’s approval Faerie had accepted the invitation. She had thought of nothing else since making plans with Ason.

Faerie had laid awake for hours after Ason left. She wondered if Ason was excited about her visit, too. She had literally never had these types of feelings for anyone else in her entire life and she wondered if it was normal. She also wondered if Ason thought about her as much as she thought about him. They had never discussed having romantic feelings for each other, but she didn’t think it was possible for Ason to be near her without feeling at least some of the magnetism she could feel between the two of them. She hoped it was not as obvious to everyone around them as it was to her, but she didn’t see how anyone could possibly miss it. When she talked to Ason she felt like they were encased in a whole separate universe from everyone and everything else. She was vaguely aware of other people and events, but she felt like she and Ason existed on a different plane than the rest of the world. On the rare occasions that they had made physical contact it was unlike touching anyone else. She could feel energy moving between them like they were charging each other. She had never felt anything like it with any other person on the planet.

After sleeping as much as she could and taking far more time than she usually did to arrange her long, wavy chestnut hair around her face, Faerie had started walking toward the old Arton farm. The sun had come up by the time she reached it, but she hoped she wasn’t too early. Ason had not given her a time to be there. He had just asked her to come by in the morning to meet his family and let him show her around the farm. She approached the farmhouse unsure whether or not she should knock or wait for someone to come out, but she didn’t have to worry about what to do next. A beautiful woman with shiny, dark brown hair and green eyes swung open the door and said with obvious excitement, “You must be Faerie!”

Faerie smiled nervously and said, “Yes, ma’am, I’m Faerie.”

“Ason said you would be here this morning, but he forgot to mention how beautiful you are!” The woman wrapped her in an enthusiastic hug. “I’m Amanda. I’m Ason’s mother.”

Faerie blushed. All she could think of to say was, “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Come in! I’m making breakfast for everyone.”

When Amanda and Faerie walked in the door they were immediately surrounded by a tall man with dark blond hair and blue eyes and two boys about eleven and 13 years old, both with light blond hair and blue eyes. “Faerie, this is my husband, Anthony, and our children, Eric and Jason.”

“Hi Faerie. It’s nice to finally meet you,” said Anthony.

Eric and Jason just stared at Faerie with big smiles on their faces. They both blushed noticeably. She didn’t have time to answer Anthony before Ason came walking into the room. Faerie felt like all other activity in the world ceased as her eyes locked with his. It seemed like he was the only other person on earth for a moment. She was able to pull her awareness back to the room enough to realize that everyone else in the room had definitely noticed their reaction to each other. Amanda broke the stunned silence by saying, “Let’s eat.”

Breakfast was a whole new experience for Faerie. She was used to having just her and Rey, and occasionally Xenin, at a table for meals. Amanda and Anthony asked Faerie questions about the town while Eric and Jason blurted out random questions trying to compete for her attention. Ason was quiet throughout breakfast, watching her interact with his family. After the meal, though, he invited her to take a walk to the pasture with him.

Ason didn’t say anything as they walked past the garden in front of the house and past a small field of corn. They finally came to a wooden fence that held a small herd of cattle. There were about twenty cows in the pasture and one stalky, well-muscled bull that eyed them suspiciously. He obviously took his job protecting his herd very seriously.

“This is Felix,” said Ason. “He came with the place. He’s still trying to decide if he can trust us around the herd.”

Faerie reached out a hand so Felix could smell her, being careful to keep her fingers folded to her palm in case he was a biter. Felix took a few steps closer and allowed her to scratch behind his ears and stroke his head.

“I’ve never seen him do that. He seems to like you.”

Faerie smiled at Ason as she scratched Felix on the head and neck. “Let him smell your hand,” she said.

Ason presented his hand and Felix just snorted.

“Give him time,” she said. “He just has to get to know you.”

“I guess we all just need to get to know each other,” he said.

“I guess so. Eric and Jason used to live with Mr. Arton, didn’t they?”

“Yes. They came with the place, too.”

“I really like the way you and your family have included them. Your mother introduced them as her children. They seem to just be a part of the family.”

“I’m glad you could come out today. My parents really like you.”

“I like them too,” she said.

“And my brothers like you, too.”

“I like your brothers, too. I’ve never been around a real family before.”

Ason looked at her and opened his mouth to say something else, but Jason came running down from the house yelling, “Ason! Dad says it’s time to come and help with chores!”

Ason looked at Faerie and said, “You know you can leave anytime you want. Doing chores on the farm isn’t a lot of fun.”

“I think I’ll stay if it’s okay,” said Faerie. “Things are getting really interesting.”

“Yes,” he said. “They are.” He looked at Faerie for several seconds, but then he looked down and they both blushed.

“Let’s go,” said Jason as he led the way out to the barn. Ason and Faerie smiled at each other and then followed him.

The story continues in Gravity.