The Blessed City

Arik collected her before sunrise the following morning. Dragging her out of bed and ushering her out the door before she could even yawn. They waded down the halls and passed the paintings she'd awed days before. As they grown used to her, they became comfortable moving as she passed. The leaves in one painting blew lazily from an absent breeze. And when the Lady in Red smiled at her, she smiled back.

"What plans do you have in store for us today?" she finally yawned.

"A many number of things."

Unsatisfied, she cocked her head and studied the backs sack he carried and the sling at his side.

"Where might we begin?"

"Telling you would defeat the purpose of a surprise."

Feeling the sense he was teasing her like Doc had many times before, she feigned frustration. Though her body betrayed her and she walked steadily next to him. Crossing the courtyard, they rounded the castle and entered the sleeping market.

"You must at least have a hint for me?"

He considered her. Sides eyeing her with blue eyes as calm as a lake's surface before the rain. Then he smiled. She felt her stomach clutch as his cheeks grew dimples. Swallowing her pride she tried to hide whatever feeling might have arisen.

"Sábhille is larger than she first appears. You have seen only a small part of the Wildling Forest. She stretches from the cave you came through west to the sea. You have seen a few corridors of the castle and the High Court, of course. But you have not seen Sábhille. Today, I plan to show you as much as possible."

He was being more queer than usual. Touching her elbow, he guided her over a river and through the tail end of the village. Passing mills and crops and lingering on the border between farm and forest.

With the village well behind them, they walked a dirt path. Woven into the ground by years of passing feet. Not a hundred paces from the far edge of the woods, they had to step over a stream. Wobbling over the footstones, Ark caught her by the hand. Holding tightly, he helped her to the other side.

Inching closer, the smell of salt wafted to them. She allowed it to draw her to the cliff. There, she stared at the ocean. Leaning over the edge, she found where the water met the sand. Dark yellow sand washed in from the sea and padded the bed.

For the first time in a long time, her smile felt genuine and easy. Arik gestured to her left, grabbing her hand as he took her down a trampled dirt path.

Walking along the beach she listened silently. Welcomed tears crept into her eyes. She knew the promise she made. Knew the promise made back. But for the first time, she felt that Sábhille was home. Ease and peace flooded her as nature's voice soothed her. Like a hug long overdue, she felt safe.

Turning, she spotted the large red rock stretching out from the cliff ahead. Looking back, Arik shrugged, smiled.

"I saw it before we came here," she admitted. "In a dream. It was the first time Kalli came to me. She brought me to the cliffs, not unlike where you found us. She told me the twins would be here. If I ask you a question, would you give me an honest answer?"

"That would depend on the question."

She nodded slowly as she walked. "When you found us and brought us here, we entered through a portal of some sort, didn't we? If not a portal, a veil of some kind."

He pursed his lips slightly. "It isn't a portal. A portal requires a god's magic."

"The kind the twins don't possess anymore."

"Exactly. A veil, however, can be maintained with the help of the High Court. The entrance is through that opening in the rock. It isn't easy to reach and not many have the courage to venture onto these beaches. They aren't known for their kindness."

At the opening, she waded in. Climbing the rocks until she stood on the tallest one. She lifted her gaze to the wondrous sky. The topless rock was identical to the one she had seen on the cliffs outside Sábhille. Only, it was different.

She made her way to the wall, reached out to its red stone. Runes and fae symbols were painted into it. "They're for protection, aren't they? To help the veil."

"Yes."

"I've wondered many times since beginning g my studies with you if was possible that Doc was able to preserve enough magic to create a portal?"

He considered her. "It would be unheard of in our age. But I will not say it is impossible. He would have to have collected it over time. Opening a portal without the proper magic is dangerous. If he did manage it, I can't imagine why he would not have used it."

"I can," she said. When he looked at her with anticipation she added, "It is how we escaped. Doc managed to open a portal in my cell the days before we needed it.

And that, he thought explained the ease of their initial departure. Exiting the rock, Arik laid his packs on the sand and spread out a blanket for them. Crossing g her legs, she took her seat next to him and stared into the sea as he unpacked.

The tide rose a dozen feet in front of her before washing back into the ocean. The sun streamed like a painting in the sky. Oranges and red blended together until they faded into deep purples.

Arik set out fresh fruit and porridge in hot canisters, as well as fresh meat and juice. Together they watched the sunrise over the horizon. She let herself relax, breathing in the salt air, savoring the fresh fruit she hadn't tasted in years.

In many ways, Arik had already given her more than she would never soon forget.

"There is something I wish to know." Arik cleared his throat. Cleaning his hands over his pants, he turned his head to her. When she found his face, she saw the doubt wedged into his creased brows. The crease emphasized his chestnut eyes. Strong cheekbones were complimented by a particularly large nose. She hadn't noticed the appeal to his face before and felt a twinge of guilt as she thought it.

"What is it?" she managed to say evenly.

"Blessed are as common here as are fae. But I've never met one who can command two of the elements. Would you mind showing me?" His shyness charmed her. It was as innocent as if Doc had asked her himself. She couldn't help but laugh.

Standing, she crossed to the ocean. "I was born a naturalist. Like the Aurae nymphs." She whipped the air at him subtly. Brushing his hair behind him, then slapping the roll from his hand in a jest. She demonstrated as she spoke. "The wind has always been my friend. It has saved us many times throughout our journey here. It has often been my only companion when locked in isolation. Since escaping, I've managed to call upon called storms and cyclones. I've conjured arrows from a bow I've never held."

She let the arrow fly softly toward him as if letting go of a bowstring and let it puff in a gentle cloud on his chest. All the while the sky grew grey. Then she let it all go and the pinks of sunlight vanished into stubborn yellow.

"Though I have had dreams of helping fish upstream as a child, it wasn't until I met someone that I believed them to be memories. They showed me that the elements are everywhere and as means to establish trust, they taught me to connect to them. It was then I discovered the second."

She pulled her shoes off and stepped into the ocean. The warm water rushed over her ankles, climbed up her calves. Closing her eyes, she waited for the sensation she felt back in the swamp. Her breath quickened as the energy pulsed through her. Turning her back to Arik, she forced the sea to cease. The current flooded into a wall made only from her will. Opening her eyes, she faced the sea wall. Kelp and creature gawked at her from behind the water wall.

At last, she released the sea. The ocean split around her and spilled onto the beach on either side of Arik.

"They taught me to feel the elements as pulses in the earth and air. As if each beat to a different heart, though one was separate from another. At first, I felt the air. Fast and quick, like a hummingbird. And I did. But I also felt the water, fluid and always cha going its mind about which way to go." She paused. Arik stated at her. His attention focused solely on her. "Then I felt the others, too. Fire. Both fast and slow. As if it couldn't Dr ice whether to burn or simmer. And earth. It beat ever so slowly. Several moments would pass before another shift trembled beneath my hands."

He waited, letting the water rush up to him before he stood. "It isn't uncommon for a nymph to feel each of the elements. They are nature embodied."

"But. . ."

"But," he confirmed. "I have never heard or read of a Blessed who could command two elements."

"That is what I feared." She lifted her hand to her face and didn't realize that the sea still followed her until she heard the wet snack against Arik's face. She stared in shock, covering her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "I am so sorry. . . I didn't mean to."

He wiped his face with an exasperated flare. Then grinned in a boyish fashion. He squatted to the sea and splashed water at her. She screamed with delight as they fought. Sprinting into the beach, she attempted to escape and squealed when he lunged after her. Twisting out of his reach, they laughed. The fun carried away all their cares.

When, at last, he caught her, they tumbled to the sand. Her shriek was more a giggle. They laid there, bodies stacked, and sand plastered to their wet faces. His hands clutched her waist; her hands raised in playful fists between their chests.

Pumping air into her lungs, she smiled up at him unabashedly. He didn't look away. Eyes locked, she became suddenly aware of how they must look. Feigning a cough, she wiggled.

"Um," she began.

Clearing his throat, he offered her his hand and helped her brush off the sand from her clothes.

"What do you say we head to our next destination?" She asked, half wishing he'd let them stay there.

But he didn't. "I'd say, where to?"

With a heavy heart and the satisfying knowledge that she could return here anytime she desired, they left the beach. Grinning didn't at each other, like to children who'd just shared a secret, they walked for the mysteries of the day. He guided her to the north mountain, passed the first stream, and over another bridge towards a waterfall.

Unlike their first few tries, the conversation flowed more easily. Basic, though the questions were, it helped not to ask the harder ones.

She learned that not only was Arik born in Sábhille, but so were his parents and siblings. His mother still worked in the kitchens with the gnomes. His father once held his position but was lost on an expedition beyond the veil. Arik was not shy when it came to the details of his family. Rather, he boasted of his sisters' work with the blacksmith and how his brother tended the mines with the dwarves. Out of the three, he was the eldest. The love he carried for his family poured out in every word.

There was a human in the warrior, after all, she mused.

From his stories, his sister Twyla was not just the youngest but the strongest. Though, he would never tell her because it would all go to her head. And when Maleah commented Twyla's passion for melding, Arik blushed with pride.

His brother, Henry, enjoyed the peace the mines offered over the noise of training grounds and kitchens. Arik admitted his jesting has reached new bounds claiming his brother full of smoke ghat shrouded his judgment and thus his ability to think. Still, he was proud of him.

But Arik was the only Blessed in his family. When she asked if he was resented for it - having recalled the forced secrecy of her own gifts - he said no. That being born Blessed in Sábhille held its own value separate and different from what it meant outside their walls. Rohan and Rowena took a special interest in him and he immediately began his studies. Though Sábhille was his home, he never felt quite at peace than he felt when he was in the library.

They climbed the side of the mountain. Using the set of stairs carved into the rock, they ducked behind a waterfall. At the top of the stairs, she came face to face the wall. Clearly defined against the stone, but unnoticeable from afar. Few figures moved across the landing. Most idled, standing at a postmarked by a thick stone archway and gazed out into the world beyond.

"The Eyes watch for threats beyond the veil. One of the few perks of the veil is that we can see out and no one can see in. It's how we saw you coming. This way." Torches lined the way, hooked to the wall in metal rings. In the daylight, they remained unlit but the heat of the last nights' fire could still be felt if close enough.

As they walked, she noticed that every Eye was an elf. Arik explained how elves were known for their keen senses. And she wondered why she never assumed Rhys was anything but human, remembering the Sancor river and more. Stepping inside an empty arch, he pointed up.

"Watch." She heard it first. The belly squawk of a bird.

Eyes wide, she looked at him in disbelief. "Fae birds?"

He jerked his head for her to follow and they ascended the space between mountains. The cawing of birds grew louder. The mountain leveled into a flat open stable. Nests, varying in sizes, carried dozens of fae birds. Nymphs of all kinds tended to them. Like the High Court, she noticed they wore the color of their element. Grey for the wind, red for fire, blue as the ocean, and green as grass. Their birds donned the shades, too. Turquoise and cerulean and blueberry blue gathered around a pool of water, their brown beaks prodding the surface while the naiads carried fish to them. Nearby, bodies of scarlet and burgundy and fire gold rested on heated fires with the lomades, the fire nymphs. Their beaks were glossy black and pressed firmly into their feathers as if sleeping.

Across the stables, rested a pasture of green stables. Sea and forest greens mixed with fern and evergreen. Their bodies curled into balls until their soft blue beaks disappeared and they looked like steady hills. Dryads leaned into their bodies, resting easily under the sun. Closest to her, the stables opened to the skies. Uncovered stone floors held flocks of cotton white and storm-cloud grey. They plucked their wind-thrown feathers with their golden beaks and handed the aurae their feathers.

"What is this place?" She wandered the stables in awe.

"Éina." Maleah turned to the new voice. A man in elegant grey robes stood before her. "Arik, I did not expect you today."

He took the man's arm. "It was unplanned, but we appreciate your welcome."

She recognized his colors and face from the High Court Smiling, the man looked at her. "We have not been properly introduced," - there was a lot of that since she arrived, she thought - "I am Penni."

"Maleah," she returned.

"Yes, I know. I have been showing your friend around our walls the past couple of days."

Before she could ask she, the halfling's red bushel of hair appeared from inside the open stables. Maleah had hardly seen or spoken to Rhys in days following her revelation.

"Maleah," she said just as surprised to see her. "I did not expect you to come here."

"I could say the same of you," she said a little more sourly than she intended.

Sensing the tension, Penni intervened. "I was just about to tell Rhys about Éina. Would you care to hear as well?" Nodding, Maleah held close to Arik and followed Penni into the heart of Éina. "I'm sure you heard that fae birds are extinct. But as you can very well see, that story is far from true. When the last of our people traveled from the lands east, passed the end of Dianmoore, we came across a small haven of fae birds. They were struggling to survive. So, our people took the birds and came here. To protect the dying species from true eradication."

He continued into a long history of fae birds. They were raised to help the nymphs sow leagues of land after the last frost and before the final harvest. Atop their backs, nymphs flew. The birds are capable of carrying heavy sums at a time. Yet the size of the nymph did not matter as they are lightweight on foot and small in build.

And like the nymphs, fae birds were born to their talents. The naiads had their muir's to raise storms over the ocean; the aurae had their créands whose wings clapped the clouds in thunderous symphonies; dryads rode jéands to seed the lands and rest among the hills; then the lomades had the phoenix in a beautiful picture of rebirth.

"The Huntsman has a phoenix," Rhys uttered.

"Who?" Penni said absent-mindedly.

"The Huntsman. He is one of the men who have hunted us since our escape. When we were in the Tri-Bordered City, he was flying on a phoenix."

Alarm and curiosity were exchanged between Penni and Arik as if they shared a single thought.

"Is it possible for a non-fae to ride a bird?" Maleah asked, reaching her hand to caress the red feathers of a phoenix.

"It is."

"How do the riders choose?" Rhys wandered to the other side of the phoenix, took its beak in her hands.

"The rider does not choose his bird. They choose their rider. Much like a wolf will imprint on his mate, fae birds create a similar bond with their rider." Penni motioned to the birds. "See how they look at each other. Rider and bird. When the eyes meet, there is gnosis. A knowing. An understanding of partnership and respect. But when the bird does not share a bond," he gestured to the younger birds, "they answer to no one."

Penni looked to the sky. "Unlike the birds, we do not fly anymore. Most nymphs choose to remain on the land. Except for the aurae. We love the sky." He grinned sheepishly.

Maleah turned to Rhys as she heard the soft, shaky exhale. Despite herself, she asked, "Are you alright?"

"All my life I have dreamed of being here. Now I only wish my father was here to see."

Silently, they walked among the birds. Admiring their coos as the wind ruffled their feathers. Rhys swooned over each bird as they passed. Caressing a muir's blue feathers and stroking the brown beaks of a jéand. Above them, créands grazed the clouds.

As they strolled, Maleah observed the behaviors. The jéands loved to sleep and moved slower than the others. The muir loved to play and to be heard. The créand flew the most, very few rested in the stables. But the phoenix's, their hot pelts could burn skin if they were angered. Their tempers were as trepid as she expected. Irritable and quick to react.

In the far end of the stables, several birds mingled together. A wide-open space allowed for many to jump around and roam freely. In the heat of their play, none spared them a glance. Except one.

Male admired the way rider and bird responded to each other. The way their eyes locked. The gentle caress of beak to palm and palm to feather.