The Pixie's Request

Aradia was a fae. The last thing she felt like doing; however, was bobbing around in the sunshine and putting dew on the grass. No, Aradia found much more appeal in the decay and the dark. She understood that nothing could grow without death and rot to fertilize it. She knew intrinsically that dark brought the rest required for daytime things to flourish.

But then there were things that thrived in the night. Owls and bats, night blooming orchids. Things she tended to with special love and attention that most of her kind were happy to neglect. Still, she did not begrudge them. She enjoyed her solitary vigil and after all, it was just their nature to be ignorant of the nocturnal goings-on of the forest.

You see most Fae were Sun Children. Birthed among meadows and the sun-washed shores of babbling brooks. Their welcome into the world, overseen and blessed by the day, and it was to the day they owed their diligence. But every so often a Night Walker was born. Aradia was the latter. Born on a moonless night she had not even had the glowing light of the moon to usher her forth.

So, she looked quite different from her day time counterparts. Their skin had humanish tints and their wings were those of dragonflies or butterflies. Aradia's skin was a light purple, her eyes were solid black like an owls and her wings were like those of large bats. In all her years in the forest she had never seen another Night Walker. It was a quiet and solitary life that kept her very busy tending to her nocturnal charges. She assumed there were probably others in far flung areas of the forest she normally did not tend to, but, like her, they were probably content in their solitary life. Afterall, she has her creatures and plants to keep her company and occupied.

Still, over the past months a growing sense of unease had begun to grow in Aradia. She felt something was increasingly off about her nighttime forest. Maybe it was her acute attunement to night time things that made her more aware than the Sun Children or her comfort in the familiar darkness that was hers that made this alien and sinister disturbance that seem to be encroaching feel particularly threatening, but as she awaken in the early hours of dusk, and watched the sun slip away behind the distant mountains, she sharpened her spear and prepared for another night spent seeking the source of this new looming danger.

It was then in between the scraping of the stone on the metal tip that she heard it...a rustling.

She paused for a moment. Her keen hearing listening for more sounds from the mostly sleeping forest. She stood and stepped forward to the edge of her craggy cave dwelling. She moved in silence. She was approaching the opening of the cave. Her heartbeat was steady and her breathing even. She was prepared for anything that befell her.

Until, something literally befell her. Not something, someone came crashing and screaming through the overgrown grass that hung over the mouth of her rocky home and landed with a sickening crunch on top of Aradia.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! So very sorry! My vision isn't that good at night but I heard the sound of your blade and thought I just might be in the right place."

Aradia slowly but graceful rose to her feet. She looked down at the Sun Child still sitting on the ground. Both the Day Fae's knees were skinned and bleeding and she looked to have busted her lip also. She had scratches all over her arms, legs and cheeks from stumbling and blindly flying through the forest in the dark, her eyes not as equipped for darkness as Aradia's. The fairy fluttered her dragonfly wings and debris scattered from them.

The fae had wild, red curly hair that at the moment was full of brambles and leaves. She had rosey cheeks that were flecked with white freckles causing her to resemble a mushroom cap and her eyes were a bright mossy green. She would have been singularly cute except for when she smiled her endearing smile, she revealed pointed teeth. It was this more than the rest that indicated her true nature.

"A pixie." Said Aradia, extending her hand to help her up.

"Well, yes that's one thing I am, but my name is Prism."

She accepted Aradia's hand and hoisted herself to her feet.

Aradia knew Pixies to be considered one of the lesser Day Fae. They had no royal families and were usually considered to be troublemakers. She had few dealings with Day Fae of any sort in her mostly solitary life and knew, only peripherally, of such matters but from what she had overheard when she'd had to venture out on certain early evenings to take care of any business among her daytime counterparts Pixies were generally not to be trusted. Pixies, when they weren't guarding their respective flora, were known to be tricksters. Regardless, this particular one had obviously gone through great lengths to find her and seemed to possess no such grace, stealth or cunning to be a threat in such a way.

Aradia would hear her out but it was still with trepidation and a cunning look she asked,

"What brings you here Prism?"

"Well, you see I tend the water lilies out on the pond just south of here, and there's something that's been happening to my creatures there during the night time. It started small at first but it's getting worse and it's making all of us pond-dweller uneasy. I can't get help from the other Children of the Sun. I've tried appealing to the counsel but they hold little value in the murky depths of my territory and I can't get them to take it seriously."

Aradia did not speak but kept looking at Prism. Wondering if she waited long enough if she would say more, The Pixie did not disappoint.

"Look, I know I sound crazy but I can sense something. I thought maybe since you were familiar with the night, which seems to be when it's the most active, maybe you will have felt something too. I'm not crazy, I know my pond and I know something isn't right."

With this last sentence Prism had raised her chin defiantly and stared directly up into Aradia's dark eyes. Aradia respected the sentiment and the pluck it took for the little fae to come here. Aradia knew her reputation among the Day Fae. Most of them found her quite stand-offish if not downright frightening.

There was also no sense in pretending that this weird disturbance might not be the same one Aradia herself had been sensing. She had planned on seeking the source tonight anyway.

"Fine." She finally said

She planted the base of her spear into the ground and began to gather her things in her bag. Prism looked taken aback.

"Really? You're going to come help me."

"I am going to go with you to investigate and then we can discuss to what extent I can and will help."

A sharp-toothed grin spread across Prism's face and she looked very pleased with herself.

"And you mean to go with me tonight?" Her voice was almost giddy.

"Obviously."

Aradia swung her bag on her shoulder and stood tall. She grasped her spear and a beam of moonlight fell across her face illuminating her pale lavender skin and glinting in her pitch black eyes. Her coarse black hair settled around her shoulder with a soft clatter as the beads and bones tied into it knocked against each other. She looked fearsome as she said,

"Lead me."

And Prism was not afraid but determined as she replied…

"Right."

And the Fae of Darkness followed the Pixie out of the cave and into the night.