Ode to Wings

~chapter 1~

~Memories~

“Come around the fire,” the Queen Faye waves as all approaches nearby, as she pulls the hood of her cloak more over her head. “And I shall share you a story. One of glory, sadness, and joys. One of honor and woes,” the fire glows bright as she begins to whisper her tale of the great warrior once known as wings.

“She was young when I first arrived,” Sky starts off thinking back upon her memories and first impressions of a spirited and youthful soul that would come blazing in at a second's notice.

“She made heads turn in puzzled amazement, but always left us wondering just what would happen next. A free spirit and a high imagination. But a true Viking warrior soul thrived from her blood. She craved the battle. Longed to swing that sword in any battle, large or small.”

“Nothing would ever stand in her way if she could help it.” She continued on with her story, memories slowly flooding back, little by little. “The young nephilim would drive her dear uncle, Balthazar insane, every time. But,” she whispers as she leans closer to the fire, the flames reflecting in her eyes as she smiles. “He secretly craved it. He always was eager to run back in and join her in all her fun,” she smirks and leans back staring briefly at the fire.

“She died once, did you hear about that? An epic moment it was. She was a Nordic warrior by then. Full rankings, just about. Tattoos decorated her arms from her battles with Odin and the others. Learning from them, but tormenting them all the same. She loved doing that. It was her spark,” a smirk crosses her face.

“Beltane, last year, she stormed the grounds along the woods for me, on her great steed, the name escapes me now, but he was beautiful. All black, a skeleton horse, with flames shooting from his nostrils as they stomped along, slaughtering all those who had threatened me and the crown at the time.” She trails off.

“Young, but a great Viking child all the same. Then she left for a short while. Returning an even better warrior. But, I digress...”

She makes a slight pause before she continues on, almost as though she has to trace back her memories, “I woke one day, early on in my beginning time of the bunker when she first begged her uncle to invite me to come join them. I had finally agreed to join them, after certain terms were made between he and I. Well, one morning, I had woken up, and there was a large, massive tree that had grown overnight! Right in the middle of the main room of the bunker. I was a little surprised at first, but when I found out she was behind it, then it was more of a shrug it off and wait for the adventures to ensue from it.” She lets out a small laugh.

“Come to find out, it was the well-known Yggdrasil that she had somehow made grow! Such a beautiful tree she was, and we deemed to call her Yj for short.”

“The day she died, was also the day of her rebirth. Like the great Phoenix, she reappeared before us. But first, we had tried, all of us, Chuck, and the others, we tried to combine our gifts and keep her alive. But to no avail,” a small sigh escapes her. "We grieved, and then we buried her out along the gardens. And then she returned back. And when she had, Yj...” smiling with tears rimming her eyes, "That tree magically carved in ancient Nordic runes, her very story. Beginning to end. All of it. And it was a beautiful story. One that must be told and shared. Maybe someday, she will return from her great battles and take a brief pause to come by and share her tales once again with the new folks around the bunker now. But, until then, we shall keep her close in our hearts and memories. And share as we remember her. The fiery and imaginative spirit that is our great Ash, or Wings as she was first called."

She smiles as she whispers, pausing her story for now. “Until another day, shall we continue her story.”

Awes come from the tiny group that had formed around the fire to listen to her short lived tale as she stood up from the fire and adjusted her hood over her head. No one should know it was really her, the queen of the Faye, which was out and about spreading word about the nephilim that had come into their lives all those short months ago.

“But, miss… “A small voice tugged at her skirts as she gathered her bag to make her leave.” I need to know more about Miss Wings." She whispers timidly, glancing around to make sure no one else heard her to make fun of her.

Sky gives a small smile and kneels down. “I shall make a deal with you then? Tomorrow night, be here and I shall come tell more to you. Sound good?”

The small blonde smiles, her eyes light up and she runs off. Sky watches her silently and smiles to herself. “I shall take that as a yes.” She says to herself as she walks away.

~chapter 2~

~the beginnings~

Sky makes her way back to the fire pit on the far side of the village she was at just the night before. She had made a promise to a little one to return for more stories on their dear little wings. As she stops to pick up some items at the various vendors along her way to take back to the cottage in Manosque, she notices the small child sitting at the fire waiting. She makes a secret smile and then gives her attention back to the smith in front of her. “Thank you, he will love this.”

The leather smith bows slightly and whispers, “It is my pleasure to serve you, miss” He gives a wink so as to not give away her identity. “I look forward to your next request. Maybe some reins for the horses for the twins soon?” He gives a hearty chuckle, knowing they are not of an age to even begin riding yet.

Sky laughs along with him, “Oh, surely not yet. Let us enjoy them at the age they are still. No need to speed up their growing up so soon. Many thanks again.” She gives a curtsy and turns towards the fire.

Upon reaching the fire, she greets the child, "Good evening tidings, youngling." She hands her an apple and a small loaf of bread to eat while they sit around the fire.

The child makes to stand to greet her but Sky lifts her hand to stop her, "Sit child. This is a story time fire. Nothing formal." She gives a soft smile as she takes a seat on the log stump by the fire.

“So, will there be more about the great Wings, tonight?" She whispers shyly, her eyes lighting up.

Smiling, Sky leans forward and whispers back, “that was the promise, was it not?” she gives a wink and sits up straight again, fixing the hood of her cape. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, I remember now...”

“My first impression of her was that she had a wild imagination. But, I quickly learnt she was very brave and adventurous as well. One night, I had taken off to my cave so that I could go over some plot ideas of just who had been attacking me over a crown I didn't even have yet, and I was attacked by the shadow demons.” She leans in over the fire to whisper her tale of the night. "Her uncle came to my aid at first. But, the others from the Bunker were soon to follow, including Wings. None of them ever listened when they were told to stay away." She gives a small chuckle,” good thing, too. Anyways, she was there that night. They all joined in and helped to fight off the shadow demons. I remember she had caught a stone I had, but being that she is of elvish blood.” She gives a pause, “it somehow did something to poison her. After the battle was over, and we were able to put an end to the shadow demons, we had another battle of our own the handle back at the bunker.”

“It had poisoned her in such a way, that she was turning dark.” Her eyes glowed from the reflection off of the fire, “she fought it as hard as she could. We did all that we could to help her, but she suddenly took off from us. She left the bunker so fast, we couldn't stop her. Some hours later, after we had exhausted ourselves in searching for her everywhere. She finally returned home to us. Her eyes had gone all black. She hissed at us. She was fighting the darkness bad. It was The Empty, her adopted father, who was finally able to help her. Many hours we had spent, waiting. Empty had done something to her, and she slept for some time. Eventually, she came around and was her old self once again.”

The girl stared in wonder, “She survived? Wow, I never knew someone could survive being poisoned from a Faye stone like that.” She takes a small nibble of her bread loaf and moves closer to the fire. “What happened next?”" She whispers again.

~chapter 3~

~the dust bunnies~

Sky gives the girl a smirk and looks glances up a moment. A couple of other children quietly sat down on a far log stump, not wanting to disrupt the story telling. She says a little louder for them to hear, “Well, then came the evil dust bunnies!” Sky's eyes light up bright in her playfully happy smirk as she looks upon the children's faces. What a priceless expression on their faces. She had to give a short laugh before she continued.

“Evil, evil dust bunnies? But, how can a dust bunny be evil?” The young boy across the way whispered.

Sky knew she had their attention now. She stood up, straight and tall now, slowly walking around the fire so that their eyes had to follow her every move. Her skirts swishing along as she moved. The all sat there, silent. She smirks knowingly to herself before she started up again.

“Now, our little Miss Wings, because that was what she was called at the time, found a dust bunny under a sofa in the main room of the bunker one night. She was bored as can be as no one was home at the time. We had all been out doing something that day. So she had been lounging around on the sofa for hours. A small little critter peeked its head out from underneath the sofa at her. Needless to say, he struck up her attention.”

Sky stopped at the end of the fire and then turned around on her heel, digging the end of her worn leather boot into the packed dirt. They all stared at her as she did. The corner of her mouth lifts up in her smirk when she notices this and continues on, “she coaxed that critter right on out from under that sofa and started playing with him. She even ran off to the kitchen to sneak some food to feed him with.”

“By the time we all got home that night, that little critter multiplied by five of them. These little black wiry looking balls of I don't know what, that had sharp little teeth like razors. And then the flame red eyes and the thirteen legs! Well, somehow they seemed all kinds of cute and cuddly around Wings. But, then again, if I was that critter, and she was feeding and playing with me like I was a little kitten, I would be, too.”

The children all giggled over this part of her story. Sky gives a smile at the sound of their giggles. They gave off a sound like tiny little bells for a brief moment. She looks over the flames of the fire before continuing on.

“A few weeks went by, and slowly these small handful grew to take over the entire bunker!” She made her eyes grow wide and she threw her hands out slowly, opening her fists like they were exploding in pretend. The children whispered in hushed tones over this.

“What did you all do, miss?” One asked.

“Well, what else could we do? We sent them all to live in hell, of course,” she responded, matter of factually.

“But, why?” her original little friend whispered.

“Well, there is plenty of space there for them. As well as plenty of demons to feed them with. So we moved them all to live there and give us back the bunker. Wings rather enjoyed letting them be there. This way she could still go and play with them, which she did. I think she may have even all but moved in there at one point.

“They were happy little critters, too. Especially when we came by with tasty treats for them from time to time from our hunts. They would come scurrying down and in their little squeaky voices, ‘yummies... we have yummies?’”

She paused as they all giggled at her imitation of the dust bunnies. “They would eat them demons right up and then hum happily afterwards. So, in a way, they keep hell clean with the demon population.”

“What happened to the dust bunnies?” they asked.

“Oh, they still live in hell." she gives a smile and sits back on the log stump, hiding herself in the flames from their views.

The children, now grown to about five of them, sat in hushed tones as they whispered to each other.

“You ask her,” one muttered.

“No, you ask her, you asked her last time.” another one pressed.

The girl from the night before silently tiptoed over to Sky, “miss, please, another story soon?” she looks at her with little pleading eyes.

Sky gives her a welcomed smile, “Of course I shall, little one. Very soon.”

~chapter 4~

~the skeleton horse~

Sky strolls along, her hood tight over her head. She walks over and picks up a few apples and some loaves of bread left over from the sellers along her way. “The children will enjoy these,” she gives a small bow and continues on to the fire pit. She glances over and notices the small grouping of heads already around the waiting fire.

As she approaches the fire, the little girl runs over to her, “will we get more of Miss Wings tonight?” she asks eagerly.

Sky gives a small giggle, “of course youngling. That was the deal we made, was it not?” she leans close and pulls an apple out like magic, handing it to her.

The little blonde smiles brightly and gives a tiny squeak, taking the apple and running back to her seat by the fire.

A smile crosses Sky’s face as she watches her. She turns back to the rest of the children now gathered here and sets her basket of apes and bread before them. She then sits down before the fire. The children jump eagerly for their treats and settle quickly back in their spots.

She waits before she begins. She stares across the fire, smiling at each one as she crosses her eyes past them in turn, “did you hear about her great steed?” she began, just above a whisper, as she glides her hands along the air. “He was tall, and all black. Actually, he was all skeleton for his body. No flesh to be found on him at all. She came barreling through one afternoon, galloping along upon his back. Rearing him high on his back hooves along the main room of the bunker. Mind you this was before we went and had the barn put in. and let me tell you, we were very quick to get that placed up along the hillside for him.