Can We Keep Her?

There was a flash of frantic, frenetic movement that drew the attention of the shadow. A woman of indeterminable age and classic beauty paced the length of the room. The brightly colored cloth of her skirt caught and reflected the light of the fire. The room was a cozy place, full of soft draped cloth hanging from irregular wooden walls. The fireplace threw odd shadows across the not quite circular room. In spite of the long shadows there was nothing sinister to be found. The woman’s husband, Theo, reclined on his chair, reading placidly.

The woman wrung her hands without ever slowing her pacing, “Where is she?”

“You worry too much. She’s fine.” The deep jovial voice of her husband Theo chimed in. Her worry fueled motions didn’t cease but they did slow slightly.

“I rang the dinner bell three times. She could be lost or hurt or…”

“She will be fine, Fi. She is her mother’s daughter after all. I’m sure she just got caught up exploring.”

“But what if…” Fi’s words were drowned out as the front door slammed open with a mighty crash.

Standing there grinning was their daughter, Leanna. Her face was smudged with the soil from the river. Her brightly colored clothes were damp with mud patches on her shirt cuffs and running halfway up her long skirt. One her arms was dragged backward as she tugged at something outside their home.

“Look what I found” she practically squealed with delight. “Can I keep her?” She tugged at whatever she was holding onto. “Come on, it’s ok.” She cooed out the door and tugged again.

To the surprise of Leanna’s parents a girl lumbered into view. Her eyes were glazed in a way that meant she could only be human, and yet there was something strange about her.

Fi studied her more closely. She was a handsome child in the bud of puberty; just a bit older than Leanna. Her dark hair was finer than Fi had ever seen in a human. Her hands were just a tad more delicate. Even the glazed green eyes seemed more aware than most humans who had stumbled into their world. The clothes that hung around her were muted and worn, they seemed like they should be beneath such a handsome child.

“Where did you find her?” Theo asked curiously. This was not the first time that a human had wandered past the barrier, nor would it be the last. While many of the Fey wanted the barrier closed permanently as long as even a spark of their magic remained in the human world there would be doors.

“Oh it was so amazing. I was on top of this hill and as far as I could see there were these tall tan…things. They were skinny and dry and smelled a bit like plant rot.”

Fi swelled with fear and anger. “You went through the Oak Door?” She asked with the angry tone that only a parent ever seems to pull off. “Through the forbidden Oak Door into the human world?”

“The corn stalks” the human child muttered with her eyes closed and her head tilted. “I was lost…”

Any lecture that either parent planned on giving flew out the window. There was no way a human child should have been able to speak yet. Not until they had given her food and bound her to the house. Leanna looked curiously from the human to her shocked parents.

“Lee, come over here now.” Her father commanded in a tone that brooked no argument, “leave your new friend there.”

Somewhat reluctantly she dropped her new friend’s hand. The human’s eye remained closed and her arm remained outstretched exactly where Leanna had left it.

“We need to get council.” Fi whispered when Leanna was behind Theo. “In case this is a human attack.”

The human child’s eyes opened slowly. Though the green tinted gaze was still glazed, the eyes were even more aware than they had been before. “I heard the dinner bell.” The human girl continued “but mama doesn’t use a bell. Does she?”

Theo seemed to decide something, “What’s your name, little one?”

“I’m Gilda. I think I was lost…”

“What are you doing?” Fi hissed at him, “Don’t engage it!”

Theo sighed, “Fi, she is a child.”

“That could be a ruse. Make us lower our guard so they can come in and…”

“FI, the humans are not coming to sacrifice us.”

The child shifted again stiffening suddenly, “Gilda from the root Gild, meaning sacrifice. Did we live in the corn stalks?” The question trailed off in confusion.

Shouts from the village Crier, Thom, drew attention from Gilda. “Hear Ye, Hear Ye. News from the council. It has been discovered that the barrier has gone solid. All fey magic has left the human world. Anyone with information should find Councilman Fallon post haste. Hear Ye, Hear Ye. News from the Council. It has…”

Theo turned toward Fi, “See now the humans can’t attack.”

“And what do we do with it?” Fi gestured back at Gilda. Leanna, who had wasted no time in grabbing Gilda’s hand again, scowled at her.

“We take her to see the council, find out how she could be fighting off the Fey magic and then we deal with it. You know Leanna could use a pet.”

“Well… Fine but only if the council says she’s not a danger, ok?”

“Deal” Theo smiled.

Finding Councilman Fallon was all too easy. Simply find the largest crowd of celebrating fey and there in the middle was the stately woman who headed up the Fey Council. The feathers along her cheeks and the back of her neck were puffed in joy. It was a bit tougher getting through the crowd without losing the still pliant Gilda but eventually they got through.

After they explained what happened, Fallon turned to the human child. “Let us see what we have here.” Her voice floated above the crowd, echoing with the undertones of the barn owl she had bonded to to augment her wisdom. She whispered what was surely an ancient and powerful spell. Her eyes widened.

“The Stolen Fey” she breathed. “The one sacrificed for the humans’ crops. The reason we fought and left. Reborn as a human. Welcome home, my daughter.”

Through it all Gilda’s eyes, though clear stared off into nothing. “I think I am lost…”