6. Faery Ring
The Unfinished Song: Initiate
… giggled.
“She just can can’t express herself because she’s so overwhelmed with
joy that with her chores out of the way she is now free to dance with
us.”
Dindi
Dindi
frowned. “Are you sick, Dindi?” asked the orange. “We won’t do your
chores for you anymore if you stop dancing with us,” blustered the
yellow sprite.
“Soon, I might not be dancing with you anymore at all. If I fail the test to become a Tavaedi, I must stop dancing.”
The fae were stunned silent for a moment. Then they all began to shout at Dindi at once.
“Enough!”
cried Dindi, making the Dispel hand-sign in earnest this time. The
clouds of willawisps scattered, the pixies were flung away as if by
gusts of heavy wind, and the sprites all went rolling like tumbling
stones. Corn stalks were flattened around Dindi in a perfect circle
three yards out.
From the perimeter of the circle of dispellation, the fae peered at her with hurt expressions.
“I’m sorry,” Dindi said. “You know I don’t want to abandon you.”
The fae crept back towards her until at last they huddled as close as before, murmuring her name.
“Uhm.” She was abashed. “Could you help me fix the corn?”
“Hurrah! She will dance with us!” squealed the purple pixie.
What harm would it do to share one more teensy weensy dance with her friends? After all, who knew when Initiation might come? She might never have another chance. She would sip one last taste of wild faerie magic. She shrugged away the basket and let Puddlepaws down in the grass. Dindi let the fae lead her into their circle.
“Hurrah! She will dance with us!” squealed the purple pixie.
What harm would it do to share one more teensy weensy dance with her friends? After all, who knew when Initiation might come? She might never have another chance. She would sip one last taste of wild faerie magic. She shrugged away the basket and let Puddlepaws down in the grass. Dindi let the fae lead her into their circle.
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| "Dancing in the circle" by Maria van Bruggen |
The pixies began to fly in circles over the ruined crops. The cob- sized corn sprites whose stalks she’d knocked over joined in next. Willawisps were drawn to all the activity. They all began to twirl and shuffle and skip and jump in a ring around and around, Dindi dancing right along with them. As the corn stalks began to right themselves, the dancers changed the pattern and started to weave in and out of the stalks. Wild swirls of color trailed in the wake of all the fae dancers, strange and marvelous.
Dindi
laughed with exhilaration despite herself, abandoning herself to
whatever moves her body wanted to make. The corn was upright again. If
anything, it was greener and more fragrant than before. Dindi slowed
down, signaling the fae to stop too. They refused to take the hint. They
kept whirling.
She
danced alongside them, but she knew it was their magic at work. If she
didn’t stop them from getting carried away, they would continue dancing
and possibly start to do more damage than good. She had seen them summon
storms, uproot trees, start geysers from bare rocks. It was one reason
she normally only danced with them out on the heath, far past the
cultivated fields. Mama had warned her never to let other humans…
TO BE CONTINUED
The artwork -- isn't it adorable? -- was kindly provided by Maria van Bruggen. Do visit her deviant-Art site and say hello!
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| "Autumn cat-tackle" by Maria van Bruggen |
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