7. “You never have to go back"
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| "My Secret Garden" by AlleyCatz |
The Unfinished Song: Initiate
…see her play with the fae.
Dindi
…see her play with the fae.
The
swarm of whirling faery dancers moved up the mountain, without ever
missing a step. Dindi moved with them, keeping up easily with their
improvised patterns of skips, turns, kicks and leaps. Soon they emerged
onto a patch of flat heath with a view of the whole valley below. The
sky seemed to pull back to give them more room.
She
spread her arms and drew in a drought of the fresh air. Then she closed
her eyes and envisioned again the shinning swirls of light patterns
created by the Taevaedis on Barter Day. In her mind, she recreated the
role of every single dancer. What steps had each player in the pattern
made? One by one, she danced each person’s role as best she could
remember it. First, she played the ‘human’ parts. Then, saving and
savoring them for the end, she played the Aelfae parts.
But when she came to the finale, when the last Aelfae in the dance was to fall and die, she decided to change the ending. Instead, she leaped up again, spread her imaginary wings behind her and vaulted across the field in a full twisting double back leap.
But when she came to the finale, when the last Aelfae in the dance was to fall and die, she decided to change the ending. Instead, she leaped up again, spread her imaginary wings behind her and vaulted across the field in a full twisting double back leap.
The
fae laughed in glee. They much preferred her new dance to the dance of
the Tavaedies. Satisfied now that she had run through all the steps of
all the dancers in yesterday’s dance, Dindi finally abandoned herself to
free-form dancing. That delighted the fae even more.
The
low hum of faerie voices, the sparkle of pixie wings and her own
pounding blood wrapped Dindi in a trance of pure feeling. Movement
inside her itched to spill out.
A
pixie curled a small hand around Dindi’s ear, whispering, “You never
have to go back, Dindi. You could dance with us forever and ever...”
Their
voices hummed hypnotically, enticing her forward step by step. The
lullaby lure of the faery ring shimmered all around her, a mixture of
light and song. The fae clasped hands together, closing the circle about
her. A chain of pixies undulated in the air, the sprites linked up, and
then, in the last gap in the circle, a heron-winged kinnara soared
toward the dancers to close the circle.
“Nice
try, but I’m not yours yet!” Regret tinged her amusement, but her
resolve was firm, as it always was when the fae played this game with
her. Dindi somersaulted through the air with an aerobic leap that
catapulted her right out of the gap. She rolled away on the moss,
laughing.
“You can’t catch me in a faery ring that easily,” she teased them. The fae responded in delight.
“Again, again!” they urged her.
“My family needs me. Oh, mercy!” She clapped her hands over her face. “Soaproot and blueberries! I haven’t had time...”
A pixie waved his little scarlet arms in an expansive gesture. “Fear not, friend Dindi! We have taken care of all that…
* * *
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TO BE CONTINUED
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