ELO Page 6

  "Come on, darling, I made stew. You can't sit there all day. Your bum will fall asleep."

  Eventually, she decided to move. Bree felt terrible as she made her way into the cave and stumbled into her pile of furs. Elo severed her tea and a portion of stew. She said, "Drink up, dearie, you'll catch your second death if you don't nourish yourself." Bree gazed into the fire then looked at Elo.

  "Elo..." Bree pushed her voice, "What...is....your...story?"

  Elo froze for a moment; her face became cold. She said, "It's none of your business, now you have your food." Elo face crumpled for a moment, she turned and left " I'll be off for bed, see you in the morning." She was gone, a white deer leaping from the cave and towards the forest.

  Bree was shocked by Elo’s behavior, in all her weeks of living in the spring Elo had always been nothing but polite and sweet. Bree sat alone; she supposed it was a personal question. Bree wrapped herself in her furs for comfort. Perhaps Elo had died horribly, but of what? The stories had been so visceral and revealing she had expected Elo's story to be mild. Most of the other deer were either sheepish, sad, and generally kept to themselves. Elo was always bouncing, singing, or busy. Surely, a person with such a bubbly personality couldn't have lived such a terrible life. Bree stared at the herd of white deer in the forest. She wished she had kept her mouth shut. Even when Bree had done nothing but sulk her first few days, Elo had been kind and pleasant. She sipped her tea, wondering what Elo was hiding. Feeling bad for having asked, Bree decided to sleep and promised to apologize the next day.

  Chapter 7

  After a very early breakfast made from last night's leftovers, Bree made sure to tidy up what she could and brew a fresh pot of tea. Elo came to the cave early as usual and was surprised to see that the cave was neat and that Bree had already tended to washing her spare clothes and beating her furs before rolling them into a neat pile. Bree was rinsing her pot in the spring when Elo cheerfully approached her. "What's all this, the day hasn't even begun. There was no need, it's my job to help you."

  Bree shook her head and then hurriedly served Elo tea.

  She cleared her throat in her whisper of a voice and said, "I'm... so...rry."

  Elo looked embarrassed, and she turned pink.

  She said, "ah, no. I should have been more patient. Who wouldn't want to know? We're all here stuck because of what happened to us before we got here."

  Bree whispered, "no...don't....tell." Elo could barely hear her, but she burst into tears. "I'm sorry. Look at you...you can't even talk because of what you've been through." she sobbed, "and I don't even dare to tell you about myself..." Bree held Elo's hand and shook her head.

  "No. I...lost...voice." Bree wheezed, her throat burned, and she turned red face. "My voice...taken...before.... slave…."

  Elo wiped her eyes. "Ay well...that doesn't make it any better. People are monsters. Someone took your voice. I bet it was beautiful, just like you."

  Bree blushed, looking at her feet. Elo brushed her blonde curls over her ears. She said, "now I say we go into the forest today and gather. Faelorn promised to spend time with me, and maybe visit little Eli." Bree's heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly slung her makeshift bag over her back, slipping on her socks and boots as she followed Elo out the cave. Elo sprang into her deer form, and Bree chased after her. She said, "You must be better, look at you running." Bree smiled; she did feel better, stronger even. Elo flounced past the herd that mostly ignored them. Bree followed, running after the leaping doe. Eli, the fawn, stopped from were he was at his mother's teat and chased after them. Bree ran, surprised by the clumsily fawn cantering around her when she stopped to take a breath. Eli's mother gave an anxious call, and Eli ran back, glancing back at Bree once more before returning to his mother's side.

  Elo sneezed as she stumbled over a brambly patch of roses. She said, "Eli's mother is always overprotective of him. Don't mind her, she'll get used to you after a while." Bree shrugged, embarrassed stuffing her hand's into her pockets. Elo giggled, "well, Bakura did tell her you were thinking about eating him before you knew he was human." Bree turned red, Elo laughed and said, "Ah, don't... we all do that. When I first wandered here, I thought the same. The deer where I used to live were so dumb if you left corn mixed with sleeping drought, they would eat it then fall asleep in the field. The farmers could walk outside and kill them with a knife." Bree shivered now that she was familiar with the concept of changelings; she was nervous about what meat she ate. Elo sighed, "don't look at me that way. You can tell the difference between a changeling and an animal quickly. A changeling eyes still look human. In their own way, see my eyes are still blue, deer don't usually have eyes like that. Bree leaned in and saw that Elo was correct. "Also, I'm a lot bigger than a deer, I can carry you." Elo lowered herself, "speaking of that, I should carry you. Faelorn's home isn't far; we can scavenge on the way back."

  Elo kneeled "well, come on, hop on."

  Bree nervously mounted on to Elo's boney back. Elo said, "there your not heavy at all; just hang onto my neck." Elo burst into a gallop so fast that Bree had to hang on with everything she was. She nearly slipped off when Elo joyously leaped over a small water canal. Elo said, "Sorry, dearie, I love jumping like that. I almost forgot you were there."

  Bree hung on tight, terrified, but Elo slowed into a light trot. She said,"I'll be gentle; the woodlings might get offended if I run into their nest carelessly."

  Bree brightened and whispered into Elo's long ear. She asked, "woodling?"

  Elo responded, "yeah, Faelorn's lives in their nest most of the time. He does have a home, but he doesn't like to use it; it's too human. He spends most of his time with them and with some of the other fae in the woods. That is when he isn't patrolling the wood's at night searching for lost souls."

  This was the farthest in the wood that Bree had yet to travel. The largest trees were thicker than her arm span and towered hundreds of feet in the air. Thick moss covered their roots. The air was dense, a greenish haze filtered through the canopy of leaves. Bree shivered nervously; she felt dwarfed against the massive trees. Bree saw a squirrel chatter up ahead and disappear up a tree.

  "Elo..." she whispered to her friend, who seemed to have a sharper hearing as a deer. She muttered, "Elo...this forest...is... big." Elo said,"It's magical, my dear, the way all forest's used to be."

  Bree clung to her friend's neck tighter. As they went in deeper, the woods grew darker, and the canopy of leaves was so thick than only thin beams of sunlight lit the littered forest floor. Straining her voice, pushing with all her might "My first day...I came to the forest...there was snow." Bree began having a coughing fit, clutching her throat. Elo looked worriedly at her. "No more questions, I can smell blood. You straining your throat to hard." Bree nodded, rubbing her throat gently. Elo answered her question.

  "Well, the forest works in mysterious ways, sometimes it won't reveal itself. It seems to have let you out from where you arrived. I wonder why?" Bree shivered. The snowy forest she had been raised in was so small and starved of life compared to the forest she traveled now. To think, she might have wandered back into enslavement without knowing it. Bree asked one last question, flinching at the pain in her throat. "Why?"

  Elo shrugged her deer shoulder's, which made Bree almost fall off. She said," I dunno, that magic for you, it has few clear rules, only scholars and holy men understand it." Bree throat burned from her whisper's, and she snuggled into Elo's warm fur. The forest was full of life. Bree couldn't get a good look at the animals; they were always so quick to flee. Elo announced, "Here we are!"

  Bree saw movement in the branches, and she held her breath. She thought she saw a tiny person sitting high up. The forest let out into a tightly knit but enormous bramble tree. The tree was a perfect sphere, and its branches were knit so tightly together that very little light could get inside. Elo didn't hesitate to push her way into the nest of tree limbs, and before Bree could protest, she was roughly squeezed between Elo's shoulder a
nd the smooth branches of the bramble tree. Elo apologized as she entered the empty enormous fae nest. She said, "sorry dear, now don't get off my back. The fae might be angry that I brought a stranger into their nest. If they are, I'll run out with you on my back; if not, then we have nothing to worry about." The hesitancy in Elo's voice made Bree tense and nervous. There was a rustling of leaves, and Bree dug her fingers into Elo's thick fur. Suddenly she heard chattering in a language that she did not understand. Elo argued with the voice. "Faelorn likes her well enough and we're here to see him. You greedy little blighters can't keep him to yourself." More chattering and rustling could be heard, then silence, suddenly the entire bush bristled with growls and hisses. Elo stomped, "don't be that way; she's a guest of the King!" That seemed to be enough for the moment as the leaves in the bush stopped shaking. Bree peered over Elo's meaty shoulder, blinking furiously in the dimness of the bramble bush. Tiny shiny black eyes glared at her from beneath large green leaves.

  The bush exploded with tiny winged creatures suddenly pulling Bree's hair and pinching Elo in the backside. Elo yelled, "You rutting blighters, I'll stomp you." Elo reared, almost dismounting Bree, who hung on with her entire body. Tiny hands clawed her face and pinched her nose, and a very angry looking fae jumped on her face. It's body was naked except for a leafy covering on its' groin. It was clearly female and fuming mad as it pulled Bree's nose painfully. Elo turned to run, but she barreled into a green moving mass just as she reached the exit. It was Faelorn still in his creature form. He almost struck Elo, but then seeing her white fur and getting a good look at Elo's face, he recoiled quickly. He spotted Bree stilling hanging on for dear life. Faelorn spoke, clicking in a strange tongue at the fae. The fae stopped swarming and settled on to branches. A large fae almost the size of an infant popped out of the brush. He was taller than the other fae, his molted skin brown and no longer green as most of the other fairies. His wings were long and he was colored like a moth. His long antenna was narrow, and one was bent out of shape. He was bearded and covered in spares long white hairs all over his body. Thin long ears graced his tiny head, and he stomped angrily, shaking a stick at Faelorn. He clicked at Faelorn, who clicked back. Elo sat on her haunches, and Bree stared at Faelorn. His face was that of a predator, a wolf, or a cat. His long red hair was transformed and covered with moss and growing things. His limbs were twice as long as a human, and he walked on all fours with narrow clawed fingers. He was challenging to look at; it was as if he was moving piece of the forest-covered in moss, mushrooms, and flowers. His head was antlered, and his predatory face grinned down at the fae. She stared at him, he shifted forms. The moss and plant life faded from his skin as his body bent back into the form of a human. His face was the last thing to shift, and it transformed back to his usual self. He continued to argue with the elderly fae, and it wasn't until Cael popped out of Faelorn's coat and began chattering back at the elder did they seem to resolve the issue. Faelorn walked over to Bree and, without a word, held her shoulder while addressing the fae in their tongue. Bree, unable to speak anymore, tugged on Elo's ear. "Ow, he's introducing you." Elo snorted with laughter. "Cael said some nonsense about you courting Faelorn, and that seems to have convinced them that you should be a guest." Bree's stomach was full of butterflies; she balked in shock. "That's what the fae are like. They are family-oriented, and by that, all they do is breed, eat, and fight. Faelorn's playing along, so they don't..."

  Bree squeezed Elo's sides with her heels. She hissed “what do they do?” Elo said, "Oww, kill you, alright. The fae don't like humans." Bree clung to Elo's fur, pulling it nervously. Elo, annoyed, hissed, "Apparently, I'm not human to the fae, I'm just some deer that Faelorn hangs out with." Elo rolled her eyes. The elder shook hands with Faelorn and then winked at him to Bree's embarrassment. Faelorn, embarrassed, lead Elo by the ear out of the bramble nest. As soon as they stepped out of the fae's home, Elo transformed into her human form, with Faelorn still grabbing her by the ear. Bree held on tight, realizing that she was half choking Elo. She slipped to the ground and stood nervously aside as Faelorn yelled at Elo.

  "What were you thinking bringing her around here. You dam well pissed the elder off. I had to tell a balmy lie to his face!" Elo huffed, "You never visit me anymore. I'm your friend, or have you forgotten." Faelorn looked away, ashamed, "Elo..."

  Elo growled, "no, you visit the herd less and less. We're your family, and off you go, dancing naked in the woods with fairies." Faelorn rolled his eyes, and Cael perched on his shoulder, grinning.

  "Why did you come here?" Elo brushed leaves from her dress that had been matted into her fur before she changed. "If you must know, I wanted to visit you. Bree could use human company. She hasn't joined the herd, and I thought we could all have a good time together." Faelorn looked doubtfully at the women. "What was this courtship lie?" Elo said, ribbing him. Defensively, he said, "I didn't come up with it, Cael did."

  Cael waggled his brows and antennae at Bree, who looked away uncomfortably. Faelorn shrugged, he said, "you know how the fae are? It's that time of year when they start having babies. He was just playing on the elder's emotions. You know they like babies, even human ones."

  Faelorn looked at Bree red-faced. He said, "I-I-I don't mean to...lie….we can...just be friends."

  Elo giggled, "your stuttering, you don't stutter around me anymore." Faelorn hissed "s-ss-sss stop"

  Elo pulled on his ear. She teased, "Awww, the wee lad. It's because Bree's pretty that your stutter returns." Faelorn turned green; literally, it was just for a moment, but moss, flowers, and plant threatened to grow on his shoulders. Elo giggled, "Aw, don't be shy." Bree stepped forward and whispered in Faelorn's ear, "I'm sorry." He seemed surprised, his skin returned to normal, he said "your voice."

  Elo stepped in when Bree couldn't answer. Elo said, "Hopefully, we'll have her talking up a storm soon." Bree looked down at her feet, embarrassed by Elo's giddy enthusiasm. Her throat hurt from use; she doubted she would ever use her voice again. Faelorn and Bree's eyes locked; Faelorn's eyes were shining like two obsidian stones. "I'm not angry. I just wouldn't want my family to hurt you. They aren't human. They don't think like us, not exactly. There's nothing that gets them more upset than someone they don't know or trust entering a nest." Elo shrugged, "They know me. I've been here loads of times." Faelorn sighed, "yes, but not with Bree. The last humans to discover them ended badly." Silence hung awkwardly in the air; Bree stared at him, wondering what he meant. Faelorn fascinated her; she had never seen anyone like him. Not in her quiet village or in the remote forest that her grandmother had lived in. Elo cleared her throat awkwardly. " Well, we packed tea, and I thought we could make mushroom soup while we're out here." Faelorn shook his head startling. Bree realized that Faelorn had been staring awkwardly. His stuttered returned; he clumsily said, "yuh...yuh..yes we should, how can I help?" Elo smiled, pinching his cheek smugly. "Well, I know there's a place where we can gather mushrooms close by, and I thought we could exchange stories. I know you can't talk much, Bree, but I thought you'd like to listen. Joltrun's not far; we could visit him."

  Faelorn's brow wrinkled "You may visit Joltrun, but… I won't." Elo stopped, "are you fighting with him again?" Faelorn shook his head, "Not now, Elo…" Elo sighed, "you two were so close like father and son," Faelorn ignored her. Bree offered her sling to Faelorn and pointed towards the mushrooms growing by the tree. Elo nodded, she said "Bree’s right; we should get to gathering." Bree pulled out her charcoal and thick paper from her sling pocket. She wrote carefully. "I want to know about the fae." Faelorn was taken aback, then his face softened when he looked at Bree, and he nodded agreeing. Elo transformed back into a deer. She skipped around them as Faelorn lead them deeper into the depths of the mysterious forest.

  Chapter 8

  The sunlight glowed like thick honey through the green canopy. Small insects buzzed lazily, Elo romped in the sunshine stopping to graze in a bright emerald field. Faelorn lectured on the fae transforming
from shy and stuttering to talking with confidence and ease. "The fae are millions of years old. There used to be many faes from many worlds and many places. Most of the lesser fae, like the woodling fairies, live off the land. They typically don't use tools or build anything. The ones who do are the greater fae like the elves. In this wood, many of the faes have gone. The fae I spend the most time with are Cale's people. Some call them the fairy folk; they are called Al' Koro in the eastern elves tongue. The elves were the greatest of the fae—cousins of Man, created by the old God. The greatest and only one God." He continued pausing to take a breath. "No one really knows where the elves went, some say they sailed away into the heavens, others say they stayed and married into Man becoming mortal. Those are all rumors though no one can really know. Though I suspect Joltrun knows more than he lets on, not that he tells me anything." Bree listened quietly, walking beside him. Her chest was tight with excitement. Bree was enthralled with the idea of real elves and real fairies. It gave her comfort to know that her grandmother wasn't insane. All the stories told to her as a babe were true. She scrawled a question on to her scroll as they walked farther into the heavily wooded area. "How did you meet Cael?"

  Faelorn paused, then said "Cael, oh over fifty cycles ago. A bear was attacking the woodling bramble tree, and I scared it away… that's when I first made friends with the woodlings."

  Bree stared at Faelorn's face hard. Was he indeed older than fifty? How was he so young looking? Faelorn shook his head. "Time passes strangely here, sometimes fast sometimes slow. I suppose it's based on what part of the forest you're in and where it lets you out. That's magic for you. It's not predictable parts of our realm exists out of time and space." Bree crossed her arms and eyed him suspiciously. Was he really telling the truth? She knew what time was, but the concept of space was unknown. "What is transcending space?" Faelorn balked. "Oh, I suppose I can explain. The space around you is measurable. Elo is 14 hands tall, she takes up 14 hands of space. The forest exists outside of space; imagine taking a single step on the road, and suddenly from that one step being in another village. Imagine taking one leap, and suddenly you appear above the clouds. This forest transcends space; imagine that one step in this forest is ten furlongs. It only happen in certain parts of the forest, most places in our wood do not transcend space, but some pockets take you to entirely different worlds. When you cross the barrier from your world into mine, you start transcending space and time." Bree was amazed; she truly had left her world. She looked up at Faelorn in wonder. She pushed her scroll into Faelorn’s hands. He looked at her question," How old are you?"