Emma does not often think this, but she would dearly, dearly like to be back at school at this particular moment.
Her parents brought her to the club to 'socialize', but they're the ones doing all the socializing. And now they've met some business friends of her dad's, and there's some secrecy clause about an upcoming deal, or something? So her mother's at the bar getting a drink with the guys' wives, but Emma's only twenty. So here she is, wandering around on the golf course, enjoying the sunset and trying to kill time until she can go back inside. And really, honestly missing school, where she doesn't have to go through this nonsense.
Finally she decides she's had enough of being outside- however much her mother protests that really, Connecticut is lovely in the fall, it's also chilly- and she starts to make her way back to the clubhouse. She's walking up the golf cart trail through the trees to get across the last hole when suddenly she realizes-
-the clubhouse isn't there any more. There's just more forest.
...what just happened?
Generated:
Post last updated:
into the woods
Emma Miller
There is forest and there is also a little blue-haired fairy girl with gaudy butterfly wings and about three feet of height if that.
"Oh goodness!" she says. "A lost mortal. What's your name, dear?"
"Oh goodness!" she says. "A lost mortal. What's your name, dear?"
Emma Miller
Emma blinks at her. It's still awfully early for Halloween. And what kind of mother lets her kid dye her hair? Well, she supposes it's cute. "Uh, nice to meet you, I'm Emma," she says politely. "Do you know where the clubhouse went, please? I think I'm lost."
"You're very lost," says the fairy. "Follow me, don't talk unless I ask you a question." She takes off with the gaudy butterfly wings and off she goes into the forest.
Emma Miller
Emma- follows her and does not talk.
Why is she following, that child is flying, what just happened?
But she can't speak, much less ask questions. So, she'll just be here, following as instructed.
Why is she following, that child is flying, what just happened?
But she can't speak, much less ask questions. So, she'll just be here, following as instructed.
Eventually the fairy gets bored of flying and lands on Emma's shoulder and directs her. "Bear left a bit more. Go faster."
The latter command is repeated a few times.
The latter command is repeated a few times.
Emma Miller
Emma is not very good at going faster. She trips a couple of times, but her body is forcing her to gogogo and so she just- does. And it's starting to hurt and she's tired and confused and what just happened. She has no idea what's going on, she doesn't know what happened to her parents, she's just- obeying. She can't not.
She wants to go home.
She wants to go home.
Well, where she gets to go is a little bungalow made of rocks near a riverside. It is not made for someone her size, but the fairy makes her squeeze into it without breaking anything and sit in the corner. Then the fairy makes her sit in a corner, nice and still. The fairy feeds her some sort of weird fruit, by hand, bit by bit, and then leaves her there alone, going into another room with an afterthought, "You can sleep," over her shoulder.
Emma Miller
Sleeping is not exactly the first thing on Emma's mind. She tries to get away first, a couple of times, but she can't make herself move. She can't even deal with the scrapes on her arms and the side of her leg, casualties of squeezing herself past rocks not large enough for her to squeeze through. She just sits in the corner, struggling helplessly against nothing at all, unable to move.
This goes on for at least an hour. Not that you could tell by looking at her.
Finally, she just sits and cries. Silently. (She has to be still, she has to be quiet.) But she can cry, wordlessly sobbing.
She wants to go home, what is this place, who even is this not-child that's taken her away-
Eventually, she sleeps.
This goes on for at least an hour. Not that you could tell by looking at her.
Finally, she just sits and cries. Silently. (She has to be still, she has to be quiet.) But she can cry, wordlessly sobbing.
She wants to go home, what is this place, who even is this not-child that's taken her away-
Eventually, she sleeps.
The fairy wakes her up the next morning. The fairy wants her to make breakfast - the fairy tells her how - and then feed it to her. The fairy then wants her to make her a new dress. She gets an old one to copy and a sewing kit but no instructions. Also, she is supposed to sing while she does it.
Emma Miller
Emma does, actually, know how to sew. She's only adequate at it, but it was the sort of thing considered Important Knowledge in school. There are some jokes to be made about a fancy all girl's school teaching girls to sew (and cook, and touch type quickly, and... generally be Good Wives and Secretaries) but right now Emma is mostly appreciative that she can move again.
(There's a small voice in the back of her head screaming that this is awful, she's happy she can move, but there's nothing she can do but cry anyway.)
So. She makes breakfast, as instructed, and feeds it to the fairy. She starts to sew- she's fully aware how bad she is at this and makes it extremely large, so she can just fuss with it later- and she sings.
She has a nice, if untrained, voice. She sticks mostly to hymns, boring but reasonably simple verses in Latin she's known by heart essentially since infancy.
She can't sob- it interferes with the singing, she has to keep singing- but she can keep crying just fine. She tries to do it away from the fairy. She doesn't know this awful creature, she doesn't want it to see her cry. But at a certain point, it's probably obvious.
(There's a small voice in the back of her head screaming that this is awful, she's happy she can move, but there's nothing she can do but cry anyway.)
So. She makes breakfast, as instructed, and feeds it to the fairy. She starts to sew- she's fully aware how bad she is at this and makes it extremely large, so she can just fuss with it later- and she sings.
She has a nice, if untrained, voice. She sticks mostly to hymns, boring but reasonably simple verses in Latin she's known by heart essentially since infancy.
She can't sob- it interferes with the singing, she has to keep singing- but she can keep crying just fine. She tries to do it away from the fairy. She doesn't know this awful creature, she doesn't want it to see her cry. But at a certain point, it's probably obvious.
The fairy doesn't seem to care if she's crying. She wants to be made lunch, and later dinner, and be sung to, and when the dress is done she wants shoes.
Emma is allowed to stop singing when the fairy wants to go to sleep.
Emma is allowed to stop singing when the fairy wants to go to sleep.
Emma Miller
Emma has no idea how to make shoes, but her body forces her to start anyway. She can force it, a little- she can make shoes slowly, if she tries- but she has to legitimately be trying to make shoes still.
By the end of the day she's losing her voice, her throat feels like it's on fire, and her eyes are red and itching. But finally, she can sleep.
She cries herself to sleep again. She doesn't know what else to do.
By the end of the day she's losing her voice, her throat feels like it's on fire, and her eyes are red and itching. But finally, she can sleep.
She cries herself to sleep again. She doesn't know what else to do.
The fairy remembers to feed her the next morning after the fairy has had her own breakfast, and offhand remarks that she may pour herself water from the pitcher if she's very thirsty. The fairy goes out but forgets to say she can stop singing. The fairy comes back with food and wants Emma to put it away and make lunch. The fairy wants Emma to brush and braid her hair, prettily, no pulling. The fairy wants a footrub. The fairy goes out and gets beads and comes back and says they go on the shoes.
Emma Miller
The water helps a little. She's not clear on the distinction between 'very thirsty' and 'needs water very badly', but it seems to be closer to the first one. Her throat gets worse.
Emma's very good at pretty braids. She makes three, French braided from the top down, then plaits them together. (When she's braiding, she's not trying- and failing- to make shoes.) She manages to go even slower by being careful- no pulling! Eventually she runs out of delays and returns to the shoes.
She's not artistic. They're just beads. It takes her a good three tries to comes up with something that even comes close to attaching them. She settles for alternating colors, marching in lines around the edge of the shoes. The seams help hide the extra holes she's making when she messes up.
She keeps crying. It's almost necessary, at this point; the faster she's thirsty, the sooner she can soothe her throat. She'll start sounding worse soon, though. She doesn't usually sing, she's never had training, only magic and a misery-induced haze have kept her going this long at all.
Emma's very good at pretty braids. She makes three, French braided from the top down, then plaits them together. (When she's braiding, she's not trying- and failing- to make shoes.) She manages to go even slower by being careful- no pulling! Eventually she runs out of delays and returns to the shoes.
She's not artistic. They're just beads. It takes her a good three tries to comes up with something that even comes close to attaching them. She settles for alternating colors, marching in lines around the edge of the shoes. The seams help hide the extra holes she's making when she messes up.
She keeps crying. It's almost necessary, at this point; the faster she's thirsty, the sooner she can soothe her throat. She'll start sounding worse soon, though. She doesn't usually sing, she's never had training, only magic and a misery-induced haze have kept her going this long at all.
Eventually the fairy is annoyed by the scratchy voice and tells her to drink more water. Her next foraging trip sees her home with cream-colored berries that she makes Emma eat; they don't taste very good but they smooth out the audible burrs in her voice. The next time she goes out after that she comes back with a little harp and tells Emma to teach herself to sound decent on that while the fairy isn't around to listen to her practicing.
Occasionally the fairy forgets for a day or two to feed Emma anything but the cream-colored berries.
The fairy wants a book scribed into a blank one. The fairy wants Emma to keep the place clean. The fairy gets Emma to do her hair twice a day
Occasionally the fairy forgets for a day or two to feed Emma anything but the cream-colored berries.
The fairy wants a book scribed into a blank one. The fairy wants Emma to keep the place clean. The fairy gets Emma to do her hair twice a day
Emma Miller
Emma sings. And sings, and sings. She has enough water now, but she keeps crying anyway. She wants to go home. She still doesn't even know what this place is. She just- does what she's told.
She's always been good at that.
(Is that why this happened to her? The thought gives her nightmares, sometimes.)
The book takes a couple of weeks; it's not that long, but she is being careful, look at her fancy Good Housewife/Secretary handwriting. She's mediocre at best at cleaning; she can do dishes and fold clothing but it takes her quite a few tries to convince the dust to go outside, rather than back onto something. She experiments with new braids. (What else has she to do?) Her clothes, while sturdier then they look, are still just Nice Clothes For The Club and get progressively more bedraggled.
And she cries. For her parents, for her friends, for her school, for everything that isn't this.
She's always been good at that.
(Is that why this happened to her? The thought gives her nightmares, sometimes.)
The book takes a couple of weeks; it's not that long, but she is being careful, look at her fancy Good Housewife/Secretary handwriting. She's mediocre at best at cleaning; she can do dishes and fold clothing but it takes her quite a few tries to convince the dust to go outside, rather than back onto something. She experiments with new braids. (What else has she to do?) Her clothes, while sturdier then they look, are still just Nice Clothes For The Club and get progressively more bedraggled.
And she cries. For her parents, for her friends, for her school, for everything that isn't this.
After a couple of months, the fairy injures a wing and doesn't go out for a few days. And then, while the wing is still healing, she hands Emma a large piece of pretty yellow and orange fabric and tells her to figure out some reasonably pretty way to wear it, and then she sits on Emma's shoulders and makes Emma carry her through the forest (bear right, up the hill, left, through those bushes, don't scrape the fairy against any branches, faster faster).
Emma Miller
Yellow and orange are not Emma's colors, but she does her best. She's better at sewing now, at least. But being forced to run, run, run through the woods does nothing for the dress she made- She said pretty, what did She think would happen, pretty means dress, pretty means skirt, it doesn't mean hiking clothes. But except for the hem she looks nice.
Nice skirt, nice top, nice braids.
As long as you don't mind the tears.
Nice skirt, nice top, nice braids.
As long as you don't mind the tears.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
The fairy directs her conveyance (who has been told somewhere along the line to quit singing) to a gathering of fairies in a little glen. There are other fairies there. Most of them don't seem to be the same species. They've all got wings, all generally more like insect wings of some kind than like birds' or bats' wings, but not necessarily very like - one has wings like curtains that happen to be able to move, one looks like he's got fish fins attached down his spine in a flying-friendly manner, one's got leaves, one's got a beetle casing on his back. They're mostly shorter than Emma, although the curtains one is an inch taller and the leaf one isn't that much shorter. They look at Emma. They look at the fairy who owns Emma.
"Hello everybody," says the blue-haired fairy sitting on Emma. "Am I very late? I hurt my wing and this useless creature doesn't run very fast."
"You are late," comments leaf-wings.
"Sorry," says the blue-haired fairy.
"You missed the opening remarks. The representative is gone now," says leaf-wings.
"Well, you didn't come to a decision without me, did you?" exclaims blue-hair.
"We did not," says leaf-wings.
"Hello everybody," says the blue-haired fairy sitting on Emma. "Am I very late? I hurt my wing and this useless creature doesn't run very fast."
"You are late," comments leaf-wings.
"Sorry," says the blue-haired fairy.
"You missed the opening remarks. The representative is gone now," says leaf-wings.
"Well, you didn't come to a decision without me, did you?" exclaims blue-hair.
"We did not," says leaf-wings.
Emma Miller
Emma stops as ordered when they arrive. She stays put. She isn't crying- she's too tired, too dehydrated, still somehow too shy. But she's clearly exhausted and red eyed and quiet.
Very, very quiet, as ordered.
She has no idea what's going on. She can't really bring herself to care.
Very, very quiet, as ordered.
She has no idea what's going on. She can't really bring herself to care.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, did the representative say anything interesting?" asks blue-hair.
"Nothing substantive," says fishfins.
"Then my position's what it always was, I don't want them here."
"Which you'll enforce how?" wonders leafwings.
"Well - well, you're a sorceress, aren't you?"
"I am."
"I thought you didn't want them here either."
"I didn't make up my mind. And you'd need me on board to keep them out. And then you were late. Why did I not want them here again...?" muses leafwings.
"That makes the vote tied," says beetle-shell. "That's no good. And we need Promise even if it were more against than in favor. Curses, River, you couldn't leave earlier?"
"I didn't know how slow my useless vassal was going to be!" shrieks, apparently, River, kicking Emma hard in the collarbone.
Promise's wings flutter a little. She inspects her fingernails.
"Rain Dice for your vote," River suggests.
Promise snorts derisively.
"What do you want?" shrieks River, kicking Emma again.
"Maybe I just want neighbors."
"You don't want neighbors!"
"He was cute," insinuates Promise, "the representative."
"You're just deliberately antagonizing me. I don't want them here - they'll be upstream, where they want to go!"
"I guess you'd better figure out what I want, then," says Promise, fussing with her hair.
"Just tell me!"
Promise thinks.
Promise peers at Emma.
Promise says, "I'd take your human."
"Nothing substantive," says fishfins.
"Then my position's what it always was, I don't want them here."
"Which you'll enforce how?" wonders leafwings.
"Well - well, you're a sorceress, aren't you?"
"I am."
"I thought you didn't want them here either."
"I didn't make up my mind. And you'd need me on board to keep them out. And then you were late. Why did I not want them here again...?" muses leafwings.
"That makes the vote tied," says beetle-shell. "That's no good. And we need Promise even if it were more against than in favor. Curses, River, you couldn't leave earlier?"
"I didn't know how slow my useless vassal was going to be!" shrieks, apparently, River, kicking Emma hard in the collarbone.
Promise's wings flutter a little. She inspects her fingernails.
"Rain Dice for your vote," River suggests.
Promise snorts derisively.
"What do you want?" shrieks River, kicking Emma again.
"Maybe I just want neighbors."
"You don't want neighbors!"
"He was cute," insinuates Promise, "the representative."
"You're just deliberately antagonizing me. I don't want them here - they'll be upstream, where they want to go!"
"I guess you'd better figure out what I want, then," says Promise, fussing with her hair.
"Just tell me!"
Promise thinks.
Promise peers at Emma.
Promise says, "I'd take your human."
Emma Miller
Emma can't curl up into a ball. She was told to stay still. She can just- whimper. Quietly.
(Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.)
She mostly succeeds.
When Promise requests "your human", it takes her a few minutes to even realize what that means. When she associates it to herself, she just stares at Promise, slightly questioningly. She's not hopeful, exactly. She's been here for months, controlled by a spoiled, selfish creature she doesn't even have a name for. But she supposes it would be nice, to be away from this one.
If the next one's not worse, at least.
(What do you want a human for?)
(Probably not anything good.)
(Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.)
She mostly succeeds.
When Promise requests "your human", it takes her a few minutes to even realize what that means. When she associates it to herself, she just stares at Promise, slightly questioningly. She's not hopeful, exactly. She's been here for months, controlled by a spoiled, selfish creature she doesn't even have a name for. But she supposes it would be nice, to be away from this one.
If the next one's not worse, at least.
(What do you want a human for?)
(Probably not anything good.)
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"But - but she's mine! I caught her myself fair and square!" screeches River.
"Well, I'm going to have to do something to occupy myself if I don't ingratiate myself with the cute sorcerer breeder -"
"I wouldn't have figured you for touching breeders," snorts curtains.
"I'm new, I don't know what I like yet," shrugs Promise.
"Maybe you don't think you can keep them out," sneers fishfins.
"I can keep them out. I'm better than he is and it's my turf. Question is whether I'm motivated," says Promise.
"You're just being mean to me," whimpers River.
"You were late."
"Because you've always cared so much about punctuality," sneers beetle-wings.
"I'm new," repeats Promise, "I don't know what I like yet."
"Fine!" says River. "She's useless anyway! I'll give you her name after the others go if you'll keep the breeders away."
"If you don't follow though I'll let them move right in, right upstream from you," Promise warns.
"I know, I'll actually do it."
"And you can't just tell me her name and fight with me over her, either -"
"Free and clear," growls River. She kicks Emma again.
"Fine, then. Breeders will have to find someplace else to settle down," says Promise.
And the fairies except for River disperse.
"Well, I'm going to have to do something to occupy myself if I don't ingratiate myself with the cute sorcerer breeder -"
"I wouldn't have figured you for touching breeders," snorts curtains.
"I'm new, I don't know what I like yet," shrugs Promise.
"Maybe you don't think you can keep them out," sneers fishfins.
"I can keep them out. I'm better than he is and it's my turf. Question is whether I'm motivated," says Promise.
"You're just being mean to me," whimpers River.
"You were late."
"Because you've always cared so much about punctuality," sneers beetle-wings.
"I'm new," repeats Promise, "I don't know what I like yet."
"Fine!" says River. "She's useless anyway! I'll give you her name after the others go if you'll keep the breeders away."
"If you don't follow though I'll let them move right in, right upstream from you," Promise warns.
"I know, I'll actually do it."
"And you can't just tell me her name and fight with me over her, either -"
"Free and clear," growls River. She kicks Emma again.
"Fine, then. Breeders will have to find someplace else to settle down," says Promise.
And the fairies except for River disperse.
Emma Miller
Emma still has no idea what's going on. She can't decide whether a transfer is good for her, or bad- after a few nightmare scenarios that her brains helpfully invents for her, she focuses on trying to follow the rest of the conversation.
Breeders? What are those? Sorcerers?
Breeders? What are those? Sorcerers?
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Everybody gone?" says Promise.
Nobody answers.
"Okay. Give."
River grumbles. "At least let me make her take me home first."
"Oh no you don't. You'll just keep inventing excuses until I'm working for free."
River scowls. "Put me on the ground," she tells Emma.
Nobody answers.
"Okay. Give."
River grumbles. "At least let me make her take me home first."
"Oh no you don't. You'll just keep inventing excuses until I'm working for free."
River scowls. "Put me on the ground," she tells Emma.
Emma Miller
Emma puts her down as ordered. She stands very still, eying them both. She's still swinging wildly between hope and terror, but it's (mostly) internalized.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Give. Me. Her. Name," says Promise, when River is still delaying.
"You're going to make me walk all the way home?"
"That sounds to me like your problem," says Promise. "I really don't care."
The fairy grumbles, but then approaches Promise and murmurs, "Emma."
And the teeny blue-haired fairy storms away, grumbling.
Promise watches her go.
Then looks up at Emma and says, "I rescind all her orders."
Emma Miller
She should flee, she should run away, she should go home-
But she doesn't have the willpower to do that right now. She just crumples to the ground and starts to sob again.
(She's favoring one side, a bit; River was small, but she kicks hard.)
But she doesn't have the willpower to do that right now. She just crumples to the ground and starts to sob again.
(She's favoring one side, a bit; River was small, but she kicks hard.)
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise sits down on the moss and wraps her arms around her knees and waits.
"When you can walk for about half an hour without having to be ordered to do it, we can go to my house," she says.
This is neither phrased nor enforced as a command.
"When you can walk for about half an hour without having to be ordered to do it, we can go to my house," she says.
This is neither phrased nor enforced as a command.
Emma Miller
This- is the first thing since she arrived here that Emma has heard that wasn't an order.
It's strange enough that she looks up.
"You-" sniffle, "-that-" sniffle, "-not an order?" she manages to get out.
It's strange enough that she looks up.
"You-" sniffle, "-that-" sniffle, "-not an order?" she manages to get out.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, if you keep me here for too long I might have to haul you back home just so I can get us fed, but no. That was not an order."
Emma Miller
Given that she's somewhat in the fetal position and still crying, the only thing out of Emma next that is even slightly coherent comes out as "-why?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I'm a nice fairy."
Emma Miller
Emma will give her nicer, at least so far. But "nice" when combined with "fairy" is, in her opinion, a pretty low bar, so she'll hold off on ultimate judgment for a bit. (Not that she has a large sample size here.)
That said, she did allow Emma at least brief freedom. "Thanks," she manages to gulp.
Also, the weird winged people are in fact called fairies. She's learned more about them in the past ten minutes than she has in months living here. She's not sure if that's a good thing, but she'll take it.
After thinking for a minute, she adds, "...um, half an hour. Maybe an hour." She's not in great shape, she spends most of her time cooking and sewing, but a half hour walk shouldn't be too bad, if she doesn't get forced faster, faster, faster.
That said, she did allow Emma at least brief freedom. "Thanks," she manages to gulp.
Also, the weird winged people are in fact called fairies. She's learned more about them in the past ten minutes than she has in months living here. She's not sure if that's a good thing, but she'll take it.
After thinking for a minute, she adds, "...um, half an hour. Maybe an hour." She's not in great shape, she spends most of her time cooking and sewing, but a half hour walk shouldn't be too bad, if she doesn't get forced faster, faster, faster.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. I'm sure you've figured out by now that you shouldn't give anybody else your name. What do you want me to call you instead?"
Emma Miller
That gives Emma some pause. Her name doesn't really lend itself to nicknames, except when her parents started calling her "Emdy" as a pretense at combining Emma M.D., and that's too close to her real name for comfort.
So- she'll pick something. She feels like she should come up with something clever, but she's too emotionally worn out for that, and it should probably be something she recognizes. Not her mom's name, just in case, but her grandmother's would work? Grandma's been dead for years.
"Ruth?"
So- she'll pick something. She feels like she should come up with something clever, but she's too emotionally worn out for that, and it should probably be something she recognizes. Not her mom's name, just in case, but her grandmother's would work? Grandma's been dead for years.
"Ruth?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay, Ruth."
Emma Miller
Responding to that will be weird, but it's better than the alternative.
("Better" is not a thing she's had recently. For months, actually. It's a strange feeling.)
She recovers faster than she thought. She'd forgotten what it was like to simply- rest, of your own accord. Not enforced by a careless fairy who just wants you quiet and behaving in a corner. So it's only about twenty minutes later when Emma pulls herself together and says hesitantly, "I'm, um, okay to walk now, I think."
("Better" is not a thing she's had recently. For months, actually. It's a strange feeling.)
She recovers faster than she thought. She'd forgotten what it was like to simply- rest, of your own accord. Not enforced by a careless fairy who just wants you quiet and behaving in a corner. So it's only about twenty minutes later when Emma pulls herself together and says hesitantly, "I'm, um, okay to walk now, I think."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay." Promise gets up and flutters into this air. "This way, let me know if you need to slow down."
Also not enforced.
Also not enforced.
Emma Miller
It actually takes her some time, to sort things out in her head enough to follow. A small part of her is still screaming go home there's no order now, but she still doesn't know how, and making the so-far-nicer fairy angry doesn't seem helpful.
So she follows without complaint. It's a little fast for her, but she decides it's not a problem; she doesn't want to bother the fairy into ordering her. It's not that fast.
So she follows without complaint. It's a little fast for her, but she decides it's not a problem; she doesn't want to bother the fairy into ordering her. It's not that fast.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
And in about half an hour, there is a tree, which opens up and is much closer to being the right size for Emma than River's house was. It is cute and tidy inside.
"Help yourself to water. Are you hungry?"
"Help yourself to water. Are you hungry?"
Emma Miller
She has to think about it. She hasn't been able to feed herself for months, she's gotten to a place where she just- ignores it until she's fed. She's not at 'my orders consider me Hungry Enough to remind River about food', but she has to sort things out past that.
"...a little?" she finally decides. "But, um, at least a day before it's a problem, I think?"
"...a little?" she finally decides. "But, um, at least a day before it's a problem, I think?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, I'll give you something now, and you can tell me when you're hungry again. If you eat something I don't literally put in your mouth for you then other claims on you can sneak in - it's not likely, but it could happen." Promise starts rummaging around the kitchen. "Anything you know you do or don't like?"
Emma Miller
Emma was not fed a particularly wide variety of food at any point, and did not form notable opinions on any of it except for the one "helped my voice" berry. "I, um, ate basically anything," she offers. Then, realizing this is maybe not detailed, she tries again. "Um, anything's fine, I guess the soothing berries were good? If that helps?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"The sort of off-white ones? I don't have any right now but I can get some next time I'm out." Promise starts cutting up other things until she has some salad sort of thing, and then goes and feeds it to Emma.
Emma Miller
"You don't- not for me," Emma says, feeling worried and off-kilter. She just- whatever else happens, so far this place is much better than River's (she didn't even know the nickname, before). She doesn't want to be more trouble.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I know where to get them," Promise shrugs. "You're going to be here for a while, if you like them I may as well."
Emma Miller
That... sounds ominous, actually. "Um. A while...?" Emma dares, just barely, to ask.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Unless you have some strenuous objection I'm going to make you a gate and put you back where you belong."
Emma Miller
Emma sits.
She does not intentionally sit. It just feels rather like all of her bones have stopped working.
"I- you-" she manages before she's crying hysterically. And also sort of laughing hysterically. She has no idea what she's doing and realizes she sounds sort of like a crazy person, but she's just been trapped here with no idea what the place is, or what happened to her, or- or- fairies, she didn't even know they were called that really until yesterday, and-
Home.
Maybe. If she's lucky.
But it's closer than she's gotten in a long, long time.
Eventually she pulls herself together and wraps herself around her legs. "Um. Sorry," she says, still sounding rather watery. "Thank you, thank you, I don't- I know you could be lying, but I don't care, I just- home."
She does not intentionally sit. It just feels rather like all of her bones have stopped working.
"I- you-" she manages before she's crying hysterically. And also sort of laughing hysterically. She has no idea what she's doing and realizes she sounds sort of like a crazy person, but she's just been trapped here with no idea what the place is, or what happened to her, or- or- fairies, she didn't even know they were called that really until yesterday, and-
Home.
Maybe. If she's lucky.
But it's closer than she's gotten in a long, long time.
Eventually she pulls herself together and wraps herself around her legs. "Um. Sorry," she says, still sounding rather watery. "Thank you, thank you, I don't- I know you could be lying, but I don't care, I just- home."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"You're welcome. It'll take me a while to learn how, and you'll have to tell me where to aim it within the mortal world, but I should be able to do it. I don't really have any reason to lie to you. Why would I need to?"
Emma Miller
"I don't even know," Emma sighs. "It's just, um, hard to hope, any more."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"How long did she have you?"
Emma Miller
"...um. I don't really know that either," Emma admits wearily. "Months? Maybe a year? I couldn't really keep track, and, um, the light thing didn't really help."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Yeah, this forest doesn't have a night cycle. Well. She's not literally the worst fairy who could have caught you..."
Emma Miller
Emma had, upon occasion, come up with Nightmare Scenarios, to try to remind herself that it could be worse. (It wasn't particularly effective.) All the same, she shivers violently at the picture that invokes. "Yeah..." she mumbles. "It- could have been worse."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"At a guess River would be run-of-the mill. But I expect her agreement to hand you over to last at least long enough for me to learn to make a gate. Will you be okay if I leave you here for a few hours to fly out for books?"
Emma Miller
Emma looks around helplessly. River left her alone plenty of times, but she doesn't have orders here. She feels weirdly adrift. What does she do now?
"I, um. Is there something I should do?" she offers, bemused.
"I, um. Is there something I should do?" she offers, bemused.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Do you want something to do so you aren't bored? You can read my books if you want. Or take a nap. I don't really have any chores lined up for you."
Emma Miller
"Oh, um, I was bored a lot, it's not a big deal. You don't have to amuse me. You rescued me."
She hopes. It's promising so far, at least.
She hopes. It's promising so far, at least.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay, well, you can read my books if you want. I don't recommend you leave the house. You probably won't be bothered." Promise picks up a bag that looks like it's made of a giant flower petal.
Emma Miller
Emma requires absolutely no convincing to stay in the house and avoid other fairies. "Um, okay, thanks," she manages to mumble. (Social niceties are not her strength right now.)
She stays put, for the most part. It's practically a habit now. She dusts everything, feeling that she should do something useful, and finding dusting the most likely "helpful and unlikely to disturb anything" of available activities. She skims the titles on the bookshelf when she gets to it; most of the titles look hopelessly obscure but she does briefly page through one that looks like fairy tales (hah).
Mostly, she just sits and hopes.
She stays put, for the most part. It's practically a habit now. She dusts everything, feeling that she should do something useful, and finding dusting the most likely "helpful and unlikely to disturb anything" of available activities. She skims the titles on the bookshelf when she gets to it; most of the titles look hopelessly obscure but she does briefly page through one that looks like fairy tales (hah).
Mostly, she just sits and hopes.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise is back a few hours later with more books.
"Did you get hungry while I was out?" she inquires, unloading these onto her little table.
"Did you get hungry while I was out?" she inquires, unloading these onto her little table.
Emma Miller
Thinking, thinking. Normal, non-fairy-servant levels of hunger. "Um, only a little," she decides.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay, I'll get you a snack and start studying." Promise gets her some nuts and feeds them to her. They are soft and salty.
Emma Miller
Emma eats quietly and tries to stay out of the way. She was more curious, before. Now, it's more a sense of I should help, she rescued me that prompted her to say, "Um, can I... help, at all? With the gate thing?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Humans can learn sorcery, but you aren't going to get up to speed enough to help with the gate before I finish learning how by myself."
Emma Miller
"Um. I could organize things? Your books? Or clean, or-" she won't suggest going outside to hunt for food, she doesn't want to ever leave until it's to go home, "cook, or something?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"If you want to, you can cook and clean. The books are organized, please don't rearrange them."
Emma Miller
"I can cook, or clean, if it-" would get me home faster, "-would help. I'm... only okay at it," she admits, "but I don't mind."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Like I said, you can. You don't have to. Oh, and I don't really have a bed for you, but you can put some spare pillows and a blanket on the floor."
Emma Miller
"Oh, um, that's fine, that's... I mean, that's better than River's still by a lot..." Emma hurries to assure her.
Not being forced to sit in a corner all night while you sleep will be an enormous improvement just by itself.
Not being forced to sit in a corner all night while you sleep will be an enormous improvement just by itself.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. I don't know what time you've been keeping, go ahead and sleep whenever you're tired."
And Promise starts investigating the books she got.
And Promise starts investigating the books she got.
Emma Miller
Emma sits quietly in the corner. She wasn't planning on it, per se- she's gotten out of the habit of planning things to do with her time- but she just. Wants to stay out of the way.
For all that, she's been running on adrenaline most of the day- and if she'd had the energy to think about it, fear-based adrenaline for most of her time with River as well- and she finds herself passing out in the corner without even really meaning to.
For all that, she's been running on adrenaline most of the day- and if she'd had the energy to think about it, fear-based adrenaline for most of her time with River as well- and she finds herself passing out in the corner without even really meaning to.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
When Emma wakes up she finds a blanket over her and a pillow tucked under her head, and Promise asleep up in the little bed-nook above the bookshelves.
Emma Miller
Well.
Emma hasn't been recognized as a person for indeterminate months now; she certainly hasn't seen kindness. She sits for a while, stroking the blanket and crying. (She's very good at silently crying, now.)
Eventually she gathers herself together and tries to find things to do. She folds her blanket and pillow and tucks them on a shelf in the corner. She mixes up a fairly simple mix of nuts in one of the bowls, that River had shown her how to make, and sets it aside for Promise. She finds something vaguely resembling a mop (which seems quieter than sweeping, and she doesn't want to wake Promise) and starts on cleaning the floors.
Emma hasn't been recognized as a person for indeterminate months now; she certainly hasn't seen kindness. She sits for a while, stroking the blanket and crying. (She's very good at silently crying, now.)
Eventually she gathers herself together and tries to find things to do. She folds her blanket and pillow and tucks them on a shelf in the corner. She mixes up a fairly simple mix of nuts in one of the bowls, that River had shown her how to make, and sets it aside for Promise. She finds something vaguely resembling a mop (which seems quieter than sweeping, and she doesn't want to wake Promise) and starts on cleaning the floors.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise wakes up a while later. She finds the nuts, eats most of them, and offers Emma some.
Emma Miller
Emma eats the nuts, pours herself some water, and then casts around for something to do with herself. Promise saved her, she's helping her go home. She doesn't want to just- sit here.
Once she's cleaned the bowl of nuts, however, she's out of bright ideas. She finally picks a book at near-random and sits in the corner reading.
She peeks at Promise occasionally, half-curious, half-wishing to help.
Once she's cleaned the bowl of nuts, however, she's out of bright ideas. She finally picks a book at near-random and sits in the corner reading.
She peeks at Promise occasionally, half-curious, half-wishing to help.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise appears to be reading and diligently taking notes on what she's reading.
When she catches Emma peeping she says, "Do you need something?"
When she catches Emma peeping she says, "Do you need something?"
Emma Miller
"No, no no, I don't need anything," Emma flushes, embarrassed to be caught. "I just- wish I could be more helpful."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I could think of things to fill time, if the books are boring you, but they'd be unrelated to the gate."
Emma Miller
"I didn't mean- I can be helpful with non-gate things," she clarifies hurriedly. "I just feel- if there's something, anything, I could do to make your life easier, since you're doing all this work to help me..."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, keeping the place clean is helpful, and so is fixing meals, and if you want there's leaves and sewing needles in the basket over there for making dresses and I can always do with more of those."
Emma Miller
"I can do those," she says with a tentative smile. She's had lots of practice, she might as well use it for someone she wants to help. Promise has been so nice.
Since she's already done meals and cleaning today, she settles for 'dress'. She starts sorting out the basket. Plain dress first, then something fancier? There's a couple smaller leaves she could use as a decoration, maybe- and the leaves are in enough shades that she could probably sort them out, she could do a dark green fading into lighter shades-
This will keep her occupied for a while.
Since she's already done meals and cleaning today, she settles for 'dress'. She starts sorting out the basket. Plain dress first, then something fancier? There's a couple smaller leaves she could use as a decoration, maybe- and the leaves are in enough shades that she could probably sort them out, she could do a dark green fading into lighter shades-
This will keep her occupied for a while.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
And over the course of the next few weeks Promise learns how to make a gate, and collects from Emma a complete description of where she wants it to spit her out, and sets the gate to finding this location.
"That could take a while; I can check it a couple of times a day to see if it's settled," Promise says when she's done casting. "Will you tell me how to find you in case I want to visit the mortal world sometime for longer than I can easily bring my own food for?"
"That could take a while; I can check it a couple of times a day to see if it's settled," Promise says when she's done casting. "Will you tell me how to find you in case I want to visit the mortal world sometime for longer than I can easily bring my own food for?"
Emma Miller
"Of course," Emma says instantly. Another person might worry about Promise getting people's names in her world- it vaguely crosses Emma's mind, but she dismisses it. This is Promise. She's wonderful, she rescued her. "It's close to the gate anyway, I don't know that many places-"
She obtains a piece of paper and writes down an address, phone number, and email address. The address includes very detailed directions from the gate to her house; the phone number and email address have shorter explanations, since she expects Promise would need to find a passerby to help her obtain a phone or email account anyway. Then she blinks at Promise. "How would you- people don't have wings, really. Can you hide them somehow...?"
She obtains a piece of paper and writes down an address, phone number, and email address. The address includes very detailed directions from the gate to her house; the phone number and email address have shorter explanations, since she expects Promise would need to find a passerby to help her obtain a phone or email account anyway. Then she blinks at Promise. "How would you- people don't have wings, really. Can you hide them somehow...?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I could wear a cloak. I might not come by at all, but if the Queen finds me here or something it would be nice to be able to escape. I'm not sure what else I'd do in the mortal world. What's it like?"
Emma Miller
Emma's never been asked to explain the world before. She does not know quite where to start. "It's- much more complicated than this, I guess. More- stuff." Realizing this is a terrible description, she improvises. "For me, um. Houses are bigger? There's more kinds of things- more types of food, more types of clothing, that kind of stuff. No magic. No fairies. We- have made things that do things for us?" she tries. How does she explain cars and phones and airplanes and the Internet? "Things we sit in to go places fast, things to talk to people far away. Since there's no magic."
Then part of her brain catches up to her. "Wait, Queen?"
Then part of her brain catches up to her. "Wait, Queen?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"There's a fairy who knows every other fairy's name, by magic, but there are a lot of fairies and she isn't nearby, so I probably won't get her attention any time soon. She's the Queen."
Emma Miller
That sounds horrible. Someone could do what River did to her to Promise. No no no no no. She shivers violently, horrified. "You can come stay with me," she repeats. "Why does she- what does she even... do?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"She knows the names just because of the kind of fairy she is; some kinds of fairies get magic with our kinds. She has a large court and takes whatever she wants."
Emma Miller
Emma curls up around herself, trying desperately not to think about it. This world can be so awful in so many ways. She doesn't say that- or that she wants to go home, or that she wishes she'd never come here, or anything like that. It would be mean to Promise, who's been so nice, and helpful. And she's glad she met Promise, she likes her, it's not like everything about this world has been horrible. (Just a lot of it.) Promise is great.
"She shouldn't be able to do that," she says instead, quiet but firm. "No one should be able to do that."
"She shouldn't be able to do that," she says instead, quiet but firm. "No one should be able to do that."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I agree, but I don't have her name, so there's not much I can do about it."
Emma Miller
"There's only one of her, right?" Promise did say 'kinds', there could be more than one of her kind, there could-
Nope, not thinking about this now.
Nope, not thinking about this now.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"There's only one Queen. Some kinds are one-fairy kinds."
Emma Miller
"That's... better, I guess."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I'm a leaflet. There are more of us, although I haven't actually met any others."
Emma Miller
"Leaflet, that's cute. What other kinds are there?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"River's a painted tailwing."
Emma Miller
"And the differences are- just the obvious? Colors and such?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"If you know what a kind looks like you can usually identify them by looking, although there are usually other differences that aren't so obvious, too."
Emma Miller
Emma looks at herself and shrugs. "I guess we only come in human. No different wings, or anything."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"That's what I'm led to understand, yes, just mortals in a few colors and all one kind."
Emma Miller
Emma giggles at that. "Heh, multicolored mortals. That's us."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"What are you going to do when you get home?"
Emma Miller
"Find my parents," Emma says immediately. Then, "There's not- is- um. Time's the same, right? It'll just... be months. Or whatever. Not years, or anything?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I think it will be the same amount of time, yes."
Emma Miller
Emma had been calming down, but now she sort of furls right back up. "I didn't even- they could have been dead," she mumbles.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I don't see any reason to expect your parents to be dead."
Emma Miller
"It's just- fairy tales. Stories. There's some- you go into fairyland, and you come back and it's been centuries but you're only a couple days older. If fairies are real- it could've-" she stops, and sighs. "At least that's just a story."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, if somebody put you in a magical sleep or something, that could happen, but it didn't happen to you."
Emma Miller
"There's... a story like that. I forget what it was called. Some guy with a long beard fell asleep and woke up a hundred years later." She shakes her head. "It's so strange to think it might be true."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, I haven't heard that one, but it could be."
Emma Miller
Emma is momentarily distracted by her work- she spots the edge of one of the smaller leaves in the pile, she needs more of those, the edging won't turn out- but she manages to retrieve it and refocus and smile at Promise. "It's just a story. And your bookshelf does kinda look like it has a slightly different focus."
Namely- magic. Lots and lots of magic.
Namely- magic. Lots and lots of magic.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Yeah, I've wanted to be a sorcerer since I started."
Emma Miller
"What does that mean? I mean, um. What can you do. Besides gates."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"The first thing I learned to do was a light spell. The things I do most often are growing spells on my favorite food plants. I've learned a lot of defensive magic, just in case."
Emma Miller
"...do you need those a lot...?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I haven't so far. I'll be glad of it if the breeder colony that wants to settle near here makes a fuss about being unwelcome, though."
Emma Miller
That sounds vaguely familiar, but Emma can't remember where from. "Um. Breeder colony?" she asks, very confused.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"At the meeting you saw? River bought my vote with you? That was all the fairies who live near enough to notice if some other fairies move in to a certain area along the stream, deciding on whether they're invited to do that or not. Probably no one would have minded if it was just one fairy, or a court of two or three, but it's breeders, there's dozens of them."
Emma Miller
"And breeders is... another kind?" Emma asks, still bemused. "And leaflets aren't, so you're..." Nope, there is no possible way to phrase that politely. "If you don't mind, it's not too intrusive, I. Um. Where do more leaflets come from?"
Storks do not seem implausible, at this point.
Storks do not seem implausible, at this point.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Breeders are a - kind of kinds. The particular colony is mixed, I think the representative said he was a lilybright, but I don't know what the other kind or kinds in their court are. Leaflets and other spontaneous kinds just start instead. I started in this tree."
Emma Miller
"...well, it sounds tidier, if nothing else."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I think that varies on a kind to kind basis, but in leaflets' case, yes."
Emma Miller
"Well, now I know, I guess," Emma shrugs. "...thank you for explaining things, by the way. I didn't even know this happened because of my name until you bought me from River."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"You're welcome. Anything else you want to know?"
Emma Miller
"Not immediately?" she says, after a moment's thought. "It's just- things will come up, and I can ask. It's nice. But, thanks."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"You're welcome. I have much less to occupy my time now the gate is trying to find the spot I aimed it at, so we might as well make conversation."
Emma Miller
"Well, what about you? I don't know how much you wanted to know about my world, I did kinda a terrible job explaining..."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I'd like to know all about it, but maybe it's hard to describe."
Emma Miller
"I could probably describe things, I just- don't really know where to start?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"If I went through the gate with you when it fixes to its spot, what would I see?"
Emma Miller
"More forest, actually. We live next to a park, I know it pretty well. Probably part of our house. It's, um, big? Two stories, lots of windows, painted kinda blue-grey. There's a garden in the back, Mom tries to grow vegetables but only really manages flowers. It's me and my mom and dad, I don't have siblings, there's a woman named Sharon Mom pays to clean the house every week, there's a gardener but I don't really know him at all. Um, what else... they've got cars in the driveway, I guess, do you know what those are? Do you know what everything I said was, for that matter?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Cars are definitely the most confusing thing you mentioned."
Emma Miller
"They're-" she thinks. "It's like, a really small house, made of metal. There's space for two seats in the front, and two in the back, and they all face forward, and there's windows all around the top half so you can see, and wheels on the bottom. And if you know how it works, you can get it to move really fast. So we use those, to get around quickly."
She has no idea what passes for units here. Feet? Meters? Fairy units? She is not going to try to quantify 'fast'.
She has no idea what passes for units here. Feet? Meters? Fairy units? She is not going to try to quantify 'fast'.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Huh. Sounds like it would be bumpy, going fast on wheels."
Emma Miller
"Well, we made roads for them. Bigger better paths, basically, covered with flattened rocks, to make it smoother? They're usually about the width of two cars, so you can have one going each way. And- I think cars do something special, to make it less bumpy, I don't really know how it works but my dad is always talking about how his car drives 'smoothly' or something."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Huh. I guess that works if you don't have wings. The queen has a chariot, but it flies."
Emma Miller
"There's flying ones too! They're bigger, and have more seats, but they have metal wings and then you can sit in them and 'fly'. They're called planes. They go crazy fast but they're expensive and really hard to drive and have really specific roads that they can use, and- um. Are hard to get off the ground?" She's not attempting the concept of 'fuel' right now. "So you only use them if you're going really, really far away, usually. Especially cause there aren't a lot of... roads, for planes... so sometimes there isn't one near you or your destination or whatever, and it's faster to drive. In a car."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Huh."
Emma Miller
She considers explaining vacations, but shelves it; it's probably not immediately relevant to Life In Her World. "Do you travel, at all? Or do you mostly stay with your tree?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, I move around to forage, and I go a little farther to get books, and sometimes I go further than that to have an idea of who and what's around in relatively easy flying distance."
Emma Miller
"Where do you get books from? I haven't seen stores, or money, but I guess you just trade for things?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Yes, usually. Or I'm only borrowing the books."
Emma Miller
"Yeah, we use money. For kinda everything. Don't worry, we'll help you around if you visit."
It's been months. Emma rather suspects there's a reward for her by now, just- knowing her parents. Promise would certainly be entitled it, much less basic walking around money.
And if for some weird reason her parents refuse, she will, she has some money saved. Promise rescued her.
It's been months. Emma rather suspects there's a reward for her by now, just- knowing her parents. Promise would certainly be entitled it, much less basic walking around money.
And if for some weird reason her parents refuse, she will, she has some money saved. Promise rescued her.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Nothing's free?"
Emma Miller
"Nooooot very much, no. And if it is, it's probably for a reason? Like, they want you to try something so you'll buy more, or something's falling apart and they don't want it, or stuff like that."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"But you're all mortals - if you run out of money do you just die?"
Emma Miller
"You- you can, yes. Most places have- we call them 'charities', they'll give you stuff if you don't have money. Usually food, sometimes clothes, sometimes a place to sleep. But they don't have a lot of money themselves, so the stuff isn't very good, and then you still couldn't, um, pay someone to let you go on their plane, or things like that."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"What about air, or water? That seems probably more urgent for survival than clothes."
Emma Miller
Emma giggles. "Sorry, I didn't mean- air is free. Water- mostly? Sometimes it comes with the place you live, or most restaurants will let you have it free, or if you find it outside and it's clean usually no one would care. You could collect rainwater, or whatever. Mostly you get it from your house, whether it's free or not."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay, that makes more sense."
Emma Miller
"Clothes and houses are pretty important for survival if it's cold enough, though."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Do you live in a cold place?"
Emma Miller
"Well, it's cold sometimes. During the winter. You... you don't really have days, here, I guess you don't have seasons, either? The weather changes, at home- a cycle is twelve months, it's usually cold for about four of them. And really hot for one or two. But I mean- you're not mortal, right? Does temperature hurt you?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"It's usually fall here. Sometimes it's summer for a while. If it got very cold or hot I'd be uncomfortable, but fairies don't tend to start in places that are the wrong temperature for everyday."
Emma Miller
"Okay, so you won't literally die, or... or... wilt, or something, in bad weather, but appropriate clothes would still be good."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I can't die. I can become extremely uncomfortable, though. Wilting isn't impossible, although I'd get better eventually."
Emma Miller
Well. That's moderately alarming. She should probably be pleased Promise is so indestructible, but- but- wilted Promise, this thought is alarming.
"Please don't wilt," she says meekly. "I will get you weather-friendly clothes, I promise."
"Please don't wilt," she says meekly. "I will get you weather-friendly clothes, I promise."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Thank you. It is sometimes a nice temperature where you live, though, isn't it?"
Emma Miller
Emma laughs. "It's usually a nice temperature! At least half the year. Spring and fall are both nice. And pretty. Flowers and leaves turning colors and everything."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"So if I visit I'll try to arrange to have warm clothes or show up during a pleasant season."
Emma Miller
"Well, you should probably aim for a pleasant season regardless."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Yes."
Emma Miller
"I don't even know what season it is at home," Emma realizes with a sigh. "Late winter? Early spring? It was the fall when I stumbled in here, at least."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Well, you'll find out when you get back, and you'll be close to your house so you shouldn't have to spend too long out in the cold."
Emma Miller
"I'm not as worried about the temperature, actually. Like you said, the gate's not far. I just- it's been so long, and weird things make me remember that."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Is it going to cause a lot of problems?"
Emma Miller
"I don't think so. My parents will be thrilled to have me back, obviously. I don't know- how to explain this, though."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"They won't believe you?"
Emma Miller
"I don't know! I hope they do, they should, but I haven't ever shown up after being missing for months with nothing to say for it but 'I was kidnapped in another world by a member of a species you think is mythical.' No one knows about fairies, there's so much they have to believe. With no way for me to prove it."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I can come be winged at them if you need me to."
Emma Miller
"Awww, that's nice of you. But you've already been so helpful. I don't want to drag you to my world on top of that, just in case my parents are being difficult. But thank you."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. I can also leave the gate open in case you want to come back, although obviously being here has its hazards."
Emma Miller
Emma- actually considers this. Then she realizes what she's doing, panics, and then calms down and considers it some more.
She doesn't much like the idea of never seeing Promise again ever. Really, at least a thank you gift seems appropriate? Promise rescued her, and all. And Promise would be a responsible gatekeeper.
But... what if she left? At the very least, she's not at home always.
"How- what happens if it stays open?" she asks timidly. "Could..." River! "...other fairies come through?"
She doesn't much like the idea of never seeing Promise again ever. Really, at least a thank you gift seems appropriate? Promise rescued her, and all. And Promise would be a responsible gatekeeper.
But... what if she left? At the very least, she's not at home always.
"How- what happens if it stays open?" she asks timidly. "Could..." River! "...other fairies come through?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"It'd be open. They can't see it, but if they went in that direction through that space, they'd be through. I don't get a lot of visits, but it'd be impossible to guarantee no one getting in."
Emma Miller
It takes Emma a few seconds through the iron bands that feel like they're tightening around her chest. "I don't... let's not," she says faintly. "I'll leave a note, near the gate, maybe? In case you can't find me? But not... not open."
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. She's been okay since Promise got her, she's been so much better, but River... she can't think about it. Home. Home home home. Focus.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. I'll leave it closed. You won't be able to - signal through it, at all, but it's safer, yeah."
Emma Miller
"That's okay. I think it's still... safer is better."
Safe, she gets to be safe.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I understand."
Emma Miller
Of course she does, because Promise is wonderful.
Emma makes herself as useful as she possibly can while they wait for the gate to settle. Promise is going to have as many spare dresses and pre-prepared meals as Emma's limited skills will allow her to create. She will never in a hundred million years make up her debt to Promise for this, but she will make as much of a dent as she can.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"You know you're allowed to relax, right?" Promise asks one day, looking up from notetaking.
Emma Miller
Emma looks up from dusting a cabinet. "...yes?" she says, confused. "I sleep," when I want to, whenever I want to, however long I want to, "and take breaks," ...sometimes... " I just, um. It was all I could think of to help?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"You don't actually have to help me, though, is my point."
Emma Miller
"But you've helped me so much."
"... and I don't really know what else to do."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. It is a little boring in here, I'm sorry."
Emma Miller
"Nothing to be sorry for."
Emma has said this a lot in her life, mostly to rich jerks or at boring parties. It's nice to say it and actually mean it.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Okay. It won't be too much longer before it settles."
Emma Miller
Emma smiles at her in place of a thank you, because even she knows she's starting to sound like a broken record, and returns to her latest pattern. Can she pull off colored stripes with leaves? She won't know till she tries.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
And eventually the gate turns out to be settled when Promise checks.
Emma Miller
And just like that, Emma is home.
Now that she's paying attention going through a gate, she can tell when she's back; the weather's balmier, a little more humid, and there's scattered birdsong in the background. (She hadn't even thought to miss birds, but now that she's hearing them, her eyes are tearing up.) Autumn-to-spring is admittedly a larger shift than autumn-to-autumn, but it feels... right. That she can walk through, and tell that she's home, she's really here.
She winds up sitting on the forest floor and crying to herself for a little while. She's not in a rush. She can do that, now.
Her house is walkable from the club, but she tries the club first. It doesn't occur to her until she walks inside what she must look like- she's not precisely untidy, but even beyond her limited grooming abilities she's wearing a (at best) semi-competently hand-sewn dress. Everyone stares. One woman only mostly stifles a shriek. After a stunned silence, everyone who recognizes her starts to babble in unison. One woman she faintly recognizes as a charity board member with her father rushes over and hustles her into the women's locker room, which is blessedly empty, and holds out her cell phone. "Call your parents first," she says sternly.
Emma was not, quite, prepared for that many people after this long. Except for the meeting where Promise rescued her, she's only been around one fairy at a time nonstop for months. The quiet of the locker room lets her unclench muscles she hadn't even realized she'd been tensing, and she doesn't even bother to question why she wouldn't call her parents first. She murmurs a thank you and calls her parents; it turns out to be saved in the phone but she's had it memorized for years anyway.
No one answers.
She tries the second line. No one answers.
She tries her father's work number. "Hello?" his voice comes immediately, sounding irritated. "Judy, how did you get this number?"
She tries not to cry, she does, but she doesn't quite keep down a sob. "Dad?"
"Who- Emma?!"
"Dad, I'm- I'm back, I missed you, I missed you, please-" and she starts crying in earnest.
"Emma? Emma, where are you- Eleanor, come here right now, yes now Emma's on the phone-"
Emma manages to choke out that she's at the club before she gives up and hands the phone back to apparently-Judy. Judy pats her awkwardly on the shoulder before answering some basic questions for her father (yes, Emma is really here, no, she hasn't said what happened, and so forth). Emma just huddles on the floor. The urge to find her parents is warring with the fear of going out into a room full of all those people eating lunch, and staying put is far, far easier than making an actual decision. Home wasn't supposed to be this overwhelming.
Judy is nice enough to sit near her on the bench while she waits. She doesn't try to talk through Emma's tears, either, which Emma would appreciate if she had more brain power to think about it. Her parents are on their way and should be here in ten minutes, they said; Emma knows it'll be at least fifteen, but it hardly makes a difference. She sits, and sniffles, and waits.
And then the police arrive.
Her parents arrive after the police, but only just barely. Her afternoon turns into a whirlwind of people, and sobbing hugs from her mother, and gruffer choked up hugs from her father, and more people, and questions from the police and stares from the club members and at least one semi-hysterical "-and oh my lord, Emma, what are you wearing," from her mother that has her burst into giggles through her sobs, and then even more people. She doesn't want to talk to the police, she doesn't want to talk to the club employees or the rubbernecking club members, she can barely handle talking to her parents. She wants to go home home home. Eventually she's so overwhelmed and feeling hemmed in, she yells "I just want to go HOME" at the top of her lungs; the policeman in front of her has the grace to look slightly ashamed before reassuring her mother he'll be back in a day or two and letting them leave. Her father drives but her mother sits in the back seat and just clings to her the whole drive home, however admittedly short it is. Emma just nestles up against her and thinks, home home home.
She gets a glass of water when she's home, and they haven't kept her favorite popcorn in the house in a while but they send the housekeeper out to pick some up, and she spends a good half hour just sitting on the couch with her mother clinging to her and her father awkwardly hovering and refilling her water glass.
And then they ask her where she was.
She tells them the truth. She knows it sounds crazy but it's all she has, and everything they could have imagined must have been worse. From what they've told her of their own experience, she suspects her father had given her up as dead; certainly the police had, after this many months she'd been well into their Statistically Dead bucket. But her mother had insisted it was something else, she'd run off or gotten kidnapped or held in a cell like one of those lurid news stories she's always watching, and her father had humored her. It feels almost anticlimatic to assure her mother that no, nothing like that, she wasn't raped or murdered or even injured particularly badly. Telling them about River is painful, and horrible, and she has to stop regularly when some of the memories give her fits of the shivers, but she gets through the whole story through sheer force of adrenaline and panic.
They don't believe her.
Fairies don't exist. Telling someone your name doesn't do anything. Magic's not real. Why is she lying, they love her, they just want to know what happened, it's okay, whatever it is it'll be okay-
She's telling the truth.
She refuses to talk to the police, when they eventually come back. Her parents must get rid of them; she doesn't know. She stays in her room. She tries to go into the backyard, once; the housekeeper follows her, uncomfortably watching her every move while cleaning an already spotless patio table. She doesn't try again. Her parents keep asking. She keeps telling them the same story. River found her, River kept her, Promise rescued her and returned her.
They don't believe her.
After another couple days, she refuses to answer when they ask. "I already told you," she insists, over and over.
(Fairies don't exist.)
"I'm not lying! That's what happened!"
(Magic isn't real.)
"Why don't you believe me, why would I lie?!"
They get a doctor to examine her. He confirms she hasn't been raped, over her shrill insistence that she'd said that, didn't she. He says her diet's been poor and she needs more iron, and identifies some of her older injuries- scars on her feet when River made her walk, mostly- but nothing needs any treatment beyond some vitamins. She lists all the ways this supports her story.
They don't believe her.
They get her a shrink. The shrink doesn't believe her either. Emma refuses to talk to him after that.
They get her another. The new shrink doesn't believe her any more than the last. Emma shuts up.
They get her a third shrink. Emma doesn't even bother trying; she just won't answer.
They have her committed to the psych ward.
Emma hates it. There isn't a word for how deeply, passionately and fervently she hates it. She's the youngest except for a suicidal teen who's on so many psychiatric drugs he might as well be a robot, and she quickly learns that the visibly crazy ones are the less worrying, because the apparently normal ones get deeply creepy if she spends too long talking to them. One of the older men tells her she reminds him of her daughter, then three days later he's screaming at her to stop hiding his grandchildren, why did she hide them, did she ship them off to China, doesn't she know the commies eat babies?
She doesn't talk to anyone after that. Not the other patients, not the doctors, not the nurses. All the staff know why she's there and no one believes her and she can't stand it. It happened, there were fairies and magic and crazy mind-control orders and Promise rescued her, Promise, if she admits they're right that means she's giving up on Promise, Promise saved her and she won't won't won't.
They try different drugs on her. None of them "work", because she's telling the truth, because she won't forget them, won't forget Promise, it happened it did. She spends a few months catatonic and one very uncomfortable month too hyper to sleep and cycles through a few more drugs before they finally admit drugs aren't addressing her "psychosis".
She can't stand it in the psych ward. It's horrible, institutional and cold and peeling white linoleum everywhere, there's hardly any entertainment because it's all so monitored, can't let the suicidal boy have internet or the crazy girl watch TV unmonitored, what if they worsen. (She's got nothing to worsen, she's right.) She has to wear the horrible suicide-safe clothes and be monitored every day and meet with a shrink whenever they tell her to. She hates it. It reminds her of living with River, with no control over her actions or her free time and nothing to do but cry. But she survived River and she'll survive this. Promise was real she was.
She's in the hospital for more than a year before she gives up and lies.
(It's longer than she was with River. Later she'll be proud of that.)
She moves back in with her parents. She apologizes for her confusion, trauma must have confused her, so sorry she doesn't know what happened after all. The doctor said it was okay. Everything's okay.
She doesn't go to college. She stays home and does translator work for her father and draws sketches of leaves never seen on Earth that she immediately tears up. She works part time at the clubhouse as a hostess. She's "recovering and very fragile," her mother says, she doesn't have to go to parties and she doesn't have to meet Nice Boys and she doesn't have to get a Good Degree and in another life this might've been nice, might've been a blessing.
Isn't it nice, to be home?
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Two years, six months, and seventeen days after Emma went home, Promise ducks through the gate.
Emma Miller
Late fall in Connecticut isn't freezing, but it's well into chilly.
The club isn't open much this late in the year; Emma's at home translating some French contracts. She's in the study overlooking the garden; other than the housekeeper vacuuming the upstairs bedrooms, she's the only one home. Her father's at work, her mother might be at a fundraising lunch? She usually doesn't pay attention; she doesn't really care.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise circles the club, but there's nobody there. She has directions to Emma's house and heads that way at high altitude.
Suburban Connecticut is not exactly a hub of air traffic. She can easily go undetected and unbothered for a flight this short.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
That's convenient!
She arrives at the house and starts hovering outside of windows in search of Emma. Knocks when she spots her.
Emma Miller
Emma looks up and drops her pen. After a few seconds to blink, she rushes over and opens the window, with a blinding smile. "Promise!"
(She was right she was right she was right!)
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Hi Ruth! I would like to hide here for like, a month maybe? I think it would behoove me not to be someplace I'm expected for a little while."
Emma Miller
The petty part of her wants to instantly introduce Promise to her parents and gloat. Her practical side then reasserts itself and worries about the possibility of Promise getting subjected to a psych ward or laboratory experiments, and gloating is summarily discarded.
"Yeah, of course, um, pool house probably? No one uses it except in the summer, I'll just grab you a space heater. One sec, one sec, I'll be right out."
She puts down her work and rushes. She can't make herself stopping smiling even though she probably looks like a loon. Promise is here! She's here she's real it was worth it.
(She is never listening to her parents ever, ever again.)
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
Promise waits patiently.
Emma Miller
Patience is not required; Emma's got at most two doors, here. The space heater she leaves until later, since she wants to get Promise inside faster than she thinks she can track it down. (There's a lot of possible closets.)
She does not actually fling herself on Promise for a hug, since Promise is glaringly much smaller than she is and they haven't seen each other in years and this is wildly inappropriate. But she wants to. (Promise!) The pool house is pretty easy to find- there's only so many detached structures, and only one next to a body of (blindingly, artificially teal) water. Emma opens the door for her. "Home sweet poolhouse?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Looks good. What happened to that water?"
Emma Miller
Emma blinked at her. "The... pool? The water- uh, I guess it's got chlorine to keep it clean. You can tell that from here?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I can tell what color it is from here. And it smelled funny, overflying it."
Emma Miller
"Oh! The color's not the water. They painted the bottom of the pool, you can just see it through the water. The smell is definitely the chlorine, though."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Oh, gotcha."
Emma Miller
"I don't think it was on purpose? They wanted it darker. But then they put the color in and then it was... that. And they didn't bother to try again. So now we have-" she flails her hands for a second, then just repeats, "that."
She can't quite stop smiling. It's probably not the conversation about paint swatches.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"It's very striking. I'm not familiar with... pool painting conventions."
Emma Miller
Emma snorts. "Yeah, uh, me neither. I'm sure my mother has a book somewhere if you're curious?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"An entire book on pool painting conventions? I'd be curious to see it and give it a skim, I guess, but I don't know that I'd sit through the entire contents so no need to go out of your way to locate it."
Emma Miller
"My mom has lots of, um," ways to kill time because she doesn't have a job, "weird hobbies. Unnecessary home renovations happen a lot. They take a while and require lots of attention and stuff. I've totally given up keeping track of where the trash is in the kitchen." She gestures around the pool house. "Doesn't touch this one much, though, there's not a lot of it." It's just one small room, a twin bed against the wall with a night stand and a lamp; a door to their left leads to what's visibly the remainder of the space of the house, and small even for a bathroom. "I'd apologize for the lack of closet but, uh, you don't exactly have a ton of stuff, so."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I don't and I brought even less of it. It's perfect, thank you."
Emma Miller
"You're welcome." Like she would turn down a request from Promise, who rescued her from probably literal eternal bondage.
"So, uh." Words. How do words work. "How've you been?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Mostly pretty unremarkable but I think I attracted some attention from a guy I don't want paying attention to me so I thought I'd skip out and hope he loses interest when I disappear for a month."
Emma Miller
"Attention?" Emma asks carefully. Her stomach is threatening to churn.
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"There's this court master with a nasty reputation who collects sorcerers. I'm not really the best around but still."
Emma Miller
Yep, her stomach is threatening nausea. She does her best not to imagine expansions of 'nasty reputation' for 'collecting'. "That's. Horrifying," she settles on. "I'm glad you could come here."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Me too. I hope I'm not putting you out too far, I don't know what your life is usually like."
Emma Miller
Emma shrugs. "Uh, nothing very interesting. I work part time at the restaurant at the club, I help my dad sometimes with translations... I guess you don't have that problem."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Translations? No, not really. Seems very roundabout to me."
Emma Miller
"Roundabout how?"
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"Talking in a code and then meeting someone who doesn't know your code and having to change all the words into the second one!"
Emma Miller
"That's just how we work! We can't all have fancy magic translation," Emma laughs. "Good thing too, I need the job."
Alisyrrabel | Promise
imeanforever
"I'm not doing magic translation, I'm just not speaking in code to begin with," Promise asserts.