Ambient sounds courtesy of tosha73 and EminYILDIRIM
Greetings to those below. I am Death, though Azrael is . . . oh never mind. I can’t be bothered to ask you to call me Azrael today. Today we will be discussing fairies, but . . . ah, skeeters of hell. I don’t like fairies. I like pixies even less, who we will discuss next time. Now don’t get me wrong.
It’s not for any personal reason I dislike them. Rather, they just . . . make me nervous. Little ticking time bombs they are, though I suppose my master has it in hand. Truthfully, I disagree with him on this topic. I think fairies and pixies both should never have been allowed to . . . oh, let’s just get on with it, shall we?
A Fairy's Nature
by _Vane_ from Pixabay
airies are tiny, tiny creatures. Hold up your finger and thumb in an L shape, and that should suffice for a visual aid. But don’t let their size fool you. They are just as strong as a human man, and they are not shy about using that strength should you offend them, which is easy to do since . . . hmm. I suppose I should correct the subheading a bit at this point. Or just provide it with a little more nuance. Only the fairies on Rhye are specifically antisocial and only in recent years since the start of Vānima the Veldriss’s rule. That said, fairies have a rather snooty way of conducting themselves. Not in any specific way you could call them out on, but the self-righteous condescending way that is so subtle, if you
were to call them out on it,
you would come out looking like the jerk. They think they’re better than you, and they certainly don’t have
time for you. Then again, if you have something they want, suddenly you are the center of the universe being showered with praise and gifts and . . . is that a lulling music I hear? Hmm. Best not to listen to that, those below. Fairies like to claim they are above mischief if only so they can sneer at their pixie cousins who delight in it, but in truth, I think fairies enjoy it even more.
At least it’s just mischief, though, and not . . . never mind.
A Feuding Culture
Fairies claim to value protecting nature, and they also will take orphaned children into their care, choosing to live with the child in his or her foster home as a guardian spirit of sorts. They will do the same for a child who has lost only one parent, as well, and in that sense, I suppose they are a helpful support to the newly single mother or father. These fairies were given the quaint title of “house fairy;” however, just when you think they’re doing something good, I will point out their primary motivation for this is less about charity and more about being able to claim moral superiority over their pixie cousins, all of whom they absolutely hate. Of course, they don’t remember
why they hate them. They just do. And that is enough for them to scream and hiss and start tearing wings off if they happen to cross paths with each other. There is a reason that, on Rhye, the fairies live in the north and the pixies live in the south. They are as far away from each other as the compass and ocean will allow.
Those below, I will warn you now: Never,
never confuse a fairy for a pixie or vice versa. You will get a pin in your eye the next time you blink.
by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
So then, some important features to remember: Fairies are four inches tall with transparent butterfly wings and small pointed ears that sit flat against the head with wispy tips, not unlike Sithuwaye elf ears. Pixies, on the other hand, are smaller, just three inches tall. They have transparent dragonfly wings, and their ears, while still flat against the head, are
long and pointed. The tips typically poke straight up through their hair, making hats a rather unpopular fashion choice for pixies. Fairies, of course, love hats, but this is just to rub it in the pixies’ faces they can wear them and pixies can’t.
Are you catching onto a theme here yet, those below? Because if you haven’t, I worry about you.
The Problem With Roses
by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
airies are yet another people among Those Who Came After. Specifically, they are sixth on the list, though the Rhyonians aren’t necessarily aware of this. They first appeared along with the pixies after . . . well, a calamity, we’ll say. With the rainy season that followed came the blossoming of new life, and odd gold roses began budding throughout both Rhye and Altyma. Each golden rose, people came to discover, contained a sleeping fairy waiting to be awakened. It didn’t take too much to wake them. The gentle bump of a grazing deer or the flurry of playing children in a rose-filled meadow was typically enough.
Eventually, enough fairies awoke on both Rhye and Altyma that they began building their respective kingdoms, but this brings me to an odd detail about fairies. You see, fairies cannot have children. Following the first wave of awakened fairies, this troubling fact was discovered, and in an effort to preserve their people, the remaining gold roses were harvested and replanted in safe locations where they might be constantly guarded; and a strict rule was imposed that the remaining sleeping fairies—still numbering in the millions—should remain asleep, only to be awoken in such times when the population needed refreshing. This eventually resulted in a holiday known as Bloom Week where, every year, each fairy death is tallied. However many fairies died the previous year determines how many fairies will be awoken in the new year during Bloom Week.
When a fairy awakens from a rose, they are “fully-formed” in a sense. By that I mean, each fairy seems to have a predetermined map in their minds that tells them who they are . . . to a certain extent. They at least know their name, and if they are presented with a certain number of fairies, there is a small chance they might recognize some of them as their family. This predetermined map also applies to their social hierarchy. The individual fairy, as well as the fairies witnessing the individual’s awakening, will immediately just “know” whether a fairy is of a lower class or belongs in the royal court. Consider, then, the fairy royal court to be a tower with dozens of empty spaces waiting to be filled. Every Bloom Week, any number of new pieces might be found, which can then be “slotted into place.” So the tower slowly fills up, and the old pieces are reshuffled accordingly.
Fairies Today
As it stands today, there are two separate fairy kingdoms. One in Altyma and one in Rhye. Lucenitha is the current highest-ranking fairy to have been found and awakened in Altyma, resulting in her being hailed as the queen regent of the Altyman fairy court. The same occurred on Rhye when Sysenea was discovered and hailed as the queen regent of the Rhyonian fairy court. However, neither of them are the true fairy queen. As I said, this is just “known.” Because of this, it is understood that both Lucenitha and Sysenea are merely caretakers of their respective thrones until someone of higher rank reshuffles them in a future Bloom Week, or until the true fairy queen herself is found. Currently, the true fairy queen is believed to still be asleep, but the exact whereabouts of her rose are unknown. There are millions to search through, you understand, and since only so many roses may be opened at one time, it is something of a lottery whether this will be the year she is awakened or not.
As for the true fairy king, he is also unaccounted for, and, at least as far as anyone is aware, both Lucenitha and Sysenea’s husbands—if they even have husbands—have not been awakened either. This has left Lucenitha and Sysenea to rule on their own for quite a few centuries now since, so far, no one higher than Lucenitha has been found. Not even Sysenea is of a higher rank than Lucenitha, but since she was found in the separate Rhyonian fairy kingdom, she was hailed as a second queen regent. But, I can hear you saying, all of this is quite strange. How did this all come to be? Why do fairies have these predetermined maps? And how can some recognize their sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers if it is impossible for fairies to have children?
I have said a few times now that certain things have to be remembered in order for my master’s plan to come to fruition, but . . . this is the part that makes me nervous. Fairies and pixies both I hope never remember. They’re not supposed to remember. And if they ever did, well . . . I suppose that would undo everything, wouldn’t it? Hmph. I trust my master, but . . . skeeters of hell.
Damn little ticking time bombs.
Signed your not-a-jerk narrator,
Azrael the Star of Death
Book Information
To learn more, hop on over to the books page OR hop on over to the teaser and get a sneak peek of Chapter 1! For more articles like this one, have a peek at my Worldbuilding Journal and explore Orosta.
Related Articles
Comments