Chapter Five

"The Cailleach? Who's that? " Wynne questions, gnawing at her lower lip. Arandir projected dread at the mention of whoever the Cailleach was, and it brought Wynne's anxiety to the surface. She was struggling enough with coming to terms that she was no longer in the human realm. She didn't want to go meet some nightmare creature just because they might hold answers.

"The Cailleach is Queen of Winterbridge. She isn't as terrible as you might think, we merely do not see eye to eye upon everything. She appears as human as you or I. The difference is the Cailleach controls the weather. And a bad mood from her means great winter storms. I much prefer it here than in that coldness. " Arandir let's out a slight shiver as he concludes, as if the mere mention of winter weather was already chilling him to the bone.

Wynne's panic had eased a bit as he spoke, and his shiver made her roll her eyes. Letting out a soft chuckle as she watched him. "I'm sure she won't be too bad, from what you've said. After all, who says men are always right? " She teases him, referencing the fact that he and the Cailleach didn't always agree.

Arandir let out a chuckle, but the look on his face was still grim. Obviously, the Cailleach troubled him. She wondered, what wasn't he telling her? Was she worse than he was letting on? If she was anything like the creatures she dreamed of sometimes, she probably was.

"Aye, us menfolk can be wrong, true enough. " Arandir sighed. "Still, I am in no rush to take you to meet her, and it shall be a long journey. You'll need plenty of rest, and it will likely be the best course of action to wait a few days. It will give me a chance to teach you proper defense in these lands. "

Wynne nodded at his explanation. It felt right to trust Arandir's judgement, and so far he was one of the only two that she knew in Loslosach. Assuming that they were done talking for now, Wynne retrieved her sketchbook again, pulling out a stick of charcoal with it. She wanted to capture the beauty of the field of blossoms before they needed to leave. Maybe she would be able to convince Yerrow to help her find paint.

Arandir POV

Arandir watched carefully as Wynne's artistic hands sketched out the flower field perfectly. Few other than the side could get every last detail on point when attempting to put the beauty of this world onto paper. Yet another thing that cemented his belief that she was one.

He gave the woman a soft smile, excusing himself and leaving her to her work. He wanted to comb through the libraries for information on any fae lost in the human world. And see if he could find information on fated mates. It had been many centuries since the Goddess had blessed anyone with one. So long in fact, that scholars had almost entirely stopped teaching that mates existed. Arandir only knew of mates because his parents had been one of the last few pairs to exist.

His father had told him a small bit. About there being a bond, and from his recollection, that you'd know who your mate was if you felt a pull to them. Arandir didn't know what that pull was supposed to feel like, but he suspected that it was the same one he felt towards Wynne. He wondered if she could feel it too. Arandir needed to know. He rushed to the libraries, waving away the librarians as he sought the books he was looking for and buried himself in research.

Wynne POV
By the time Wynne had looked up from her artwork, her hands felt like they were on fire, and the sun had started to set. It cast an array of colors with its beams, the last vestiges of light warm upon her skin. She could barely hold onto her charcoal anymore. Stowing the drawing implement and her book back into her satchel, she stretched out and took a bigger look around. There were mice and hedgehogs hiding underneath the bench, and a few bluejays flitting along the branches of trees. It seemed peculiar to her that the hedgehogs weren't trying to hunt the mice, and it felt to her that all of the creatures were watching her. The feeling raised the hairs on the back of her neck, and made her skin crawl.

Hesitantly, she squatted by the bench, holding her hand out to the mice and hedgehogs there. "I'm sorry I don't have anything to give you. I'd give you a treat if I had any. " Silly. What had the world come to, for her to talk to animals. Even so, she felt they could understand her.

A few approached her hand, sniffing her precariously. Within the blink of an eye, the animals were gone. In their place were small creatures. They were human like in appearance, and their clothes matched the animals that they had transformed from. None of them stood more than 9 inches tall, and they ranged from male, to female, to androgynous. It was while watching the ones by her hands that Wynne noticed the birds and insects around had disappeared as well, and she was surrounded by the little creatures. One slowly approached her from a top the bench. She was clothed in blue, black, and white feathers, matching the bluejay that Wynne assumed she had taken the form of. She had a small crown of twigs and metal upon her brow, and feathery wings protruding from her back. She flew up carefully, hovering in front of Wynne's face.

"Don't be afraid of us, dear. We won't harm you. I am Dehliah, and among us pixies in Summergate, I am considered queen. " Her voice was shrill, but melodic, like the bird she had been. Her beauty was ethereal, and her proportions were so dainty that Wynne felt like she would break Dehliah if she tried to hold her.

"You need not give us an offering. Though I am glad that that kindness is in you. It has been so long since anyone new has come here, and we were curious. "

Wynne smiled brightly at the little queen, reaching out a finger so she would have a place to perch. "Would you like to come back with me to find something to eat? " She asked the bevy of Pixies, as she listened to her stomach let out a loud rumble. Musical laughs greeted her ears, and the pixies without wings hesitantly climbed into her satchel pockets, the others flittering behind her as they wound their way back to the great tree.