The woman stepped carefully along the cliff edge, crossing hand over hand, always clutching the next tree for stability as she moved with purpose. The moon above was her only source of light on this dark night, made darker by the looming, low clouds that were crackling with energy, heavy with moisture, threatening to burst at any moment.
"And me in my best leather pants..." She grumbled to herself, a wary eye on the rocks and crashing waves below. The sea air was clean and brisk up here. She licked her lips and was met with a thin layer of salt. The taste made her smile in spite of herself. "Almost there", she said to the moon as she neared her destination. She came upon the clearing at last, and dropped down into a lotus position on the grass as she took in the awesome sight before her. Of a lagoon that shone like diamonds, of purple mountain peaks, and sandy coves ringing the island that laid out before her. Normally she came up here to get away. She came up here to escape her responsibilities, if only for an hour. She came up here to remember her life that came before, the places she had been, and the people she had left behind. And she came up here, to look out to sea, wishing she had the ability that so many seemed to acquire as soon as they arrived in this strange land, the gift of forgetting. But tonight, something else had brought her up to this cliff. Something had driven her from her bed and she had hastily climbed up here in the moonlight.
She sighed, wistfully, and said with some bitterness, "Neverland." She wasn't alone for long.
"No one followed you?"
She looked casually to her right, unsurprised that the source of the voice was a small yellow ball of light.
"I'm not going to talk to you when you are like that Tink"
The pixie suddenly appeared at her side, the size of a small child.
"Just being careful, grumpy, we are supposed to hate each other remember"
"I think the boys stopped believing in our act a long time ago. But we can keep it up if it amuses you". She said it cheerfully enough, but the look she gave Tink was long suffering.
"Ooh we are melancholy tonight aren't we?" Tink rolled her eyes, but her tone held no venom. She was aware that the girl could not forget, like all the others seemed to. It's what made them put aside their differences and their old arguments. They had a common goal after all.
The pixie had been the one to find her, washed up on the shore that third time she came to Neverland. She had put aside her anger and her jealousy and resolved to help in any way she could. She knew that she was partially to blame for the girl's predicament.
"I don't like the look of that sky Tink. There is something stirring in the air tonight. I think that something is coming"
"It's not that unusual. We do get visitors. Children that wander here in their dreams and stay, or ones that seek us out, the occasional seafarer that drifts too far out in a storm...and those that get lost on their way to other realms. We send them on their way most times, without much fuss...what is bothering you?"
Tink suddenly noticed that the girl's tension was high. Her eyes were wary and her lips were pursed.
"Have you had a vision?"
"It's sometimes hard to tell whether they are visions, or dreams, or fantasies...especially here"
"Oh please tell me you haven't been..." Tink let her voice trail off, her face stern.
"No, I haven't." The girl responded angrily, her unease apparent on her face.
"I don't think about him anymore"
"You just did"
"Only because you brought it up" she barked at her, and looked back out to sea.
Tink looked at the girl sideways, assessing her old rival, now her closest friend. She would have been in her late twenties, if her life had progressed naturally. She had a heart-shaped face, with raven hair and dark green eyes that turned to a color akin to a tiger's eye stone when she was stressed or worried. Her eyes were wide and merciless, and people found it difficult to lie to those eyes. Her body was lean, but strong and muscular. She had curves that made all the pixies envious, not that she did herself any favors in her choice of dress. She dressed like a man, efficiently and comfortably. She was almost always barefoot, but was always armed with a sword that would have been more fitting for a man twice her size. She bore its weight with no complaint, and when she had occasion to draw it, no one doubted her ability to wield it. She had a shoulder bag that she kept on her at all times. The lost boys joked that she carried the whole island in that bag. Food, water, bandages, and toys...seashells and medicine, and a hundred other things...seemingly able to produce whatever they needed, when they needed it. It had been a gift from a visiting wizard.
Suddenly, Tink felt herself going into high alert, taking in the change in aura and atmosphere that surrounded her friend.
"Hey, you really are worried!"
"Yes. Something is wrong, I can feel it"
"So you are gong to camp out up here"
"Not letting something dangerous sneak up on us. We have finally brought some sort of order to this island. A tentative calm that no one wants to break. The tribe is cooperating with the village and the pirates, the boys are keeping their mischief to a minimum...hell even the mermaids are on their best behavior. They haven't tried to drown a man in ages."
"They still hate you!"
"That would be why I steer clear of them"
"And your son..." Tink said quietly, "has he forgotten everything now"
"Yes. When he calls me mother, it's because they all call me mother. He doesn't remember that I actually AM his mother. The irony is not lost on me."
"I just realized I haven't set eyes on him in ages..."
"You don't have to avoid him"
"I do actually. He has your eyes. Eyes that not even a pixie can lie to. Being around me troubles him, and he doesn't know why. Some part of him knows he shouldn't trust me completely, I think"
"Little does he know..."
"Yes, that bit of irony is not lost on me..."
The girl shifted and moved herself over to the nearest tree, getting comfortable for her vigil. She looked over at the ageless blond pixie, who looked deceptively like a child.
"You don't have to stay with me, but I can't leave until I am sure"
"No, I'll stay. I have a bad feeling too."
"Oh, so you don't think I am being paranoid?"
"No," the pixie admitted, "I trust you. You are almost always right about these things...us pixies seem to get more arrogant the older we get, and too complacent. I'll stay with you and we can take turns looking out"
And with that, she lay her head down companionably on the girl's leg, and snuggled up...more for comfort than for warmth. The girl smiled down at her friend and patted her am for reassurance, grateful for the company.
It seemed as though hours passed like that, though it cold have been minutes. time had no real meaning here. She counted her days by the moons and the suns.
As she was ready to wake Tink for her shift, she noticed movement along the far edge of her sight. Off in the distance, through the mist, she saw something taking shape. Her breath hitched when she realized it was large. A boat, no, a ship, was forming out of the fog and she wondered if she was dreaming it. If she had indeed fallen asleep. She held her breath then, willing herself to awaken, but the rising fear that was churning in her stomach told her that she wasn't asleep, and she wasn't hallucinating. Her whole body was tense, and she stared to rise up from the ground.
Tink awoke as she started to roll off the girls leg.
"What? What is it?" She was alarmed now and completely awake as the girl moved to stand as far along the cliff edge as she could without falling off. She shoved her right hand hastily into her bag and brought out a telescope to get a better look. She looked with her own eyes, along the horizon and saw the source of panic. A ship was coming into the bay, just out of sight, dipping into and out of fog.
"Please tell me it's not...what do you see, can you see her name? What ship is that!" The dread in her voice was thick as she pulled the girl around to face her.
The girl looked down at Tink fully panicked now, and nodded her head. "Yes! It's the Jolly Roger!" Tink lifted up, and took the girls hands in her own. "We have to hide you. now! He can't know that you are here. We must protect your son, at all costs!" She cried out, shaking the girl to her senses.
At the mention of her son, the girl swallowed her fear, and willed herself to bury her emotions. With a calm she didn't feel, she said, "...at all costs". She subconsciously placed her hand upon her sword, and with one last glance at the emerging ship, she stole silently back into the forest. The pixie trailed behind her, drawing the fog behind them like a shield with her magic. There would be no time to warn anyone.