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A Neverland Saga - Chapter 11 - A Fellow Traveler
The 3 traveling companions decided to sit outside on the patio after picking up tea & snacks from the Baffin Island fairies' tearoom. Vidia noticed a sparrow-man in the background, watching them. He seemed to be trying to make a decision.
Vidia looked up at the twilight sky and wondered "If we were still in Iceland, it should be about 2 o'clock in the morning, but here I'm confused."
"It would be about 10:00 in the evening here." Bíbí told her. "We probably should look for beds after our tea."
"The tearoom is almost empty," Prilla noted "So why were the cooking & baking-talents busy? Is there a crowd coming in?"
Bíbí smiled. "The Baffin Island fairies have a very large territory to take care of, and they've developed their own routine. In the spring, most of the colony leaves and sweeps northward, bringing summer to the island, then they return by autumn equinox. Then they sweep north again bringing winter to the island, and return by spring equinox. Right now, they're on their way back, but they need a lot of long-distance support. So the kitchens and pixie dust tree are always busy."
"Sounds like a strange way to do things, but I guess it works for them." Prilla commented.
"You should see the celebrations here in Takuminattuk, when they're home." Bíbí winked.
The watching sparrow-man was on his way over. "Here comes one of the locals." Vidia advised them. Details became more visible as he stepped into the glow of the patio lamps. His clothing was rough and covered in patches, his hair needed trimming, and a tired carry-bag hung from his shoulder.
He bowed to them and announced "Good evening, fairies. I am Povezti." He paused, then asked "Did I see you arrive with the dragon, a short while ago?" Vidia noticed he had a touch of accent in his speech that she'd never heard before.
"Ja." Bíbí proudly declared, "She is Silbrfylgja of Iceland."
Povezti's eyes lit up. "Then you are travelers, like myself. May I join you?"
"Of course." Prilla filled in. Vidia was momentarily speechless, staring at the sparrow-man's wings which were covered in small cuts, pinholes, burns, and scrapes.
"What happened to your wings?" Vidia gasped.
"Oh," Povezti smiled with bravado and pulled a wing forward. "Sandstorm," he pointed to pinholes, "Rock slide" pointed to scrapes, "Forest fire..., coyote..., hail storm..."
"Alright, alright! You've had a rough life." Vidia couldn't bear to hear any more.
"I've traveled a long way, for many years." he gazed at them with penetrating weariness. "My home is on the Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Siberia."
"I've never heard of that place." Prilla recalled the large world map in their meeting room.
"It is far west of here, across an ocean. I was a storyteller-talent, until one day I grew tired of the old stories, so I decided to go looking for new stories. I journeyed north and east, meeting and living with other fairy colonies as I went. I flew across the Bering Strait to North America, and spent many years traveling here. But now I wish to journey east again, and this region is the only way I may cross the ocean."
"We've just come that way." Vidia pointed out. "There are large stretches of sea between here and Europe. A fast-flyer could make it, but not you."
"Are you sure? Perhaps farther north."
"Do you have any maps?" Prilla asked.
"Some sketches I've made..."
Prilla dug into Vidia's carry-bag, pulled out the map book, and flipped to pages showing the North Atlantic. She pushed the book at Povezti.
"Here's where we are now." Vidia pointed to the lake on Baffin Island, then to the Davis Strait, "This water would take you almost 6 hours to fly across." She pointed to the Denmark Strait, "Five hours to cross this." She pointed to the sea between Iceland and Faroe Islands, "Almost 8 hours, if you can find it." And finally the sea north of Scotland, "Almost 6 hours. After that, it's easy."
Povezti sighed. "So my eastward journey has ended."
"I could take you across the ocean in the blink of an eye." Prilla offered.
"What? How?" Povezti flinched with surprise.
"That's my talent. But I can only Apparate to places I've already been to."
"That would be wonderful, but I would miss all the fairy colonies in between."
"I'll be flying home with Silfra in a day or 2." Bíbí spoke up, "You could come with me."
"Bíbí's mainland has waterfalls and volcanoes." Prilla smiled.
"Indeed?" Povezti brightened, "My home in Kamchatka has volcanoes. I should very much like to see your mainland."
"Keep the map book and these." Vidia handed him her field glasses. "Before Prilla & I go, you can also have my communication pendant. That way, you can contact us when you're ready to move on. You'll never make it across the ocean with those wings."
"You are too kind." Povezti accepted the gifts graciously and glanced back at his wings. "They are looking quite tattered, but they've been worse. It's been a while since I've renewed my wings." Vidia & Prilla exchanged glances.
"What do you mean "renewed your wings"?" Vidia inquired.
"In my travels, I've been to a few colonies who have trouble keeping their wings intact, so they have developed magic techniques to restore them." Povezti stated. Prilla gasped.
"I've only seen a wing restored once," Vidia said, "And that was under very specific circumstances. When you come to Neverland, could you show us your techniques?"
"Certainly." Povezti nodded.
"So you've traveled all over this continent?" Bíbí prompted. Prilla & Vidia were interested too.
"Yes. I left my home over 200 years ago, and have been exploring ever since."
Povezti's storyteller-talents came forth, and the 3 fairies were captivated. He had flown when he could, walked when he must, and built boats to cross water. He told them of coastal fairies, mountain fairies, desert fairies, plains fairies, swamp fairies, forest fairies, and lake fairies. In each colony, he had stayed a year or 2, then moved on. Sometimes the journey was easy, sometimes perilous, but he was always lucky in finding help when he needed it. He learned to cook, sew, play music, and other fairy talents to earn his keep.
Hours went past, and the 3 fairies found themselves yawning. "I'm sorry," Vidia explained, "This is so interesting, but we've had a long day. We really should get some sleep and talk tomorrow."
"Of course. My apologies."
The fairies excused themselves and Bíbí led the 2 Neverland fairies in search of a caretaker-talent, to find beds for what remained of the night. Vidia looked up at the glow on the eastern horizon.
"So we've made it to North America." Vidia told Prilla, "If even half of what he says is true, we've got some adventures ahead of us."
"We can handle them." Prilla nodded with confidence, and Vidia gave her a sly smile.
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Author's Post Note:
This is not a great ending for the story, but it's the best I could think up. So there.
For the Kamchatka storyteller sparrow-man in this chapter, I wanted to use an Itelmen word for "lucky". But after searching several nights for an Itelmen dictionary, I gave up and went with Russian. One of the Russian translations for "lucky" is "повезти" (povezti), which sounded like a good name to my non-Russian ears. If anyone can find me an Itelmen translation for "lucky", and it sounds good, I'll put it in the story.