Music of the Heart
Lyris's Story
Part One
The sun was just beginning to climb into the sky, turning the wide expanse overhead from royal blue to the color of a robin's egg. The birds sang in greeting, filling the air with their music.
Lyris sat on a tree limb high above the rest of the world, playing her flute. It was her own way of greeting the new day- to join her flighted brethren in musical tribute.
Lyris made quite an odd picture. A teenage girl, sitting in a tree and playing a silver flute, her long ebony hair dancing around her in the breeze. She was darkly tanned, hands rough from years of living off the land around her. Everything about this young woman bespoke hardship- except her eyes. Jewel-bright, blue, and forever filled with laughter. Not even her worn clothing and dirty face could hide the beauty reflected in those eyes.
Lyris finished her song and tucked the flute in the front pocket of her tunic. The sun had risen, and she had best get back before she was missed and one of the Elders yelled at her.
She stood up, balancing precariously on the tree limb, then leapt into the air. For an instant it seemed she would fall, but then she flew away, as if she weighed no more than a feather and were being borne away on the wind.
Flight, for Lyris's people, was a confusing thing- they could ride the wind, but no one had the control over their flight such as the birds. They were like wind-blown seeds, only barely able to reach their destination. Most preferred the solidity of solid ground and walked everywhere, but the younger ones, like Lyris, preferred the wild freedom of flight.
"Lyris! Wait up!"
Lyris wheeled her arms, tumbling to a stop in mid-air. She couldn't turn well in the air, sos eh waited for the speaker to catch up.
And so he did. Piotr went cartwheeling past, struggling futilely to halt his forward momentum. He came to a halt some thirty feet past Lyris, but only after running into a fir tree. Lyris kicked her feet and caught up after a moment, trying valiantly not to laugh in the face of Piotr's humiliation.
Piotr untangled himself from the tree branches and sat on the rough limb. "Don't laugh at me," he said glumly. "I feel stupid enough already."
Of course, this only made Lyris's giggles erupt. She perched in the tree beside Piotr, laughing. Piotr made a face at her, though a smile flickered across his mouth.
Piotr looked nothing at all like Lyris- they were as opposite as night and day. He was about the same age, a few inches taller, a year or so older, with clothing just as threadbare and hands just as worn. His hair was sandy-brown, wavy, and always in his eyes- he never bothered to brush it unless one of the Elders told him to. His eyes were hazel- mostly green, but with brown around the pupil. He was tan, athletic, and was usually grinning at some joke only he knew. He had freckles scattered across his face.
Lyris reached over and ruffled Piotr's already untidy hair. "I'm sure you do," Lyris teased. "Where you going?"
"Phineas said the berry stores are getting low, so you and I are to go foraging. Let's go and get the baskets, shall we?"
Lyris gave Piotr a suspicious look mingled with amusement. "Did he, now?"
Piotr gave her a quasi-innocent look. "Yes."
Lyris shook her head. "I know you, Piotr. Phineas said something about foraging and you volunteered us."
Piotr's eyebrows went skyward. "So what if I did?"
Lyris shook her head, grinning. "Let's go, then. I'll grab my bow and arrows, as well- the deer herd needs thinning, I heard Phineas say so."
The pair exchanged clandestine grins, then leapt into the air. Their was a moment of uncertainty, when it seemed doubtful they would stay aloft, but then the wind caught them and they flew towards the village, laughing.
* * *
"Shhh!"
"Don't 'shh' me, woman!"
Lyris smacked Piotr on the head, annoyed, then pointed vehemently through the trees. While Piotr was trying to figure out what she was pointing at, Lyris nocked an arrow and took careful aim.
"What're you shooting?" Piotr muttered. "We've barely landed and you're already in 'super huntress' mode," he added disconsolately.
Lyris gave an exasperated sound and turned to glare at Piotr, sticking the arrow back in her quiver. "You scared away the deer," she said irritably.
"Lyris, if we shoot a deer this early in the day, we'll never have time to get berries, and you know it. I don't want to deliver spoiled meat," said Piotr, his own irritation growing to meet Lyris's. "Put away the bow for a while- I want to find those bushes Garret said were around here."
Lyris sighed and tossed her bow back over her shoulder, then picked up her basket again and headed off through the underbrush. Sighing, Piotr grabbed his own basket and followed her, grumbling whenever thorns penetrated his rough leggings.
After about ten minutes of trudging, they reached a thick stand of berry bushes. They were ripe, branches drooping with the purple-red fruit.
"Here we are," said Lyris cheerfully. "Let's get the harder berries first- they won't squash as easily at the bottom of the basket."
"I knew that," said Piotr irritably. "I've been doing this since forever."
Lyris shook her head and didn't answer. She began picking berries and putting them in her basket. Casting Lyris a baleful look, Piotr followed suit.
They picked berries until noon, when their baskets were very nearly full. Then they sat together to eat- which was, of course, as many berries as they could eat.
"I'm sorry about being so irritable," said Lyris, sorting through her basket for the choicest samples. "Just in a bad way today, I suppose."
Piotr shrugged and swallowed a mouthful of berries. "It's alright. Everyone has their days." Not even looking at what he'd pulled out of the basket, Piotr tossed another handful of berries in his mouth. He wasn't nearly as picky as Lyris.
Lyris finished eating and lay in the grass on her back. "Do you ever wonder what's outside Never-Land?"
Piotr looked surprised by the question. "Not really. I'm perfectly happy here."
"So am I," Lyris said quickly, "but sometimes I wonder what's beyond the horizon, out past the end of the ocean. Where the stars go in the day. Things of that nature."
Piotr leaned back on his elbows and considered the limbs of the tree above them. "It's none of our affair, I think- if there are other places and people, then they mind their business, we mind ours, and everyone is very happy all together."
Lyris shoved Piotr's arm, knocking him off balance. "Be that as it may, I still wonder."
"I think I'll be staying here the rest of my life. Unless you go somewhere, in which case I'll follow you to the ends of the earth and beyond."
Lyris smiled slightly. "Promise?"
Piotr made an X over his chest. "Promise."
"Good." Lyris stood up and brushed the peat off her clothes and out of her hair. "Come on, another hour and we'll have our baskets full."
Piotr stood, sighing. He dragged his basket back over to the bushes and they began picking berries again.
"Your birthday's day after tomorrow, isn't it?"
"So it is," said Lyris softly.
"I didn't forget it this time! Ha!"
Lyris looked up, giggling. "For once," she agreed, laughing. "But highly unsurprising, considering it's my fifteenth birthday."
"Your point?" asked Piotr innocently, hazel eyes dancing with barely controlled mirth.
"You know as well as I do that girls are expected to choose a mate their fifteenth birthday, Piotr, and I know exactly what you're driving at." She threw a berry at him, and it splattered across his shirt.
Piotr grinned impishly. "Perhaps. But what was that all about?" he asked, pointing at the purple smear on his shirt. Lyris cocked her head to the side, as if in deep thought.
"Hmm... maybe this?" And she threw another berry.
"That's it, girl, this means war!" Piotr cried, seizing a handful of berries and smearing them through Lyris's hair. She shrieked, grabbing her own handful of fruit, and the battle was on.
Within fifteen minutes they were plastered with purple juice and berry goo. They gave up on the berries and chased each other around the trees, laughing hysterically.
Finally Piotr tackled Lyris and the pair went tumbling practically head-over-heels into the underbrush. They skidded to a stop, laughing breathlessly, completely heedless of the prickly underbrush.
"Gotcha," said Piotr between laughs.
"You're bigger than me!" Lyris protested, laughing just as hard as her companion. "Cheater!"
"Maybe so," said Piotr amiably, his laughter dying away. "But it's ever so much fun."
"Mmm," Lyris murmured vaguely. "You should be ashamed, Piotr, chasing girls like that."
"Nah." Piotr shook his head. "I just chase you."
Lyris gave Piotr a questioning look, then shook her head. "This is ridiculous- just be quiet and kiss me before I make you."
Piotr laughed and quickly complied. The kiss started out playful, almost teasing, but Lyris was having none of that.
After a moment Piotr pulled back sharply, ears bright red. "The Elders will be upset if we're gone too long," he murmured. "Come on." He stood and went to get his basket.
Lyris stood, brushing herself off out of habit. "Convenient excuse," she said teasingly. "In a few days, though, I'll have you all to myself."
Piotr picked up his basket and grinned impishly at Lyris. "Uh huh. I'm sure you're just dying to have some attractive male specimen move into your hut."
"Something like that." Lyris picked up her own basket. "We'll drop these off, then go hunting. I want venison for supper."
"No one ever expects a hunting party, however small, to get back before dark," said Piotr mildly.
"Exactly."
* * *
Lyris dropped to the ground, landed with a thump, just barely kept her balance and the basket. Piotr made a similar landing a few yards away, accidently spilling a few berries in the process.
"Lyris!"
Lyris jumped and turned sharply. Miriel came thundering up the dirt path, her face twisted into a grimace. To Lyris she was beyond ancient, to us Miriel would look no older than twenty-five- still young. But Lyris's people had a strange internal clock.
"Yes, Miriel?" asked Lyris innocently. Piotr, sensing an imminent confrontation, headed towards the storage huts with his basket of berries.
"Where have you been all day?!"
"Foraging," said Lyris bluntly, lifting her chin in defiance of the Elder's wrath. "Why?"
"I told you last night that you were to tend the fire today."
Lyris paled. Uh oh. I forgot. "I don't remember anything about that," she lied.
Miriel gave the younger girl her trademark 'if you're lying you're worse than dead meat, missy' look. Apparently sensing no deception, she shook her head. "Get those berries taken care of."
"Yes, Elder." Lyris scuttled away up the path, clutching her berries as if they were a lifeline. Which in some respects, they were.
Piotr was waiting for her there, clutching his own now-empty basket. "What was that about?"
Lyris shook her head. "Nothing that matters. Take these, I'm going to change my clothes." She shoved the basket into Piotr's arms and took off running for her hut.
* * *
"Piotr, gimme the bow!" Lyris hissed. Piotr childishly moved the wooden bow out of Lyris's reach. "It's my turn!"
"We haven't seen any game at all thanks to your foolish blundering about and being louder than an entire tribe of Indians, gimme the bow back!"
Piotr rolled his eyes and relinquished the weapon. Lyris snatched it away without a word.
"You're cranky," he observed.
"Because some idiot seems more intent on scaring the food away than catching it," Lyris retorted. "It's too dark now anyway, may as well head back."
"Oh, all right," Piotr mumbled. "I don't want to go back to that bunch of sillies, but that's besides the point." He jumped into the air, almost not making it, but there was a breeze and it was just enough to buoy him up. "Race you?"
Lyris snorted. "Try to keep up!" In an instant she was in the air and rising above the trees. Piotr went after her as fast as her could- which wasn't very fast.
By the time they had reached the clear air above the canopy of trees, neither was very interested in racing anymore. They drifted homewards idly, floating on their backs and watching the sky. They never really got an opportunity to just have fun, and they were going to take full advantage of it.
"To touch the stars, to truly fly, is something for birds and not I," Lyris sang softly. "But I can dream, and try to soar." Her voice drifted off. She never liked the rest of the song much.
Piotr picked up where she left off. "Here I'm tied down to the earth, for I have duties I cannot shirk, but someday I'll Fade, and then I'll fly, to join the stars up in the sky."
"I don't really like that song," said Lyris when Piotr finished. "We can fly, but we're not good at it. We need wind. And I don't want to be here all my life, doing the same things over and over."
Piotr didn't reply. His attention was focused elsewhere. "What's that?" he murmured to himself.
Lyris turned herself to a standing position in the air. "What's what?"
Piotr made the same maneuver and pointed. Almost beyond their vision was a tiny red speck, like a spark caught in the wind. Lyris squinted at it, then shook her head.
"I dunno... look!"
As if by magic, the sky was suddenly filled with innumerable sparks of light- red, green, gold, silver, purple, almost every color under the sun.
Almost without thinking, the two teens landed in a tree so they could watch without the added complications of trying to stay aloft. Lyris found Piotr's hand and clutched it, afraid without knowing exactly why.
"They're pretty," Piotr said vaguely, watching with detached interest. But some odd feeling was twisting itself around Lyris's heart, and she could think of nothing to say.
The little specks grew larger and larger, closer and closer, until balls of light were pelting downwards into the trees. It was like it was raining color.
One of the balls smacked into Peter's arm. Before it could get away he snatched it with his free hand, holding it tightly. The light dimmed slightly and the globe of red light became a tiny woman, struggling to free herself and yelling in a language that sounded like bells.
She had wings.
Piotr stiffened in shock and released the tiny creature, which whizzed away instantly. He and Lyris exchanged looks of shocked incredulity.
"Let's get back. Now."
* * *
The flight home seemed long and terrifying, but it was maybe fifteen minutes in length. It was still raining lights, and Lyris shrieked when one hit her on the shoulder.
The village was silent, almost- everyone had retired for the night. Without consulting each other, Piotr and Lyris ran around making as much noise as possible, yelling hoarsely about tiny people that glowed and a rain of fire.
Phineas scrambled out of his hut, half-dressed. "What on earth-" He cut himself off and his eyes widened at the sight of the glowing balls descending from the sky. "Oh my," he said weakly.
Lyris ran over to the Elder and latched onto his wrist. "They're little glowing people," she said frantically. "They're coming down like rain. And- and they have wings."
Phineas nodded and absently pushed Lyris away, eyes focused on the insane sight above him. Then he looked down at the rather hysterical girl beside him. "Find the other Elders. Tell them to meet me at the Council Circle within five minutes." Then he strode away, a commanding figure despite the fact he wore nothing more than breeches and a loose nightshirt.
Grateful for the task to set her harried mind to, Lyris set to it with great determination. Most of the Elders were headed to the Council Circle anyway, but she had to awaken a few and actually bodily remove Miriel from her bed.
After she'd found and referred them all, she ran pell-mell towards the Circle herself, determined to listen in. But she ran into something and fell with an almost inaudible "oomph."
Someone grabbed her wrists and pulled her up again. "Gonna eavesdrop?"
It was Piotr. Lyris nodded. "Yeah. You?"
"Let's go."
They bolted up the hill together, coming to a stop just before they reached the Circle. They took refuge in a tree and watched from above, hardly breathing for fear even that small sound would drown out the voices of the Elders.
"I warned them," Phineas was growling, utterly furious. "I told their emissary that more magic is going to completely destroy what we've managed here- now look what they've done."
"So... what do we do about it?" asked Eros, glancing at his fellow Elders.
Phineas threw his hands in the air, the gesture both angry and completely helpless. "I don't know. We could make them leave, but the damage has been done, and none of us can patch a hole this big. No one can."
Miriel sucked in a deep breath. "How long do you think we have? Six months?"
"No more than that," Phineas agreed. He sat heavily on a tree stump, suddenly careworn. "If we combined our power with that of the mer-folk and the aborigines, we still wouldn't be able to fix it. Only the fairies can do it at this point, but you all know how selfish the little buggers can be."
Something twisted in Lyris's chest, some weird premonition of the future. Which was insane, obviously, but she could always tell when big changes were coming, and they were barreling in on them from all sides right now. She pushed such thoughts aside and focused her thoughts on the Elders below.
"Should we tell the others?"
Phineas shook his head miserably. "Not yet. We should try to get Them to help us, and if they won't, then we'll start getting everyone out of here."
There were several sharp gasps.
"Leave?!" Miriel demanded. "Are you insane, Phineas? To go back to the Mortal World, to grow old and die? I'd rather stay and Fade than face that place."
"There we could live longer, here- time is beginning to creep back in even as we speak, Miriel, and it will not be kind. You know our days are years to mortals, every one among us would be an old crone within the year, save the youngest children." Phineas stood and pulled on his hair- thick, dark brown, healthy. No one aged very much in Never-Land.
Daziel sighed from the depths of his soul, it seemed. "I will seek out their leader, confront him. Maybe we can sort this out."
There was a long silence, filled with unspoken words.
They will not listen, you know that.
But I must try. And if I don't, no none will.
We will lose our home to these squatters, who would destroy our world and make it theirs. Where is the life in that?
That is why we must fight back as best we can.
"Wow," Piotr whispered, just loud enough for Lyris to hear. They were squished together on the tree limb and she could feel his breath on her neck; he wasn't speaking very loudly. "There's a lot they're not saying. A lot they never told anyone."
Lyris nodded absently. "Let's go. Get some sleep. I have something I need to do early in the morning."
Piotr glanced at her, uncertain, then understanding stole across his face. "I'll go with you."
Lyris nodded and slid off the branch without a sound. None of the Elders were paying any attention, she and Piotr reached the huts without any of their leaders even knowing they were there.
* * *
The tide was coming in, crashing against the boulders with bone-shattering force and sending sprays into the air. The breeze smelled of salt. All Lyris could hear was the pounding waves, gull-cries, and the haunting far-away sound of siren song. They lived only just beneath the waves, and their voices could almost always be heard.
Lyris picked her way through the debris on the sand, making her way to the cliffs that stuck out into the water. At the very base was a black, gaping hole. A sea-cave.
Piotr came meandering after Lyris, following her lead. He didn't come here nearly as often as she did and was more than happy to let her lead.
When they reached the cavern mouth Piotr produced a torch from his rucksack and lit it with a flint and steel. The flickering orange light didn't illuminate much, but it suited their purposes.
It took fifteen minutes to reach the main cavern. It was mostly dark, but there was a water-cut exit to the outside under the surface of the salty lake in the cave and some sunlight found its way inside, reflected by salt crystals.
"Janus!" Lyris yelled, her voice echoing. "Janus, I need to speak with you!"
There was a short, tension-filled pause. Then the surface of the water exploded outward, soaking the two teens and dowsing the torch.
"Lyris! To what do I owe this rare honor?"
It was an enormous pale blue water-dragon. His great, blunt head was dominated by large black eyes, and it looked clumsy attached to his long, slender body with the too-short legs, but underwater he had no equal. His long, flat tail and short paddle-like legs gave him speed that no one could challenge, not even the mer-folk.
Janus curled up on the dry cave floor, dripping wet and glistening like a giant opal in the dim light. He considered his visitors with a cocked head and laughing eyes.
"Hello Lyris, Piotr- why such long faces?"
"Did you see the people coming from the sky?" Piotr blurted. "Little glowing people with wings?"
Janus drew back slightly, an almost shocked expression on his great muzzled face. "The Fae? What on earth could they be doing here?" But the way he spoke, it almost seemed he knew.
"What are the Fae, Janus? Why does Phineas think we have to leave? He kept saying something about a hole," said Lyris quickly, as if afraid she'd never get a chance to ask the questions a second time.
"One at a time," Janus chuckled, the deep sound reverberating in the cavern. "The Fae are tiny people with wings who generate their own light from within. Color depends completely on heredity. They are the worst turncoats you'll ever meet- you'll think one was your best friend, then find out they've been reporting your every movement to their leaders."
"And the rest of it?" pressed Piotr, just as eager for information as Lyris.
"The hole," said Janus heavily, "that Phineas was speaking of meant the magic bubble this land resides inside. Because of the way it was made-on the border between the Deathless Lands and the Mortal World-time is distorted, and so the first who settled here created a ward that would protect from the ravages of time. When ones' time came to pass on, they would Fade from existence rather than just die, which is most uncomfortable. And they would never age beyond twenty-five or so. Well, the Fae-little scoundrels-came here without permission and have punched a hole in it, bringing Mortal time with them. No one is left who knows the secrets that made the boundary, only how to manage it. And so, I'm afraid that something drastic will have to be done." Janus let out a little sigh and shook his head, blinking his great black eyes. "Yes, something very drastic."
Lyris sat on the gravelly cavern floor beside Janus's head. "Janus," she asked quietly, "will we really have to leave?"
Janus turned his head to look down at her, face grave. "Most likely so. But that is how it must be- your own people came here through much the same circumstances, and at some point, long from now, you may come here again. Who knows?"
"We'll get old fast," said Piotr. It was not a question. "I don't want that to happen."
Janus looked up at the youth, who was standing rather askance with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Aging isn't something you can escape, lad," he said, not unkindly. "But take my advice- this is going to shorten your time, so make the most of it." He glanced at Lyris, who flushed.
"Anything you'd like to ask me about?"
"Will we have to leave?" asked Lyris in a small, disturbing child-like voice. Janus shook his head.
"I'm uncertain, but it is very likely. Don't worry about it- when the time comes, you'll be more than happy to escape."
There seemed to be some odd knowledge in the way he spoke. But Janus just gave the two youths a nod, then slid beneath the water again without so much as a backward glance.
Lyris stood up and watched the ripples in the water fading away to nothing while Piotr relit the torch. When the dim light was augmented by the orange-red glow, Lyris sighed and turned back towards the exit. "Janus gets that way sometimes- you think he's answered all your questions, when really he's only been blowing hot air out his snout."
Piotr's brow furrowed as he followed Lyris down the stone corridor. "I'm not sure I follow."
"He says just enough to get you to leave," Lyris said, by way of explanation. "Sometimes I think he knows more than anyone in the universe, and others I think I'm talking to a lump of blue mud."
"Maybe we don't need to know everything," said Piotr mildly. "I don't want to- it would seriously take the fun out of life."
Lyris looked at him over her shoulder, a vague smile flickering across her face. "Maybe so, but when things start getting bad, I want to know how to deal with it."
"Fly by the seat of your pants, that's how," Piotr replied, grinning. Everyone knew that flight in a sitting position was incredibly hard, so it had become a catch-phrase. "How else?"
Lyris made an irritated noise in the back of her throat and faced front again, picking her way amongst stalagmites. "I don't like not knowing," she said, mostly to herself. "At least about the big stuff."
"Don't worry about it. Everything will work out- always does."
By now they had reached the cavern mouth and stepped out into the mid-morning sun. Lyris pushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead and took a deep breath- she could get slightly claustrophobic at times.
Piotr dowsed the torch in a convenient tide pool, then stuffed it back in his rucksack. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to try and find out where all these Fae creatures have gone. Come with me?"
Lyris looked back at the cavern mouth for a moment, considering, then met Piotr's hazel gaze with her own. Her eyes were sparkling blue, harder than diamonds with newfound determination.
"Let's go."