What's been going in Faenya Dail since Aerie left?

Neme
~*~

High above the world, amidst the clean air and white glare of the snow capped mountains, there is a city unreachable by humankind; and even if they could ascend the sheer rock faces the exact location of the city is a closely guarded secret and like other elven settlements the buildings are shrouded by ancient magics. For this city belonged the Avariel, the winged elves. At one time they were a numerous people, but long ago were driven to the brink of extinction. Most common folk now have never heard of them, and very few have actually ever seen one.

But they live on up here, far from the competition and conflicts between other races. Their numbers are few however, and so to them every child born is truly a blessing. One Avariel child, were she human she would have looked around ten or eleven years of age, was returning home. Her speckled wings were spread either side as she glided effortlessly between the stone platforms, the cool air blowing back her long blonde hair. The sandaled feet soon touched down gently on a wide balcony.

"Mother?" The child called as she folded her wings then entered, through the stone columns and archway, into her home. "Father?"

The silence was eerie... but, she had come home a bit early today. Her teacher said he had a headache; it may have had something to do with her asking so many questions about the planes. He'd started it though, and wasn't it his job to answer her questions? He'd said himself that questions were the best way to learn... and anyway, she'd been telling the truth. There was another world inside her wardrobe where a talking Owl named Owlie had been made King... for some reason though, the wardrobe only worked as a portal to this world at night, when everybody was asleep.

Anyway, mother and father weren't home, so the girl was just going to have to find something to do until they got back. Her early return may be just the opportunity she'd been waiting for... there were areas of the house her parents didn't like her to poke around in, saying they were for adults. But no one was around now, and it couldn't possibly hurt for her just to take a look. And so the little blonde Avariel skipped and hummed through the stone building, straight into her mom and dad's room.

She had been in the room plenty of times before of course; but she'd always been forbidden from looking at the scrolls kept locked in the cabinet. But during earlier explorations of the house she had discovered where her mother thought the glass key was still hidden. Retrieving it from under the Eagle statue, the girl took out and started to read one of the scrolls... it all seemed like gibberish, until she noticed a buzz in her head and felt her hair starting to lift slightly. Of course, they were spells! Now with a big grin on her face, the girl continued to read, without giving much thought to the possible peril; for all she knew this scroll would summon nine very hungry dragons right down on top of her... fortunately, it didn't do that. She felt a wave spreading out from her and reaching to the far corners of the room, and then... nothing.

Disappointed, she decided to try another scroll. This time the results were a little more exciting, although she was sure she'd done something wrong; it didn't seem likely that the actual purpose of the scroll was to explode and send you flying against the wall. She felt no heat from the magic and was mostly unhurt... only a little sore from where she landed on her bottom. She was starting to think now that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to play with magic scrolls and that it was time to pack it up before her parents got back... but then she noticed that the wall behind her was flickering.

That was strange; stone walls shouldn't blink in and out of existence like that. The girl picked herself up and looked curiously at the malfunctioning masonry as she straigtened her tunic. She noticed it wasn't the whole wall that flickered; just a section of it, curiously about the size of a door. And then she slapped herself and wondered why she'd never wondered about this before; the hall outside was much longer than this room. There was another room there... a secret room.

Oh, she really loved secrets. But what could her mom and dad want to hide in there? Treasure? Experiments? Or maybe they didn't know about it either... maybe she'd be the first to discover something hidden away aeons ago. Well it couldn't wait any longer, could it?

Exercising an uncharacteristic degree of caution, the girl reached out and tried to touch the surface of the secret door, gasping as a sudden tingle shot up her arm. Other than that, the surface felt like water, so she decided she had to hold her breath as she went boldly through. She emerged on the other side still completely dry, and found... a bedroom.

Okay, so she was quite expecting anything so mundane. Still, whose room was it? Obviously not her mum or dad... somehow, it didn't feel like this room belonged to an adult at all. Everything in it was neat and tidy, like an adult's room, but there were toys on the shelves although they seemed to be losing ground to a growing collection of books. And most of them were children's books... but there was no other child in the house apart from the girl. She was sure she'd have noticed if she had any brothers or sisters running around... so maybe it was actually her room. That is, maybe her parents were planning to move her in here. But then she noticed the pictures and drawings on the walls; those weren't done by her. None of this made any sense...

"Neme!" The girl's heart almost escaped through her throat as she heard her mother call from right behind her; Fayanna must have seen the scrolls and then caught her in a place she wasn't supposed. She was going to be in a lot of trouble...

"I-I'm sorry," the girl turned around and immediately started pleading, "I didn't mean... i-it was an accident!"

"I see," the mother sighed, although with a little smile, "you 'accidentally' opened my cabinet with the key?"

"Um... y-yes," Neme paused a second, and then thought it might be better to try changing the subject, "mother... did you know about this place?" Fayanna looked around the room, her smile fading into distant sadness.

"Come, let us not dally in here. You can help me prepare supper," the mother said, but Neme had asked a question and was determined to learn the answer.

"Mother, whose room is this?"

"Aer..." Fayanna shut her eyes tightly, taking several deep breaths, "I'm sorry, child... I suppose, you are old enough now to know the truth. This room," she paused again, making sure she used exactly the right word here, "this room belongs to your sister."

"Aerie... her name is Aerie... she wasn't much older than you when she... when she left... just two years before you were born."

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

"Well... when is she going to come back?"

"I... I don't know," Fayanna sniffed, the strain of holding back her tears was becoming unbearable.

"Momma... don't cry," Neme said, still confused about all this but not likeing to see her mother upset. She stepped over and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. "Please don't cry... I'm sorry."

"It's alright," the mother wiped away the tears and placed her hand gently on her daughters head, smiling again. "You know, you and your sister are a lot alike... that's why it's very important you realise that when we tell you not to go somewhere by yourself, you have to listen. We only tell you that because we want you to be safe... promise me you'll remember that?"

"I promise," Neme said, "but, when I'm an adult I'll be able to go wherever I want, right?"

"When you're an adult," Fayanna smiled, "but for now, you have to come with me to the kitchen to prepare supper."

"Yes momma," Neme sighed. She knew her mother was right and that she'd have to wait a while before she could go really exploring by herself. And then, when she was old enough, maybe she'd go to where her sister went...