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Sindri heard the doors close and made his way over to me. He stood in front of me for a moment but I didn't look up at him, so he leaned against the doors and slid down to sit beside me. He gently elbowed me in the arm which made me look at him, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid because I knew when I looked at him the tears would start to fall and they did. Where is Laila? I said to him in my mind.
She's out on the balcony talking to a bird. He spoke back in the same silent language. We continued our conversation this way as I explained about my visit with the Queen. In the end he looked at me with consoling eyes and gently patted me on the hand. Without any words, or thoughts for that matter, his touch told me not to worry. Laila would be ok. I trusted him… but even still I hated to leave her behind no matter the length of the time. In this world it just seemed like any time you walked away from someone it might be the last time you ever saw them.
I spent the afternoon in the garden playing with Sindri and Laila. I ate dinner with my little girl for what I was hoping would not be the last time, and I brushed her hair before sending her to bed early. Now I sit in a large tub while being bathed and prepared for the adoption ceremony.
Three fae girls are rubbing my hair with oils and flower petals. They look young but it's impossible to guess their age. One of the fae, a blonde with green eyes named Nissa held a towel out to me. I'd seen her around before. She was a personal servant to the Queen. She smiled warmly and I stood and exited the tub. They set themselves straight to work patting me dry, brushing my hair, and rubbing flower petals on my bare skin. I would ordinarily have a mouthful of arguments and objections for being handled in this manner, but I was anxious, nervous, sad, worried, and… whatever flowers that were in the bath water and being rubbed on my skin seemed to make me feel unusually docile at the same time. Everything seemed to have a cloudy dreamlike quality. It reminded me of the way you feel sometimes after you go swimming for a really long time. When you get out your vision is kind of cloudy from all the water and your body feels so heavy after all the time you spent feeling weightless.
"There. What do you think?" The fae girl with dark brown hair, I think I heard someone call her Naida, placed her hands gently but firmly on my shoulders and tuned me to face a full length mirror that was positioned to my right. I stood for a moment examining myself.
"Wow…" I was so lost in my own world I hardly paid any attention to what they had been doing. My skin looked like it had been polished to a soft glow or maybe that was actually glitter? I was wearing a simple long white gown. The fabric felt light, like cotton and comfortable against my skin. It was sleeveless and strapless, it closed and laced down my back, and it had a sheer glittering overlay. My hair lay against my left shoulder in a loose fishtail braid and small white flowers had been randomly worked into my hair. I leaned it closer to the mirror and met my own gaze with a surprised and questioning look "Is this an adoption or a wedding?"All three of the girls erupted into giggles.
"Come," said Nerida the third, a red headed fae who strangely reminded me of Arlene. "It's time to go to the ring."
As I eventually learned, there are multiple realms or planes of the fae. The first time I ever visited I was taken to the place by the water with my fairy godmother. The second time was when I first saw Queen Mab. The realm I entered then was kind of like a purgatory for many people who were like me. They were eating the light fruit and unable to leave. The third time I entered was to the fairy night club out in the field. Each of those was separate planes, and this was another. This was the realm of the fairy court which contained the fairy ring, the gateway between all fairy realms. Unlike other realms that only contained the light, both day and night occurred here. This was the place where the ceremony would take place because standing at the ring allowed us to hang between the human realm of earth and the fairy court.
The ring was encircled by all of the members of the fairy court and their servants. Everyone wore white and Queen Mab waited for me at the center. She gestured for me to come and stand before her. As I stepped into the circle a quick blast of wind seemed to clutch at my hair and clothes. I could feel Mab's power. It was overwhelming. The members of the court joined hands around us and started speaking in unison the ancient tongue of the fae. It was hard for me to wrap mind around the language. Every word foreign to my ears yet familiar to my heart. I listened as I marveled at the moon. It looked so large and bright. Sindri had told me before, that this was a special night because the moon was closer to the earth than it had been in a very long time or might ever be again. It was then that I noticed the light emanating between her and me.
It was so bright… I stared ahead at Mab's face. I could no longer make out her Irises; the hollows where her eyes should be were replaced with light. She drew the dagger that hung at her waist and made a deep cut across her own palm, then did the same to mine. She put our hands together and the last thing that I could remember was light so bright that it just blocked out everything else... Warm bright light… and the song of the fae. I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I awoke with my head in the Queen's lap, but it wasn't very long.