Chapter 4 - Feel the Touch of the Other World
It hurt to sit in the shadow of a tree so near the humans and their cold iron. It created a feeling as if her blood was boiling in her veins. But she had discovered a fae child, one who would bear watching. If it had been the olden days the child would have been stolen in her crib and a changeling left to die in her place. The red haired delicate beauty would have been stolen away to the Sidhe on the other side of the mounds. She would have been raised as an elf and married to a fairy. They had been too long out of the world though and the fae children were now called muggleborns and were integrated into the magical wizarding society. The elf snorted to herself and decided that at least the fae children had magic that would count for something. It wouldn't be their full potential or the grace and poise of fairy magics but it was something.
The delicate child was named Lily she had learned. The elf had been attracted to the child due to the sparkle of magic she created when swinging in the park down the street from her home. The park was mostly manicured green lands which while not comfortable to one who was used to the untamed wild lands under the mounds was still less painful than being anywhere near the child's home. Sometimes the child had a dark boy with her one that reeked of blood and magic. The elf could sense a great destiny in the dark child and her heart ached for one so small and thin with such a destiny upon his shoulders. The red haired child Lily also had a great destiny, which is what kept drawing her back to the human world, to the innocent child in front of her. The child would need a wand. The elf could sense trouble brewing in the hearts of men and it did not mean good things for the little sprite on the swings.
Her mind made up she faded away from the park and back into the mounds. It would be there that she would fashion a wand that would forever more be a companion to the sparkle of magic that was growing in Lily. A proper wand would help her achieve everything that she had ever thought possible. Days and weeks passed for the elf with no consequence, she knew time flowed differently in the Sidhe but didn't allow it to bother her. One wrong move and she would have to start over again and that would be a disaster.
She had bartered for a length of blessed yew, the pale golden color please her, reminding her of a beam of sunlight. Once the yew was ready for a core she stopped. She didn't know what would work best with the child's magic. And wouldn't be able to get close enough to test it until she was ready to give the wand to the child. She would only get one chance to talk to the child before she would have to spend many years hidden in the Other worlds to repair the damage it would do to her when she stepped out of the shadows and fully into the world of the humans. It was then that the Queen of the Fae visited her.
"Moira, I see you are hard at work. A gift I feel? For a fae child? An interesting choice of diversion." The elf, Moira, nodded her head and said
"I have watched the child several times. Her magic drew me as it sparkled in the light. She bears a great destiny, and her companion bears an even greater one." The Queen nodded and said
"So it is the human way. You know this. Why get involved in their strife?" Moira sighed and replied
"It feels right and she was a gift of the maker to non-magical parents. They will not know she is something special. Not even the magical folk of the human world will understand that there is something special to her." The Queen nodded and said
"If the times were different she would have been brought to my side and trained as the next regent. But these are new times, strange times, difficult times. Perhaps it is time to interfere again, at least in some small ways. I will aid you in this project Moira, as you have never asked anything of myself or my consort. I will give you a drop of my blood, a hair from my head and a feather from my cloak to place in that exquisite length of Seelie yew that you have so tenderly readied for this." Moira nodded it was not unheard of that the Queen of the Fae would assist them in their endeavors but rarely for a human and almost never to offer aid to a human. Not when humans had so disfigured her brother with cold iron that he was banished from the court and could not show his face for a thousand years. Still Moira smiled as the gifts were handed over and thanked the Queen of the Fae in a distracted way. Missing the glint of amusement from the Queen as she took her leave, Moira was once more engrossed in the delicate process of creating. She was so enthralled with creating the wand that she didn't hear the Queen whisper
"Create well little elf, for I shall raise you up higher than any other of your kind in our history. For you are brave and beautiful and kind hearted. Everything I want in a successor." And then the Queen of the Fae was gone. Leaving Moira once more undisturbed to her work.
The return to the park down the street from the small childs home was delightfully uneventful, so Moira watched and waited. But time had passed, now the child was no longer so tiny. She was still small but had a presence about her that proclaimed for all who knew how to see such things that she was a leader and a queen in her own right. Moira was forcefully reminded of the words of the Fairy Queen, of how if times were different that this little girl would have been chosen as the next Queen of the Fae. She had been waiting since first light. This was the one day that she would be able to cross from the shadows with the least amount of damage to herself. It was midsummer and the shadows were at that shortest. She was counting on the child to still frequent the little park.
Hours later her patience was rewarded as the red headed child came walking around the bend right at the little hollow tree that Moira had made her hiding place. It couldn't have been more perfect if Moira had cast a gathering charm on the child. Moira eased her way fully into the world as the child snuck into the little hollow. Hoping not to scare her too much. She watched as the child took in her appearance. Dark nearly black skin, eyes as golden as the punishing sun above and a head of hair as blue as the cloudless sky. Moira knew she was beautiful in a strange exotic sort of way. Fear was quickly replaced with curiosity as the girl moved farther into the hollowed tree. Moira smiled and said
"Good, you are brave. We like the brave. Do you know me child?" The little head shook itself in a negative manner before Lily said voice small and sweet
"I don't know anyone like you." Moira nodded and said
"As well you shouldn't. I am called Moira, which means destiny and I have been watching you since you were very small." The child in front of her smiled prettily and asked
"Why did I never see you? I always see the others watching. The men who shimmer and stand about on the corners watching us and Severus. Severus doesn't see them but I do. He said I was making things up so I ran into one once, to see if they were real. I'm not sure who was more surprised. Me or the shimmer man. I ran away though. He couldn't keep up. He waved a stick at me which I now know is a wand. Apparently he tried to cast some magic on me but he must have missed because nothing happened." Moira nearly growled but restrained herself. It was the past and there was nothing she could do to change it. What she could do was give the child an additional gift to the wand that she had made for the girl. For sight like what the child described should be rewarded. She smiled down at the red head and said
"Clever you, little one. Now I am here to give you a gift, it is one you must keep secret from all who want to know about it. My people do not come into this world easily, in fact this is the last time you will ever see me, I will be watching and if you learn how to see through the shadows to our homeland than you might catch a glimpse of me. As such I present you with a wand, one that no man has ever touched made specifically with you in mind. Crafted by myself." And with that Moira handed over the yew wand. It was a beautiful golden color and the addition of the Fairy Queen's hair, blood and cloak feather had added a dark coffee color to the grain lines. Those lines spiraled around the wand giving it the look of a unicorns horn. The moment that Lily's hand touch the wand a fierce wind took up in the hollowed tree and swirled around the girl as her eyes lit up with a light all their own. No sparks shot from the end of the wand but Moira could tell that no matter what wand the child had been given this one was perfectly suited to both the child and her magic. It would be a good partner for the girl. Moira leaned forward than as the child was still engrossed in the feeling of the wand in her hand and kissed the child on the forehead, transferring a gift of sight to the child. It was a good skill to have to be able to see past the games the mortals played and Moira would see that this child had every advantage that she could.
Grass green eyes looked up into her own golden eyes and the little child said awe evident in her voice,
"Thank you, this is the best gift anyone's ever given me." Moira nodded and said
"Keep it clean, well oiled and warm and it will never fail you. The next time you see me child will be when you are crossing out of this world and into another. I will meet you at the borders and give you the choice of your eternity. Goodbye my child. May you be ever bold and beautiful." And with that Moira faded back into the shadows and passed beyond the realms of mortals.
Awaiting her return was the Fairy Queen though. The other smiled a bit at her as if it had been a long time since there had been anything to smile at and said
"A job well done. Now it is time for us to begin another path. I have chosen you as the next regent and there is much you have to learn before I pass beyond the final veil. Come my daughter it is time to take up your own destiny." And with that Moira was swept along on the arm of the Fairy Queen.
Back in the hollow tree Lily Evans looked at wand that the strange creature Moira had given her and just stared in wonder. The wand Ollivander had matched her with had felt like a friend but this wand sat snug in the palm of her hand, was warm to the touch and felt like just another part of her. Like she had done in Ollivanders shop she gave the wand a wave and from the end of it trailed a line of little lights in every color she could image that danced around like fireflies. She giggled and put the wand in her pocket for the trip back to her little bedroom. She would place the wand in her trunk and keep it a secret from everyone. Even from Sev, who was her best friend. This would be a secret between her and the creature Moira.