Salutations~!

It's raining!
*cheers*

Okay, I have a weird obsession with the rain. I'm not typically an emo or pessimistic person, but rain just makes me happy. Anyway, who said rain was sad, in the first place?
Since it's raining, I have inspiration for this fic. As I said, inconsistent updates, but I have another fanfiction that I'm writing, and even planning a third. So, yeah.

I've decided to make the chapters shorter, because, like with present tense, it suits what I have in mind better.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Arthur is 12, and afraid of humans.

He has spent a week with Alfred, Matthew and their parents while he healed. But now, he is expected to go into the village. And talk to strangers. Well, the strangers are Alfred and Matthew's friends, but he is barely comfortable with them. Now he has to interact with humans he's never seen before, humans who make fun of him for being a fae, and hit him. Well, that's what he thinks other humans are like. The four he's met just happen to be nice.
But, after a week of Alfred enthusiastically telling him about these other humans, these strangers, he felt like he should at least give them a chance. They don't sound like bad people. He's just not sure.

So, he decides to follow the two into the village, hesitantly. It's bustling and busy and crowded. He's never felt so overwhelmed. Sure, he could've, but not remember it, but he does have a suspicion he hasn't. To make it worse, they all look at him from the corner of their eyes. Judging. Suddenly, he feels that he is some freak, a monster on display. They say nothing, but their gazes... Shuddering, he looks down at the ground and wraps his tail and wings around himself self-consciously. He is a freak.

Finally, they reach the outskirts of the town, and he is glad. He realizes he is lagging behind Alfred and Matthew, and half-jogs to catch up. He soon deduces that they are entering the forest. Good. No humans there. Well, except these 'friends' he is supposed to become buddies with. Rubbing his arms self-consciously, he notices that his tail and wings are still tightly wrapped around him. Instead of unfurling them, he folds them tighter against himself, tail curling around his leg and starting to dig into his skin. It stings a bit, but he doesn't notice over his nervousness.

Soon, they seem to arrive at whatever meeting spot they had planned. Alfred abruptly halts, and so does Matthew. Alfred turns around to grin at Arthur, "We're here! The other guys should be here soon."
Arthur can only nod, and Matthew frowns, "You don't look so good, Arthur."
"Uh, yeah. Well... I haven't met many humans before," Arthur stammers nervously.
Alfred places his hand on the fae's shoulder, causing him to flinch, "Don't worry! My friends are really nice!"

The fae doesn't reply, and Alfred seems about to say something, when Matthew interrupts, "Knock it off, Alfred. He's obviously nervous, and I don't blame him."
Alfred sighs, "Fine, I guess."

They wait for about six minutes, then the other humans arrive.

He is terrified, at first. There are five of them. One of them is a calm black-haired boy, speaking politely and with an accent most probably from one of the east kingdoms. There is also another one who seems to be from the east, an older boy with long hair tied back. There is a rather tall boy with short blonde platinum hair and an aura that unnerved Arthur slightly. One has shoulder-length blonde hair and an accent he couldn't place. The last one is a cheerful boy with oddly sharp canines and brown hair.
They seem friendly enough, so he gradually grows more comfortable around them. Soon, he finds himself laughing and joking with them.

...Perhaps humans weren't so bad, after all.

Arthur is now 13, and much more comfortable and friendly around humans.

Since they didn't know his birthday, they just made it the day he arrived in the forest. So, his birthday was now the anniversary of when he was kicked out of fae society. That could be a bit unfortunate, but he didn't think of it often.

His birthday-but-not-really has passed, he thinks much better of humans. Most of them in the village have grown used to him, greeting him in a friendly manner as if he had been in the village his entire life, and acting as if his wings and horns and tail didn't exist. He is happy about that. But, there are still some who judge him. Looking at him out of the corner of their eyes, glaring at him when they think he isn't looking, insulting him when they think he isn't listening. He doesn't mind that. As a fae in human society, it is bound to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

You could say he is best friends with the 7 humans who were so kind to him at first. They are all about the same age- Yao, the oldest, at 14-and-a-half, and Alfred and Matthew, the youngest, only just turned 13. Arthur's not-birthday is about in the middle of them all, since he is 13-and-a-half.

They do various things together, mostly messing around in the forest or village. Sometimes, they do reckless things like climb trees and rotten logs and other things in the forest. He's always the best at that, even though he still doesn't know how to use his wings. But, the nymphs always get really annoyed when they do that, so they don't do it often.

He is happy.

Arthur is 14, and a troll is coming to visit his little village.

For his entire life that he could remember, the only races he has seen were humans and sometimes nymphs. He is extremely excited to see this troll. He wants to ask him so many questions. He actually doesn't know why the troll is visiting, or his name, or actually really anything about him, but he's still excited!

The group postpones their activities for the day so he can visit.
So, they go into the village to meet him.

Ah, sorry for the lame ending. As I said, I want to make the chapters shorter. Plus, I kinda wanna update two other stories today, so...

Again, sorry for any mistakes with present tense! I'm just not used to it.

Hope you enjoyed~!