Chapter 71
Two weeks later and winter break was in full swing.
They were preparing to help Freya with her winter solstice ceremony.
It had become a tradition among her friends and as before, Lorna's aged grandmother was going to be the crone while Ildico Swensen would be the matron as Anita's mom was still overseas.
Naturally Freya would be the maiden who would lead the ceremony.
It fell to Roger to prepare the fire pit and the big cauldron the traditional feast was cooked in.
This time he had help, several of the local fae had gathered the windfall wood he would burn in the pit and under the cauldron.
On the night of the ceremony, they gathered silently and sat quite still as Freya's human guests arrived.
They silently nodded in approval while Freya recited the ancient lays of the ceremony.
The lays that called for one to reflect on the past year's events and milestones while looking forward to the coming year.
Roger smiled to himself as he saw Dr. Shannon and her centauroid husband enjoying the moments, while she kept one eye on him in case he got too near any of the human guests.
Sitting near him was Sasha with her usual coterie of tiny sprites all perched on her fur clad back and huddled together against the cold.
The silent throng all sat with wide eyes while Lorna's large firework again saluted the coming year in a brilliant and noisy fashion.
With the glow of the firework fading, the humans were all invited to come into the house for a cup of mulled cider before going home.
Roger stayed outside to thank the silent fae host for coming to their solstice ceremony.
Dr. Shannon came up to him and after a warm hug between them she said happily. "Thank you for inviting all of us, it was a lot of fun and ..."
"Sing! Raise every voice in song! Bend thy boughs trees, that no beam of light may pass! For the Lady of the Night is come! Sing! For she who passes before you is the Gealach of Tir Na Nog!"
A woman of unearthly beauty came forward, she was tall and slender with pale skin and long, raven hair scarcely restrained by a circlet of golden wire cunningly wrought.
Her eyes were the colors of the forest in all its seasons and twinkled in merriment. Standing near her was a male with luxurious raven hair, deerlike antlers and cloven hooves for feet, behind him was the same spriggan that had watched over the ladies as they had made the potion Roger had swallowed only recently.
Dr. Shannon and her husband hastily bowed themselves out of her way and the rest of the fae paid her homage, clearly she was very important.
She smiled at Roger and in spite of the spriggan's obvious disapproval, spoke to him in a melodious voice.
"We have enjoyed seeing your ceremony, it is good to see the old ways still being honored here, in the world of men."
There was a brief whirring of tiny wings as Maribel settled onto Roger's shoulder and curtsied to the Faerie Queen as Roger had surmised.
The queen smiled at Maribel and said, "So, this is where you have been? We wondered where you had gone off to."
Maribel took hold of a lock of his hair and the queen smiled, "You may stay here if you wish. However, we would like for your sisters to return back under the hill, for they are missed."
Maribel chittered rather excitedly for a moment, then seemed to sag as if she had sad news to report.
Moments later, the night air was filled with the sounds of tiny wings all awhirl.
The rest of the sprites were circling over Roger's head as they one by one, settled briefly on his shoulder and said good bye to Maribel before returning aloft to circle over the queen's head.
When the last one had said her good byes and had joined the others now whirling over her head.
The queen smiled and said pleasantly, "There is nothing to be sad about children, you will still be able to visit your sister. This is not good bye."
The spriggan merely glowered as she spoke, he clearly did not approve.
The swarm of sprites whirled rapidly and there was a sudden outburst of rapid chittering as the tiny creatures expressed their joy and their gratitude to her majesty, the queen.
"Thaur ye ur! Ah wondered whaur ye'd gang aft tae."
Roger spun around, coming towards them was Freya and Anita.
Freya was still bare footed and wearing her diaphanous maiden's gown from the ceremony, while Anita was bundled up against the mid winter night's cold.
Freya saw the queen and promptly stopped to curtsy before approaching any closer.
Anita who did not have the sight, asked in confusion, "What was that for?"
Roger glanced back at both the queen and her well armed spriggan guardian and whispered, "She lacks the sight, even though she is a nascent scribe of great promise!"
The queen smiled and held out her palm, she pursed her marvelous lips and gently blew a stream of glittering faerie dust straight into Anita's eyes.
She began blinking rapidly and when she went to rub her eyes, Freya quickly grabbed her arms and said hoarsely, "Nae! Dinnae rub yoor eyes!"
Moments later, Anita stood stock still, her face a study in wonder as she beheld the Faery queen, the spriggan and the swarm of sprites circling lazily over her raven tressed head.
She looked over at Roger and could see Maribel perched on his shoulder.
Maribel smiled at her and giggled.
The queen spoke to her, "Dear child, I gave you the gift of second sight as you are a budding scribe of great promise."
Anita was speechless, what could she say.
She was now seeing the unknown, the faery realm and its queen were now visible to her and speaking to her and she could not even reply.
Freya said to her small friend, "Now ye can see what ah can see, the faerie realm."
The queen smiled at Freya and said pleasantly, "It is good to see a child of the northlands so far to the south, where it gets so warm in the summer."
Freya curtsied again and replied, "Ah thenk ye fur yoor kind words yer majesty. My friend here wull thenk ye tay, once she finds 'er voice."
Anita kept blinking as she took in all that she was seeing.
The faerie queen and her antlered husband Oberon, the lazily circling sprites, the fierce looking spriggan.
Roger standing there with a sprite perched on his shoulder and finally, she saw Dr. Shannon standing next to a deerlike, centauroid being who was waggling his long ears in his happiness.
She gasped and exclaimed, "Doctor Shannon? Is that you?! You're an elf? You were my pediatrician when I was little."
Doctor Shannon smiled at her and replied,"Yes, it is me, and I do remember you very well. With the stories you would tell me, I knew that someday you would become a writer."
The two hugged warmly and Anita began crying.
Through her tears, she said thickly,"I thought you had died, and now I see you alive and well and now an elf!"
Dr. Shannon smiled and replied,"I was always an elf, I was a changeling and grew up here in the world of men. I became a doctor and practiced medicine for almost half a century.
"It was when I was in my forties that I began to wonder why I wasn't aging like my colleagues. To forestall any questions about my lingering youthfulness, I moved and took up residence as a pediatrician.
"You were one of my last patients when the boy who I was switched with, came to get me and I learned the truth about myself. A homunculus was left in my place and was buried in my stead. The boy, he is now my husband and I work at the fae hospital under the hills."
She smiled at Anita and gently caressed her cheek, "I am sorry if I made you cry, but I had to make a clean break with the mundane world."
Anita smiled back and replied, "It's okay now Doctor Shannon, we're still friends and that's a good thing!"
They hugged a second time and when Dr. Shannon's centauroid husband wanted a hug, his deerlike ears waggling happily, she said firmly, "Not now dear, let her get used to having the sight first."
The faerie queen Titania, smiled at Anita, Freya and Roger.
While her spriggan glowered in disapproval she said merrily, "'Twas a most enjoyable evening and we are interested in seeing what lies within yon library of wisdom...Perhaps we may learn something new!"
She turned away, made a gesture and a shimmering portal opened up for her and her small entourage.
Moments later and the mundane world was back to its dull dreariness.
All except for tiny Maribel who slept in Roger's cradled hands.
The house once built for a giant, now had a sprite in residence.
Anita looked at the tiny, sleeping form and said softly, "I never thought I would see anything like what I've just seen. Queen Titania, her husband prince Oberon, a spriggan, elves and sprites, They were all real and I saw them!"
Suddenly feeling very tired, Anita yawned deeply, shook her head and said, "I feel so sleepy all of the sudden!"
Anita's head drooped further and she started to topple over.
Freya caught her before she hit the cold ground, cradled her in her arms and said, "Let's gie 'er inside whaur it's warm."
Roger smiled at his giant companion and they went inside the house.
Freya carried Anita to her room and put her to bed while Roger carried Maribel to her favorite spot, right atop the mantelpiece in the parlour.
Roger heard a tiny chuckle right beside him and he looked down to see Dena's adorable form sitting cross legged on the hearth as she enjoyed the fire's warmth.
He grinned at her and said, "Maribel will be living with us now, Titania gave her permission to stay with us."
Dena smiled at him and replied, "Thes is a stoatin big hoose, she wullnae tak' up much space, sprites ne'er keep anythin' ur bide onie whaur fur lang."
Roger shrugged as he bent over to pick Dena up, naturally she smiled as he reached for her and happily snuggled against his chest.
They had become quite close over the last two years and frequently spent time together, to the amusement of her fellow wood elves.
He carried her into the kitchen where they found Anna sipping at her tea.
She smiled and remarked teasingly, "Enjoying your getting carried by Roger privileges I see."
Dena only snuggled all the more until Anna poured fresh hot tea into a tiny cup sitting next to a tiny plate laden with Dena's favorite nibblies.
Anna smiled again and said, "Do have a seat, the tea is fresh and the nibblies are your favorites!"
Roger chuckled as he set Dena down and she promptly took her seat while Roger joined them a bit more slowly.
Freya came in wearing her pajamas and sat beside him while he poured tea for the two of them.
She perused the nibblies tray before her.
"How is Anita?" asked Anna, "I take it she had quite the experience."
"She's asleep in 'er room." Replied Freya, "We'll hae tae see hoo she takes tae havin' th' secht noo."
Roger chimed in ,"She did meet Titania and saw all the little 'neighbors' we have living with us. I think the information overload got to her. I know I had to make quite the adjustment after I got the sight. I had no idea our area was so crowded with 'neighbors' and the area around the library is really crowded."
He sipped his tea and commented drily, "Wait 'til Anita goes up to the library and sees all the 'neighbors, up there!"
Freya sipped her tea and muttered, "Wa dae ye suppose it is sae crowded up thaur?"
Roger glanced at Anna and said, "I think you would know the answer to that."
Anna looked thoughtful and after a few moments replied,"When the house was being built, I had a few specimen sized trees brought over from England. I never did ask where they had come from, I only cared about their being healthy. Now that I think about it. It's quite possible some of our 'neighbors' came along, unwillingly no doubt."
Roger smiled and said, "My thoughts exactly. How else would you explain how British fae came to be here, so far from old Albion and the nearby hollow hill."
Freya remarked quietly,"Thaur is also whit we Jotuns brooght wi' us when we left th' north lands. We brooght uir guardian wolves, the wuid elves, an' uir stoatin' great horses."
Dena giggled and said brightly,"We went wi' th' jotuns coz we kent they woods need us tae help them tak' caur ay th' wolves."
Roger merely rolled his eyes and remarked, "Your modesty becomes you Dena. Seriously now, the first nations people here have their own pantheon of 'neighbors', why haven't we seen much of them? Perhaps it's a matter of what the locals called their 'neighbors'. Wood elves are a good example. They were called a whole bunch of different names, depending on where in Europe they were seen. The names were different even though the beings were the same."
Glancing at the kitchen clock Roger muttered, "Well guys, it's been a lot of fun, but six A.M. Comes awfully early if I've been up too late. I'm calling it a day. G'night all!"
He rose to put his tea cup and plate in the sink and systematically bussed his three companions before heading up to his bedroom.
Sometime in the night, he felt a tiny body burrowing its way under his covers.
He smiled, Dena had joined him.