(Posted May 15, 2018)
Kasa d'Sõchu!
In which Julius communes with a curious anti-fairy damsel in Fairy World, and prepares to embark on his canetis ritual
So, reclaiming Beira's temple from the Esterale Fairies never worked out. Still, I daresay I had an enjoyable puphood without it nonetheless. I continued my studies, both with the rest of my litter and on my own. I memorised architectural designs from across the ages, dabbled in hexes and the occasional potion, practiced starpiece and karmic magic alike, indulged in my umbrae-summoning abilities under Anti-Penny's supervision, and waited impatiently for the day I was to learn how to transform into a splendid fox that would make Her Glory Cadmea proud. And above all, I read everything I could sink my claws into that made the slightest mention about Anti-Fairy reproduction.
Among my greatest accomplishments of that general time period was the day I convinced Anti-Bryndin to take young Winslow and I across Fairy World so that I might pay a visit to the Eros Nest (a sort of modern, massive indoor menagerie managed by the cherubs Dm. Venus, Dm. Charite, and Drk. Ludell Eros) in the Central Star Region. The Eroses were triplets, and famous ones too. I was 21 years old, and feeling terribly good about myself, for it was a Sunday in a Water Year that day, and I just knew that somewhere in reality, Sunnie was smiling down on me from the depths of his Temple. That day was always meant to be a special one. The day the luck in my life was due to change, and my fate approached my destiny.
Upon arriving at the Nest and paying our entrance fee, I wanted to see the Anti-Fairies, of course. Anti-Bryndin insisted that since we were coming so far, we should visit creatures we didn't see normally in everyday life, such as griffins, dragons, and seahorses. Hmph. I parted ways with him and Winslow, ensuring them both that I'd be around the Fae area and they could find me easily enough when they were done. Of course, I didn't actually let on the reason why the nature of Anti-Fairies held my interest. I had told no one yet. The Anti-Fairy reproductive system was my project, my passion, and no adult would steal the victory of unlocking such secrets away from me. I was already composing research papers then, and when I completed my hard work, I wanted my name to be the one stamped across it. I had to do this myself.
The Eros Nest was organised majorly alphabetically, with all the Fairykind housed near each other, but divided into the three genera, and from there into individual subspecies. The building's corridors towered whole metres above my head, and were wider across than a half-dozen wingspans. I wandered past rows of wide glass windows which peered into enclosure after enclosure, scrutinising each sign and map carefully as I made my way to the Anti-Fairy exhibits on the third floor.
I quickly found myself in a deserted hallway, empty of any exhibits themselves, but utterly lined with enormous brass informational plaques with the words spelled out in some of the most prominent languages throughout this quadrant of the universe. I paused. Why, could it be? Were these all these plaques purely for Anti-Fairies? It seemed quite likely, for life-sized Anti-Fairies were painted along the walls in fascinating detail, and model bats dangled from the ceiling on strings, gently spinning in the air.
Did you know? read the first sign. Anti-Fairies fall into the Tao classification as one of the races who maintain homeostasis (the balance of positive and negative energy) in the universe.
I chuckled. "Yes, I did know that, actually. Thank you."
Beside it hung another sign. Did you know? From a young age, some Anti-Fairies look like they have small black beards. These Anti-Fairies are called pilots and share many more physical and mental behaviors with their patrons than kabouters do. The more powerful pilots will develop a mustache pattern of black fur as well.
You know, that made more sense than Anti-Bryndin clipping his "moustache" off.
Did you know? Most Anti-Fairies don't need to eat to stay alive. However, they eat to retain their health and avoid a fate of constant starvation and regeneration.
Did you know? When the hosting counterpart among three Fairykind races dies, the other two counterparts die the same day.
Did you know? Baby Anti-Fairies are called pups. Pups look square for the first several months of their lives because they are born in blubbery exoskeletons to protect their fragile bodies.
Did you know? In many cultures across the cosmos, the kiss of an Anti-Fairy is said to be a blessing of peaceful death.
Anti-Fairies have soft fur on most of their fronts, and scales covered in hair on their backs. These scales protect them from larger predators who might sneak up behind them, eat them, and cause them to die and partially regenerate in their stomachs in an endless cycle. Anti-Fairies are also immune to magical blasts if hit on their scales, just like armadillos.
Did you know? Anti-Fairy damsels also have some scales on their breasts, which sharpen the pup's fangs as he nurses without hurting the mother.
Did you know? The tissue of Anti-Fairy wings grows back very quickly. Anti-Fairy wings heal within an hour after being torn.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies love flowers! All subspecies are adapted to gaining nutrition from the nectar with their long tongues. Pollen clings to their fur and is spread when Anti-Fairies travel.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies also use their long tongues to clean their wings.
Did you know? The idea that Anti-Fairies drink blood isn't just a story. Fresh blood significantly boosts their energy and allows them to continue traveling. They make nips in the skin of other creatures near the veins and lap up only a small percent of that creature's blood.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies cannot fly over long distances like the Fairies and the Refracted. Due to their wing structure, and the fact that they become dizzy when the magic in their heads cools and sinks to their feet, they cannot remain airborne for longer than two hours at a time, and must take a long rest to regain strength.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies must live in cold temperatures (15-30 °R) to remain healthy. Prolonged exposure to temperatures outside this range makes them sick. The land of Hy-Brasil is cold even for them, so Anti-Fairies huddle together for warmth when they sleep. Anti-Fairies don't like bright sunlight because their black wings quickly absorb the heat.
Did you know? All Anti-Fairies are born on Friday the 13th. Anti-Fairies born on the same Friday the 13th are said to be born in the same litter, even when they come from different parents or different colonies.
Did you know? You can tell if an Anti-Fairy is older or younger than the rest of their litter by the color of their fur. Anti-Fairies with light fur are older, and are naturally warmer. Younger Anti-Fairies have dark fur, and are naturally colder.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies rely on echolocation more than their other senses. This means that every few seconds, they release high-pitched sounds from their mouths (between 25 and 75 kHz) that most races in their habitat range can't hear, and twitch their ears as they listen for the echoes. These echoes help them figure out what is in their way, and how to avoid it.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies have developed 25 different calls they use to avoid interfering with one another's echolocation when traveling in groups.
Did you know? Sometimes, Anti-Fairies will blast each other's ears with their echolocation at close range on purpose to throw a rival off balance. This is known as sweep jamming.
Did you know? Anti-will o' the wisps cannot echolocate. This is because their patron species is the six-spot burnet moth instead of a bat. Instead, they have a special organ called a tympanum which can detect - and deflect - the sonar of other Anti-Fairies.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies avoid traveling in the rain. Rain interferes with their sonar ability. This makes the dry cloudlands the perfect habitat for them.
Did you know? Nearly all Anti-Fairies lack the leg strength to take off directly from the ground, and must drop from a higher location to successfully fly. This is partly why they sleep upside-down.
Did you know? The other reason Anti-Fairies sleep upside-down is because the cold, saline magic produced in their heads is so dense that it will sink to their feet if they remain upright for too long, causing the Anti-Fairy to become dizzy and sick.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies can't see flat glass with their eyes, and glass reads as a solid wall to their sonar.
Did you know? When Anti-Fairies are excited, their toes curl up and their fangs fold back against the roof of their mouth. Their wings also stretch forward like they're asking for a hug.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies do not have regular heat cycles and are rarely fertile. They are only fertile for a single day three months after their hosting counterpart mates with a partner. On this day, two fertile Anti-Fairies have potential to conceive a pup. This window of fertility is called the honey-lock.
This plaque made me pause. Search for anything related to Anti-Fairy reproduction, and you're bound to hear about the honey-lock at every turn. I probably knew more about the honey-lock than any child my age in the universe, except perhaps those who had been molested or some rot. I placed my palm against the wall and gazed at those words for a long time. Anti-Fairies do not have regular heat cycles. They are only fertile for a single day…
Oh, but if I could find a way to remove the honey-lock from the equation and turn that single day into an entire lifetime! My answer lay here, inside the Eros Nest. Somewhere. I knew so absolutely. I could taste it in my saliva, as though Sunnie were attempting to communicate with me through the most available liquid in my body. I came closer to unravelling the self-inflicted mystery every passing day. Were I to do so, then perhaps I'd live to see a plaque with my hard research placed on this very wall someday.
Did you know? When Anti-Fairies honey-lock, their fur turns the same color as their primary counterpart's eyes. Honey-lock magic makes them glow and glitter. They leave glowing marks in that color on everything they touch while honey-locked, including their honey-lock partner. These glowing marks fade after twenty-four hours.
Did you know? Most Anti-Fairies live in colonies that consist of only one drake, his harem of damsels (central and peripheral damsels), and their offspring. Some dominant males may allow a single subservient drake (the follower drake) to remain, and on some occasions may allow a few more, but the rest are driven out or leave by choice around the age of 150,000. These juvenile males may live as solitary rogues or form bachelor colonies for a time until rivalry drives them apart.
Did you know? There are very few cities or permanent homes to be found in Anti-Fairy World. Most Anti-Fairies travel with their colonies, and the buildings in their world are gathering places, storage areas, or places to do business.
Did you know? Anti-Fairies are regularly attracted to partners with lighter fur, as light fur signifies a warmer and healthier individual. Perfect for cuddling with to stay warm in the cold cloudlands!
Oof.
Did you know? An Anti-Fairy drake sings to woo a damsel he hopes to mate with. These songs are too low-pitched for most races in their habitat range to hear, but you can feel the notes vibrating your bones. Each drake sings his own unique song.
Did you know? Anti-Fairy sires carry their pups in the pouch on their stomach for thirteen days before the baby is ready to be transferred to the dam's pouch, where it will remain until the first Friday the 13th following the three-month gestation period.
Did you know? All Anti-Fairies are born with red eyes, which light up with color once they contract the "iris virus" sexually-transmitted disease from another infected Unseelie, or from any member of the Seelie Court.
That was the last one. Almost a shame, too, for the plaques were just beginning to discuss the curiosities of Anti-Fairy reproduction that I so needed answers for. Hoping my luck would turn, I flew around the hallway corner, and instantly flattened my back to the nearest wall.
"Oh, jolly sparks! No way."
The entire corridor in front of me became a tunnel. A tunnel that appeared to be comprised of mesh on three sides, with glass along the floor. All around, to the left and the right and above and below, were trees, shrubbery, rocks, and Anti-Fairies.
Dozens of Anti-Fairies.
Hundreds of Anti-Fairies.
Swooping.
Diving.
Roosting.
Squeaking.
Glorious.
Anti-Fairies.
Naked, with breasts bared and legs exposed in whole, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Presumably a few subspecies, like the anti-will o' the wisps, had not been included in the exhibit due to body structure differences and habitat preferences, but there were certainly a lot of them. Oh, what a show it was! The corridor was curiously deserted of visitors, and I slid along it, turning my head and turning my body every which way and thanking every nature spirit I knew for the mesh that allowed me to at least partially echolocate and better drink in the view. All about me, actual Anti-Fairies were flying like storms.
"Oh, look at you fine folk! You are all so gorgeous, my friends- simply gorgeous!"
A new information panel listing each of the 30+ subspecies and their identifying characteristics had been set in the tunnel every metre or so. I glanced over them, trying to find the one that was mine. Several of the specimens on the opposite side of the mesh took an interest in me before I made it more than halfway along the corridor. They clustered close, clinging to the wireframe of the curved walls and settling on the ceiling. "Hey, hey," they chorused. Every one of them had uncovered feet, of course, with the common anti-fairies flashing their signature white toes.
Carefully, appropriately, I focused on one of the nearer, louder damsels. She was small, probably only a couple thousand years older than I was. No canetis rings marred her ears, which were much smaller than they ought to have been. She couldn't possibly be a full-blooded common anti-fairy. What, then, I wondered. She hovered before me as naked as the others, and a low heat sunk from my core to my cheeks as I examined her. Her blue fur was abnormally thin, and the colour bordered on grey. Certainly she had fluff lining her cheeks, but the sheer sparseness of her coat emphasized the slender shape of her body and, um, how do we say... It left, ah, very little to the imagination. The slit of her pouch lay plainly visible down her stomach line. I looked away so as not to embarrass her, then back before I could stop myself. I couldn't simply pretend I hadn't noticed her now that I'd met her piercing, curious eyes. Her seering attention stole my capability of speech. I licked my lips.
Her black wings stretched freely from her back, and hadn't been bound with chains like mine despite her youth. Her teeth didn't sit quite right in her mouth… jutting over her lower lip in crooked squares that were strangely flat instead of pointed into fangs. While that seemed a bit odd, it was the spiralled curls in her hair which caught my attention most. Her hair licked about her cheeks and down the back of her neck in a stunning flash of lightning blue. Blue like mine, although a little lighter, as opposed to the stereotypical black hair of so many other Anti-Fairies I'd met over the course of my life. Automatically, my instinct when I looked upon her was to reach behind my neck and touch my own hair. I'd never spent much thought on its colour, but now I wondered about its rarity. And silently, I cursed the dull scruffiness I had inherited from my father. The damsel before me may share my colour, but her curls were luxurious, reflecting the harsh white lights that lined the floors and clung to the ceilings in solid bubbles that held them trapped. I wished my hair would glint and reflect like that.
The damsel blinked bright red eyes at me, her head to one side. Shiny, chipped claws protruded through the mesh. So did toes with white markings up to the ankles. She'd been smiling at me since our gazes locked, but I couldn't decide whether or not it was appropriate to smile back. The aura of confidence she projected frankly intimidated me, as though I were the one on display and she the observer come to pry me apart with her eyes and study every molecule that made me tick. You know that saying about how when speaking in public, you ought to imagine your audience naked to quell your nerves? Well, I assure you that nothing in this world has ever unnerved me more than a completely naked and yet eerily confident damsel. When I did smile back at her, it was forced and close-lipped. I ducked my head, averting my youthful gaze, for never before now had my innocence been quite this compromised. Particularly not by a damsel. My hand came up out of instinct to shield my face as I turned away. I was about to move on when she spoke.
"Ben'ara! Kasa d'sõchu!"
My wings jolted. Hiya, she was saying. I want to be your friend. "You speak Vatajasa?" Of course the locked-up anti-fairy speaks Vatajasa. That's hardly a help to me and my need for a translator. She smiled wider, crooked teeth notwithstanding, and waited patiently for my response. Right. Time to put all those years of my mother's lessons to the test. I coughed into my fist and forced myself to focus on her red eyes. "Um, yes. Ben'argenta, dimtu."
"Koh sintu caneti?" In this context, it translated to something like, "What are you?" In a very polite way, of course.
"Oh, I'm just a simple, common anti-fairy like yourself," I said in my shaky translation, bowing my head so she and the drakes and damsels around her could count the six points on my black crown.
The damsel shook out all her shiny blue hair. Her curls bounced about her shoulders like river water over rocks. What was her zodiac, I wondered? "Not just an anti-fairy," she said in Vatajasa, her tone even more crisp and flowing than the casual dialect my mother had taught me. "You've got an anti-brownie nose. If you're really an anti-fairy, prove it. Show us the toes on your hidden feets."
"The toes," several other damsels agreed, their voices running together in a similar blur that hinted at many generations of next to no education, a lifetime of gathering their language skills based on whatever visitors said to them, a lifetime of catching the wrong examples of syntax with their sharp memories and recalling those inefficient rules of grammar forever, a lifetime of Vatajasa and Snobbish and who knows what else colliding into pidgin. I felt a strange spark of pity when I looked at them then, but shrugged it away with a smile.
"Oh, all right, if you insist." At least my conversation partner hadn't requested I show off my long black tail, still hidden away in my trousers in case someone of authority should ever hear word about it.
They twittered and rustled about, prodding at one another with claws and wings as I sat down and wriggled off my left shoe. Then I pulled off my sock. Squeaks, gasps, and chirps lit the air and sent the Anti-Fairies into a cheerful frenzy again. The damsels took off and regrouped, returning with friends or sometimes alone. "Toes, toes- he is one!" they purred, and all I could do was shake my head and grin. As our patron bat species before us, we common anti-fairies were famous for the white hairs on our toes. My markings were splotchy, cutting off halfway to my heel with a ripple like tea in a rattling cup. I'd never realised before that they were so exciting. But, I suppose the Anti-Fairies didn't receive much stimulation in their exhibit, and they were just as curious about a newcomer of their kind as I was about seeing so many of them.
I stood up, attempting to balance on one foot as I replaced my sock. The chains weighing down my wings forced me to lilt sharply to my right side. As I fumbled, I caught the eye of the damsel with the blue curls again. It wasn't just that she was one of only two blue-haired dames in the exhibit as near as I could tell, but the curls themselves really stuck out to me as an identifying feature. "Hello," I said. "May I ask… what is… it like for… all of you… all of you… in there, this place? I… am…" I didn't know the word I needed, "outsider", so I substituted another. "I visit… your… home. Are you… treated… well… here?"
She hesitated, and a moment of panic made me wonder if I was as fluent as my few years of practice had led me to believe. "'Treated'?" she repeated.
I reconsidered my statement. I'd chosen to use the higher tongue, trying to match her word choice and proper grammar. But I knew I wasn't very good at it. I found myself at a curious crossroads. I could either describe my thoughts poetically, tripping over myself and my words and taking forever to express even a basic concept as my anxiety rose, or I could fall back on a much simpler, rougher, not-fully-conjugated dialect to get by. It would get my message across quickly and easily, although I'd perhaps be thought of as slow and stupid by the native speakers in the enclosure. I scratched my ear.
"Do them cherub folk guys here always keep at being real nice to you?" I asked. My cheeks burned at once. The sentence was remarkably less strenuous on my tongue, but I hated how uneducated I sounded as the words left my mouth. Several drakes nearby smirked at me, abruptly no longer perceiving me as either a threat or a desirable mate. A few damsels stifled their laughs.
"Nice…" The dame clenched her fingers and toes more tightly around the mesh. "Yep. That depends on who you ask, I guess."
I bit my lip, forcing my feet to remain planted until the conversation was done, even though my anxiety screamed in my head to take off running where I didn't feel so humiliated. Vatajasa came so easily to her. Why, despite my years of practice, didn't it come easily to me? "Well," I struggled, tugging at my trousers, bunching the fabric with my claws, "how's it feel like in there? It's, uh…" What was a Vatajasa word that means spacious? "This place is a big, deep hole. Except I bet it don't come close to the big space I got as someone that exists as a person outside."
(Oh gods, help me.)
Her expression fell. "Yeah, I can only imagine. I'd be happy enough to explode if I got the chance to travel outside." At least, I assumed from the context that she was speaking of the outside.
"You didn't never go outside before?" My strained smile tugged further down at the corners. It was a disturbing sort of thought. Here I was spending entire years of my life locked away in solitude in my study, when there were Anti-Fairies in the northwest desperately dreaming of venturing outdoors. Perhaps it was time I checked my privilege, if there were people so much worse off than me.
It was difficult to regret my choices, though.
"I did once." Her tone was evasive. She peered at me, then beckoned me closer with a twitching claw. I stepped forward, and she leaned her head so near the mesh, the tips of our noses actually bumped. "I wasn't born inside the Eros Nest the way most of the others in here was."
My eyes widened. "Really? Ooh, that is a noted thing."
"Yep. It's my little claim to status. I used to live in the Maroon Region, with my sis and my mum. But my sis and I were separated from her…" Her voice trailed off. Her scarlet eyes flicked down to my feet. "Now she and I live here. We have food every day, and we get to be taken care of. It's tough some days, but we're together, at least."
"I got this crudhole place to hang out in the Navy Region," I said, trying to keep my tone casual instead of bragging. "This place is the Blue Castle. I am a fancy, special person."
Wow. Oh, Julius. The instant those words left my lips, the Anti-Fairies who overhead me threw back their heads and howled. "He speaks like a pup," they tittered all around, or something close to that. I dropped my gaze, rubbing my elbow.
"It's okay," the curly-haired damsel coaxed me. "I know they're laughing, but they can't hurt you. Ignore them. They're just being mean. You speak Vatajasa very well."
"They are right," I said bitterly. "Good smoke. I am not a person who has real smarts. I elicit anger from everyone always, and I cannot seem to do stuff right, even the talking stuff part."
"You speak two languages. I'm the one who's incredibly stupid here. I can only speak one."
"Oh, do not you talk that way about yourself," I protested, stepping forward, clutching my sock. "You talk real good Vatajasa. Such is not a stupid thing."
She stuck her tongue out at me. "Says a person with less status than the stars."
"All right. I get what you say. I'll be good to me. Now, stop it when you say bad things about you."
The damsel caught my miserable gaze and smiled. And then, to my shock, she dropped out of her eloquent speech for a much rougher dialect that mimicked the one I was using. "Yeah, I knew you was noble since you got fancy people eyes. Real pretty green ones. Have you travelled far? The Navy Region I think is far. This Region's Purple. I think it's Purple. It's in the Fairy World."
I listened to her, the way she stepped down from her pedestal just to help me not feel so incredibly s-stupid in front of her friends, and I pushed my hand beneath my eyes. Somehow, a laugh slipped out between my sniffles. She said each word carefully, just slow enough for me to understand the meaning, without talking down in a babyish way that insulted my intelligence. The difference was subtle, and it was immense. I felt better about myself already. "I do not get out and 'round a whole bunch," I admitted, turning so she could have a closer look at the chains weighing down my wings. "This is a sad thing, but the endless urge to explore that I have inside me is both a good thing and a bad thing. I gotta be stuck on the ground 'til I beat my canetis when my cohort does step into its fiftieth year."
"Cans?" She tipped her head. "Court?"
"Oh." I stared at her blankly, for the first time realising how little she truly knew of Anti-Fairy traditions and customs. Her advanced language skills meant nothing if she didn't have the proper context. I pitied her.
The damsel nodded anyway, crossing her eyes in thought. Still clinging to the wire mesh between us, she brought one long toe up to her face and scratched her chin. "Hey, we don't see other Anti-Fairies on that side of the cage too much. I need to ask you for a somethin'."
"Yes. You can ask me to do a thing for you. If I can gladify you even a small drop, I want to. All Anti-Fairies should have nice things done to them from other people."
She nodded slowly. "Okay. So, if you ever meet the fairy one of me, because I have six twins, but only two are Fairies and only one's the other me, you have to say to her, 'Take someone whose twin isn't in the big bat box for a mate.'"
"Yes," I said, not really following whatever logic her brain seemed to operate with. "Twin" must be her word for "counterpart." I wondered if she had a better word for it in her language, but feared I wouldn't recognise it, or if no one had ever taught it to her during her time imprisoned in the Eros Nest.
"Yeah, that way, when she - my other me - when she's got a lover and a pup, I'll get my colours changed up. Then when it's my turn to have a pup, I'll use my coloured magic to break through the walls of this place and fly off to meet my drake-mate." All at once, her eyes began to shine. Her grin expanded, and she slipped in a few delightful chuckles. "And then when I'm finished doing what I'll do with him, I'm never coming back. I'm never stopping or slowing down. I'm gonna see the whooole world!"
At least, that was the gist of what she said. Chunks of it were lost in translation, but that seemed to be the general idea. She was describing the honey-lock, from the point of view of a poor damsel who had never had the fortune to gain much of an education, even something so simple as the wands and wings talk handed down by relatives who knew how it all worked. I stood there, holding my second sock in one hand, and searched her face with a squint. At such direct eye-contact, I half-expected her to duck and flee back to the ranks of her peers, but she met my gaze head-on without the slightest wince.
"That's… that's incredibly insightful," I said, slipping back into my native Snobbish. "I'd never thought about it that way before, but I've always heard that the honey-lock instinct 'can't be prevented or fought', for it seizes the mind and returns us briefly to the ancient, powerful state our ancestors were once in, back before magic became a thing of wands and most of the old ways were lost to us. I suppose it's entirely plausible. There's no reason your plan shouldn't work. I say, I wonder if perhaps you aren't much too smart to be locked up in there all your life, hm?"
Her smile faded. "You think I'm not too smart?"
Oh. She understood a bit of Snobbish after all? Before I could protest that I'd said the opposite of how she interpreted my sentiment, a blur of blue shot across my vision, pinning itself between me and my conversation partner. A young anti-fairy drake, right about the damsel's age, with shining black hair tied in a bun behind his head. His eyes stretched wide. "Hey, you must be moving along. That one is mine."
"Ugh." The damsel put back her head. "Gollllly. We were just chatting a little 'cuz I think this fellow is neat. Lighten up, sugar."
He frowned at her. "Why do you sound so dumb now? He has corrupted you to speak in such a way?"
"Oh, uh- Terribly sorry." He spoke Snobbish with a Chif accent, like Anti-Penny, which wouldn't have been my first assumption. Stumbling away, I yanked my other sock back on. "I didn't mean any offense; I was merely making conversation with this charming young dame. Um. What's your name, good fellow?"
"Anti-Juandissimo."
I winced. That was his adult name, and he most certainly wasn't an adult. "Oh."
Anti-Juandissimo clutched the mesh, panic flaring like bursting stars in his eyes. "You know our creche father? Anti-Binky? He said I could have this one. You may not touch her. Ever."
"I am absolutely certain that won't be a problem. You're in there. I'm out here. Besides." I flashed the blue ring on my hand. "I'm betrothed."
Rows of eyes blinked at me. A few of the Anti-Fairies tipped their heads. "What is?" one of the damsels asked in Snobbish, eyes fixed on my ring.
"You don't know? It's, um…" I looked at the ring and rubbed behind my ear. "It's a Zodii betrothal ring. Lots of Anti-Fairies have these outside. It's blue for the Water year."
"What is Water year?"
"What is betrothal?"
"What is Zodii?"
"Oh dear." I scanned the ceiling and upper wall. More and more Anti-Fairies were beginning to cluster around, lured over when their friends hadn't lost interest in me. "Well," I said, "when I wear this ring, it means I have a special damsel waiting for me back home. We're together. She's mine."
The Antis chattered among themselves. The damsel I'd been speaking with studied me in silence, her finger on her cheek. My ears flicked back and forth. Anti-Juandissimo scratched at the mesh. "It makes you attractive to damsels?" he asked. "May I see?"
I chuckled. "I think you'll fly off with it if I hand it over."
He put out a pouting lip. "You come here, see my damsel, and accuse me of dishonour?"
"I mean no offense." I dipped my head so he would know I was serious. "Simply, this ring is special to me, and I'm not going to part with it so easily. Cheerio, now!"
It was as good a chance to duck out of the conversation as any. I moved along the tunnel, with most of the Anti-Fairies keeping pace with me on wing or by crawling over the mesh. Podium plaques lined both sides of the walkway, and my eyes skimmed across each one in turn. Ant-imps. Anti-nixes. Anti-cherubs. But oh, which one was mine?
"Ah, now here we are!" I braced my hands to either side of the last plaque I came across (which I suppose would have been first had I entered the tunnel from that end). I carefully used my fingers to cover the naked anti-fairy that had been painted on the left with its fluffy tail exposed. I had to stand on the very tips of my toes to read it. "'Common Anti-Fairies - Faeumbra fae. Patron: Elrulian free-tailed bat - Tadarida brasiliensis. Like their patrons before them, the common anti-fairy is said to be the fastest race of all the Anti-Fairy class. They are distinctly identifiable by their black crowns, black wings, the rounded points of their wide ears, longer tails than any other subspecies, and eight pale blue or white toes (although the markings may reach as far as the ankles). While most Anti-Fairies have short, fluffy, blue tails, after a common anti-fairy sheds its exoskeleton, it then develops a thin, scruffy, black tail as long as half its body protruding from its upper tail fluff. This tail continues to thicken as the anti-fairy grows."
Out of habit, I gave my own tail an attempted swish. Oh, it didn't look much like now, but I was descended from the Teumessian fox. It was going to bush beautifully by the time I became an adult, I just knew it. At least one benefit of training as an acolyte when I was older was, upon completion of my studies, I would be socially permitted to display my tail in full splendor. Imagine how drakes and damsels alike would swoon over me then.
"'Anti-Fairies are social creatures even as pups. Once they shed their exoskeletons, they are sorted into small groups (called creches) with other pups their age and size. In these creches, they are able to huddle for warmth, which becomes a necessity once the blubbery exoskeleton is shaken off. Common anti-fairies are one of the Anti-Fairy subspecies who will huddle with other Anti-Fairies regardless of their race. A group of anti-fairies is called a colony.'"
"We are a colony," one of the damsels agreed, flapping her wings.
"'The species is omnivorous,'" I murmured, my voice trailing lower as I continued to read. "Anti-fairies greatly favour soft meat over fruit and leaves, though they will also snack on bugs and flower nectar when other food sources prove scarce. Their fangs are made for nipping small bites, not slicing and tearing off tough strips. It is thought that Anti-Fairies in general prefer to lap at warmer blood than what runs beneath their own race's skin, and folklore tells that they are attracted to black cats because their dark fur absorbs heat, thereby warming the cats' bodies and blood…
"'Common Anti-fairies are promiscuous by nature, favouring polygynandry. There appears to be little discrimination between the different subspecies when it comes to mate selection, though most bat-based Anti-Fairies will reject an Anti-Fairy from a non-bat-based subspecies, and common anti-fairies are no exception. Male/female pairs are most commonly found, with male/male pairs only slightly less common, and female/female pairs occurring significantly less frequently in nature, though their cultural traditions of betrothals have raised the frequency of such pairings considerably. Following brief courtship behaviour, common anti-fairies mate upside-down, clinging to cave ceilings, rafters, or branches. On some occasions, the smaller partner may cling completely to the larger one.
"'Drakes display sexual interest by singing to the object of their affection. An anti-fairy damsel often displays interest by licking the base of her partner's throat once he has approached her and settled into position. In this way, she catches her partner's bright honey-lock glow on her tongue; their long tongues, in fact, are highly dexterous and used considerably in courtship behaviour. In many cultures across the universe, the severed tongue of a honey-locked anti-fairy is a symbol of fertility said to increase the probability of conception for as long as it glows. Although their migration grounds are frequently invaded by hopeful poachers come to steal their tongues, anti-fairies are not considered a threatened species.'"
I paused, picking at the sides of the plaque with my claws as I continued to stare at it. Nothing that had been said was something I didn't already know about myself and my people. The information presented here wasn't… inherently… offensive. But somehow, reading such intimate details bothered me enough to leave me shaking when I dropped back onto the heels of my feet. It was just that whoever had written this stuff seemed to have no problem portraying me like I was, well…
… just one tiny creature in the universe. Just a simple bat. Non-sentient. An animal. Nothing more.
"Is it really so necessary to tell everyone all of that in public?" I muttered. After brushing off my tunic, I hurried along the tunnel in search of the next corridor, my chains scraping across the tile behind me.
That was the Eros Nest. An intriguing curiosity to visit once or twice, though not nearly as beneficial for my purposes as I had hoped. One endless source of frustration, I found, was that no matter how hard I worked (And I worked! When I had the energy to, anyway), as the weeks blurred into months, then years, and then decades, it seemed as though I were hardly making a dent in the project I felt so passionate about.
Enough eventually became enough. There were only so many times I could stand to let my hopes rise, only for them to crash down again when felled by disappointment. It was time I accepted the fact that no researcher had ever ventured where I was digging before. To continue my desperate pursuit of knowledge, I would need to experiment myself. Without having sufficient research to back me up. I spent weeks at my desk, tapping the end of my quill against my chin. I'd exhausted all my tomes and dusty scrolls, and I'd studied Anti-Fairy courtship behaviours up close and in person whenever I had the chance.
But studying was easy. How did one take behaviours they'd observed and turn that information into something tangible to work with? My grand plan had been to uncover the answers to all my questions written and forgotten somewhere, not to go out and do the tedious work myself. Where did I even start? Should I begin by altering the conditions of the environment where a fertile Anti-Fairy couple bred? After all, rumors held that there were some creatures in the universe who produced young offspring only if they bred while exposed to burning incense. Perhaps that would be an interesting place to draw my focus.
But none of them were like me. Like us. Like Anti-Fairies. What other race in the universe could breed successfully only in response to the birth of a child in an entirely different genus, besides us and the Fairy Refracts?
It didn't make sense. How did we end up this way? Yes, I knew my Solitary Fae ancestors were born of smoke, and grew emotionally attached to the Domestic Fae in ancient times to the point where they abandoned their animal forms to take on the Fae bodies we had now. But how did it all begin? How did it all begin?
Where did evolution go so wrong? Everything happens for a reason. I didn't ask for much. Simply some sort of phylogenetic tree that would allow me to identify the point where Anti-Fairies became irreversibly tangled up in Fairy lives.
Wait a moment. Tangled?
Hmm. Hadn't Clarice become tangled up with me?
You don't suppose Anti-Fairies could really be…?
"Nature spirits," I told Mona on our way to supper, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "Don't you see? Darling, we aren't as mortal as the Fairies at all. Are we not creatures in tune with the elements and the seasons? Is it not true that Evadne and Ione, and with them all of Anti-Fairy and Refractkind, were cast down from Plane 23 when our ancestors stole the power of the kiff-tie from the gods? Is Plane 23 not the land where Anti-Fairies originated? Mona! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
She pushed me off, her eyes rattling about. "Eternal immortality is our immediate intention?"
"Oh, that," I said, flapping my hand. "Another day, perhaps. I suppose that theoretically it's possible to tie our life forces to temples as the nature spirits do and live on forever, but I'm more interested in studying how the spirits breed. You see, Mona, Anti-Fairies can kiff-tie either mortal to mortal, or mortal to nature spirit. We know that the spirits infallibly become pregnant when they kiff-tie with their fellow nature spirits and come apart again. Pregnancy never occurs when Anti-Fairies and nature spirits break their ties. Nonetheless, surely the missing link in my work lies somewhere in the kiff-tie. All I need to do now is find a spirit who is willing to bond their steam with my smoke. Once I can study the process myself, I'm sure I can crack this accursed puzzle at last."
"Sure? Suppose Sunnie stands solitary."
"I won't need to take Sunnie's favour if I can coax out Beira. Or if not Beira, then one of the other dozens of minor spirits whose temples lie scattered across Anti-Fairy World. Perhaps July will take me- I'm named after her, after all. I'm close, Mona. I'm sooo close. But!" I tilted back my head. "Seeing as I'm much too young to kiff-tie properly, that entire process will have to wait until I'm a little older. Let's put a pin in this discussion. For now, I'm just going to focus on my canetis. Things will come together in their time, darling. It's my fate. It's decided."
You see, the problem, as it so often was, was this: I was but a child. And a child cannot breed. I feared bringing adults who could into my work, for if they did not scold me for invading their privacy, or accusing me of viewing pornographic materials underage, it was all too likely that someone in the chain of command would rob me of my due credit along the way. That was unacceptable. My proud name needed to be smeared across all that I did. I wanted to go down in history triumphant.
Sigh. How was I ever going to keep myself occupied until I came of age? I couldn't simply do nothing for the next 150,000 years or more, but breeding and reproduction were my life! If I could just make use of all my passions somehow…
Anti-Fairy World's frequent celebrations helped to distract me many a time. At the beginning of every zodiac cycle, three major events took place at the Blue Castle as we transitioned from the winter of one year to the spring of the next. Firstly, on the eve of Naming Day, the Castle hosted a tremendous party to welcome the new year, and we welcomed all Anti-Fairies across the cosmos to join us. The inns and pubs of Luna's Landing were filled up to a month and a half in advance, and you couldn't so much as poke your head through a window without risking being lost in the crowd. We held this celebration annually, regardless of whether it was a Love year or not. And most years, that was the end of the festivities. One great party to ring it in, and gradually over the following days, our visitors would collect their tourist trinkets and disperse again until next time.
But when the New Year coincided with the turn of the zodiac cycle, our festivities were always more elaborate. It was tradition. With the new cycle, a whole week would be set aside just bursting with celebrations meant to honour each zodiac spirit individually, beginning with Dayfry on the first Friday of the year. Dayfry's holiday, the Festival of Balance, was the one day someone like me, born in a Water year, was socially permitted to don purple articles of clothing. Specifically, I was permitted to wear something simple, such as a violet scarf or undershirt, and otherwise dress in black. But during the Festival of Focus, Sunnie's day, all the Water-borns clothed themselves in nothing but turquoise blue.
The morning of the last day of winter, the eve of the new year, was reserved for pups engaging in their canetis ritual. We were to prove our maturity, self-restraint, and ability to function as a team as we hunted our umbra targets. When it was all over, and after our elder kin removed the rings from our ears (or the chains from my wings), we would be sent off to change into our nightwear to signify our final day as legally-acknowledged pups. At the stroke of midnight, when the zodiac cycle began anew, we would all be called juveniles, and find ourselves allowed to participate in the festivities long after the younger pups had been led off to roost. Oh, the joy of it!
Naming Day itself always began with breads, jam, and nectar for breakfast, preserved from the last harvest. Never meat. Berries were a symbol of new beginnings, so it was only appropriate. Following breakfast, the morning would be filled with music and song honouring the Wise Ancients, sung by all the Anti-Fairies present who were without a committed partner, regardless of their age, so long as they wished to participate. Frequently, such social events would spark a lasting relationship. If nothing else, dozens or even hundreds of juveniles would steal their first kiss with a stranger, and be coaxed into doting over their little "spring fling" for the remainder of the year's festivities. If I hadn't met Mona, that surely would have been my destiny, and frankly it terrified me. How could anyone hand themselves over so casually to blind fate, trying to compete and woo under such unsettling conditions? So much better to accept the match chosen for you by Tarrow himself. For those who had that option, anyway.
Neither Mother nor Augustus had precisely pulled me inside to explain the purpose of the day's emphasis on social activities, but we pups had pieced together the basics over the years: For many, this was a time for the adults to flirt and bond beyond the ties of marriage with strangers they likely wouldn't see for another seven years, if ever again at all. Depending on which day Naming Day fell, the Festival of Balance might not begin for nearly a week, therefore lengthening the stay of visitors and making it desirable to find a compatible and willing partner sooner rather than later so both might enjoy one another's company for the maximum length of time.
Knowing what I knew about the way Fairies looked down on us for our "free-for-all mating sessions", as they so put it, I wasn't sure what I thought about that practice now. Technically, as a noble with the power to spread my coloured eyes through intimate bonds, such activities were intended to be off limits for me to some degree even when I was older. There were loopholes that could be found around it, matters of proper protection and such, and kissing was never forbidden, but… as it stood presently, I hadn't yet determined what my own views concerning the matter of impersonal relations was. I believe I'm a passionate advocate of true love myself. After all, it seems a mite strange, doesn't it? To find a stranger physically alluring when you've only just begun to learn what makes their brain tick?
I had difficulty imagining myself in such a predicament, and in fact the very idea of trying to make such a decision at this young age made me quite nauseous with nerves. That was Anti-Cosmo's decision to make, not young Julius'. I hadn't even given myself to Mona yet. We hadn't even kissed. Let's start there, hmm?
The celebrations of the Love year always drew in the highest numbers of Anti-Fairies. The homeostasis specialists would pause from their Temple studies and pay us a visit too. Someday, I'd be among them, trailing around in my acolyte robes with my satchel bulging from scrolls, herbs, building and monument design ideas, measuring materials, or whatever else they kept in there…
Such acolytes were always given a respectful berth when they came out in public; not merely out of awe and admiration, I imagine, but also out of lingering fear for the demons who trailed like little obedient servants at their heels. "Demons", I had finally learned, was the proper term for umbrae who had consumed so much negative karma that they had actually taken on solid, visible form. Only homeostasis specialists, masters of karma flow, were trained in handling demons. I did have to admit, every seven years when I saw the acolytes, they appeared peaceful and happy with their lot in life. Perhaps I wouldn't hate living as they did after all.
In the afternoon, we had our Tarrow dances. This was an event of thanksgiving in which we honoured the Seven for their influence in our lives, and in which all the nobles from the Blue Castle and visiting colonies were expected to perform. My coloured eyes had always guaranteed Mona and I a sure spot in the courtyard. We would be out there alongside six other couples approximately our age, and I hadn't yet decided if that soothed or increased my nerves. Tarrow performances could last for hours depending on the number of colonies attending the Blue Castle that year, always beginning with the youngest noble juveniles and finishing with the High Count and Countess themselves.
Up until now, I'd mainly watched from the crowd with Mona and Ashley. Neither Augustus nor Caden had ever been betrothed, but they were noble irises, so they were always assigned to dance together. Privately, I'd always admired Caden most of all. With his black hair and shiny fangs, all wrapped in stunning royal purple, he resembled a comet in the night sky beside my awkward, drabber brother. The way in which he flowed was graceful, emphasising the anti-will o' the wisp in his lineage in all the right ways without portraying him as crude or ashamed of who he was. Gods, what a beautiful drake. I just hoped I could manage half as well as him once all the attention was on me.
Those who did have betrothed or married partners, and were not of noble ties or noble partners, were not permitted to Tarrow dance on Naming Day. Nor did they engage in much singing. Rather, the commonfolk were given time to mingle with the crowds, or craft offerings to be delivered to the spirits of their choice. There were competitions for things like that, and always food to be prepared, children to be entertained, or social connections to be made. Always social connections. Anything that might kindle a romantic spark.
Finally, Naming Day evening, the very young pups would step out to the rear garden in anticipation as Anti-Buster brought out the white chest containing the betrothal rings in all their neat little bundles. With the candles and lanterns blown out, the scramble would begin. Relationships would make or hopeful hearts break. And after that, everyone from the Blue Castle colony would step inside to have a delightful dinner, whilst the foreigners enjoyed a picnic feast in the courtyard outside.
This particular year, I was due to turn 47 come autumn. Technically my litter had been birthed in summer, but autumn was when my smoke and body first met. Although the Fairies called it simply Mid-Summer, I was birthed during a segment of time we Anti-Fairies tentatively knew as July, after the minor nature spirit of the same name, a middle daughter of Winni and Thurmondo. As a matter of fact, the name Julius came from "July", and Augustus took his from "August." Mum says that if I were a damsel, she would have named me Julia, and he would have been Augustine, and that if she ever had another child, she would name him Frank.
There were twelve minor spirits we knew as the spirits of the months. The most famous two of all were April and May, although we mostly called May the Easter Bunny now. Winni and Thurmondo had all twelve spirits of the months, except for February. For eons, there were only eleven months known to the ancient Fae. But Thurmondo had his son February with Sunnie one year when his winter form snuck away in an attempt to escape Winni's lustful clutches. When they kiff-tied and Sunnie took Thurmondo's favour, wearing the Leaves circlet as a noble crown upon his head, Sunnie became the Prince of Dew: the greatest mastermind who ever lived! With his power of rainstorms and undergrowth, he destroyed a thousand cities belonging to the indigenous peoples of Fairy World who had restricted our ancestors' growth when we arrived to rightfully claim this cloudland colony. The Prince of Dew overtook the wrecked stone buildings instantly with roots and vines, crafting the most beautiful tombs and ruins and dealing just punishment to those who dared defile the spirits' promised land for us with their secular ways. Plane 12, the Hush World, was said to still carry a haunted feel about it to this day. Of course, I wasn't allowed to go there until I turned 200,000, but I'd heard that every part of it was purple and ethereal, dripping with starlight, and that monuments to the Prince of Dew could still be found carved into the upside-down mountains dangling from the High Kingdom. He was absolutely dazzling. A noble knight striking a blow for his people. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up.
… But the Prince of Dew's brief reign ended when Thurmondo broke the kiff-tie by force, wrenching back his favoured crown. February, a spirit of dew, pride, and honour, was born when they split apart. But Thurmondo was so ashamed by what Sunnie had used his Leaves powers for that he sobbed and sobbed until Winni found him and agreed to take him back. And Winni wasn't happy about Thurmondo running away. Thurmondo had to be punished. That's why he was cursed to lose his memories every winter, for his misdeed in trying to alter his fate of being Winni's lover, and father to all the oxygen spirits they create each time they bond. It was for us that Thurmondo endured Winni's passions, and Winni expected him to do it without complaint or struggle. You probably didn't know all that. I did. I'm a very smart pup.
Not a pup for much longer, however. This was my cohort's 7th Love year, and 49th year in total. The day of our canetis had arrived at last. After all my peers had feasted on the final breakfast they would eat in the Winter of the Twisting Ivy, and had left to chatter excitedly out in the courtyard for the following hour, I kept in my study for one last, lingering moment so I might visit with my father's blessing tokens. I lined all seven crystal animals up in a row on the little shelf I'd installed in the wall with my clumsy magic, and folded my hands in my lap with a sigh as I knelt before them.
My mother and brother would each take part in removing the chains from my wings. I still wished Anti-Robin could have been here to witness his youngest son reach juvenile age. But at least I had the family that I did. Anti-Buster would be unclipping the rings from Ashley's ears.
I stroked my hand up to the tip of my left one, where the jagged cuts I'd made as a newborn while slicing the rings from my ears still remained to this day. I smiled. Alas, foolish Julius. For here I was now nearly fifty years later, on the day they ought to have been removed. I could have been flying with wings unrestrained all this time had I only exercised a little self-restraint. I was older now, wiser now, more thoughtful and patient now. I'd come such a long way.
But it stung me to think Anti-Robin had only ever known me as a reckless, trouble-making miscreant who ravaged his spice cabinet and knocked sacks of precious flour onto the floor. How many times had I sneered down at him from the shelves, and he sighed up at me and shook his head, without the thought in either of our minds that we might be related? If only Augustus had let us know.
Did I still hold that against him? I liked to think not, but knew my scars would never truly heal.
Augustus had warned me in this same storeroom long ago that when using Father's blessing tokens, I ought to only call upon one zodiac spirit at a time. Which of the Seven would aid me most during my canetis? It was meant to be a hunting ceremony, but none of them held mastery over hunting. The closest was perhaps Saturn, the calculating dragon warrior of the gods, and who when acting as the Prince of Lightning in sacred combination with Munn became the ravager of worlds and defender of the skies.
I stared down at Saturn's ruby lizard, with its spiralled tail and arched back. But instead of turning it over, I decided to turn over Sunnie's turtle. In addition to what he was usually called upon for - study and learning, especially towards the end of the school year - Sunnie also held mastery over agility. Speed fell under Munn's godly jurisdiction, but Sunnie was elegance and river strength personified. Agility would be a welcome gift today.
That, and he was of course the Water spirit. Perhaps, since I was born in a Water year myself, he would be especially willing to extend a bit of aid my way. Not to mention, February was his daughter. He might be more inclined to listen to his people this month than in others. I kissed my thumb and rubbed it along the turtle's belly, and left one candle burning on the shelf when I shut the door behind me.
"I do hope this won't take long," I commented to Mona outside, folding my hands together low behind my back. "I happened to be right in the middle of researching something."
She lowered our map and glanced back at my weighed-down wings, studying them quite intently for someone who had just seen them two weeks prior. "Feeling fine, friend? For Friday, we're finally flying free. Forever."
"Yes, yes." I rolled my eyes and took the map from her hands. Of course I was excited. That wasn't the point of my complaint. "I shall delight in having these ghastly restraints taken away from me. Even so, I'll be limping on my right for the rest of my life, I swear."
Winslow sat on the ashy ground near us, his legs plopped out to either side and his hands set in the middle. I shook my head. It was hard to believe that our prince's cohort would be experiencing their own canetis as soon as next cycle. The little ball of scruffy fur had wings too big for his body and ears too small for his head. He had to wear his adorably floppy hat at all times, as anti-swanee custom dictated. Anti-Bryndin was the dominant anti-swanee in the colony, so he alone was allowed to expose his horns. I wondered what young anti-swanees did after their canetis rituals. Would Winslow cut holes in his hat so his ears could poke through, or since he wore the hat, was he expected to always keep his ears flattened when Anti-Bryndin was around?
Mona recaptured my attention with a nudge. "Terrified of treacherous teammates tripping up? Must make a meaningful mark mastering my many mounting major masterpieces."
"Oh, I don't know. I do so love working in teams. There's always someone else I can put the blame on." I searched the courtyard, craning my neck. "I say. Are those your mums over there coming this way?"
She followed my gaze, then began jumping up and down, crossing and uncrossing her arms above her head as she waved at two Anti-Fairy damsels sliding through the small sideline crowd of proud parents. I waved too, albeit in the more gentlemanly fashion expected of me. How strange to think that technically, Mona had been living in the Castle alongside me far longer than she'd stayed with either of them. Her mums paid her visits as often as they could between Anti-Penny's acolyte duties and Anti-Dixie's orchard-tending hours, and on occasion Mona would leave the Castle to spend a month or so at the Water Temple in Faeheim with them too. But that was perhaps the first time I realised that I might know more about Mona than either of her parents did these days. Automatically, I reached out and intertwined my fingers with hers. It was a curious thought, a protective thought. I supposed that must be what it was like to have a wife.
It would be nice to have a wife to know secret things about and feel protective towards, I think.
Anti-Dixie tipped her crown to Mona with her thumb as she floated up to us. "Howdy, sugar. You ready to round up them wily, dunderheaded demons in the woods today?"
"Perfectly prepped and practically passionate."
"Spiffy. Streak straight like a sharpshooter and you're sure to soar."
Mona beamed at the comforting sound of alliteration and hugged Anti-Dixie around the waist. Chuckling, Anti-Dixie pushed Mona's crown into her head and rubbed it back and forth.
"Aw, shucks. My baby cowgirl ain't such a li'l tyke anymore. I'mma gonna be honking my nose over this for days." She wiped away a tear. "Be good, honeypie."
"Toi aussi, mon beau-fils." Anti-Penny reached down to embrace me, kissing me once on each cheek. "You take care of mon petit chou, and we shall hope to see you both cross that finish line before midnight comes, oui?"
"Were any of the demons that were released out there today tamed by you?" I asked her.
Her scarlet eyes twinkled mysteriously. "Ah, my otter types do enjoy the water."
"Thank you for the tip."
We bid them both farewell, and they moved off again. But Anti-Bryndin still hadn't arrived to conduct the ceremony. Conducting the canetis was the High Count's job, in the same way Anti-Elina tended to take the lead during the betrothal ceremony in the gardens. Winslow sat quietly near Mona and I, and Anti-Elina wasn't far off as she scolded two pups down the row for fighting, but where was Anti-Bryndin?
As we continued waiting, Augustus took the opportunity to slip up to us. Even after all these years, he still wore those canetis rings, and for an instant I was almost embarrassed to let myself be seen with him in front of the whole crowd. I looked away, but he kept coming.
"Let me s-see your sh-shirt, Julius."
He meant because it wasn't on inside-out for good karma. He wanted to pull it off me and expose me naked for a moment - in front of everybody - while he flipped it around for me. Him and his inside jokes. I pushed him away, backing into Mona. My fingers clenched around the rolled-up map of the woods. "The state of my tunic will remain as presently constituted, actually. Thank you."
A flicker of hurt crossed Augustus' expression. He withdrew his hands, then tried again. "At l-least may I l-look at your map s-so I know w-where-"
"Stop," I protested, twisting out of his grasp. "I can do it myself, you hack!"
"I'm just t-t-trying to help-"
I pushed him away with my lifted shoulder. "I don't need your help, Augustus."
"I j-just want-"
"In fact, I daresay I'd be better off without it. After all, you never did manage to pass your own canetis. Why should I expect you to benefit me when it comes to mine?"
Augustus ducked his head. "I underst-st-stand, but-"
"Why, you might even sabotage me," I sneered. "I wouldn't put it past you. You were so jealous to share your own father, I'd be astounded if you didn't have your own interests at heart here instead of mine."
His eyes sharpened, and almost made me choke on the last word. "I've p-p-protected you for almost f-fifty years. I'm the one who g-got you out of the A-Anti-Eros t-t-tower."
"Ha! And I saved a hundred more souls than you by breaking their jars, all within minutes of being born! Why, if you'd kept at your goody-goody ways without a streak of rebelliousness in the way you swung your sack that final day, you'd have been dragged off and punished, and my lifesmoke would have been left to perish. It's always because I've broken rules or tradition in some form or another that I had the opportunity to enjoy experiences in Fairy World, and enjoy forty years of researching as I have. Following rules to the letter does nothing for no one, I say. Who needs your moral standards?"
"Papa does," he snapped back, fur prickling behind his shoulders. "Th-this is exactly why I d-didn't want to share him with you. Papa n-never called me goody-goody like i-it was an insult. I-it was his s-special name f-for me, and he n-never mocked me for f-following the r-rules and trying to keep out of t-trouble. You s-s-sound j-just like Mother, Julius. Perhaps you'd r-rather I left you w-with her."
I rolled my eyes. "As though you're brave enough to ever stand up to her abusive ways and walk out of this Castle. Face it, dear Augustus. Those rings in your ears aren't the only thing that's keeping you prisoner here."
Augustus puffed his cheeks. "Being a c-coward isn't why I've st-stayed," he said. He looked at me coolly, calculating something with his pale green gaze, and then spun around on one foot. Chin up, he stalked off without saying another word, occasionally brushing his hand across his cheeks as he went. Upon reaching the babbling crowd, he was swallowed up in them.
Mona placed her hand on my elbow. "Kindness is contagious."
I sighed and brushed at my tunic. "I suppose I was needlessly harsh with him just now, wasn't I? I almost don't know what came over me. Oh, wait. Yes I do. He's a snivelling sycophant who was lured into bringing me back to the Castle as a newborn when really he ought to have run away. I know now he had a place to go. He ought to have brought me to Anti-Fergus Anti-Whimsifinado, far away from my mother's abusive hand. Anti-Robin could have visited us there, and they would have been the family that I needed. A healthy family, not like this."
"Missed meeting me," she pointed out, softly. When I turned my irritated glance on her, she looked away. "Betrothal benefits."
I picked a bit of crusty goop or dirt from under my left eye with a claw. "Yes, well. I suppose this wasn't the proper time to go off on him for it. I'm so nervous, you know, about passing my canetis. I say, if I don't get to fly today, I think I should have the greatest fit of my life. Hm. I'll apologise to him tonight, once the new cohort are busy hunting down their potential betrothed in the gardens."
I bounced the rolled map against my palm as Anti-Bryndin made his appearance at last over by the courtyard gate. He greeted us all with enthusiasm and went about dividing up the teams. Mona and I, being betrothed, had our partnership assured, but I didn't know the drake and three damsels who also ended up in our group. They introduced themselves as Daniel, Trish, Demetria, and Lacy, born in the Breath, Fire, Breath, and Sky years respectively. I hit it off with Trish instantly, her calm patience evident within the first few seconds I knew her, though her bouncy betrothed Lacy seemed likewise a delight. Daniel was colder, but he greeted me with a polite nod before turning his attention on Mona. I wrapped my fingers through hers, keeping my steady attention on his cheek.
"Right," Trish said, opening her copy of the map. "As I understand it, everything between here and the Love Temple is within the field of play. Our job, Lacy?"
"Capture a demon and bring it across the finish line in Luna's Landing."
"That's right. Now." She looked around at our faces. "I have four older siblings. I've done the research, and I think I have a master plan here that can lead us to victory. Time and time again, the foolish teams are the ones who chase after the first demon they see, and are so tired out by the time they corner it that they can't drag it to the finish line while it's still struggling. So, what we want to do is get as close to the finish line as we can, and then hunt for our target. But, we also have to ensure that the one we go after isn't too large or difficult to handle." Trish pointed the map at me. "You two will be our fronters."
"Um…" I looked at Mona, biting my lip. She gave me an encouraging hand squeeze, so I swallowed. "Actually, I'm Anti-Penny's homeostasis apprentice. She's a Water year, like me. I never, um, actually learned field combat in practice. At least not in great detail."
Trish stared at me. "You're pulling my ears. They put a demon tamer on our team? Why? You're not even trained yet. I had everything all planned out for us to fight it."
I shrugged my shoulders helplessly. She noticed the chains.
"… Well. Then. I think our best strategy is to get to Luna's Landing as a team and search for a worthy demon from there. But you know the rules. No wands. We can't poof. And apparently, Julius can't even fly."
"I can echolocate," I pointed out, determined to fight the trembling in my legs.
Trish frowned. "So what? We're not tracking umbrae anymore. These are real, actual demons, like the kind that grow solid and attack people if they let bad karma sit in their houses too long without dispersing it. You don't need to echolocate to see them. So, here's how we're going to do it. Lacy, you and me will fly ahead to Luna's Landing as fast as we can and scout the area for the demon we want to capture. Daniel, Demetria, and Mona, you guys come too, but make sure you save your strength for when we have to fight it. We just need to tire it out enough so we can carry it to the Temple steps. Julius, I guess you'll have to walk." Again, she glanced critically at my chained wings. "I expect you're going to be quite tired when you show up. Try not to get in our way."
I looked at Mona. She looked at Trish. "I'm just joining Julius," she said firmly.
Trish looked at me one more time, to let me know that this was all my fault. To her credit, she didn't argue, but just grabbed Lacy by the hand and pulled her over to the front of the Castle courtyard. Daniel and Demetria followed, and Mona and I brought up the rear.
"I'm sorry," I told her.
Mona shook her head.
"I am, though. I ought to have spent more time studying the combat practices than I spent with my research." Or hanging limply from my roost doing nothing but sit during the months when my energy levels ran at an all-time low.
Mona shook her head again. "Prioritise precious pups. Future fatherhood follows."
Dear, sweet Mona. She always understood me. How loyal and faithful she was, desiring to bear no drake's pups but mine. She never doubted I could do it, or ever questioned if I imagined my research might fail. On most days I forgot that Tarrow didn't have a hand in bringing her to me, such is how perfect a match we were for one another.
The crowd in the courtyard consisted namely of excited parents and other extended relatives. They whispered amongst each other as Anti-Bryndin prepared to open the courtyard gate. Shortly after we pups all took off, the majority would foop themselves to the designated observation zones throughout Luna's Landing to enjoy a pleasant brunch and chat with one another while waiting for us all to rush the finish line. I closed my eyes at the thought of Trish leading the way… She wouldn't dare approach the Love Temple without Mona and I, would she? If we didn't cross before the time of night when the stars began to dim, then we wouldn't be allowed another attempt at our canetis ritual until next zodiac cycle. Fail too many times and, like my brother, you'd end up blacklisted as a hopeless cause. And no one would ever want you then.
Anti-Bryndin called us all to attention, and dedicated the traditional canetis invocation prayer to the spirit bear, Hy-Brasil, whose form we walked upon and were honouring this day. Then he and Anti-Elina exchanged nods. Winslow lingered near them, sucking as he often did at the claw on his pinky. In unison, the High Count and High Countess heaved the doors of the foggilite gate inward. The courtyard was open. Anti-Bryndin pointed his wand into the sky, and fired a blast of purple. It flowered among the stars.
The race was on.
A/N - Vatajasa is mainly a mashup of Latin and Estonian words I picked out of Google Translate and squished together (with some random tweaks sprinkled on top) because that's how I live my life. Foop's alternate personality, Hiccup, identifies as Far Westian and can speak Vatajasa fluently even though Foop can't. We'll see him do so for the first time in my upcoming 130 Prompt one-shot, "Shadow". Keep an eye out for that very soon if you're interested in seeing more Anti-Fairy culture and culinary practices. Also, canetis is the Latin word for sound.