The chilly wind blew through the air, carving it. The brown ground swayed in synch with it as the sun started to rise before the tower.
How long did it take for the ground to become – mostly – solid again? How long did it take for one boy to dig many graves?
The tired hands of a young changeling twitched in exhaustion. Sore and callusesed from the work. Muck stuck under his fingernails.
Nursery Rhyme and the mice were no help, leaving him to do it all by himself. Digging and digging and digging. The work started off heart-wrenching, knowing full well why he did it, only to become boring as he lost interest. He still pushed on.
A grave for all the changelings. The ones he'd traveled with. The ones he'd found in the room… he'd even buried Rene with them.
The older corpses were worse. Awful beyond compare. They were the corpses of his fellows, prepared to eat. He found pieces of their bodies separated into containers. How was he supposed to know what body they went with?
Maybe he could've buried them all together? No one would be alone then, and they had to have all their various pieces… well, at least those that weren't eaten. But wasn't that as disrespectful as burning their bodies with the wrong pieces? Imagining that happening to him, someone burying someone else with his wings left him clenching his fist.
He did his best to identify the bodies and put them together while waiting for the mud to dry. Nursery Rhyme and the mice pitching in, making it into a bit of a game.
Those who he matched the wrong pieces, as would those missing their pieces, would have to forgive him. He tried his best.
Turning away, he walked toward the steps of the tower. Alice was sitting on the dry steps, sipping on a teacup. "The mood is awful!"
"Were you expecting a party?"
"Nope! I've just never been to one of these before, so it's a wee bit shocking! But I'm used to these vibes. I still don't like it."
The fairy nodded, completely agreeing as he leaned forward with slowly swaying wings. His concerns slipped away now that they weren't directly in front of him. "You ready to go?"
"Umhum," She hummed. "Alice isn't around here."
"We might encounter her if we travel enough," he thought out loud. If a person was still alive to be found, and another traveled endlessly, they would eventually meet. Just might take a short time. Like 100 years or something. Nothing too crazy.
"I would be satisfied just knowing she got a happy ending," Alice murmured.
Reaching down next to her, he picked up some cloth he'd taken out of the tower. Nursery Rhyme weighed way too much to carry for a long flight. They'd decided to create a sling to carry her in, kinda like a kangaroo pouch.
With her help, they managed to slip it on without it getting in the way of his wings. Alice tied the knot well enough that she barely caused her seat to move when she was placed in it. She held some of his other things, like the snorkel, next to her.
Before taking off, he glanced at the door one more time to make sure it was closed. Pointy ears eagerly twitched after confirming he didn't forget. The warning they'd carved into it was pretty explicit, in clarity, that is. Nobody here was a potty mouth. Cursing is a sin.
His wings fluttered before he took off to the sky. Nursery Rhyme gave a loud 'wopie' when they were high enough.
"Shirou? Shirou?! Shirouuu!"
The fairy blinked, looking back down at the doll in his hands. Why was she calling that name?
Oh!
That was right.
That was his name in the human world. He must've dropped it at some point.
"What'd you need?" They asked as they flew above rainbow clouds and dodged a moving greybow. It hit a blue cloud, drinking some of its colors so that it might, too, one day be in color.
"Do a loopy loop!"
The changeling nodded without a lick of hesitation. There was no reason to if it was such a simple request. "Hold on to everything!"
Tightening his hands around her. He flew backward and up. His red hair was hanging down, uneven, and unkempt after far too long without care, yet it still somehow managed to look healthy. A brighter shade of crimson.
"Weei!" Nursery Rhyme cheered throughout the entire loopy loop. "Now, do a barrel roll!"
The changeling sighed and did a barrel roll.
"What was that?!" the doll exclaimed, causing him to stop midroll.
"Pterodactyls?!" His voice rose a bit as a fleet of rainbow dinosaurs flew toward them. "Do you think we should ask them about your Alice, Alice?"
"No! Dinos are the worst! Fly you fool, flyyyyyy!"
"Fine," They answered, liking dinosaurs but listening to their passenger.
Fluttering his wings as fast as he could, he tried to escape them, but they kept getting closer. And closer! Their wings were way bigger than his. That must've been why they could fly so fast.
One of them managed to reach them, its striped beak trying to devour him.
"Faster!Faster!Faster!" Aliceyelledatthetopofherlungs.
"Trying!" The changeling doubled his 100% to 1000%. They looked around, trying to see anything within the rainbows that could help them escape. His feet dodge the bite of the pterodactyls. The more that managed to catch up with him, the closer to getting to him!
Nosedive, he felt? His eyes caught something below him.
Thus, Nosedive, did he. "Hold on."
"WHYY-AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Shirou accidentally kicked one of the pterodactyls as he leaned forward, shifting his body to face downward. He brought his wings together to help with the wind drag.
His fall was broken by a half-colored greybow, whose splash dyed the air in a plethora of colors, causing the pterodactyls to scatter.
The changeling adjusted his falling position, using his wings to position themselves as sliding down a rainbow.
"Are they still chasing us?!" Nursery Rhyme squeaked, looking up.
"I don't think so?" His eyes glanced up to confirm their escape. None of them were following them through the hole. Their screeches of horror filled the air as they had some of their colors drank from them.
"Okie dookie. Let's see where this slide leads us!"
Nodding, his body relaxed after being tired from the chase. The cold colors of the rainbow felt incredible on his wings, chilling them. Thankfully, it didn't have any warm colors. "Let's focus more on the journey."
The longer they rode on the greybow, the faster they went. Speeding through the sky at lightning speeds on the withering spectrum of colors and greys sipping from the clouds. The coaster loops into itself and swings left and right. Up. Down. Backwards and several at the same time! Eventually, the bow's ending was in sight. Growing closer with each passing moment.
It ramped up and up and up! Then, they launched off it! Flying off into the air. His hair waved as the wind blew against his face. Flying through the air, they breached the countless colored clouds. An outline of his body was left in his wake.
The ground was thousands of feet below. Sparkling pink, yellow, orange. The ground rose and fell into an uneven terrain filled with tiny specs his eyes couldn't distinguish. There was a highway-sized path halfway to the ground, made of a single silver path that stretched into the horizon.
"The cloud! The cloud!" Nursery Rhyme pointed at it. Her voice was fast and high.
Clouds were getting a little boring, but it had a nice, unique glow to it. The scent of cats, or one in particular, managed to reach his nose, giving it a homely feel.
Letting the momentum bring them closer, he eventually brought his wings to his sides and drifted down onto the cloud. He'd flapped his wings a bit to slow his fall, but it might've been needless. The cloud was so soft and fluffy against his feet. It was like walking on a giant marshmallow! Looking into it, he could see warm and bright silver energy flow through it.
"A safe path! We should be safe if we follow it! I can try to find Alice from up here too!"
"If you want," the changeling agreed as he began to walk down the road. "You got any idea where it leads?"
"Nope! Let's find out!"
They'd followed the path of the cloud. The altitude of it slowly decayed the further along they went. If they were pursuing its end, it'd be when the cloud was touching the ground. Or would it be fog at that point?
There was no sign of Alice, but they'd seen something moving below them. A shifting of the landscape. Things flash into and out of existence. Colors were created and destroyed in seconds. Biomes becoming completely different! Inverting and then inverting again into something altogether new! Realms fading into other realms. Sometimes, they could hear the sounds of animals playing, and others their dying screams! It'd suck to be down there, but it was normal. Unless a place is perfect, it is forever destined to change.
There was something in the ground, cold and distant and wrong. But he couldn't figure it out from up here, and Alice ordered him to stay up here.
However, both their attentions were piqued by something different. Something built. Small statues? It was hard to tell exactly what it was from this high up.
"If there're thingies, there must be people!" Alice pulled on his sleeve and pointed down at the sight below them. "Maybe an Alice!"
"An? Are you an entire species?" Shirou asked, flapping his wings and taking off toward the ground.
"Nope! There's only Alice and Alice. But one of us is still an Alice," Nursery Rhyme explained, poking the side of Shirou's head with the snorkel.
"Stop it," Shirou pouted after being poked a second time. They neared the ground, gently landing in a clearing.
Blue trees swayed in the wind. The leaves were thick, almost fluffy, and beyond count. A scent he couldn't place gently graced his senses, sending a mix of nostalgia and fear through his spine. They'd landed in some sand, comfortably warm and friendly. There was a line of statues, with the last one still being a solid block halfway down. The upper house depicted a beautiful woman. The others were also of similar women, but they were all distinct, with even their gills and fins in different areas.
"They're only half-done!" Nursery Rhyme whined. "We really need to look for some paint!"
The changeling nodded, understanding this matter of pride. How awful must it be to be made yet left without color? Maybe they didn't have the time to do that? Then he should help them by doing it themselves?! Where could they get paint, though?
Turning all around, he desperately looked for paint or anything that could substitute it. None of the colorful clouds were around now! There had to be some around here; nothing made sense otherwise. If the statues were made by someone, it had to be an artist. Thus, colors and thereby paint.
The fairy blinked as he felt the subtle rippling of reality. His chaotic energy skipped with joy.
"Paint!" Shirou turned around again and found a bucket of color next to one of the completed statues. How'd he miss it? He shouldn't have missed it! Could've! It must've just appeared…
Flying over to it, he set Nursery Rhyme down next to it with all their stuff so they could both look into the silver bucket. It was full of colors, all swirling together but separate. Without much thought, he reached into it and dyed his hand green. The paint didn't drip as he brought his hand to the base of the statue and dragged it against the warm, smooth stone. Left in the trail of his hand was a shiny green.
"Finger painting!" Alice cheered, reaching into the bucket and getting some of it on her fingers rather than her entire hand. She started to slowly paint the statue. "If we paint her base green, what color should her dress be?"
The changeling shrugged, preferring to let the colors come to them as they went. Planning it would just get in the way. What was important was following their passion and artistic impulses. Spirit makes up for a lack of technique or knowledge.
The pair focused on painting the statue. The fairy had to move his doll companion several times to get her into positions where she could paint the bottom while he focused on the top. They'd decided to paint the statue's dress multiple colors and pick out the color of its skin later once they'd finished.
He was so engrossed that he ignored everything around him. Even the weird sounds coming from behind him were swiftly dismissed.
"Shirouuuuuuu! Turn around! She's trying to talk to you," Nursery Rhyme's familiar voice managed to pull his attention from the statue.
The fairy turned around to see a woman behind him. She was dressed in blue that seemed to ripple like water. Her pants went down just before her ankle while her socks covered the space between his tennis shoes and the end of the legs. She wore a long-sleeve shirt, but her blue hands were still exposed, matching her ocean-blue face. Her eyes and hair matched the same pattern, if dark. Her large, round glasses were a slightly brighter shade of blue though.
Staring up at the fully grown changeling, the younger one looked for anything suspicious about the nerdy-looking girl but found nothing other than her being tense. An emotionless expression that he tried to return in turn.
She was somehow better at it. Super annoying.
The woman said something else slowly. It was in an unknown and mysterious language.
"Any clue what she just said?" the younger changeling decided to ask his doll companion. She could talk with him in… whatever human tongue he was using right now. He could've sworn there was another he'd learned from hearing long ago. Listening to those with mouths and forms speaking through the language of his season. A means of communication he instantly understood, so it still be somewhere. Hidden away in his subconscious.
"Nursery rhymes exist in some form in every language! So, duh!" She exclaimed proudly, crossing her arms over her chest, somehow keeping enough presence of mind not to put her paint-covered fingers against her clothing. "She was asking why you are here."
"I'm painting the statue," he answered her, getting only a blink in response till Alice repeated what he said. That got a slightly raised eyebrow, her hand clenching into a fist as she placed it over her chest. Her bright blue eyes gazed down into his infinitely more luminous and deep blue eyes. She said something else but directed it to Nursery Rhyme for translation.
"She wants to know why a childling is out playing alone," Nursery Rhyme reported truthfully before adding her own commentary. "But I don't see why it'd matter. As long as they're aware of stranger danger and other evvvviiiiillllll forces, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to play alone wherever."
The changeling nodded. If he knew the dangers, he should be allowed to help anyone anywhere! No exceptions!
"Can you tell her my last group is dead, and we've been traveling together since?"
The doll nodded in agreement and did as asked, causing the woman to visibly frown slightly as Alice spoke. A struggle formed on the woman's face as she seemed to digest what she'd been told. Ignoring it, the fairy went back to their painting.
"Oh dear," Nursery Rhyme said shyly, bringing her hands up to her mouth. "She wants us to return to the real world with her."
That gave the fairy pause. The embers of some old thoughts came to mind. The real world. There was defeat in those words, viewing this reality as a false world in comparison. That was stupid. Wait… what was he thinking about again?
Oh… yeah! The Human world!
That was where people needed help! Where he needed to be!
"Tell her sure," He told Alice. There were probably a lot of things he'd have to deal with, troublesome things at that. But he could face them to help people.
"Alice guesses Alice could be there," the small Alice muttered before repeating his words to the woman.
"Oh? What'd we call her?" The changeling interjected when Nursery Rhyme was halfway through her words. The doll didn't mind, though, and continued on. The woman responded in turn, keeping her narrowed eyes on him. Did he do something suspicious?
"She said to call her 'Gyd.'" Nursery Rhyme informed him.
"Thanks," He told her as he looked at Gyd. Nodding to himself, he assigned the name to her. Floating over to Alice, he picked her up. His portable translator frowned as he got paint on her dress. She retaliated by making a yellow hand turkey on his cheek. Plus, she gave him a little slap with the snorkel on the other cheek.
They flew over to Gyd, stopping right next to her face. He could see his reflection in her large blue glasses. "How are we getting to the human world?"
Gyd flenched, taking a step back before Nursery Rhyme's translation and her response. The blue woman's expression squished, eyebrows furrowed.
"She says we need to use the stairs," Alice translated for him. "The one's behind her."
The fairy tilted his head. There were no stairs around. Were they?
Ohh!
He blinked and realized there were stairs behind Gyd. They were made of dirt and climbed up into a mesa that had a ladder made of sand in the middle. She was standing in front of them. Did she just walk down and encounter him?
Probably, but why didn't he see the stairs before now? Maybe it was because he wasn't thinking about them or something.
The blue woman moved back and motioned at him to climb up the stairs, keeping her eyes on him. Taking it as a sign to go first, he walked up the stairs, not flying in consideration for Gyd. She followed a step or two behind them.
As he walked up the stairs, the air started to chill. It grew colder. Duller. Lesser. Lifeless-er. Something was wrong. Wrong wrong.
The fairy's soul shivered. It's endless warmth was dampened by the autumn beyond. Assaulted by something beyond. His eyes could see the colors becoming washed out the higher he climbed, the closer he was to the top of the latter.
Ah, he remembers now… The world of humans had been cold. Chilly, but he had been used to it. That city… uhhh… Fuyuki! It was way colder than this. That may've been worse, but now he knew warmth. He was so much hotter, boiling like a chaotic stew of bright energy.
Could he handle a world like this? One so alien and antithetical to a fairy? There were plenty of people he could help in this world, like people having nightmares or who were lost! Plenty of bad guys to beat, too.
He could feel it affecting him already. Dampening him. Constricting him and trying to snuff him out.
The changeling stopped as the stairs leveled off into the plateau. The ladder was a few meters in front of him.
The question of returning to the human world bounced around his head. Filling his mind for longer and more firmly than anything else had in a while.
His tongue clicked, licking the edge of his lips. His hands clamped as sweat pulled in his palms. The scent from before was growing. A new sound reinforced it, growing louder by the second. Dragging out memories of the human world. His memories.
"Something wrong?" Nursery Rhyme asked as he slowly turned around, ignoring the tense expression on the woman's face.
There was an ocean. Filled with rough waves that threatened to kill anyone who entered. The statues stood less than 15 meters from the sea. He was that close to the water. To dying.
Fear at what he'd missed or perhaps ignored shook him to his core. Sobering his mind for the faintest of moments as his human memories broke through obscurity. The sensations of the desperate struggle to breathe, the sudden shock of the icy water, the pain in his body from the impact… it was so much.
The fairy closed his eyes and gathered themselves. The fear grounded him, not by much, but enough.
His human-half. He had one from his human soul. A piece of himself that longed for the human world.
Sighing to themselves and pouting, he walked to the ladder. The cold stabbed into him as he gripped the wooden ladder. The wood felt like snow-covered steel. Burning. As if trying to ward him away into himself. He recoiled, shaking his hand.
Glancing up into the exit of the Dreaming and back down at Alice, who was seated in her sling, he decided to fly up the ladder rather than climb.
With all due haste, the fairy rose into the air. Like ripping off a bandaid, he sought to cross worlds as fast as possible. It took him seconds to reach the top of the ladder. The world shifting, awakening into something else. A lid – wooden – appeared above him. It was not made of dreams but reality.
As his hand touched it to open it, he felt his sense of self shift. Hiding within himself. Try to protect his soul from the blizzard as the latch raised and sand began to pour down on him. Each one a tiny icy hammer banging his being. Yet, he couldn't switch quite right. His chaotic energy not fitting. Burning and twisting its costume as it struggled inside. It only barely got in by the time he plopped down next to the latter.
His blue eyes darted around, taking in the beach he'd found himself on. The crescent moon hanging overhead against a backdrop of twinkling light. A scattering of clouds clothed the lower half of the floating rock beyond reach, forming into funny animal shapes. A curvy and misshapen cruise ship sailing through the terrifying waters. A slightly salty taste followed behind the sound of waves.
"I wonder how high we need to go to see England?" Nursery Rhyme asked, tilting her head. "It's been a long time since I've seen home."
He nearly flew up to oblige her but stopped as he remembered the pain. The danger of being seen by humans was too great for them to carelessly flock around.
The changeling frowned, crossing their legs as they looked at the faraway stars. Their colors trailed behind them, tracks as the Earth rotated, darkening to be swallowed by the dark, only for the cycle to repeat again. The lights reflected off the glass beer bottles scattered within the dust of the earth.
Gyd climbed up next to them, falling over with a discombobulated gasp escaping her voice. The impact of her body sent sand flying everywhere.
"Are you alright?" the small fairy asked before remembering she couldn't understand him. Not waiting for Nursery Rhyme to translate for him, he scooted over and patted her on the shoulder.
Gyd looked up at. Her eyes dulled and unfocused as if waking from a dream. She raised her hand and gestured that she was ok. Her hands cupped her head as she shook it.
"She looked better with blue glasses," Nursery Rhyme commented.
Her glasses had changed colors, hadn't they? Her clothing did, too. They were a weak vermilion.
…
But she was still her blue self. It was like he was staring into two different worlds at once. Conflicting sights were being read by his senses, making it almost like reading two different sentences simultaneously.
Eventually, Gyd got herself together and led them out of the beach. Their destination was a car that the women had them get in before getting in the driver's seat. It looked the changeling's eyes like a life-sized child's drawing of a car. The ground around it yelling about illegal parking. The engine sang with the turn of the small sword, and the older lady drove them off into the distance. Or was the distance becoming closer?
It didn't take them too long to reach wherever they were going. The car came to a stop in front of a small home, relatively far away from any other and with a partial view of the distant ocean. A small garden with a fountain in the middle was attached to the left side of the building.
Gyd turned off the car and exited the car with the two in the back following behind her. As they approached the building, she talked to herself, pulling out a blue key from her key chain to unlock the front door.
"Wow, this place is really messy," the fairy muttered openly. His blue eyes looked over the space to see unorganized boxes and trinkets scattered all around. He mindlessly placed Nursery Rhyme down on a nearby wooden table, on the one part that wasn't covered in things. Without much of a plan, he started to clean. Before he got far, Gyd said something to him, forcing him to pause from his important work.
"She sounds really confused you're cleaning things," Nursery Rhyme told him. Her eyes looked around at the dirty room and the doorways connecting to hallways that were a mess, too! "I don't get why… even Goldilocks would say this place is too dirty."
"It wouldn't be by the time I'm done," the blue-eyed changeling said with a bit of stubbornness in his voice. "Now the question is, what is biodegradable?"
A surfboard? Art tools? Ruined old antiques and cardboard boxes filled with folded cardboard boxes, not even anything interesting. Within a closed box, it holds infinity. Why double it rather than make it different?
At least there was a ton of other things to define the infinity.
If something could be used to feed the earth or be reused, it should be. Everything else needed to be sorted between useful and trash.
He ignored the other two talking as he picked up things, only to jump back upon lifting up a cardboard box to reveal a hand-sized cockroach, a terrifying shadow of black. The bug has 15 wings, 7.5 legs, and a lion's snout. It's croak like that of a frog.
Epping as loud as a baby lion. The fairy flew back onto a nearby table. His head almost hit the light fixture dangling from the roof. A faint buzzing from it told him to watch it as the light flickered between daylight and moonlight.
"That's a big bug!" Alice shrieked the obvious out between covered eyes.
The air was filled with chaos until it was unceremoniously crushed by Gyd squishing the bug. Her reaction was stoic as she crushed it with a nearby loaded box with a loud 'thud.' The woman turned her attention toward him, walking over as the changeling looked around for any more bugs in the room.
A bit of pain flashed in his heart at seeing the bug killed. It may have been scary, but it didn't need to be hurt, even if it'd brutally die one day. Or do something awful if it hadn't already done so. Life was important, and he'd need to lecture Gyd about it when he got the chance. Make sure she sees things his way, the correct way.
"She wants us to follow her to a bedroom," Nursery Rhyme raised her hands to be picked up.
The fairy jumped off the table and picked up his doll companion, a yawn fleeing his lips. He could use some sleep before he cleaned this house if he was gonna have to fight an army of massive bugs. He'd need to find them a new home and everything. That'd take at least three meals.
Gyd's lips tilted downwards as she closed the door behind her, leaving the boy and his doll in her guest room for now. The woman walked back into her living room and then into her kitchen. Her eyes glanced at the landline beside her fridge.
What was she to do? What would be most beneficial for her?
She had found a childling in some degree of bedlam. Thankfully, he was nonviolent. The amount of glamour he possessed was massive, even by the standards of both glamour-ridden childlings and those lost to bedlam.
If she contacted the local freehold of the king's forces, it could pay her tithe to him for a long time. And it'd make her look good. It shouldn't be too difficult to make it seem like an act of selflessness and honoring the Escheat's guarantee of the right of rescue for all changelings. But this would solidly tie her to them and place her against those opposing King Shail.
Keeping him, on the other hand, placed the responsibility for his actions on her… as well as making the benefits solely hers. There may be a communication barrier between them, but the chimera doll makes that issue mute until she can teach him French.
He's incredibly docile, too. It's too early to know if he started cleaning her stuff because it was dirty or if he was motivated to help; either way, it should be easy to exploit that to manage the boy. From what she heard, Bedlamites were nearly impossible to control and always ran off into the Dreaming, but she was sure she could do the former since the latter clearly wasn't true in this case.
As long as she keeps him far away from other people who could upset him with their autumnness. Or those who would be scared by his existence. Even she could feel that there was something wrong with him. No human could interact with him and think he was normal, not even counting his inhuman features.
It was a risk in exchange for access to all the glamour he holds and getting power to teach and, therefore, control him.
She needed the glamour to complete her goals… far more than she needed the aid of a king she didn't consider her own… It would also be in his best interest to be under her rather than the king or those who oppose him. At least she was honest about her wants and motives.
Glancing away from the landline, she opened her crowded refrigerator and took out some butter along with a fish she'd prepared before she left. Gyd placed the fish on a plate and then the microwave while the butter went on the kitchen counter. As the fish was heating up, she grabbed a butterknife and a loaf of bread.
If the king or other changelings found out about him, she'll claim she's fostering him. The others wouldn't be able to – legally – remove him from her then, but it would force a ticking clock on them as the length of fosterage was a hard law… There was the threat of him being from one of the surrounding areas, which would complicate things, but that was unlikely. He looked mostly Eastern and didn't speak French. He must be a long way from his human self's home.
'Ding'
Gyd's lips tilted upwards slightly as her microwave signaled the completion of her dish. A pleasant aroma overtook everything around it as she opened its tiny door to pull the fish out and take it over to the other ingredients. She slathered it in butter in an amount most would consider far beyond excessive before putting it between two pieces of bread. Creating a delicious sandwich, even if most people – like her human mother – didn't see it that way.
Taking her fine meal to the dining room table, she placed it on one end and then walked to the other to turn on the small box TV on the other end. The button felt slightly greasy and made a loud 'clicking' noise as it was pressed. After a few seconds, the screen ignited to show commercials. Gyd hated it when she turned on the TV, and that was what met her. Clicking the channel button a few times, she switched to the news.
Walking back over to her chair, she began to eat while listening to the anchor man talk with his female colleague. Both sat behind a curving desk, a massive screen behind them that had ads running on the tops and bottom while relevant videos played in the middle. They seemed to be starting a new segment now.
"Fears mount as Sangatte refugee camp continues to attract more migrants," the news anchor spoke in perfect French, his eyes not looking down at the single piece of paper he had in front of him. "What are your thoughts."
"It's a travesty," the other anchor answered, shaking her head back and forth. "The camp already holds hundreds more than it was built for. We should be sending them back to where they came from rather than let them leech off our hard-earned tax dollars."
Gyd frowned, a bitter taste in her mouth despite the buttery fishy goodness she was eating. She'd need to check on a few of the friends she'd made who were stuck in the camp since the UK refused to accept them. Refusing to let them cross the Dover Narrows as if humans had the right over such things.
The hopes people see beyond the horizon were the domain of her kind. Those of the water that exists in between. Gyd would let all reach hope if she could… it felt right to her and meant more glamour for everyone. Rather than her kin being forced away into hiding.
Her attention was drawn back to the news when she heard the male anchor say something that drew her attention.
"Rumors state there are plans to further fortify the Eurotunnel to prevent criminals from illegally invading our English allies," he spoke with an uncaring tone. "Measures include tripling security forces and arming them with firearms supplied by the defense group Herculean Firearms Incorporated. A representative was reportedly seen among top English and French officials involved with the defense of the borders."
"I have hope they will go further, as I remember one of our American correspondents mentioning them testing fully automatic turrets to defend the US-Mexico border, but which were ultimately rejected due to fears of them being stolen," the other television personality spoke.
Gyd sighed as she placed the uneaten half of her sandwich back down on the plate.
She needed to get the childling in her guestroom to learn French quickly and find some way to get them fake paperwork. Otherwise, it looks like his being in the body of a human foreign to France might – no will cause them trouble. His slipped seeming was an issue, too. Those pointy ears weren't nearly as big as his true self's ears, but they were still unnatural.
Sigh.
She could use him for his glamour and then get rid of him to avoid dealing with all that. But it wouldn't sit well with her.
If he helps her with her goal, then it would only be fair for him to be part of what was to come as well.
The rising sun ran through a window, illuminating the hallway in a warm gold. Gyd stood outside of the door to her guestroom. Since it was Sunday, she didn't have to go into her store, leaving her the whole day to establish what she needed to do with the boy.
The chaotic energy that surrounded him could be felt through the door. Forcing the hairs on Gyd's human body to stand on their ends. Her mortal half commanded her to flee because there was something not of this world on the other side of this door. Yet, those instincts were swiftly suppressed. She, too, was something beyond human after all.
Opening the door, she found the boy cleaning her guest room.
Was he a brownie? Were there brownie changelings?
His companion was seated on a chair next to him that he must've pulled out from the room's desk. She'd almost overlooked the doll. Her mind recorded it as just that for a moment, forgetting what it truly was. Banality didn't have enough of a grip on her for her to completely ignore what was there.
The boy and doll looked over at her.
"Morning," she told them.
"Good morning," the doll responded in perfect French. The boy, not understanding or perhaps caring, went back to cleaning.
"Tell me, is he cleaning the room for the sake of cleaning it, or is it something else?"
"Alice thinks it's a sprinkling of A and a lot of B," the presumed chimera responded. It was strange that an Asian-looking boy was traveling with an English-looking porcelain doll, but who was she to judge? "I don't think he likes messes, but he seems to care about helping people a ton! I think that might be the main thing Shirou does for fun."
Gyd nodded, accepting the answer while turning the name in her hand. It definitely didn't sound like it was from around here. If Shirou cared about helping others, getting him first was imperative. It made getting him on her side much easier.
"Alice, get his attention for me," Gyd asked the doll, who didn't look too happy at being bossed around but did as she was told. The older woman shivered as those disturbing eyes turned toward her, their gaze honing in on her. They were captivating, endless, and bright, yet felt alien and emotionless.
Her eyes turned away to focus on his beautiful wings rather than his eyes. They were the most magnificent pair of wings she'd seen. Hope and joy bubbled in her chest from just their sight alone. If only they weren't wings, the worst trait a fairy could have. Gills were far superior to wings since they let you swim underwater indefinitely rather than fly. Who'd want to fly around anyway?
"I need to explain something to you," Gyd said to Shirou as she crouched down, putting herself at an equal level with the boy. She was thankful the doll started translating for her, hopeful it would be accurate. "I'm gonna need your help on a project."
The boy sat up straighter after his friend translated what she had to say. "Once there was the Kingdom of Dunes, but banality destroyed it. Forcing the court to be closed and its occupants to either become changelings or seal themselves away. I have a plan to revive it, but I can't do it myself."
"Really?! That's so sad!" The doll said, with tears in her eyes. "Were you part of this land? Now, you're all alone?!"
"Yes," Gyd said, feeling a weight in her chest. Her eyes looked away from the pair for a moment. "But can you translate my message to Shirou?"
The overly emotional doll wiped tears away from her eyes and did as she was told, though she seemed to say far more than she did, and the pair exchanged words several times. Shirou leaned forward toward Gyd, bringing his clenched hand up to his chest.
"He's totally in and wants to help. How's he going to do that, though?"
"His glamour," she answered, explaining it simply. "I need an incredible amount to both burn away enough of the banality in the surrounding lands and then to revitalize what was lost. I have an old treasure, a secret one you can't tell anyone else about, that can store a lot of glamour and use it to affect the land."
There was no way to completely undo the effects of banality or even most of the effects. But they could turn back the effects enough and return enough life that they have a fighting chance again… at least in this small kingdom.
The treasure is tied to this land, and this area is less affected by banality than any of the surrounding lands.
Shirou's glamour wouldn't be nearly enough for the ceremony despite all the glamour she'd spent years hoarding. Even if he had more glamour right now than probably every other changeling in the area combined.
But that was the fortunate silverling of their situation.
Shirou was bringing the dreaming into this world now, drawing it into focus. He's become a wellspring of glamour to pull from.
Gyd may only know what she's heard about bedlam and never seen it, but she trusts the rumors she's heard about the Lost Ones. Supposedly, they were the result of powerful fairies who didn't retreat to Arcadia during the fall of the Fae, who fell to bedlam within the Dreaming. Shirou clearly wasn't some powerful true fae that'd survived all that, but he was clearly a powerful fairy with a deep connection to the dreaming and was in a state of bedlam from it.
Clearly, she can attribute the legends of Lost Ones' abilities to Shirou based on these similarities. This means more than Shirou could know due to another aspect of this rumor she heard from an Unseelie Pooka friend.
They had infinite glamour that everyone could use. Because they are so linked to the Dreaming and pulling it into them rather than being an aspect of it, they gain glamour. Plus, everyone around them gains free and easy glamour. Shirou must be on the weaker side because she doesn't feel herself having gained anything, but that doesn't matter. As long as he continuously gains glamour, eventually, they'll have enough!
She'll have to thank Léonce for the information next time she sees them. Perhaps even pet her lion ears to show her appreciation for this valuable information. It is hard to find truthful people amongst the fae, but when she first met Léonce and they told her Pooka couldn't lie, it took a weight off her shoulders.
After all, it meant that there were more honest and upfront fae out there. Léonce even promised to introduce her to some other Pooka when she had the chance.
Alice translated what she said to Shirou, and the two talked some more before turning to her and nodding.
"I gotta ask for his sake. You're not gonna be a bully, right? And try to steal all his glamour?"
"Of course not. I believe in honest and forthright mutually beneficial agreements," Gyd denied the accession. "As a show of this, the first time will drain him of half his glamour, that'll still leave him with far more than me."
It might take more time, but if it made them feel better, then she was fine doing it that way.
"And when we're not doing this?"
"I'll find some books to teach him French, and he can distract himself and help me by cleaning the house. I run an emporium of used goods and need things sorted out. He just needs to stay within this house for now."
The doll considered what she said, but its eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Stay in place sounds awful, but this place needs a complete cleaning that adults can't seem to do. If this is really stuff for a store, it should be there or in a storage locker, not laying out everywhere. Plus, you seem to lack a work-life balance. You should work on that."
Gyd glared at the annoying, insulting doll but bit back her words. It wouldn't be a good idea to anger the sole translator of a bedlam-ridden childling.
At least she'd managed to get their complete support.
The sun was setting by the time Gyd was sitting at a newly cleaned table with the blue-eyed changeling she'd taken in. His companion got a chair, too, sitting across from Shirou and using a stack of books as a high chair.
She placed a dust-covered stone on the table. A slowly pulsating heart of green was slotted in the middle of the triangle. Its veins grew over parts of the stone, keeping it in place. Dust blew into the air.
"Creepy!" The doll muttered, leaning away as she hugged herself. "What wicked queen made that?! And Alice doesn't think it's a pig heart either!"
"It is a part of the magical alter I took with me," Gyd spoke, looking down at the beautiful treasure before her. "I found the part stored glamour and removed it."
That made pouring her energy into it easier and meant she didn't have to go to where the alter is hidden to do so every week. Keeping it a secret from the other changelings in the area would be far more difficult if she had to do that.
"Tell Shirou to place his hand on the heart," she told the doll, tilting it toward the boy. "It'll drain and store his glamour."
"Okay, but how should he know when to take it off?"
"I'll remove it for him, or he can stop when he so desires," Gyd answered quickly, feeling a bit anxious about getting this done but doing her best not to show it.
The doll nodded and translated for her but scooted back a bit on her books.
Shirou nodded, doing as he was told. A soft, wet sound filled the air as he placed his hand on it a little too hard. The flesh of the heart paled around his fingers as it drank from the fount it was granted.
Gyd leaned forward, ready to stop the process at any moment. She could feel his bottomless chaotic energy bounce around but shift as it was drained toward the heart stone. The green color grew more brilliant as the veins grew thicker and more abundant. The childling's glamour growing smaller.
Minutes pass.
The woman bit her lip as she felt the energy around her change, becoming more stable as it shrank. What was going on?
Gyd looked over at the boy's changeling eyes and saw them becoming more focused. More present.
Was it somehow pulling him from bedlam by removing his glamour? It didn't damage one's connection to the Dreaming. She knew that from experience, but glamour pulled someone toward their fae sides. Did draining much of it help one's human side come out? Was it the sudden shock of having so much pulled out at once? Or was it something else? Something to do with whatever the heart actually is?
What should she do now, regardless of the cause? She could remove his hand now so he stayed in bedlam or let him return to normal. Either one was beneficial to her.
She glanced away, struggling for a moment, but came to a decision.
Leaning back a bit, she let it happen.
It might take longer, but if they have two changelings gathering glamour, things will go smoother for her. Bringing him back down to normal childling levels would make it easier for him to be taught and mentored. Less work for her.
Her hands gripped the table as a few more moments passed, and the boy's energy eventually stabilized completely. He removed his hand without her needing to, rubbing his eyes as he looked around. His human self became more visible as a remnant of his wrongness remained, yet diminished.
Gyd pulled the stone triangle away from the boy. Now glowing a brighter emerald, veins covering most of the tablet. Shirou still had more glamour than her or the local nobles, but it was down to a reasonable level, even if it likely wasn't his maximum. Yet, she wouldn't force him to give more, especially now that his state of mind had changed.
Perhaps she should make some coffee. She was feeling thirsty.
At least she wouldn't have to explain everything to Shirou. Based on the fact he wasn't freaking out about everything going on or where he was, he still had to remember much of what was going on.
Gyd just had to check what, if anything, he'd forgotten and remind him. As long as his chimera helps, it shouldn't take too long.
AN:
Hello! Welcome to another chapter!
This chapter took a while. I also had to make some decisions…
I decided to spend up getting back to the Autumn world because I think I prefer writing there, and while I could've written a lot more in the aftermath, a bedlam Shirou is hard to write to, hence why I had Gyd be the POV character for half the chapter and 'help' Shirou from bedlam, even if all isn't as it seems with that. Plus, I felt what could've been explored afterward wouldn't be as good as that which was left unsaid.
I also decided to show very little of the time spent traveling in the Dreaming. Instead just showing how dangerous wild it is and leaving how long they traveled as an unknown. (It was at least long enough to recharge his glamour enough to dangerous levels he shouldn't nearly have, at least as a small changeling childling that doesn't even know their True name.)
Also, for those who don't know lore: Pooka can only lie, meaning Gydeline is pretty wrong about a lot of things. Especially how bedlam works, they don't get limitless glamour, and Lost Ones are supposedly full fae trapped in freeholds and got 0 to do with Shirou and are way way more dangerous. (Also, it 100% would have exploded in her face if she kept Shirou in bedlam; someone in that state isn't someone you can control.) But I do treat bedlamites as having far more glamour than they normally do, as they are described as wellsprings of the stuff.
Two very important notes thought:
I'm using the French-only book Le Monde des Ténèbres: France, which was released in 1997. Gydeline and the plot points come from the Calais section, which had big issues that cropped up years after the book was released. I've done my best to research both them and the history of the area for this. Also, this is the World of Darkness, so things will be satirized and taken a bit to the extreme within boundaries.
Secondly, the book was French only and came out in 1997, and the Inanimae book came out in 1998. The issue is that Gydeline is depicted as a changeling Undine, with them all being hiding away. Meanwhile, Inanimae has the Ondine, who are water inanimate and completely different from changelings. I'm simply going to treat these two things as separate but similar things. Gydeline = undine. Inanimae = ondine.
I just needed to note that since most people reading this English fanfic aren't going to have read the French book and would end up very confused if they looked up WoD Undine and got Ondine.
Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day and Christmas!