Mianite Supernatural Creatures

Gifts from the Past

Sonja

I breathe through the pain of the separation spell I'm performing. I had to do this, I remind myself I can't be away from my tree for more than a few days without doing one. Had I realised we would be away for so long, I would have taken a cutting before leaving but as it stands, the spell is the only thing I can do. Just bite your lip and bare the pain, Sonja, you've been through worse.

"You alright?" I hear a voice that distracts me from casting the spell. Looking up I see Lotus, the young fairy woman, staring at me with both curiously and concern. I attempt to smile reassuringly since, despite how she's a fae, like me, I know fairies don't really have the same experiences as I do. They don't have an anchor connected to them like I do. "Should I get one of your friends?"

"No, I'm fine, really," I attempt to convince her because it's better than having her worry. It doesn't seem to work. Of course it wouldn't work, of course it wouldn't. I sigh. How do I explain this without making her too worried? "I was just doing a spell to temporary separate me from my tree."

"Does that hurt?" She genuinely seems to not know which almost makes me feel bad. Fairies are usually healers, their dust is one of the most potent types of healing magic in the world. She obviously wants to help but this isn't the sort of pain she can help with, at least I don't think it is. I've never used fairy dust myself or asked a fairy if they feel pain when injured despite how fast their injuries heal. "I was taught a little about other fae but I haven't met any, not like Cap and her dad."

Suddenly, I perk up, extremely curious about what she's talking about. The girl we're going to find has met other fae, possibly other dryads. I haven't met other met other dryads (mostly because going to look for them is hard because of the separation spell). I've always been curious though, what are the others like?

"Do you know if she met any dryads?" I ask hoping that I don't look too excited. If she thinks I'm excited then she might lie to make me feel better. She frowns and I feel like I know what she's going to say. It's okay though, it feels okays. She must have met plenty of other interesting people.

"I... I don't think so. I think she met a merchant who had. She brought back a leaf clipping thing once," While she clearly doesn't think it's impressive I find myself amazed. A leaf cutting from a dryad isn't a thing to be taken lightly though I have given out a couple myself and that makes me more curious. If it was one of mine then I wouldn't have to do the separation spell. It's a long shot but it's surely worth looking.

"Could I see the leaf clipping?" She hesitates which I  suppose is reasonable. This isn't hers, it belongs to her missing friend. Still, it really would help if I could see it, possibly even borrow it. Just anything to stop the pain.

"I guess there's no harm in it," She doesn't sound sure of herself. She does, however, start leading me out of the room. The walk is longer than I would've expected, taking me out of the building where we were all taken to and through the town for a little while until we come to another building that she takes me into. It hardly has time to make an impression on me, though I can tell it's a home until she leads me into one particular room.

It's nothing like I would've imagined. It's a bedroom, the walls of which are covered in drawings. All of them have clearly been done by a talented artist but that's not what I find impressive about them. I recognise some of the things in the drawings. Most of them are little things, things that belong to me or Tucker or Wag, but the one I can't ignore is much bigger. It's a drawing of Tom in his full dragon form, wings outstretched and taking up half a wall.

"She draws what she sees in her dreams and her visions. She can't always tell the difference," I try not to look like I don't believe her. Visionaries are always confusing to me. It's not that I think they don't have powers but none that I've met have actually been able to explain their powers. I can't say that a person I've never met isn't one though, especially since she shouldn't be able to know some of the things drawn on her walls. "The leaf clipping is in here."

She hands me a wooden box, one decorated with metal engravings that I can just feel is precious. I almost hesitate to open it. When I do the contents is almost as confusing as it is somewhat brilliant. There are gems, feathers, rocks, bags of coloured dust, and leaves. It looks like junk but I can almost feel the magic coming off them. Among the leaves is magic that's extremely familiar. I reach into the box and pick up a bracelet made from one of my leaf cuttings.

"This is from my tree. I could take this instead of casting the spell," I feel myself smiling, it's even been made into something easy to wear. Lotus smiles too. She clearly doesn't dislike the idea of me taking it. If we're going to find the person who collected it, it shouldn't be too hard to give back to her. Still, a few nerves crop up in my mind. "She won't mind me borrowing it, will she?"

"No, of course not! She collected all these things because she said they'd help someone someday," I find myself smiling because of how this girl sounds. It sounds like her vision powers are more real than those of anyone else I've met before. I would never have believed it but here I am somehow being helped by a girl who isn't here. All I can wonder is how much she knew was going to happen and how much she did on vague whims that one day it might just help someone.

A/N:

So I'm really enjoying writing this story arch, probably more than I really should because I know where it's going and am just so excited to write it. I have a couple more parts planned for before they live the fairy tribe (though not all of them are set there) :)

I hope you enjoyed the part, comments and feedback are welcome :D