First People: La 'lor Ae

Sybil

Sybil waits impatiently at the thinnest part of the veil in the area, up-tilted green eyes wide with mischief and wonder. She watches as the sun sinks lower behind the mountain and holds her breath in anticipation for the last of the Mabon La'lor Ae.

The humans have not held strong to their ancestral ways, they do not celebrate and worship as they once did. It is clear in the way each La'lor Ae seems to last an even shorter period than it ever has.

As she feels the air become charged with ancient magic, the trees begin to mutter, the ferns and plant life starting their normal bickering about the animals that like to tear away at their roots during the day, pulling them apart for sustenance.

A cluster of blackberry overgrowth hums about how little rain they have had, until now, and she loses track of their voices as the entirety of the forest becomes a symphony of conversation. Instead she listens to the rain start to pelt the ground in a quickening rhythm, drowning out all their unearthly trilling voices. A large oak whispers through it's leaves above her about a boy in the forest and her pointed ears perk at that, but she ignores them, waiting on tip toe for the veil to finally lift away.

"Focus, not yet.." Her words are for her alone. She rubs her sweating palms over the sheer moss colored tunic hanging to her thighs, anticipation miking her heart race as if it belongs in the chest cavity of a hare rather than her own.

Slowly, so achingly slowly, the air just in front of her shimmers, the magic splitting and reflecting light like the delicate fibers of a widows web and she can't help but smile wide as she bolts through it and into the realm of men.

It is my Sybil's first time back here since she angered her mother by staying too long last time. The Queen, had kept her away for a full human year as punishment. A human year in normal circumstances would feel like a fleeting moment to their people, but Aine can sometimes be particularly cruel when it suits her. Especially when it comes to her youngest daughter.

She'd sentenced her to live out each moment, the time passing as if she herself were mortal.

Finally though, she is back and can revel in the beauty of this place once more. Even at several decades of life, Sybil has never loved a place more than she loves this forest and this mountain. The Isles of Morar are astonishingly beautiful of course, but this has always been her most treasured paradise.

She was always rather short for her race but still has the distinct High Fae appearance, all long limbs and torso with high cheek bones, a dainty feminine face, bowed lips and of course the pointed ears she could easily hide in her long dark brown hair. She could pass for human she thought, even though they were not allowed to let them see them. She usually tried to find trails to hike with lots of them on it, so that she could casually pass by and study them without drawing any close attention. That's how she got into trouble, she was so enthralled by them that she made it back to this part of the woods just as a the sun rose and trapped herself in this realm until the next La'lor Ae the following evening.

When she did not return to Morar at dawn her mother had sent her least favorite sibling to fetch her.

That won't happen this time though, this is the last La'lor Ae until Yule. She would be back with plenty of time until sunrise. She carefully tucks her hair perfectly around the tips of her ears, wills her eyes to dim to an earthly shade of green without the Fae iridescence, and glamours her blue tinted pale skin covered in green knotwork tattoos to be a much more mortal tanned shade of golden brown.

She'd had to borrow clothing from people long ago in order to walk among them unnoticed. She'd found this interesting tunic and replaced the stolen clothing from that camp with an agate from her realm that she knew they'd appreciate.

Her now emerald eyes flick over to the bush nearest her, a rustling within it causing her Fae pupils to dilate like a cats. She crouches low to the ground, bare feet gliding across the forest floor silently as she stalks the animal within the plant. The gray rabbit bolts from the bush, flying away from her approach in mock fear and prey driven speed.

"Come back here, shh, it's ok..." She yells after it, catching the change of atmosphere as dawn approaches and the trees become silent again. But, Instead of feeling alone in the forest, she feels free. For hours she plays with the hare and chases it down the mountain side until its pitch black out and she knows she still needs to climb back up the mountain.

She leans in towards the rabbit to thank them for the game and they dart in front of her, as if taunting her to catch them one last time. They then scurry into a thicker bush a few strides away.

"Oh! You cheater!" She smiles, long legs stretching as far as they can to keep pace with the small creature.

She stops the chase suddenly, standing erect and looking around. Pushing her long hair back around an ear to listen, her eyebrows furrow. The invisible tattoos on her now human looking flesh glittering with magic in a quick wave over her body in the pale moonlight and she feels it almost too late.

Her heart beat quickens in her ears and she sucks in a breath, holding it. Slowly she closes her eyes and relaxes her features...using her Fae ears to listen now. It's why her people usually don't glamour their ears if they can help it, it affects their hearing and renders them nearly useless, like a humans.

CLICK. CLICK.

Her eyelids pop open again and she turns on her heel, sprinting for the treeline.

"The park, I was too far outside of the safety of Mt Rainer park." She whisper screams, scolding herself under her breath.

She runs as fast as her feet will carry her, breath catching in her throat as she desperately tries to take in more air. As she reaches the tree line, sprinting up the mountain she dives, her body landing hard into the soft dirt as she is distracted by the sudden appearance of a boy laying almost face down in the dirt near a large tree's trunk, her arms stretch out and lace into the roots beneath the forest floor as she merges her body with the same tree, a sparkling mist falling over its bark. Something whizzes past, leaving a trail of fire along her ribs. She unites with the very essence of this tree and it's branches full of fall colored leaves become her own. As she fully disappears into it, the cedar welcomes her, protecting her from the danger.

A male wearing the colors of the forest, with dirt smeared on his round face walks out into the clearing, he removes his orange cap, scratching his balding head and looking back and forth from one end of the farming lands at the base of the mountain to the other. He shifts his rifle to the other arm and unloads it with a bewildered expression. Before stalking off the way he'd come.

"The hell was that? He mutters to himself. "Damn coyotes are gonna take every last ewe, I swear to god."