บท 3: A Simple Girl In A Complicated Place
Determined steps turned into hesitant ones, the determination melting like snow in the sun faced with the unnatural structure that seemed so utterly impossible. In the end only curiosity spurned Emmy on, to step through those gates and see what was hiding behind those massive walls that cut through fields and forest as though the natural form of the land didn't matter at all.
Finally, the well trodden path through the fields led her to the entrance of the structure. The mystical fairy city she imagined...didn't exist. As her bare feet carried her through the unguarded gate, under the walls that turned out to be at least 40 steps long, a real tunnel, she gazed at the ordinary homestead behind it in disbelief.
It was a homestead. About fifty steps from the wall, with fields and a moat, a wooden fence and a mix of wooden barns, truss houses and a few round clay houses, there was a perfectly ordinary homestead.
Emmy looked from the wall that had large windows showing empty rooms on this side to the homestead and back.
Something invisible filled the windows, something that reflected the light far more than the ice windows they used in the caves in winter in the homestead where she was born. Maybe the fairies would live in the walls? There were a lot of splatforms with entrances all over the wall. It kind of looked like the Honeycombs she was used to, only with a square structure. It was highly mysterious.
Confused but also strangely reassured Emmy walked towards the homestead. The absence of any visible fairies was a relief but also a disappointment. Maybe it was the gods' work after all? But the entrances seemed strangely small, so it was surely meant for fairies. But why did fairies decide to build...whatever it was?
Before enlightenment could find her Emmy reached the homestead. Everyone was busy since it was still planting season, but soon it would be time for the the summer moon festival, so after lunch people would hurry back to their fields. At this moment people were busy heaving heavy sacks full of seeds, manure and straw onto carts. The straw indicated that this homestead had cows or horses somewhere, or bith, so they seemed richer than her home. If she could find a nice husband in this place, with its wealth and the mystery aroundthem it would be amazing.
A few more steps carried her through the homestead's gate and then, finally, someone noticed her.
Emmy caught the gaze of a girl that had just been busy checking the cart wheels while the ass stomped impatiently at the front. With a somewhat insecure smile, Emmy waved at her. The girl smiled back brightly and waved back before she ran around the cart and towards her, the bare feet creating slight dust clouds beneath her feet. It really was just about time for summer moon.
The girl, a bit older than Emmy with light blonde hair in a long braid, came to her while Emmy stopped, waiting. Being too bold at first in a new place was not good, she guessed. She might wander somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, like that one time in her own homestead when a young man walked into the wrong round clay house and interrupted something...private. Inher home there were two types of those, one for storing seeds and one for young couples, each marked differently. The guy hadn't realized that not all held seeds and gotten into a world of trouble. Emmy swore that she would never make a mistake like that. So she stood still, waiting for someone to guide her and arrange an introduction.
The girl greeted Emmy with a smile and kind words. " Hello! Welcome to our homestead. My name is Isadora, but everyone calls me Izzy, so please do that, as well."
The hand she held out was not all that clean, with dirt under her nails and old fat and dust from the wheel on her palms. Innother words, a perfectly normal state for a hardworking girl. Emmy shook hands with her happily. "My name is Emmeline, please feel free to call me Emmy. I was...surprised by that...wall thing. And then the stone just started growing out of the ground...so...what exactly is going on?"
Izzy nodded and tried to look...kind of like Emmy's grandmother looked when she started singing a great saga. Due to her age the wrinkled brows and slitted eyes along with the lifted chin just looked silly. Somehow this made the whole situation seem less serious and Emmy's nervously twitching left thigh became slightly less bothersome. Somehow her legs wanted to either explore those walls or run away, but so far the favor hadn't been tipped in any one direction.
"The fairies came half a moon ago. The elders said that they were going to build a pa-less, whatever that is, in the middle of that big circle. So far we only got this huge wall going right through our fields and a plot of flat land where we used to have wild forests." Izzy explained, looking very impressed with herself. Emmy just nodded along with wide eyes. "They said that they want lots and lots of people to come and live here do de-well-op ex-o-mi-cally."
Emmy blinked at the strange words, but she was pretty certain that Izzy had no idea what kind of mystical things the fairies wanted to do either.
"So...I was on my virgin journey..." Emmy started hopefully.
Izzy gave her a bright smile. "You want to see the fairies, right?!? They are really really unbelievable! But they only show up sometimes, when they want to. My aunty Tilda saw one of them just disappear into thin air. And they have really colorful, shiny clothes, but since they came stuff just disappears all the time. Like, my father's old stone ax and aunty Tilda's pretty carved bench and the culorful stones I found in the river." Izzy started talking, going over a long list of things that the fairies stole. Emmy had heard a lot of legends about the mischievous fairies that liked to play pranks and steal things, but what was going on in this place...maybe all those stories were really true?
Her curious gaze first swept over the outlandish wall and the even higher buildings, then the seemingly ordinary homestead with its very real theft problem while listening to Izzy's tales. Somehow, the feeling that she would regret it her whole life if she didn't find out what was going on, mixed with a healthy dose of fear and nervous energy turned into a burning need to find out more. If the fairies suddenly came out of hiding just when theseparchments appeared...just what was going on in this world? It was a question that started to bother Emmy, though she knew very well that it was one meant for the elders to solve, not some clueless girl on her virgin journey. She just hoped they would tell her soon.
Emmy was ripped out of her confusing, contemplating thoughts when they reached one of the truss houses.
"This is where our elders live. Someone should be here, it's not like more than half of them could just walk around." Izzy said as she opened the door.
Whether she would stay or be forced to leave was about to be decided. Emmy dusted off her skirt, took a deep breath and entered.
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