A secret world revealed

[Lady Jenn]

Nikkela was fleeing, she feared for her life. She had been trying to track down a human, one the Prince had sent her to locate, but when she had got there the Nightstalker had already killed her target. A battle had ensued, and she had won, but with her injuries and the sense reinforcements would arrive soon she had to flee, teleporting randomly until she lacked the energy to do so any longer. Her dress was partially torn, there was a piece of one of her four wings missing, and there was a nasty cut across her left cheek.

"You...you'd think I'd be better at healing myself," she muttered to no-one in particular, falling to her knees as she tried to regain her breath., her bow and arrows falling to the ground. "Just need...rest." She was so exhausted she hadn't noticed where she had landed. While it wasn't by a road, she had landed in the middle of a major footpath, too exhausted to even attempt to be on her watch in case she was attacked. She hadn't even thought to shrink to her fairy size yet.

[KariAteRachel]

Holly had just waved good-bye to a group of sailor boys that she had been spending the day with. She had met them on the dock at the mainland, and hitched a ride with them over to the island she was wanting to visit. The trip was far more fun than taking a ferry, and all it cost her was a pack of beer. With a slight buzz, and a stupid grin on her face, Holly headed towards the trail head she had planned to visit that day. For a moment, she stalled. The day had turned to late afternoon, and Holly wasn't sure how far the trail went, or how long it would take her to finish it. Still, she had her backpack with her that contained water and some snacks, plus her hammock was packed away as well. The summer weather was clear, and warm, and she traveled all the way out there, so why not.

It didn't take long for Holly to make a significant dent in the trail, and the sky started to turn pink and gold. She would have to make camp soon, but wanted to go a little further before she did. It was when Holly was climbing up a small, rocky hill, that she noticed the other woman. At first, she smiled and waved. This was the first person she had come across on her hike. Then, she saw the woman's appearance. She was dressed strange, with a bow and a pair of wings to match. "Shit," she said, "I've ran into a cosplayer." Holly began to wonder if there was a renaissance faire or something similar around. They weren't uncommon where she was from, but she also knew that people who attended those were occasionally crazy, and she tried to find a way around the woman without having to talk to her. There was not, and so she had no choice but to talk to the woman. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked.

[Lady Jenn]

Nikkela cursed under her breath, the adrenaline of her escape wearing off enough for her to realise the mistake she'd made in not hiding herself. A quick flex of her injured wing told her escaping wasn't practical, even before the amount of pain she was in made her realise something was wrong.

"I don't suppose you'll believe this is..." She stopped mid-sentence, a wave of nausea washing over her. "Shit, why did I let the damn thing touch me? I should be...better trained than that." She dropped a shoulder bag to the floor, a series of herbs just visible underneath the flap. "I...I promise I'll explain everything, but I need you to do something for me. There is an ice blue herb in that bag, and...and some bandages. I need you to press it to my cheek and..." She could feel herself losing consciousness already. "Please, it need to be done quick..." She collapsed to the floor, unconscious, her body suddenly feverish and turning worryingly pale.

[KariAteRachel]

Holly watched in confusion and horror as the woman dropped a bag on the ground and asked for her help. What was Holly supposed to do? She didn't know the first thing about medicine, or herbs, or whatever. She knew how to put a bandaid on a cut, and to take painkillers for sprained ankles. Other than that, she was clueless. Maybe she could call someone, but a quick glance at her cellphone told her that she had no service out here and calling for an ambulance or something was impossible. "Shit shit shit," she groaned as she jogged over to the now unconscious woman.

Now what had she said? A blue herb? In the bag were many blue herbs. Judging by the woman's complexion, Holly didn't have much time. She picked out the lightest shade of blue that was in the bag, and pressed it to her cheek. She took out a large bandaid from her pack, and used that to keep the herbs in place. It was getting late, and there was no time to try and make her way back to town, much less trying to carry another person. So, Holly pulled out her hammock, and tied it to a pair of fairly sized trees. Then, she picked up the odd woman, carefully so that she didn't damage her more, and laid her inside. She could lean against the tree for the night. She doubted there would be any kind of animals that would hurt her. She really just wished the other woman would make it through the night. She didn't want to explain to local athorities how a tourist ended up with a dead woman in the middle of the night.

[Lady Jenn]

Nikkela stirred, wincing slightly as she tried to move her wings, before remembering what had happened and waking to find herself tucked up in the hammock. For a few moments she watched Holly, considering her options. If Naarin had been there she suspected he'd tell her to fly off while the girl wasn't watching, but even if Nikkela thought that was a good idea she knew she needed to recover properly before she could do that. Besides, she felt too connected to Holly to disappear on her.

"Y'know, I don't normally faint in front of beautiful women," Nikkela said, laughing, but then instantly telling herself off inwardly. "Sorry, that was inappropriate on...just about every level." She tried to push herself upright, wincing as she put weight on her injured arm. "Ordinarily this'd be the point I tell you this is a dream, or I'm wearing a costume, but I think we're a bit late for that. I'm Nikkela by the way," she said, wriggling her fingers to make sure she wasn't hiding anymore injuries. "Of all the times to not notice I was in human lands, I'll be lucky if they've not sent a search party out after me," she was so busy muttering to herself she'd forgotten to even check if Holly was paying attention, too distracted to follow her own rules.

[KariAteRachel]

At some point, Holly had dozed off. She had watched the sky grow dark, the stars came out, and she charted the stars. Since she was little, she had an affinity for astrology, and the night was so clear. Though the trees covered up most of the stars, Holly was able to see most of them. Normally, she didn't see much, but tonight, after meeting this woman, something in the universe felt different.

Holly didn't wake up until the woman spoke. She blushed slightly at the compliment, and wasn't sure how she felt about it. They just met after all. She had too many questions to think of anything else. "You're genuinely a fairy," Holly said. "I actually met and saved a fairy." Holly started laughing. It was a mix of disbelief and humor, like what Nikkela was telling her a joke. She half believed it, but at the same time, fairies weren't actually real, were they? "Sorry, I should introduce myself," she continued, calming down. "I'm Holly, and I'm not from here, and where I'm from we don't have fairies or whatever, so like, I am so fucking confused."

[Lady Jenn]

Nikkela let out a laugh, half amused and half bitter, at Holly's comment. She tried to stand up, finding herself still slightly unsteady on her feet, but now she wasn't trying to run as for some reason she felt safer around this woman than she had around humans in quite a long time.

"I appreciate that you think fairies aren't where you are, but you couldn't be more wrong," Nikkela replied. "Or...at least, I hope you're wrong. With all the creatures that are wondering the world now god only knows if all the fairy colonies that once existed are still out there." As she tried to shift into a more comfortable position her tunic moved enough to reveal an old but still vicious looking scar on her stomach. "There's a whole world of magic out there you humans don't know about, although the way this war is going you're going to know about it soon enough whether you like it or not."

[KariAteRachel]

Holly listened to what Nikkela had to say, furrowing her eyebrows a bit. Fairies were a part of a child's imagination. Most people stopped believing in them, or so she thought. Now, seeing one face to face, she wasn't sure if she was more drunk than she thought, or if this was real. "Is whatever you're talking about what happened to you?" She asked, tilting her head in the direction of Nikkela's wounds. "You're really banged up. You should probably get looked at by a doctor or medicine man, or a healer? Someone?" Holly wasn't sure what medicine could be used to heal wings, but she also knew that infections were a thing.

Suddenly, Holly's stomach growled. She hadn't had a proper meal since the morning before, and after a day of drinking, hiking, and saving a mythical creature, she was starving. Her bag was empty of food now, and that meant she had to go back to town for food. "Are you okay to stand up? We should probably eat something, and I'm sorry, but I'm out of food."

[Lady Jenn]

"I appreciate the offer," Nikkela replied. "And I should certainly get some kind of medical attention, but hospitals are not a safe option. We have good reason to believe there are humans among the enemy's forces so I can't be certain that we'll be safe in a hospital. I should be able to heal myself, although I might need your help with it." She found herself blushing suddenly, although she couldn't begin to think why.

Suddenly her stomach growled loudly.

"Well, I could probably do with some food as well," she said. "I'd take you back to my home but I suspect I need to...prepare you more before I take you there. I would certainly appreciate getting food from somewhere though."

[KariAteRachel]

Holly frowned. Hospitals weren't safe? Well, then when were they supposed to go? "Okay, um, let's get you patched up first," she said, standing up. "The trail back to town is a hike, and i'm sorry, but I can't carry you that far, so I need you to walk," she continued. There was a diner on the outside of town that she remembered well. It wasn't busy when she had passed by it, so there wouldn't be a lot of people to question them if Nikkela was worried about humans seeing her.

Still, what did Holly get herself into? She didn't expect to be entangled in some magical journey when she started her hike yesterday. Sure she was looking for an adventure, but she wasn't some main character of a story or something. Maybe she could get this girl fed and on her way. Then, she could pretend this was all some kind of drunk fever dream. Honestly, this was a lot to process, and she wasn't a hero. Even if she wanted to be when she was younger, and she likes to do acts of kindness, Holly wasn't sure she was ready to save a fairy kingdom.

[Lady Jenn]

Nikkela tried to take a step, wincing as a needle-sharp pain went through one of her legs, but she did her best to keep it hidden from Holly. "You'll have to excuse the fact that I cannot walk quickly, but yes, I should be able to." She closed her eyes for a moment, muttering something under her breath in a strange tongue. After a moment, with a rainbow-coloured shimmer, her wings had vanished entirely.

"At least we should be able to walk unnoticed," she said, trying to smile slightly. "I don't suppose you live somewhere nearby? I could probably do with a wash and some clean clothes. I mean, if you've got any clothes likely to fit me anyway." She cursed herself internally, she was usually better at talking to people than she felt she was with Holly at that moment, she could only think that it was her lack of experience with interacting with humans.

[KariAteRachel]

Holly didn't miss the wince, but didn't say anything. She watched as Nikkela's wings disappeared suddenly, and her eyes went wide. "Well damn. If you didn't dress like you fell out of the middle ages, you'd almost look human." She gave Nikkela a smile, that quickly faded when she was asked about where she lived. "Uh..." Shoot, she wasn't sure what to say. "I, uh, um... I'm not from here," she stuttered out. She didn't even have a room at an inn, or a place to stay. That had slipped her mind when she came here. The whole plan was to hike and figure out where to sleep later. Now that she actually needed somewhere to go, and she didn't have one made her feel stupid.

"I'm sure we can, uh, get a room somewhere when we get back to town," she continued, trying to form a plan. "You see, I'm kind of a nomad, I guess you can call it, and I literally just landed on the island before I ran into you, so I haven't had time to go anywhere." Dealing with fairies were weird. Didn't she have somewhere to go? Or was whatever she was attacked by destroy her home to?

[Lady Jenn]

"Do you have money at least?" she asked, not even bothering to check her own pockets. She was almost certain she had no fairy currency, and even if she had done she knew enough about humans to realise the coins a fairy would accept would get them nowhere with non-fairies. "I'm afraid I don't exactly have human currency just hiding in my medicine bag.

She was too honourable to make fun of Holly, feeling an odd desire to protect her that confused her, making her want to do anything to distract herself. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're flu-" She stopped herself, cursing in her home city's tongue and wishing the ground would swallow her at that moment. "Sorry, you can probably tell talking to humans isn't something I find myself doing often. Not since..." Her voice trailed off as she stared silently into the distance for a moment. "Anyway, we'd...we'd better find somewhere to stay." She was shivering slightly, but it wasn't cold. She didn't feel she knew the human girl well enough to tell her why she was getting emotional.

[KariAteRachel]

Right after Nikkela asked about money, Holly shifted through her pack to find her wallet. She had about a hundred in British money, and a little more on her debit card, so she'd be fine. Besides, she really wanted to sleep in a real bed since her body was already starting to feel tired after the short bit of walking that they had started. By the time they would make it back to town, she was sure she would be exhausted. "We should be fine," Holly said, putting her wallet away.

She continued walking, and listening to what Nikkela was saying. For a moment, she spoke in another language, and Holly could have swore she almost understood her, and knew what she said. It might have been her brain being tired, or maybe it was a phrase she had heard in her many travels, but she did a double take when she heard it anyway. Nikkela was odd. "Ooookay. Well, we'll be spending some time together I guess. We might as well get to know each other, yeah?" She said, trying to break the awkward atmosphere. "Do you want to play twenty questions? Nothing too serious, but I would prefer if you aren't a total stranger to me if we have to sleep in the same room." She flashed the fairy a big smile, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

[Lady Jenn]

She felt her face redden considerably, making a mental note to ask her friends to teach her a way to hide it when this was all over. 'I don't get it,' she thought to herself. 'I should be able to control myself around her better than this.' She also made a mental note to hope Holly wasn't hiding telepathic abilities right then.

"Of...of course we'll be in the same room," she said, a little more hurriedly than she'd intended. She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "This might be a weird question to start with, but...do you have any siblings? Not in a 'Do you have a cute brot...' Crap, I can't form a coherent sentence, I apologise. I'm not usually this tongue-tied." She ran a hand through her hair. "I would like to know about your family though, as long as that's not too personal a question to ask. Mine..." She shivered again. "Mine is...complicated, to put it mildly."

[KariAteRachel]

Holly watched as Nikkela's face reddened, and she smirked at her knowingly, but didn't say anything. Hopping onto a fallen tree trunk, Holly walked with her arms out, balancing the as she went. The fairy asked her first question, and Holly laughed. It was a clear, bell like sound that echoed in the quiet woods. "Don't apologize. I can see that something has you flustered." Holly winked at her, but said nothing else about her behavior.

"I don't have a family," she said with sigh. It wasn't something she was embarrassed about, so she felt no worry talking about it. After all, she wouldn't lie about it. "I'm a foster child, meaning I grew up with other people who I'm not related to. Besically, the government moved me from place to place until I could take care of myself. I don't have parents or siblings or anyone. Hence, why I'm a nomad." Holly shrugged, and changed subjects. "My turn to ask a question," she winked. "Tell me about where you're from. I'd like to see it someday."

[Lady Jenn]

She found herself watching Holly closely, both while she walked along the log and as she spoke, feeling a pang of sympathy as she discussed her lack of family. Part of her wanted to reach out and hug Holly, but for once her brain functioned well enough she realised that would likely come across a little strange. "I'm sorry to hear that, my parents aren't...around anymore either, but that's a whole other story." She wrapped her arms around herself for a moment, a single tear falling from her eyes. What she didn't realise was that, as her arms move, her sleeves slipped down, revealing a wound that was evidently old enough it had healed partially but was still visible.

A small smile crossed her face at the question of home. "I think you'd have preferred it before...before everything went wrong," she replied. "I don't know its original name, they stopped using it long before my birth, but nowadays it is called the Shadow Glade. From a distance it's invisible, but at fairy size and at close range it is one of the most incredible fairy cities you'll ever see. Rows of houses covered in blossoms, a market that sells everything you could wish, and all towered over by the royal palace, home of Queen Nareena. You could be forgiven for thinking it's just like any human city except...except for the constant soldier patrols anyway." She was so busy reminiscing that she had unconsciously allowed her wings to reappear. They were like those of a butterfly, the only difference the strange glittering patterns that danced across their surface.

[KariAteRachel]

"Sounds like something out of a video game," Holly answered. She jumped down from her log when it came to its end, and she rejoined Nikkela at her side. There was definitely a streak on her face where a tear had fallen, and Holly's smile faded a bit. She had no idea what Nikkela had been through, but she was sure whatever was happening was to her home was awful. Part of her wanted to know more, but it was clearly a touchy subject, and it wasn't her place to pry. They had just met after all. So instead, she went to change the subject, but noticed Nikkela's wings again.

"Hey, hun?" She started out hesitantly. "Your wings are showing again. You might want to keep those hidden as we get closer to town." Holly tried to be a nice as possible, but she was afraid her comment would come off as rude. "So is your city kind of tiny then? Or is everyone normal size like you?" she asked, not even thinking before she spoke out loud. It was something that had crossed her mind, and she spoke it before she could stop herself. "Uh, I mean, you said fairy size, right? What does that even mean?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Sorry," she said, closing her eyes for a few moments as the wings disappeared again. "I think I might be suffering the effects of what attacked me still, ordinarily the spell that hides my wings...I don't even have to think about it." She let out a dry chuckle. "I don't know what your species believes about magic, but it is not as simple as you might think."

"To a human the city would appear barely as large as blades of grass," Nikkela replied, glad for the distraction. "Fairies are usually small enough that we can pass unnoticed by humans or animals. But when we need to take on something like this we...can..." The words died on her lips, as she sensed something she shouldn't be able to.

Magic.

And it was certainly not hers.

Without a thought, reacting on instinct, she grabbed Holly's hand, pulling her behind a low mound and unwittingly holding Holly against her protectively, blushing when she realised how close they were. Without a word she pointed over the rise to the source of her concern:

Moving around, a distance away, was a man in a well-tailored suit, and on his shoulder was what would appear to the untrained eye a shadow. Except it was moving, and noticeable claws clung to the man's shoulder.