by Nancy Gaskin
Picnic
As they were approaching the far end of the palace whereas Titania was explaining the laundry and kitchen were situated, they could hear a lot of commotion. Turning the corner a large crowd came into view, a very excited crowd by the amount of noise that was being generated. As the queen and the girl came closer, a few of the crowd those who were on the edge spotted them and began nudging their neighbours. By the time Titania and Dagmar were close enough all the girl could see was an absolute riot of colour. The crowd parted as they drew closer and as they passed through everyone became silent, when reaching the open door the child could hear murmuring and whispering. Entering the kitchen the girl was overwhelmed by the sheer size of it.
The whole room was in constant motion with faeries flitting about picking up this and placing that. A large table took pride of place in the center of the kitchen and that is where a very matronly faery hovered directing everything. Seeing who had entered her domain she flew down to greet the queen and her young guest. "Greeting and Merry Meet gracious lady, how may I be of help to you and the little one?" glancing at the girl kindly. "Merry Meet Feeorin, May I introduce Dagmar” the girl curtseyed saying "Merry Meet Feeorin, your kitchen is lovely." Upon hearing those words the cook burst out laughing which made everything about her jiggled "Oh my, Merry Meet sweetling. You know how to compliment a cook that's for sure and my name little one is pronounced Fee - ohr - in not Fee - oh - arin my lovely. So you like my kitchen eh? Such sweet words out of the mouth of one so young." Turning to the queen "How can I help you both?" In unison both replied "We are hungry!" looking at each other Titania and the child burst out laughing "We were only looking for something small to nibble on until the noon time meal" added the queen.
Smiling broadly the cook did not hesitate a moment and began to flit over to the many side boards where tray laden with pastries and biscuits were cooling. Taking a small basket from an alcove which seemed to be where all sizes of baskets were stored, lined it with large flower petals and went along selecting something here and there constantly moving, muttering and nodding to her, completing the basket with two tulips shaped flasks. Looking at the queen and then the girl "There my lady, do you think this will tie you over until noon?" Feeorin asked still smiling "or is there something special you were looking for?" "Oh! Do you have any of those sweet things you created for the last full moon festival....you know which ones I mean?" "Ah yes I know what you are talking about lovely lady. I will go and fetch some for you" turning with such grace it was hard for the child to believe Feeorin was such a large woman. Returning to her guest, before Dagmar could finish her thought, with a small parcel clutched to her ample chest "Now these I made a few days ago, so they should be just to your liking my queen." placing the bundle into the basket with all the other treasure she handed the basket to Titania "Thank you Fee, I will be looking forward to the noon feast I can see you are preparing. You spoil us with your glorious creations. Come sweetling let us get out of Fee's way and stop distracting everyone." turning and waving to the rest of the crew which had stopped all movement and were staring at their visitors calling "Thank you ALL for your effort and love".
Stepping out of the kitchen into the lovely sunshine Dagmar noticed that the crowd had moved away slightly and still murmuring and whispering. "Titania, why are they whispering and staring? No one else has done that here before." the girl asked quietly. Titania looked around at the small crowd frowning slightly "They are all younglings who have travelled from other meadows and have never seen a human before, sweetling. Don't let them bother you, they are just curious about. I believe they will be at our noon meal. Speaking of food," holding the basket up "come let us go and sit near the trees and see what delicious things Feeorin has given us". Holding hands they set off to a small group of trees. When they reached the trees Titania produced a tiny package from the basket and began to unfold it, as she was opening it, it was becoming bigger and bigger. Dagmar stared in open mouthed amazement and her eyes grew as big as plates by the time Titania finished unfolding the rug, she flicked it to have it land neat and square on the grass. "Come sweetling, sit down and let us see what lovely tasty treasures we can discover in this magical basket Fee has packed for us."
Dropping down next to Titania, the girl peeked into the small basket not expecting what she found. The basket was enormous on the inside and the queen was reaching in up to her elbow bringing out many small parcels wrapped in colourful flower petals and placed them on the rug between them. The table was set and the adventure of opening the parcels began. They both took one and began to unwrap them "This reminds me of the spring festival at home." commented the girl, looking up Titania asked "What do you do to celebrate 'Ostara' with your family?" "Ahh...we spend days making, baking, cleaning and sewing before the spring celebrations. The whole village is so pretty with flowers everywhere on the houses, in the window sills and the colourful shirts and dresses that the women had sewn over the winter months as they hang out to air. We don't live very close to the village, about half a day’s walk, so we only sometimes celebrate with all the people there. We have neighbours who live a lot closer and we celebrate with them." Unwrapping a small parcel whilst talking, the girl stopped to sniff what she had found. It was a yellow wobbly something, which smelled of fresh lemons. Pocking it with her index finger Dagmar noticed it was cold and sticky "Titania, what is this? It smells so nice and fresh but it wobbles." "Ah sweetling you have found a true treasure there. Feeorin created this mysterious glob of wobbly stuff a few seasons ago and calls it 'Sun Blessing'." Putting it on the rug the child reached for another parcel. "We have sweet breads and roasted hog on a spit and lots of other lovely foods. We plant seeds and do lots of work in the fields all our neighbours share and in our own garden. The men put together a hugs stack of wood on the top of one stone hill and when it gets dark and all the fires have been put out, Opa goes and calls all the neighbouring men and boys to the hill and they stand around the wood pile in a circle. The women and girls all have a lit torch and we walk up to the hill in a very stately procession. Oma is always at the head of the line and she sings a song in a strange language and then throws her torch on the wood pile first, then the rest of the women and girls do the same. Then we all stand in a circle around the fire and hold hands and dance and sing until it is late" Titania sat unmoving, listening to the child closely as she spoke "May I ask you a question sweetling?" Dagmar looked up from the parcel she was unwrapping on her lap. "Yes Titania, what is it you want to know?" "You speak so fondly of your grandparents but you do not mention your parents."
Looking down and concentrating on undoing a small knot which was still holding the wrapping closed and the treasure within was kept hidden "My Mama died giving birth to me and my Papa disappeared the night I was born and never came home". Titania was watching the girl, reached out and touched her hand "I am sorry sweetling, I did not mean to upset you!" sighing Dagmar responded "You did not upset me, Titania. I feel sorrow for not knowing Mama and Papa, but I have a happy life with Oma and Opa who love me NEARLY as much as I love them." At that last comment the queen laughed "I bet you don't say that to your grandparents though." Looking puzzled at Titania, the girl shrugged her shoulders "Oh my sweetling, I meant the part about them loving you NEARLY as much as you love them. It is such a lovely thing to hear but I suspect your Oma and Opa would heartily disagree with you about the amount of love they have for you". Looking a little confused and troubled, the child focused on the contents of the bundle she had just managed to unwrap and then brightened "Opa and I have a game, where I tell him that I love him and he says he loves me more, we keep going with me telling him 'No I love you more'. Then after a while he usually laughs and holds up his hand with his fingers this far apart" holding her small hand up with thumb and index finger apart a little "and I, liebling, love you AND a little bit more" dropping her hand she became absorbed again with the contents of the bundle, sniffing and
moving it around gently with her fingers. "Titania, what IS THIS? It smells like flowers and is a bit sticky." "Well why not break off a little and have a taste. We call it Ostara Bread and we are very lucky Feeorin gave those to us. She is very particular about having these only on special occasions. She must like you very much!"
They sat in silence nibbling on their picnic, enjoying the quiet, wrapped in their own thoughts. Titania reached into the amazing bottomless basket and pulled out some more little parcels and then reached for one of the flasks and poured the liquid into the two goblets, smiling Titania handed one to the girl "There sweetling, try this and tell me what you think." Taking the goblet from Titania, the child looked into it, then smelled it, then dipped her index finger in and popped it into her mouth. Titania was watching fondly as Dagmar’s face moved from a frown, to perplexed, to delight. Taking a sip from the goblet, the girl moved the liquid around her mouth exploring the flavours "Well sweetling, what do you think?" "Oh it is SO nice. It reminds me of something.....but I can't work out what it is." thoughtfully the child took another sip and again let it roll around her mouth and over her tongue, suddenly her eye brows shot up "I know what it sort of reminds me of! Oma makes a cordial from some of her special plants and other things. She always said it was a secret family formula she learnt long ago, when she was a girl. She has promised that when I am older she will teach me the formula and lots of other special women things."
Titania listened intently to the girl and nodded “Yes my little sweetling, there are many things which you learn, after your first moon flow and have become a woman. I think you still have a few years to wait though little one, if my calculations for human age is correct.” “I know! Oma always tells me that I should enjoy being young because being a woman is a big responsibility” “Your Oma is a wise woman. What else has she taught you, little one?” Titania asked the child as she reached for the parcel with the Sun Blessing and then put her hand into the basket. After a bit of rummaging around she withdrew her hand holding two small bowl and two small spoons. Dividing the contents of the parcel into the two bowls she then handed one bowl and spoon to the girl “Here sweetling, have some Sun Blessing and tell me how you like it” The girl took it out of Titanias hand saying “Thank you Titania” and then began concentrating on slicing a little of the yellow glob with the edge of her spoon. Having a satisfactorily sliced small piece off with her spoon, licking her lips she raised the spoon to her mouth and popped it in. Her eyes widened and a look of sheer delight came to her little face. Letting the flavours of the fresh lemon and honey invade her every taste bud, the girl could smell the honey as if she were holding a honey comb to her nose and the lemon taste put her into her Opas garden and the lemon tree in the corner when all the lemons are ready to pick on a hot summer day. “Oh Titania, this is heavenly. I can taste AND smell the honey and lemon.” Titania smiled at that and began eating her own enjoying the taste sensation. They slowly worked their way through the parcels of food, many times licking their fingers to find that last little bit of flavour.
Having emptied the contents of all the small parcels Titania and Dagmar sigh with contentment, settling back against the ancient tree listening to the birds singing and the bees humming. ”If you want my darling sweetling you can go and explore. There is nothing here that will harm you.” Titania suggested to Dagmar, as she began packing the remnants of their repast into the basket “I will sit here and enjoy the tranquillity of the day and commune with my old friend here” Titania reached out and stroked the ancient trees bark which they recently used to lean against with affection “What did you mean by ‘commune’ with a tree?” asked the child, a little confused. Smiling as she placed the last items into the basket, Titania explained “Well sweetling, the Fae have many shapes and have a lot of different places they prefer to call home. There are those who prefer to live in the forest in the company of trees and they are called Naiads and they are a kind of nymph. They have brown skin, green hair and yellow eyes like a cat, they protect the tree they live in and heal it if they can, but there are certain things, such as the steel axe of a human, they cannot heal, if the tree dies so do they. Then there are the Nereids and the Oceanids which are water nymphs. The Nereids live in streams, lakes, rivers and ponds, they have pale skin with hair to their waist, and the Oceanids live in oceans and have white hair and blue skin. There are also many faeries that prefer to live with certain flowers or plants and they call themselves whatever plant they are living with, for example do you remember Fern from the green house? She lived amongst the ferns in a part of the woods and chose that name and then there is Daffodil and Rosemary. I bet you can guess what plants they prefer!” Dagmar had listened intently to Titanias explanation and description, tilting her head to the side, she asked “Why have I never seen any at home. We have a wonderful herb garden and lots of lovely flowers and we live close to the Whispering Lake.” “Well sweetling I have a feeling that those plants are so well loved and cared for that they do not need help from a flower faery.” answered Titania smiling.
Titania settled herself comfortably against the ancient oak, looking up at Dagmar and smiling “If you wish to join me here you are more than welcome little sweetling, I enjoy your company. If you wish to go and explore, go right ahead and have fun.” Closing her eyes Titania rested her head against the tree and began to hum in a steady monotone then changing it ever so slightly for a while and then changing it again. Dagmar stood watching for a short time and then began looking around wondering where she ought to go and explore. Slowly walking further into the shade of the trees the girl listened to the birds singing and admiring the pretty little flowers which were emerging from their winter sleep.