by Amy Sumida
Who made a gate out of stone? It seemed architecturally impossible and structurally unsound. Too delicate to withstand any attack and too difficult to lift. I doubted it would last very long against a single man armed with a pick ax, much less an invading army equipped with catapults.
Then I felt the energy rippling off the castle like the vibrations off a struck gong. It was coursing through everything; the walls, the gate, even the ground. That pulsing glow within the stone wasn't a naturally occurring glimmer, it was fairy magic. The entire place was warded with amazingly strong enchantments, enough to make me a little dizzy. We stopped directly in front of the gate, close enough for me to actually see the waves of light thrumming within the thick bars. I looked up at the soaring arch supporting the gate and couldn't see any lifting mechanism or even a housing for the gate to slip up into.
“If you will please touch the portcullis, Your Highness?” Torquil asked formally.
“Why?” I peered around the courtyard beyond the bars, expecting to see some fairies awaiting our arrival, but it was empty. Where was everyone? This was a big castle to only house a few knights. Maybe no one else cared that their princess was here... which was fine by me. I'd never been one to enjoy making a scene.
“This will be final proof of your lineage,” Tiernan explained. “The gate will open at the hand of King Keir's child. The rest of us must request entrance but you will always be welcome... if you are truly the Twilight Princess.”
“Call me Twilight Princess again and I will punch you in the nose,” I vowed and then almost groaned when the knights around us inhaled sharply.
“Stop stalling,” Tiernan chided with a smile.
“Fine,” I sighed and moved my horse closer, edging her parallel to the gate. I placed a hand on one of the bars with obvious irritation, half hoping that nothing would happen.
The gate disappeared completely in a sparkling explosion of stars and a rush of sound hit us as the true courtyard was revealed. This one was full of fairies and they were all gathered near the gate, staring at us in fascination while murmuring among themselves excitedly. I reeled a little from the rush of magic that immediately coursed through me and leaned forward on my horse. She whinnied, almost as if she could sense my distress, and eased us back a little. I took a deep breath and steadied myself, then looked over to see Tiernan smiling widely.
So it was confirmed then, I was a stupid twilight fairy princess.
I looked down at my dirty combat gear and then out at the assemblage of elegant fey. I'd never felt so inadequate in all my life. They were dressed in shining silks and velvets, long hair done up in elaborate hairdos to highlight beautiful faces which needed no make-up for enhancement. Mingling among these elite sidhe were lesser fey but even they made me feel out of place with their strangely beautiful attributes. Cat eyes peered at me from human faces, hooves poked out of the hem of pant legs, horns crowned haughty heads, and fluffy tails flicked beneath full skirts. There were leathery wings, scaled skin, and multi-colored fur; bodies ranging from very small to massive, and fairies who looked more like beasts than humans.
Then the crowd parted and a fairy man stepped through. He was tall with an athlete's build and skin as pale as my Irish complexion. He wore a simple blue tunic over black pants. A sword belt hung around his waist and the silver sword hanging from it shone bright against his dark clothing. His only other piece of adornment was a gold ring on his left hand, making him the most plainly dressed fairy there. As he strode forward, his long, amethyst hair flared behind him like a cape, the ends lightening to lavender like the stones of the castle... and the stripe in my own hair.
Torquil eased his horse around mine and led us forward into an empty space within the courtyard. I dismounted onto shaky legs and as I came around my horse, she followed me, trailing her reins across the stones. I stopped to watch the purple-haired fairy walk straight up to me and I felt the horse nudge her nose into my back supportively. I kept having the dumbest thoughts, like how the courtyard stones were impossibly immaculate and how the air smelled as fresh as it had within the forest. I realized I was on the verge of panic, distracting myself with inanities so I wouldn't bolt, and I took a deep breath to calm myself.
I focused more fully on the man approaching me, continuing to breathe deeply and calmly. This was happening and I had to deal with it. I had to keep my composure and do my best to represent the Extinguishers well. I would not allow my first words to a fairy king to be about the cleanliness of his courtyard. As he drew closer, I realized that his hair wasn't completely purple. At the roots, it was actually black, lightening to purple about an inch down before it faded to lavender at the ends.
He stopped right in front of me and that's when I was finally able to see his eyes. They weren't exactly the same as mine. I must have inherited the green from my mother, even though my eyes were now much brighter than hers had been. This man's eyes were aubergine, which made the silver stars surrounding his pupils seem brighter. Those starry eyes filled with tears and then he grabbed me around the shoulders and pulled me into a fierce hug.
“Seren,” his voice was deep but broken by emotion. “My daughter. I've mourned every day I've had to live without you and your mother.”
He pulled back to look me over again and I realized that I was crying too. Something inside me recognized him and connected with him immediately. I could almost feel it pulsating between us. His palm came to rest against my cheek and he smiled through his tears.
“You have your mother's beauty,” he said softly.
“And a little of your hair,” I observed. “I was told about the eyes but not the hair.”
“Yes,” he laughed. “It seems that we've named you well.” He skimmed a fingertip along my temple and then his eyes landed on my pendant. “You're wearing it,” he sighed in relief. “Good.”
“My star?” I frowned.
“I made this for you when you were born,” he inhaled deep, like he was trying to control his emotions.
“My mother gave it to me,” I whispered.
“Yes, I asked her to,” he took the pendant between his thumb and forefinger and it sparked lavender. I flinched back a little and he laid a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. “It's condensed fairy magic,” he smiled. “I wasn't able to be there to watch over you as a father should, so I made this to guard you from illness or accident.”
“This was from you?” I didn't know how to feel about it. Part of me was disappointed that the only thing I had left to remind me of my mother wasn't actually from her but another part of me, the part which seemed to know this man already, was warmed by the thought that he had tried to look after me.
“It was from your parents,” he leaned down to lay a kiss on my forehead and just like that, the conflicted parts of me reconciled. Then he turned to Tiernan and Aideen. “Lady Aideen, you've done me a service I can never repay and my Lord Tiernan, you were not expected to arrive with my daughter but I'm grateful that Seren had you to guard her on her journey home. Thank you both.”
“Your Majesty,” Tiernan bowed, “it was an honor to bring the Princess home.”
“I'm happy to see you together, my King,” Aideen curtsied deep.
“You must all come inside and refresh yourselves,” King Keir waved us forward, his arm threading through mine. “Tonight we will celebrate the return of my daughter and tomorrow we will crown her as my heir.”
The crowd of fairies filling the courtyard cheered but dread dug its claws deeply into me. It was all happening too fast, I couldn't keep up. I needed more time to process this, to figure things out and decide whether or not I wanted to be this man's heir before he actually stuck a crown on my head. That sounded pretty final.
The velvet nose of my fey horse nuzzled my arm and I stopped to turn to her. Keir stopped as well, and grinned delightedly, nodding his encouragement. I stroked the soft muzzle and she gave a little whine.
“I don't think you can follow me into the castle, horse,” I murmured t
o it. “Horses aren't meant to live in castles.”
The horse shivered; bones shifting beneath her skin, fur flowing, body shrinking and morphing until there was a huge, gray dog standing before me. She yipped once, shook her long gray coat to remove the reins and saddle from her body, and then sat there waiting in patient happiness. I sucked in a sharp breath and backed away, slamming into Keir's chest. The dog sat back and cocked her head at me, then whined. No, not a dog, a...
“Puka,” I whispered in horror as my hand went for my sword. “It's a puka.”
“Easy now, Seren,” Tiernan was immediately beside me, his hand on my arm. “This is a twilight puka. See, she doesn't have the fire eyes of an unseelie puka. Your magic claimed her when you laid your hand on her. She'd never hurt you. Look at her, she loves you already. Pukas, once claimed, are loyal to the death.”
I swallowed hard and felt Keir's hand go to my other arm. My sword arm. I let go of the sword hilt and went forward, dislodging both well-meaning hands to stand and stare at the dog. She was so large, coming almost to my shoulder, that I didn't need to kneel to look her in the eye. Her soft, brown eyes. She gave another cautious whine and I held my hand out to her. Her silky muzzle went beneath my palm and nudged upward, chasing away my anxiety immediately. This wasn't the animal who had killed my mother, this was a different beast entirely. I released a long sigh.
“Alright then, I guess you can tag along,” I said to her and she yipped happily.
Then I turned back to King Keir and Tiernan. They were both smiling at me like I'd performed some incredible act of daring. I wanted to tell them to save their pride for when I faced an actual unseelie puka but that would have been petty of me. At least I had conquered a small part of my anger towards pukas, just enough to allow me to get over any connection between them and the twilight puka walking beside me.
Keir held his arm out to me and I took it, letting him lead me up a set of steps and through a pair of immense, silver doors. A spacious room spread before us, with a grand staircase directly in front of us. There were hallways tucked beneath the stairs to either side, leading back into the castle, and several doors to either side of the room. The ceiling soared as high as the stairs, allowing for a massive tapestry of a shadowy forest to hang above the doors on the left wall and a shining collection of weaponry above the doors on the right.
The inside of the castle was lined in the same stone as its exterior, polished to a glassy perfection which had me concerned. The floor looked like an accident waiting to happen and I was glad I was wearing boots with good traction. It was beautiful though, especially the silver star set into the center of the floor. Sunlight streamed in from tall windows behind me, making the star gleam as if it were truly a piece of the heavens set within the earth.
Just past the star were two soaring statues, one to each side of the base of the staircase. They were carved from opaque, white stone. One statue was of a sidhe woman and the other, a sidhe man. I stared at them as we passed through the space between them and began to climb the stairs. The puka followed beside me but the other fey stopped before the first step. I took one last look over my shoulder as we reached the landing and saw Tiernan staring up at me with a soft smile.
Chapter Twenty-One
Keir barely took his eyes off me as he led me through a winding corridor filled with extraordinary fairy art. Sculptures of strange creatures writhed under the serene gazes of regal sidhe portraits which hung next to intricate tapestries portraying scenes of astounding beauty. Everything was perfect and shiny, not a hint of dust or a single scratch to be found. I felt like a stain that needed to be scrubbed away.
“Your mother's death was the most painful thing I've ever experienced,” Keir said as he opened a door and led me into a magnificent room.
“For me as well,” I murmured as I peered around me.
It was a circular room so I assumed he'd brought me into one of the towers. As large as my entire house back in the Human Realm, it had polished wood floors with luxurious silk carpets laid precisely across them. The carpets were woven with intricate designs of cream and silver. A rather poor color choice for something meant to be walked on. They looked as if they'd never seen the sole of a shoe before, lustrous as a pearl.
Over one of the poorly colored carpets, rested a massive four poster bed made from the same stone as the castle. The posters were carved into swirls like a unicorn's horn and they curved in toward the center of the bed, where they connected in a sharp, upwards point. Delicate trees grew from pots placed at the corners of the bed and their branches twined around the posters and up to the point, where a mass of fluted pale green flowers hung. They grew all along the branches but the main collection was at that juncture and their weight caused them to droop down towards the bed.
“Night blooming jasmine,” I whispered as I stepped forward.
“Someone told me you enjoyed the scent,” Keir said from behind me.
The puka trotted past me and climbed up into the bed. She made a few testing circles, her gigantic paws sinking into the thick silver comforter. Then she curled up, gave a contented huff, and went right to sleep.
“I wonder who that was?” I teased as I shook my head at the passed-out puka and Keir laughed.
To the right of the bed was a dressing table of polished white wood with a tall mirror in an elaborate silver frame rising up from its back. A matching chair with a high, padded back sat in front of the table and on the table was an assortment of crystal bottles, a silver handled comb, and a silver picture frame. I wandered over to the table and picked up the frame. In it was a picture of my mother, holding a laughing baby in her arms. She was smiling like I'd never seen her smile before, the sunlight turning pieces of her auburn hair into spun gold.
“Where was this taken?” I asked Keir without removing my eyes from my mother's face.
“San Francisco,” Keir came up behind me and smiled sadly at the picture. He ran a fingertip over my mother's image. “In the park. It was the first time I saw you.”
“She looks so happy,” I whispered.
“She was,” he nodded. “So was I. I have many pictures of her if you'd like to see them. Pictures of you as well, which she gave to me over the years.”
“Sure,” I swallowed hard, wishing that I could have seen this side of my mother.
I replaced the picture frame and went back to surveying the room. Off to the side of the dressing table was a large fireplace and set in front of it were two loveseats made of the same wood as the table, both upholstered in lavender velvet. On the other side of the room was a large, rectangular dining table, again in that smooth, white wood, with a few chairs gathered around it. To the right of the table and the left of the bed, was an archway which opened onto a balcony.
The room was very bright, almost as bright as it was outdoors, and when I looked up, I saw why. The walls soared above me, ending in a domed ceiling, the very top of which was transparent. The transparent piece was actually lavender but much clearer than the stones the rest of the castle was made of, so that the sunlight was barely tinted when it passed through. I could clearly see puffy white clouds beyond it and I immediately wondered what it would look like at night.
“Is the room alright?” Keir asked from my elbow.
“Alright? It's amazing,” I swept a hand upward and laughed. “I've never had a skylight before but then I doubt there's anything remotely comparable to this on Earth.”
“Well I would hope not,” he grinned hesitantly. “We fey like to think that our architecture supersedes that of humans in beauty and magic if not in sheer height.”
“I don't think it's a good idea to build so high,” I offered. “I don't like feeling the building I'm in sway in the breeze, it's disconcerting.”
“Yes but when you create things that tall, there comes a point where you must either sway or break,” he looked thoughtful. “Better to sway I think.”
“Better to not build that high to begin with,” I smirked.
> “Interesting,” he cocked his head at me. “So you'd rather stay closer to earth than have to bend to the will of the wind?”
“Yes, I guess so,” I considered. “Why is that interesting?”
“Royalty is never good at bending to the will of anyone or anything,” he shrugged. “So I'm glad the castle's height meets your standards and the room, your expectations. I had it decorated in a style I found appealing but I hope you'll make it your own soon enough.”
“It's beautiful as it is, I wouldn't change anything,” I headed out to the balcony.
I needed to see again that I was really in Fairy, it kept feeling so surreal to me. Keir followed me out onto a wide expanse of that pretty lavender stone and over to a thick railing of carved pillars. I looked out across wandering hills and forests that stretched as far as I could see. Nothing else seemed to exist in the wilderness, it was only us, and I wondered how vast the Twilight Kingdom was and just how far away the Unseelie Kingdom resided.
In Fairy Geography class, I'd been taught that each of the main courts had immense kingdoms with magical pathways connecting them, just as there were pathways between the Human Realm and Fairy. The kingdoms were in the same realm but on different continents, so the fey used the paths to travel between. The Fairy Realm itself was layered over ours and I'd been told America was somewhere between the courts, with the Seelie Kingdom laid over Europe and the Unseelie over Asia. Of course it's not precise but the fairy mounds of Europe lead to the Seelie Kingdom and those in Asia lead to the Unseelie, so we just made the assumption. We'd known there were fairy mounds in America but no human had ever been allowed through one, and we hadn't known where they connected to in Fairy. Now I knew why; they led to the secret Twilight Kingdom.
“Why don't the fey want humans to know about the Twilight Court?” I asked Keir.