Cathar-taris laughed and turned the child in her arms, so he could see her face. And the king was surprised by her beauty. He reached out for the child and the child reached out to him, and he took her in his arms.
“I thought you needed no other,” the Elven lady laughed, making the king blush and glance at Sun, and then look away at the child again.
“It is the will of the Elders,” Sun said, calmly. “I do not fear her. Nor am I jealous. We each have our own destiny. She will be like a sister to me.”
Cathar-taris was glad this Elven girl had come first because she was wise and had a steady heart. Cathar-taris patted Sun’s hand. “Your parents were truly great to have a daughter such as you. As my daughter is your sister, always think on me, from this moment on, as your mother.”
“You are more than gracious, Lady of a Thousand Laughing rivers,” Sun said, bowing.
Then Cathar-taris sighed, reached out and touched the dark rich waves of her daughter’s hair. Quickly, she bent and kissed her head and took one last parting look at her child, before she met the king’s eyes.
“Bring her back to me. Whether she be queen on not, I care not. Her father and I love her. So, bring her back to Elfland when you are done with her, come what may.”
Cathar-taris turned and disappeared into the portal. And Allen and Sun were left with a new unnamed girl. They put her in Sun’s bed. They used the diapers and food Sun had not needed in her short childhood. When they went to sleep, all three slept in the same bed. Sun glanced over at Allen, and he glanced at her. Since neither could fathom what the other thought, they went to sleep.
Allen woke early though it was the day men call Sunday. He found Sun still sleeping, but the new girl child was gone. He glanced about the room but did not see her. He got up and looked for her through the apartment. This was a new apartment. It was much larger than the one he had before the coming of Sun. This had two bathrooms and two bedrooms and the child was in none of them. He ran from the living room to the kitchen but saw nothing of the child. As he leaned on the breakfast island, he wondered aloud, “Where could she be?”
“Who are you looking for?” said a strange girl’s voice.
Allen turned around to find a naked girl of almost ten years standing in the floor without even a diaper attached to her leg. She did have long cinnamon colored hair that hung in waves down to the floor. Let no one say that it was not a suitable raiment for any potential queen.
“Well, you’re bigger,” he said, relaxing.
“Bigger than what?” she asked.
“Bigger than you were before,” he smiled.
“What did you expect? That I should be smaller?” she smiled back. Her eyes flashed mirthfully at him.
“No. I thought you would be the same.”
“How boring is that? Do you like boring things?” she asked, tilting her head.
“No.”
“Good. Then we will get along just fine,” she said, taking his hand in hers.
“Was there doubt?” he asked, amused.
“Of course. Not everyone gets along. Don’t you know that?”
“I suppose I do, but you are young and, so I . . .” he lost his train of thought as she watched him with her amused eyes.
“I need clothes,” she told him frankly.
“You seem to know a lot.”
“I do.”
“What do you know?”
“I know about love, and the feel of the lips of unicorns as they taste of rivers. I know the way of the stars across the sky as they are reflected on the belly of the sea. I know the way of the bow. I know what birds say and what a gossip the wind can be, and every magical step of Elfland and every sacred. . .” she stopped at his surprised look. “You don’t know these thing?”
“No.” He shook his head, and humbly asked, “Will you teach me?”
Then the girl with no name smiled a sweet smile and pulled on his hand until he was eye-level with her. She kissed his brow. The King of Elfland finally saw his home for the first time. Allen hugged her for the kindness and the generosity of her gift. In three days, she was a grown elf woman with wide almond eyes that greenly mirrored Elfland’s hills and valley, and her hair always smelled of Elfland’s sweet rivers upon whose banks nodded riotous purple, blue and yellow flowers.
This elf lady was not like Sun, though her wit was as keen and her eyes as bright. She made people laugh and brought them closer with her joy and her ebullience. She had luck always and good things seemed to come to her. She shared all with Sun and Allen. Soon they had a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, and their business of selling Elvish knickknacks and charms on the internet was booming. They were doing well all around.
This new girl also liked to follow Allen out into the world of men, going grocery shopping, walking around the neighborhood, or to museums of human antiquities (which Sun dismissed as modern art.) So, Sun suggested she be called Shadow, for wherever Allen went, Shadow went, and whatever he wished to speak of, she wished to speak of. They were of one mind and one wild spirit. When anything vexed Allen, like a slow month of sales on Amazon, too much work, or Sun’s platitudes, Shadow could calm him with her touch on his neck and make him laugh. And when Shadow grew too spirited and wild, her laughter drowning out Sun’s long instructions on the proper behavior of Elvish ladies, Allen would stroke her hair and make her calm.
“You are like a reckless boy,” Sun yelled at Shadow one day when she and Allen had left a mess in the kitchen and broken a plate. “Your mother would be ashamed, for she was a great Lady.”
But Shadow only smiled because Allen was stroking her long hair, and the voice of her mother was strong in her head, and she knew that she was loved.
“Come let’s go ride our bicycles in Central Park until sister Sun is in better humor,” Allen called to her, and Shadow went.
If these Great Elves had gone riding in the Old Country of Europe, some ancient crone would have looked up and known for sure that they were not of this world. But since they were riding in Manhattan, among those who had fled their motherlands for a land that had not heard of elves, people only blinked at them and thought that the lights they saw streaming from their hair and skin and the strange shadows of beasts that seemed to come into being around them was a part of some ad for a soda, or a light show.
Because of the influence of Shadow and her laughing flowing water ways, and Sun’s florid pride and wise silence, by the time the third child came, the king of the elves was mostly elf.
Now the third lady of the elves was called Luridida. When the elders came to her and told her that she might bear the child that would one day be Queen of Elfland, she raised a brow because she was sure that her child and no other would rule their illustrious land.
She bowed to the elders and went to find her husband and rode him until the sun came up and the sun went down, and he stumbled away like a horse about to die of exhaustion. Luridida And she awaited the change, but nothing came. So, she went back and hunted down her poor husband again and gave him the same medicine until the change was upon her. As her belly grew bigger, she showed it about proudly, boasting to any elf who did not flee fast enough in horror, that she contained the queen of Elfland. And when Luridida could not get anyone to listen, she whispered to the babe in her belly over and over again that she would be the Queen of Elfland. When the child suddenly appeared mid-whisper, her mother lifted her up to eye level and finished her statement: “You will be the Queen of Elfland.” Only then did Luridida create a portal and step before the King. He was not surprised but a bit amused this time.
Luridida cleared her throat and raised her head: “I am Luridida of the illustrious House of a Thousand Golden Things. Many a Queen of Elfland has come from my family line. I am here to acquaint you with yours.”
Allen took the baby in his arms. Without a word, he handed it off to Sun and Shadow.
Luridida continued, “The girls in my family like rich things, gold, jewe
ls, and pretty rings to amuse them. I had a diamond pacifier as a child and a teddy bear made of gold. I still have them.” She took the pacifier from her pocket, placed it in her mouth a moment before putting it away and speaking again, “If you would make my daughter easy, please acquire these things for her too.” Then Luridida gave her child a long and slobbering kiss that left a slight mark on the baby’s forehead, after which she turned and left.
And everyone’s heart went out to the new child because she was pretty and plump with golden curls and bright forget-me-not eyes. They put her to bed between Sun and Shadow, while Allen slept in a chair. He woke early, knowing he would not find the child in the bed. But lo and behold, she was still small and still snuggled in Sun’s arm. He went back to sleep several more times, sitting upright suddenly every hour or so waiting to take this child by surprise as he had not been able to do with the others, but always it stayed put and did not grow even when Sun and Shadow woke for the day.
In this way, the new baby was the babe of their hearts, for it was the only one who stayed a baby for any length of time. Sun, Allen and Shadow had to purchase a stroller and did stroll down the crowded streets of the city together. And many a man looked enviously at Allen with his two beauteous Elvish women bracketing him as he pushed the stroller down the street. And many a woman scowled at Allen and mumbled or spat, ‘That’s illegal in this state’ or some such curses.
They all made much of and doted on the child. Now with Sun’s wisdom and gifts and Shadow’s luck, they were quite rich and were able to buy everything a little one might want. And oddly this child wanted a lot, and the more she got, the more she wanted. She also stayed a baby a long time, having no incentive to grow up. Several months passed, and she was hardly older than two.
This new girl also loved new things. Every time Sun went out, she felt compelled, as if by magic, to buy her something. And every time Shadow went out, she had to bring her something too. As long as the little one had something new in her hands, she was the dearest of children, a pet rabbit, a rolling puppy, and a docile lamb. But if something new did not appear as one day happened when Allen became busy with business and Shadow with him and even Sun’s sharp eyes were needed to unfurl a knot of taxation, things changed. They returned home after a long day at the IRS office to find the nanny they had left with the child cringing in a corner of the house. The little one, whom they had all begun to call ‘Angel’, had turned into a hateful demon who spat curses, frogs, and vipers from her mouth.
Allen tried to calm “Angel” but to no avail. Finally he had to go out again, weary as he was, and buy some silly and expensive trinket to pacify her. And so, the new girl was officially named Storm. From her, Allen learned the weariness of appeasing one who was unreasonable, which is a valuable lesson for a King. In this way, Storm ruled the house until one day, after nearly a year of writhing serpents in Gordian knots, demonic voices, and a diminishing back account, the King of elves could not bear her and her tantrums any longer and shouted with more magic in his voice than he had ever voiced before, “Oh, will you grow up!”
The next morning, Storm came out of her room naked. She looked about sixteen. She was nubile, radiant as a cloud pierced by sunlight, lovely as the dawning day, glorious in her beauty as Venus on the half-shell. She stunned Sun and Shadow. They jumped upon her and dragged her back into her room to clothe her, but it was too late. Allen had seen it all.
Storm was the greatest of beauties, harsh in it even, terrible as a tempest. Her only flaw was the mark left by her mother’s overzealous kiss, a dark shadow on her brow which she covered with her bangs after she got dressed.
“What do you think?” Storm asked, turning to her sisters.
Sun looked at Shadow, and they both knew they had been eclipsed.
When Storm came out of her room, Allen took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen table as he had led no one else, and he called her “a lady” and took her out for the day.
“So, he has chosen,” Sun said. “It seems her mother was right because the Sun is effaced by Storms and a Shadow is even less to it.”
And Shadow tried to laugh at that but failed.
Allen returned with Storm late in the day. She was chattering happily as they came back. She was jangling new bracelets and swinging a flashy set of car keys. She saw Sun and Shadow and cried, “He got me a pink Humvee with the words “Livin’ the dream” painted on the back!”
Sun bowed her head in defeat. And Shadow said nothing. The next day was the day Shadow and Allen always rode their bikes, but just as Shadow stood by the door waiting, Storm stormed out of her room and said she was ready for Allen to take her shopping. Allen blushed and looked from the placid waiting face of Shadow to the threatening countenance of Storm. He turned back to Shadow and said, “We’ll go another time. Promise.” Then he left with Storm.
Storm stuck her tongue out at Shadow from behind Allen’s back, and did utter the words, “Get used to it.”
“It is as she says,” Sun told Shadow after the door shut. “She will be Queen and have his ear only. We must be resigned to our fates. I will have to find some other way to bring honor to my family.” And Sun went to her room to think hard about how to do that.
But what was Shadow to do? Storm wanted to be Queen, and Sun wanted to bring honor to her family, but all Shadow wanted was Allen. She thought of the love she had once had from him and felt bereft and sad but for those kisses her mother and father had given her. She thought of them and her mother’s last words, “Bring her back to me whether she be queen on not, I care not….So, bring her back to Elfland when you are done with her, come what may.”
Well, Shadow figured that Allen was pretty much done with her. So, she thought back through the knowledge that her mother had left her and found the spell for making a portal back to her parents in Elfland.
“Faroo, paroo, na laracara banoo,” she said, and a swirling white portal suddenly appeared. Shadow stepped through it.
She was no longer in Manhattan but in the middle of a great room the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams. The walls of the house were made of purple and white marble that towered some forty feet in the air. Sunlight poured through clear parts of the stone, filling the chamber with shafts of light. A glistening fireplace of the darkest crystal sat at one end with maroon and silk embroidered chairs facing it. The light wooden floor was warmed with thick rugs woven with the images of the most common of beasts, sheep, pigs and dogs (which were truly fabulous and outlandish in Elfland.) While Shadow stood wondering at all before her, her mother, Cathar-taris, felt her arrival and hurried toward her.
“My daughter,” she cried when she saw Shadow.
Shadow turned around and beheld a most radiant lady dressed in a robe of gossamer blue. Cathar-taris pulled her into her embrace and hugged her long and hard. Shadow found her smile again. After a long while they let go of each other and stared into each other’s faces. Mother and daughter each saw themselves in the other. Both laughed and their laughter echoed and redoubled in the hall.
“Tell me, my child, what is your name?” Cathar-taris asked.
“Shadow,” Shadow said.
“What an odd name,” Cathar-taris told her.
“True,” Shadow agreed.
“Would you like another, an Elven name?” her mother smiled.
“As long as it will not shame the one I have. You see, Allen, I mean, the King of Elfland, gave it me.”
“I understand,” her mother smiled, her grey eyes brightening. “Then choose your own name.”
Shadow thought of all the Elvish names she knew, and then she laughed. “My name is Laurillien.”
Her mother nodded in agreement. Just then Shadow’s father entered the hall. He was dressed in elven attire of flowing red and silver robes. He rushed to his daughter and took her in his arms. Bandar-lay was never gladder than when he set eyes on his daughter again. Along with all the gossip she had missed, Shadow was told t
hat she had several elder brothers. Now that she had returned, they would all be promptly ordered home, so they could meet her. There was much joy and much expected joy in the House of a Thousand Laughing Rivers that day, but there was also a little sadness and anger.
“So, the King loves Storm?” Bander-lay said in disgust as he sat upon the balcony of their castle, feeling the soft pink breezes of Elfland. He, his wife and his daughter now relaxed, enjoying a lunch of enchanted food that tasted better than any food Shadow had ever had.
“Yes,” Shadow sighed, tasting of a thing like a grape, but which was grapier than any grape she had ever had.
“I see why,” Cathar-taris said, frowning and putting down her fork before leaning forward to touch a bit of Shadow’s hair. “One of the others has a dimming and brightening spell upon her, and she is sucking the beauty from the others around her. Look at your hair and skin, so dim.”
“Storm,” Shadow hissed, clenching her fist.
“I can give you an amulet which will at least protect you from the spell,” her mother told her and then ate a bit of fairy pudding.
“It matters not. He loves her and sees no other. Besides, I helped raise her. I cannot harm her now whatever little monster she has become,” Shadow told her mother.
“So, you are resigned?” Cathar-taris asked with a light in her eyes.
“Yes,” Shadow sighed, and felt a sudden breeze near her. She looked right and left but saw nothing. Though suddenly, Allen was in her thoughts again.
“Then I will tell you about three handsome elf lords who would kill hundreds of mortals for a chance at your hand,” her mother said, grabbing her arm excitedly.
“Oh, leave her be,” her father cried, eating a deep-fried fairy wing. “She has just gotten here, and I do not want her swept away in marriage so soon.”
“The King has not married her. So, why shouldn’t she enjoy herself with a few lovers?” If Cathar-taris only knew how broken-hearted Shadow was, she would not have spoken so lightly, but since she had no idea, she continued: “Let her feel the admiration of real elf lords. Poor thing has lived in the human world too long. Let her have a taste of the love of men with hearts that burn with fire. Let her be worshipped as the ladies of our house have been worshipped for their beauty and laughter. Let a man chase after her and be her shadow.”
Fairy Tales For Sale Page 9