Chapter the Twenty-fourth

Aria was in bliss. Gilligan was alive, and so, so near. If she had begun flying, nothing except that of the utmost gravity could have brought her down.
With some difficulty, she detached herself from Gilligan (he began talking to Raphael), dragging Rayne and Loth along in her dance, one friend per hand. Directing her question toward Rayne, she asked, "So what do you think of Gilligan, now that you’ve finally met him? Is he Rayne-approved?"
"I doubt it matters whether I approve him or not, Aria," laughed Rayne. "Will it change anything?"
"Well, no," admitted Aria. "But I’d still like to know what you think. Seriously now, on a scale of one to ten (ten being the highest), how does he score with you?"
"Well, he was hardly going to come up to me and pout and whine, was he? How did you expect me to find him?"
Aria rolled her eyes. "Come along, Rayne. Just do it, please?"
Rayne sighed, but it was a smiling sigh. "He gets a seven for looks, ten for character- so far. As I said, I’ll have to know him longer to really put him to the test."
"Just a seven for looks?!" said Aria indignantly. "He should get ten there too! Actually, eleven both!"
"I’d have to see him cleaned up first," said Rayne, only half-jokingly, wondering what it was like to be in love.
"What do you think, Loth?" said Aria, turning to her elf friend.
Loth smiled. "He’s very entertaining… and so are you, when you talk about him," she said, walking away.
Aria didn’t have to wait long to find out how the stars would react. Tyri congratulated her heartily (nearly knocking her over in the process). Myra and Silver gladly wished that she could be "half as happy as we are". (Aria assured them she would.) June hugged her with an almost motherly warmth, and Lark shook his head, saying emphatically, "It’s great news… great news!" Aero, who never talked much anyway, simply grinned at the two and bowed.
Then there was Raphael.
Raphael was reticent as well, but in a different way than Aero. Aero simply didn’t talk. Raphael didn’t talk because he thought. Perhaps a better word for him would be "pensive". He didn’t say much one way or the other about the engagement. Aria wondered what he was thinking. She wasn’t too worried about it, though. Surely Raphael must see how positively wonderful Gilligan was, and how he brought out the best in her.
Soon she noticed whispers among the elves. Even some of the stars joined in. But whenever she got near, the chatter would abruptly stop and drift away. She and Gilligan both soon discovered the meaning of these secret consultations when an Elf soldier, a friend of Loth’s and a smith by trade, presented them with rings.
"To show that your engagement is official," he said, smiling.
They weren’t elaborate; just smooth, even circles of gold; cold and fine but flooding with warmth as they touched skin. It was then that Aria realized that Loth’s golden armband was missing. However, when she tried to mention it to the elf, Loth’s pointed ears turned uncharacteristically pink and she brushed the gratuitous inquiries away, seeming embarrassed.
Another reunion of less seriousness had been made, as well. Rayne and her cat, Stowaway. It was now a common sight to see Rayne walking about with the great golden feline balanced in her arms, a sight that made some people chuckle.
Of course, Aria eventually got to talk to Gilligan about the village. I suppose she could have done it sooner, but, you know- there was a lot going on.
The conversation went something like this:
"Taylee and Dominic? Oh, it’s wonderful! Darling Taylee, she’ll be so happy." Aria clapped her hands.
"Actually," said Gilligan frankly, "I doubt Taylee is very happy right now."
"Why not?" The statement surprised Aria. "Dominic is a good sort of fellow, and they love each other."
"Well, you see, it’s not just Taylee’s happiness I doubt. It’s Abby’s and Aiden’s and Goodwife’s as well. I mean, they’re glad you’ve come- you have no idea quite how much- but…" As Aria made no attempt at a reply, he went on, "You see, Dominic- and Peter- are here. With us. In the army. So they won’t be lavished in domestic joys for awhile yet."
"They are??" Aria’s mouth gaped. "I have to see them!"
Gilligan only grinned.
**
If you had been a star that night, most likely nothing would have seemed out of place to you. But if you had been a star in Llorleya’s world, somewhat closer to clouds than usual, with exceptional vision, over the very spot where the army was camping, you would have seen a range of bonfires dotting the land, each one with a circle of friends in its glow. And if you had been one of the eight stars in the very camp, you would have been around one of those fires. And if you had been one particular starprincess, you would have found yourself sitting next to your betrothed around your very own fire, saying this to him:
"I don’t feel very Queen-ish at all. Right now I feel like Aria in a more childlike form. I am just a girl- your girl- and maybe I will sing for you, my lovely." Aria’s grey eyes shone as she spoke, enhanced as they reflected the firelight. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed happily.
"Sounds absolutely wonderful," said Gilligan. "But I warn you, I have a hard shoulder."
Aria smiled. "You know something? I still find it odd that you’re growing a beard."
The teasing had begun.
"Should I shave?" he asked playfully.
"I didn’t say that. I said I find it odd. That doesn’t necessarily mean I want it shaved."
"So you do like the beard. I’ll keep it, then."
"Well, I didn’t say I liked it, either," admitted Aria sheepishly.
"Women," said Gilligan fondly, and kissed the top of her head.
Then Aria, growing more serious, said thoughtfully, "I suppose sometimes I still picture you as the boy who teased me day and night and whipped me so humiliatingly in swordfighting, instead of the man who took on Torlith single-handedly just to rescue me and escaped his hanging."
"Well, I had Wynd’s help with the last one, and I didn’t win against Torlith," said Gilligan, seeming dissatisfied.
"Yes, but Torlith had guards."
Gilligan smiled. "If you like, I can still humiliatingly whip you in a swordfight."
"No thanks!" she laughed. Then, again thoughtful, "You’re right."
"Then we’ll swordfight," he said triumphantly.
"No, not that," she said. "Your shoulder is hard."
****
Raphael watched Gilligan and Aria together. I wonder what the Starking would think, he thought. Then, The Starking!
The stars had forgotten. The elves had forgotten. Given the circumstances, one can understand. But what a mistake! What a thing to forget!
He immediately called a private star-council, dragging his brethren away from their duties. They met at the city they had lately come from, and, gathering around Raphael expectantly, waited.
He wasn’t one to beat around the bush, so he began, as tactlessly as ever Loth had been. "We must send for the Starking to meet Aria," he announced, shortly and to the point.
Aria let out a small shriek. As the other stars turned their heads to stare, she clasped her hands over her mouth. "I- I didn’t- expect- wasn’t prepared for- sorry but-" she stammered. Hands dropping down again, she said, "Go on."
Raphael did. "It seems among all the excitement we have forgotten our original intention."
"To train Aria and bring her home," supplied Lark.
Raphael nodded. "However, we obviously can’t have her leave in the middle of the oncoming war for Llorleya."
Aria nodded emphatically.
"One of must be dispatched immediately to explain the circumstances," he went on, now talking to Aria. "He is a reasonable star. He could possibly wait, but I believe he might come to Llorleya and find you. He was most anxious when we found out you existed."
"I’ll go," interrupted Aero. "I’m the fastest."
"No you won’t," said Tyri in his great booming voice. "I’m the strongest. I’ll cross the distance best."
Aero and Tyri glared it out for awhile.
"If you go, Aero, you’d likely be too exhausted to return," pointed out Raphael.
Aero made a face. "All right, Tyri can go. But only because of that," he added hastily. Under his breath, he said, "It’ll take longer this way."
Raphael now interrupted, again addressing Aria, "I think if we ask the king, he would bring more soldiers for Llorleya’s cause."
Aria glowed with delight.
Then Wynd’s voice said, "You’ll need more than just stars. You’ll need fairy help."
No one had seen her approach, so they were all a little shaken. "This council was only for stars," said Raphael, to surprised- and, though you wouldn’t have known it, strangely pleased to see her- to be cold.
"I know," said Wynd, "and I’m sorry. But this could not wait." Breathing deeply, she turned her face to the sky. "I once told Rayne I had never seen a fairy gone bad. But I can feel them. I can sense that even now they are gathering, collecting in one place as though for a storm or battle. I do not know what force caused these creatures to obey, but they are going to Torlith. Stars will not be enough. You will need fairies to deal with these beasts that were once our kind."
Aria, surprising even herself with the calm in her voice, said, "How many?"
"I don’t know. A great many, or I would not feel them so strongly."
"How will we find the fairies?" Aria’s voice was level, but inside her mind was in turmoil with this burning question. "Aren’t they scattered forever?"
Wynd smiled. It was both sad and secretive. "Yes, they are scattered, but not forever. They can be found, if someone is willing to search for them… and promise them protection from being driven away again." She nodded to Aria. "With your permission, my Princess, I will take Rayne to help me find them."
At the same time Raphael was thinking, What! Wynd can’t leave!, Aria cried, "Rayne? No, I need her! Can you find them alone?"
"No," said Wynd, suddenly impatient. "Rayne has to come, never mind why."
It was then that Aria remembered Wynd’s far-off words: "I had such high hopes for Rayne…"
Rayne was special. Could this be why? thought Aria. "All right, I consent, though I still don’t know why Rayne must go," Aria found herself saying. "Hurry, though. I won’t be able to wait for fairies for very long once we reach the castle." She paused. "Another thing… Does Rayne know about this? The twisted fairies, and the journey she’ll be taking?"
"No," said Wynd, unperturbed. She sounded ecstatic, actually. "I’ll go tell her!"
**********
Rayne and Loth set out immediately to rally the fairies and Tyri set out at the same moment for Celestia. Now a choice comes. We could follow Rayne and Wynd into the west, or we could meet the Starking. It all happens simultaneously. I myself am partial to stars… but perhaps the fairies are more important for the moment. So we shall follow Rayne and Loth.

They gathered the things they would need and set off. Wynd, instead of wearing her long gown, was in a shorter dress of overlapping leaf-shaped cloth, with wide triangular sleeves that ended at her elbows. Her wings were unshielded, but she carried a cloak in case of need. Rayne dressed much the same, because such clothing was unrestricting and made for easier travel.
It may have looked as though they picked their course at random, but they didn’t.
Wynd whispered to Rayne, "Do you remember how it was the day we met? How you knew instinctively how to find me, where to turn?"
Rayne hadn’t remembered until that moment. Now she did. She nodded. "So that’s how I do it. Well, I’ll try it."
"Follow your instincts," said Wynd. "Follow them well."

As they traveled west, they spotted a forest in the distance. "We have to go there," Rayne said decidedly. "I don’t know what we’re to do when we enter, but we must go in that direction."
So they did.
As the twosome neared the forest, Wynd began to act fluttery and nervous. She would start flying upward, veer off in zigzags, then start restlessly walking again. If she had been leading, the small party of two would have certainly come to disaster.
Rayne, distracted to her limit, grabbed Wynd’s hands and fairly pinned her to a tree. "Will you please stop that! It’s hard enough work to ‘follow my senses’ without your taking offs and circling arounds and coming downs."
"I’m sorry," said Wynd in a nervous voice, unpinning herself. "It’s just that I haven’t seen another fairy in such a long time! The first meeting is sure to be either terrible or wonderful, and my heart can’t decide which!"
"There may not be any meetings at all, the way you’re acting," said Rayne crossly. She was not unsympathetic, just pressured, stressed, and tired. It only got worse as they entered the wood, because then it wasn’t a matter of direction so much as details.
Time passed. Without the sun to shine on them, it was hard to tell how much. They found a brook and followed it.
Suddenly, music echoed thought the woods. Soft. But they had definitely found someone or something.
"You did it, Rayne!" said Wynd.
"Sounds like a minstrel or something," Rayne said softly.
The lyrics reached them the same moment they reached the singer.
"Wanderer, Wanderer, tall, white, and fair
With new springtime blossoms wound in your hair
Where have you come from, and where are you going?
Won’t you stay in the trees by the clear river flowing?
You’ve come a long way,
So be merry and stay
Stay with me, my lovely, by the white river flowing
With the river-birds singing and the river-plants growing
Forget where you came from, you’ve reached where you’re going!"
And sitting on a thick, mossy tree bough, singing this song in a voice that was made to be a minstrel’s, was a fairy. His wings were folded behind him, since he was not flying. He had longish dirty-blonde hair that grew a little bit over his eyes, and his clothes were plain and a bit frayed. Gently, he was coaxing this tune out of a beaten-up looking guitar, which sounded lovely for all its appearance.
"Tam!" cried Wynd, and she sang the next verse, her voice clear and pretty:
"When I just saw you, my heart gave a leap
It then gave a flutter; a queer little beat.
I come from a place that I long to forget,
And the river is so cool, lovely, and wet
My heart’s beating loud
My feet just left the ground
I’ll stay here, beloved, by the bright river flowing
With the river-birds singing and the river-plants growing
I don’t need where I’ve come from- you’re where I was going!"
"Wynd?" cried the fairy when she had finished. He flew down from the tree straight to her, not even observing Rayne beside her. Rayne, however, was observing him.
His wings, now spread wide, were light green, with darker green veins running through, and slung onto his back was a fair-sized leather satchel. He seemed overjoyed to see Wynd- which was only to be expected. But he was almost handsome when he was delighted, Rayne judged.
After exchanging greetings and more exclamations of surprise, Wynd said, "Is Apria here? I haven’t seen her for ages,"- she probably literally means ages, thought Rayne- "and I’d love to talk to her again."
"I have no idea where my cousin is," said the other fairy with a pained smile.
"What?" said Wynd, looking surprised. "I thought you two had decided to live near each other."
"We did," he said, looking even more pained, "but six years ago she went off on a whim, and I have no idea where she went."
"Do you think she’s in trouble?" asked Wynd, alarmed.
"Not at all," said the male. "Just gone."
Wynd sighed. "Too bad. We needed her for something very important."
The male fairy apparently didn’t notice the "we". "If that’s the case, you needn’t mourn your pretty head about it. Apria is never good for anything important. Her head has always been full of moonlight and dancing, and always will be; nothing more."
Wynd was the one who now looked pained. "She’s a very good friend of mine."
"An airhead," insisted the other fairy carelessly.
"Well, she can be a bit- thoughtless- at times, but she is very dear to me." Wynd smiled suddenly. "I’ll never forget the way she looked when she burst in at Life’s ball with that giant pink peony in her honey-colored hair."
"You could smell her two tree-lengths off," agreed the male. They both laughed.
Rayne felt rather left out.
"What did you want her for, anyway?" asked the male when they finished.
Wynd began explaining about Aria reclaiming Llorleya from Torlith, and the army that had been gathered.
The other fairy pricked up his ears.
Then she mentioned her hopes that the fairies could not only help, but be drawn out of hiding- for good.
He glanced up sharply. "Wynd, I think that’s too much to hope for. Shouldn’t you think over what you’re saying? You’ll get up the hopes of a thousand poor young fairies- if you even manage to find them. And who knows how they’ll be devastated? And I mean that in more than one way."
Rayne felt both discouraged and angered. But then, she realized, hadn’t she said much of the same sort of things to Aria?
"You don’t understand," pleaded Wynd. "You haven’t seen the starprincess. And you haven’t seen- you haven’t seen Rayne."
Rayne looked up. She had been summoned. She stepped forward.
"Rayne," said Wynd, motioning to her friend, "this is Tamello."
As Rayne looked at Tamello and he looked at her, a change came over his face. He looked as though he were beginning to understand some long-unlearned concept. "Oh," was all he said. "Oh."
Wynd chewed on her lip. Rayne fidgeted. They waited for his answer.
He spoke slowly. "I’ll come, for what it’s worth." He shouldered the his pack. "In fact, let’s leave right now."
Wynd clapped her hands and whirled about in the air a little. "Oh, thank you, Tam!"
Rayne wondered what powers had wrought such a quick change in him.
Tamello looked down at Rayne. "Lead the way."
**********