Three Twisted Knots

When I found myself in Tinker’s Hollow, I was at first too overwhelmed to take it all in. The darkness of the landscape was contrasted by bright bean-shaped paths in some places and wide roads in others, dirt paths into which something seemed to have been inscribed in yet others. To be honest, I was confused. I felt dizzy, displaced, possibly a bit drunk.

One arrives on an airship, after which there is a long flight of spiral stairs: this might have contributed to the feeling of dizziness, but I can’t be sure, because it’s hard to be sure of anything in Tinker’s Hollow.

For example: was that really a giant red teapot house? I mean, obviously it was a giant red teapot house: I was looking at it. And the floating cups, and the smaller floating teapot, and a strange newspaper headline, and … well, everything was brightly coloured, or at least it was just here.

What sort of Realm had I stumbled in to? It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, like a picture book inscribed upon a landscape of night-dreams, but all the denizens seemed to be awake, alive, busily going about their lives. I suppose if you lived in such a Realm, you’d become used to the scenery. In the day (I think it was a day; it’s hard to measure time in Tinker’s Hollow) I was there, I never stopped coming upon things that surprised, delighted, and even scared me a little.

Of course, as with all the Fairelands Realms, the shopping was amazing, though the feeling of dizziness never subsided,the whole time I was there. In fact, I wondered to myself if it might not be an intentional atmosphere of putting visitors off-balance. Perhaps confused people buy more merchandise. If I were back in London, I’d just Google that and see if there were any statistics on it: for myself, I can only say that I came away with an astounding number of wild headdresses and crowns from a shop called Love. Though I didn’t wear any of these trinkets while in Tinker’s Hollow, I can’t wait to try them all on and see how good my decisions actually were while in the Realm. Maybe when my head clears I’ll realise I’ve made huge purchasing mistakes. Then again, maybe they’ll just bring back the sense of delight and wonder the whole Realm evokes.

Somewhere on a high hill in the Realm (and I couldn’t tell you how to get back there now!) there was a carousel of unicorns! Inside the circle of the carousel, I found statues of fae creatures (or maybe they were real, and just being very still: I could have sworn one of them had fluttering wings!), sunflowers, a host of glowing plants. It all seemed so comfortable and happy, like a child’s daydream.

While the feeling of dizziness stayed with me, I became more and more comfortable with the landscape as I travelled through the realm.

I could have sworn this tree was topped with candy floss! And the glowing flowers reminded me of nothing so much as our Will-o-the-Wisps, come out to bring messages. None of them spoke to me. In fact, despite the assault of colour and movement, and some music at the carousel, the Realm seemed silent to me. Of course, as my memories fade, I’ll never know if that was completely true or if my system just couldn’t process so many things entering it at once.

It did all begin to seem like a dream, but more of a day-dream than the asleep variety. I wondered what Richard would have made of it: he probably would have suggested that recreational drugs would enhance our experience. Of course, with my heightened Fae senses, I have absolutely no idea what drugs would do to my system at this point, or if they’d have any effect at all.

I blinked once, twice. Or maybe hours passed: I don’t know. But when I next became aware of what I was doing, I found myself reciting Titania’s lines from A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

I pray thee, gentle mushroom, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour’d of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say….

Oh, hell no. Once I realised what I was saying, I shook my head to clear it, muttered a quick, “Sorry,” and fled from that grove with the talking mushrooms. Or, I assume they talked. They did have faces after all, and I swore (or Titania certainly did!) that I heard one of them sing…

Yeah. It was definitely time to go home for a rest. Tomorrow I’ll seek out a bright land, a simple land, a Realm with no talking mushrooms and a straightforward path from end to end. I might even do it as a different person.

I do hope no one heard me.

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa Jessica
Ears: BentBox, Sylvan Ears
Skin: Lumae Eirtae, Tone 1
Lipstick: The Skinnery, Matte Lip Potion
Hair: Analog Dog (natch), Iota (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Circlet: Mangomoon, Ophelia Crown (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Dress: Bite & Claw, Gabrielle Gown (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Shoes: Senzafine, Aesbrennil Velvet-Lined Slippers
Necklace: Empyrean Forge, Benedictine Riata (Available at the Fantasy Faire!)
Setting: Tinker’s Hollow

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never explore the Fairelands without it!