Three Twisted Knots

We planned to attend the Faire’s glamorous masqued ball, but truth be told, large gatherings are making me a bit anxious these days. Of course, there are many satellite parties, so the Fairchilde was our choice for later in the evening. It only made sense that I spent my day before the ball in the lovely airborne Isles of Tarrin.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there are other Realms out there at least as magical as our Awenia, and so when I’m given the opportunity to visit beautiful places, I make it my business to learn as much about them as possible. Here, the islands seem to be kept aloft by some kind of mystical energy emanating from these large crystals embedded into their bases, as you can see. Very little of Tarrin is accessible from ground, or I suppose, sea level; you can see the single dock behind me. They say it’s best to see the place from the air.

The streets themselves resemble nothing so much as the winding alleyways and twisting streets of places I remember visiting with my human parents as a child. One summer we spent what was to me a glorious week in Tenby; my mother had been ill and wanted a place where you could see the ocean from the window, so the view from the cottage we let for the week was spectacular. The route to the sea was down a series of garden paths; you had to be careful where you stepped because there were cobblestones and they are not kind to little feet in water shoes. My Welsh grannie came along for part of that trip, I remember. She took me out to St. Catherine’s Island at low tide and told me that mer-people lived there once, “but now you’ll find only selkies; they just ruin the whole damned neighbourhood wherever they go.” I was maybe ten or eleven, and I don’t think I’d ever heard my grandmother curse before.

Gosh, I do ramble when I’m on a rambling street. That’s what the streets here remind me of.

The Isles are framed, almost, by a series of small stepping-stone islands which form the walking path to the town itself. I couldn’t help but notice that the neighbouring Realm of Somniatoris Arx was beautifully framed from one of them.

It would be easy, I suppose, to imagine that the two Realms almost frame one another. The spires of Somniatoris Arx might boast the best views of the Isles of Tarrin, at least for these few magical weeks of the Great Faire.

I decided that Somniatoris Arx must be on my destinations list for this Faire, and in fact I was almost — almost — disappointed that I’d waited to show my face at Faire until the second week. Nobody would really see me until the Ball itself.

And that, my darlings, is the reason I was already masqued. It wasn’t in my plan to be recognised, bothered, spoken to, or at all interrupted that day. I daresay they see enough masqued Fae around here at the moment to know that maybe I did not wish to be disturbed.

The best way, they say, to see the Isles is from the deck of an airship, and so that’s what I did: I hired one for a tour around the town. It was the nicest way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

If you have time, and you are anywhere near the Fairelands, do take a few hours to walk the winding streets of Isles of Tarrin. Once the Fairelands recede into the Mists, you may never be able to walk them again.

Notes & Credits:

Isles of Tarrin is one of twenty one regions in this year’s Relay for Life of Second Life Fantasy Faire. It is sponsored by Teegle and was designed by Teagar, Ketsui Naidoo, and Monstaar. You can visit it until the 12th of May, 2021, when the Fairelands will fade once again as they do every year.

What’s Gwyneth Wearing?

Items featured at this year’s Fantasy Faire:

• The Gown: Senzafine, Eolande gown in RFL colour way Dawn (Get it in Wandering Woods!)
• The Crown: The Annex, Princess Crown in RFL purple & Silver (Get it in Wandering Woods!)

SLURLs point to specific stores in the Fairelands!

Everything else:

• Body: Maitreya
• Head: Lelutka EvoX Avalon
• Skin: Lumae, Amesha in T2
• Hair: Monso, Ana
• Jewellery: Kunglers, Adna Earrings & Necklace
• Gloves: Kunst, Sophia Gloves
• Under-Masque: The Nerdy Birdy, Spring Mask
• Over-Masque: Astralia, Golden Angel Common Mask