Three Twisted Knots

From Friðrós:

The Mists have descended. But here is a final short story to tide you over til next year, when I aspire to do a better job. We spent out last night in Silevea, land of interconnected plants, land of tiny guardians, land of great trees and intriguing mushrooms.

Myrkandraum is apparently still learning the ins and outs of landing neatly on my shoulder, it would seem. “Try another angle,” I suggested.

He grumbled.

“You might not maim me from that angle,” I said. I was only half joking.

“We are here to explore,” he said. “Let’s get to it.”

Now, I’d spent a little time in Silevea earlier on in the Faire. One of those flighty faery types led a nice tour in which we saw some of the highlights, including meeting the smallest residents of the Realm, the Sylvan Spore Fae, and it was these little fellows I especially wished to seek out.

The entire Faire seemed beset with toads, frogs, and fish this year. It seems sometimes this happens; I remember a year when there were dragons everywhere. I mean, there are always dragons everywhere, but that was a year where there were dragons all over the place. But do you see, behind the toad?

“There,” I whispered. “There is one of them. I wonder if they will speak with us.”

“That toad,” Myrkandraum said, “could have me for an aperitif.”

“Only if she catches you,” I replied.

We tiptoed over the lily pads, hoping not to attract the ginormous toad’s attention, and luck was with us. I sat down on the moss-covered ground in front of the little Spore Fae. They didn’t move; I couldn’t tell if it was a defensive reaction, or if they were really just kind of a languid species.

Myrkandraum spoke with a series of beak clicks and throaty chirrups.

To my surprise, the Fae spoke back with the same cadence.

“Ah,” Myrkandraum said to me. “He is greeting us in the name of their goddess, and he is thanking you for not speaking too loudly, as he is getting over a spring cold.”

I chuckled, but I tried to do it quietly. “It is an honour to meet you,” I said in a near-whisper.

“And you, Raven Girl,” replied the Spore Fae. “How came you into our Realm? We’ve had so many strange visitors recently.”

I nodded. “I am not surprised,” I replied in the same whisper. “Your Realm has been a feature of the Great Faire, so you will see everyone from tiny cats and sentient snails to great dragons wandering through, until the Mists rise and you go back to your scattered places in the world matrix.”

“Of course, of course,” they said. “We have heard stories of the Faire. How sad that to us, it appears as if folk just disappear when they approach one of the glowing borders. It seems that if you are part of a Realm, you may be excluded from wandering into others.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said. “But I suppose it makes sense. When the mists come, and it will be soon now, no-one would want you to be lost in a land of, say, huge dinosaurs, or a sunken city, because these Realms as they are will never be connected again, you see.”

Myrkandraum clicked an agreement. “And,” he continued in English, “it is also true that Travellers through the Faire may not choose to stay on in any of the Realms called to be part of the Faire. Once the mists descend, they make their ways back to their homes. Or wherever they will call home for now, I suppose.”

“Hm,” said the Fae. “That is most curious. To think that a visitor who wanted to live here might not be welcomed due to some cosmological rule.” They shook their head. “It seems unfair, somehow.”

“Many things that seem unfair are really the tools of the cosmos for balance-keeping,” said Myrkandraum. “And who knows: you might receive some new transplants in the months to come who somehow wander here and feel they have come home again. There are many ways to bring folk to where they belong.”

The Fae nodded, considering. “It may be true,” they said. “But now I must get on with the work of adding mist under these large mushrooms—well, I suppose they seem small to you folk. They must be misted just so with the right amount of moon mist in order to retain their glow. And nobody wants a magical mushroom without its glow.”

We agreed, said our goodbyes, and slipped away around the other side, using the lily pads to make our way back to shore.

This one was collecting pollen from the flowering bodies of the tree mushrooms. With permission, I took a root cutting both from this tree and from the mushrooms; I knew Her Fae Majesty would want to see if these trees would take root in Awenia.

There were so many different kinds of mushrooms; each variety had, it seemed, its own particular kind of Spore Fae to tend and nurture it.

I knew, because I’d heard the morning’s announcement, that the Faire would be ending the following day. So rather than setting up camp in Silevea, I chose to go back to spend my last night at Faire in Hope’s Wish with the rest of the Shining Throng and the Queen.

But I won’t ever forget the last sight we had of Silevea, as we passed through the border to the next realm. “Ooh, look up, Myrkandraum,” I said.

The massive airship Fairchild was moored in Silevea for this Faire, and I could hear the music from where we stood. I’m not much of a dancer, so we didn’t climb up to the ship herself. But she sure is beautiful from a distance, isn’t she?

Goodnight, Fantasy Faire 2024. You were a wonder.

From The Author:

This year has been, let’s face it, weird in terms of Faire stories from all of us at Three Twisted Knots.

The Author’s exhaustion becomes the narrators’ exhaustion, of course.

Stories we planned to tell but did not get to this Faire:

• Friðrós was meant to change eye colour in every region, but you only see it once, and for this I owe an apology to Syren’s Song, whose inventive eyes inspired that idea;
• Lira was meant to be always a step ahead or a step behind any of us; instead, she ended up not being featured at all this Faire;
• For the first time since I started blogging Fantasy Faire in 2015, there was no story from TAC this year.
• I toyed originally with the idea of Avalon finding a land named the same as. her, but that was only ever a possibility.

I wish I’d been able to do more, see more, tell more. There never seems to be enough time, and this Faire seems to have gone by so much faster than others I’ve attended. But it only makes me look forward again to next year, when I’ll have more new Realms to explore, stories to write, Quests to deliver, Quests to experience, photographs to take.

Thank you all for everything, and thank you especially if you’ve enjoyed reading my little stories this year.

Notes & Credits:

• Outfit (boots, top, wraps): Scarlet Fey, Woodland Elf Set Black PBR
• Eyes: Siren’s Song, P13RC3 7
• Leggings: Toksik, Leather Leggings Black
• Hair: Raven Bell, Elliot Hair (Shimmer Edition)
• Tattoo: Endless Pain, Vikar
• Ears: LEX, MiHD Elf Ears
• Eyeshadow: Hexumbra, Gwen
• Lips: A.D.D. Andel, Lip Shimmer, copper overlaid on gold
• Skin: Lumae, Edie, T2, Freckled
• Eyebrows: Simple Bloom, Miss Shields
• Myrkandraum: CKit Falconry, Raven Shoulder Pet, Medium
• Friðrós is styled on a MaitreyaX mesh body and a Lelutka EvoX Avalon mesh head.

About the Region:

Silevea was one of 20 regions in the 16th annual Relay For Life of Second Life’s Fantasy Faire. Sponsored by Unity Maxim Battle And Role Play System, region design by Ravenstarr, Cube Republic, and Ica84. The amazing plants and trees are all by Cube Republic.

Celebrating its sixteenth year, Fantasy Faire 2024 is the largest gathering of fantasy designers, enthusiasts, roleplayers and performers in the virtual world. From Thursday, April 18 to Sunday May 5, treat yourself to shopping, dance and theater performances, DJ parties, auctions, questing, our Literary Festival, fantasy art, events and roleplaying as thousands of Second Life residents and creators bring their own visions together to support the American Cancer Society’s vision of a world without cancer.