The Life of an Awenian Expatriate

From Cherish Gelato:

As you know, Dear Readers, I have been away for some time! But nothing stops your intrepid editor from learning the real truth and sharing it with you, my loyal and supportive supporters.

I first learned of today’s subject, Lira, through some backchannel gossip I picked up at the Great Faire, because of course you know the best gossip is always at the Fantasy Faire.

It appears that Her Fae Majesty, Gwyneth of Awenia, is not above creating beings specifically to do her bidding, and then casting them out. Once I found out Lira was working for the Dragon Deliverance Society, I made it my business to find her and see if we could shed some light on the various travesties of justice that brought about Lira’s current predicament. Because I’ve had issues with contacting Awenians in the past and wasn’t sure how, well, connected Lira might still be to her former home, I contacted another source in the Fae Realms and found out where the Dragon Deliverance Society domiciles its remote librarian, and there you have it!

Don’t I look beautifully tanned here? My sojourn in Spain reminded me of the good things in my background: specifically that I do not sunburn but rather take on a delightful glow when I spend time in the Great Outdoors, sweet readers. Given the Dragon Deliverance Society’s solemn tenets, I was surprised at how whimsical the approach to Lira’s house was. I’m sure, given that her home is in Fantasseria, not so far away from the FaeWatch HQ, she was able to put her own spin on her decorations and whatnot. It was a bit grassy and garden-y for me, but I enjoyed this musical pathway.

And of course, the musical pathway had another purpose: before I got to the end of it, a young fae (well, she appeared young; you know how they are) was making her way swiftly down a series of staircases to greet me at the bottom stoop.

From Lira:

It was an ordinary day. I had gotten a contract request from Dragon Companies House in Isle Of Wyrms (this location appears to be mythical, but the dragons are certain of its continued existence), and I was just going over the initial terms when I heard the bells ring down below. I had not ordered anything yet for lunch, so I rushed down to see who my unscheduled visitor might be! I love meeting new people.

And there coming up the walk was this beautiful lady! I mean, she looked beautiful to me. I’m still working out what the whole thing with beauty is, so I could be wrong.

I guess she sort of had a warmth about her. She smiled when she saw me coming down the stairs. I squinted to look at her over my dragon reading glasses (they have multiple lenses so you can catch nuance, but they are not very good for anything else: it’s complicated). Pretty sure I just said, “Hello.” I mean, I had no idea who she was, so I wasn’t going to go into the whole DDS welcome spiel.

From Cherish:

Lira was so welcoming! She lifted a graceful fae arm and said, “Hello, and welcome to my home. How may I assist you today?”

I was so charmed!

I told her who I was, of course: I’d never dissemble about my identity. She didn’t seem to know about FaeWatch, but I suppose that’s not a surprise: I am in continued negotiations with Nathaniel about that. Being banned from the Multiverse’s most popular fae resort and experiential destination has made my job more and more difficult, but that’s not the subject of our article, is it?

Lira agreed to speak with me, and she took me for a walk around her lovely garden.

I asked her how it felt to be unable to return to her home in Awenia, and she was so strong, saying she was enjoying exploring the outer Realms for now. She even said she liked my hair.

From Lira:

Ms. Gelato, who insisted I call her Cherish, seemed to be under the impression that I had been evicted from Awenia. I explained to her that that’s not at all the case: at first, after my portal mishap, I had been running around trying to find my way home, and then I had to find ways to make my way in the various worlds when it became apparent that finding my way back was not going to be as easy as all that.

But, I explained, from the moment I ran into TAC at the Great Faire, I could have gone back to Awenia at any time. It’s just that right now I’m doing other things with my life. But I could go back. There is nothing stopping me from going back and going back to work with Ari in the Awenian library. Cherish suggested that we find a place to sit down in the shade and perhaps have some tea, because she really wanted to hear my story. So we finished our walk in the garden, which she was lovely and complimentary about, and I guess I was getting to like her. She was so pleasant, and she really seemed to want to know about my life.

And, And! She looked up and said, “My, you even have a hot tub! The Dragon Deliverance Society has appointed you well!” So that’s what that thing is called. It’s not a big outdoor bathtub, which makes no sense at all. Later, I will Faegle “Hot Tub” and find out what one does with a hot tub. All this was going through my mind in seconds of course, but I just smiled and nodded. “Yes,” I replied, “they treat me very well and offer me compensation and support commensurate with my considerable education and talents.”

From Cherish:

Lira is a delightful, young-presenting fae, with ash black hair (at least today, haha!) and the intriguing multicoloured eyes indicative of the Sidhe. I suggested we start with some basic questions, and she agreed readily, then quickly ordered some snacks and drinks for us from DragonDash. I do love DragonDash. They have an extensive menu, and it’s all certified safe for mortals. What follows is an edited transcript of our interview.

C: Thank you for inviting me to your home.

L: Well, you were already here. And really, this is just the first balcony. My actual house is upstairs. In the tree.

C: [laughs] You are such a literalist, Lira. So tell me, how old are you, if I may ask? I know some fae don’t like that question.

L: I am a librarian. [nods] In real realm terms I suppose I’m about four years old. [pauses] Most people are shocked; I just thought I’d give you a minute.

C: I know that you are a created being.

L: [appears surprised] Is that common knowledge? [she looks around the area] Am I under observation or something?

C: [chuckles] No, no; nothing like that. It’s just that I try to find out as much as I can about a subject before I interview them. So tell me about how you came to be the remote librarian for the Dragon Deliverance Society.

L: Well, it all started around the end of the Great Faire. I ran into TAC, who said she thought there’d been a theft of some dragon eggs, and if I wanted some work, she’d give me a job helping her find them.

C: Ooh, sounds fascinating. Do continue.

L: So I went to this Dragon Faire, and I got to know the people, and when I started asking questions, they threw me out of town. [she shrugs] TAC told me to go to the safe house, so I did, and then she arrived and gave me this lecture about how I was not any good at being an operative and if I wanted to go back to Awenia she could help me, or she had another job I could do. I picked doing the other job. So here we are.

C: How did you feel about the Catwoman telling you off?

L: I was unhappy at the time, but I’m over it. It’s not worth it to feel angry with her; she was probably right and I shouldn’t have been so straightforward with Clive. I have to learn how to deal better with mortals. Did you know mortals do not always tell the truth?

C: Yes, I did. In fact, in case you haven’t noticed, I am a mortal myself.

L: Really? But you have pointy ears, and I thought you had glamoured those lovely white streaks in your hair.

C: I had my ears surgically pointed by a body modification artist in Spain. If you look closely, you can see the little scar.

From Lira:

I had no idea Cherish was a mortal. Suddenly I felt a little uncomfortable. I mean, I guess it’s just as normal for a mortal to go out and get their ears pointed as it would be for me to glamour myself to look mortal. Except I’d never do that. And, chances are, she can not change her ears back. I wonder what happens if folk do something so radical and then regret it? I thought for a few seconds about how lucky I was, and I squinted at Cherish (still pretty tough to see over the dragon specs). It was funny how, looking at her and knowing she was mortal, I could suddenly see all the things about her that had I been more observant I might have noticed straight off. She has wrinkles. Under her eyes and around her mouth. I wonder what it must be like to have your skin become your enemy like that.

I found myself wishing that Her Fae Majesty had imbued me with more fae traits, like being able to smell mortals. I can smell magic OK, but I guess she thought I would never have to worry about smelling mortals, since all the mortal tourists who come to Awenia have visitor badges or are wearing t-shirts, and they all look completely mortal.

From Cherish:

How fascinating! Lira had no idea I was a mortal until I revealed it to her. Momentarily I thought maybe I shouldn’t have bothered, but then I just moved on with the questions.

C: But we’re not here to talk about me: we’re here to talk about you. Although— your not realising I wasn’t fae is an intriguing tangent. Can’t fae folk always tell whether they’re dealing with one of their own or a different kind of being?

L: My understanding is that all natural born fae have that ability, yes. Because I was created for a specific purpose, some natural things seem just as foreign to me as they might to you. And, to other fae, I smell odd. They can tell something is different about me, although I do not tick all the ‘mortal’ boxes. I’ve been challenged before by people I would consider kindred.

C: That must have been terrible for you.

L: Well, I guess at the time it did not seem all that odd. The fact is, I am different from them, and while I have many natural fae abilities, like the ability to glamour, I am missing others, like flight for example. And I have some abilities that seem to be rare among fae, like my ability to move between Realms, once I learned how, with relative ease. As for how I feel about it all, I have only recently discovered I have feelings. I bought a book about it, even. And I had my first dream a few nights ago.

C: You seem very academic about it all.

L: I was created an academic. Some things that other folk seem to find very simple do not work for me at all. I don’t always get jokes. I find it a chore to separate truth from bollocks on the Internet.

C: [laughs] Oh, I think you’ll find plenty of us mortals have that second problem, as well. Don’t you think Her Fae Majesty did you a disservice by not including these, er, features in your design?

L: Not really. I am a librarian. [She shrugs] I know there are things I am naïve about, but I learn a little more every day.

C: And how are you finding navigating your new position?

L: I love it! I get to pore through old books and find little-used statutes all the time. Even the Dragonfolk don’t mind interacting with me: they tell me I am more logical than most folk, be they fae or otherkin.

L: Sometimes I miss Awenia, and the great library there. And I miss Ari, my assistant. They have probably promoted her to Librarian by now; I’ve been gone for two years, after all. I also think it’s been good for me to be outside Awenia and experience the wider collection of Realms. Have you been to Awenia recently?

C: Alas, that’s not been possible for me just lately. But I’m in negotiations with Prince Consort Nathaniel—did you know he keeps a house in Bellisseria? He’s my neighbour. It’s his home base when he’s working on things in the Mortal Realms.

L: Oh, that is so lovely. Send him my best wishes next time you see him. I miss having to wake him up and kick him out of the study office.

C: [chuckles] I certainly will. We’re the best of friends, you know. I’ve interviewed him several times. But getting back to Awenia— do you think you’d ever like to go back? Surely you could do this remote job from there, as well.

L: Well, being the head librarian in Awenia is not just a full time job. It is a vocation, a calling. It completely consumed me. I would love to go back there someday, but I am not sure when that will be. I would want to speak with Her Fae Majesty about having a little more time to myself. [she laughs] How odd, because I did not really think much in terms of “self” before I was lost in the portal glitch.

C: Maybe it was Fate! Maybe you were somehow meant to find your way away from Awenia and into the wider Realms.

L: That sounds like something Uggla would say. He is a big believer in Fate. Then again, he is dim as a post, so I do not often take his advice.

C: Ouch! Do you consider all believers in Fate to be dim?

L: That is an interesting question. I consider first the facts with which I am presented, and if I do not have enough facts, I try to find more. If we consider Fate in the academic sense [she chuckles at herself], in the sense of Fate as an analogue of Destiny, which of course it originally was not but may be considered almost synonymous now, if we consider Fate as the concept that all our lives and deaths are predetermined, well—no. As a created being, how can I be subject to Fate, if, as the Sumerians, Babylonians, or Presbyterians would have us believe, the ultimate authority, our creator, or as many people put it, god, goddess, gods, whatever deity they follow, predetermines our destinies. So that would mean Her Fae Majesty, Queen Gwyneth of Awenia, is to me as a god would be to those ancients and some contemporaries who believe that they, like me, are created beings and not a probable result of biology, evolution, chemicals, and electrical impulses. [she pauses] I think I need to have my lunch alone now. It has been very nice speaking with you. I will send you my contact card for FaeNet, and if you would like to schedule other conversations, please contact me by FaeMessage. It would be better if you left now. If you would like to take your snack with you, of course that is fine.

C: Of course I’ll respect your wishes, Lira, but are you all right?

L: I am perfectly fine. But it is time for me to get on with my work now.

From Cherish:

And with that, she rose from the couch and made her way swiftly up the stairs. Presently, I heard the sound of the door closing above.

Well, that was a bit shocking! She’d seemed almost normal up to that point. I did feel a little stung when she seemed to insult my intelligence, dear readers, but I know the Fae will never apologise for anything, so I wasn’t expecting that level of politeness from her.

I collected my things and got a Uniber home because I really wasn’t up to dealing with the convoluted Fantasseria canal system, and as close as we were to Eyrie, I knew the canals would be busy until evening.

Readers, I will do my best to secure another interview with Lira, because after that last outburst of hers, I’m worried. Maybe my initial question should not have been if the Queen kicked her out of Awenia, but whether or not she is somehow, possibly dangerously defective.

Of course, I will keep you all up to date on further developments.

From Lira:

I did not go back to work. I took a nap. On my couch, which does not usually happen. And when I woke up, I Faegled “hot tub,” and aside from some truly disturbing photographs, there was a lot of information about hot tubs and what one does with them.

So I changed into my bathing costume and went down to the hot tub deck, where I ordered an a la carte from DragonDash (that’s where they bring a little glamoured food prep site to your location and prepare it all in front of you). As it happens, my favourite DragonDash chef was on duty! Even though I do not often order a la carte, he seemed pleased to see me and greeted me by name.

“Miss Lira! So happy you’ve ordered with me again,” he said, all toothy smile and gem-eyed charm. Really, dragons are so attractive. “Now, tell me your desire and I shall prepare it for you forthwith.”

I laughed. “You’re so charming, Bluff,” I said. “And I really do not know what I want. I just know I want to watch you prepare it.”

“Is our favourite librarian and contract specialist feeling a wee bit down?” Bluff asked. “Has it been a long, hard day?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so? I was working on contracts and then a little before lunchtime, this lady came to the door from FaeWatch and wanted to interview me.”

Bluff’s eyes widened, and he growled, sending little tendrils of smoke out of his nostrils. “That rag,” he said, “should be outlawed.”

I blinked. “Oh,” I said. “She seemed really nice, so I invited her up for snacks, and we talked about how I came to be the remote librarian for the Dragon Deliverance Society.”

Bluff growled again. “Lovely Lira, Ms. Cherish Gelato is a well known muckraker. She is a blackguard, a gossipmonger, and a yellow journalist.”

I blinked again. “Oh.”

“What’s done as we say is done. I think I know exactly what you need.” Bluff opened the cupboard to the side of his prep space, which was filled with bottles of all shapes and sizes. “Here; I’ll mix you something fizzy and sweet with just a touch of Dragonmead. It’ll calm your nerves.”

I wasn’t in the mood to make decisions, so I just said all right, and I watched as he poured little bits from several bottles into a tall glass, which he cooled with a little device that made the glass go all frosty. “I’ll make you another before I start your dinner, Miss Lira.”

“Just Lira, OK? We are friends, aren’t we?”

Bluff sighed. “You have a lot to learn about friendship, Lira, but I do enjoy coming here and preparing food for you. We’ll make it something light and sweet, perhaps a lovely spinach salad with some mushrooms?”

“That sounds lovely. This is good,” I said after my first sip.

“Wonderful. I am happy to make you another for after dinner.”

Night fell, and the glows came out, and Bluff left me with a fourth (I had four!) drink before he flew off to his next appointment. He told me to have a lovely night and sweet dreams. He is such a nice dragon. He is Magic. Bluff, the Magic Dragon. I’ll tell him that’s his new name next time I see him.

Somewhere around 3.5 drinks, I started worrying about Cherish and whether I’d done something wrong, something that could get me in trouble with Her Fae Majesty. But then I had the piece of dragon cake Bluff left me for dessert, and I finished the last of the drinks. I will have to see if he can bring more. This stuff is very relaxing.

It probably isn’t a good idea to fall asleep on or in the hot tub. The hot tub is so nice, though. And I really am still sleepy. I don’t know why. It isn’t as if I did two realm crossings and got kicked out of a dragon faire. But I am. I am sleepy. And I feel fizzy. I think Dragonmead must be some kind of drug. It does taste nice though.

If I could fly, I’d be in bed by now. Why can’t I fly? And it’s not like I can Realmwalk up two flights of stairs. OK. I should get out of this tub. And then I will go upstairs and go to sleep. It would not be a good idea to fall asleep in a hot tub.

Notes & Credits:

(sponsored items noted with a *)

Cherish:

Eyeshadow: Hexumbra, Evangeline*, one of my recent favourites from the FaeDragons at Hexumbra, and available at the Hexumbra Main Store!
Hair: Stealthic, Bonded (SeraPlus!)
Clothes: Riot, Soleil Tweek Flutter Top & Soleil Shorts (SeraPlus!)
Skin: Glam Affair, Melina, in L008C (SeraPlus!)
Eyes: Shimm, CXCIX
Necklace: DarkMouse, A Daisy For You
Earrings: DarkMouse, Modern Hoop Earrings
Nose Bridge Piercing: Cureless, Rose Bridge Piercing
Eyebrows: Onyx, Messy Eyebrows V2
Shoes: Seeker, Linda
Ears: LEX, MiHD Pixie Ears
Ear Scarring Tattoo: Casron Fhang, Cyborg Pointed Ear Healed (custom)
Additional hairbase: Angel Eyes, Wispy Bang 4 Hairbase
Ageing add-ons: Poema, Mar Eyes, Mar Mouth
Cherish is styled on a MaitreyaX body and a Lelutka EvoX Avalon Mesh Head

Lira:

Eyeshadow: Hexumbra, Viera*. Get it at the Hexumbra Main Store!
Hair: Magika, Caramel
Additional Hairbase: Addon+, Angel Hairbase
Skin: Lumae, Eirtae* in T3. You can grab a demo or purchase your own beautiful Lumae skin at the Lumae Main Store!
Lipstick: Song, Gatsby Lips
Dress: Jangka, Summer Dress Blue
Swimming Costume: Blume, Briar Swimsuit
Eyes: Shimm, CCCLXI, bonus
Eyebrows: Simple Bloom, Deborah
Glasses: Random Matter, Alminas Glasses
Tights: Evora, 7 Denier Sheer Ombre Tights, in Pastel Wave
Lira is styled on a Legacy body and a Lelutka EvoX Raven mesh head.