By Donna and Abs
The day after Fae left, Gideon and Faith
spent most of it in the secret garden, taking turns leaving to eat and to check
in with people so that they would not be suspicious about not seeing them around
for long periods of time. But as the day went by, it was obviously becoming a
strain on Gideon. He didn't complain though, and Hydra kept him going by having
him drink her magical water frequently. He was still dragging though every time
he returned. The sun was just lowering on the horizon when he went for his
supper, leaving Faith to explore the depths of the garden with the fairies. It
was then that they found the wee thatched cottage hidden in a tiny glen by a
sparkling little brook. A thin trendil of smoke rose from the stone chimney.
Faith asked if they knew who lived there,
but the fairy girls had no idea. "We've
been stuck in the fountain for such a long time," said Vanessa wistfully.
As they watched, a beautiful young woman
walked out of the cottage. She had long, wavy black hair that fell to her lower
back, and carried herself like a lady, despite the fact she was walking with a
cane. She was wearing a simple sleeveless top with a long full skirt, and
carrying a ginger colored cat in her free arm. "Saints alive! Look, Tomas,
we have visitors!" she called out in surprise, seeing the other women.
"Top o' th' mornin' to you all," she said in a thick Irish accent.
"Forgive me, but I was not expecting company this fine day."
She then stopped in her tracks, looking around her. This was not where
her cottage had been when she had gone to bed the night before!
Endora and Vanessa smiled at her, just
because she seemed like the type of person they would like, and Hydra looked at
Faith to see what her reaction would be.
"Good eve' to you," Faith said
with a smile. The new woman looked confused, glancing up at the sky. It was
indeed evening. How could she have slept all night and day both? She had been
staying in a friend’s remote cottage along the coast of Western Ireland,
having some much needed time alone to recover from a recent trauma in her life.
Looking around, she wondered where she was. There were no sounds of the sea
crashing into the cliffs, no stony fields. Instead, she was in a beautiful
garden, lush and green, filled with all sorts of flowering plants and trees.
"Wha' is this place? 'Tis not the
Connemara!" Wherever she was, she liked it. Something about this place
seemed so familiar, as if she had at long last come home.
"No," said Endora, "it is
a place called Edan. But this is a
secret place in Edan, and not many know of it." Faith then went on to
gently tell her that she was on a whole new world.
“Glory be,” the woman said softly,
shaking her head as she looked around. She didn’t seem upset or unhappy about
her new situation though. “Why is this wondrous place a secret then?” she
asked, tilting her head slightly as she studied the other women closely.
"That is because we are fae, and we
can't walk about the Humans until we are set in form," explained Hydra.
"If someone captures us before we have fully formed, it causes all
manner of troubles."
"So, it is some of the wee ones that
ye are?" she said, her eyes suddenly twinkling with joy. "Isn't me
name Fiona McFadden? And haven’t I been a friend of the faerie folk all me
life? ‘Tis been a long time since I’ve had the joy of conversing with one
though.” She had grown up at the
beginning of the 20th century on a large estate in Western Ireland,
and being an only child, had spent many hours playing in a fairy glen with what
her parents thought were imaginary playmates.
She decided that at least three of them were like her old friends, but
she wasn’t sure about the shy looking girl dressed in a skirt and blouse that
looked to be from the middle of the previous century. “And you, Miss? Be ye
fae too?" she asked, looking at Faith. The young Scotswoman shook her head
and smiled, saying she was quite human.
"She's keeping an eye on us,"
said Vanessa sulkily. "So we
don't run away."
"Or someone comes and finds
us," added Hydra.
Fiona laughed. "A pleasant duty I'm
sure!" she said. "Me old friends were always flittin’ about, looking
fer mischief. Many was the time I got blamed for their doings.
Would ye be coming in for a spot of tea? I was just going to wet the
tea."
"I love tea," said Endora, and
Hydra agreed. Vanessa was inching
toward the door of the cottage, wanting to look inside.
Faith looked around, wondering why Gideon
wasn't back yet. "I wa' love
to ha’ some tea," she said. "But another friend was supposed to be
back by now. Would ye mind visiting with the ladies here while I go check on
him? 'Tis not in the best of health he is."
Fiona agreed that she should go at once
of course, saying she would light a candle for his health and well being in her
devotions. After all, any one that was a friend of the fae was a special person
indeed. Faith hugged her friends
goodbye and ran to go see what was taking Gideon so long.
She was worried about him.
Once Faith dashed off, Fiona smiled
happily at the three fairies. Limping
slightly as she walked, the black haired Irish woman went over to open the door
of her wee cottage, motioning for them to come in.
They each touched the cat as they went
by. Tomas purred even louder and
kneaded Fiona’s arm in pure contentment with his front paws.
Once inside, Vanessa looked at it more closely than the other two, but
they were all curious. She was just
more open about it.
It was a simple cottage, just a small
table and a few chairs along with a small pantry with an assortment of
mismatched dishes and canned food on the shelves. Fiona apparently was doing her
cooking over the coals in the fireplace. There
was a small sink with a hand pump to supply water.
The cottage just had the one common room, and a tiny water closet that
containing the toilet. There was no
bathtub or shower – she had to use a large metal tub with water heated over
the fire for her baths. In the corner of the common room was a rather lumpy
looking cot that served as her bed and a wardrobe that contained a few articles
of clothing.
Other than a few books and a guitar
leaning against the wall, the place was pretty bare otherwise. "'Tis not
much, but it serves me purpose," she said to them. "Wasn't I in need
of some time alone to soothe my heart and my spirit?"
"Do you want to remain alone?"
asked Hydra. "Because you can
take over guarding us so Faith and Gideon won't have to explain their absences
to others.”
"Haven't I been friend to the faerie
folk all me life?" she chuckled. "And me being such a good daughter of
the church as well." She put her finger on her nose in a conspiratory way,
mischief in her eyes. Typical of a Celt, she tended to have a foot in both the
magical and the practical world. She had only made the mistake once of telling
the nuns at her school about the wee folk she played with.
As she limped over to the pantry, Vanessa
asked how she got hurt. Fiona’s bright smile faded. "I was caught in a
bombing attack in Dublin. I was a teacher at a small refuge center that the
Church has set up for children left without parents or homes because of the
fighting. The bomb was for an army convoy, which happened to be going past my
school. Most of the people inside were killed."
Her body shook for a moment as she pushed
the horror aside. "Can ye see why the company of folk like ye would be good
fer me?" Tears glistened in eyes for a moment. All three fairies hugged
her, telling her they would be glad to have her stay in the garden with them.
Hydra smiled.
"Have you made the tea yet?" she asked.
When Fiona said she hadn't, looking a bit surprised at the change of
subject, the dark haired fae took the kettle and went out to fill it with her
water. "Try this," she
said when she returned.
"Thank ye kindly," she said,
smiling as she took it, setting it to heat above the fire. Fiona McFadden and
the three fairies set the table for tea, getting to know each other while Tomas
went from woman to woman, demanding to be admired and talked to as well.
* * * *
Meanwhile, outside the wall of the secret
garden, Faith was trying to find out where Gideon was. The town was full of
sailors! Most of them drunk it seemed like. One of them came out of the
mercantile, and grabbed her, spinning her around and kissing her hard and full
on the mouth! She squealed and pulled away, getting swatted on the bottom in the
process. Her face flaming red and
her heart pounding in terror, she fled, accompanied by several loud, rather lewd
suggestions from him and his friends. Somehow
she managed to get through the crowd and asked Lupe were Gideon was. She was
told that he hadn't been feeling well, and one of the doctors had taken him to
Sarah Jo's house to rest.
Forcing her way back through the crowded
dining room of the hotel, Faith ran down the street, deep concern in her heart.
Doc Adams opened the door to her knock, and when she enquired about Gideon, he
reassured her with a smile. “Connor
was in town, so we grabbed him and did another transfer of blood to stabilize
him. He’s resting now comfortably
in one of Sarah Jo’s spare rooms. In fact, I want him to stay here with her
for a while, so that we can keep an eye on him better.”
He looked at Faith curiously. She looked
tired herself. And was that a bruised lip that she had? “I’m going to escort
you home,” he said, grabbing his coat. “The streets are too full of rowdy
men tonight for you to be out on them alone.”
She protested, but he would not back down.
He walked her to the house she shared with her sisters, and they greeted
her with worried looks and swept her into the house after thanking Doc Adams
profusely. He told them to lock the
door behind him, and to make sure that no one left the house alone until the
drunken sailors returned to their ship the next morning.
Faith sighed, wondering how her fairy friends and the Irish woman were
getting along.
*
* * *
As she sat down, Fiona did so slowly. The
injury to her back caused by the bomb blast was slowly healing, but she still
had to take it easy and to walk with the aid of a cane because of the numbness
and weakness on her left side. But
the pain in her back was nothing compared to that of losing her friends and the
children in her care to the tragic and ultimately useless fighting in Northern
Ireland. That pain would never go
away.
"I will stay here with you as long
as you need," she told her new fairy friends. "I'm not quite ready to
face the world yet, be it Dublin or Edan." Fiona sighed deeply as she made
her tea out of the enchanted water. Hydra
kept an eye out, watching to see if it would have any effect on her at all.
Was it only physical healing? She
did not think so.
When there didn’t seem to be any
response, Hydra slumped. Oh well,
it was worth a try, she seemed to say to her sisters.
"We'll love having you here," said Endora.
"And our other friends won't have to hide that they know us."
Fiona smiled as she sipped her hot tea,
and then stood up to fetch a tin of shortbread cookies to go with it. As she did
so, a strange feeling in her back caused her to weave and grab the back of the
chair as the damaged muscles suddenly relaxed. She gasped as her spine snapped
back into the way it had been before her injury. "Heavens above!" she
called out. She took a tentative step. The pain was gone! And so was the
numbness that had run down that side of her body!
Hydra giggled as both sisters clapped her
on the back. "I thought it
would work on this. I am afraid we
cannot put Gideon right. My magic
is for renewal, but not complete healing."
"'Tis a wonder!" she exclaimed,
tears in her eyes. "It does not hurt anymore!" Joyfully she hugged the
three fairy women. She didn't know why she was in this new world, or what would
happen to her now that she was there, but this was definitely a good beginning!