The Sims Of The New World part 5

The next day, although  it was still cold, the sun shone for the first 
time in weeks. And the sun brought the NeoFae from their cave. 
Immediately, a shrine to the Goddess  JyM was created to thank 
her for her foresight which surely was responsible for sparing them
the misery of the storms.

     "This isn't  over." Jazz said, searching the sky and testing the wind. 
"I believe it will get colder before it becomes warm enough for us to 
leave our cave during the day, every day, as we once did. It will be 
awhile  before the days will once again be longer, and Gaia will yield 
to us and give us food."

     "I believe  you are right, as always son!" Greer laughed, slapping 
his son jovially on the back. "But, for now, it's time to celebrate and 
thank our Mother for all she has done for us, to thank her Brother for 
his tolerance and kindness, and Gaia for this wonderful day!" 

Greer picked up his instrument and began to play a bouncing little 
tune.

     "A celebration!  What a wonderful idea!" Jaida smiled happily. 
"Let us sing and  dance and play our instruments. And eat and drink
…Oh, let's invite our friends and have a big feast!"

     "Yes, let's!"  Greenley chimed in. It had been weeks since she was
truly this happy, and she lifted her self into the air to dance around.
Gren ran off to get his own string instrument,  as little Olyve tried very
hard to keep up with her sister.

And they continued to celebrate, and by the noon the next day, 
they had all gathered for a great feast, the NeoFae and the 
Foel who were their friends. The women had been preparing 
for hours, bringing food up from the cellar and preparing them 
in a very festive manner. The men had cleaned the mess the 
storm had made and retrieve the nicer furniture from the cellar 
(huh, keeping the nicer, more fragile furniture in the cellar was 
Jalen's idea).

When the Foel arrived, they added some of their own harvested 
crops to the tables, joined in the music making with their own 
instruments (created with Greer's help) and dancing in their 
strange Foel way.  The time in their caves during the storm was
well spent creating new games which now was taught to the
NeoFae.  And, of course, each male Foel had an interesting 
story to share about his child's new accomplishments.

 And it was nearing the early sunset, but no one was quite ready to stop the music and laughter, as they sang and 
danced, drinking hot spice orange and apple drink, and eating pickled beans and dried figs, and lots of Jade's rolls.

Then, suddenly, a creature sprang  from the woods and grabbed a plate from the table. It was small with golden skin 
and long dark matted hair. The little cloth that barely covered its body was torn and ragged. It hurried towards the 
same spot where it had appeared to exit, holding the plate carelessly with both hands. But, just before it made it to 
the forest, Jalen caught it by the arm and held it tight. The food went flying off the plate as it fell to the ground, and      
the creature turned and growled menacingly at Jalen.

     "What are you doing, you disgusting little thing! You thief!" Jalen yelled as he shook the creature. The creature 
wasn't afraid. Despite the fact that the little thing was obviously cold, it snapped at Jalen, trying to bite his arm, as 
it struggled to be free from his grasp.

The merriment had stopped as everyone became aware of 
the commotion and the thing that was fighting with Jalen.

     "What is it?"

     "It's certainly not a Fae."

     "And it's certainly  not one of US!"

     "Where did it come from?"

     "Did you see that? It was stealing our food!"

The sun was setting quickly  as Jalen tried to pull the thing 
towards the center of camp, but that only  made the 
struggle worse. 

     "Wait until I…" warned, and then, "OUCH! Why you little!"

      That's when they all heard it for the first time.