~ Sky Flyers ~

Part I

            The warmth of the sun’s bright rays filtered through the canopy’s woven green lush as it did with every morning’s rise.  It seemed to float down to the rich verge under the domed top of the grove, landing gently upon all things living bringing them the news that dawn had come and a new day had started. As it was every day in Butter-fae Grove, or so the outside folk liked to call it, the mystical folk who inhabited the land awoke and set out to do their daily duties.  Granted that the folks’ daily duties were nothing more really than flitting about in day-long play, they still did their share of gathering bits of fruit for Sunset Supper and repaired their homes when homes needed fixing.

            Life in Butter-fae Grove was naught but simplicity and the people there were free and content, wishing only to keep it that way. The outsiders, the human folk, spoke about the little people who dwelt inside a secret place, however the tales to them were only that.  No human truly believed the little butterfly like beings could possibly exist, for they had never once laid eyes upon them, and rightly so.  The small folk in the grove, known as the Flyers, with their delicate and long pointed ears, fair skin, and butterfly wings rarely traveled outside of their home and when they did, their boundaries stuck to the sky directly above the grove. Thus life was and always should be…

            …However, one morning when the sun shone particularly bright, marking the coming of Midsummer’s Day, a question arose in the Shu’sha Halls that would not stand to go unanswered. A young Flyer girl approached the throne of the King and Queen of Butter-fae Grove with but one wish.

            Her small form shook out of nervousness to the blunt tips of still budding wings, yet her cornflower hued eyes shone brightly with determination.  Nobody had put the child up to this task for the curiosity had blossomed alone within her, as curiosity goes with children of any race.

            Shu’lin, the King of the Grove, greeted the child warmly, a smile besetting his kindly visage which was framed by silver hair. His violet eyes noted her nervous nature and so he spoke as softly as he dared to keep from further intimidation.

            “Dear tan’la,” Shu’lin said, for he knew not her name, “what is the matter?”

            The tan’la heard his soft voice and her uneasiness wore away within moments. “I have a question for your Highness.” She replied with the musical tone that all tan’lora have before they mature.

            Sha’la, the Queen seated on her husband’s left, looked upon the child as well and nodded in agreement.  The Queen was as kind a queen as any, with golden tresses, sky blue eyes, and a mother-like nature. She loved children and sadly could not bear any of her own.

            “Ask then, and we shall do our best to answer, tan’la.” Sha’la replied in place of her husband.

            A smile brighter than the sun lit on the tan’la face with the grant to ask what had been on her mind for over three years.

            “Mother told me that the humans outside don’t know we’re here- is that right?”

            The question was one often asked, and so the monarchs replied with the same answer. “That is true, tan’la.”

            Frowning, the tan’la shook her head of moss green locks. “But then how do they know of us in their stories if they don’t know we’re here?”

            While taking the monarchs by mild surprise, the inquiry was not one uncommon.  Several times had this been asked and several times the one asking had been turned away without a real reply. The cycle lasted only a while before the common Flyers stopped wondering, knowing the monarchs would only send them home and leave them forever puzzled.

            Shu’lin raised his hand in preparation to bid the child leave when his wife gently brought it back down to the arm of his throne. It was the way of all monarchs before them to leave the question alone, but Sha’la took heart to the tan’la curiosity and felt the tale needed to be told at last.

            “We have granted her but one question, and she has asked two, my Queen,” Shu’lin spoke softly still, though his deep violet and gold wings shook once with annoyance.

            Sha’la ignored her husband and stood from the silver throne, stepping down the single stair and knelt to the tan’la level.

            “I shall tell you the story, tan’la, only if you promise not to tell anyone else.”

            “Ever?” the tan’la asked, blinking her surprise that she was close to succeeding. “Not even Mother?”

            The Flyer Queen nodded gently, “Not even your mother can know. Can you keep the tale a secret for you to always and only know?”

            Fighting the urge to say she could not, for it was always difficult for a Flyer child to keep any secret, the tan’la contemplated. While her mother, or anyone else, would not ever know, she would, and that was one more than any common Flyer in Butter-fae Grove.

            “I promise I won’t tell anybody.” The tan’la replied at last.

            “Not even your mother?” Sha’la repeated for good measure.

            “Not even my mother,” the child Flyer confirmed.

            Shu’lin grumbled under his breath at his wife but dared not speak against her decision. It was known that the Queen, not the King, of the Flyers made the decisions. He only hoped his spouse thought wise of this action. He watched as Sha’la took the small girl’s hand and led her away from the throne room, past a star-woven curtain of spider’s silk.

            The child’s breath stole from her lungs at the sight of the room opened before her for it was more majestic than any part of the grove she’d ever laid eyes upon. The circular room had crystal pillars rising to a sky painted ceiling where in the center hung a lantern filled with fireflies. Every time the insects lit up the light shone against the crystal pillars to send rainbows of soft colors across the room. The walls were draped with the same spider silk at the entrance but these were dyed a variety of colors and decorated with tiny jewels and flowers. 

            A sweet fragrance met the girl’s nose, wrapping her in the scent of sweet peas and violets, though neither could be spotted in the room. She stepped forward to find her bare feet treading the softest moss of the deepest emerald and her toes immediately curled to bury into it. Resting directly across from the threshold was built a stone pond with silver waters ever running from an invisible source and overflowing the ledges but vanishing before hitting the floor.

            “It’s so pretty,” the tan’la breathed and for a moment forgot why she had even come to the Hall in the first place.

            Sha’la looked on almost wistfully, for she’d longed to have a child of her own to share the splendors of her home with, but knew this would be the closest to it ever happening.

            “Go to the pond and look into it, tan’la.”

            The child approached the white stone pond and peered over the side, which came nearly to her shoulders. Her hands rested in the dampness of the ledge but the falling water never touched her clothing.

            “Oh…” the tan’la sighed when her eyes found seven swimming fish creatures unlike any fin’dol she’d seen. Their scales shone blue, and then glowed gold all at once, leaving a trail of pale green in their wake wherever they swam. A soft melody rose from the waters and the girl became puzzled as to what it was.

            “That is the fin’dol song,” Sha’la said, now standing beside the tan’la in quiet reserve. “They sing the name of all tan’lora when they have earned it and they sing of a Flyer’s maturation and time to fly above the canopy. Isn’t the melody beautiful? They react to you because they remember giving your name, tan’la…”

            “Rin’la,” the child replied softly, speaking her own name in compliance to the song. Almost immediately did the fin’dol cease their song, recognizing the Flyer child to be one of those they had named.

            “Tan’rin’la,” Sha’la commented, for the girl was still a child and would be called thus until her coming of age. “Are you ready to hear the tale you have sought?”

            Tan’rin’la glanced eagerly to the kind and beautiful Queen, “Yes I am!” she answered, enthused.

            Sha’la had the tan’la sit on a mound of the soft moss and did the same, sitting across from her. “Look into the falling waters of the Fin’dol stone pond and listen to me carefully…It began long before our grove was named by humans, before our people became happy and free. It began with a tan’lin born into this place who defied everything our world was made of…”

            And so Tan’rin’la gazed into the falling waters of the stone pond and there she watched the story unfold.