Brave New World
Taste of Seelie

July9, 2004

Reyna couldn’t believe whereshe was, or even where she was about to be. She was on a plane—something she’d never even dreamed of goingon—descending towards France. Her facewas pressed hard against the window as she tried to take in everything. Dunstan and she had been on the plane foralmost ten hours, starting at 7:00 P.M. in New York until just after 11:00 A.Min France. Dunstan had been planningthis trip for some time now. He wantedto introduce his apprentice to the two Fairy Courts, both of which were locatedin the Landes Forest, so he bought two first class tickets to Bordeaux, Franceonce he felt Reyna was old enough to handle herself with the Fairies.

Reynahad spent most of the flight coming up with questions for the Fairies andlearning some basic French. They wouldonly be in France for two weeks—one week for each court—but Reyna was adamantabout learning as much about French culture as she could, and she figured theonly way to start would be to try and learn the language. She knew she’d mess it up more times thanshe’d be able to count, but figured with practice she’d get better.

Swallowingto un-pop her ears, she began to bounce up and down in her seat withexcitement. Her breathing came faster asthe plane landed and began to almost float towards the awaiting terminal. Dunstan made her wait until the plane waspractically empty until standing up, grabbing their carry-ons, and exiting theplane. “We’ll drop our luggage off atthe hotel, then grab some lunch before heading off to the forest. How does that sound?”

“Fine!” Reynareplied with a firm nod of her head. Her stomach had begun to rumble a fewminutes ago, so she was glad that they’d be getting something to eat. Suddenly her mind flashed back to the nightshe met Lilith when they’d gone to a French restaurant, “Let me order formyself, though!”

Dunstan gave her astrange look, but nodded at her anyway. After grabbing their bags and replaceing a car to drive them to theirhotel, Reyna attempted her first French conversation with the cab driver. “Bonjour monsieur! Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?” The words came out harsh and were thick onher tongue, but Reyna looked at the man through the rearview mirror with large,excited eyes, hoping he’d reply.

The man gave asurprised laugh and smiled at her, “Bien bonjour là, je suis bien, merci, etvous?”

Preening, Reynaresponded, “Bien merci!” She immediately opened her notebook to the page withmore phrases she could say to the man, but stopped before saying anything whenDunstan shot her a look. Sighing androlling her eyes, the young girl put her notebook away and with a harsh huff,folded her arms over her chest.

Dunstan ignoredher and told the driver where to go, “I don’t know why you’re bothering,” hetold her, “The Fairies will speak to us in English. You won’t need to use any French.”

“Well, I want to learn French!” Reyna replied.“We’re in France! Shouldn’t I be able tospeak some French while we’re here? Whatif I got lost, or wanted to order some food, or—or ask where the friggin’ bathroom was? The Fairies might speak English, but noteveryone here will!”

“You’d besurprised how many people in France understand English, Reyna,” Dunstan saiddryly, “And turn down the attitude, would you? You’re acting like a child.”

“I’m twelve,Dunstan. I am a child.” Reyna grumbled under her breath, turning her body tolook out the window and shut him out. Dunstan didn’t respond, deciding to ignore Reyna as well. Eventually they reached their hotel—the GrandHotel de Bordeaux—and checked in, unpacked and exited the building in search offood all in silence. It was only afterthe check for the café had been paid for did Dunstan break the quietness, “Iexpect you to be on your best behavior, Reyna. No back talking or tantrums, you understand? Fairies are a dangerous breed. Don’t forget they have just as much magic aswe do and won’t be afraid to use it if any of them feel insulted. And don’t eat anything they give you.”

Reyna had to stopherself from rolling her eyes again. Sheknew all of this already. Dunstan hadprepped her for an entire week on Fairy etiquette before they came toFrance. Instead though, she simplynodded her head and followed him into a new taxi cab and watched out the windowuntil they reached the Landes Forest. “How come they live here?” She asked,looking around at all the trees. “Ithought Fairies had their own world.”

“They do, but theyenjoy this realm a lot. The queens areusually in the Fairy Realm, but many of their underlings live in forests likethis one. Fairies have an addictivenature, and this realm holds a lot of addictive things for them.”

Wishing she couldask a Fairy what exactly it was about this world they found addicting, eventhough she knew it’d highly offend them, Reyna followed Dunstan into theforest. They started on the marked pathmeant for hikers and tourists, but after fifteen or so minutes they divertedfrom the trail and headed straight into the thicket. Several times, Reyna wondered how they’d everreplace their way out of the forest once they were finished with the Fairies, butconsoled herself by thinking that Dunstan must know a way.

Eventually theycame upon a clearing where a large, decorated boulder stood in the center. Reyna wished she could take time to trace theboulder’s markings, but before she could really even get a good look threeFairies appeared across from them. Thethree of them were all taller than six feet, their skin stretched over thesharp angles of their bones, and although Reyna wouldn’t necessarily call thembeautiful, they were alluring to look at.

“Looks like we’llbe meeting the Seelie Queen first,” Dunstan muttered. Reyna recalled all Dunstan told her about thetwo Fairy factions, and that the main difference between Seelie and Unseeliewas that the Seelie court Fairies were a tad less vicious than their Unseeliecounterparts, but only just.

“SorcererDunstan,” the one in the middle hissed out. He was the tallest of the trio, and had dark, borderline purple,skin. His hair was just as dark andbraided, pulled back away from his face to accentuate the sharpness of hischeek bones. “What do you want?”

“I request anaudience with your queen,” Dunstan told him in an even voice. “And I come bearing gifts.” Of course he did, Reyna thought, againresisting the urge to roll her eyes. Nomatter how annoyed she was with Dustan at the moment, she recognized thesituation for what it was and knew she had to be on her best behavior. The Fairy and Dunstan stared at one anotherfor a good long time before the Fairy finally nodded. Silent as a shadow, he walked to the boulderand traced one of the lines from top to bottom. Reyna choked back a surprised gasp when she saw the Fairy’sfingers. They were long and bony,reminded her of a spider’s legs which made her shiver. They looked much worse in person than theydid on T.V.

Her attention wassoon off of spiders, though and turned back to the boulder. The line the Fairy had traced began to glow agolden light that expanded out to the rest of the designs on the rock. When the entire stone was glowing in goldenlight, the Fairy looked back towards Dunstan and Reyna, and nodded towards thelight. Dunstan’s rough and dry handgrasped hers and he pulled her towards the glowing boulder. “Don’t let go of my hand, Reyna.” He commanded and then led her into the light.

Reyna blinked atthe brightness and when she opened her eyes she gasped. The Landes forest no longer surroundedthem. In fact, there weren’t any treesin sight anymore. Instead, they stoodabove the waters of a lake. Lookingdown, Reyna titled her head when she didn’t see her reflection in thewater. Although she knew she shouldn’tbe able to stand on water, she didn’t question Dunstan about it. Instead, she tried to look deeper into thewater’s depths. She stretched out herhand to touch the surface, her finger just an inch from the water when a faceflashed from beneath the surface, scaring Reyna’s hand away from thewater. The being below the water lookedlike a human, but had white hair, skin and eyes, and not white like Reyna waswhite, but white like the actual absence of color white. The figure had no teeth but bared her lips atReyna and pounded her frail looking fists at the invisible barrier separatingthem. “What is that?” Reyna asked.

“That’s whathappens when someone loses themselves to the Fairy Realm.” A new voiceanswered. Reyna looked up to see analmost seven foot tall female Fairy. Shedidn’t know how it was possible, but Reyna thought this fairy’s skin was evendarker than the one from before. Itshined like black marble even though it looked tight against her bones aswell. Her hair, if Reyna could call itthat, burned in waves of red and orange fire. Reyna even thought she’d heard it crackle. The fiery hair flowed out from the Fairy’shead, but no matter how many times it glossed over her skin or clothing itdidn’t set fire. Reyna thought she couldstare at this Fairy forever and never notice.

“Would you like tolose yourself, young Sorceress?” Sheasked, her voice as soothing to Reyna as honey down a sore throat. Just as she was about to nod, Dunstan grippedtheir still joined hands tightly, bringing her of her trance. “No?” She surmised, “What a shame,” shesighed and turned her head to look over the watery horizon. The scenery melted away with the Fairy’sgaze. Now the three stood in what lookedlike a Gothic church with stone walls, stained glass windows that reachedtowards the high heaves, and a gilded throne standing imperiously at the end ofthe nave. “You have such pretty greeneyes, like emerald stars,” she continued as she took a seat on the throne. “I would have loved to have had you in mycollection.”

Shifting her eyestowards the Dunstan, she asked, “What is it you’d like, Sorcerer Dunstan? Andwhat will you give me in return?”

“Queen of theSeelie Fairies, I would ask that my apprentice and I be allowed to join yourcourt for one earthly week. I wish formy apprentice to learn your culture and how to properly give the Fair Folk therespect they deserve.”

Reyna thought hewas laying it on a bit thick, but looking at the Seelie Queen, she quickly tookthe thought back. The thicker the betterwith the queen, it seemed. Titling herhead, the Seelie Queen took a long time to think over his request, finallyasking “Why should I?”

“Because thiswould be the foundation of a great friendship,great Queen.” Dunstan’s answer sparked interest in the Fairy’s eyes and a slowsmile took over her face. The smile made her look terrifying, and Reyna thoughtshe’d seen the face of terror when she first met Lilith, but this was on anentirely different level. Reyna didn’tunderstand why the possibility of friendship with her master would cause thissort of reaction, and something in her gut told her she didn’t really want toknow.

“A greatfriendship, indeed.” The Seelie Queenreplied. With a nod of her head, dozensof Fairies appeared next to them in the room. They all seemed unperturbed by the fact that they were in a newlocation, or that there were two humans in their midst, and Reyna wondered howoften this happened in their court.