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Well, Lorelei has that strange request for me, but that's another issue.
A girl bursts out of the water near me, jolting me from my daydream. Two things stand out - her glittering skin, and the wings that rise from her back and flutter as she shakes water from them.
"Aling," I say, without hesitation.
Her eyes widen as she focuses on me. "You know who I am?" she asks, in a high-pitched accent.
"I've heard stories about you," I admit. "You're important to Mikada history."
She blinks. "I'm important?"
"Yes, and I'm a historian. Come on, I do believe that this water is over your head, and your elven blood means that you don't have as much dust in your blood as a regular fairy does. Let's get to shallower water." I take her hand - so small compared to mine - and pull her to the much shallower water. Once her feet can comfortably touch the ground, the glitter of her skin dims.
"Where am I?" she asks.
"A lake," I explain. "But we're not on Hlow anymore. You're far away, on Earth, which orbits a different star which spins in a different galaxy."
She blinks. "How did I get here?"
I blink twice, trying to come up with a response that would make sense to her without revealing that she's a fictional character, as she's not one of the ones I intend to let in on that secret. "Where were you a few minutes ago?"
Her brows knit for a moment. "I was swimming back home. We were having a race. I'm not as fast as Mickle or Jimes ... but they say that most people aren't. They have Cayra blood in them. I don't know what a Cayra is, but I think it has something to do with the water."
"Really?" I ask, pleased to learn this tidbit of character development which I'm sure will be useful later on. "Well, I'm sure there's a logical reason for your sudden appearance over here. Were you using your fairy dust underwater?"
"Yes, and my wings. I was trying to keep up with them!"
"Well, that may have something to do with you appearing over here. You want to try it again, see if it will send you back home?"
She brightens - literally, the glitter under her skin brightens again. And before I can say another word, she's back under the water.
I don't see her again.
Shrugging, I turn back to my friends and allies. We have a war with China to deal with.
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Eep! Almost forgot about my own linkup! But here we go, an hour before midnight ... so I've just barely squeaked it in under the wire. I'll do up the linkup post for July's as soon as I get home from work tomorrow.
Oh my... it's July already. Where oh where oh where has the past six months gone? I was just thinking yesterday, "I wonder what June's CE was? I still have to write mine." I guess I'll change that to July...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, cool story! Is Aling pronounced Aling as in Uh-aling (like ringaling), or Aling as in Ae-ling (ailing). I really like that name. It fits a fairy perfectly.
It's Uh-ling. Means Bell in her language.
DeleteLovely, lovely, lovely!! I didn't mean to start reading this post yet, but the picture sucked me in, then the first few words took me further. And then talk of elves and fairies (but especially elves) have resulted in my completely falling in love with your writing and your blog -- after reading only a single post!!
ReplyDeleteActually, this reminds me of one of my own WIP.
Actually, the Ulrica/war with China thing is a story game that I play with my sister and a friend (Yuki). Since the friend was there with us the evening that I set this Encounter, I slipped in a reference. (Incidentally, Ulrica is also half fairy, but an entirely different kind).
DeleteAling's story is a loose retelling of Peter Pan, set in a sci-fi world. It's going to be a while before I get to the point in the series before I can actually write it, but I decided to use it as one of my Bunnies this month.
Glad to hear you liked it - and having looked at your WIP, I think I can guess which one it reminds you of.