All the Lovely Things

[WalrusFaces (Layla)]

"They say when he sang or played his pipe all of nature would calm unto a silence in order to listen." I paused to emphasize the silence of the afternoon and smiled at the awed faces of the children then continued, "The great fae prince fell in love with a mortal lady, of course in order for them to be together she would have to take the Baskis staff, a faae artifact that would change a mortal to a fae or the reverse, but often it would kill fae to make the change." I sighed even though I had read this story a hundred times the ending always left me with new question and a new pang of sadness. "Sadly his love was unable to join him as one of the immortals and the change rejected her, she survived but she was unable to remember her lover.She moved back to the village of her home leaving the prince to forever carry the burden of the precious memories they once shared." I leaned back in my seat smoothing out the skirt of my dress. "Lady Cadence?" I heard a child ask from one of the seats farther back, she was smaller than some of the others but she had the same mousy brown hair that most everyone else had, "What happened to the Lady?" I pondered the thought a bit, it was one of the many questions I had often asked myself, "Well they say she didn't marry and that her prince still visits her." smiling I stood and placed the large story book back on the shelf. A knock came at the door, "Who's there?" I called striding away from the shelf.


"Just a stable boy requesting the audience of Lady Amira Cadence!"


"Oh Cornelius you silly thing, come on in." I giggled throwing open the door. His tall figure stood out against the afternoons glow, he was a strong shouldered fellow from working with the horses yet still he was slim. Golden blonde hair gently framed his face, "Your hair looks like its blazing atop your head," he said taking a red ringlet an tucking it behing my ear. I shuddered at the feeling that his careful hand gave as he touched my face. Every one knew he had a thing for me but at the age of sixteen I just didn't want to be married yet. Of course most girls my age already had a family, but I wasn't most girls and Cornelius seemed happy enough to wait until I was ready. I said my goodbyes to the children dismissing them from school for the day, he smiled as I took his arm and the boys made gagging noises and the girls sighed in admiration. We walked through the village square with its idle chatter and bustling streets. "Amira why don't we go sit by the river? I brought along a picnic so we would have a jolly good time!" his excitement was easily read through his usually soft voice.


"I am a little hungry," I agreed allowing him to lead me off the path and onto the banks of the mirror river as they called it in the village.Azaleia is one of the more famous towns because of all the legends. As i sat down I laid out my skirts around me, a warm summer breeze tickled my hair letting it flow around my shoulders.It was peaceful just to sit here and watch the sun set with him, "Isn't it lovely?" I started to ask when there was a rustling in the woods across the river. Beasts of magnificence and horror were famed to live there and only the blessed mirror river could keep them out but there were incidents where children would cross the river, it was a game the often played. They would see how long they could stand with their backs to the woods before getting scared.Often those who didn't cross over the river fast enough ater the foul warning call were eaten and the next day their bones would be found by the river picked clean. Cornelius jumped protectively in front of me. I sighed in relief when it was only Jaruse who stepped out into the light of morning. "What are you doing here?" Cornelius growled stepping closer to the bank.


"What does it matter?" Jaruse said stepping into the rushing water of the river. Jaruse was quiet famous in the town, he'd saved a few children but the most strange thing that kept the town talking was his appearance. His hair was so dark that in sunlight it appeared blue except for a single streak of pure silver hair, he was tall and lanky with a powerful presence, but the thing that always took my attention were his eyes, one was a cyan blue the other was a bright spring green. The blue one was always covered by an eyepatch except when he was in the woods or adding effect to a story.Of course by now hed already covered it up. "My is that Lady Amira I see?" He said easily stepping around Cornelius to look at me.He lightly kissed the top of my hand in a formal greeting, "What a pleasure to see you again!"


"You know him?" Cornelius asked baffled. "Well yes he often comes by the school house to help me with the children, they love the storys he tells them," I answered sheepishly. I didn't think it would be a good idea to tell Cornelius that Jaruse and I had been friends since we were young and lived in Marniverse Town. This had always been my home and once id moved back here to Azaleia he decided to come along."How about i come by the school tomorrow, its been a while since ive seen those pups." Jaruse chuckled, "That'd be fine." I said smiling, I knew how happy the children would be to see him again just as I was.
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SOOOO What do you think :D