Lyn carried the unconscious fairy back to her home. Barging in through the doors and yelling for a worker to tell aid to get her ass over here as she looked for a vacant room to put her new friend in.
A few minutes later, aid came wondering what was all the fuss about, then grunted annoyed that she was told to bring whatever herbs or medicines she had to heal a stranger. She wanted to argue about giving rare healing agents to a stranger, but the look in Lyn’s eyes broke no argument so she complied reluctantly, going out of her way to properly administer the medicines since she didn’t want any to go to waste.
After a few days, where Lyn spent the time trying to recruit more followers and properly give any of the excess fruits and stuff to Van as offerings, the fairy finally woke up. Lyn made sure to be there for when she did, as there were some questions she wanted to ask as well as to make sure that the fairy was okay after such a terrifying ordeal.
Watching her like a prince would watch sleeping beauty, excited about the prospect of a new friend. They did their best to save her clothes, but unfortunately, it was mostly ruined, so they had to make do with some simple clothing that didn’t fit very well and barely hid anything. Leaving the poor fairy half-naked, her golden hair doing a better job of hiding her assets than the simple fair she was wearing now.
“Hmm… wha-?” the fairy mumbled, as she slowly opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she was. After a few blinks at the strangers around her, she shot up like a bolt loosed from a crossbow wide-eyed. “W-where am I! Who are you people!?” she panicked, looking around the unfamiliar room and scenery.
“Where are my guards! Wheres-” but she paused, eyes dilating as if replaying an old vhs video, the memories coming back to her. “Oh, gods…they’re dead…” in a tone of pure disbelief.
Nervous energy plagued Lyn, she didn’t know what to say in this kind of situation. She never actually saved someone before or had that person probably lose a lot of her friends and possibly family. “Are you okay? Umm… don’t worry, you’re safe now…” she said lamely, already beating herself up in her mind for a stupid choice of words.
The fairy blinked and looked at Lyn, her green eyes searching her own blue, then changing color to almost match that color. Which surprised Lyn a little, but she did not dare to look away from this awkward situation, giving the green-winged fairy all the time she felt like she needed so she would feel more comfortable talking later.
“An… insect-kin…?” the fairy said out loud, almost a little confused. “No… chimera? Wait, that can’t be right… I sense kinship with you… but you are no fairy I’ve ever seen before…”
“Err, well…” Lyn said, being at a loss for words and a little uncomfortable at the discerning eyes of the fairy trying to peer into her very soul. “Umm… My name is Lyn, what's yours?” trying to change the subject, and then berating herself once more for doing something so stupid.
The fairy’s eyes widened once more in disbelief. “You have a name!?” then her eyes went somehow wider. “A true name! Not an alias like other fairies!? Are you perhaps a noble of some court! Did you abduct me to hold me hostage and blackmail my mother!” she panicked, leaning away in fear at Lyn.
“Wha-? NO! That’s not what I meant!” Lyn said in panic wondering what she could say to make things better. “Gods, why can’t I think straight! Err… I mean, Van! Why can’t I think straight!” trying to figure out why she was acting so strangely in front of a stranger.
Then it hit her like a cement truck between the eyes. Lyn actually gave a proper look at the fairy, her eyes roving all over the place. Looking at her shifting green and blue eyes, her perfectly flawless skin with a shapely body, her amazingly emerald green wings, and golden hair. The way she shyly tried to hide herself from her gaze. “...Holy shit… she’s beautiful… I… I think I may have a crush...” Lyn thought in disbelief.
“W-what are you looking at!” the fairy said, now feeling a little uncomfortable under Lyn’s gaze doing her best to cover herself.
“Nothing!” Lyn quickly said, looking away. “Quick think! What can I do to change the subject!” she looked left and right until she realized it would probably be for the best if she just tried to explain everything that happened up till now.
“You see, the thing is…” and Lyn told the fairy everything from scouting spider territory to finding her trapped in a cocoon and saving her from the spider that was going to eat her, about bringing her back home and taking care of her until she recovered. “And that’s how you got here.” Lyn finished.
“I see…” the fairy said uncertainly. “So you saved me from that terrible fate. I owe you a great debt.” The fairy did a small bow, which was a bit difficult since she was still in bed.
“No need for that!” Lyn said, waving her hands. “I would just be happy if you were to help us with our predicament.” and then went to explain everything that happened before Lyn saved her and why they were all in great trouble.
“So… you believe that the wasp horde must have pushed the spiders out of their old habitats and into this new one... Make sense I suppose, when me and my guards left to report back to our queen about their movement, we took the shortest route possible, never would we have imagined that it would be crawling with spiders. Before we knew what happened, it was too late, we were in too deep…” the fairy said sadly, gripping her sheets tightly between her fists.
An awkward silence followed as the fairy seemed to fall into depressing thoughts. “Err- now that we know each other a little more, let's start over and try again. My name is Lyn, what’s yours?” Lyn asked, trying to change the subject so as not to let the fairy wallow in self-pity.
The fairy looked at Lyn, really looked at her for a long moment before giving up and giving in. “My name is Evergreen, nice to meet you.” she said, trying to give a small awkward courtesy because she was still sitting on the bed.”
“Evergreen huh? That’s a weird name.” Lyn couldn’t help but let slip out. Then berated herself for letting her silliness peak through. “Err- I mean, why not Laura, or Samantha, or, or Elizabeth!” Lyn said, trying to play off her mistake. “ I know! I’ll call you Amie! That’s a nice name right?”
Evergreen looked at Lyn incredulously, brows furrowed. “Who names a fairy Amie? And why in the world would I let you call me that?”
“Umm… because…” Lyn looked left and right then at Evergreen, blabbing out the first thing that came to mind. “I'm… taller than you?”
“...”
“...”
“Pfft! HAHAHA! What’s with that! You're so silly!” Evergreen couldn’t help but laugh at the silliness of it all. “Who names a fairy Amie? Really!” then laughed again. “Seriously you are one weird… um…”
“Lyn!” Lyn said proudly, puffing out her chest.
“Yes, Lyn…” Evergreen chuckled.
After that, the two shared a moment and just talked about mundane things, with the conversation slowly taking on a more serious tone as work was brought up.
“I see… so you need help recruiting followers and gathering pollen.” evergreen said thoughtfully. “And you're worried about the spread of the spiders and if they are the only thing keeping back the wasp horde… that is worrisome, thankfully we seem to be in a fairy grove, so we have some protections in place,” Evergreen said, taking a look at the surroundings.
“You know we are in a fairy grove?” Lyn asked, surprised.
“I’ve been in one for most of my life. You get a sense for these kinds of things.” Evergreen said. “Tell me, does this place connect to the wood chime caverns?”
“The wood chime what? Never heard of it.” Lyn said, shaking her head.
“Ah… well… in some fairy groves you will have what some may call… fairy portals…” Evergreen said.
“So… like a ring of red toadstools or something?” Lyn asked uncertainly.
Evergreen blinked. “How in the…err- no… thought supposedly that was one of the old methods of travel. So old that only a few people amongst the oldest fairy clans would know such a thing. How in the world did you know?”
“Umm… lucky guess?”
Evergreen stared hard at Lyn before giving up and saving such questions for later and moved on to explain what the wood chime caverns are. “The wood chime caverns is a tree. A portal tree I guess you could call it. It connects to other portal trees, enter one, and you can exit somewhere on the other side of the continent. If you have one, we can use it to reach the nearby bazaar. There, I can send a message to my mother, and you can trade in a few things for your pollen and maybe even recruit some followers.”
“And sperm?” Lyn asked excitedly.
“Maybe, I thought that might be a little more difficult. The fairies that trade in that stuff are seasonal, so they might not be around anymore. You will have to talk to a few moths if you want to find any leftovers for sperm, perhaps they will have it.” Evergreen said.
Lyn deflated a little. “Why is finding sperm so hard…” she said sadly.
Evergreen shrugged. “That's just the way it is, especially over here in the vampire lands. Its normally elves in the Alria federation that are willing to take fairies as their lovers and any excess sperm made from that union is sold on the whims of those fairies. Besides, didn’t you say you had a master? Why not ask him for some?”
Lyn blushed. “Well… I don’t want to bother him just yet…” she said lamely.
“Well… whatever the reason, we will have to make a catalog of everything here that can be sold or traded for. I’ll help out a bit in organizing this place. I have some experience in overseeing a fairy grove when my mother was away on business.” Evergreen said, getting up. “Perhaps I could also find some better attire…” looking down on herself.
After that, Evergreen spent most of the day making suggestions and changes to the layout of the fairy grove, pointing out hidden uses as well as hidden tunnels and rooms. Pilling up any extra junk that could be used for trades in the bazaar and just generally being very helpful.
“Done!” Evergreen said, as she finished writing a list of instructions and handed it over to the aid. “Just follow these and you should be able to see a twenty-one percent increase in productivity and a fourteen percent in efficiency.”
“Err- thank you…” the aid said, accepting the list that unfolded revealing several more pages that unrolled to the ground, making her eyes widen.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Lyn’s sister asked as she saw Lyn gather everything up into her soul realm.
“Thanks, sis, but you are needed here. I can take care of myself, besides, I have Amie-”
“Evergreen,” Evergreen interjected.
“-To help me out. So don’t worry, okay?” Lyn said kindly to her younger sister, with a gentle smile.
“I wish I could help you.” Lyn’s sister said sadly.
Lyn moved over to give her sister a hug. “You are helping me… knowing that you are here to watch over things when I'm gone really helps put my mind at ease.” she then looked her in the eyes. “You can take care of things here, right?”
Lyn’s sister nodded.
“Good.” and then gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Take care now okay, I’ll be back soon, promise.”
And with that, Lyn and Evergreen left for the wood chime cavern portal. Which was a large gnarled yet vibrant green tree that wafted mana. Lyn had largely ignored it because she wasn't sure what to make of it before, worried that playing around with things she had no knowledge of would come back to bite her. But now with the guidance of Evergreen, she followed her into the tree, confident that she could at least deal with whatever was going to happen next.
Entering the tree, Lyn was introduced to a bunch of branches woven into each other in a large circular pattern. With runes so tightly written that you couldn’t make out what they said. Above the clearly portal-like structure, was a wind chime.
“Hmmm… it really has been a long time since this was last used… There's barely any juice left in this thing and it's been locked up pretty tight too. Thankfully I know a workaround, but it's going to be a one-way trip unless we bring back enough mana to power both ends of the portal.” evergreen said.
She then fiddled with some things on a pedestal next to the portal, then flew up to the wind chimes and hit them in a specific pattern. Slowly, a bluish swirling glow burst into life at the center of the structure, growing until it reached its confines. “Now you may feel a little weird once you enter, but that's normal. Just follow me, and you will be alright,” she said with some confidence.
“By the way… what do you think? Fairy technology at its finest!” Evergreen said mimicking Lyn and puffing out her chest in pride. “Nowhere else would you find something like this, not even those mages from Malor have even grasped what we have been able to achieve!”
“Hmm… I see…” Lyn said thoughtfully, taking a closer look at the portal. “Einstein and Rosen would be rolling in their grave if they could see this… maybe even throw in Wheeler while I'm at it.”
“Huh?” Evergreen asked.
“Hmm… yes… I see I see… using some form of quantum gravity using overlapping dimensional layers. You probably couldn’t do this without a focal core, considering such an item's unique property of becoming a focal point of many dimensions would be necessary to pull something like this off. I suspect that when we enter the portal, we will be pushed through some sort of demiplane that has been woven with the astral plane to negate mass and allow for faster travel. Not to mention the demiplane itself must be shrunk in on itself, kinda like that game in minecraft and the nether, to allow such a thing. Sadly this wouldn’t work for space travel, nor could you use it for inter-dimensional hopping. Though that last one wouldn't be impossible if someone were to-” and Lyn went on making Evergreen's jaw almost drop to the floor, she didn’t know half of what Lyn was saying, but she was right on the mark on how it seemed to work.
Lyn seemed to realize that she was rambling and stopped embarrassed. “Err- umm… it's a very nice portal…”
Evergreen closed her mouth with a click. “Umm… right… let's go…” she said, and the two of them moved through the portal.
Entering it, Lyn silently enjoyed the fact that she was right. For they entered into a beautiful wooden cavern, wind chimes seem to be hanging periodically along the length of the endless tunnel before them.
“Follow me closely, and whatever you do, don’t lose sight of me,” Evergreen said
Lyn nodded and followed Evergreen forward, they made a few left and right turns, going into one tunnel and the next in the endless maze that was the wood chime caverns. She looked around her in awe as it seemed that thousands of branches from thousands of trees made up this dimension, all probably connecting to their own exit.
“Ah, there it is,” Evergreen said with some relief. She then went up to a particularly large wind chime and played a melody on it. Soon, a wind picked up and Evergreen told Lyn to follow the flow, as well as the sounds of the wind chimes.
Doing so, they flew at amazing speeds as they listened to the tinkling sounds, the wind chimes glowing, lighting up their path as the wind pushed them ever onward. It was a strange and exhilarating experience.
Soon, they found themselves in front of a portal, the wind dying down and only one wind chime left glowing. “This is it. Here we are,” she said, flying and creating another melody on the glowing wind chime that activated the portal.
Once open, the two moved through the portal, and Lyn was left gaping at the sight before.
Evergreen grinned at Lyn’s reaction and moved her hand to encompass the sight that left Lyn stunned. “Welcome to the fairy bazaar of Alcray. The only place like this in all the vampire lands.”
