The Meeting
Unlike her fires, Fuhnah was not extravagant. Her short red hair and brilliant
wings glowed in the light of the fire cupped in her hands. She looked casual,
but commanded a nice look about her as well. She smiled at Laiera, and Laiera
could not help smiling back.
Laiera's mouth twitched a few times as if to speak, but no words found their
way out.
"You wanted to discuss something," Fuhnah said. She was diplomatic, but not
friendly.
Laiera spent a moment, just staring, but brought herself to speak, "Does the
lives of a hundred pets matter? Are they not priceless?"
"They are of value." Fuhnah remarked, "They are indeed, as you say, priceless,
but if I were to let my fires into the world, how do I know what will happen
to them after the original taker has used them? If they do indeed try to return
it, how do I know they will not fall in the wrong hands before then? If something,
like the wizard who threatens your home, gets it, are the many more lives destroyed
even more priceless?"
"Pricelessness should not be measured," was Laiera's rebuttal. She felt like
all of her dignity was being crushed into nine pieces.
"Let us say I do give you some of the fires. They are as lit up magically
as the sun is in the normal way. Any evil being will try to snare it. Do you
think you are ready to fight every single beast in the world?"
Laiera could not find any response to this. It was all reasonable, too reasonable,
but she could not accept that the place where she had spent her whole life and
all of the ones she loved would, just... just go.
The Pteri, who Laiera forgot, spoke. "My dear mistress, is there anything
that can be done without giving the fires?"
"If a seer's stone said only the fires could help, then it is so."
The Pteri looked back at Laiera with an expression that said, 'Sorry, I did
the best I could.'
"I will give my life to save my people." Laiera said, pronouncing each syllable
with utmost soberness.
"What would I do with your dead body? Would it not be just another life wasted?"
Fuhnah turned away. "I would love to help, but there are limits."
Utter silence pervaded the area. The emotions, especially Laiera's, were as
taut as a rubber band about to break.
"It is a tragedy, that such situations are made," Laiera trembled. "If...
if my village drowns then there is nothing left for me." She waited to see that
the Faerie and the Pteri's eyes were fixed with her own. "So, I-I-I will devote
myself as a wanderer, to help those in n-need."
"A noble cause." Fuhnah replied without emotion.
"I will g-go now."
The Pteri looked as if it would protest, but the Faerie's expression stayed
firm. Laiera walked out, looking back, as if the Faerie would break down and
take out a flame, but Fuhnah just watched. Laiera withdrew herself from the
entire chamber. She was going to leave, and start working as a helper to the
world...
The Epilogue
"Up that-a-ways, on da hill... thars' an ol' lake," the Zafara on a wooden leg
told them. "C'n show anythin' from da past which ye heart really wants t' know.
Ye jus' have t' ask."
"We thank you," said a yellow Wocky, with her Elephante apprentice following.
Chansu had been with Laiera for about a year or two. When he was a cub he
had dreamed of being a lone wanderer, rescuing the helpless and fighting the
strong. The reality was quite different from his romantic fantasies, but he
still wanted to be like Laiera for completely new reasons.
"When we find a good spot, we'll set up a camp," Laiera said. Chansu was eagerly
waiting for what Laiera would say about the lake, but she never referred to
it. Still hoping, he went searching around.
When they set up a tent on a nice ledge, Chansu expected Laiera to speak about
the lake. But all she talked about was how they were going to try to reach a
village by next week.
Arrrrrgggh, Chansu said to himself when Laiera prepared to go to sleep.
He wanted to ask the lake something, something that Laiera never wanted to discuss.
Well, he was not going to pass up this opportunity to find out what Laiera's
background was. It must have been pretty terrible, if Laiera never wanted to
talk about it. But his mind often wandered into that gap of knowledge about
Laiera.
When he was sure Laiera was asleep, Chansu sneaked out of the camp. It was
a rough climb up, but it was only a short distance till he reached the lake.
The moon glistened beautifully in the ripples of the waters, but it was nothing
out of the ordinary. Chansu began to wonder if that Zafara was a bit cuckoo.
"What is Laiera's past," he hushed into the lake, "and ... what happened to
her folks?"
Immediately the waters lit up, to the color of sky blue. Then, a patch of
brown appeared. It grew into a hut, and then the hut expanded and opened up.
Chansu squinted; it looked like a red Lenny was lying on a bed, speaking to
a bunch of Wockys. The lake's image had no sound, but based on the expressions
of the Wockys, it was pretty awful.
Chansu suddenly became aware of a shadow behind him. His Elephante body yelped
and turned around.
It was Laiera, looking very solemn, staring at the lake, with tears in her
eyes. Chansu was at a loss of words, until he looked at the lake again.
A Fire Faerie with a Pteri were facing what was probably a younger Laiera.
The Fire Faerie looked very serious, and the Pteri looked sorry. The young Laiera
had such a look of... of rejection, that it practically tore Chansu's heart
in two.
Then the lake swirled around, and created a picture of an Air Faerie. In her
hands there was a stone which was glowing a very fierce white. She put it down,
which caused the stone to fade a little, and flew away.
The village with the hut appeared again. This time something so covered in
magical robes that it was unrecognizable was there, and the Wockys had an intense
fear toward it. But then, the Air Faerie arrived.
The lake then showed a picture of the Air Faerie fighting the thing in robes,
and finally of how she made it fly up into the clouds, never to be seen there
again.
"How," Laiera asked herself, "how can it be? The stone said that I had to
get..." She stopped herself in mid-sentence, and an expression of something
deeper than joy spread across her face. "I had not failed. It had said to attempt,
which is how that Air Faerie found out, and it worked. Attempt! Attempt! It
was what I did, and that is what the stone I had to do!"
Chansu did not know exactly what Laiera was talking about, but if she was
happy, he was happy too.
The End | 
