The Fey Five

Athis: “New hu’run arrive.
Noisome beasts who walk like us.
Do we welcome them?”

Dagan: “Dreadful hu’run!
Angry, dangerous, hostile!
Ugly faces, too!”

Bil: “Poetic beasts, ho!”

He looked at their blank silent faces.



Slash: “Poets, pretenders.
Children of the outer world.
Their vigour inspires.”

Sidiuri: “Welcome them withal.
Open arms and open minds.
Love’s gravity pulls.



“What were you expecting?
Elegance from me?”

Dagan: “Barbarian hoards!”

Slash: “Your daughter loves him.”

                                            Perturbed looks.

Slash: “Your daughter loves the poet
Christopher Marlowe.

Dagan stood up, his sword at his side. “Now you are talking!”

Slash looked at Dagan’s sword. “Sometimes hu’run have sword fights.”


Siduri: “Long lost brothers, sisters too.”

Athis: “What?!”

Athis: “Let us go then
Greet these strange new arrivals
Before all depart.”



Athis: “They get swords to fight?”

Slash: “Each one draws a sword ~ as we might do to fend off ~ a dangerous beast”

She drew her own weapon and brandished it, gesturing for Bil to do the same.

Slash: “Then they clang the blades ~ back and forth they rattle them ~ until someone wins”

Bil tentatively struck his sword against hers, and she returned the favour.

Bil: “Who is the winner? ~ The one who dies of boredom? ~ Or makes the most noise?”

Slash: “Someone falls down dead. ~ Then the other one is sad. ~ It is very strange.”

Never very good with a blade, Slash narrowly missed Bil’s head as they continued to clang.

Athis: “Clang more carefully! ~ Someone may get hurt or worse! ~ Is this how they die?”

Athis: “Enough! We must go! ~ We have ignored them too long! ~ We will no longer!”

The Fey Conclave stood and gathered together, raising their voices in counterpoint song:

Athis, Siduri, Dagan:

From the world we fleetly fled

Finding forest homes for all

Living lives of cheerful joy

Matters weighty, woeful, hard

Slash, Bil:

Fast away upon a sled

Hiding here behind a wall

Every girl now gets her boy

Hoist them all with great petard!

Siduri asked, “What is a ‘petard’?”

“Some kind of big crane, I think,” said Bil. “Or maybe heron.”

Dressed in their ceremonial cloaks of office, the Council members gathered on the great plaza of the city, Arganum-ur. The smell of seaweed mixed with the loamy presence of the forest. Bil’s attention was caught by someone across the plaza and he wandered off.

All around them people lounged and played. Jugglers juggled, dancers danced. Poets declaimed, hecklers hecked and musicians musicked. The activity slowly ceased as the fey folk became aware of the Council in their midst, except for one juggler whose fountain of balls reached high into one of the forest sunbeams. “Whoo hoo hoo!” he shouted, “THIRTEEN!” then dropped the lot as he realized his was the only voice to be heard. One rolled into the koi pond.

“The rest of us are ready ~ to do our job, Bil,” Athis’ voice cut across the plaza.

Bilgamees returned to the group at a trot. “Yes, of course we are,” he said. “Just showing the kids some tricks. ~ My senior’s duty.”

“Yet still a Junior ~ and so likely to remain,” Athis reminded him, “many years to come.”

While the Fey Five set out to greet the new arrivals, Athis’ daughter Drunais commiserated with Tuc the Seal King over her errant lover.

She stood up, put her lute aside and declared, “I will confront him!” Then looked around, “Or would, if I knew where he was.”

“On the beach in the bay, by the hu’run village, I expect,” Tuc said. “Waiting for the ship-people.”

She looked up along the path, then decided otherwise. A moment’s work stripped off her clothes and bundled them up, their fine waterproof outer layer forming a self-contained bag. With two quick steps she reached the water and plunged in, diving under the surface.

“Take care of her!” came a voice from the trees. Tuc nodded, “I will”, then flipped his tail and was gone.

The raccoon who had spoken scrambled down from his perch and sauntered along the rocky beach in the direction of the bay, curious to see what he might find there.