In the Land of Fae ♔ (gxg)

13. a wee fae

The girl found herself waking up rather late.

She wasn't sure why she had slept in so late—Al had bossily sent her to bed rather early the night before. The guest bedroom in Al's cottage was similar to Caspian and Catori's except it was bigger. It was a small, soft bed nestled in a medium-sized room. Across the room from the bed was a large mirror sitting on top of a dresser which Nyx assumed was empty since almost everything else in Al's house was. Al hardly ever used her cottage, and when she did it was only to take naps in her bed or to get a quick bite of food. She spent most of her hours and days in her tree cabin taking watch and planning. Some of the younger earth and air fae had forgotten their leader's face because of how scarcely she was seen.

Nyx sat up from the warm bed, pushing the soft white duvet off her upper body to stretch out her arms. It was the bright sun pouring in through the window of the room that told her it was nearly noontime, and what had woken her up was the sound of talking coming from outside the cottage.

A few coughs left her throat as she pulled herself out of bed, bare feet hitting the icy wooden floor and causing her to gasp. Clutching herself around her thin white underdress which served no protection against the cold, she quickly slipped on a baby blue dress from the batch of dresses Al gave to her. It was soft and silky and fit her snug at the waist, accentuating her womanly figure. She grabbed her tan cloak that rested at the foot of the bed and pulled it on, skipping out of the room and into the main room where the fireplace was still burning.

Standing in front of the fireplace for a few moments, she let its warmth consume her until the talking outside the cottage drew her attention until she could not bear to stay inside and not know who was talking and what they were talking about. She pushed the wooden front door open slowly, cursing at its creakiness as she peeked her golden brown eyeball through its crack.

There she saw Alastair standing outside in front of Caspian and Catori who both held large, bulky sacks that were obviously filled with fish they had caught—Nyx could smell it from where she stood. Slung over their other shoulders were quivers of arrows, and in their hands were wooden bows with designs etched into their majestic bends.

Catori had her black hair braided into two lengths and wore a long, colorful dress that was made of knitted cloth. It had two large stripes spiraling around the front and to the back that were dark blue and bright orange, and between them were smaller stripes of yellow and red and green. The very end of the dress was darkened, signaling that it was or had been wet. Her wings of rainbow feathers were matted, and there were smudges of dirt on her tan face.

Caspian wore a navy blue blouse that matched his dark wings, a beige belt tied at the waist over his black tights that were rolled up to his knees, exposing the dark skin of his ankles. His sea blue eyes glinted as he spoke to Al and laughed at something she said, and Nyx found herself unsurprised. Al may not have seemed like the type, but she was one who could charm anyone's pants off.

"How was keeping the girl last night?" Caspian asked, and Nyx was able to hear it.

There was a moment of silence, and Nyx could see the fire fae's ear move from behind. Then came Al's smooth and strident voice, "How about you ask her yourself." The fae then turned, crimson eyes shooting directly to the girl who peered out from the crack in the slightly opened door of the cottage. The stare was impish and amused, yet her eyes were brightly flaming that day, and Nyx was surprised they didn't melt a line in the snowy ground beneath their trajectory.

Nyx's own eyes widened at the shock of being discovered, but instead of slamming the door and hiding away like she wanted to, she gulped down her nerves and opened the door, stepping out into the sun that shone brightly off the white snow on the ground. "H-hi..." she mumbled.