The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry

“Winter Procession” by David Delemare

Transporting the “faerie way” has a tendency to make me slightly dizzy, I think it has something to do with molecules rearranging…

We always arrive in the realm outside the palace, appearing  just at the bottom of the broad stairs that lead up to the ornate double doors of the royal home. Because this was a special occasion, and because Arial wanted to make her first visit to the newly arrived queen spectacular, she made sure that our whole entourage appeared right in the center of the Grand Hall. Personally, I thought it was because she was showing off for her mother, but she insists it was…”just for effect, in honor of Yule”.

The winter palace, as you would suspect, is made entirely of ice and snow. Every wall glistens. The floors are solid white and the color of choice is blue, every shade you can imagine. It sounds like a cold and foreboding place but I can assure you, it is just the opposite. Faerie magic is a wonderfully subtle thing, you can never trust your senses. What looks cold; is warm, and things that appear at a distance are actually closer than you suspect.  Now, standing in the middle of the winter palace, I was comfortably warm.

The pale ice blue walls were draped with long runs of spruce garland that were decorated with pine cones, holly berries, and snowdrop flowers.Fireflies added their own particular type of twinkle.  Two large oak trees stood sentinel at both sides of the dais, where, instead of one chair, four chairs sat. I had to ask. “Arial, what’s with the four chairs?” I pointed at the ornate stools, each carved with symbols depicting winter, spring, summer, and fall. Arial was busy greeting a steady flow of her faerie family. She looked very proud of her kind as she  turned to explained.”The Festival of Oak and Holly is the only time the four sitting queens are together. The Yule ball is the time for all four seasons of the Fae to come together and celebrate the coming year.”

I nodded and looked around me. The grand hall was quickly filling up with faeries of all types and sizes. Other magical beings where in attendance as well. Elendain and the elves from the elven-wood were here. The centaurs were represented by Serg. There were dwarfs and pixies, mermaids and dyads (the mermaids accommodated by the placement of large fountains down each side of the hall). The dyads pretty much stayed in the oak trees, only coming out to greet the occasional well wisher.  This party reminded me of the one I attended at Midsummer, only more lavish.

While marveling at my surroundings, I was surprised by a sudden flurry of faerie wings. Flashes of blue, yellow, red, and green obscured my sight. Four faeries whipped about my head in an excited frenzy. They were all talking in high tinkling voices at the same time, which made it hard to tell what was being said, it just sounded like a cacophony of jingle bells. Then it dawned on me, these were the first four faeries I ever saw! I held out my arms. Sunny, Bella, Pip, and Ferne all came to rest, two on each arm, wings fluttering wildly in their excitement . “Oh! my dear sweet friends! I am so glad you’re back! Pip, I do believe you’ve grown, and Sunny, are you still a relentless teaser?” Ferne, the plant lover of the bunch, glided up to tuck a sprig of holly behind my ear and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

While we got caught up on the latest happenings, the lights dimmed and the huge crystal doors at the back of the hall swung open slowly. A path to the throne was made as the guests parted to make way for the procession of queens. As it turned out, I was on the front line after the throng of beings drew back to allow the queens passage. I could see them as they came down the aisle, stopping every once in a while to hug someone or share a few words. I noticed, as they made their way to where I was standing, that the people they stopped to speak with didn’t look at all magical.  I watched as Litha hugged a small woman just a few feet away. She looked up to see me gazing in their direction and offered a huge smile, then practically danced over to where I stood and wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a tight bear hug. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Glancing over I saw the small woman beaming approval and nodding. “Litha?, who is that woman, the one just over there.” I indicated with my head so that the petite little lady with thick wavy brown hair wouldn’t know I was asking about her. Litha turned and bent over as if to remove a speck of lint off of her gown, looking up briefly to see who I was talking about. “You will meet her. In the realm she is known as Sparkle, faerie blood flows in her veins too. She is very popular with the spring faeries, she loves bright colors.”

Before I could ask another question, Orlaith swept over to me with an air of “this one is mine” and took over the conversation. “Kind One, you look absolutely enchanting! This is your first Yule with us I think?” There was an undercurrent of tension between the queen of summer and the queen of winter, I thought, now I see why spring and fall have to separate the two, they are both very powerful in their own way. I hugged her. “Thank you, I can’t take credit, it was all Arial’s doing, you should be proud.” Orlaith took my face between both hands and kissed my forehead then stared at me intently, her blue eyes reaching deep into my soul. “I am proud of both my daughters.”

Did I just hear the queen of the frost faeries call me her daughter? Oh-my-gosh! I was stunned into silence. Orlaith moved down the path as people on either side bowed and curtsied. I started to make my way closer to Sparkle but was stopped by a dainty hand on my shoulder. It was Alina. She was standing, arm in arm, with another faerie I hadn’t met before. “Don’t go running off just yet! There is plenty of time to mingle. You need to meet Mab, the Queen of Autumn.”

The fall had been very short, or time just got away from me, and I realized that I hadn’t been to the palace when Mab reigned. “Your Highness.” I bowed my head and waited. Mab’s laugh was a lot like Orlaith’s, high and tinkly, but her manner was softer, more easy going. I guess that personality trait is a plus if you have to be the go between for Litha and Orlaith. Her hair was streaked gold and rust. She wore it shorter than the other queens and it had a unkempt wind blown look. The Autumn queen’s crown was a circular cornucopia. She was very steam-punk faerieish.

Mab lifted my chin with a finger. “I have a gift for you. If you don’t mind, would you honor me by gathering with the others at the entrance to the palace at midnight?” I promised that I would and as she moved away to take her place by the other three queens I wondered, what others?

The evening flew by (no pun intended). It was a blur of dancing and music, laughter and wonderful faerie food. Midnight bore down on me like a shooting star and as the time drew nearer I found myself filled with excitement. Who were “the others”? What was Mab’s gift? At five minutes to midnight I made my way to the arching crystal doors of the palace. I wasn’t the only one who was excited. When I arrived there were four others standing in a loose circle. Sparkle was there, she was speaking to a man with a pleasant face and easy going manner. The two other women were talking and laughing like they were old friends, one with thick shinning black hair, and the other with curly golden locks. They all turned to greet me, but before anyone could say anything, Mab appeared in a swirling bronze mist.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.

I woke up this morning to a turmoil of activity. Arial and several of the emerald guard were fluttering about my face, pulling at my eyelashes and tugging my ears. Over by the French doors, still more of the emerald guard dashed back and forth obviously ecstatic about something outside.

I dragged myself out of bed and gently brushed the excited faeries out of my hair. “Arial, what’s this all about? I was sound asleep.” Pulling on my robe, I shuffled over to the windows and looked out.

Overnight, the world had been transformed into a mesmerizing study in white. Lacy flakes of snow as large as silver dollars chased each other in a downy race to the ground. Pine boughs hung low, straining to bear the burden Mother Nature was asking. The snow was so thick that the valley below me had been completely consumed by whiteness, and I could see no signs of it stopping any time soon.

I stood, transfixed, with Arial and the emerald guard on either side and marveled at the frozen fantasy playing out before my eyes. I had only been standing at the window for a minute when I realized snow wasn’t the only thing that drifted down.

I wiped my breath off the glass with my sleeve and peered out into the crystal fog.  Tiny faeries were riding snowflakes to the ground. It was difficult to determine where the lacy white flakes stopped and the delicate outline of the faerie wings began. When the faeries landed, they twirled off in all directions causing the snow to poof around in little circles

Arial whispered in my ear. “They have returned, the frost faeries have returned!” She giggled suddenly. “Come, we must go to the palace and pay our respects to the queen. Hurry, she will be waiting to hear about the happenings here.”

The emerald guard had started to tug at the sleeves of my robe. “Hey, wait a minute! I’m sure Orlaith will wait until I’m properly attired.” Arial shot through the mass of faerie wings and pulled out her wand. The guard immediately fell back and waited.

She waved her wand above her head and whispered in elvish: “To the palace we must go, through the cold and swirling snow, adorn the Kind One in beads and lace, so that she may take her place beside the queen of winter’s grace.” Sparkles rushed at me from the tip of Arial’s wand and quickly surrounded me in a flash of silver light.

I felt a press of cool air and my feet left the ground for a moment. My hair was magically swept up into a loose bun, held in place by glittering butterflies, and a diaphanous silver gown covered in shining crystal beads replaced my pink robe. A cape of ice blue faerie lace drifted down and landed lightly over my shoulders.

Arial tilted her head and nodded in approval. “I think that will do nicely, Queen Orlaith will be pleased.” I held out my arms and spun around in a circle. “Arial! You have out done yourself! I inspected myself in the floor mirror. “Exquisite,  but won’t I get cold?”

A tiny frown creased Arial’s forehead. “Really, do you have to ask? I would think that you would be used to faerie magic by now.” She snapped her fingers and the crystals on my gown began to pulse, first growing brighter, and then fading to a warm pinkish glow surrounding me head to toe in a magical wash of silken warmth.

The emerald guard was arrayed in their usual positions, four in front of me, four behind me, and two on either side. Arial took the lead position. She had transformed herself into her true and royal personage, Princess Arial, daughter of Queen Orlaith, queen of the frost faeries.

Since last winter, I have had Arial as a constant companion. We have had many adventures together and have become very close. I sometimes forget her linage, she just seems so normal. It sounds strange to hear myself use the word normal when talking about faeries! The only time she takes on her true identity is when we are about to have an audience with the queen.

Arial darted up to my face and pinched my cheek, then settled herself on my shoulder. “Kind One, please return to the present.” I shook myself and let my memories fall to the floor and bounce around, not unlike a pail full of rubber balls. One by one they bounced and disappeared in a quick poof of mist. “I… I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

The queen’s daughter smiled at me like someone smiles at a small child. She tucked a straying lock of hair up under her sparkling crown and repeated, “I was asking you if you were ready to journey once again to the palace of the winter faeries.”

I executed a low courtesy. “I am indeed your highness. Forgive my inattention.” The faerie guard giggled under their breath which drew a sharp and icy glare from Arial. She glided to face me full on. “No need for sarcasm, I just didn’t want to lose you somewhere in the darkwood. I need your full attention, as you well know.” Without waiting for me to reply she swirled her wand in a large arc and we all dissolved into the glimmering white light.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.