Emmeline sat on a box that a sailor had kindly lashed to the railing on the deck of the little sailing ship. She stared out at the sea, watching waves roll by as she idly chucked shells of a few nuts she\u2019d taken as an afternoon snack into the water. She was deep in thought when the little blue light, hardly noticed during the brightness of full daylight, meandered nearby.<\/p>\n
The little fairy had been always somewhere nearby from the first day Sev\u00e9 had mad her appearance. Emmeline had never sent her away for any reason. Unlike most mages with familiars, Em hadn’t immediately taken advantage of her diminutive companion. She didn’t asked anything of Sev\u00e9 except to engage in conversation, though she often had to hide a laugh when Sev\u00e9 played her little unseen pranks, usually on people that annoyed Emmeline.<\/p>\n
“Whatcha doin’?” asked Sev\u00e9. “That’s a lot of water,” she added.<\/p>\n
Emmeline watched as Sev\u00e9 grew from a speck of light into a tiny person. “It is, very much. It’s probably a little different than what you are used to.”<\/p>\n
\u201cYep, but there is water there too. Just not so much. On the isle there is the icy lake at the mountain, and the little lake people made, and the big lake with the fish.\u201d one by one she counted lakes on her tiny fingers, \u201cand that\u2019s about all. No big blue nearby, but I\u2019ve heard tales of big blue waters before, like near the first home.”<\/p>\n
“The first home?” Emmeline repeated, her interested piqued. “What is that like?”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in the far long ago. Sev\u00e9 remember. We lived neath the summer trees and all was happy. Never was there night, just shades of day.\u201d Sev\u00e9 said. it seemed a happy memory for her.<\/p>\n
“That does sound lovely. I bet there were many songs of those days few know now,” Emmeline looked far out to sea for a moment, then her eyes slid to Sev\u00e9. “I think it would be wonderful to hear them again, don’t you?”<\/p>\n
“Yes! Sev\u00e9 does not sing them very well. La la la!” she tried to sing, and it was pretty in a simple kind of way. Then Sev\u00e9 collapsed cross-legged, cradled her hand on her chin, and said, “Sev\u00e9 tried, but I don’t know the words so well. It was in the far long ago. The windwalkers would know, or the icesurfers, or the deep forest peoples.”<\/p>\n
“Perhaps when I go to the Mother Tree again, Maryswenifar will teach me a song,” Emmeline said. “But after that things get dangerous. Sometimes things might even get terribly serious. Can I count on you to help keep things from getting too heavy?”<\/p>\n
She giggled and almost fell overboard, flying up and taking her spot again, “If it is too heavy, Sev\u00e9 cannot lift it, but she’ll try!”<\/p>\n
Emmeline laughed. “If there are too many frowns I hope you can help turn them into smiles.”<\/p>\n
“Sev\u00e9 try,” she said with a smile. “Does Emmey have non-smily times?”<\/p>\n
“Sometimes. But not too often, I think,” Em said. “There is a time for sadness, but it’s no good to go around frowning all the time. Unhappy. Unhealthy. Un… seelie?” She shook her head. “I don’t really know what I’m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Unseelie? Heard that. Human word for something they don’t know. Good fey, bad fey. All the same. Not just good or bad, honorable or dishonorable, happy or sad, dark or light. In the end we are all gray, only mortality makes one good or bad.” Sev\u00e9 replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish the world were all shades of grey. But most people don\u2019t look at it that way. I try to see the good in everyone, even if they\u2019ve done bad things, but it is hard sometimes,\u201d Emmeline said. \u201cOnce there was a shadow elf woman, a priestess of Tyaa that I tried to convince to come home to the Mother Tree. She more or less spat in my face and chose execution. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever understand her choice. That made me sad for many days, but I needed to be. Someone needed morn her passing, for it may be this world will never see her again, for good or ill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sev\u00e9 replied, “if she is fey, she never goes away, she just goes home. But the mortal part of her? Sev\u00e9 doesn’t know. Sometimes Sev\u00e9 thinks, peoples care more about ideas then themselves. Good or bad, Sev\u00e9 doesn’t know.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t either, Sev\u00e9,\u201d Emmeline said softly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emmeline sat on a box that a sailor had kindly lashed to the railing on the deck of the little sailing ship. She stared out at the sea, watching waves roll by as she idly chucked shells of a few<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,12],"class_list":["post-2348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thalassa","tag-emmeline","tag-seve"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8aqU2-BS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2457,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2015\/09\/01\/fey-measures\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":0},"title":"Fey Measures","author":"Illuminatus","date":"September 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The baron kissed Emmeline at her door, then turned and walked away. Some of his vassals had arrived and they had business to discuss. Baron's Ma\u00eetresse had no place at his side when he had to conduct official court business, but he would have her there for dinner afterwards and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2884,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2016\/02\/22\/seve-did-a-bad-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":1},"title":"Sev\u00e9 Did a Bad Thing","author":"Illuminatus","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The night of the visit to the Vale, Sev\u00e9, who had been out of sight out of mind for Emmeline, appeared. She looked despondent and went to a branch of a nearby tree and sat with a \u2018hrumpf\u2019. \"Sev\u00e9?\" Emmeline prodded, \"Is something wrong?\" She turned to face the tiny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2612,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2015\/10\/05\/the-nightmare\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":2},"title":"The Nightmare","author":"Illuminatus","date":"October 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Suddenly Emmeline's mind split into facets. Voices competing for her attention: \"we are here Mabrilith, we feel the pain of guilt once again...\";\u00a0 \"we hear you, say the word and your pain will be gone and the wicked punished...\"; \"I sense you are here Larasdaughter, you must not risk, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2935,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2016\/04\/26\/next-steps\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":3},"title":"Next Steps","author":"Illuminatus","date":"April 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Elemix sat down at the table across from Emmiline. They had finished their discussions with Magus Alix earlier, and had made their way back to the inn to have some dinner. After they had ordered, Elemix stared the conversation. \"Emmiline. Have you thought about coming with me back to Thalassa?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1916,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2015\/03\/22\/conversations-with-villagers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":4},"title":"Conversations with Villagers","author":"Illuminatus","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Still curious about the attacks by the goblins, Emmeline approached a villager. Sometimes, she knew, common folk knew a lot more than those in charge simply because it can be hard to approach an authority figure like a noble. \u201cHi there,\u201d she said to someone she recognized as having been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2945,"url":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/2016\/05\/02\/on-the-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":2348,"position":5},"title":"On the Road","author":"Illuminatus","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As the party were passing hardby the highlands and woods where the hags were battled, Ren\u00e9e road up to the Baron, bowing slightly and discussed some thing Emmeline not Elemix could hear. Elemix could make out the words 'danger', and 'possible'. Once she was done, Ren\u00e9e backed her horse off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalassa"","block_context":{"text":"Thalassa","link":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/category\/thalassa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countlessworlds.org\/thalassa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}