The next part of my fae story - previous ones are A Fairy Tale and Honeydew. We were sat in the living room despite the warm day – Fern had insisted that it wasn’t safe in the garden. I wasn’t sure why but remembering the injuries that she’d had when my cat, Jack, had found her, made me sure that she knew what she was talking about. I had opened the windows, which let enough of a breeze into the room to make the confinement not too uncomfortable.
Fern was sitting, cross-legged, on a small footstool, facing me whilst I sat more comfortably in an armchair. Jack was, currently, nowhere to be seen, but this wasn’t unusual. I had a cup of tea to my side, whilst Fern had a bowl of water with a thimble to drink from. Her wounds were healing well, and this was the first day that she had decided to make good on her promise to share stories of her world with me. “Are you ready for your tale, Sir Thomas?” she asked after taking a drink. I nodded eagerly – my curiosity about the world of my strange little patient had only grown over the last few days since we had met. “Very well,” she continued. “Attend! “I speak to you now of earlier days, of times lost to memory and found only in story and song. I speak to you of those days when the Meadowlands and the Gardens were one, for there were no gardens, and there was peace. The dangers of those days came from the woods and the forests, and all of the realms of faerie were ruled by those who took up their homes on the rivers. “Whilst there were threats, life was not truly threatening. The woods continued to encroach, with each passing spring new trees would grow, and the Meadowlands would grow a little smaller, but we stood firm on our borders, and we removed those seeds we found before they could spring forth new life. The riverfolk maintained the peace, between we of the Meadows and the light, and those of the Canopy and the dark. We knew better than to enter the forest, and they knew better than to leave. “But time moves on and all things change – as the seasons continue their march, so does history. A time came when the rivers started to dry, and those that still flowed were soiled. The riverfolk became as sickened as their homes, and many of them died. Some escaped, travelling to the Meadows or the Canopy, for they had always been of both dark and light. The peace was threatened, and the forestfolk started to leave their lands to stop us from removing their seeds. “Of course, the peoples of the meadow and grass could not allow this afront – they looked to ways older still, to when they had needed to fight in earnest and picked up their ancient blades and shields. They flew to the borders, and for the first times in memory, fae fought fae. We of the meadows had the advantage – the fae of the shadows could not fight as strongly in the light of the sun, and so they attacked where they thought the border was only weakly defended, and we moved swiftly to counter them, only to see them slink back into the shadows of the Canopy. “However, whilst our peoples fought, a new threat was emerging and none saw it, or predicted it. When it came, it would herald the end of those days and put a stop to that which we had called war. “Fences were being raised and cutting off land that had been ours. The plantlife was being changed and soon, it could not be called meadowland any longer. Strange flowers were planted, and stranger creatures came to live amongst them. We had always lived in harmony with your own people, the tallfolk, but something had changed. It seemed you had forgotten us, and the old ways of living. And with those changes, a new people came to those lands that we call gardens. “These faeries were strange, and aggressive. Each garden came to be its own kingdom, and they fought amongst themselves as we continued our battles with the forestfolk. We paid it no mind, watching as more and more meadowland vanished in the rush to create more gardens, more kingdoms to continue their battles. Our land was shrinking, but there was little we could do, and so we redoubled our efforts to protect our borders from the forests. “Then, everything changed. The gardenfolk reached a stalemate, it seemed, and turned their attention to us. At the same time, they watched the forests, and craved that land. They launched their attacks with such ferocity, that any difficulties between meadow and forest were put aside, for there was a greater threat. You see, for whilst our skirmishes with the forestfolk had been long, they had rarely led to actual fighting. However, the gardenfolk had battled with each other for generations. “We were overwhelmed, and we still think and wonder on what leads the gardenfolk to be as they are. Our great thinkers wonder if it is the fences that bring it out in them – they are constrained, and they crave freedom and expansion at all costs. However, we cannot know. The forestfolk are very different to us, but we understand them – the ancient times allowed to speak to them and learn of each other. Sadly, with the end of the riverfolk, there has been no opportunity for peaceful discourse, and so the gardenfolk are still a mystery to us. “Yet still we fight. We have largely lost all contact with the forestfolk without the riverfolk to bridge our differences. We train our knights, and our soldiers and we defend what is left of Meadowdown. And yet, more and more gardens are built all the time, and more and more gardenfolk appear to live in them. We are fighting a losing battle, though few will admit it. Unless something changes, and changes soon, our way of life will come to and end. And with it, a history of story, and of song.” She stopped to take another drink from her thimble. “So, this is why you don’t want to go in the garden?” I asked. She nodded to me. “Yes – it was travelling through your garden that caused me to be injured. Fortunately, Jack was able to save me before it was too late.” I shook my head, a little bewildered at all of this activity that had been going on beneath my, or anybody else’s, notice. “Why were you there in the first place, if it is so dangerous?” She shrugged. “I hoped to pass through with stealth, so that I might reach the Greenwood. Once, Meadowdown and Greenwood shared a border, but that was long ago now. I hoped to reopen communications with the faerie that live there, so that we might find a way to end this conflict. It is possible that they have been able to learn more about the gardenfolk than we have.” “Couldn’t you get some kind of help, or protection for the journey?” She shook her head. “Nobody knows that I have left, though I am sure my departure has been noted by now. If I had told anybody, they would have refused me exit, and possible even imprisoned me for my own protection. A prince of Meadowdown is very fond of me and would not wish me to risk myself. “However, this conflict has gone on for too long, and we are no closer to finding a solution. Somebody had to do something…” “And nobody else was going to, then you had to?” I finished. She nodded. “Otherwise, as I said, we will lose this war, and there will be no more of us.”
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