Realms

“There you go again.”

Eddus stopped walking and turned to look down at the young woman beside him. Her eyes held a playful glint as she looked up at him.

The day was overcast, though not so heavily as to suggest rain. The sun did peer out from behind the veil of light grey from time to time as they walked through a part of City Park that Eddus had never been to before.

Shortly after his housemates had left for the day, Eddus had taken his guest into his art studio. He’d shown her the various pieces that he had done, as well as the portrait of her.

While there was a slight swell of pride while watching her reaction to the pieces she looked at, he did find it slightly disconcerting when showing her the picture he’d drawn in which she was the subject. And although she had teased him about it in the past, he half expected her to make mention of the fact that he had not asked her permission before beginning the piece.

Shortly after, they left his building, walking again, as they did every day.

“What was I doing again?” Eddus asked, with a slightly sheepish look.

“You were somewhere else,” Abbi told him. “What had you so serious?”

Eddus gave her a thin smile, unsure he wanted to tell her what it was he had been thinking about. His mind had indeed wandered again, as it did often, to the events of the day they’d met in this very park. While he still wasn’t completely sure that he’d seen what he’d seen that day, he couldn’t help but wonder about things.

He shook his head slightly, not wanting to say anything.

“Don’t you dare apologize to me, Eddus Brandt.” Abbi’s eyes flashed as she narrowed them.

Eddus chuckled, shaking his head again. He’d not been about to apologize, but rather was fighting a slight embarrassment at the thought of saying aloud what he had actually been thinking about.

“Ok,” he said, hoping that Abbi didn’t notice his quick glances to the left and right to make sure that nobody was in earshot. He took a slow, deep breath. “I, uh... you’re a pixie, right?”

“Half pixie, yeah.”

“Wait- Half? Are you half human?”

“My mother’s a faerie.” Abbi gave him a sidelong look. “My father is a pixie.”

“Ah, right.”

“So, yes, I’m a pixie. Is that what you’re thinking about?”

“Well, no, it’s your hair.”

“My hair?” Abbi glanced toward her shoulder, her eyes remaining narrowed. “Just what’s wrong with my hair, Eddus Brandt?”

“Nothing.” Eddus blinked in surprise, shaking his head. “I- I love... your hair...”

The left corner of her mouth lifted in a faint smile, and Abbi tilted her head. Eddus took a step back as he realized what it was he’d said, and clenched his jaw for a moment.

“Then, what about it?”

“Don’t pixies have short hair?” Eddus almost breathed a sigh of relief as he watched her break into a smile.

“Eddie, just because there’s a hairstyle called the pixie-cut doesn’t mean that all pixies have short hair. That hairstyle was named by humans.” Abbi giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. “And I like my hair long.”

Feeling foolish, Eddus pursed his lips, turning to the side. Abbi took his hand and gave it a squeeze. They walked in silence for a few moments.

Eddus looked down at her.

“What’s it like?”

“Long hair?” Abbi glanced at him with a smile.

“I meant being a pixie.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been anything else,” Abbi laughed with a shrug. “What’s it like being human?”

Eddus sighed.

“What exactly are you asking me, Eddie?”

“Look, I don’t know what I’m saying,” he said. “I don’t really know. I- I -”

Abbi chuckled.

“Just ask me, Eddus.”

“You have wings, right?”

“I told you that I do,” Abbi said seriously. “Not in this realm, but, yes, I do have them.”

“But how does that work? Not in this realm?”

“As I have said, I can change my appearance. We have to when we come to your world. Humans have trouble processing it. Most people can’t handle it. How would you feel if you saw people walking around the city with wings? Would you have approached me the night we met if you’d seen that I had wings?” Abbi asked, amusedly. “So when I come here, I take a human form.”

“It’s so strange to hear you say that,” Eddus shook his head.

“But it’s true. At any given time, there can be hundreds of faeries in this city alone.”

“While that is both interesting and, no offense, borderline disturbing, that’s not what I meant.” For just a moment, the memory of the winged beings he’d seen when Abbi had shown him the inside of the pixie ring came to mind. He still couldn’t seem to picture the girl with wings. “It’s strange to hear you say ‘human form’.”

Abbi nodded with a look of understanding and sympathy.

“It’s even stranger to think about,” Eddus said. He couldn’t stop his gaze from going to her bare shoulders. His eyes then quickly met hers.

“Birds and insects have wings,” Abbi told him, teasingly. “You could ask them about it.”

Eddus rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, but they’re probably not very good conversationalists.”

“You’d be surprised.” Abbi giggled, tightening her grasp on his hand.

They walked a bit further, in silence. Eddus’s mind did not race, but still, he had questions. He really had no idea where to start. Abbi was so different. She was like no one he’d ever met. She was so young, so playful. She was mischievous to the point of annoyance, and yet, there was something about her. Something that no matter how much she riled him, he seemed to want more of.

Also, she wasn’t human, which everything Eddus knew told him was impossible. It should have been impossible to comprehend, except for the pixie ring. He’d seen that with his own eyes. He’d glimpsed into another world, her world.

“How long have you been coming to Earth?” Eddus glanced at her and then quickly looked away.

“Eddie, what are you talking about?” Abbi looked up at him with a puzzled expression. She then laughed as it dawned on her what he meant.

“I live on earth, the same as you do,” she giggled. “I’m from another realm, not another planet.”

Eddus felt his face warm. Her answer was more confusing to him than if she had said she was from another planet. Until a few days ago, he didn’t know that other realms existed. He at least knew that there were other planets.

“Do you mean like another dimension?”

“Sort of,” Abbi said, nonchalantly. “What we call a realm is more like another plane of existence. Things are different there.”

“What things?”

“Well, you already experienced one of the differences,” Abbi smiled at Eddus, “the day I showed you the pixie ring.”

Instantly, he knew what she meant. It had been almost midday when he’d leaned into the pixie ring with Abbi. They had only been inside the ring for a matter of minutes, but it was late at night when she’d pulled him out. He remembered the panic he’d felt as he realized that he was seeing the moon overhead in the dark sky.

Eddus nodded, a surreal feeling coming over him, as though he were remembering a vivid dream, but still unsure that it was not a dream. He didn’t fully grasp the idea of other realms or planes of existence, but he found it intriguing. They walked in silence for some time.

“Not long,” Abbi said, glancing up at her human.

“Excuse me?” Eddus looked off guard.

“Coming here.” The short time in which they’d said nothing while they walked seemed longer than it had been. “To the human realm.”

Eddus nodded slowly, quiet again.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you ask?” Abbi halted, looking up at him.

“Just wondering,” Eddus said. “Something you said the night we met.”

Abbi said nothing, but looked at him expectantly as he continued.

“Are there no theatres in your world?”

Blinking in surprise, Abbi shook her head, her brows furrowed as she thought for a moment.

“But I didn’t say anything about my world the night we met...”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I only showed you the pixie ring a few days ago.” The young woman sounded confused.

Eddus smiled at her, amused by her expression. He felt the urge to put an arm around her, but resisted, unsure as to whether or not it would reassure her.

“That night,” he told her, “you said that you had never been to a show before. I just wondered if perhaps you didn’t have them where you are from.”

“Of course we have theatres.” A smile slowly formed on Abbi’s face. She shook her head. “My world is much like your own.”

“Have you really never been to one?”

“I’d never been to one here, except for the night that we met.”

Eddus nodded. He said nothing, waiting a moment for Abbi to speak again.

“Why do you ask?”

“Nothing really. I was just thinking about what you said.”

“What about it?” Abbi began to genuinely wonder why he had asked.

“Was that night really the only time you’d ever been to see a play?”

“Well, I haven’t been coming here for long, the city, I mean.” Shrugging nonchalantly, Abbi glanced away. “I’d never really been very far out of the forest before that day.”

Eddus spent several moments considering what he’d been told. Had she really never been into the city?

“How many realms are there?”

Letting the young lady lead him by the hand as they walked, she steered him toward the path and a park bench beside it.

“Quite a few, actually.”

“Really?”

Abbi nodded, her lips pursed.

“Can you show me some of them?” Eddus asked.

She’d shown him her world; perhaps there was more that she could show him. He began to wonder about the other pixie rings he’d seen and if they went to places other than the faerie realm.

“No.” Looking up at him, Abbi shook her head. “I wasn’t really supposed to show you my world, Eddie.”

“Have you been to any other realms?” Eddus was more than a little intrigued.

“A few, yes, but-” the young woman’s brows knitted; she sounded distressed. “Not all of them are accessible, and not everyone can, or should, cross into them. Some of them are dangerous.”

“But you come here.”

“It’s not dangerous here.” Abbi stopped walking in front of the bench. She sat down, patting the wooden slats beside her. She waited until Eddus took a seat beside her. “It is different here. We’ve been coming to this realm for thousands of years. You could say forever, but I’m not sure.”

“You said I can never disturb a pixie ring. Why can you come here, but I can’t go there?”

“Eddus...”

“You said you should have gotten permission to even show me the pixie ring.”

Nodding, but not meeting his gaze, Abbi closed her eyes, turning her head away.

“Did you have to get permission to come here?”

“No, Eddie, I didn’t. I can’t really explain it.” Abbi turned to the human beside her. “Something happened a long time ago. It was long, long before I was born. At one time, humans and faeries did coexist, and even sometimes lived amongst one another.”

“Faeries and pixies lived in this world?”

“And elves, and gnomes, and dwarves, and trolls, and sprites. There are many more.”

“Sounds like a faerie-tale,” Eddus chuckled.

“In some ways it was.”

“Did people- humans- know what they were? Did they know that faeries lived here?”

“Where do you think faerie-tales come from?”

“So what happened?”

“I don’t know the particulars, Eddie, only the stories.”

“What are the stories, then?”

“Well, there was a time when the two worlds were close. Faeries and humans were friends. Allies of sorts. The two coexisted with one another.”

Eddus sat, looking at Abbi expectantly.

“Faeries would come here as welcomed and honored guests. They used their magic to help the humans. They helped with everything from things like harvesting crops to building great structures. They had a lot of knowledge about the plants and which ones could be used for cures. The humans often threw great festivals and celebrations in honor of their honor. Faeries loved the humans, and the humans loved the faeries. Man would frequently visit our realm and attend our celebrations and festivities as well.”

“I don’t understand. What happened to change things?”

Abbi sighed, giving a little shrug. The breeze blew a stray lock of her hair across her forehead. The look in her eyes was that of being in deep thought, though what it was she was remembering hadn’t happened to her, or in her lifetime, but rather, history. She was portraying the tales that were passed down in her world from parent to child - the stories of her people.

“Over time, it became one-sided. The faeries loved to come to this realm. They loved to be of help to the people here. According to the stories, mankind came to expect the things they were receiving as gifts, and the faeries began to feel taken for granted. They began to pull back and lessen the things done. At some point, one human, who was the leader of his people, thought to try and relocate his people into our world, in hopes of establishing some sort of settlement there.”

Abbi slowly shook her head, looking at Eddus. “At first, he came alone and tried to persuade our people to let them settle in our realm, but was refused. The man then returned with many more. At that time, men did cross the realms more freely, but usually by some invite. These men came uninvited. It’s not known if they were there to once again try and persuade our people, or if they intended to use force to get what they wanted, but they came armed.”

“What happened?”

“They were imprisoned, Eddie. Being armed, they were considered enemies of our world. The faerie realm takes no chances when it comes to threats to our world, even the smallest threat. They were put to death, and shortly after, our world ceased any interaction with this one for hundreds of years.”

“That’s awful,” Eddus said. He had no trouble believing what he’d been told. Governments were always in some conflict with one another, though invasion was no longer really a thing. Wars were fought over resources, money, and power, and while armies did occupy the lands in which they fought, even after they’d won the conflict, it was rarely to establish more than control there.

“There was a very long time that humans and faeries had no contact.”

“You said there are hundreds of faeries in the city.”

“There are,” Abbi said. “The Faerie Realm closed every portal. For centuries, the realm was sealed from this one. It’s not certain when the first one was reopened, or even who did it. Over time, my people had been forgotten by humans or remembered only in stories. At some point, the faeries did start coming back.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I don’t know why, but faeries started coming back to this world. They even started again helping humans, though not on the scale they once did. They- we- come and go in secret now.”

“But I’m not supposed to disturb the faerie rings, and you need permission to show me your realm.”

Abbi nodded, pursing her lips. She actually found that she liked telling Eddus about her world and its history. She loved that he wanted to know about it. She hadn’t thought about how she was going to explain certain things, though, especially things she herself didn’t know the answers to.