Ring of Mushrooms

2

Your heels were blistered. Your thin cloak only did so much to keep the cold away. It would have been better if you hadn't stumbled through the river that marked the border of fae territory. It was something you would have read about in a story, a tired traveler or perhaps a guard, sumbles down into a stream, soaking them to the bone.
Oh maybe they were a runaway thief, they've been stabbed or shot with an arrow, the castle guards or maybe it was a carriage they attacked, flowing close after. The thief falls into a river not a stream like you, but they get pulled away with the current, they let the river take them and the stolen goods to their hideout.
Oh you could dream about it now. Telling the story to Maribeth, a girl just a few weeks older than you. She would always play with the ends of her curly hair when things got interesting, she always lied saying she hated the romantic confessions, but her dark brown eyes would be glowing golden when you told them. She loved them just as much as you loved writing them. Yet when you instinctively went to pull out your small book to take notes and write out plots you found charred pages and leather. You hadn't realized you stopped walking, you didn't care. Your entire body, mind, and soul were locked onto the journal. The exhaustion took hold then. The emotions and the confusion had sunken in now, now that it was safe to process you guessed. Your fingers were stained with the ash and charcoal, your palms were stained the harsh black and gray.
You sunk into grass up against the harsh bark of the tree. You hadn't known how long you were walking but you knew that it should be brighter by now. Had you gotten so far into fae territory that you were stuck in the endless night? It was beautiful, you could count the stars one at a time, you weren't ever supposed to be up at night but it looked so beautiful that you were so glad to see it.
You imagined them as eyes. Thousands of eyes, people long dead watching their family. No perhaps that was wrong, maybe they were dreams. You shook your head again, you needed something more romantic and poetic. Perhaps they were stories? The successful and strong pulled from the world after their death, no no more like a victory scar plastered across the sky? Every success and victory was marked, etched along the skin of the world like a prize. That was much prettier than some other ideas you guessed. What if they were lanterns?
You were so busy keeping yourself from crying, distracting yourself from all of the emotions that you just slipped away into a dreamless sleep. You wouldn't remember falling asleep, you would only remember looking up at the stars. When a man woke you up cradling something to his chest it confused you. You recognize him you had no idea a person would even be this far out. You just blinked up in confusion at him as he looked down at you doing the same thing.
"What's someone like you doing all the way out here?" He snickered, his eyes bunched up in the corners as a smile tore across his face. Sharp teeth, you might not have noticed them if you were just a little bit more tired, a moment less awake, but they were definitely not human. "Well nonetheless you look exhausted, it would be rude of me to not offer you a place to rest or a meal to eat, come on come on now." He pulled you up with one arm. In the dark evernight his eyes seemed to glow.
You did notice that he was much shorter than you thought. You noticed the teeth, not his height, kind of ironic. Then the bundle made a small noise. Your eyes fell to a small pale pink baby, he had white tuffs poking out of his blanket and his face was all scrunched up in a yawn.
"Care to give me your name?" he brushed his fingers across the baby's nose, laughing as it made a silly garbled sound.
You didn't realize you'd ever end up in this situation, "No, you can't have it."
He laughed, letting the baby grasp a hold of his finger. "A careful one you are." His smile somehow became brighter than it already was. "Well, we'll deal with that later, come now." He pulled you along with a word. "You a traveler?" He talked to you walking a few feet ahead of you. He'd stop monetarily here or there so you would match his horribly quick pace, if you didn't know better you'd think he was trying to get away from you.
"I suppose." your eyes traveled across the plants. They seemed brighter the further you walked.
"Suppose huh?" His ruby red eyes made you skip a step, nearly tripping over a large fallen branch. "You're the human from the nearby village are you not? The one who got kicked out?"
You blinked owlishly, how the hell did a random fae in the middle of the woods know about that? You found yourself answering out of reflex, the word yes tumbled out of your mouth, spilling from your throat and through your lips like water. Your heart was pounding, those red eyes looked like blood when he passed under a shadow.
He adjusted the small baby switching hands as he dug through a pocket. "I was guessing so, not many humans come here anyways, mostly lost travelers, the occasional hunter, and sweet little lost children who wander too far from their homes." he made a sound that sounded like a whine, his eyes looked at the small sleeping baby with a love that was sweeter than honey.
The grass looked brighter, the sky looked less like violet and more like lilac here. The tree's colors were off, not bright green but more of a muddied down red, yet green poked through on the tips and the veins of the leaves were a deep plum when you looked at them.
The baby squirmed as the man pushed open a door to a small house. Moss and vines grew off the roof dipping down the overhang. The windows looked like crystal, a bit foggy in some areas but gorgeous to look at nonetheless. The yard was stunning, flowers and toadstools lined the pathway to the door. The garden looked expertly tended to. It all felt too fantastic to believe.
You followed the man in, slipping your shoes off as he did. He vanished around the corner as the door shut behind you with a soft click. There was a rug expertly woven together, it was a surprisingly deep warm blue color to the point where it almost looked violet. You weren't quite sure what to do, you stood awkwardly in the middle of the wooden floor, a sofa that had an exquisite color to it, the fabric was so beautiful, the whole piece looked well put together.
A blanket was haphazardly thrown over its back though a few folded ones were stacked on one end. They were also dyed brighter colors, did he know how to make dyes? You could help but wonder if he had acquired such skills in his lifetime. The sweet scent of honey and poppies surrounded you as you looked across the well-put-together chaos of it all. Stacks of books, papers, were those maps? The watercolors were beautiful, the linework was so neat, the details exquisite, but this had places that you've never even heard of either!
The fireplace had portraits hung above it. Those looked expensive, something that you could never have dreamed of seeing before. The frames themselves looked like they were worth more than your life in gold. There were vases filled with fresh flowers across the room, trinkets covered the shelves and honestly, some of it looked like it needed a good dusting.
Then a small crying baby was pushed into your arms. The man guided your hand quickly to the baby's neck, pushing your arm so he was up against your chest. "Hold him for a minute for me!"
You panicked, turning to try and yell at him for being stupid. What idiot hands a random person with their baby? Wait, was it even his? The little thing didn't look anything like him! No pointy ears, no teeth at all yet, and his eyes were such a light color, not a drop of crimson.
You looked around but the man was gone, there was a rustling in another room and you had no idea what to do. You just sat down. If his face wasn't all scrunched up and bright tomato red he would have been much cuter. He was much cuter before when his sleeping face brought you more sense of balance than anything else did in the last day or so. You gently stroked his face, and his little hands reached up grabbing you and trying to pull your finger to his mouth, he suckled on the knuckle of your finger. His face slowly stopped looking so red, his eyes opened looking up at you until they closed halfway.
"Awe you got him to calm down!" The man appeared holding a small bottle in hand.
He didn't take the baby from you, he simply guided your hand away, subtly directing your fingers into the best position to hold the bottle. He wiggled his finger in front of the small things face laughing softly to himself you almost couldn't hear it.
"Let me get you something to drink while you fed him."
"Wait," you called out softly, "Who are you?" He paused, his hand resting on the corner of the wall as he was about to turn.
"I forgot to introduce myself didn't I?" he giggled, "Call me Lilia, that is my little Silver."
Then he was gone, his bright pink hair disappearing around the corner.