The Land Beyond | Peter Pan 2003

Chapter 2: Freedom

It takes a day to find the perfect tree to call my hideout. Much like Neverland, and Elven city, this tree is large with thick branches that stretch skyward and a canopy that shades the ground. Finding the tree was easy, but carving rooms upon rooms into its wide trunk was harder than I remember. The rooms are spacious enough, leaving me feeling lonely. Tinker Bell flies around my head, quickly reminding me of the dirty, ragged boys of the streets of the human city - lost and forgotten - as I have been. There can be new Lost Boys and I wouldn't have to be alone. But I want more than just the Lost Boys.

I want her.

The girl from the Elven city, whose eyes are so green that gemstones would be outshined. Throughout the weeks, I found myself flying back to the city of the Elves, hiding amongst the thick canopies and avoiding the eyesight of the guards that patrol the bridges, grounds, and branches. I've caught sight of her dancing around the bonfire in the center of the city with a smile on her face. I've seen such a smile before. A mother's smile. A smile that is so faint in my memory.

At night, she's easy to find because she sings lullabies in a language I am unfamiliar with. She sits by her window carved out of a large tree. The room she is in is small but with many elegant fixtures. The words she sings are always smooth and flow around me like a dream. I could fall asleep listening to her.

The want to take her away, grows stronger every day. To fly her away from this city to my hideout and keep her there, like I did Wendy. But unlike Wendy, taking her away would not be so easy. The guards that surround the city are vigilant. By day, I went to the human cities in search of lost boys, and found a few. It didn't take much to lure them back to my hideout since they had no homes or families. No one will care if these boys are gone. No one, except me. We'd go on small adventures through forests, mountains, and caves, exploring the dark wonders of each landscape and finding treasures here and there.

The boys make me feel prideful again, playing the leader thrills me but I can't help but feel empty. The only time I feel close to being at peace is at night. I visit the elven city for months, under the protection of darkness, when the flower lights are lit and the trees are shrouded in thick shadows. I search for her amongst the buildings. In her room, I find her.

Resting on a branch above her window, I listen to her sing. The memories of Wendy, her husband and child, get lost in the far back corners of my mind. I finally feel the strength I had lost long ago.

Tinkerbell often comes with me to her window, but she has to remain especially hidden for her ethereal glow might get extra attention.

There is no denying it, this elven girl would be the perfect mother for my new Lost Boys, but my heart aches. I, Peter Pan, am afraid to bring her to them - that she may leave just as Wendy did.

I sit back against the trunk of the tree on the branch where we often fall asleep listening to her singing, but tonight we listen in silence. Her room is empty. Only the light from the candles burning the shadows away from the crevices is the only life in the still room.

An irritated sigh passes my lips. I want to investigate, but the guards would catch me the second I fly from the branches. From what I can tell, the elven girl is the city's Elder's daughter. She is my age and enjoys telling and reading stories in the form of singing. Her stories are mostly sung in her native tongue, leaving me clueless, but my heart still dances to her words.

A slam comes from below. I duck my head through a flurry of leaves above her window to peek into her room. The elven girl storms in with her fists at her sides, clenched so tight her knuckles are white. An expression on her face I've never seen before clearly unfolds, anger.

Tink and I glance at one another before we hear a voice that catches me off guard. A tall man walks into the room, both hands resting folded together in front of him. "Now, Lahona, this is for the better. For you and for the clan," he sighs. "Marion is a good hunter and has led his clan into great prosperity. You two marrying will allow our clans to finally unite."

"But I do not love him," she speaks softly even with anger rushing through her. "I do not even know him." Her fists, so tiny compared to mine, shake and her body follows.

For a second, I forget how to breathe. I inhale sharply, holding back a cough that threatens to tickle my throat. She is to be married? To be taken away from me when I haven't even met her yet? There is a pinch at my heart that burns and aches all at the same time. I want to yell, protest against this decision this man has for her, but I restrain, not wanting to be caught. My lips curl over my teeth and my eyes feel heavy. They burn just as much as my heart does but quickly subsides when tears well up in the corners.

"Lahona, you don't have a choice, I already agreed. Think about the clan, there is no one here you wish to be with and no one I am willing to give your hand to. You will marry Marion." His words are not a threat, they are a promise. I know that tone. I remember it well from my own parents. He leaves her alone in her bedroom and closes the door behind him.

She falls to her knees in the middle of the floor, her fists slamming into the wooden ground as her long black hair falls around like a dark waterfall. My hand reaches out for her but I pull back. I want to take her away just like I did with Wendy. But she might fear and hate humans like the rest of her people. That includes me.

I lean back onto the tree limb I sit on, biting my lower lip to fight off the tears. "Tink, what are we going to do?" I whisper. I know what I want to do, I want to fly to her father and slay him on the spot. Then she wouldn't have to get married. But that'd be wrong, wouldn't it?

She doesn't sing tonight.

It takes her a couple of hours of sobbing before falling asleep on her bed near the window. The moon is barely visible through the treetops when I decide what to do. I watch the guards below for a good while, waiting for them to disperse to switch positions, and when they do, I leap down from the branch to the window sill, landing silently on the balls of my feet. It is dark in her room now. The candles have been blown out and the moon doesn't shine upon her room this late at night.

The girl shifts in her sleep. I stop all movement and wait for the subtle sound of her breathing to fall back into a pattern. I catch Tink as she flies by, preventing any further noise as Tink enters the room. Once in the clear, I release Tink and step onto the cold wood floor and make my way to the bedside. Her breathing is hard to hear and I have to look down at her chest and with Tink's light, I see her chest is still rising and falling.

I reach out to her and gently remove a lock of hair from her sleeping face. Images of a man sleeping next to her appear before my eyes and I stumble back, my hand grasping the handle of my sword. The image disappears when I glance over her sleeping form.

My heart beats as fast as faerie wings. I don't want to lose another. I don't want to be alone. Though I have the Lost Boys, I need her. I want her to be a mother to them.

"Tink, keep watch," I whisper. Our eyes meet for a second and it is all it takes for Tink to know my plan. She flits over to the window sill and watches for guards. I'm glad she doesn't have hate for her the way she did for Wendy.

I look down at my hands. They are stained with dirt and sap from building onto the hideout. Maybe I shouldn't take her? I don't want to get her dirty. My eyes scan over her slumbering face just barely visible from Tink's glow. She looks peaceful even with a trail of tears that run down her cheeks. I will be taking her from all her problems.

I step closer until my knees touch the side of her bed and bury my hands under her thin form. Lifting her is easy, she is lighter than I imagined, but as I press her against my chest, she begins to move.

I stiffen. My eyes wide and watching her as she shuffles in my arms, wrapping her arms around my neck and catching me off guard. Heat trickles down from my head to my neck and my heart beats fast yet again. A few seconds pass by of me watching her, but she doesn't budge anymore. I look over at Tink. My little faerie friend waves for me to follow her as she leaps out the window and flies off. I don't question it, I reach the window and lift through the canopies as carefully as I can and up into the sky where the moon shines above the horizon.