Ring of Mushrooms

14

It was a tense moment, you stood firm, if he didn't bring you, you'd walk back yourself. You didn't belong back in that village, you still weren't quite sure why you were choosing to go back. The only people there who would miss you would only be your family.

Lilia nodded, setting down the things he was cleaning. "Yes, I will do just that, but are you sure that you will not regret what you'll find? They didn't want you anymore." His eyes looked soft, his wrinkled one full of thought had melted away. He looked worried.

"I know that," you started quickly, but the explanation wasn't anywhere to be found. "I don't want to stay here without seeing it again." Great seven, you sounded so unsure of yourself, what kind of folly-brained person would- It doesn't matter. You already made the choice, you've set your mind on this small wish. If you wanted to try and figure out what to do next you needed to be reminded of how you got here. It didn't matter if it burned you next, one thing you noticed is that the green flames of the fae territory seemed more comfortable than the glowing scarlet.

"Alright," Lilia walked down the hall, poking his head into Silver's room. You watched him dip into the room and reemerge quickly, he grabbed his shoes along as you gathered the burnt journal up into your arms. "Come on."

You tied your boots quickly, scrambling to throw something warm on. "What about Silver?" You met him out front. The night air had a slight chill to it.

He held up a small pocket watch, "when he wakes up this will ring, we'll be back here as soon as it goes off." He tucked it into his shirt, "Now hop on my back I'll carry you there and explain the engagement."

That wasn't ideal, but if there's one thing you knew it's that it would be much faster. You wrapped your arms around his neck and climbed onto him. His hair had a slight smell of lilac, it was nice, not too strong. A familiar smell but it was like it had been swept up by the wind and brought to your door, a perfect airy smell. That has always been your one complaint about lilacs, the smell was nice but too strong when you were nearby, you could always put up with the short blooming time.

"I should apologize to you for not explaining it earlier," Lilia spoke, starting to run through the trees.

"You think?"

"I never told you because you never questioned our relationship." He explained, "It's a bit of a thing we do. We kinda just let people think what they want unless they ask. We're not allowed to lie. At least I'm not, so if you would have asked I would have had to say something like 'yeah we're engaged by fae standards' or stretch the truth to be more of a "yeah we're kinda courting.' Does that make sense?" He asked, leaping over the creek that marked the end of Fae territory.

"Yeah sort of," it was bizarre, it still felt like you'd been lied to and used, in a way you were, but this was the rift between fae and humans, relationship rules were different for each of you, manners and social expectations too. "How did I-" how do you phrase the question, "How did we get engaged? Did I accept it? Did you do something or I did do something?" the questions poured out like rotting juice, falling from your mouth as your teeth did in a bad dream. It all made you feel like you were cradling a small dove in your dreams wondering what you did to kill it.

"You stepped into my ring," he skidded to a stop, spinning you off of his back and gently holding you in his arms. "My home is surrounded by a circle of mushrooms, you trespassed into my home." He placed you on the ground just as the woods faded into the field by your village, just over the small hill you would see your home. "I could have killed you for it, turned you into a maid or something, made you a cat, kept you as a pet if I wanted, anything really," He rambled a little, if it wasn't so dark maybe you could have seen if the rumor about their ears turning red was real. "I thought I'd test you a little, see if you'd be useful to keep around. You just looked so lost and tired. So I brought you to my home. I needed help with Silver mostly, someone to watch him if my duties were called upon, and you just cared for him so well I knew that I wanted to marry you right then!" His eyes were filled with genuine fondness and he laughed, "I knew that I should court you by human means too so I was trying to slowly build up to that."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry." He said.

You looked up at him and his head was hanging down, he didn't look at you but it wasn't anything that was filled with shame.

"I owe you my apologies, I will do something to make it up. I owe you something and I will pay you back for my rudeness. Visit your home now, I'll do anything to make up for my discourteous behavior. I'll be here and if the watch goes off before you return I will collect you then." He turned and walked into the trees until the darkness consumed his bright eyes.

You walked up the hill slowly. You tried to prepare yourself for whatever you'd find. Maybe there would be wanted posters with your face plastered across every door and wall, and you'd crawl through the darkest corners with your hood drawn over your face. Maybe you'd find missing posters instead, walk into your old home and kiss your family's faces. Maybe there would be nothing about you, just a sleeping town on pause as the moon sang them a lullaby.

You slowed down your breathing looking at the ground before you could see it all. You could turn back now, go to bed and kiss Silver good morning as you make breakfast, pretend this night never happened, and that you've always been happily engaged to Lilia. Maybe you'd love it again, and ask Lilia if you could visit every few weeks, bring Silver to your family and introduce the little boy that you called your son. Yet you stepped up and saw the town empty and quiet, the buildings much more rundown than you remembered.

Maybe the Dubois couple had passed away? They were quite old, they didn't have any kids either, it's possible that they were still surviving over who would get their property or if it would be auctioned off. It didn't get better as you walked forwards. Some windows were cracked, shattered. The wood on some houses seemed charred and covered in a thick layer of dust. Then you saw the lack of town hall, the land was empty, and the few pieces left were practically charcoal, singed, and looking at it made you smell the phantom burning of your journal.

You continued walking, faster as you passed the houses and remains of them. You looked through the doors and windows seeing the buildings stripped of valuables, the doors hanging open or ripped off of their hinges. Lambert's house was burned. The Dumonts had no windows and the future was torn and flipped over. Ms.Clouteir's body was lying in her yard half-buried. You only knew it was her because of her necklace, a small locket with a portrait of her late son who had gone missing at the age of six. She always warned you of the dangers of the fae and the woods because she thought they took her boy.

Your home was standing. The floors were covered in dust along with everything inside. It all seemed strangely pristine. The few portraits of your family were gone but one of them sat neatly on a table in a small frame. Covered by a small cloth with a note on top of it all. You opened it, reading it what must have been a thousand times over. Then you left, letting Lilia bring you back home.

I know you're alive somewhere, I'm sure you've wandered into those woods and across that stream. I hope you've found something wonderful there, but I'm apologizing to you much too late. I left to find you and brought the wrong people with. I only meant to see that you were safe but I've caused a war.
Dumont's oldest attacked one of the fae that lives on the outskirts of their territory, he didn't make it back along with his brother. I didn't make it back in time to explain the truth of what happened, not that the truth could have stopped it. The people who came with me to find you were dead and the survivors were dead set on fighting back. I know you're safe. He said something about how I smelled of the same seaweed ink. I'm sorry my dear, but I've already dug the rest of the village's graves. Don't go upstairs, there's nothing for you to find there. I sent the rest of the family away. I don't know where they went or if they're still here, I'll see you when you're much older than the Dubois alright?