Welcome to Upside-Down Falls

Part 7: Guardians of the Realm

Beaufort enthusiastically explains the intricate subject of realms to me. He kind of sounds like Giles from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and I'm curious about what he would look like as a human.

We are sitting at Gran's kitchen table, having lunch. Yes, I am having lunch with a talking Bearded Dragon and a Badger. Not weird and absolutely bonkers at all!

Ysolde is eating something that looks like a worm salad and Beaufort is eating a piece of fruit. I eye my sandwich. I do not trust this sandwich one bit but dismantling it seems rude and ungrateful.

"Ms Holly, that's a ham and cheese sandwich. I promise," Beaufort winks.

"No worms?"

"No worms, no bugs. Just ham and cheese."

I'm still not sure about this sandwich and take a tentative bite.

Worms are interesting and cool. Some of them become butterflies, and some become moths. Some of them just stay worms and some end up in Ysolde's lunch. I definitely do not want them in my lunch.

I'm relieved to find that it really is just a ham and cheese sandwich.

"Don't badgers eat mice and frogs and..." I trail off as Beaufort looks horrified.

"Beaufort is a fruitarian, Ms Holly," Ysolde chuckles as Beaufort continues with his history lesson on the realm.

It turns out that many mythical creatures exist primarily in other realms. At some point, something happened which caused rifts to develop between realms. Waterfalls, caves, Stonehenge, and other places some humans believe have great power but don't know why.

"We call the waterfall rifts, Veils. We, the guardians, establish towns around these rifts that are most likely to be visited by humans. Towns like this one. Your grandmother was a Guardian as was your grandfather. I too am a Guardian and Ysolde is in training."

"And hiding from my mother," Ysolde interrupts happily.

"And hiding from her mother... Ineffectively," Beaufort nods patiently,

"There are many Guardians and Guardians-in-Training. However, what we need now, is a healer."

I have some questions about Ysolde's mother, but I'll get to that later.

"Ah. That's where I come in? My responsibilities? Gran was a healer?"

"Ms Holly, your Grandmother was one of the best healers in our history."

I eat what's left of my sandwich in silence as I process all the new information. Starting to feel panicky and light-headed, I get up and walk over to the books that we left on the seat earlier, mostly to take a moment to swallow the lump in my throat. I return to the table with the books in hand and sit down again.

"So, these books... If I decide that I want to... do this healer thing... these books will help?" There is a slight tremor in my voice. I'm not sure why, but I'm starting to feel emotional. Sad and kind of angry. Gran had this entire Guardian of the Realm Healer thing going on and I was made to forget about it. Apparently, she had her reasons. Something about my grandfather disappearing? I can't even remember my grandfather. Was I in some kind of danger? Was my mom? Mom... Did they make her forget too?

Pull yourself together, Holly.

I breathe deeply and Ysolde and Beaufort share a concerned look.

"Okay, I'm good. So, Gran was a healer, a Guardian. Something happened that made her... you decide that I should not be part of this... world. Was there danger? Is there danger now? Is that why Gran-"

Okay, so I'm rambling and not all that together right now.

Beaufort pats my hand with a furry paw, he looks sad and concerned. He seems to really care.

"I'm sorry. That was unfair." I feel embarrassed about my outburst. Of course, Gran would have wanted to protect me... And Mom too.

Beaufort smiles sadly and nods. "Ysolde, could you locate my phone and call Ms Anderson please?" he asks politely.

"Sure thing, Boss Badger," Ysolde scurries off and I can hear her mumble something like: "..always misplacing things... should be glued to his butt."

I try to stifle a giggle and end up snorting instead.

"Are you okay, Ms Holly?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I bumped my head and now I'm having conversations with animals as if I'm related to Dr Dolittle or something. And now I'm freaking out a bit."

Beaufort blinks, "and Dr Dolittle adjusted just fine, didn't he?"

I snort-laugh and we're still laughing when Ysolde returns with the phone.

"Why are we calling Gillian?"

"Well, you need a lift home as it is late afternoon already and you need some rest, as it were. By morning most of the side effects of your grandmother's spell will have subsided."

I look at Beaufort's concerned face and Ysolde's smiling one.

"I am going home to meet with my son."

I was about to ask them where they were going, but sometimes I get the impression that Beaufort might be reading my mind.

"And I'm going to stay here and eat all the bugs in your Gran's cottage," Ysolde states with a shrug.

"Oh, uhm... That's nice. Why?" I like Ysolde but imagining her eating all the little defenceless bugs makes me cringe. Maybe I can convince her to eat only cockroaches or something else entirely.

"I live here," she laughs, "and I like to eat bugs."

So, dear readers, I phoned Gillian and she's on her way now.

I was surprised that the call actually went through as the signal in this place is terrible most of the time. And curiously, she didn't even question why I wasn't calling from my phone in the first place.

Let's do a quick recap while I wait for her.

Magic exists, and other worlds exist. Some Waterfalls aren't simply waterfalls. Most of the Town's people aren't human and some of the animals here aren't animals.

Confused? I can relate.

They are called The Elder Folk or Veil Folk. That is the blanket term they use for anyone who comes from "beyond the veil." I have inherited Gran's cottage, her responsibilities and apparently... a sassy Bearded Dragon.

I have a choice to make. Do I find someone else to replace my Gran, a strong and smart woman who I believe to be irreplaceable? Or do I take up her responsibilities?

I already know what I want to do... The big and most important question is: Is Holly going to be a brilliant healer like her Gran, brewing healing teas and helping the Elder Folk of Upside-down Falls, or is Holly going to turn someone fluorescent pink on her first try? 🤔

All these questions will be answered in due time, but right now, I can hear a car pull up outside and I really do need some rest and a beer, maybe two. Who knows what craziness tomorrow will bring?

Next up: Gillian doesn't have a Tail.