Wisp - A Scarecrow's Tale

Chapter 7 - The Justicar

Gran seemed pleased to see Niki again so soon. She was decidedly less pleased at Wander's suggestion of motive for the theft of the wisps.

"That's absurd!" Gran said, shaking her head vehemently. "We may have been homeless since the fall of the Ygdrasa but we'd never submit others to our fate!"

"I keep hearing about this Ygdrasa," Wander said, "What happened?"

Gran let out a deep and longing sigh. "The Ygdrasa was the largest, most ancient tree in the entire Realm. It was filled with life, every branch flush with leaves, nuts, and different fruit in every season. It was a natural home for harpies of all feathers until it was taken from us. Since then, we've wandered the Realm looking for a new home. It hasn't been an easy sky for us; we've lost many of our flock along the way."

"Murder," Theodore said, propping his small legs onto his desk. "A flock of crows is a murder."

Gran scowled at this. "Once, only a proper flock of solid black wings were called a murder. Rooks like me belonged to our parliaments, and magpies like Niki and her mother were grouped into mischiefs. It wasn't until after the Ygdrasa fell that people lumped us all together. Magpies, ravens, starlings ... if more than half of your feathers were black, you were a crow. Even the other harpies joined in on it eventually, shunning us just like everyone else."

"But why?" Wander asked, "You all lived in harmony before. What changed?"

"The Ygdrasa was taken by darkness," Gran said, a definite note of bitterness in her voice as she continued, "and because our wings are black, some felt that we were responsible."

"Wasn't the Ygdrasa protected?" Wander asked. "I mean, didn't you have a fountain like Jardinfae?"

"We did," said Gran, "four fountains in fact, the greatest nestled in the very heartwood of the Ygdrasa itself. Every single one failed and the Ygdrasa was taken by a foul black ooze that consumed everything it touched."

"Were your wisps taken?" asked Wander.

"We don't know," said Gran, "Most of our people were too busy flying for their lives or evacuating the children and wingless."

"I'm sorry," Wander said, raising a hand, "The wingless? You mean non-harpies lived there too?"

Gran gave him a curious look. "Of course. Harpies are almost always female. Back when we had a home, a harpy would go on a migration across the Realm. Those that returned to the Ygdrasa brought mates with them. Many were lost that day, including my own mate."

"I'm sorry," Wander said, taking off his hat out of respect.

"He saved dozens of hatchlings before the darkness took him. He always was the noble one." Gran shook her head. "It was only a few weeks before the rumors started. The Keepers at the time were all black-feathered, you see. It was an unfortunate coincidence, but with so many looking for someone to blame, we were an easy target. We eventually left the other flocks only to find that rumors of our involvement in the Ygdrasa's fall had already spread to other settlements. We've been wandering ever since."

"Poor folk," Wander thought as silence fell across the lockup, "Sounds like they're getting the blame for nuthin'. No wander they keep to themselves; if it were me, I'd stay away from folk too."

The image of a small apartment suddenly shot through is mind. It was only a three-room affair: one bedroom, one bath, and a combination living room and kitchen with a sofa made up as a second bed. The table was covered with stacks of newspapers and sculpting tools. The whole place was familiar and made Wander feel comfortable and safe.

"Wander?" Theodore shook Wander's arm. "You okay there, kid?"

Wander looked from the sheriff to the glowing form of Merry who peeked at him over the brim of his hat. "Hmm? Oh! Yeah, sorry; kinda wandered off for a minute there." Shaking his head, Wander asked Gran, "So you weren't able to bring any of the fountains with you."