Seelie and Unseemly

4. Fuzz and Spark

Elli startled with a hiss. He jerked down into a crouch, his wings spread, feathers puffed, and ears laying back against his hair (envision a flustered owl but instead of large and poofy, it's tiny and scrawny).

"Easy!" Laughed the surprise visiter, their furry brown face bright with humor. "It's just us!" 

Elli's cheeks flushed with color and he hopped back to his feet before casually smoothing down his ruffled feathers.

He cleared his throat in an attempt to regain some dignity, "Us?" He clarified.

The fawn in the opening smiled as an energetic ball of yellow light darted out from their fluffy curls of hair. This light was maybe a third of Elli's size, about the size of a housefly. The energetic spark giggled and zipped over to perch on Elli's head.

"Hi, El!" Exclaimed the pixie with enthusiasm.

"Pria," Elli's facial muscles twitched, trying to find the strength to smile, "What brings you here?"

These were the friends that Elli often got into trouble with. Pria was a light pixie who served directly under Queen Titania and Muer –the fawn– had the one thing that both Pria and Elli lacked: size. All three of them loved loud practical jokes and didn't particularly care who they played them on so long as they had a good reaction. Pria could get into anywhere while Meur was the brawn to Elli's brains. Many a peaceful night had been disturbed by their antics. 

But this was not one of those days where Elli was in the mood to plan a masterful prank. He would much rather be doing something more productive and less frivolous. There would be plenty of time for pranks after he helped find Mabuka's murderer and Oberon's attacker.

"Meur and me wanted to check in on El." Pria responded, seeming to fail to notice her friend's distress.

Elli blinked, confused. Pria had never been terribly emotionally intuitive. 

"Why is that?" He asked.

"No reason!" Chirped the pixie.

Elli looked over at Meur and cocked a brow. Hopefully the fawn could prove more helpful. 

Meur smiled fondly, "We were concerned when we didn't see you out playing in the lightening," they clarified.

"Ah." Elli sighed. His wings growing tense as he began to return to his troubled train of thought.

Noticing his dour mood, somehow, Pria huffed and crawled forward on Elli's scalp until the upper section of her torso hung down in Elli's face. Used to this kind of behavior from the chipper light pixie, Elli just let her do her thing, unfazed.

Pria grabbed the sides of Elli's face with her tiny hands, "Why's El sad? El is never sad when it rains."

Personally, Elli was more curious to know how Pria wasn't sad when it was her mistress who had locked herself away to summon storms with her despair as she sat –crying– over her comatose consort. On top of that, Queen Titania had been refusing any audiences that didn't involve any leads concerning her husband's health or his attacker. Anyone would be disheartened under the current circumstances.

Meur seemed to guess Elli's thoughts, "Pria's just too positive to let anything bring her down. Isn't that right, you little ray of sunshine?"

Pria giggled, fluttering her delicate gossamer wings as she darted over to perch on the bridge of Meur's nose.

Elli watched them, his mind still preoccupied with thoughts of viscera and unknown shadows, "Positive, huh?"

Perhaps a more positive mindset was, in fact, what he needed.

Meur and Pria cocked their heads in near-synchrony.

What did Elli have that could help? First, he was involved in the situation as soon as he had encountered the Unseelie fae in the Mortallands. Therefore the court couldn't't protest her participation in any affairs regarding the mystery murderer. Second, Mabuka's body was found in a place the humans called "Scotland" where wet was the primary state of the land.  For most, rain would prove to be a tough obstacle, but not for a rain sprite. Third, she knew of a venerable hedge witch who lived in the highlands not too far from the Blue Moon Circle elf ring. She had been acknowledged by many fae as a capable faedoctor. Perhaps she had the knowledge to cure  Oberon.

Elli's confidence soared. He may be small, but he also had every advantage afforded to him All he would need to begin his own daredevil investigation would be someone inside the innermost sanctum of Queen Titania's court to report back to him the condition of the king consort. And, he smiled almost wickedly, he knew precisely who to ask.

Pria worked for Queen Titania. Meur served King consort Oberon.

"Meur," purred the sprite, approaching his friend's curious face, "think you could tell me the King's current symptoms? How is he? Feverish? Turning strange colors?"

Meur's curious expression turned confused, "He has a fever, his wounds won't stop bleeding, and he's still as death. Why?"

Elli shooed the fawn, with Pria still on their nose, away from his hollow. The pixie dove back beneath Meur's curls as they were once again exposed to the rain. The land around them was bathed in cold grey-blue light when Elli hopped onto his hollow's edge, stretched his wings, and flexed the muscles in his tail.

"Where are you going?" Asked Meur, apprehension creeping into their voice.

"To the Mortallands." Replied Elli as he did some last second preening to the feathers on his wings and chest.

Meur's eyes wide and they stumbled back, their cloven hooves clacking against the stones that lay between the roots of the dead tree. "You can't be serious! Why?"

"I'm going to go get some help," said Elli before he leaped gracefully into the air, "And maybe track down an archfey-killer." He added under his breath.

"Wait!" Cried Meur, attempting to run after him, "The Unseelie are blaming us for Mabuka's death! They'll eat you alive if they catch you!"

"I'll be careful, promise!" Elli called back over his shoulder, quickly picking up speed and losing his friends behind him.

As he approached the elf ring, Elli thought back on Meur's warning. He'd suspected such a reaction from the Unseelie court. But if he was being honest, he was more afraid of something else that would be lurking in the Mortallands. Humans.