Stories of the Never-Never

Memories of Winter

It was daylight again, safe ordinary daylight, where the things that seemed huge and terrible by night shrank like puddles in the sunshine. This was the domain of the Summer Fey, the bright ones, the sprites and pixies, the creatures who knew no fear. It was also home to the Seelie Court, King Oberon and Queen Tatiana, and Oberon's prodigy, Robin Goodfellow, otherwise known as Puck. This had been the way of the Summer Court for centuries now, ever since the fall of the Unseelie Court after the battle of the Wyldwood. Only few knew of Winter's fall, and that was the plan of the Seelie Court, to keep Winter from the imagination of every fey to ensure that they would not rise again.

Within the Summer city of Tuatha de Danaan, Puck watched the frolicking fey from atop the Clock Tower, the highest building in the city, and remembered a time when Winter held the land in thrall, and the ice fey came creeping across the plains of the Never-Never, bringing with them the cold and frost that they revelled in. Those times where no more though, and so Puck could only remember. With that remembering came the bitter memories of his...well, you could say best friend, though that was a human term, because one did not do wrong without the other. Ash Tallyn, the youngest son of Mab, Queen of the Unseelie, had been turned to stone during the Battle of the Wyldwood, when his love for the Summer princess, Isola, had been discovered by an enraged King Oberon. It was their love that caused the war between the Courts, and their love which forever encased them in stone statues in the forgotten Winter city of Tir Na N'Og.

Puck had since been confined to Tuatha de Danaan, his friendship with the Winter prince also discovered, earning him the wrath of the Summer King. The scars still bore pain for the usually lively fey, and since then he had been silent. All was about to change though, something which would shape and shift the lives of all fey within the Never-Never forever more.

It came in short bursts, steam erupting in the warm Summer air when the cold of Winter broke through into the city. Puck smiled in delight at the Summer fey's squeals in reaction to the cold of Winter. The few who knew of Winter stared around in amazement, for they had seen the Unseelie Court destroyed during the Battle of the Wyldwood. Puck knew that they would soon see behind the mask of Winter that this was merely a hoax, but until then, he was going to use it to his advantage.

Leaping down from the Clock Tower with the grace of a cat, he made his way silently through the throngs of squealing and merry fey out to the wall surrounding Tuatha de Danaan where Cat, one of the Wyld Hunt was waiting for him. They nodded formal greetings to each other, the prodigy of the Summer Court and the Sidhe from the Dark Court not quite enemies, though nor quite friends. Behind the trees of the Wyldwood which were cloaked thickly on the side where they were, Brial stood, causing the Winter breeze to rush through the Summer city, as he had once been a commander of Winter himself.

The path between Tuatha de Danaan and the Wyld Hunt's lair was long and dangerous, leading them through many old haunts of Unseelie creatures and long forgotten half-realms that stretched between the human realm and the Never-Never. They did not stop for anything, constantly on the move, each fearing retribution of caught by any of the remaining fey Courts. Cat trailed at the rear, while Puck walked ahead next to Brial, so that she could watch over the pesky Summer sprite so that he did not give them away, as she knew he would be inclined to do. But the trek was in silence, and Puck spoke not a word, leaving both Brial and Cat wondering what had gotten into his so, that he would not speak a word.

Puck knew that he was causing confusion with Brial and Cat by not saying anything, but in truth it was simply because he did not care to say a word to them. He had left Tuatha de Danaan for one reason, and one reason only, and that was all he intended to do with the second in command of the Wyld Hunt and the strange Dark Court Sidhe. There was no need for conversation between the three, and neither Puck nor Brial or Cat seemed to want to break that by saying anything.

As they reached the centre of the Wyldwood, where the Wyld Hunt had set up their lair, Puck say two very familiar statues standing in the clearing. Only, they were no longer motionless statues; instead, they swayed slightly on the Winter air, as if joyous that they were no longer alone in the forgotten city of Tir Na N'Og. Gabriel, the leader of the Wyld Hunt, stood to the side as he watched his second in command and his only Dark Court Sidhe leading the astounded Summer sprite Puck towards his old friends, whom he had thought lost forever. They were home...

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