Baile Siochanta (Southern Vampire Mysteries)

Chapter 47 - They Walk in Darkness

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Sookie was starting to understand the songs and legends. There was a timelessness to her days spent inside the fairy forts. From the outside, the forts looked like everyday structures. Some were mansions with circular driveways, but others were cottages tucked in the hills. She even visited one whose entrance went through a shed. Sookie could tell there was a powerful illusion surrounding these places. "Only someone supernatural can see the structure," Claudine informed her when Sookie asked how the houses managed to evade detection.

Sookie had wondered how ordinary people didn't come to question these places. "What about the post?" she'd asked. "Doesn't the mailman ever say anything?"

"Use your eyes!" Claudine laughed. "Think of the fort as if it were your own face. It shows one thing to the humans and another to those who truly see."

It took some practice, but soon enough, Sookie was able to see the Fae face of the place slip away, leaving her staring at a slight mound surrounded by trees. "I don't understand," she stammered.

"It's our way," Claudine shrugged. "What's more, these places are protected by human law. No one is allowed to disturb a fairy fort. It's an accommodation that's allowed us to co-habit with humans all these years. They don't bother us and as long as they leave our ancestral homes alone, we don't bother them."

From the outside the place looked normal, whether you saw wild ground or manicured homes, inside was another matter. Rooms rambled on, branching one from the other. Sookie wondered if there was any rhyme or reason to the architecture. Most rooms had two or more doors, it was easy to become turned around. One stepped out of one room never knowing if that entry would lead to still other rooms or down a corridor that branched out under the hills.

Even though she knew she was underground, there was rarely a sense of dark or damp. Everywhere Sookie looked, the walls were covered with tapestries and carvings. The floors might be stone or wood, but their surfaces were softened by carpets of dazzling color. The light wasn't electric, but it wasn't candle light either, although if there was one thing you could say about the Seelie, it was that they loved candlelight. There was something about fire that attracted these Fae. 'Moths to flame,' was a phrase that came readily to mind.

While Sookie was welcome, even encouraged to spend time in the forts, she understood her place was in Carreigh. "You would find it disorienting if you tried to live here," Claudine explained. "We are timeless, you are not."

At first, Sookie thought her cousin was referring to her immortality, but Claudine explained. "You have a natural clock, your circadian rhythm. The Seelie don't rest when we're in our forts. It sounds counterintuitive, but our time spent there serves the same purpose as sleep. If you were to spend too much time, you'd find you'd gone days and nights with no rest. You feel fine because you're surrounded by us, but when you emerge, it can be terrible."

So, Sookie spent her nights at the B&B in Carreigh. Joyce moved Sookie from the room she had stayed in prior to an ensuite farther down the corridor. "You won't be bothered by my other boarders here," was the explanation. Sookie supposed it made sense, but she also knew this had to be a short-term solution. While she knew Joyce was being paid well for her use of the room, there were aspects of this arrangement that weren't convenient for either of them.

The beauty of owning a B&B was you only had to worry about guests for a set number of hours every day. They arrived in the afternoon, you directed them to the pub for dinner, you fed them in the morning, and then turned the rooms. The remainder of your morning and most of your evenings were your own. With a semi-permanent boarder, that changed.