Finn Arwr and the Spirits of Concept

Prologue

A young boy in a blue rain coat and black Wellington boots stood on the curb outside Pynmisi kindergarten and watched his mother pull out of the drive. Once he decided that she was far enough away, he threw back his over-sized hood to reveal various shades of paint dotting and lining his pale, round face.

Even though his parents had said no war paint, science projects, or made up planets until he had friends here in Boston, he still liked fishing around in the cellar for new sorts of paint and boxes. As he heaved open the enormous door to his new school and walked into a hall full of cubbyholes, he realized that he didn't know which of the many rooms he should enter.

He wandered down the hall a ways, passing several closed doors and a girl who had crammed herself into her cubby with a crayon and sketchbook. Just before he had reached the next hall going in the opposite direction, he heard the sound of Tall Lady Shoes clicking on the floor.

He took a step back as a woman with bones pressed tight under her skin came at him. She almost ran him over, her line of vision was so much higher up than where his height ended. She didn't say anything, just looked down at him in mild surprise. Then she did the dreaded Thumb Lick. It meant she did not approve of Finn's paint, and she was about to rub off his hard work.

"Come here, boy." She called to him sharply, motioning with her hand as she did so. He didn't like Mrs. Loud Shoes so much. He walked toward her obediently, swinging his granddad's too big book sack along the way.

One of the plastic model airplanes he'd tied to it began swinging along with the motion of the pack, and eventually, it swung right around and stabbed Loud Shoes in the knee. The pilots inside cheered at their skillful flying.

She cried out, looking down at him with her menacing thumb. He braced himself for the first wipe down, when he was saved once again, this time by the opening of a door to his--was it to the right that a very different sort of woman much younger, shorter, and rounder than the first popped her head out into the hall? She had a kind face, and blonde hair that spiraled out all over the place. She reminded Finn of a princess.

"Are you Finn Arwr?" She asked. He liked this new lady; she didn't call him Finnian like everyone else. He nodded ecstatically in response to her question. She smiled, and held out her hand. "You're in here, with us. We've been waiting for you..." She told him.

Happily, he skipped right over to the open door, took her hand, and turned his head to stick out his tongue at Loud Shoes. She grimaced a last time before stalking back down the hall.

"Nice paint," complimented Finn's new teacher. Finally, someone appreciated the hard work he put into nicking dad's paint out of the basement. "Some kids are drawing over there, if you wanna join 'em." Finn nodded again, and she left him with a cheery wave to go stop some kid from throwing trucks across the place.

He wandered among flying paint brushes and toys, stopping occaisionally to remember where he was going. When he arrived at the busy mess of the colouring table, there was one seat open next to a small girl with a shock of black hair falling down in her eyes and a million freckles all over her face.

Adgitatedly, she flipped her bangs back on top of her head. They slid right back down, making a sort of curtain between her acid green eyes and a drawing she was working intently on. It looked like a little guy in a roman helmet shooting an even smaller guy with a flower on its head.

"I'm Eilie," she said as soon as Finn sat down and placed his bag on the floor. "And this is Marvin the Alien shooting a Munchkin.

"Munchkins scare me." She added thoughtfully. Finn could easily sympathize with this.

"This is Aranomean war paint," he explained, pointing to his face. "They eat bad guys." Eilie nodded appreciatively.

"Psst," someone whispered. "Eilie!" Finn looked round for the source of the voice, and was prompted to check under the table when the someone tapped his knee. "Could you pass me the smallest screwdriver up there?"

Eilie looked under the table, and quite calmly fished through a pile of crayons until she came across the requested tool. Not a plastic one-this was the kind Finn had seen his dad use whenever he broke something.

Eilie handed the voice under the table his equipment.

"That's Ethan," she explained. Then her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned into his ear. "Actually, that's his middle name. His real name is Bernard, but he says it makes him sound like one of the seven dwarfs..."

Finn looked back under the table to get a better glance at this newest boy. His hair was brutally short, and looked like his mom had done it with a pair of scissors in the kitchen. It curled and twisted like a Greek warrior in a picture book. He was holding a watch in his hand, which he seemed to be dis-assembling.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom swung open and Loud Shoes walked in. The room went silent, or as silent as a room full of six year olds can be. She went up to Teacher, who was bandaging a girl who'd jumped out the window and scraped her knee.

"Amelia," Loud Shoes questioned. "I seem to be missing my watch. Has one of your students taken it?" Finn and Eilie looked down in horror struck amusement at Under The Table Ethan. His blue eyes were wide in shock.

"No, I havn't seen your watch Mrs. Cipok." Teacher replied wearily. "I'll let you know if I find it, all right?" Loud Shoes nodded once before pivoting on her heel and marching out of the space.

"Maybe we should do something else," Ethan muttered weakly as he placed the watch and screwdriver aside. Finn and Eilie nodded. Ethan wiggled his way out from under the table, and his eyes fell upon a fair sized cardboard box across the way.

"Why don't we play in that?" Finn suggested, pointing to it. His companions nodded and grinned, completely overlooking the fact that three kids in a box might lead to some space related difficulties.

As they ran over to the other end of the room, Finn was happy that he could tell his mom he was officially allowed to wear his war paint.