"One Peaceful Morning" by Jackie D. Ozorio

‘Ho! What are you doing, darkling?’ a sprightly voice burst through the dappled morning, sending the once-peaceful butterflies scattering in a typhoon of rainbow. This voice was young and girlish, with the slightest squeak. The giggle that preceded its questioning had been perfectly mischievous. For the moment there was peaceful quietude as the butterflies silently dispersed; none want to miss the spectacle of their departure.   

‘What am I doing? I, clearly, am frolicking among the posies.’ This new voice belonged to another changeling, who lay sprawled out on a fragile limb, his ankles crossed over the bark and his cheek resting on the back of his lean-fingered hand. He had watched the butterflies decorate the forest air, and had a twinkle in his eye as he addressed the disembodied voice of a child.

Again there was a pause, but this time it was confused and suspicious. Not a fraction later the little girl’s voice was back, full of annoyance and disbelief.

‘You are not!’

As the lean boy on the branch laughed cheerfully the little girl burst from the foliage of a great oak, and tiptoed across the intertwined branches of the tall trees until she stood directly in front of the other’s face. She folded her arms, a pout on her innocently charming face, and tapped her foot. ‘Lir, there aren’t any posies in the forest!’

Lir pushed his narrow frame up with lean arms until he sat with both legs dangling. He grinned widely at the smaller girl, who despite the incredible height paid no attention to the fact that this branch was unlikely to hold both their weight.

‘I know, Fieri! You are too gullible. Furthermore, you scared the butterflies. They were making a mosaic, did you know?’

‘They take hours to get anything done,’ Fieri said flippantly, and leapt suddenly into the air, using the branch as a springboard. She turned a graceful circle and landed on the branch again, her gossamer wings refracting the dapple light. Her face was coolly annoyed. ‘You left me, darkling, with Rowan. What an imp he is! He had a mind for getting involved with some wayward traveller on the Eastern Bend-’

‘-That’s darkling territory, you know,’ Lir said, arching an eyebrow. ‘If you were found it wouldn’t be pleasant.’

‘Territory! So what? The forest belongs to everyone.’

‘The forest doesn’t belong to anyone or anything but itself, mayfly. But that doesn’t mean nobody believes in territory,’ Lir said, sliding gracefully from the branch into empty space. He dropped like a stone, but he meant to; his wings of faceted shadows blurred as he killed an immense speed and touched down on the ground neatly, hardly disturbing the soil.

Fieri settled on the ground beside him, proving herself to be shorter than he, but no less slender. They were both willowy and graceful, and both had wings. However, Fieri’s wings were translucent light, made up from the colours of the leaves in autumn. Lir’s wings were translucent dark, made up from all the shades of shadow.

Fieri had a head of silken auburn curls that swept about in gentle breezes. Her face was cheerful and her cheeks rosy, and her eyes were replicas of her wings; all the colours of autumn in an everlasting state of flux. Her skin was golden, sun-kissed honey, her hands and feet small and dainty. She wore her usual faerie-tailored dress of golds and browns, with her favourite silver-band belt. She had decorated her hair with new daisies that morning, and had prepared for the day by bringing a small satchel of delicious things to eat.

Lir, darkling as he was, wore plain clothes. Tattered, three-quarter length pants, and a simple tan waistcoat tied in knots up the front over a pale grey shirt. His eyes were deep violet, but shifted through all shades of shadow depending on his mood. His hair was black as night, a scruffy mop, and the tips of his pointed ears poked through.

‘Where will we go today?’ Fieri asked, dancing a few steps forward before turning to look questioningly at her favourite darkling.

‘Where do you want to go?’

‘Out in the open! Oh, Lir, a cornfield! Could we?’

Lir grinned mischievously, and glanced around. ‘It will take us till noon,’ he cautioned, knowing Feiri’s attention span was a lot shorter than his. ‘Are you sure you want to make the journey?’

‘Of course!’

‘Then let’s not waste time!’

Like a flash Lir vanished, leaving no trace save the slight breeze around a fern. Fieri laughed loudly and vanished likewise, herself leaving behind a faint trail of glimmer, which the sun would catch briefly.