Aralt, already forgetting about the Wysp, continued down the tunnel leaving the barrier and the Wysp behind. Far up ahead he could see a familiar glow… it was the glow of a Dragon breathing fire! “I’m finally in the right place,” he told himself as he continued towards the light.
“Aralt walked through, so either he was invited or he has his own stone,” thought Nemmer. “Either way, it can’t be good.” The archer watched the blue Wysp for a little while making sure that it could not get through. When he was sure the Wysp was not going to get in, Nemmer decided his next stop would be the Baron’s Mansion. He needed to tell the Dowager Griselda what was happening. “She will be able to tell the others faster than I can. I hate running but for this I think speed is needed right now,” he mumbled to himself as he took off in a hunter’s run. As Aralt turned the corner, the first thing he saw was a Dragon’s head. It was ‘Her’… how could he have been so lucky to find her first? Her eyes were closed and it looked like ‘She’ was sound asleep, but Aralt knew better. She was a tricky Dragon… that is how she had managed to be the ‘unofficial’ leader of the Dragons for many, many, many years. Without even thinking about it, Aralt touched first the golden corolla on his brow and then the locket holding the emerald Dragon heart stone making sure they were both still there. That is when the Dragon smiled. A very large toothy smile… a smile with a lot of very large and sharp teeth. Opening her eyes, she just looked at the Herald and waited for him to speak first. Aralt knew what ‘She’ wanted. It was the recognition of an underling. “She is waiting for me to address her first as her inferior,” he remembered. Rankled at the thought that he was subservient to her but realizing that she would not speak until he started, Aralt spoke. “Greetings your Most Worthy. It has been a long time.” “How dare she mind-speak to me!” he thought as he realized she was still smiling her toothy smile but her lips were not moving. “I am not one of your underlings” he wanted to reply, but he knew that would not get him what he wanted. In the long run it only would start another of those many arguments they had before he and the Dragons had parted ways. One thing Aralt had learned over the many years of being with Dragons though was the technique of manipulation. Smiling, the Herald replied, “Oh, I am sorry. You must be weak from your travels as you are only able to mind speak. You are old after all and not in your prime anymore. I will depart and return when you are feeling better,” and he turned as if to leave the cave. “Where do you think you are going?” demanded the Dragon. This time she did not mind-speak but spoke it aloud causing the stalactites in the cave to sway slightly and a few of the loose stones on the floor to tremble. With his back to the Dragon, Aralt took a second to remove his smile, and then turned around to face the mighty Dragon. “Ah, I was mistaken. Now you sound like your old self. My pardon. How are things in your domain and will you still need the services of a herald?” he asked.
Aralt did not disappoint her. Soon he was telling her of his many journeys after the Dragons had left this Realm. As she listened, she also started to consider ways to include him in her plans, or maybe not... that was for her to ponder.
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The sad part of this craving is that he hadn't had his favorite food for quite a while. Where he hailed from no longer carried his quick and easy way of making it and to make it from scratch took FOREVER! Which in a magical land can be quite a very long time indeed. Plus with the ever demanding need for Ambrosia, he was more often too busy making that - leaving no time for other delicious treats to devour. "Alas!" Allspice thought to himself. "I'll be on a good diet since I can't find the time to make my favorite treat." After a moment more of thought, he chuckled ruefully to himself. "I never did admit that they were healthy for my diet. But, oh, one bite of those tasty morsels is certainly good for the soul."
Allspice rushed into the store, bought the ingredients, and then faster than a Twitterbird can deliver a message, Allspice was back in his cave firing up the oven. Chopping up the apples with a knife inside the can, he then proceeded to place a very small amount in the center of each pastry square.
A couple scoops of the sugar with just a dab of the margarine, add a dash of vanilla extract, and stir," Allspice said the recipe over to himself. "I'll add a small splash of milk to thin this mixture into a glaze. Then dribble it over the golden pastries after they have cooled when I pull them out of the oven." After the pastries cooked in the oven (at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes), Allspice in his excitement almost dropped the pan when he removed them. But he quickly recovered himself, dribbled the glaze over the turnovers and then proceeded to sit down and eat his first bite. "Oh yes! Yummmm," Allspice thought to himself. Then he chuckled. "I can now have my treat in this new land! What a nice boon for moving, but I will certainly have to limit myself or I will be gaining way too much to my waistline. So just like the Dragons in trying to limit themselves on our Ambrosia, I now have my 'own' ambrosia."
This was not just any cave, Snoop was off to visit. It was the home of Dewin the Wizard. Since the "news" Sprigg'n shared with Snoop was astronomical, it seem a good idea to check another source. "I hope this isn't a wild duck chase," pondered the newsman. "I have a paper to get out, but if it is something, I will be delighted with this big scoop!" Deciding that the hike to the cave would still be worth the story, he continued on until he was almost to the entrance. Snoop didn't even have to knock since Dewin was already outside setting up some strange contraption on some sticks. From a distance it looked like three sticks tied together at one end creating a tripod and he had some long tube attached to the top. "I wonder what he is doing," mumbled Snoop to himself. It was while Snoop was approaching the wizard that without looking up from what he was doing that Dewin called out to him. "Hello, Augustus. I take it that the Spite... oops, I mean Sprigg'n... told you about what was coming?" Surprised, Snoop stopped near the contraption while noticing that Dewin was now busy turning dials and looking through a small hole in the side of the tube that was indeed mounted to three sticks. "Not really," answered Snoop. "All Sprigg'n told me was that some strange and powerful magic was coming and that you were trying to capture it since it will only be here once every 1000 years." "Well, Sprigg'n is partially right. A solar eclipse happens much more frequently than that, but it won't be for another 1000 years before we are in the path of a total eclipse, especially during a new moon" answered the wizard. Seeing Snoop's look of confusion, he continued explaining. "A total solar eclipse is when the sun is fully blocked by the moon and the land will turn dark for about 10 minutes. The animals that normally come out only in the dark will be confused and those expecting sunlight will wonder what is happening. I have seen it long ago from where I came from and there the eclipse even drove normal people crazy with fear." "Now this is a story indeed," realized Snoop. "Tell me more and what is that thing you have there?" he asked Dewin.
"But why would you want to?" asked Snoop. "I will be able to see the sun go out. Couldn't I look at it then?" Dewin thought about this question and told Snoop that even when the sun is totally blocked out, it is always good to use eye protection. Especially because Dewin wanted to watch the entire process from start to finish. "It is something that rarely happens and I want to see it all so that I can study it. It is something rare and the magical energy that will be produced will be very powerful. I am hoping to capture some of that magic and bottle it!"
He had been working on getting his kitchen setup so he could mix his first batch of ambrosia for the Dragons here in this new realm. "First batch indeed," he thought. "It will take many more batches just to feed all of them even once. It's a good thing that there are only a few Wish Dragons around otherwise I would need an army of SPICE bakers to get the mis-enchanted back." After finding his bellows and the other items needed, Al decided to get some fresh air before having to stand over the cooking pot. "It will do me some good to step outside for a bit," he decided as he realized that being bent over rummaging through storage boxes had created a kink in his back. Before stepping out of the cave, he took a quick look around to make sure that it was safe. He had almost stepped out once before in his travels with the Dragons and a giant bird had almost eaten him. Thinking about it made him shiver slightly and for a moment stopped whistling to mutter "Darn Rocs". Spying a giant frog and a Pyksee hopping around, Allspice decided it was still safe enough to step out of the cave for a little while. "But not too far from the entrance. Don't want the Dragons to see me. They will be nagging me soon enough to be brewing up more Ambrosia. After taking several deep breaths and a long stretch to straighten out the kinks in his back, Allspice turned around and went back into the cave. "I better get busy as I do have a lot of Ambrosia to still brew," he thought. Even though this part of the cave was still dark, he had walked in and out so many times bringing in his boxes of cooking supplies that he did not need to cast a light spell to see. Soon he was back to whistling and brewing. "That tune just won't go away. It's a good thing I like it," he smiled.
It was here that Meen (spying) realized that she needed to tell the Queen of the Shadows' what she had seen and heard, but another also was affected by what had just happened... Not too far away, a Dragon and a rat were discussing the finer parts of humor when the Dragon suddenly stopped talking and started turning his head this way and that! "Do you smell that?" Dree asked Drat. The rat stopped and sniffed the air. Being a rat he had a very sensitive nose but evidently it was nothing compared to the Dragon's. "I don't smell anything unusual other than your feet," he joked. Soon Dree figured out the direction of the smell and made the decision that he would check out what it was that somebody was cooking. But before he could act on that thought, Drat distracted him with a new joke. "Did you hear the one about the rock and the troll? Well this troll was lonely and one day while out walking he saw this big rock in the trail..."
"What is that whistling sound?" she heard from the cave. "That can't be singing? My froggie friend croaks better than that." Quietly Meen hopped up to some rocks just outside the caves to take a peek inside.
"Queen Ffion wouldn't be happy with me as her Top Minion if I don't take this chance to learn a little more," Meen confidently told herself as he hopped down from the rocks. Patting Froggie on the head and telling him to stay behind, Meen silently entered the cave after turning her head and winking at Froggie. Inch by slow inch Meen crept inside of the cave making sure that she was not seen by the stranger. "This is harder than I thought," she realized because Meen was the straight forward type of Pyksee who preferred just jumping into trouble. But he was a stranger in the Realm and one could never be too careful with strangers. Or at least that is what Queen Ffion would have told Meen if she was here. By now Meen had made her way past the entrance to the cave and could see a glowing light further in. Not being able to stay at the slow pace, she decided that it was dark enough still that the stranger would not see her, so she hopped until she was closer to the light but still outside of it's glow.
All the time he was doing this he was still making those silly whistling sounds. Then the creature started putting things into the pot that he had over the flames like Meen had watched the Goodie Sisters do many times. "Nothing new to that," Meen thought, "though he is talking or croaking in a language I haven't heard before."
"Wow! That is powerful magic indeed," thought Meen. "I better get back to the Queen and let her know what I have discovered. She will know what is 'Ambrosia' is and if it's dangerous?"
With his wings all a flutter, Allspice was thrilled he had located a set of caves close to the Dragons. Actually there seemed to be a lot of caves in the location the Dragons had landed. Which was a good thing since Allspice didn't want to be living right next door to them. Nothing was worse (well, almost nothing) than not being able to sleep because one had a Dragon next door that was snoring loud enough to even make the rock walls of a cave tremble.
He had just heard from a flutterby that a new cleaning operation was being opened by a Brownie named Granny Flare. He just might have to hire her. Al knew that when the other members of the team showed up, there would even be more to clean then.
"Finally!" Allspice muttered to himself. He had been moving boxes from one side of the cave to the other looking for it for the past couple of hours. Now that he found it, he was thrilled he could finally unpack this travel box.
For another, it’s all in the preparation. A House Brownie will start planning and preparing for Spring cleaning usually about a month before Spring starts (and sometimes sooner)!
Now this year, Granny Flare had been planning all winter and had finally decided that she needed to branch out and help others who were not so fortunate to have a House Brownie available for the Spring cleaning. The problem was figuring out where her perspective helpers were located now that they did not need to hide from Nemmer. “It’s a good thing that Nemmer quit bopping the Dusty Mytes,” thought Granny as she decided to go out and look for them. “It’s also good that the Dusty Mytes have gained some control over their forgetful dust. It just won’t do having them blow their dust around and everyone forgetting everything. It could set back cleaning for generations!” Granny shuddered just to think of it!
Soon Granny was in the caves and found where the Dusty Mytes had made their homes. It was neat and tidy. “Those noses do a good job of vak-u-ming up all of the dirt,” she thought as she nodded her head in approval. It did not take Granny long, but soon she and the Dusty Mytes came to an agreement and a business plan quickly worked out. Granny would find the cottages that needed cleaning, make all of the arrangements, and have the inhabitants go for a Spring outing, the Dusty Mytes then would come in and vak-u-m the homes. It did not take long for the word to get out which meant Granny needed a plan sooner than later to keep everyone busy while her "crews" were cleaning. With that the Spring Fair idea was born. Now, on the first day of Spring, everyone not in the cleaning crews were at the Spring Fair hosted by Efem, while Granny Flare and other House Brownies (with the Dusty Mytes help of course) are busy swishing, sweeping, and cleaning the old dusty winter gloom away. HAPPY SPRING!
Finally, a Wish Dragon overheard a wish being made. Deciding that maybe this was a way to make friends, the Dragon granted the wish... and that is when things started going wrong! By the time the Dragons came to the land where Allspice's (Al) kind lived, the Dragons started granting wishes willy-nilly. It was soon afterwards noticed that when a wish was not completely thought out - an innocence bystander or other citizens would disappear! First it was only a few and it never seemed to be the one making the wish. But after a time, it was discovered that anyone involved in a wish where things went wrong -- could maybe disappear. This is when the locals started resenting all Dragons! This made things a little sticky for the Dragons and they knew it was time to move on.
Maybe a few flames would escape and a slight scorching would occur, but with a Wish Dragon, something entirely different happened. When a Wish Dragon hiccupped, a By-Stander that had been caught up in a bad wish would re-appear! At first it was a cause for celebration. The missing Fae could be brought back just by having a Wish Dragon drink lots of Ambrosia! Though everyone was excited about their returns, it was quickly noticed that they were not the same. The By-Standers could come back looking green or be way smaller (or taller) than they had been before their disappearance - all from the residue of a wish gone wrong. But they were coming back and after a visit to a local witch doctor, most were able to have the remaining magical virus removed. This is when SPICE (Stewards Preventing Imperfectly Casted Enchantments) was created. This group was to regain and find those Fae that were affected by Wish Dragon wishes that had gone awry. Members of the organization soon were to be known as SPI's (pronounced spy). The SPI's realized that the best way to keep an eye on the Wish Dragons was to become the makers of the Ambrosia they would drink. They could give the Wish Dragons Ambrosia and then watch to see who would show up after a drinking session. The Dragons never realized that their bakers were actually their keepers and were completely unaware about what was happening when they hiccupped. They just enjoyed the Ambrosia! This is why Al and the other members of SPICE accompanied the Dragons to the Realm of Wymsy. They were determined to continue their work and return everyone who had disappeared.
The gushing spring where once Dragons had come to drink possessed a strong magic for the Realms. This sparkling water not only gave relief of a drink but also gave only to the Dragons a special gift. Little did the Dragons know that by drinking from the spring was their Elixir of Life. For deep in a cavern behind an old waterfall that fed the spring was a special piece of magic. The magical item was a small golden cage and inside the cage a red heart stone which was the greatest gift ever given to Dragons. This magic was the love shared by a Nyte Shade who gave Dragons their magical powers. For when the First Dragon, who had been a friend of the Nyte Shade, was given the heart stone by the Great Shade many eons ago, he had been told the Dragons now would have their lives extended by the Nyte Shade's sacrifice. What the Dragon's did not understand was how one of the greatest powers in the Realms would mix with the magic of the land. That power was the love the Nyte Shade had for her Dragon friend. The First Dragon's made his home in that cave behind the waterfall that fed into the spring. Day in and day out, he kept the heart stone so that every day he would be reminded of his friend and the laughter/love they shared. Never did the Dragon's realize that the Realms magic and the Nyte Shade's love would combine. For combined they did and slowly seeped into the water of the waterfall which then fed the spring. As everything has a beginning, it also must have an end - even with Dragons. Eventually the First Dragon faded away while others took it's place in the cycle of life and the cave holding the heart stone was sealed shut and lost to memory. The Villagers found they could have some magic of their own by stealing the Dragons' magic. They discovered this by finding the crystal stones used to create the nests that the young Dragonettes were hatched in. It did not take long, and soon the Dragons no longer trusted the Villagers. Hate, jealousy and animosity grew between them. "How dare they disturb our homes. They ravage our nesting grounds and endanger our young!" grumbled the Dragons. It was during this time of growing suspicions and increased hate, that the great waterfall and stream where the Dragon's drank started to slowly drying up. No longer feeling safe in their land, the Dragons decided to leave the Villagers and the land that had created them. For surely the Dragons thought, there were other places that could give them water to drink and a place to live without this fear. After the departure of the last Wish Dragon from the Realm, the waterfall soon became a trickle over the rocks and then little more than a ribbon of water to fed the narrowing shrinking stream.. It was at this time the Shadows' King decided to protect the water, even though he did not know it's significance and built the Well that eventually became known as The Wishing Well. Now the Dragons are returning. They had been fed over the centuries of a story of a special Elixir that was their inheritance. Was it a fable? Did it really exist? Where could it be? There were no longer any of the Old Ones left to tell them as they had passed onto the stars, leaving behind this story of a Elixr of Life that was lost when they left the Realms. As the final words faded away in her mind, Awena now knew there was even more danger coming to the Realms if something or someone didn't step in to help them. "I don't think Aralt is necessarily the help we need either," she thought to herself. "For surely he must have been part of the problem, since he would have been there at the time when the Dragons left."
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GreetingsWelcome to my blog. This is where I will reveal the magic of my Fae and their stories and share with you some of the success and pitfalls through the journey of doll making, sculpting, and other crafts that all come back to my dolls in many ways. Archives
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