Telmeth woke slowly, feeling every brake and bruise in distinct detail as he fought his way to consciousness. He had trouble breathing, he must have broken several ribs. He sat up with great difficulty, pain shooting through him. His burns stretched and cracked the deep burn radiating through him. His lips were cracked and bleeding, a small thing with so much else wrong, made him the most miserable.
He looked around and saw a bowl of water near him, he reached for it and gasped in pain. His shoulder was still sore from being dislocated. Moving gingerly he reached for the bowl and slowly brought it to his lips. He coughed and sputtered as he drank it, his mouth was too dry to drink effectively. But after the first few swigs he was able to finish the bowl without too much trouble.
He looked around then, he was in a small dirt cave. He had been laying on a bed of heather. There was an archway to his right, the sun was shining outside. He tried to get up and fell over, his leg was still broken. He crawled back to his bed, breathing heavily.
A sprite glided into the room and replaced the empty bowl of water with a full bowl. It chirped happily at him and then glided back out. A few minutes later Pasithea walked into the room.
“You are awake! How do you feel?”
“Considering that I fought a canyon full of giants, I think I am doing all right. It will be a while before I am able to walk again. I suppose I should release you all now that the giants are gone.”
He felt inside himself and offered the fey their freedom, but none of them took it.
“We cant separate just yet Telmeth, you would not be alive if we were not connected. You will heal a lot faster if we stay linked. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat, though Ill probably just spill it allover myself. I could barely keep that bowl steady.”
“We can take care of that.”
Pasithea stepped out of the door and came back with some kind of soup. She fed it to him slowly. It did not take him long to be full.
Within a few days Telmeth felt well enough to walk outside, he sat in the grass watching the fey work. There was a beauty and symmetry to it, taking the beauty of nature and enhancing it in subtle yet discernible ways. Flowers bloomed and grass grew where a field dryad or nymph strolled. Trees straightened and deepened under the ministries of numerous forest fey. The very air felt full of the magic of life.
Telmeth spent his time talking with the fey, learning of their secret ways. They were no longer shy with him, they were as connected to him as they were to their land. They would talk for hours of the ways of the forest, the balance of life. They caught and cooked wild game, never elemental creatures because they looked on them as distant kin, but plenty of deer and rabbit and turkey.
Telmeth was surprised by this, he had always been told that the fey were peaceful people who never hurt anything.
Pasithea laughed at this, “We follow the way, we do not take more than we need but that is what they are there for. The wolf is not evil because it catches a rabbit, that is what a wolf does. We are fey after all, we need meat as well as plants. The animals do not suffer, they are taken quickly and cleanly.”
“I guess that makes sense, we humans know very little about the fey.”
“You are doing better Telmeth, soon you will be able to go home.”
“That should make me happy, but I will miss this place. It is peaceful here, I feel like I belong.”
“That is because you are linked with all of us, you feel the trees growing and stream flowing and know a little of what it is like to be fey. We will miss you as well, I do not know if all humans are like this but we have been filled with more purpose since we linked. It will be too bad when you leave for home.”
Telmeth nodded sadly, evening was over and night was coming. He walked over to the little hut they had made for him, fey had no need for houses. He lay down in his bed of heather and dreamt of fields growing under sunny skies.
Cadence 