By: Mionikoi

Dakota held a hand over her head as she shut the door behind her. She looked at Apuma as he glanced through yet another book with a stern look on his face. He closed the book and added it to a stack of others meant to go back on the shelf.

“Anything?” Dakota asked.

“Confound it. No, an answer to what it is we are dealing with or how to catch it is about as elusive as it is.” Apuma said, scratching his head. “It’s like something from out of a fairy tale.”

Dakota shook her head. ” It couldn’t be. Surely its just some dumb animal with some strange magic taking care of our rat problems.” The huntress said. It hasn’t attacked anyone. It doesn’t seem interested in their food. But she wasn’t sure what else to think. This thing has been here for weeks now.

“No, it thinks and though crudely it can write.” Apuma said, placing a small river stone with charcoal scribbled one word. ‘Sorry.’ “It was found next to a bundle of field flowers. Up in the guard tower. “

Dakota’s eyes went wide. “That explains why it was sighted cleaning our halls.” She said. “But why flowers?”

Apuma paused in thought but sighed. “I don’t know. If it had been a ghost, we would be considering requesting a priest or something to exorcize it. But this is aware, it eats, thinks and what happens when it runs out of food?” Apuma asked and grabbed another book.

“So it is some kind of fairy?” Dakota asked.

“Gods I hope not.” Apuma said flatly.

“Why?” Dakota asked, feeling a sense of dread now. Why did he have to say it like that? Why couldn’t it just be some silly strange animal that is eating their pests. Didn’t they have bigger problems out there?

“Because if it is a fairy, it could possibly kill us all.” Apuma said, looking at his daughter with complete seriousness. “Or it could be one that constantly pulls pranks for harmless fun. Or more than just harmless fun. Blast it! Not a single one mentions anything that cleans your floors.”

“Or will offer you its meal. Or shiny rocks.” Dakota said, taking a deep breath.

“Come again?” He asked. “Oh, the things left by Rachuk’s bedroom door.”

The doors opened again and both dragonetts turned their heads to see Rachuck with two items in either of his hands. One was a white flute. The other was a ravaged and severed direwolf head.

“Speaking of…” Dakota said, surprised.

“We saw wolf tracks by the lake this morning. And a footprint in the mud. It had four toes.” The guard captain said.

The huntress stared at the objects in the guard captain’s hands. “Has this been reported to Nunuk?”

“Yes, of course it has! She sent me here. More of those huge rocks are showing up. No tracks, no markings. Like they were just laid down from the sky… Gently.” Rachuck said, setting the flute down on Apuma’s desk.

“Please tell me a dragon or two from the royal guard have been bored and pranking us while on patrol.” Dakota said. She knew full well the absurdity of her request. “Maybe a couple of traders and younglings training.” It was unlikely. They would have been warned if it was traders. And Royal guard? Really? She just wanted a normal explanation that didn’t make her feel like they were about to be attacked. A normal, harmless explanation.

“There’s a stone structure just an hour’s flight between here and the forest. Huge stones just stacked into arches in a circle. And that’s it.” Rachuck continued.. He then held the wolf’s head. “And something ripped this off its neck. Found it on the shore by the lake. Body is missing.”

Dakota looked at Apuma. “Any chances this fairy is just a weird prankster that likes sweeping floors?” Dakota asked knowing it was a stupid question.

Apuma sighed and looked through another book. He tapped a clawed finger on a part of a page.

“I found something. Exorcizing night demons. If it is a night demon, it might be easy enough to get rid of.” Apuma said.

>-<

Briggit was doing her normal lessons. She realized she was probably in trouble. These people were going to find out. They were going to find out. If not through the little boy, maybe something else! Why did she have to be so careless?

On top of that… She made a deal with a nixie! What was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking! She was just being polite and accommodating. Why didn’t she think this through?

“You’re not paying attention! Fix that!” The aerie said now completely in draconic. She sat on her perch looking at the vixen’s internal screaming with irritation.

“Sorry. I uh.” She didn’t know the word for deal. She couldn’t say it in draconic yet.

“Spit it out!” The Aerie snapped, switching to their common tongue.

“I accidentally made a deal to send a nixie home last night!” Briggit blurted out and waited to be yelled at.

It was a long pause where the aerie waited watching the girl, waiting for more to be said before the aerie decided that the fox had nothing else to add. “So?”

“Wait, so? She’s a nixie! Aren’t they unseelie fae? Like, want to eat us all? There aren’t rules and laws?” Briggit asked.

“Not all of ‘em. That nixie in the lake keeps to herself. Keeps the lake clean. And there are no laws here about it. You made a deal, you say? What did you get out of it?” The Aerie asked.

“She helped me clean some clothes and stopped a pack of wolves from eating me… And then ate one of them.” Briggit said.

“Ask for more. One more thing, at least. Anything, even if it is something small. She’s expecting a lot out of you. At least make her help you help her or whatever the goblins say these days.” The aerie said, taking another drag of her pipe. “Anyways, stop getting distracted! Fix that!”

The aerie didn’t give the vixen more time to think about it. Her lessons came first. The aerie wanted her on a conversational level before summer. At least short conversations.

It was while Briggit was making her way back to her broom closet that she noticed the smell of burning herbs. It smelt lovely to her. She followed the scent to the scholar and his children. A clay bowl with herbs of varying kinds burning in his hands caused a smoke to fill the air. She followed them. It made her head feel a little fuzzy. The huntress and the guard captain fanning the smoke looked silly to her.

From the great hall to the guard tower they went until they stopped. The huntress apparently had other matters to take care of and the guard captain eventually broke off and went to the training fields. She didn’t want to bother him anymore. He hadn’t thrown the flute away, so maybe he had accepted her offer finally. No, she needed something else to do to kill time.

She was feeling giddy at that point. Like the tiredness melted away, with the added effect that she became bored quickly. So going to sleep was out of the question. She needed something to do. So she smelled the air for a scent she knew. This is how she ended up following the human around and watched him train…

Well, she watched him getting beaten up. The guard captain was his sparring partner. It was interesting how the human ended up finally winning against the captain. The captain was a much better warrior, but it seemed he would tire quicker than the human. Who was sweating. That was when another dragonette, the second in command stepped in. It became another round of beating up the human. Briggit grimaced, hoping she never found herself in the human’s position. Eventually, watching this ‘training’ session got boring. She decided she would follow the injured one around. The huntress was washing the dishes.

Other than making sure the injured one didn’t knock over the pile of plates and bowls, Briggit watched for a little bit, taking note of what the dragonetts used to eat with. It seemed pewter was not a popular material for them. Briggit became bored and started following the dancer and the singer. She listened to them talk for a little bit before she occupied herself with dusting the library.

Getting in was easy enough. Wait for someone to walk out. She would stop when someone entered and go back to dusting when she had the library to herself again. She wanted to spend her time reading all the books that were here… But these were not hers, and she didn’t know how she would get permission to read them. Perhaps she could make an offer towards the scholar? Maybe she could… Make a deal… She could not.

She should just finish dusting and get out before she causes more trouble. She looked at all the shelves and grimaced once she finished. It just seemed so messy! And before she knew it, she lost herself in her dusting and a ‘little’ bit of organizing. Fortunately, leaving the library was the simple affair of waiting for someone to enter and slipping out before the door could close.

She couldn’t read yet, so she wasn’t about to try to organize by topic. She hoped they’d let her one day… Probably never.

It was too busy for her to sweep and the children got too loud for her to go to sleep. She considered what else she could do? Dusting was the first thing that came to her mind excitedly. ‘Time to get the cobwebs! … No, no, people would notice.’ So that option was out.

Strangely, she didn’t feel tired yet. She flitted through the halls almost dancing and skipping around people. She couldn’t do this all the rest of the day. So, there was nothing left in the keep for her to do. So off she went, back outside. The aerie had her own things to do so Briggit wouldn’t see her till mourning. The vixen considered her options.

Food, sticks, herbs, rocks. She’d go-a-gathering! She practically skipped from one stone to another once she got to where the trail started. She noticed some of the dragon folk were also interested in her stone circle. She giggled and went on past them. The sun felt nice on her skin, though a bit too harsh on her eyes. She’d gather sticks like normal. It made it easier actually. Sticks, flowers, and pine cones. Oh! Maybe she could get nuts out of the cones if she was lucky.

She also found an old nest. At first she thought it was a beehive, however there was no lingering scent of honey. She then realized that the nest belonged to hornets, some of their dead being tell tale signs. They were also carnivorous, so it made sense… But the fact that they produced wax rather than paper… She wondered if they migrated out to warmer places or simply left for richer hunting grounds. Either way, she now had a source of wax.

Then to the frog pond and back to the stone circle where she waited till the keep dwellers left her stone circle before she started to cook her meal. A fire bath, washed her nightgown and blouse at the lake. Before she knew it, it was getting late. The sun was going down, and she had a smile on her face. She even made it in before they closed the keep doors! Up the stairs to her broom closet to start… sweeping. She was a bit sleepy now though.

Maybe a little nap… she managed to change out of her outer clothes and curled onto her bed. And she was out like a light till early morning.

She woke up with a start. Did she sleep a whole night and day away? The sun looked as if it just finished setting. Oh no! She’d get an earful for sure! Still, she needed to get dressed and start her foraging.

Once she was dressed she went up and out like she usually did. She stopped by the perch to make sure it didn’t need fixing. And there the aerie was. “Good evening!” The girl greeted in draconic. This was strange.

The aerie stared at the girl as if she was weird in the head. “Good morning. ” the aerie returned.

Briggit stared at the bird person. The gears didn’t quite seem to want to be turning and the bird was quite a bit sharper than the fox first thing in the morning. “You slept through the night…” The aerie said.

Briggit flattened both of her ears trying to think. She felt so groggy. “I guess so.” She said.

The aerie sighed. “ Lessons continue as normal.” The aerie said.

“What happened?” Briggit asked, feeling like something must be wrong with her.

“Oh, they think you’re a demon so they smoked you. Now something in your head thinks night is day and day is night. That sort of thing.” The aerie said. “Shush, lessons.”

Briggit stared at the bird. ‘But night is night and day is day? Why would mi head think otherwise?’ She wanted to grab the aerie and shake a proper answer out of them, but that wasn’t an option. She had to restrain herself. Lessons. Remember lessons.

“But why?!?” She whined.

“I don’t know! Smoke like that works like magic. Some weird druid spells. Wards away evil and makes Seelie fae weird in the head. Now, shut your pointy toothed mouth! It’s time to learn!” The aerie snapped.

Briggit sighed. The aerie had a point, and she needed to learn. She was picking up on more words and conversations now at least.

“Blast it!” Briggit could hear the scholar yell. The vixen winced as she heard the elder start yelling some words she didn’t know. She understood enough to know he didn’t like how she helped with the library. Or, he just couldn’t find something.

Maybe she should have stuck to just dusting the library. She looked at the aerie sheepishly while the bird person cackled. Their lessons continued until just before afternoon.

Briggit made up her mind. She’d try to appease the lady of the keep. Maybe try catching something bigger than a frog or a toad?

She saw some really big and strange rabbits around her stone circle… She wandered off that way until she spotted one. She ducked a little and got lower to the ground. Ears pricked, tail swaying a bit. She darted after one of the horned rabbits and even managed to wrap her arms around it, before she bothered to ask what she was going to do with the rabbit now…

It kicked and clawed at her trying to get away, managing to escape her grasp when it raked its claws across her face. She yelped and let go feeling blood trickle down her nose. She just realized that the rabbit escaped! She looked for where it was, only to see it waiting a short distance away staring at her as if it was mocking her. Laughing at her stupidity. The girl growled, puffing her cheeks out. She picked up a rock and threw it as hard as she could at the evil little thing’s head out of spite, her eyes squinted shut from the effort.

There was a shriek after a brief moment and Briggit was left wondering what just happened. She walked up to the big horned rabbit to see one of its legs was twitching but it was otherwise still. Maybe she should try throwing rocks from now on. The rabbits seemed better at wrestling than she was.

“Nothing for it then.” She said picking up the rabbit and carrying it home. She remembered where the lady’s room was. Maybe she could just lay it in front of her door as a gift. Another stone that said ‘sorry’. It took her a bit longer to get back. The door was open to the keep, so she just walked in. She was quite winded once she got to her destination. But she did it! A little bouquet of flowers, a big juicy rabbit that she almost wished she could have for herself… But… No, she caused enough trouble. This was right. She placed the rock on the rabbit’s belly.

She admired her work. She stepped back and nodded to herself satisfied. The lady came out of her room fully dressed and almost tripped over the big rabbit. She looked down with an expression that could only be described as, ‘What the feck?’ Before the rabbit got up, shook itself off, and made a run for it.

Briggit stared in shock at the empty spot. Her hands over her mouth as the lady watched the rabbit run down the hall. The lady sighed before going back into her room and shutting her door.

“I’m getting too old for this nonsense.” Briggit heard the lady say through the door.

‘Nooooo!’ The vixen cried internally knowing she had caused even more chaos for the keep.

At least one of the huntresses caught the jackalope properly. And no one but Briggit and her pride was hurt. But she acknowledged that this probably wasn’t helping with smoothing things over.

She was laughed at by the aerie the next morning.