Darkness of Rules and The Light of Roses

We were spending the night at my place again. We had been together for a little over a year. My parents had been together longer than that before they even had me, and still, no one knew who my father was. Yet after only a year, someone found us. We tried to escape, but she was injured by one of the soldiers and couldn’t run anymore. She forced me to run, but I couldn’t let her be sent away, or worse executed, because of me. I needed help and I knew exactly the right person for it. I intertwined my fingers as I nervously sat in front of Queen Sarmite of the snow faeries after I finished telling her my story. “So, you--who is a dark faery--are saying that your partner--who is a light faery--was arrested after your relationship was discovered?” the queen asked. I nodded in response. Queen Sarmite looked away, placing her hand to her mouth as if in deep thought. “And why did you come to me? I could easily turn you in.” “I thought if anyone would help me, it would be you,” I answered nervously. “Why is that?” The queen’s icy eyes watched me intensely as if they could see right through me. I forced myself to keep my eyes on the queen before answering, “There was a single flower that hadn’t bloomed at the spring ball last year. I watched as you raised your hand, and the flower bloomed with it.” Queen Sarmite let out a noise that sounded like a single laugh. She smiled beautifully as she spoke, “I thought I was more careful than that.” It didn’t sound like she was actually talking to anyone but herself. And she wasn’t upset, as if she had just done something goofy. She looked me in the eye with that smile still on her face. “Well, I suppose I should help you before you tell everyone I am not a full snow faery,” the queen chuckled. “What is your name?” I found myself smiling back as I answered, “My name is Nephel. Daughter of Anisha.” The snow faery raised a slender brow as she asked, “Just Anisha? Who is your father?” I hesitated for a long time, the queen’s stare grew from curious to what looked like concern. “M-my father’s name is Munir.” Queen Sarmite sat up straight suddenly as she announced, “Munir? The counselor of the white faery court?” The queen paused, “That Munir?” I nodded hesitantly, looking down. When the queen didn’t say anything, leaving the large room uncomfortably silent for a long time, I glanced up at her finally. “You’re a halfling?” she asked simply. I nodded before saying, “Yes. Because I look more like my mother I lived with her in Riort.” The queen was quiet for a long time so I added, “So, knowing this, it’s not illegal for Noelani and I to be together, is it?” The snow faery watched me before she smiled with a nod. “I suppose you’re right.” Queen Sarmite stood and, with a single wave of her hand, said, “Come. We will need to prepare for this war we are starting.” I had to jog to keep up with the tall woman. “War? What do you mean?” “If you want to free your partner, you must know we would have to change a millennia of old ways of thinking.” The queen glanced at me as she walked smoothly. She slowed a bit when she noticed how hard I was struggling to keep up. “It’s not going to be easy, and many won’t agree with it. Of course, I will attempt to speak to the other courts first. But in a situation like this, it is only safe to prepare an army.” I followed dumbfounded behind Queen Sarmite. We headed down the icy corridors of her kingdom only to stop when we were standing in front of what looked like a regular body mirror. It was at least eight feet tall and four feet wide but didn’t show any reflections. Instead, it appeared to be fogged over, the barest pink light shining from it. “Where are we going?” I asked, looking from the portal up to the queen. “To see my brother,” she answered with a mischievous smile. Queen Sarmite walked into the mirror first, it’s surface rolling like wind moving through the fog. I followed after her and stumbled when I found myself surrounded by bright greenery versus the white ice in Mella. When my eyes adjusted I realized I was in an open garden. It was a shock to come into such a bright and vibrant place after being in the dark, icy castle Queen Sarmite lived in. I was looking around at the various flowers around me when I finally caught a glimpse of the snow faery out of the corner of my eye. I watched her walk down the garden’s pathway with the same comfortable confidence she had in her own home. I quickly ran to follow her, but didn’t make it far when something large and brown came barreling out of the flowers and grabbed the queen. I opened my mouth to yell out, but Queen Sarmite’s laughter cut me off before I could. I watched as the creature swung her around until I realized it was King Azuolas of the earth faeries. My mouth was hanging open as he placed the queen down finally. “How many times do I have to say that you shouldn’t greet your sister like that,” the snow faery laughed. “You will crush me one day if you continue this.” “I can’t help myself,” King Azuolas laughed. “You don’t visit me nearly enough.” “Wait!” I yelled, turning the royal siblings towards me. “You two are siblings?” The king’s face lost all humor as his eyes landed on me, but the queen’s smile grew as she nodded. “Yes, we are.” The king looked between myself and his sister, but she didn’t stop to explain to him. “Our parents had an affair. I was born first and thankfully took our mother’s characteristics more than our father’s, so she could easily give birth to me and raise me in Mella.” Queen Sarmite turned to give her brother a smile before continuing, “When Azuolas was born, it was a little more difficult since he’s a spitting image of our father. But the previous queen refused to have anything to do with our father when they were forced to marry. So, he easily claimed to have a concubine who bore an heir for him.” After explaining to me, Queen Sarmite turned to her brother to then explain why I was there. “So, in short, I want to help Nephel and everyone else like her, including us, from those awful laws.” King Azuolas rubbed the back of his neck as he considered the queen’s words. “Trying something like this could start a war through all of Alderei.” “Yes it could,” Queen Sarmite replied simply. “That is why I came here. We’ll need an army if talking doesn’t go well.” “And you expect me to have one?” King Azuolas asked. His dark green eyes glaring at his sister. She only gave him her beautiful smile as she answered, “Well, I thought all the refugees you’ve protected and saved might be interested. We also have our soldiers who are always ready to battle.” She turned away with a flip of her hair as she added, “Besides, I will be talking to all the kingdoms and securing alliances where I can.” The king watched her walk away with a frown, grumbling something under his breath about sisters. I ran to keep up with the siblings. Walking through the hallways made of branches and flowers was something I had never seen before. I had seen Mella, the snow kingdom because I had gotten lost in the past and wondered it's halls. But the earth kingdom I had only seen the ballroom, I never knew that the walls and ceilings were made of branches and flowers--as if the entire castle was a giant tree. As we followed Queen Sarmite, we reached a set of stone slab stairs and descended until there was no longer any light coming through the branches. It was like going into an actual forest, it just got darker and thicker the deeper we went. Thankfully, being a dark faery meant I could see in the dark; even as the light vanished, I could navigate the stairs just fine. The siblings, on the other hand, had to slow to a more careful pace.  I hesitantly held out my hand, feeling the softness of the light as it grew in my palm. It lit the staircase brighter than a fire could, even though the ball I held was smaller than an apple. The two rulers looked back at me, tempting me to squash the light. “You really are a light fey,” Queen Sarmite muttered, a smile spreading across her lips. Unfortunately she didn’t fully explain the situation to King Azuolas. “You’re a light faery? I assumed you were dark!” I looked down as I awkwardly explained my parents relationship to him. The king seemed more shocked than his sister had been. He looked between us multiple times. When he finally stopped he was facing me. “She’s a halfling?” He realized he was talking to the wrong person and turned towards his sister with the same question. “Yes, that’s why I want to help her,” Queen Sarmite answered with a chuckle. Her eyes met mine as she continued, “She knows what it’s like to hide yourself like we do after all.” Continuing down the stairs, the king would glance back at me occasionally but he never said anything. Finally we reached the bottom of the stairs. It was still dark, but I could see the faintest light coming through the walls again. When I turned my ball of light off, the light was much brighter than what I thought it was.  I followed the siblings down the hallway until it opened to an entire underground city. I stared in astonishment at the bustling city. There were houses of all different sizes and shapes. Some were made of snow, molten rock, and even stones from both the light and dark lands. “What is this?” I found myself asking, walking down the path towards the city. “A safe place for those like us.” When I looked back at the snow queen, she was following me down the path with a sweet smile on her small lips. “My brother and I helped rebuild this place for those trying to escape execution. It used to be a goblin city,” Sarmite explained. “I wanted to show this to you, but I also want to see if any of these people will help us.” I looked down at the city below us. “Help? You mean if there’s a war?” A small child with blue fins but red dragon wings ran to their parents past me. A child so obviously a hybrid wouldn’t be allowed to live in the world above. “I think, even if there’s not a war, they could help us,” the queen answered. She walked past me and I found myself running to follow her once more. Even though I was struggling to keep up with Queen Sarmite, I was still distracted by the city. I noticed next to the houses was a lake. Under the water was the seaweed buildings water fey lived in. There were the cocoon houses wind faeries made on the roots above too. All the shops I pasted were as different as the houses were. Some of them were even selling things I had never seen before. There were a couple of earth faeries growing plants in pots to sell. I saw a blue faery doing something to a bottle of water before giving it to a different faery. A fire fey was selling small flames while a light faery was selling balls of light. I didn’t understand what other faeries could be doing with magic that wasn’t theirs, yet there was an entire city selling them. “Are you wondering what these shops are for?” King Azuolas asked behind me. I jumped and looked up at him with large eyes; I hadn’t realized he was right behind me. “Y-yes,” I muttered awkwardly. The king smiled as he began to explain, “The earth faeries sell mostly fruit and vegetable plants so others can grow their own food. They occasionally sell flowers too for those that like them for decorations. “The water faery you saw was purifying the water. Since the water fey is living in the only water supply, they need to detoxify it so it’s safe for others to drink.” I looked up at him as I asked, “What do you mean?” He chuckled as he answered, “Their skin let’s out a toxin that makes the water safe for them to live in, but poisonous for other faeries.” I glanced at the water. I didn’t know very much about other fey. Dark faeries tended to think they were the ultimate race and taught the young similar things. They told youngsters minimal information about other faeries and then would fill their heads with how great it was to be part of the superior race. I had always felt self-conscious about myself because I was half light faery, which was the scum of fey. They were said to be pests that roamed the lands. I would wonder if the teachers knew what I was and said those things on purpose. But after meeting Noelani, I found that the dark fey were not the only ones to teach their children biased believes. Light fey was taught similar things but was told how terrible the dark faeries were instead. Thankfully Noelani found those teachings strange, otherwise, we would have never met or even spoke to each other. I smiled thinking about her when King Azuolas’ voice dragged me out of those memories. “Would you like to know about the fire and light also?” I turned to him before nodding eagerly. “Yes, I would.” “They are one of the most vital at times.” I looked up at the king confused, but let him continue. “The fire is mostly for air, earth, and light fey. It keeps them warm, especially at night. Down here it can get as cold as Mella itself. Most faeries aren’t accustomed to that and need warmth. So they set up places for the fire to burn to heat up their homes at night.” I nodded my understanding as I muttered, “It was strange to me when Noelani got cold staying at my place.” “The light is for a similar thing. Dark fey are the only ones to have night vision. Winter faeries can see some things in the dark, but once it’s pitch black they can’t see any better than I can. So, the light faeries give them balls of light to take home. Especially since the sun doesn’t reach here all day and this place is dark most of the time.” “That must be really hard on the light faeries,” I commented. “I know Noelani needed to go out into the sun or she would become sick.” “You really miss her, don’t you?” King Azuolas asked. I looked up at him but didn’t know what to say. Eventually, I just looked away and nodded. More than missing her, I was terrified for her. Imagining her in a dungeon below the Riort castle was more than enough to give me chills. I wonder if she’s getting enough to eat, or sun, or anything, I thought, hugging myself with one arm. “Pyrrhus!” Queen Sarmite suddenly yelled, shoving me from my thoughts. I could see a blonde-haired man turn to the queen’s call. He looked like an air fey but as we got closer I realized his eyes were a shining gold color. I could tell he was a fire and air hybrid. He smiled when he saw the queen, bowing to her as she approached. “Hello, madam! How may I be of assistance to you today?” “I need your help with something,” Queen Sarmite answered. “Shall we go inside?” Pyrrhus glanced at the king and I, his smile fading. He nodded and lead us all into his home made of branches. As we walked in, I was surprised to find all his furniture was made of molten rock from the volcanoes from the fire kingdom. The first thing I saw was what looked like a cylinder in the ground that was obviously scorched by fire. There was a table next to the pit with four chairs around it. He also had what looked like a small cot with cushions on it in the corner. There were two doors that I assumed lead to two more rooms down a very small hallway. The fire halfling led us to the table. “So, what can I help you with?” he asked as he sat down. Queen Sarmite smiled at him as she told him simply, “We are going to change the segregation laws. That includes the interacial laws, of course.” His gold eyes stared at her for a long time. He glanced at King Azuolas and I before meeting the queen’s eyes once more. He slowly opened his mouth and the only thing to come out was a choked, “What?” The snow faery explained the situation to Pyrrhus, similar to how she did to her brother. But this time she had her brother adding details on the side as she told the story. I tried not to laugh while they were telling the story. Especially when the halfling was obviously struggling to keep up with both of them talking. He had to clarify the entire story until he understood everything they had told him. Once everything was clear, he asked, “So, you’re preparing to go to war then?” The siblings nodded. “And you want me to help you gather an army?” “Yes,” Queen Sarmite answered. “If you think anyone would be willing to. We want to have as many soldiers as we can get. Just to be safe.” Pyrrhus’ eyes seemed to glow as he answered, “For this? There will be many who will fight.” After that, Pyrrhus and King Azuolas stayed in the underground city to gather support while Queen Sarmite and I headed to other faery lands to do the same above. The queen never asked the other rulers to join her right away. First, she would simply ask their opinions of the faery laws. If they supported the laws, she would leave it at that. But if they seemed hesitant, even for a second, that’s when she would explain to them what they were planning. After she was done meeting with the other rulers, Queen Sarmite had gained alliances with the fire and wind fey. But the water king and queen barely even let her into their kingdom, let alone listen to her. Then the only thing we had to do was talk to the light and dark fey. Queen Sarmite decided to go to Arra first. Even though I knew we were going there, I couldn’t calm my nerves. I rarely saw my father. Mostly when I was young and my mother would take me to the other lands for the holidays. My father would always ask me to dance; telling the other fey the young shouldn’t be exposed to the prejudice of the lands. He did that until I started hitting my teenage years. So, then we only got to see each other from across the room. My father never even dared to speak to me unless he knew no one would see. So, coming to talk to the royal light faeries where my father would be, was daunting. I followed behind Queen Sarmite silently as we were escorted to the throne room of the castle. The walls and floors were made of white marble with floor to ceiling windows. The sunlight coming in made all the white stone blinding, especially compared to the dark stone of Riort. The throne room was no different. It was all white with the same floor to ceiling windows. The only difference was that the ceiling was one giant skylight. I could see the sun was bright in the sky, and it seemed to be shining right on the throne. The king and queen stood as we entered the room, but I barely noticed when my eyes met my father’s. I hadn’t realized I stopped walking too until Queen Sarmite pulled on my arm. I looked up at her and found that she was smiling encouragingly at me. Pulling my eyes down, I forced my feet forward to follow her to the front of the thrones. Queen Sarmite and I curtsied before we sat down before them. “So what do we have to thank for this visit?” Queen Ceinwen asked after sitting herself. “I would like to ask how you feel about the segregation laws?” the snow fey asked simply. She didn’t even hesitate or beat around the bush with them. The light faeries glanced at each other before King Barak said, “We’ve heard rumors, but we didn’t know they would be true.” “You really are planning to change the laws then?” Queen Ceinwen questioned. Queen Sarmite nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how much you’ve heard, but we have been trying to gather support to change this for some time now.” “Why would you want to do this though?” King Barak asked. “This is how things have been from...the beginning.” “And you think that’s alright?” the snow queen’s eyes narrowed. “That over a million faeries have been executed or sent to the human world to go insane; all because they didn’t stay within their kind? Because they fell in love? Or even had a simple night of passion with someone with different magic than their own?” “Sarmite, I understand that it sounds cruel and that you’re still young so you don’t understand everything we do quite yet,” Queen Ceinwen started. “But if we let other faeries become friends, that would lead to them getting romantic feelings, and after that, we could get halfling fey. That’s much too dangerous to let happen.” “Why do you think that?” I asked. I stiffened as the rulers looked at me, but didn’t back down. “Why would halflings be so dangerous to have?” The light queen scoffed as she said, “Isn’t it obvious? Their powers would exceed all of ours.” “They could revolt against us, demanding power,” the king added. “They haven’t done that yet, so why would they suddenly do it now?” I asked, my voice rising in volume. The room filled with surprise. I could see my father glaring at me out of the corner of my eye. It made the nerves inside me flutter and my hands began to shake. I had to fold my hands together in an attempt to hide the shaking. “She’s right,” Queen Sarmite commented. “That’s why we want to help them.” “Them? Are you saying there’s halflings you know of here in the faery world?” King Barak asked, anger filling his voice. The snow queen glanced at me, a smile spreading on her lips as she answered, “Yes, I am. They are not fighting you or anyone else either. In fact, they’re hiding.” The light rulers were silent for a long time when my father finally asked, “How many of these halflings do you know?” Queen Sarmite’s smile broadened before she answered, “An entire city of them.” “So, you not only have the fire, air, and earth fey on your side but an army of just halflings too?” my father asked. The queen and I nodded in answer. “Then it would only be logical to join your side of this fight, wouldn’t you agree King Barak?” The light king glanced towards his counselor, hesitating before he answered, “I s-suppose you’re right, Munir.” While Queen Sarmite continued her discussion with the light rulers, I was surprised to find my father walking up to me. “I heard about Noelani, is that why you’re doing this?” I opened my mouth to reply, but hesitated. “Th-that’s how it started, but after seeing the other halflings…” I looked at my father in the eye, looking at the details of his silver eyes. “I want to help them too. They don’t deserve to live in fear underground.” Munir’s smile was bright as he placed an affectionate hand on my shoulder. “I’m proud of you,” he whispered. ~ After that day, Queen Sarmite decided to call a meeting of all the courts. After a long time of discussing and planning, all seven courts finally agreed to meet in Riort. All the faery courts were gathered around in one of the many rooms in the dark kingdom. I sat awkwardly behind Queen Sarmite with her counselor and others of her court. I could see my father sitting next to the light king, and Pyrrhus stood by King Azuolas’ side as if he was a bodyguard. But besides them and the rulers, I didn’t know anyone. “So, why did you bring all of us together today, Queen Sarmite,” the dark queen, Queen Senka asked. “I want to change the segregation laws between the faery courts,” the snow queen answered simply. Queen Senka laughed, but when no one else had a similar reaction she glared around the room. “You’re serious?” she scoffed. “These have been our laws for millenniums. Why would you possibly want to change them now?” Queen Sarmite didn’t have to answer when others began arguing why they needed to change the laws instead. The arguments grew intense as opposing arguments grew. The room was quickly filled with yelling. Some of the kings and queens began to stand as their yelling became more intense. “This isn’t going well,” Queen Sarmite whispered to me. “This is your chance to find your partner. You don’t want her here if we go to war.” I opened my mouth to argue, but as one of the queens’ screamed across the room, I decided against it. I nodded to the snow queen and snuck out of the room. I ran down the hallways, leaking into the shadows of the castle to hide from the guards as I went. I made my way to the lowest levels of the castle until I finally reached the dungeons below. I looked around as I walked in but didn’t see anyone, just the big stone doors prisoners were behind. I walked in tentatively, whispering loud enough that someone would hopefully hear me. “Noelani! Noelani!” “H-here,” I heard a small voice croak. I rushed past the doors to where I thought I heard the voice, calling her name again. Finally, I knocked on a door, hoping she was behind it. I could hear someone’s movements on the other side of the door before the same quiet voice whispered, “Nephel, is that you?” “Yes,” I choked out, tears filling my eyes. “Yes, it’s me!” “I thought I would never--” “Don’t think about that right now,” I cut her off. I looked around the dungeon until I found what I was looking for. A ring of black keys was hanging on the wall.  I reached for the keys, but when I was about to grab them a dark smoke covered them burning my fingers as they got close. I shook my hand as if it would get rid of the pain. The keys are enchanted, I hissed. I turned back to the cell doors. “How do I get the keys?” “I-I don’t know,” Noelani whispered. Her voice sounded like a ghost of what I was used to hearing. It made my heart skip a beat. I cursed under my breath but decided against using the keys. I placed my hands against the cell door. Black tendrils that looked similar to the smoke protecting the keys covered the door. As it wrapped around the top and bottom, I curled my fingers tightening the smoke until the door began creaking. Eventually, the stone began cracking until it shattered under the pressure and crumbled. Once the door was destroyed, my dark eyes landed on the white figure laying on the stone slab in the small cell. I pulled in a breath, shocked by the dimness of her appearance. She always held a glow over her, as if her hair was made of silver. Now it laid out across the stone, dull and lifeless. Her yellow eyes opened to look at me and I couldn’t control myself once I saw how translucent they looked. I ran through the rubble and pulled Noelani to me, falling back on the floor. I held her there for what felt like forever. I clutched onto her, rocking her back and forth. Her grip on me was weak while her sobs shook her body. I felt my own throat tighten, trying to contain my happiness and sorrow and relief all from seeing her. “We have to go,” I whispered after a while, carefully pulling away from the light fey. We stumbled through the dark fortress back to the courtroom. Trying so hard to hide from any dark fey, but move as quickly as possible. To my pleasant surprise, Queen Sarmite was waiting for us with a portal back to the earth’s kingdom. We were able to escape from Riort, but not from the war. ~ I picked up a child’s doll that had been lying in the street. It was singed and covered in ice. I looked around the dark village we had just fought in. Ice and snow covering the ground, most of it red from the bodies that laid in it. I sheathed my sword, treading through the silent village. Stone houses were covered in black residue, both from the black smoke dark fey controlled and from the flames of fire. There was no longer any life in the small town. “What are you doing?” Pyrrhus asked from behind me. I didn’t turn to look at him as I looked over the desolation before me. “Do you think it was worth it? All of this because of ancient laws?” “Do you regret it?” he asked in reply. “Do you regret coming home to Noelani every night? Do you regret giving entire families the freedom to live on the surface happily?” “Of course I don’t, but does all this death have to happen?” I finally turned towards the hybrid. “Do we have to kill entire families so others can be free?” Pyrrhus only smiled sadly as he answered, “No, we don’t have to. We have to protect ourselves, and so do they. Even if that meant war.” I looked down at the doll in my hand. It was obviously a dark fey doll with its gray skin and long black hair. I placed her against one of the stone walls of a home, closing my eyes as I gave a moment of silence.  The war continued for several years and many lost their lives. It only ended when the king of Riort lost his life in battle. Afterward, the citizens of Riort rebelled against Queen Senka eventually dethroning her. Queen Sarmite and her new husband, King Pyrrhus, helped Riort rebuild while the laws were removed. The faery realm was never the same after that. Fey was moving where they could find homes, with no regard of the terrain. Including royalty. The water king and queen moved to the earth kingdom for fear of riots. The fire king lived with the air fey for his castle had been destroyed in the war. Noelani and I on the other hand stayed where we always wanted to be. In her home in Arra. It was a small cottage for just the two of us, and it was all we needed. I never could decide if the war was worth it, but at least I knew that because of it many years of happiness came afterward. Not just for myself, or Noelani, but many families and faeries.