A Pixie’s Quest

CHAPTER 3 Daggers and Daiquiris

Finally making it back to her singles apartment in the Messengers Wing of the Southeast Tower, with only enough room for a bed, a writing desk and separate bathroom. Rianne’s mother had wanted her to stay at the family home but one too many late night stumbling and not enough one night stands had Rianne looking for her own place. She noticed that she needed to wake her light bug lamps to see in the darkening room, which made her realize that she had yet to figure out what to wear. Rianne then put her keys and satchel onto her writing desk. She then unstrapped her short sword and tossed it onto the bed as she walked over to the standing wardrobe. She scavenged through it and narrowed down her choices to two dresses. One was a short dandelion silk fringe dress dyed a deep blue that looked almost black with the occasional diamond chip sewn on. Gemstones were no longer rare and mostly used decoratively. So she had gotten it pretty cheap and it thankfully didn't clash with her skin too much. The other was a mid thigh, skin tight, and jade sequined cami, that brought out the green specks in her eyes. Rianne could not decide between the two, so she grabbed them both, her makeup bag, keys, a dirk and black garter holster. She double checked her bundle, headed out the door and locked it behind her. She had realized that she took too long deciding as the bells tolled for six o’clock. Rianne then started to run down the stairs, she sidestepped all manner of Beings coming and going, went out the double doors, crossed the Yellow Garden, through the North Tower entrance and up three flights of stairs of the Women's Barracks Wing, where Cleo’s apartment was located. She slid to a stop just outside of the door and knocked out of habit. Hearing the crash of a chair and a snappy Cleo "damn it” the door swung open.

“Finally she is here. I told you she would be here before seven, ready to… go?” Cleo said as she paused seeing the state Rianne was in.

“Pfft! Ha! Yeah ready to take a shower maybe” Poky laughingly buzzed.

“Oh for the love of the Cloud, Rianne! You complain about us being ready on time, every time and you look like you just ran a marathon” Cleo said after she smacked her forehead dramatically.

"Well if you would let me in already, I can steal your shower and explain why I'm running late. Besides, it isn't seven yet so I still have time. Also, you haven’t even started on your hair. Now let me through the door” Rianne said.

Poky giggled again as Cleo opened the door. Then bowed as she sarcastically said “Yes you’re majesty”

Rianne sprinted to Cleo's washroom after she tossed the dresses and accessories on her bed. She stripped down and hopped in hoping it wouldn’t be freezing cold. Running water was one of the first things to be installed in any living quarters. Cleo's shower was luckily so large it made drying herself off much easier. With a small jump Rianne used her wings for a bit of momentum and did an air pirouette which would have been virtually impossible in her small shower. This also gave her long shag hair so much volume that it almost looked alive. Rianne wrapped herself twice in one of Cleo's towels and walked out to see that Pokey had Cleo unbraided. She had moisturized the frizz out of her mid-length corkscrew curly black hair with chamomile oil. Pokey then took two chunks and rebraided them into a kind of hair circlet behind Cleo’s small curved horns that sat just above her temples. Poky had then defined the rest of her curls with her secret stash of beeswax and let them hang loose.

Rianne admired Poky’s work for a few seconds longer before she said “I love it, nice work Pokey. Oh and the smell is divine”

Rianne and Poky then helped Cleo pick out a loose fitting, cream colored, halter neck, linen mini dress, and with polished opal beads scattered across the material. The dress also dipped in the back so far down that Cleo's tail was swinging freely and the halter just happened to cover her one and only fur patches she had. The black patch looked a lot like a collar around her neck.

Poky had chosen a sunflower sundress that just covered her abdomen or her bee butt as Rianne and Cleo called it. The color highlighted her golden antennae that popped out of her short spiked hair that blended into her fuzzy black face and her two upper forearms which she usually inked black for her not so legal work. The golden stripe that started at the base of her hair and ended at her second set of arms, was now fully on display and blended with the dress perfectly. She had also gotten into Rianne’s makeup bag and had painted her black eyelids with gold dust, Cleo's with pearl dust and tipped their hair with the same shades. That made them look like two sparkling stars under the glow of the bug lights.

"Well, sheesh, if this is what kind of effort you two put in when I'm the one who's late, I'll make sure to do it from now on. So shiny" Rianne said as she shielded her eyes as if they were actual blinding stars.

“Shoot, it was mostly Poky. I just went along with it” Cleo beamed.

Then all of a sudden Rianne remembered "Oh, dung beetles! I forgot shoes. Now I'm going to have to wear my boots."

When they both started to giggle, Rianne turned around to glare at them. They then both pointed at their feet. That is when Rianne noticed that they were also wearing their boots. Her eyes went round. She looked back up at them and they all immediately burst with laughter. When Rianne could finally catch her breath, she asked for dress opinions. Cleo and Poky both picked the blue one once they could stop laughing. Their opinion was that it not only matched the tips of her wings but also reflected off her scale freckles that were scattered across her body. Rianne after dressing went to the polished stone mirror and had to agree. Grabbing her makeup Rianne painted her eyelashes, her antennae and the tips of her wings with a deep bioluminescent blue that was grown from mushrooms.

“All right, let's go and get a little trashy" Rianne said after she finished lacing her boots.

Just as they were about to walk out of the door, the Time Bells tolled for eight o’clock. Cleo and Rianne grabbed their night out coin purses and put their dirks into their matching garter sheaths. Cleo emptied her purse into Rianne's, knowing that the amount was all they wanted to spend. They also needed the other as something to carry Pokey in when she inevitably could no longer hold her liquor. The daggers were just in case that extra stupid person didn't quite get the meaning of no the first time, not that they had ever needed them at Luna’s.

As they headed down the stairs in all their sparkling glamour they got a few whistles and have fun’s, from the females going up to their rooms for the night. As the girls walked out of the North Tower’s exit and passed the two male lower night door guards, Rianne winked when she noticed their longer than necessary glances. When one of the guards thought we were out of earshot he said to the other "My guy, you're drooling."

The Purple Gardens were a mess this time of year. The palace gardeners have been preparing for the month-long festivities of Spring’s Rebirth since last week when the first rain had fallen. They were just now hanging the glow bug lanterns and wool streamers from branches of bare flower shrubs pruned to look like trees, in crevices of the early fruiting morel mushrooms, or inside small cracked geodes. They had also changed out the colored glass in the lamp posts that littered the hardened clay pathways. Once the Purple Gardens were finished they would look like colored Stars had landed at night and during the day like a mythical unicorn had puked up rainbow ribbons. Then at the end of the month they would be replaced again looking more like an Amethyst cave again. Both were very striking against the solid white sandstone palace, with its towers making it look like a giant gemstone cluster.

Once the three of them reached the gate, Rianne caught sight of the beetle buggy. She had hired one on the way back from The Minnow’s Scale as promised. Rianne took a second look once she noticed that they had lucked out with a Goldenrod beetle, but it also had a dark blue carriage with white interior.

"The Coincidence of that is slightly creepy " Poky buzzed.

"Yeah a little but beggars can't be choosers as they say” Rianne replied as they greeted the driver with a wave and climbed in.

The ride was nice and cool on the way to Club Luna. The pebble bricked road was strangely crowded but did not break progress. When they arrived it was already in full swing with a small line just starting to form.

"Meet us back here at midnight. please and thank you" said Rianne, to the driver as they hopped out.

Cleo shyly waved at Bobby the doorman as they headed towards the back of the line. It had luckily only four groups of three and six groups of two. The band inside was loud enough already that it made it a little hard to talk at a normal volume. After three more groups had been added to the line the club sent Carlos the Tabby Cat Fae out to get drink orders. As the line started to move by the second song, the three girls could make out the words of the lead singer. They then realized that it was a new band night, and that got them even more excited to get inside. Nora, a Luna Moth Fairy and night club’s owner, was famous for her safe space. She had heard that before the Great Jewel Cloud Disaster humans would poison the uncovered drinks of others, so to try and avoid that happening in her place she had contracted a few mercenaries and a glass maker to make special drinking glasses. The glasses looked like a drop of water with a built-in straw, this design also helped with spillage. Luckily for the glass maker that made Luna's even more popular which in turn got more glasses broken and kept him permanently employed. Another shady club owner had tried to kidnap him for the design about ten or so years ago. Nora however shucked out the coin to hire some more mercenaries to find him, and intimidate the owner. She kept them on as employees afterwards.

As they finally got to the front of the line the bells chimed for nine o’clock. Right at that moment a group of eight beings stumbled out, already drunk beyond the point of walking the four steps down to the walkway. One of them had barely made it to the gutter before they spewed vomit. Bobby gave them an annoyed look as he scrunched up his muzzle before waving us to enter. Once they got in they paid Carlos for their outside drinks and set the glasses at the end of the bar. They then rhythmically bobbed their way through the crowd and into the middle of the dance floor as the all female band began another song.

The club had been built into an abandoned squirrel drey at the base of one of the many trees used for New Being habitation. Most businesses were built into abandoned dreys or burrows, or in a variety of hollowed out stones at the base of trees, for easy accommodation. While most homes were built on the trunks in what looked like crystallized fungi with mossy roofing and leaf covered windows.

"Hey! Rianne! Rianne! I think that green Dragonfly Pixie over there is checking you out!" Cleo yelled over the music, bringing Rianne out of her music induced trance and thought of city architecture.

Curiosity made Rianne give Cleo their switch positions signal. They did a little bob and weave dance move that got them into the place where the other had stood. They had come up with that little maneuver when they got tired of trying to nonchalantly look over their shoulders at the mysterious oglers. In the process of the ridiculous movements they could get a few glances of the Being, and if the female liked what she saw, she would make the check out more obvious.

Rianne indeed liked what she saw and looked a lot longer than initially intended. What she saw by the luminescence of the bell flower vine lights, was a rather large and darkly sexy Dragonfly Pixie leaning against a column root. She began his undressing at a piece missing from the tip of his top right wing. She slid her gaze down the intricate veining to his angular face. Rianne noticed he had a vertical scar on the left side starting from brow down to the bottom of his strong jawline. His coloring and pattern was one Rianne had not seen on any Dragonfly Pixie in the city, most were some shade of dirt or an exaggerated floral color. Even the Damselflies had no similar color or pattern. Rianne had thought her and her mother were the only odd ones, with their night sky coloring of the lost Outland village. Seeing his leafy pattern and dark red eyes was a bit of system shock. A dark green that blended out from his black hair, framed his wine colored eyes and went down the bridge and to the tip of his nose. Almost like he had painted it that way not counting the yellow green scar. From the brow of his eyes, to the leather vested wall of a chest, and down to the top of his trousers, he was striped like some kind of exotic plant. His pattern switched from a bright moss back to that dark green. His vest hung open showing off three diagonal scars across the left side of his chest and a defined midsection where the stripes faded out right where a belly button, if he had been human, would have been. Rianne scanned back up towards the top of that black leaf leather vest where it showed off four leather cuffed muscular arms that were colored much like his face, a deep green on top and striped on bottom and another long yellow green scar down the bottom right. He had moved to put his lower hand in his pockets and she had let herself wonder how far that pattern went below his tied off belt.

Cleo then waved her hand in her line of sight which startled her out of her ogling. She noticed that she had stopped dancing and glanced back over at the male pixie’s very amused looking face. At that moment another green but wiry Dragonfly Pixie that was closest to him said something, which made him grin devilishly and by The Cloud she swore it had sparkled as his fangs caught the light. Had he done that to ten years younger Rianne, she would have found an excuse to leave early from shock. She knew damn well that he got his own measurements of her by the look on his face. Rianne, not one to be out done by a male, bit her lip as she gave him another quick undressing before she looked him in the eye and flashed her own smile. Then turned away, sauntered her way back through the crowd over to the bar with Cleo and Poky hot on her wings and ordered another round. Poky of course wanted a double.

Once the drinks were served and in hand Cleo teased “By The Cloud Rianne, you practically undressed that male with your eyes. I was afraid a fire would start if I didn't interrupt."

“There was no “practically”. I absolutely undressed him with my eyes and by that absolutely stunning, although cheeky smile, he knew it” Rianne corrected, still a little hot under the collar.

Poky mind buzzed as she giggled "You two should have seen the shocked look he had when Rianne looked like she was about to jump his bones then turned away instead. Of course it was only there for a second before he was looking at your ass but still funny as hell.”

“What can I say, it's a great ass” Rianne said just as she felt a sweat smelling mouth breather come up behind and grab onto her.

"I couldn't agree with you more on that baby" was what the sack of stupid decided to slur from behind as he squeezed her butt again.

In the second it had taken for Cleo and Poky’s eyes to widen with shock and a few other large Beings to start to move through the crowd, Rianne had turned around with her and Cleo’s dirks in hand which made the stinky male take a stumbled step backwards. Another second later with a swift leg swipe she had Stupid flat on his back stunned. Before he even had a chance to think about getting back up or even mad Rianne had jumped on top of him. She quickly placed one dagger at his testacles and the other at his throat. Rianne then spread out her wings wide with aggression, and antennae pointed up like horns, as the room fell silent and every Being froze with barely concealed anticipation.

She then calmly asked “Now what made you think that was at all a good idea to do without my consent?" Stupid started to give an excuse but Rianne cut him off by applying pressure to his small danglies and continued "Rhetorical question. It in fact was absolutely not a good idea. Now, before Bobby and his friends come to collect you, hand you off to the street guard, so you can sit in a cell for the next year (as long as this is your first offense of course) you are going to apologize. Starting with apologizing for your disrespectful actions.”

“I am not apologizing to any fe…“ is all he had gotten out before she had interrupted again with a small cut on his inner thigh that she was sure drew blood.

"Or I could just take the twins now and you'll be let off scot free.” Rianne said as she applied more pressure when he started mouthing off again.

He swallowed hard and said "I'm sorry for my actions…”

” Miss Heartwing” helped Rianne.

" I am very sorry for my actions, Miss Hartwing. " He finished right as Bobby and the other bouncers arrived.

“Very good. I, Riannelynn Heartwing, accept your apology sincerely and will not remove the offending appendage or your reproductive genitalia. Now you should think about this exchange while you are in prison and work on being a better Being.” Rianne replied lawfully.

Bobby then gingerly put out his hand to help her get back to her feet. She put her dagger back in its place before she grabbed hold and bounced up. As soon as his boys were free from harm breathed a sigh of relief.

He then said as they drug him out the door "Now that chick is Hardcore crazy.” Rianne snickered as she handed Cleo her dagger back.

Bobby then said "By The Cloud Rianne. I think you almost made that poor moron piss himself. Not that he would have deserved less but we have to clean that kind of stuff up. Oh and could you possibly refrain from almost castrating anyone else tonight. please?”

"Well Bobby, as long as they keep their hands or paws to themselves that shouldn't be a problem" Rianne answered sweetly batting her glowing eyelashes.

He had pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Then with a slight smile turned and lumbered back to the front door, his gray brown tail swishing back and forth as he went.

Then Cleo lustily stated "Woof. If only he were Bovine instead of Canine Fae, I'd marry that male.”

“Still could if you gave up your title " Poky buzzed.

"Very true." Cleo sadly sighed.

As the three of them turned back to the bar a very sexy and amused male voice rumbled "Well that was very entertaining, all though I admit unexpected."

Rianne turned to meet those beautiful red wine eyes, then said matter of factly "It is a law in the city of Alvania. If the offender chooses not to apologize, the victim is allowed to take a few body parts. Oh and their image will be displayed in every establishment and criminal board around the city for the rest of their natural lives."

“Noted. How did you know that I was not a citizen” he asked, still amused.

"Your coloring was the first giveaway. The unexpectation was the other” She answered with a sly smile.

“My name is Strígandr Dagda. Explorer born and raised. One of many brought to this fine city for the promise of adventure” he said as he stepped closer, stuck out his left arms and winked.

Rianne slid her hands up onto his forearms in greeting. She then looked up through her lashes as she leaned slightly closer and introduced herself "I am Rianne Heartwing. City citizen and Apprentice Messenger. One who will deliver the written or spoken word no matter the distance or danger presented."

"Well, beautiful and brave Heartwing, I do hope we will meet again, because sadly I must call it a night." Strígandr said after clearing his throat and caught a nod from the male Pixie from earlier. He regretfully stepped back as he slowly released her arms. With a pointed look at a few similarly dressed Beings in the now talkative crowd, turned and left with several more following. As Rianne watched him leave she caught a hint of what looked like a branded intricate ring right under his long slicked back hair.

"That was interesting, if not borderline hot to watch" Cleo giggled in Rianne’s ear.

"Oh calm down you horny heifer" Rianne giggled back.