Advent Story 2012: The Fae World: Alder: On Earth (part 9)
Willow
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7Part 8
“Are you polygamists?” George asked, still scribbling in his notebook.
“We don’t have marriage in the same way humans do,” Willow replied. “A handfasting between two of the fae normally has a specified end date that’s decided in advance and then it leaves them free to marry again in the future. Some do choose to extend that time if there’s some reason to, like falling in love.”
“A lot of it is about magic, again,” Alder continued. It was something he’d always hated, because his father was so focused of magic certain that his children had the right powers that he was blinkered to the reality of magic. “Magic is everything to the fae and I know that my mother was chosen specifically by my father because of her family’s magic abilities.” He sighed. “He was trying to convince me that it was time I should marry and he had a list of possibilities.” He found himself looking at Willow, remembering what his father had told him about the plans for a marriage between Alder and someone with a magic the family ‘needed’. “One was the youngest fae princess, I think because of Willow’s ability to create doors, and that was one of the abilities my father wanted his grandchildren to have.”
Focusing on the desk, rather than looking at Willow, helped Alder to feel more comfortable, because telling her what his father had wanted for him, even with company, had been one of the hardest things he’d had to do. He always wanted to be honest with his princess, so she knew she had someone she could trust, and keeping such a big secret seemed like a huge mistake. It was probably due to who he was and what he’d been through rather than it actually being a huge secret that would stop Willow from trusting him.
“That is simply the way things are in fae families,” Willow continued. “It can be difficult.”
Alder nodded. “One of my eldest sisters fell in love and wanted to handfast someone that my father felt was wrong for our family. She tried to convince him that the fae she’d fallen in love with would bring something to the family, but he didn’t want to listen to her reasons, because he had someone in mind.” He sighed. “In the end she ran away with her lover, because she didn’t want my father to make the choice for her. She felt it was her choice to make and I agreed with her.”
That day had been awful, but Alder had done what he could to help his sister. There had been a time when he terrified that his father would find out about the help he’d given his sister, because it had damaged certain alliances, even though he knew he’d done the right thing. She didn’t want to handfast anyone other than her lover, so he gave her that option, and he would have done it for any of his siblings.
Willow nodded, telling Alder that she’d heard of people who had chosen to run away rather than handfast someone they hadn’t chosen. He couldn’t help wondering how many had chosen Earth as their new home and if they’d come to the camp to find their family, but he knew that his sister hadn’t. To make certain that their father wouldn’t find her they’d found somewhere he would never think to look, even though the world was safe for the fae, because there was very little civilisation. It must have been hard for her, but at least she’d been with her lover, and that had seemed to be the most important thing for her.
“If I can put a stop to the arranged handfastings I will, because I think they’re wrong,” Willow said, looking at Alder, and he could see the certainty within her eyes, although they both knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Alder smiled at her. “You know as well as I do most fae girls are happy to do what their parents think is right.” He turned his attention to George. “All the fae are taught to respect our parents and often the choices are made together, the girl getting to make the final decision, but there are some, like my father, who are so focused on one thing, normally magic, that they forget that fae parents are meant to respect their children too. It’s especially important when one of the children is 300-years-old and their parents are trying to push them into a handfasting because of the other family’s powers.”
“I would never have had much of a choice. As my father was a king of the fae he had to find the right partners for all his children and he saw that as one of the most important things he could do, because he knew that making certain alliances was important for us.” Willow sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Things are going to be very different now. As the magic of our world faded the older fae faded with it. I don’t know why it was the older fae, or if there was some other reason, but the majority of the survivors are young fae.”
“What do you mean by young?” George asked.
“The eldest person I saw walk through the gate, apart from the elders, probably wasn’t much older than 100, which for us is very young,” Alder replied, wondering if George could possible understand that 100 was very young for the fae considering how short a life humans had.
“How old are the elders?”
“The eldest of the elders is around 400,” Willow answered. “They’ve been my father’s advisers since he took the throne, even though they weren’t the elders then, because he never felt comfortable with the fae who had been his father’s advisers. I don’t know why, because I never asked, but now that I’ve taken on the job of being the Queen I’m guessing he wasn’t happy with their point of view.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.