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MIDWINTER MAGIC: ELEVEN
At first they were unsure where to begin. As Arista and Jera stood in the middle of Camelot's library, they debated a moment, trying to think the problem through. After all, it wasn't as though they'd find a book titled "Tiny Winged Holly King" and get an explanation. Together they narrowed the topic down to herb lore. There was fortunately a section of the library devoted to medicinals and plants in general. So, book after book, they each skimmed quickly. They were on the lookout for anything to do with holly because of Wallace's declaration and his red berry labor. This turned up a rather formidable pile of references, but only vague ones concerning the Holly King. None spoke of a small creature of any sort associated with that plant. Soon they felt they were on a fool's errand. Sometimes even the driest discussion would yield a little lore, but so far there was no luck at all in finding a connection to the sprite. During the search, Arista began to hum and then sing. In fact, with holly so much on her mind, she intoned the words to a song she'd heard from time to time around Yule. "The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown..." Pausing to listen, Jera smiled at Arista as the girl switched from lyrics to humming again, having forgotten all the words. "What a lovely tune and how topical the verse. You have a lovely voice, child." Arista blushed, although she was quite proud that she could rival her brother Shane in song if nothing else, she was still taken aback by her elf friend's compliment. "Thank ye, Lady Jera. The song is oft sung by Christian carolers, I think. They hae some very nice songs. I guess reading so many pages here about holly and berries and yule... well... it just popped into my head." "Do go on, if you would? I find it a pleasant background to our search." The girl shrugged, "I only know part of it." She sang the part she knew again, only the first stanza. "The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown, of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown." Jera blinked at her as she shifted from the verse to humming again, but it was the lyric that gave her pause now. "The holly bears the crown..." she muttered to herself. Arista looked up and she too mumbled, "Holly, crown, berries.... Do you suppose?" "I might, but tell me what you're thinking." Jera reshelved the book in her hands. "Well, maybe... maybe Wallace is not the Holly King, but... a Holly Berry King?" She grimaced. It sounded silly. "What'd be the point in a wee sprite 'king' spitting on berries... just to make them red like holly berries?" The elven woman's contemplative expression began to change into a decided grin. "Let us focus our search in a different place. Too many books speaking of holly, but how many speak of sprites? And royal ones at that? I feel almost silly for not thinking of this before." They split up to cover the vast library quickly, skimming across the spines of books and engraved subject plates on shelves, where available. Arista suddenly called out "Fairies!" then spoke in a hush again, apologizing for yelling in the library. Jera chuckled, "Not to worry. There's really no one here but us." She joined Arista at the section of shelving which got her so excited. "Now that you have found writings on the fae, let us see how we might refine our search further." Already Jera was perusing the edges of the volumes. "I dare say we may have stumbled upon a rather obscure sort of sprite, else I'd have surely heard of such or recognized his caterpillar form as something other than an ordinary moth. And, since I have been around quite a while... " Jera grinned aside to Arista, "Let us say then that what we're looking for may be a very old bit of rolled parchment or a seemingly forgotten tome, perhaps decayed at the binding or dusty from long years undisturbed?" "If that's what we're looking for, I hope the bookworms haven't gotten to it." Arista decided her best angle of attack would be from the bottom shelves up, as Jera's height more easily allowed her to see those at the top. In tandem, they worked their way from one end of the shelves toward the other. Jera watched her steps so as to avoid planting a foot on Arista during her search. Each of them pulled books now and then, some barely holding together in their hands and requiring very careful treatment. As Arista sat cross legged on the floor, gingerly leafing through a survey of various types of pixies, sprites and other small beings, Jera spied a book on the highest shelf which begged her attention. She stretched to pull down a stack of parchment barely contained within a piece of disintegrating leather. All the binding strings where completely gone. Carefully, she carried the book over to a table and sat to review it. Jera had to use both hands to lay aside the cover, lest it disassemble completely. At one time it may have been adorned with engraving. Now it was too worn and crinkled with age to tell. Yet on the first sheet of parchment, Jera was able to read, 'Osprey's Catalogue of Curious Myths.' The lettering was quite odd, but at least it was still legible and read as an older flavor of the common tongue. As she lifted segments of the parchment to peek at other pages further back in the tome, she could see there were interesting tidbits here. She leafed back to the first pages very carefully to see if the contents had been listed. On a page which nearly flaked to even Jera's gentle and reverent touch, a line of script seemed to leap at her. It said, 'Crowned Royals of Selected Fae Kingdoms.' Finding the relative location of this segment of the book, Jera turned one page at a time and vowed silently to visit the whole of this book again, when she was at leisure to do so. For now, she had a specific interest and when she found it, she called out rather loudly herself, "Arista! Come see!" Jera read silently at first as Arista put away her own book and joined her. The girl looked over Jera's shoulder and frowned. The pages were faded, the writing was scrawled in a way she couldn't completely make out and the language, even when she could read the letters, was confusing. "Can you read that? Is there something in there about Wallace?" "Well, not by name of course, but yes, I think this may be the very reference we need." Jera finished a second scan of the short dissertation and then relayed it to Arista as best she could interpret. "At the time of the Summer Solstice, when the King of Oak, in the height of his reign, must surrender his crown to the King of Holly, a wormling is also designated as King of the Holly Berry. With this responsibility and privilege, he is permitted to tarry longer in his crawling form, eating his fill and resting for his forthcoming task. "On the fortnight before the Harvest Feast of Samhain, he is to spin his chrysalis and make there his transformation. Upon the fullness of the moon nearest Harvest, the royal emerges in regal stature, a comely sprite of golden hair and jewel green eyes, robed in wee miller garments, being softly fuzzed of richest red, and possessed of glorious wings, glossy, green, and powerful. "Then, tis the miniature monarch's duty to set about changing the Berries of the sacred Holly to their ripened red so they may signal the coming of Yule and serve up a proper crown befitting the Holly King in preparation for his battle with the Oak King at Midwinter." "There's an author's note here," Jera added, "that it's the emergence of this regal sprite which reportedly triggers the ripening of holly berries, even if the king himself does not manage to get to all of them. Or so the lore implies." "So... " Arista took all of this in and hoped she understood it, "Wallace is meant to color just the holly berries, but he's a bit confused?" "Aye, quite enthusiastic..." Jera looked up to her and nodded, "and late, so it seems. I think for all his bluster, he's not really on his mark. Due to his tardiness, the holly's season was delayed, but upon his emergence, all is set into motion and should be righted in time for Yule. Although, I wonder if my unwitting intervention has caused further difficulty." Arista sighed, "Sad, is it not? He's so sure of what he's doing, but it isn't quite right. Oh, Lady Jera, we have to stop him from ruining Mamma's plants but I don't really want to shame him with the truth." Jera slipped her hand aside to squeeze Arista's much smaller hand. "I think perhaps the right young woman, with an understanding heart and compassion in her tone, might just be able to get a little king to understand." Blushing at the compliment, Arista nodded, "I hope so and we'd best get back there soon before we can't tell one berry from another." As carefully as possible, Jera closed 'Osprey's Catalogue of Curious Myths' and replaced it on the shelf. She and Arista went straight back into the workroom and solarium, hoping to have time to stop Wallace's activities before Lady Skye found reason to go there. END ELEVEN © 2002 DP & SO along with all other participants ~ This and other stories may be found at Willow's End |