A Fairy Out of Her Tale - Dear Neno - 3. 02 - Strange Land, Strange People

Running away from Floresfada wasn’t easy. I had obviously committed the most heinous of crimes, so any fairy who saw me had the right to punish me the way they saw fit. And I too despaired because I thought I was a murderer and deserved all that punishment. By the time I crossed into the desert, I wasn’t so sure I should keep going.

I arrived in Macchikai by a miracle (or rather, by a stranger on a car who refused to believe I didn’t deserve help and took me to the nearest hospital). I don’t remember much of my early days in Daisen, only that I wrote everything in the diary withouth suspecting anything of its true nature. I also remember nurses giving me meat to eat (as punishment? Because they didn’t care? I still don’t know), and the police showing up. I wanted them to make me pay for my crime, but as they coerced my story out of me (I wasn’t ready. I cried my eyes out. It was just as painful as if it was all happening again), they decided I was innocent and earned the right to settle in Daisen as a refugee.

I disagreed, but they wouldn’t let me disagree with them. And so I was formally welcomed in Daisen, a strange country of shape-shifters who spoke an even stranger language. And I had to make it my home. Somehow.

As if it wasn’t hard enough as it was, I was attacked by demons (not Hereweald in person, but he was certainly behind it) while in hospital. I was given body-guards. We travelled from Macchikai to Enkyo, where I would be put in the care of a guardian angel, but we were attacked again on our way there and one of my bodyguards died to protect me. He was the second person I saw dying in front of me in a week.

The only reason I didn’t end up with Hereweald then was because Lóránt saved the day. My guardian angel appeared in front of me with their majestic wings, the first time I had seen an angel in the flesh. It was the closest I had been to a miracle since I was cast off by our Mother Deity. Lóránt stopped the attack like a superhero, arriving too late to avoid loss of life, but just in time to mess up the villain’s plan.

The next thing I know, I’m in a new house that is supposed to become my home. I had a bedroom of my own, but the rest of the house was shared between me, Lóránt, and three other teenagers who needed similar protection from demons (actually, just the one and only demon we know so well). Those teenagers were your mother, Lydia, and your aunt Unn. We’re all family now, but back then…

Before anything else, there was the issue that I didn’t speak a single word of Daisenian. All I knew was Fadalesh. Nobody in Floresfada ever cared about learning other languages, getting to know other cultures. We thought fairies were wiser than anybody else, so why bother?

This is why we made sure you and your siblings can speak your mother’s language as well as Daisenian and Fadalesh. You don’t have any contact with whatever is left of Kris’s family, and as far as I know you have no wish to foray into demon lands. But you should still learn about the culture Kris came from, the language he learned his first words in, and understand how this shaped the person he is today. I was so happy when you asked Aunt Unn to teach you her language out of your own initiative, and I was secretly delighted when your siblings went to Lydia and to my step-mother to learn the language of dwarves and giants as part of their teenage rebellion (as if Lydia hadn’t already taught me all those insults ages ago…)!

My point is: being isolated because of my inability to communicate wasn’t nice. I never want you to go through that. I was lucky that Lydia, Lóránt and Unn knew Fadalesh, so they could help me adapt to my new world, but it wasn’t enough to shake off the feeling I didn’t belong. Enkyo was a desert with ugly buildings where nobody stayed outdoors because of air pollution. Could you imagine a place further from Pindaiba? I starved for nature of any kind. I harboured thoughts that I deserved this suffering because of my crime. I thought I had to accept my new situation and make the best of it, but at the same time I wanted a punishment worthy of the horrible person I had become.

I wrote all of this into the diary. It got to know the first impressions of my housemates too: Unn was annoying and unfriendly, Kris was intimidating (not being able to speak to him didn’t help), and Lydia was a sexy goddess. Lydia and I started dating in a matter of days, though a cultural misunderstanding involving digestive bodily functions almost put a premature end to our relationship. We got back together thanks to Unn, and finally befriended her because of that.

I want to take some time to talk about your mother, though. My first impression of him was the wrongest of all, and I’m sure that’s the story you’re most interested in hearing. It’s embarrassing to say it now, but I didn’t think Kris could be a demon at first. He didn’t have horns, and my own bias against demons prevented me from considering the possibility that demons would be allowed to live under the same roof as their victims. It didn’t occur to me that demons could be victims too!

Kris didn’t talk much. He knew some basic Fadalesh, but even before I discovered his true origin I was too intimidated by his rebel, dark, violent vibe to get too close. He didn’t seem to want to be my friend. I didn’t think I wanted to be his friend. But then he offered me a dress to go in a date with Lydia, and the image I had of him started to change. How could someone like black jackets covered in piercings and metal spikes, but also have a wardrobe full of pretty, delicate dresses? Kris was nice to me for the first time then, using a computer to translate a whole text into Fadalesh to reassure me I could take any dress I wanted for my date, and inviting me to go clothes shopping with him. He seemed to want to reach out and make friends, though he had trouble figuring out how to do it.

It was pretty adorable, to be honest. And his dresses were gorgeous! (They still are...)

After that, my interest in Kris peaked. Who was he, really? How could he be such a contradiction?

I wrote all of this into the diary. You know, the diary owned by his father, the man who wanted to kill him for treason.

I brought Kris to Hereweald.