Part 2: Tour of the stars

The path was somewhere nearby, she knew it.  Fallsenia could still hear the others but just couldn’t see them.  Was it around this tree?  No, there was the scrap of her robes, she’d already passed this area.  “Blast it, I’m going in circles!” the fairy thought, anger and fear creeping in.  She started to run, knocking her staff against branches to keep them away from her. knock, knock, knock  The others had to be somewhere, they wouldn’t leave her alone in the Fellwood, right?

knock, knock, knock

The polite yet determined rapping on her door finally broke through the fog of her dreams, and Fallsenia bolted upright.  The tour!  She had almost forgotten, and had nearly slept right through it.  Scurrying out of her bed, she yanked on her robes and pulled the door open.  Before her stood another fae, though one different from others she met so far.  To humans, he would look like a short, teenaged boy but Fallsenia knew better.  “G’morning Ms. Fallsenia, I’m Arvin.  Your uncle sent me to serve as your guide through Acapella!  We’ll go as soon as you’re ready” he said with a beaming grin and nervous energy.  Knowing that having a sprite as a tour guide would take quite a bit of energy to keep up with, Fallsenia grinned back.  “Of course, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.  Before we go, I need some breakfast!  I’ll be quick, I promise,” she said, watching the sprite’s fidgeting increase.  But he nodded, and Fallsenia pulled the door shut, ready to face the day.

Thankfully the dining hall of the inn had a number of breakfast items ready to grab, and the acorn fairy helped herself to a scone with butter and poppy honey, and starfruit cider.  Arvin helped himself to a walnut biscuit and cold mint tea.  They ate quickly and in silence, savoring the food.  The moment it was gone, they both stood and headed outside into a bright morning.

The inn had been built on the inner edge of the Traders district, and Fallsenia could see the Luminae Arcanum just a few streets over.  She was just itching to explore more of the library, but she had to be patient.  At least a little.  “So most times, the trade district is busiest in the morning, but that’s when all the interesting people are there.  So let’s go there first!” Arvin suggested, dancing on his feet to get going.  Fallsenia nodded and they set off.  

The trade district was an amazing tapestry of different kinds of goods and their peddlers.  The area with weapons and armor held quite a few wonders for the fairy’s wandering eyes.  Spidersilk armor hung from the wagons of Fellwood merchants, shields made from a glass-like material were displayed under the banners of the Court of Curiosity, and crystal blades were the specialty of the Court of Stars.  She picked up a shield and was astounded to find that it was only the weight of her breakfast plate.  The gnome merchant grinned, and explained it was a new material called flicker-steel, named for how light splintered off its surface.  There were also different kinds of leather armors for explorers and others in need of light armor, fletchers with a plethora of arrows, and all manner of magical weapons.  She could see book and scroll merchants as well, and the pair of fae moved through the farmers’ market, sampling ciders, breads, fruits, and other offerings.

A clear bell struck a long note for noon when the sun was highest overhead, and Arvin suggested they head towards the first of the guilds.  The Creation Guild was the closest, as many of its members also traded their goods in the market.  The guild was a long, low building with many windows and chimneys poking out of the roof, surrounded by gardens full of herbs, plants, and mosses.  Fallsenia had never seen so many different colors of smoke and steam drifting out of the chimneys.  People were outside as well, gathering plants from the gardens and listening to lectures.  As they approached, green fire shot up out of one chimney, accompanied by a very loud bang.  Arvin and Fallsenia both jumped, but most of the people seemed to not have noticed.  She shrugged, saying to herself “Must be a normal occurrence…  that will certainly be something to get used to if I decide to study here”, while Arvin just stared at the fading fire until she nudged him, and they headed into the building.

The entrance room had a pleasantly warm amount of light, a desk right by the door, and a number of chairs against the walls.  A fire fairy was sitting at the desk, molding glass into bubbles with the heat of his hands.  He glanced up and grinned, carefully sitting down the bubble.  “Welcome to the Creation Guild, Fallsenia and Arvin!  We were informed you’d be coming by today.  I’m Tytus, and I'll be showing you around,” he said, rising from the desk and bowing to the pair.  But before they could head to their first stop, a commotion came from one of the halls straight for the entrance hall.  A pair of green-robed fae were carrying a litter with another fairy on it.  Faint green smoke was coming off the coughing fairy, and someone was following and seemed to be explaining what had happened.  Fallsenia only caught snippets of what was being said, but she caught that the green fire from earlier had caused the injury, and the fae on the litter had inhaled quite a bit of smoke.  Tytus waited until they had left, then added “A hazard common to our guild, unfortunately.  We experiment, and things don’t always go well.  Thanks to the Healers’ guild being close by, most of the time the injuries are treatable and people come back quickly… but not always”.  It was a chilling reminder that things weren’t always bright and sunny, even in the Court of Stars.

With the incident at the back of her mind, Fallsenia followed, listened, and learned quite a bit.  She had never seen so many interesting tools, or glassware in different shapes.  She learned that moonlight captured in a mirror could be used for divination, and a potion made of sunlight, springwater, and a very particular mushroom had to be left to ferment for exactly 26 days before it was useful.  She saw more fire fairies like Tytus shaping glass, an earth fae shaping clay into a bowl for catching starlight, and a fellow acorn fairy tending one of the gardens of strange herbs.  Something Fallsenia noted very quickly in both the students and teachers was the complete absorption in their work.  Very little distracted them, and Tytus mentioned that many hadn’t left the grounds for months, trying to finish or perfect a project or process.  But sometimes staying in one place for many weeks on end was necessary, according to one of the teachers, who spent the entire conversation fiddling with an astrolabe.  They explained that the stars were almost right to complete the incantation on a new piece of magical armor, but they had to ensure everything was in the right place at the right time.

By the time they finished at the Creation Guild, Fallsenia was tired but intrigued.  She could see the benefits to learning from the Creation guild, and there was a good possibility that she could find both an answer to the cosmic imbalance, and finding her mother.   But the thought of staying in one place for so long was something that she would have to consider.  The acorn fairy loved her wanderings and being able to go somewhere new on a whim.  But it might be worth giving that up for the power she could gain.  It was that thought which stayed with her through dinner, and until she climbed into her bed.  There was more to see the next day, and Fallsenia wanted to make sure that she was well rested.  Arvin had promised something wondrous, and she didn’t want to disappoint him by yawning through the next tour.