#brightwindsbarony

"Oh, good lord. I didn't mean me!" A laugh. "I probably weight five hundred pounds! I wouldn't risk it, even with magic. Though it might be fun someday to see how fast I can truly run. I might even beat you if I was lucky." Grinning.

"It's lovely just to watch you up there, flying free. It makes me think of... running, through the grass."

"Oh, for sure!"

"There's enough empty here to cut loose, which is a rare treat. If I go too low and a mortal makes me out, I'm screwed."

She whistles and mimes a hand plummeting to earth.

"It's like tinkerbell, the disbelief will win over the magic."

"You should find a way to hide yourself so they can't see you, rather than risk... that! Can you turn into a bird, or invisible? Or hide inside a cloud, or behind the moon?" Perhaps silly questions, but perhaps not...

"There are those magics, yes!" A chuckle. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at those either."

"I can move small things, like a paintbrush or a book. But most of my Arts are in Sovereign. Useful things for running court and making rulings, but not great for other things."

"And honestly, for a long time I couldn't fly. My wings were purely.. decorative? Too small to hold me, for sure. "

"Maybe you need someone to watch for you who CAN do those arts. You're our baroness, after all. If you fall into trouble, what would happen to the rest of us? Surely that's a perk of being the Lady of the Manor." Pondering. "Then again, it might feel a bit like having a nursemaid following you..."

She looks over the magnificent wings. "They certainly work now! Do you think that spells hope for Stu? He seems flustered by his lack of flight."

"I suspect - if not before - he'll be fledged as a wilder."

A smile. "He deserves it! he's a good kid... a confusing one sometimes, but a good one!"

"Pooka can be hard."

"Sweet, wise, kind... but confusing."

She nods. "There's so much to learn." A small fidgeting movement, hooves shuffle. "I'm afraid I may have made a misstep, but Thane Pepper was able to advise me. I understand now that I mustn't make any notes or drawings that may reveal anyone's nature. I.. thought I should let you know as well, as it is something I probably should have listened to earlier, and as Pepper told me, could have been a grave error." Admitting her mistake.

"Oh... well, with ignorance, you have to be careful. If you want to be explicit with drawing kiths and taking notes, you'll want a chimerical journal. Or at least chimerical ink on mundane paper."

She looks excited. "So I can still take notes, as long as I do it right? Please, is there someone who can help teach me? There is so much to learn, but putting it to paper really helps me let it sink in.."

"Oh, sure!"

"Clio - the satyr who has been giving you history lessons - she's also a scribe."

"She can hook you up with writing supplies, I'm sure. I might have a spare chimerical sketchbook... if not, I can certainly get one to you soon."

"Is there something we should be doing? I worry that we're freeloaders, kinda... I mean, I understand the 'fledge' status, I think, but surely that should be teaching and learning the ways of the faeries - not, like, room, and board on top of that. I want to give back, somehow. Surely there's something I can do?"

"Well... that might be your court speaking. Remember, seelie repay their debts... so.. well, what are some things you do? You mentioned foraging for food before..."

"I've made a study of the local plants, herbs and flowers and foliage... not just food, but also what's beautiful, or useful for tonics or teas... it came in handy when money was short, and I found I have a bit of a knack for it?"

"And I like to draw - mostly for safety, you know. If I memorize the plants, then I can be sure not to make any mistakes. I'm not an artist, though, like you."

"Um... I can babysit, and I did just find a part time job, but I don't think it will pay very much... I can put it towards rent or food though, if that's proper."

"You know, there's many kinds of artists..."

"Hm. And there are chimerical plants, too. I think I will send you out with Otha, to the wild places - to record what plants are there, and what may be useful to us for healing or magic. And to look for any chimerical plants, that we may know them."

"Stu, I'm sure, can hook you up with a book about magical herb properties... so, your job would be working at becoming a working scholar. How does that sound?"

"I do have this book... I'm not sure where I found it." She admits. "It was in my bag... one of my new bags." Reaching around to touch the soft leather satchel that hangs not unlike a saddlebag on her side. It is embossed with twining leaves and vines. Nessa pulls out the book and offers it to Sparrow to look at, a slender volume, chimerical in nature - though the centaur may not have realized it is so.

"Ah! This may have come with your centaur soul. Sometimes we bring things between lives..." She opens the book to peruse. "Itis chimerical in nature. If you concentrate, you may feel the sense of it - the warmth. Your voile - your fae clothing - that is chimerical, also. Every fae gets at least one outfit, though some satyrs I've known might meet that standard on the barest of terms..."

The book is warm under her touch, and as she pages through, the images shift and blur and refocus under her eyes. One page suggests fragrant flowers to be found in the local area, another suggests herbs that can be strewn in a dust bath for cleaning wings, or tinctures for oiling them? It seems to be working to provide information on what the reader might be seeking...

"What.. oh, oh, this is extraordinary!" Her feathers fluff out, like a content.. well.. sparrow.

"Is it? I thought it was lovely... it feels like it's mine, but I was worried I picked it up and forgot..."

"Forgot?"

"Mm. Memories of the past self can be elusive, especially before you are sained. But I am sure it is yours. Here, hold it again and look inside."

"Oh, I mean I thought maybe it was someone else's. Because I didn't remember having such a thing before."

She accepts it and runs her fingers over the cover, flipping through the pages, and it looks... right... in her hands.

"Well, I remember very little of most of my lives. Snippets, really."

"Snippets..." Thoughtfully. "I saw a blur of things the night of the Yule star, but only... hints, and, things that feel like, you know, when a word is on the tip of your tongue?"

She nods. "I do. One of the tragedies of this world... we survive, and we have magic and wonder... but we are not what we were. And our memories are often clouded by Mist."

"What I have now... it's so much more than what I ever dreamed. I can't say I long for more, because I never knew more, not that I know of... but I am thrilled to find what I have so far."

"Honestly, there's a lot I love about what I have now. Most sidhe are not like you or I - they had different magic when their souls returned. And when they sought shelter from the cold of banality, they had to do so in trade. The human soul was sent to Arcadia, and the sidhe stayed. There is only a fae soul in Arcadian sidhe, while true changelings have a blend - human and fae, mixed."

"You are just as much Vanessa Phillips, human, as you are Nessa the Centaur."

"You're not the same as other sidhe? Well, whatever it is that makes you YOU... I approve. Not that you asked! It seems the best of both worlds, though, really?"

"There's a lot to be said about it, yes. But not having a mortal soul makes Arcadian sidhe.... different."

"This world is harder on them, more cold, more alien. They don't quite fit, so sometimes they can seem... mm.."

"Alien?" She offers.

"That works, yes."

"Don't take it too personally. My cousins don't mean to be so different."