OCTOBER

They wore bells, to ward off the Fae. They had iron charms, iron jewelry, cats, bowls of cream, anything they had taken note of that kept the Fae away.

Now she was staring at herself, in a crystal clear puddle that somehow managed to survive in between roots of thick moss, without any of that protection. She felt no comforting weight of the bell around her neck, no chunk of metal in her left pocket, no iron rings that made it hard to write. She felt so light, but so wrong at the same time.

Further ahead were crowded branches of trees, barely any sunlight, and several logs that were buried under moss. It was humid enough that moss had grown over everything, and she had to avoid stepping on mushrooms that were infested by it every few steps. Actually, she had no idea what she was stepping on, she guessed she had stumbled across a million faery rings and gotten indebted to another million Fae, but it wasn’t like she could take it back, or even turn back for all that mattered. Making it this far meant they had decided to keep her.

Autumn was the season of death. The forest was slowly getting sucked out of life, leaves were getting ready for eternal sleep, and it was the season Fae rarely messed with them. Sometimes she forgot what the Fae stood for, life in the purest form, the gift of nature, but anybody subjected to their fun little games would have had some kind of distrust for these particular tricksters.

She took one step first, then another, and a new one. It got dimmer until she had to squint, the humidity eventually giving her stomach a twist.

Then she heard a chime, and sparks of light arose to life, bouncing here and there, leading her eyes until they met a-

“Hello.”

A humanoid shape, a tall figure, and freckles of fire revealed before her eyes. The orange hue flickered around the edges of the silhouette, and gently embraced it without the former rush of seemingly panic. She knew, that this brilliant vase was just a simple manifestation, and a cover for what was beyond.

“Hello? This isn’t good… Have I shocked you to the stop of your organs?” It tilted its head with a swift swing, and the sparks frantically followed its movement.

“Hello.” She bent before it, and could do none else, not only that, but wanted to do nothing else, as it acknowledged her with a smile hardly visible.

“May I have your name?” It cradled her face in between palms, and pulled her back up. Her cheeks sizzled as the sparkles bumped and jumped, and she knew her heart would be content even with the barest amount of its touch. With lungs of aching familiarity, she recited the words as if they were tailored into the very fabric of her being. As if it was the only thing she was meant to have, to know, to be.

“You may call me whatever you desire. But I cannot give you my name as I only belong to myself.”

It tended to her face slowly, with a smile pitching up in sharpness, and if the sparkles had just been given birth, they were now roaring with life.

“Oh, well…” It removed gentle hands from her cheeks before chuckling lightly.

“Welcome back.”