Six Hundred Years Ago
Arlo fluttered to the ground without a sound. His wings folded comfortably behind him. He didn’t bother knocking on the small wooden door, he knew he didn’t need to at this point.
“Caedmon!” He threw a tunic towards Caed who was still passed out on his small bed. “Wake up.”
Caed shifted and squinted one eye open. “Why are you in my home?”
“Why are you still asleep? Adventure awaits us!” Arlo fluttered above Caed and stood on the top of his bed.
“Why do you always have to be so bright?” Caed grumbled as he sat up, pulling the white tunic over his head.
“Why do you always have to be so downtrodden?” Arlo asked still standing above Caed.
Caed rolled his eyes and shoved Arlo off his bed. Arlo caught himself quickly, but still teetered a bit before landing softly again on the ground.
“Alright, you’ve got me awake and out of bed. Now what?” Caed asked letting out a yawn.
“Now we explore the world outside the realm.” Arlo waved his hand across the makeshift horizon.
Caed eyed him curiously, “We can’t leave the realm, we aren’t permitted that.”
“Who said anything about leaving the realm?” Arlo smiled at Caedmon and pulled him along.
“I found access into the library up in the middle rim and they have tomes upon tomes of history. History about life outside the realm.”
“You want to spend the day reading tomes in the middle rim?” Caed asked.
“Of course. Just think of the places we can explore without ever leaving the realm.”
Caed gave him that half grin, “We could just leave the realm and go adventuring on the outside.”
“Caed, we can’t do that, you said so yourself. We’re not permitted. The only faeries permitted to leave the realm are the hunters.”
Caed rolled his eyes and nudged Arlo in the ribs. “Well, I don’t see you signing up to join the hunters, so I guess we’ll have to stick with your books.”
“I don’t see you signing up either.” Arlo retorted as best he could.
“No one joins the hunter guild on purpose. It’s the worst commendation.” Caed snorted out staring over at the huts of small houses devoted to the very small hunter guild.
“Oh come on, Caed. They have a purpose. Their work is important to our realm.” Arlo added. He felt bad for the hunter guild. They got a lot of grief for being less fragile of faeries and for being less knowledgeable than the mages or the sentries, but they were still important. Arlo knew from his extensive reading that the realm was much safer thanks to the hunter guild. “Every guild holds importance.”
“Okay then... go ahead and tell them you want to join.” Caed shoved him towards the huts of hunters.
Arlo tripped and ran back towards Caed. “Stop! Just because I don’t want to join the hunter guild doesn’t mean I think we should treat them badly.”
Caed was laughing, Arlo loved when he could make Caed laugh, even if it was at his own expense. Caedmon’s laugh was odd for a faery. Most faeries were rather subdued creatures anyways, and when they did laugh it was a soft and quiet thing. But Caed’s laugh was loud and it bubbled out of him.
Arlo grabbed Caed and pulled him along, letting his wings lift him upward. Caed followed suit and they flew the rest of the distance to the middle rim library.
Arlo loved breathing in the smells of the old tomes, it always comforted him. He began immediately searching through the tomes that he hadn’t read. He had been taking the vast amount section by section. Caed followed behind him, staring down over his shoulder. “Come on, come this way.” Arlo led Caed into the farthest corner of the library, it contained deep dark dusty tomes that were in an ancient faery dialect Arlo couldn’t read.
He plopped himself down amongst the heavy scrolls and opened one, taking in it’s stories and history.
“This is boring...” Caed complained after a few hours had passed. Arlo looked up from his scroll.
“Come here, listen to this.” Arlo offered.
Caed floated down from the top of the window and sat next to Arlo.
“There are entire colonies of humans who live right at the edge of our wood. They walk through the realm all the time without even realizing it.”
“That’s impossible. We would see them.” Caed said.
“No it’s true. The mage’s magic keeps us hidden from them. They could be walking directly through the realm and never know any better.” Arlo pointed his long finger to the line he had just finished. “The mages are the most powerful beings in the realm, besides the high council of course. But did you know that it’s impossible to be a member of the high council if you weren’t first a mage?”
“Yeah, being a mage would be great. They get to live the life of luxury in the inner rim. Can you imagine? No more having to scrounge for food. Only the best wines.”
“Mages don’t drink. They’ve sworn an oath to abstain from all drink and herb.”
“What’s with the sudden interest in the mages?” Caed nudged Arlo’s ribs.
Arlo could feel the heat rush to his translucent cheeks. “I don’t know.”
“You aren’t considering joining the mage guild are you?” Caed pressed further.
“You can’t join the mage guild. The high council has to invite you to become a mage. Did you know that they know what commendation a person is going to get before they even reach their first century?”
“I think it’s all a big lie. There’s no way that mages are that special.” Caed added. “But I guess any commendation from the high council is something, right?”
“Even the hunter commendation?” Arlo asked.
Caed contorted his face. “I’d rather be a common faery than receive a hunter commendation. All that hard work with nothing but pain to show for it?”
“Well, if you’re a common faery than I am too.” Arlo mumbled.
“Don’t get sentimental on me.” Caed gave Arlo a small smile. “You‘ll probably be the first member of the high council before you reach a thousand.”
Arlo stared down at the tome in front of him, his long fingers brushed down the old scrawling of the mage writing. He glanced over at the faery next to him. Caed was different than the other faeries. He was less fragile looking. Arlo knew that Caed hated it about himself, he was scared that it would make him more likely to be assigned the hunter guild. Arlo couldn’t deny that he had felt the same fear for Caedmon. Hunters rarely lived as long as the average faery, their lives were in far more danger venturing outside of the realm. But something about Caed’s roughness had always comforted Arlo in a way he couldn’t quite explain or understand.
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