New Notes, New Lists 1 – Arty

Emma left for Scotland later that Summer, after the May excitement and fairy battles. She finally took an interest in my list of lists of folktale creatures and their talents, and picked a few that she believed – with all her new experience – were most like her, that she must have “kinship” with, she says, based on some illogical approach to fairy-human matchmaking. Emma was in the folkies’ world a lot when they were here in ours, and she has some strange ideas now.

None of those she picked form the list were Spriggans, of course. She believes she is more like a pixie, or like the smaller elves from the woods and hills. So she went to look for real ones. The way they all left us was unfair, and sad, and happened too fast, she says – and I say it too.

I am staying here, and am more interested in Dwarves.

After the Gwyllion battles, and after catching up on schoolwork and trying to study and doing badly on my finals – an A- in biology, B+ in Math but the good news was an unexpected A in English – for weeks I dug into the stacks of books and notes and clues that I had re-piled in my room, and the extra information that was dumped on me by Abcedarius Zyxvuts and his wife, and some from Mary, though she left us almost as suddenly as the creatures did, in a typically mysterious way.

I learned that there was so much that happened before I found my Dwarf! And before Emma, Cry and I were able to get involved. Abcedarius pieced together all the earlier events, he was following it all for years…but he can tell it better.
I just wanted to know about the Dwarves, to research them and learn everything – including where to find them. That is, once I was convinced that there was no more fairy-action around town, and here in the neighborhood. I looked around, and asked around, still amazed that all those folkies came and went so quickly, and all that most people noticed were that a few trees had been knocked down and some earth dug up.

I looked for traces of more: if anything was left over, if any folkies were still here, and if there was any magic that remained, in the air or earth or water.

There wasn’t.

Until late Summer.

Yep.

Dwarves. In all the dreamy visions from Thryst’s eyes I could see that, even though he wasn’t a prince after all, and just an important son – as we all are to our mothers – he was a very famous Dwarf and was needed for their own battles, ones that, I found out, go back over centuries and had nothing to do with the Gwyllion and her attempt so capture Beltane from the other fairy creatures. In the Dwarf Story war, the Dwarves were actually only here because Thryst came to save his kin who had been taken.

No. The Dwarves – their largest families and clans – were in the throes of their own adventure, one even darker, and older, and more threatening. It goes back to their own ancient wars. The battles of their legendary past grew to be a fight for their future; their actual survival was threatened. They have old enemies that won’t die and wars that won’t end, it seems.

For those reasons, long ago, they went underground, completely, and stayed there, for many, many years – and as the old fairy tales passed into disbelieved legend.

But now the Dwarf clans were coming out – above ground, and back into the world of humans. That is how they became victims of the Gwyllion, but, as the Dwarf leaders tried to tell their greatest warrior, they had bigger things and worse magic to deal with. They had darkness to fight – and their source of light had been taken, and extinguished. The

Dwarves had lost something they desperately needed.

Thryst had his own business with the Gwyllion to deal with first. But then he was free to answer the call of his people.

I learned what was going on, and how to find them. I saw that Thryst’s actions, and the dream stories in his eyes, were telling this bigger story.

I wished Emma would get back sooner.

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