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Short Story Project:
Last of the Faerie
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The following is a collaborative story in progress.
If you would like to participate, contact ArtsForge.
For additional collaborative writing projects, see WordForge.

Story Project
Last of the Faerie
Chapter One
The sound of the gavel falling upon the oak stump rang like a shot through the gathering, silencing every tongue, every wing. The ancient matriarch uncoiled herself, revealing more than a memory of her great beauty and magical grace. She illuminated the mist around her as she spoke, and her words could only be received as truth by those before her.

"It is time to depart this land." She was filled with melancholy, but not defeat. "If we are to survive, if we are to remain true to our way, free and unspoiled, as we have been since time beyond time, then we must leave. Within the fortnight, there must be no trace of Faerie left upon this earth."

Tobin James Mueller
1/5/99
The Faerie Queen
Martin Murphy

Fairies:
Magical Images
"But how shall this world remain intact if we are not here to sing the Songs of Magic?" ventured a lyrical voice, shattering the the focused concentration of the gathering. "What will remind the humanfolk of the Land, of the Powers?"

Sparkling heads turned in a rush of wind. A new light appeared, gently flowing toward the speaker of the Words. Innié blinked, squinting her wide green eyes in surprise. She had never had the glow of the gathering directed toward her before. Her face was rapt, listening, full of innocence and concern. Unaware of how deeply this breach of etiquette had run, she waited for a response.

niuka
and
Tobin James Mueller
1/20/99
"It was I, Innié, who spoke my queen, I was questioning all the time we have spent singing. It has mostly fallen on deaf ears, deaf brains, that is true. But there were those who heard and were transformed by our presence to higher ideals."

As she spoke, her words twisted like smoke in the wind, like singing smoke, burning the nostrils.

"Must we completely abandon the ones who have not had the opportunity to hear our songs?" pleaded Innie.

"Staying might mean the Death of Our Kind," reminded the Queen, even though such a context did not need to be articulated.

Innie shook her head, throwing her hair about her like autumn leaves. "There must be many on this planet who need this chance." Then she stopped, raising her chin, gathering her calm. "But as always, I will defer to your final decision, my Queen."

The Queen's face saddened. She turned to the gathering. "Each and everyone of you are precious to me. I would be grieved to leave, to deprive you of this freedom to stay, if the prompting within is as strong as you say. I will relent and grant that you may remain behind. But for the rest of us, the Living Folk must depart, or be extinguished.

The Queen turned, and it seemed that the sky itself readjusted its many lights and shadows to confirm her words. "Perhaps you may help the Powers from forever leaving this Land. If that is your Path, I will welcome you back in Great Song and weave your hair into the Fabric of Queens. But if you fail, I must mourn for you from Far Away. The echo of my Wailing will echo through the Universe.

"Now, let us make haste. We must leave this once beautiful planet before the dawn, before it is too late."

Judy Sandel
9/10/99

Chapter Two
(In which Innié finds herself the Last Faerie among the Mortals)
To submit additions to Story Project #2, please send your text as an email to ArtsForge and identify the story by title. Please say if you do not want your name or email address posted.

If you are interested in illustrating any of these story panels, please submit art to us as well as any textual additions or seed story ideas.

All text edited by Tobin James Mueller.

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