Adras

The fact that Winter was calm and collected about where we were diminished my exaggerated reaction to some degree. But it did not decrease my sheer wonderment at what I saw.

As we passed the border from the human to faerie lands, something in me definitely shifted. My body felt like it buckled and heaved, and although it was a source of discomfort, my senses heightened and peaked. Sounds flooded my ears, and stars filled the air above me with twinkling dark light. Music reached my ears, a crescendo of beauty that thrilled my blood to sing along.

I did not feel at home. Far from it. I did not belong in a place as beautiful and flawless as this, in a place that made me stand out in all the ways that were not admirable. But I did not feel mocked. Part of me felt wanted, but I knew I should not be foolish enough to believe it.

Those fierce amber eyes looked back at me curiously, waiting for a reaction. As if to gauge my approval, but I knew a faerie would never need it.

Regardless of what I thought, I was rendered speechless. The stars above me glittered with a light I had never seen before, a sort of light that left me feeling weightless and yet filled with bliss. It was a feeling I did not think I could ever describe well enough.

The court of Stars.

The name rings in my mind. It does not stop repeating itself as we walk forward, but somehow fades into background noise.

I'm shaken, yes, but the magic of the fae is something I've known my whole life. I've read books and heard complaints and ghost stories since I was but an infant. And I have not forgotten the exaggerated but somehow true tales.

The barrier I have passed through senses I am not one of them. It reaches out to touch me, but then reaches back again as Winter fixes the space behind me with a fiery glare.

The sensation it leaves behind is like I've choked on cinnamon and it burns my throat, but it is silky soft on my skin and leaves me feeling as if I've been dunked in a vat of warm paraffin wax.

Above me, Darkness. But not pure darkness. Darkness with freckles, silver freckles that blink like sequins and water droplets upon ice.

Winter is ahead of me. Those amber eyes glitter like the stars above, perhaps even brighter. And I believe it is possible. He runs a hand across a tree made of sparkling jewels, a tree I can see my reflection in. Distorted and full of refracted colors, and images from the other jewel trees hidden amongst the ground.

Winter turns around to look at me. He wears the most brilliant toothy smile I have ever seen - a grin of purity and a grin of freedom. He has returned to his home, his birthplace. Returned to the place he loves.

"Winter..." I start, but am at a loss for words. I cannot think of what to say to him. This is his home, and he has trusted to let me here. Trusted me enough to show the world he desires so much.

"I know." Winter smiles a little less, until it is gone. "Adras... there is a lot to show you here. If you'd like to see it. If not... I can escort you back home."

I nearly fall over, a dangerous place to do so with so many sharp diamond trees. "No, anything but that... although..." I wince a little. The pain is raw, and I miss them already, miss them more than I thought I would. "Although I miss it. I'd like to... remain here."

Winter breaks into another smile, but somehow it is smaller than before. A little more embarrassed and unsure. But still radiant as ever, I think.

"Good. Well... I'd say we need to start with some introductions." He runs a hand through his straight, white silky hair. I watch it fall across his shoulders.

"Introductions...?" I question, confused and a little nervous. Meeting others has never been exciting for me. Perhaps... perhaps it isn't a good idea for Winter to show me off so quickly.

Winter smiles back at me, carefree and sweet. "Don't worry. They aren't so invested in introductions as much as you may think."

Relieved but only slightly happier,  I follow him past the shiny trees. He brushes his fingers on edges of jewels and stares at his reflection, looks at the sky and smiles at every sound. It is breathtaking. He is breathtaking.

Winter whistles a short, bristly tune. I am so unaccustomed to him being this friendly that I startle, but he seems too happy to truly be something I am afraid of. I cannot fear him, my instincts say so, but beneath me I realize he could snap me in half with a blink of those burning eyes.

A tugging on my hair, and I startle again with a cry. A giggle to my left. I blink.

Winter smiles. "Adras. Meet the cosmic pixies. Troublemakers, but they'll help you in your time of need."

I stare. I can hardly see them, but there is a faint blue outline of something rather small floating nearby. I smile and laugh a bit when they tickle my face with small fingers. They're cold, and smell faintly of spearmint. Sharp and cutting, but welcoming.

"There are a lot of creatures here you may meet," Winter says as he continues on his journey through the crystal forest. The trees are thinning out now. "But you won't see many today. They will be at the festival."

"Festival?" I echo. It isn't that much information but it's still very much an overload of sorts. "I didn't think-"

Winter looks calm as he catches snowflakes in his palms. I cannot copy him, no matter how hard I try. I think it takes a degree of magic to do it. "Didn't think the fae had festivals?"

I start, realizing how rude it must have sounded. "No, no I didn't mean that! I meant... well..." I wince. "I suppose I may have..."

Winter shrugs. "It's understandable, I suppose. It's difficult for humans to realize how complex our social hierarchy is. Our customs, our religions. Our courts, our dress. Everything. As it is for us to understand humans."

It's in that moment, I think, that the true wisdom of Winter's being hits me. It isn't even the wisest statement he's ever said to me, but somehow, in this form, his amber eyes ever blinking and morphing like lava, his voice soft and yet brittle and stern and weighted by all the world's mountains - it is this that makes me realize that I have lived a day of the life that Winter has lived thousands.

I cannot hope to compare to it.

I am faced with a being as old as time itself. Older than the forest he lives in, older than the time I grew up in. Older than every person I have ever known, will know, or have heard of. And he is talking to me like I am his equal.

Stunned into silence, I can only nod.

Winter looks up at the new moon, sharp and cutting in the dark sky peppered by silver holes. An absence of silver, a black hole in the depths. With faintest of shadows. He smiles and waves upward.

I frown and follow his gaze. I do not see anyone there. But then again, I am not accustomed to the life of fae. There could be countless faeries up there right now, and I'd always be none the wiser.

"What's up there?" I ask, curious but also potentially terrified of being watched by something I have no control over. But I cannot help it, I suppose.

"Not much," Winter says with a calm voice, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Only a legend."

"A legend?" I ask, walking a little closer. I need his body heat in the cold of this court.

"A legend, yes." Winter has the hint of amusement in the quirk of his formed lips. "Every fae is taught it at the bosom of their caretaker. The Great Night Cat."

"The... Great Night Cat?" I am puzzled and perplexed. I've heard of fae rituals and legends before, but none so... seemingly innocent.

"Always say hello to the Great Night Cat." Winter says with a soft smile, looking at me with those brilliant amber depths. Every time, I am stunned to silence. "For he might grant you a favor in return."

A shiver runs up my spine as I stare at the moon. Will it blink? Is that an eye, or a smile? I wave up at the moon, feeble and a little nervous.

The moon above shifts, and then two pop into place. Milky depths tilt and then blink their greetings. And then both disappear again.

I startle again, jumping at the sight. Winter just laughs softly and beckons me with a hand. His laugh is a tickling of gems on leaves, water before rain, the electricity before a storm. It leaves me waiting for something more.

"My inner circle are the fae you will need to meet soon. I can take you to your new dwelling and let you get changed." Winter examines me with narrow eyes, free of judgement but somehow still stripping me bare in front of him.

"Inner circle... like your guards? Princes? Princesses?" I frown. And I'm even confused by how he says 'dwelling'. Is there a place I will stay? Here? Does he wish for me to remain?

Winter lets out a beautiful but snapping laugh. He's always paradoxical. "Something like that."

He blinks warmly at me. "Come. I'll show you." He holds out a hand, a pale hand that looks soft and gentle. But I am not fooled. It is cutting and sharp and can be harsh in its magical talent. I am no fool, I will not be, not around a faerie.

But Winter is kind. If not kind, a little gentler than the fae I have been taught in my youth. The warnings of fae are drilled into my mind and will always be there - like an icy glacier I cannot climb.

But Winter's burning eyes are slowly thawing that glacier. And behind it is a world I cannot comprehend.