The Graves Estate

It was quite the day for the Graves Estate. The overgrown wreck that made up the property in the past had been cut down and cleaned up. A tumultuous amount of effort was used to trim the bushes, weed the gardens, clear loose foliage, and dust the house.

And oh, how stubborn the dust was!

Kauri was weak from the effort. The task was starting to seem more impossible than beating Alden in a spar, and of that she was certain she would never do. Every time she moved onto another room, it felt like a layer was already developing on the last. The chimera almost gave up: this house was mocking her!

Despite her mourning, the thought of Alden visiting the Estate in such disrepair when his own home was spotless despite having six children made her shrivel more than an old grape in the sun. She pushed herself off the floor and trudged forward, muttering expletives under her breath.

When the day finally came that the High Marshal and his family were invited to the Graves Estate, it was clear that no effort had been wasted. Not a twig was out of place on the sprawling property, leaving acres of green, sunny hills to greet all that arrived.

Second to greet them was the Graves family: Kauri, who was most familiar to Alden and the children, dressed neatly in a white blouse and a flowing blue skirt; Poala, who Alden had met briefly in the past, who was a complete mess of stripes, spots, cat ears, horns, hooves, claws, and a calliope of colors; then, there was Elaine Graves, an older woman with white strands of white hair set into her thick blonde tresses braided over her shoulder and a kind, summery smile that was befitting of a grandmother; then there was Marcus Graves, a man who's hair migrated from the top of his head all down to his peppery beard and tired, hard eyes.

Kauri raised a hand to wave to them. "Alden! Children! Welcome! This is my parents, Marcus and Elaine, and also Poala. Mother, father, this is Alden Marshal, and Rawr Rawr, Naoki, Caleb, Kae, Juniper, and Moonflower!"

Elaine was the first to come forward, reaching for the Marshal's hand. "A pleasure, Marshal! I've heard many things from you. Oh! And hello, hello-" She bent down so she was level with all of the Marshal's children. "My name is Elaine! I'm very happy to meet you all."

Her smile seemed to make the sun brighter, though no magic seemed to be involved. It rivaled the cloud that hung over her husband's head.

Poala was immediately very overwhelmed. Barely even three years old, mute, and going through quite the culture shock, the girl froze as she was swarmed. Kauri watched very carefully, trying to make sure that the exchange would go smoothly. Poala was sharp and adaptable, but she was also a child. She had her limits. Meanwhile, however, the heiress to the Graves estate rose up to speak to Alden. "I'm so glad you all came! I'm a little worried, but... excited! Mostly."

Elaine chuckled softly. "It's been far too long since we had a proper gathering. This place could use a little more life roaming around. The children have lots of room to play and a lot of things to discover. And us? We can have tea and take a seat."

With a smile, Kauri agreed. "We have a table. And lots of food! Our menu won't be as large as you're used to, but these two have always been fantastic cooks."

As the adults spoke, Poala gathered courage, managing a tiny smile and a wave. Kauri, who had been watching them even as she spoke to Alden, sighed in relief, then knelt down next to the group of cat-eared munchkins.

"Now, kids. Poala cannot speak, so... that means she has to communicate with you much differently than other people. We're going to have to be very patient with one another, alright? Can you do that for me?"

"No, she hasn't the ability to speak at all. But that's okay, right? There are lots of ways to communicate without words," explained Kauri, right before witnessing Rawr Rawr's incredibly touching act of kindness. Poala was bewildered at the notion at first. She stared at the stuffed animal, then at the little boy, then back at the stuffed animal before offering them both a smile. She reached for the bear and hugged it. The comfort it provided was unexpected but appreciated.

Something about Marcus' stony expression seemed to lighten upon witnessing the interaction. He kept mostly to himself, but he did watch. Mostly, he kept an eye on Alden. It was, perhaps, a father's wary instinct. The urge to protect one's daughter was tantamount, no matter how old they both became. Surely, the Marshal understood that.

Kauri's hand came up to her mouth and both her and her mother began to dote on the gesture, gasping and grinning and giggling to one another.

"What gentlemen you're raising, Marshal," said Elaine warmly. "And some very wonderful ladies, too."

Kauri gave Rawr Rawr a kind smile. He was quiet and timid, but a little bit brave, too.

The chimera clapped her hands together and nodded. "Right! Well, let's get to business, shall we? Are you kids hungry or do we want to get to playing first? We've got something quite fun for you to mess around with. Father, do you have them with you?" she asked, looking up at Marcus expectantly.

Marcus gave them small chuckle, so quiet it was easily missed. He shuffled back to the house and, seconds later, a disk came flying out of the door toward Kauri, who reached a hand out to catch it in her palm. The chimera grinned at the children, then brought the disk down to show them.

It was flat, made of something hard in its middle, cushioned by the leather sewn over it. She presented it to Caleb. "It's like a ball, but it goes a lot farther. Why don't you try it out?"

Kauri and her parents exchanged glances. "Artwork... well, not anything you're used to, but... I have books filled with sketches of things I've seen over my travels when I was a young girl. Is that something you'd like to see, Rawr Rawr?" the woman asked, taking a slow, careful step toward him.

Meanwhile, as she clung to the stuffed toy, Poala chased after the disk with the other children, though she did spare Rawr Rawr a glance as she did so.

Kauri smiled and knelt down in front of the child. She reached out a hand to pat his head tenderly. "Well, I hope you'll like mine."

The chimera lead them toward the house, which had a small set of stairs descending into a stone balcony leveled with a pond. Small, colorful fish swarmed at the surface as they passed, inquiring for food with their bulbous black eyes.

Once inside, they were faced with another set of spiral stairs directly ahead, a pleasant dining room to the left, and a moderately sized kitchen on the right. Kauri beckoned, leading them down the hallway toward the stairs. Her hooves clopped noisily on the wooden floors, echoing throughout the house.

As they ascended to the second floor, rays of light reached down to greet them through one of the doors down the otherwise dark hallway. Kauri opened the door wide for Rawr Rawr to see.

The solar was always Kauri's favorite room. Books lined the walls, covering every inch save for the large window that spanned an entire side of the room, gracing them with a warm, comfortable sunlight. A woolen rug was laid out in the center of the room, next to an old rocking chair. Kauri sauntered over to the other side of the room and tapped her chin as she contemplated the many books on the shelves. Once she found what she was looking for, a smile widened on her lips, and she plucked off one of the wider, plain leather-bound books.

She sat down on the floor, patting the ground next to her. "This is from my first adventure out of the house, when a little fairy decided to kidnap me for an evening. Have you ever met a fairy before, Rawr Rawr?"



Though small and young, Poala was no pushover. Her hooves carried her across the fields as fast as a prancing fawn. Her sharp cat's eyes locked onto the flying disk like it was a bird, and she caught it with ease, though throwing it was another challenge altogether, so it often went flying off in all sorts of directions.

Elaine and Marcus sat at a small wooden table and watched, smiling in their own ways.

With a gentle smile, Kauri opened the book with her thin claws, being careful not to rip the pages.

The first few pages contained little more than detailed reports of the things she had seen, all of which the chimera skipped. It was several pages later where the real treat was: a finely detailed drawing made with sweeping, dark pen strokes. Depicted was a small pixie sat upon a lily pad, wings clear as a window, with veins spidering through them as if they'd been shattered. Its arms were thinner than twigs, and its ears had points sharp enough to be thorns. It had eyes black as a spider's, never blinking, always watching.

"Once, when I was playing in the woods," began Kauri, pointing out the window to indicate the dense foliage just beyond the property, "I ran into a small fae lounging in a pond. I'd never seen one before, and I was so excited! I thought if I went back to mother and father, she'd be gone... so I approached her. She was a sweet little thing, not at all skittish. I waved at her, and she waved back! I thought it was an invitation to come closer, so I did. The first thing I did was reach over the lake to try and touch her. She let me, you know! I had to stretch all the way over to the lily pad until I almost fell in! But... she crawled right into my hand. Goodness, I was enchanted."

"It was at that moment that a fish came up and swallowed her and my whole arm, past my elbow."

Kauri stared at Rawr-Rawr for a moment to gauge his reaction before turning the page, depicting a young, brown-haired girl around his age, very human and very distressed as a large catfish clamped onto her arm.

"The fish dragged me into the pond. Oh, how scared I was! And not just for myself, but for the little fae! I wasn't letting her go at all. I kicked and thrashed around until I almost couldn't breathe! I must have frightened the fish quite a bit. He bit off quite a bit more than he could chew, that one. He let me go, though I'd already almost run out of breath. The only thing I could do was hoist my arm back and toss the little fae back onto shore while I sank. And then... everything went dark."

Turning the pages again, Kauri searched for another drawing, this one utilizing much more than quill and ink. This one had gentle water paints all over.

"But... eventually I woke up, and I wasn't inside that murky old pond at all. I'd been taken somewhere else entirely. A grove filled with all these beautiful flowers and... and little huts in the trees! Little people were riding songbirds all around. The songs they sang were enchanting. I immediately thought I'd died and gone to The Great Beyond. I'd never seen anything quite so beautiful before."



The small child ran this way and that, leaping to impressive heights even when it looked like they'd thrown the disk too far above her head. Now and again, they'd trump her, but it did not discourage her. If anything, she just kept trying harder, running faster, trying to find anything to give her leverage. She couldn't laugh, not enough for the kids to hear, but the largest smile was painted on her face.

The chimera grinned. "A faery grove. Not many people get invited to these places... but I did! And all because I saved the little faery who got swallowed. I don't know how they got me out, but I certainly didn't ask questions. Oh, no, there were far too many adventures to be had!"

Kauri flipped the page again, slowly this time, revealing downhill slopes decorated with mushrooms and a young girl bouncing on down with a smile painted on her face. The next picture depicted her latched onto a massive dandelion that pushed her into the sky with a flock of the faeries creating a wind to propel her.

Page after page, Kauri described the unreal adventures within faeryland that she had been taken on, carefree and relentless in her search for something new to discover.

"But... it could not last forever. My family was waiting for me at home. I hadn't even taken a moment to spare for them." The page turned again, showing another girl with hair like fresh wheat glowing in the sun and eyes as green as a lagoon. Something was familiar about her face, the way she smiled. It was like Poala's.

"I'll never know how she did it, but she found me, that sister of mine. As soon as I saw her, I remembered everything I was leaving behind. I tried to leave in that instant, but..."

Then next page showed a swarm of little faeries pulling at their hair, trying to keep them inside the grove.

"They really wanted me to stay!"

Kauri curled an arm around Rawr Rawr gently, but securely. She had to struggle to keep the smile off her face. For a very brief moment, her eyes flickered up to meet Alden's, gauging his reaction.

"They kept coming at us in swarms! Pulling our hair and biting us like little bugs! But Colette, she was so wise, she grabbed me and ran through the forest until we found something none of the fairies wanted us to find!"

She turned the page again, now showing both girls splashing into a pond. A very, very familiar pond, and lurking just below its waters, a very familiar fish.

"The moment we started to teeter in, the fairies scattered! I didn't want to fall in, either. The last time that happened wasn't so very nice, but there really was no option when someone your size pulls you in!" Kauri shook her head and laughed, though her expression soon became somber.

"It was just like before. The world became very dark. We sank for such a long time. I thought, surely, we would both die this time. I kept Colette close as I could, but... at some point I got so sleepy. I couldn't hang on anymore."

The page turned. Another picture of two girls falling out of the mouth of a giant catfish was drawn on the next page, washed up on shore with their parents scrambling towards them.

"I always thought that fish was terrifying and evil, but I was wrong all along. The whole time it was trying to help me. I just didn't realize it. It was a hard lesson to learn, that things aren't always what they seem. I was lucky that we both survived in the end... but our parents never let us out of the house for a week!"