Fog, Ice and the Green Earth

It was cool under the eaves of the Forbidden Forest as Corrina sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, listening. Soon she would hear the Hogwarts Express pull out of the station, and then it would be time for her to return to the twilight world that was her home. Zwarthart wove around her, rubbed against her knees for comfort, and then settled next to her, purring.

They waited. Finally, a distant whistle sounded and they could hear the train pull away. Zwarthart's ears pricked up and he mewed softly, his tail beating a quick tempo on the loam.

"We will see them soon. It is only a couple of months. Your lady cat will not forget you."

Corrina got up and shook the leaf litter off her green robes, and with a lingering last look at the castle, walked into the forest. She seemed to turn a corner and fade into the distance. Zwarthart bounded after her.

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Some time later, Corrina entered a clearing where the remnants of a picnic lay scattered.

"Raven! Little birdling, you are back!" exclaimed a lean figure who was laying supine, his head pillowed on the lap of a slender woman who seemed to be wearing nothing but leaves.

"You were not gone long, were you? Or, perhaps you were. I can never keep track." The leafy woman carelessly brushed her hair back with a rustling noise.

"I have been gone three seasons, Willow. It is almost Midsummer's Eve! So, now are you keeping company with Fox? Have you nothing better to do?" teased Corrina.

"It passes the time." Willow smiled, and delicately stroked the head on her lap. "He is a fine figure, is he not? And . . . so useful when there is news to be sniffed out. Not that he shares all that he knows. So sly, this one is."

"And what news is there? There were parts of the journey that were . . . dark . . ." She shivered. "I don't remember so much darkness before."

Fox sat up and brushed his long red hair out of his eyes, revealing his pointed ears. He picked up a chicken bone, considered it, and then tossed it away.

"No news that is good. But come, you have just returned! We must have a feast!"

"Oh yes! A feast...and dancing. There must be dancing." Willow straightened to her full, and rather startling height, took Corrina's hands, and twirled around with her.

"Come, let us go and prepare.... You need new robes; look, you are growing out of these ones! I see ankle and wrist that did not show before!" Laughing, Willow swept Corrina out of the clearing and towards a hall whose many windows gleamed in the twilit distance.

Fox and Zwarthart watched them go.

"And did all go well this year? Have you tales of mortal folly and foibles to share?"

Zwarthart meowed and his tail twitched.

"What, still just a cat? How amusing! I would have thought that you would have tired of the role by now. But no, she has your true name, doesn't she? And so you must stay a cat until she gives you leave."

Fox smiled mockingly. "Unless there is another reason? Romance, perhaps? Dear, dear, how droll that would be."

Zwarthart growled, and batted Fox's bare arm, claws not quite retracted. Laughing, Fox fended him off, stood and, with a graceful bow, took his leave.

With narrowed eyes, Zwarthart watched him disappear into the wood, away from the hall. Alone in the meadow, he started his own toilette for the feast.

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How long it had lasted, Corrina could not say. As with any Faerie festivity, the company ranged from the elegant to the grotesque. Some looked almost human, but just a little too tall, or a little too slender, their attenuated limbs a little too elegant. Their hair and features were so bright and sharp that you could cut yourself on them.

Others were as fanciful as gargoyles, with fur or leaves or feathers instead of hair and eyebrows. The rafters above softly rustled as creatures with butterflies' wings perched and preened.

Here and there were mortals, like and yet unlike Corrina. There had never been many changelings at the court of the Black King, and now there was only her.

Few humans had ever called Faerie home. Most came in their dreams or were there for a night, or a week, or a year and a day. Beautiful women came and danced as if under a spell, and the harpers and bards who played for the Fair Folk's enjoyment returned to the sunlit world with tales and songs; the magic of Faerie translated into the magic of music.

A dance ended, and Corrina curtsied to her partner, a thistledown-haired dandy elegantly clad in the green brocade of another century. As she drifted away, a tiny electric blue being flew up and perched on her shoulder.

"The King wishes to see you," it said in its shrill little voice, and led her to where the Black King sat at his ease. She dropped a deep curtsy in respectful reverence, and took the stool indicated.

"Sit with me awhile. Will you tell me of your schooling, Raven?"

"Gladly, Sire."

As she recounted the year's tale, it seemed that the lights dimmed and a velvety darkness overtook the far reaches of the hall, leaving them in a soft pool of light. The king stirred.

"You are growing to womanhood, little fledgling."

She looked down at the inlaid floor.

"Yes, I know. It is time, past time . . . but . . . ."

"You are afraid, are you not? Do not be so; it comes to all of us, to grow and to age. It cannot be held back forever, even by me."

The king reached out his hand and pushed back a strand of the dark hair that tumbled over her forehead, tucking it behind her ear and cupping her chin for a moment. His fingers were cool.

"It was inevitable, now that you have gone back into the world, that the passage of time would change you. My magic kept you a child whilst you dwelt here, save for your eyes...I remember when they were a bright blue . . . . They have faded to gray."

She looked steadily into his deep, calm eyes. He had the appearance of early manhood, with a narrow face and high, scarred cheekbones. A delicate band of silver set with moonstones glimmered on his brow and kept back the dark hair that fell in tiny dreadlocks to his shoulders. His looked back at her, the merest smile creasing his cheeks.

"There is a legend, Sire, of how a Lord of Faerie abducted the daughter of a goddess, and kept her by his side," said Corrina. "And her mother found her and begged her release, but the foolish girl had eaten seven pomegranate seeds, and so must spend seven months of the year here. Shall I be like the goddesses' daughter? Shall I always be walking between the worlds, never belonging to either one?"

His smile grew enigmatic.

"Be easy; we will talk of this later. For now, you are in need of rest. Come, Cricket will take you to your quarters."

Corrina followed the little creature to her rooms. It was strange, after the school year just past, to have a servant attend her again, to help her with her lacings and brush her hair. She fell into her bed and slept, as always in this place, without dreams.

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When she opened her eyes she could feel the warmth of Zwarthart pressed against her back. She smiled sleepily. If there had been one constant in her life, it was this large, black tomcat.

She supposed the Black King had taken her on a whim. She did not even know if he had left a changeling to sicken and die in her place, or if her parents had mourned her loss. In the last year, she had learned how to use the rowan wand to conjure up an image from her past. In it, a fair-haired woman sat spinning in front of a peat fire, a man harped in the background, and children played jacks. Their faces were indistinct, just out of focus. Had this been her family?

When she finally arose, there was a platter of food waiting for her. She paused, caught by a thought.

If it had contained pomegranate seeds, would I eat them? If I had the choice truly to belong here, would I take it?

The Faerie had always been careful to give her food from the human world. She had been told that if she ate the food of this land she would never be able to return to the mortal world.

I always thought that had meant that they didn't want to keep me. But it also means I could leave and never return. It means I have choices.

It seemed to be a misty morning, a morning without blue sky or sun. She looked out at the wild and tangled garden framed in the window and she thought about growing up.

It had been a lonely existence, watching the shifting allegiances of the Faerie court, never sure quite where she herself stood. She had been on the outside; watching the Black King gain and hold power, watching him bring order and peace to the chaos that preceded him. She had played at being a part of this world, played at belonging here, but now she had the chance to belong in the human world, if she dared.

It's not only Gryffindors who should have courage.

She thought of the advice she had given Nadine and smiled. She had started to weave her own net of alliances and friendships, mortal ones, but strong with the strength of magic all the same.

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The season passed as so many seasons had, with feasts and hunts, play and mock battle. Corrina was amused and gratified to see how much stronger she had become. She could hold her own against Willow in a contest of magical skill, and sometimes, incredibly, draw even with Fox's wily trickery.

Once again the four were picnicking in the clearing, thestrals browsing on the discarded chicken carcasses. Corrina was idly enchanting some of bones so they flew around for Zwarthart's entertainment. Fox and Willow sat close, feeding each other bits of this and that.

"Tell me, Fox," said Corrina suddenly, "what did you mean when you said that there was no news that was good?"

Fox sighed.

"You know that in the twilight lands of Faerie there has always been a measure of both Darkness and Light. But sometimes, the Darkness grows too strong." His tone was foreboding.

Corrina shifted uneasily. Zwarthart stopped his game as the bones fell to the ground and came to her, rubbing against her in comfort. She put her arms around the big cat and felt the reassuring vibration of his purr.

"So serious, Fox?" She tried to make her voice light and playful, and failed.

"I have seen the Darkness grow and ebb, in my time. It always has, and that is the way of things. But there is no room for joy when the Darkness rules. There is no room for love. And these past score seasons it has been growing stronger."

"The Black King is preparing," Willow said in a reassuring tone. "He has been a good leader, and the Fair Folk will follow him. Even now he is away, inspecting fortifications, treating with allies."

"Do not worry, little Raven, the danger is not here yet. We can still be carefree for a while longer."

But the ease had gone out of the day, and Corrina looked at the shadowy twilight around her. Was it dimmer? She shivered, glad that in a short while she would be back at Hogwarts, where her friends awaited, and the biggest threat was the spiteful tongue of a teenage girl.