Fae of the World

Chapter 1- This is Me

A/N: I used to think that the writers who were like, "My characters are doing this, or want this, or my story is doing this," were crazy. But now, I know they weren't. Lithia decided she wanted to tell this part of the story. Maybe she'll give it to me for the next chapter, who knows? I promise that most of the fic will be told from a neutral point of view, this chapter and the next being acceptions.

There is one summer that I will never forget, as long as I live. We had just finished fourth year final examinations at Durmstrang, and everyone was preparing for their respective trips home. I received an owl from my father telling me that I was to go to Mother's and spend the beginning of the summer with her instead of with him as planned. This was an unexpected change, since I usually spent the first half of the summer break with Father, and the second half with Mother. At first, the letter from my father upset me. I did not like having my routines broken, and I had friends where Father lived who were expecting me. Then I became concerned. Countless thoughts and questions ran through my head. Was something wrong with Mother? Was that why they wanted me there now? Maybe something was wrong with Father and they didn't want me to know?

I even considered the possibility that maybe Father didn't want to see me for some reason, and that he was leaving me with Mother so that he could go about his own business. This last thought was completely irrational, especially because I knew quite well that my mother and father both loved me a great deal. But like many children whose parents were no longer together, a thought always dwelled in the back of my mind. The thought that if they had tired of each other, perhaps they would eventually tire of me as well, and I might never see one, or either, of them again. They probably actually still cared for each other on some level, neither of them ever spoke ill of the other, but they had their...differences.

I immediately sent an owl back to Father, asking him why and when this had been decided, whether something was wrong or had happened, and would he please tell me if it had. The only response I received from him was, "Your mother and I agreed that it would be best for you this summer."

This did nothing but upset me even more. I was no longer a child; I was nearly 15 years old! I was damn well old enough to decide for myself where I wanted to spend the summer holidays, and I sent an owl back saying exactly that. Well not exactly that. What I actually said was much nicer than that. It was more along the lines of, "Please!" and, "But why, Daddy?"

This of course, didn't work, and I promptly received an owl telling that I needn't worry, but that the decision was final, so I needn't even bother responding again. Needless to say, I sulked until I left Durmstrang, and most of the way to Mother's as well. Reyhan picked me up at the train station.

"Very good to see you so early in the summer, Lithia," he said, a big smile spreading across his aged face. Reyhan was my mother's attaché, and had been so since before I was born. He was like another member of the family. Uncle Reyhan, my sister and I sometimes still called him. However, Uncle Reyhan's cheerful mood was not helping to improve mine at all.

"Hello, Reyhan," I said glumly.

"Well, it certainly looks like someone is in a surly mood, and that's Uncle Reyhan to you,"he said as the smile on his face broadened even more.

Somehow I could never be mad at Reyhan. My expression softened somewhat. "It's good to see you too, Uncle Reyhan." I said as I hugged him.

"Come along then," he said, as he let go of me. "Let's get your things, we have a portkey to catch."

I loved my mother's manor. It wasn't dark and gloomy like so many other places in the magical world were. Somehow it seemed to emanate brightness, just like the rest of her homeland. Everything here simply seemed to exude enchantment. Yes, this definitely was my mother's homeland. My father was a wizard, but my mother was a Fae. In case you didn't know, a Fae is a faery, in other words. The general opinion of faeries was that they were tiny little things with sparkly wings. Well, some of us are like that, but most of us are the same size as humans. Though we are not nearly as magical as our smaller kin, we do sometimes have a slight advantage over the rest of the Wizarding world, especially when it comes to wandless magic. We look like most other witches and wizards, aside from the occasional appearance of our wings. Yes, we do have them, but we usually keep them hidden, as they tend to weird non-faery folk out, and we tend to not like making spectacles of ourselves. They can kind of fold in and...ah well, I'll tell about that later. And they don't really have any practical use. It's not like we can fly or anything. The little ones are the only ones who can do that. I think it has something to do with our overall body mass and having wings of a proportional size and strength... Anyway, the point is that we look like most other witches and wizards.

Even though I was trying my best to maintain a foul mood, I forgot all about it as soon as I saw Mother and Tara.

"There you are! Come here and give me a hug, my little one!" Mother still called me her little one, even though I was no longer little nor was I one of the little ones. "Oh, I have missed you so!" she said, hugging me. I loved it when my mother hugged me. She would wrap not only her arms, but her wings around me as well. Mother's wings were tall and wide like a butterfly's, and shone a deep midnight blue. They had fluid, wavy edges that seemed to constantly flow around her. Reyhan's wings had slightly more jagged edges; they were pitch black, and curled to a point at the top. I could definitely see how Reyhan had probably looked very menacing in his younger days. Tara and I had more slender, rounded wings, like a dragonfly's. Tara's were a shimmering purple, something I had always been jealous of, since purple had always been my favorite color. My wings were a silvery gray.

"It's about time you two got here," my sister said as she playfully bumped into me, almost making me lose my balance. Honestly, sometimes my big sister could be so juvenile.

"Come on," Tara said, pulling on my arm, "Let's get you settled in, it's almost lunchtime."

"I have a few council matters to attend to, and then I'll join you both." Mother said, stopping to kiss me on the forehead.

Did I mention that my mother is a queen? No? Okay, well she is.

She was one of the many faery queens who together made a council of elders for our kind; each queen making sure her people's interests and needs were addressed. My mother was head of the council, so she had endless responsibilities. The succession of queens went down the family lines, but this didn't really concern me since Tara was the elder of the two of us. This also meant that I could spend my time here enjoying myself, and not having to worry about any future obligations or duties that I would one day have. Tara was almost always at Mother's side, assisting her with her duties in and out of the council. She served as one of Mother's advisors, which helped prepare her for the day when she would have to take Mother's place. Nevertheless, Mother had made sure that both Tara and I were very familiar with the goings on and procedures of the council. I think she wanted us to be proud of the prominence and influence that our family had gained amongst our people. As a result, I knew almost as much as Tara did about Mother's duties. We had also been raised to always be on our best and most proper behavior, as we were setting an example for the family. This was something that from time to time annoyed me; particularly during the numerous times I had gotten into trouble for behaving as I shouldn't. And it never helped that somehow Tara had always been better behaved than I was.

The weeks passed quickly at Mother's manor. It was nearly July, and I still hadn't heard from Father. I was becoming more worried with every passing day. Mother was being just as cryptic about his whereabouts as Father had been at the beginning of the summer. I broke the usual cheery conversation at dinner one night.

"Have you heard from Father yet?" I asked, picking at my food.

"I have told you, Lithia, that you will be the first to know as soon as I do. Your father is fine, dear." By the tone in her voice, I could tell that she was not only trying to convince me, but herself as well. I couldn't stand it anymore, and threw my fork across the table in frustration.

"You don't have to patronize me, you know? I can sense that something's going on, and you're obviously keeping it from me. You have been all summer. Now will you stop treating me like a baby and please tell me what's going on!"

Mother looked at me questioningly, and then at Tara, who nodded in agreement. So obviously Tara knew what was going on when I didn't.

Mother sighed and looked at me. "Well, I knew that I could not keep it from you forever. I am actually surprised you lasted this long. It seems that you have developed quite a bit more patience than I gave you credit for. We just wanted you to be able to enjoy your summer without worrying too much."

She paused and I could tell that she was choosing her words carefully. "Lithia, you know that the reason your father and I separated was the war?"

Of course I knew that, how could I have not known? I ran through the story in my head frequently. During the time when Voldemort was in power, the Fae were asked to join the wizards and help fight against him. The council decided against this in order to keep our people out of the line of fire. Voldemort had no specific conflict with the Fae, we usually kept to ourselves as it was, and the war was bloody and brought many losses to both sides. This course of action helped ensure that none of our kind would be harmed as direct result from our involvement. Father had been infuriated by this, and pleaded with Mother and the rest of the council members to change their decision. Mother reconsidered, but the rest of the council did not, outvoting her. She had to stand by the council's decision, so the Fae refrained from involving themselves in the conflict. Father decided he was going to help fight Voldemort with or without Mother and the council behind him. He also knew that if he did this, his presence among the Fae would draw unneeded attention to them, and to us and Mother as well. So he left to fight alongside his family and became an Auror. Even after the war ended, Father couldn't bring himself to forgive Mother for her inaction, so they separated; Tara stayed with Mother, and I stayed with him.

"Yes, I know," I responded quietly. If this whole thing had something to do with Voldemort, I wasn't quite sure that I really wanted to know what was going on anymore.

"Even after the war ended, your father helped keep watch. Gathering information on who Voldemort's supporters were, helping root them out. He has been doing this, keeping a watchful eye out ever since the war. It seems that Voldemort has returned, and your father is once again helping with the cause. He is now helping gather information that may result in Voldemort's ultimate defeat. Voldemort knows this, and is seeking to destroy all those who could help bring him down. He has already recalled his minions to help him. Your father and many of his fellow Aurors are in hiding, spying, sabotaging, and gathering information. Because of this, he is in a great deal of danger. Danger which neither he nor I wish to expose you to. That is why you are here instead of with him, my dear. It is also why you haven't heard from him in quite some time. Owls can be traced, and we didn't want there to be even the slightest possibility that he could lead danger to you."

I was completely speechless, which for me is quite unusual. Not only had Voldemort returned, but my father was once again in the fray, and who knew what else was going on. Now I understood why he had been so adamant about me not coming to stay with him at the beginning of the summer.

My brain finally recovered from the shock enough for me to respond. "But, but then how do you know that he's fine?" I asked as my mind began to panic again, "If you haven't heard from him, then for all you know, he could be dead or captured or, or..." Words completely failed me, and I slumped back in my seat in frustration.

Mother spoke in a comforting tone, "In this case, no news is good news. We will only receive word if something has happened, that was the agreement."

"So we're just supposed to wait?" I said in disbelief.

"That is all we can do," mother said simply.

"I'm not hungry anymore," I said as I shoved myself away from the table and trudged my way up to my room.

Time no longer passed so quickly. Every day without word from Father seemed to drag on to no end. A week went by, and then another, and another. I was sitting on a bench in the middle of the palace gardens. Despite the fact that everything around me was bright and full of life, I couldn't bring myself to appreciate it. Flowers bloomed everywhere, filling the air with their scents. Some of the little ones darted here and there, playing. A few of them tried to get me to join in, tugging on my hair and the edges of my clothes.

"I don't want to play! Stop it!" I spat at them as I angrily shooed them away. They flitted about agitatedly for a minute, and then moved to another part of the garden. I was so consumed in my thoughts, that I didn't notice when one of them came back a few minutes later. She lightly touched down on my knee, holding a white rose out to me.

I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nasty earlier. And thank you for the gift, but there's only one thing that would make me feel better right now."

She nodded understandingly, and flew off to rejoin her friends. As I resumed my gloomy contemplations, I saw Tara and Mother walking toward me, both of them looking as grim as I felt.

"We've been looking for you," Tara said as she sat down on the bench beside me.

Mother kneeled down in front of me and took my hands in hers. I looked into her eyes, and even though I knew what she was going to say, I still hoped that she wouldn't.

"We've received word," she said to me gently.

"And?" I asked, tears already beginning to well up in my eyes.

"It's the worst," she whispered.

"No!" I screamed, yanking my hands away from hers, using them to cover my face.

Tara pulled me close, looking like she was about to cry as well, as my sobs drowned out the happy sounds of summer.

We couldn't go to his funeral because it was certain that Voldemort would have spies watching, ready to spot and track down any more possible enemies. A few days after the service, we visited his grave to say goodbye. Reyhan insisted that he come with us, and that we go under the cover of night to be less conspicuous. Mother agreed with no hesitation. This was all so unfair. My father was dead, and I couldn't even say goodbye properly. Not only that, but the summer was almost over, and it was nearing time for me to return to school. And school was the last thing on my mind right then.