I wrote days two through four, and on day five I didn’t like how fast the story was moving along. I spent days five, six, and nine filling in gaps within days two and three. Because of this, I’ll continue uploading the story in “parts” rather than “days”.
Before starting with the next part, there are a couple of concepts that are used but not explained. I don’t know how I’ll handle their explanations, so I’ll cover them here for the draft version.
First is years. A year is comprised of four seasons. In many lands, based on location, the “summer” and “winter” seasons are long, and the “spring” and “autumn” seasons are short. These are referred to as “the longs” and “the shorts”, respectively. A year is referred to as either “two longs and two shorts” or “two shorts and two longs” depending on which season the referred to span of four seasons most closely begins with. A phrase such as “two longs as a short” would refer to either summer through winter or winter through summer, depending on context.
The eastern direction is known as the Rising land because this is where the sun and the moon rise from.
Faeries and pixies have a languages much like British English and US English, two languages with a common source, but which have grown apart. Others, such as rats, have a completely different language with no relation to the faeries’ and pixies’ languages.
A tartan kilt, a Shinto priestess, and Mom’s apple pie: each of these conjure up images of distinct cultures of whole countries. Likewise, faeries have a common culture, and pixies have their own culture, and rats have their own culture as well.
And with that said, the story continues:
The Next Morning
The morning sun pressed against Adelina’s face, forcing her eyes slowly open. The looked around, half-expecting the cold morning mist often seen in the forests back home. She let herself relax against the tree branch where she had fallen asleep the night before. Even mornings here were warmer at this season.
After a few more moments, Adelina stretched her arms and legs. She sat upright, taking in the view below her. Noemi had already put out the fire and was nowhere to be seen. Adelina flew up above the treetops to get a better look at the sun’s position. The lower tip barely still touched the Rising land. Noemi couldn’t have already gone ahead, could she have?
Movement below caught Adelina’s eye. She flew over the moment, then she descended into the treetop leaves. She set herself against a thin branch and looked down. On the ground, Adelina looked carefully, Noemi and Prince stood. Adelina quickly worked her way down, fluttering to the ground beside the two.
“Adelina, where have you been?” Noemi said to her. “Would you look at this? It’s a guard from the toy king’s Nutcracker Guard. It’s just standing here in the middle of pixy land. I asked it what its story is, but it won’t talk.”
“I think maybe he can’t talk because he’s a toy,” Adelina said. She reached to the toy and straightened his red bow tie. “His name is Prince. I met him yesterday. He needs to get back home. I told him he can come with us.”
Noemi put a hand on Adelina’s shoulder, leading her aside. “How can you know this when it can’t even talk? And you just invited a strange toy to travel with us? When were you planning on consulting everyone else about this?”
“It’ll be all right,” Adelina said, walking back over to Prince. “Reserve your judgment until you see him dance. Once you’ve seen him dance, you’ll change your mind. He can perform with us in return for our helping him home. Besides, wouldn’t you want to help someone even if they couldn’t offer anything in return?”
“I don’t know,” Noemi said. She started to walk on ahead. “Do whatever you want. Just don’t expect Limlim and Meri to completely redo all their work to fit a new character into the story.” She turned around, continuing to walk away, backwards. “Look, let’s just gather materials. If your friend here helps out with that, maybe we’ll have time for it–for him to show me his dance. It’s not like he’ll get any big parts in the show, but if he’s any good, I’ll put in a good word for him with the others.”
“Really? Thank you!” Adelina took Prince’s hand in hers. “Well don’t look so excited,” she said to Prince, giving a smile. “Come on.” She gave a pull at Prince’s arm, and he started to walk alongside her. “We need acorns to make armor from, and thin thorns for lances. Do you understand? Let’s go!”
The three searched as they walked. Prince gathered many acorns, and Adelina and Noemi took turns looking them over, checking for size, shape, and quality. Adelina found a tree with needle-covered fruits, perfect to use as lances. By nightfall, they had the needed supplies. They set up camp for the night, and a campfire lit the area.
As promised, Noemi gave Prince a chance to show his dance. He wouldn’t dance alone, instead requesting Adelina join him. Noemi watched in awe as the two danced. Adelina smiled when she saw Noemi’s expression. She knew what Noemi must be thinking. Everyone in The Sylphides danced as best they could, but they lacked any formal training. Prince danced as if he were a well-known ballet dance instructor.
“Can he play an instrument?” Noemi asked as the two continued to dance.
“I don’t know,” Adelina said, missing a step. She watched Prince’s movements for a second before catching up with the pas de deux. “It’s difficult to keep up,” she told Noemi. “There’s no set pattern. It’s more like a royal ball dance. Every move feels spontaneous, like a dance from the heart.”
“We should get to sleep,” Noemi said. “We need to leave early if we want to reach town before the sun stops touching the land.”
Introducing Prince
In town the next day, the ballet troupe gathered. Before determining their usual show plans, the group updated everyone on their progress for the competition.
“Limlim’s finished the draft,” Meri said, “and I’ve finished the basic routine. Both will be finalized today.”
“I’ll be helping complete costumes,” Payan said. “They’ll be done on time.”
“And everyone can’t wait to see the show,” Shannel shouted. “There are only a few other ballet acts, and ours will be the best!”
“I’m glad to hear everything’s going smoothly,” Adelina said. “I want to introduce someone.” She turned to Prince, who had been standing not far off. Adelina motioned for him, and he walked over to the group. “This is Prince. He’s lost and needs help finding his way home. I told him he could come along with us. He’ll even dance in some of our shows along the way. He’s the best dancer I’ve ever seen.”
“I can vouch for that,” Noemi added. “He shows potential to be a good temporary Sylphide. Any objections to Prince staying with us for a while?”
“Are you kidding?” Limlim said, pulling out her notebook. “This’ll make things so much easier for the competition. Meri, let’s rework this over lunch. Payan, we’ll need a lackey costume. He can follow me and Noemi around, and take some bigger spots when one of us isn’t on stage. This is going to be so much easier now. If you’ll excuse us,” Limlim finished, taking Payan’s hands in hers, and pulling her away. “We’ll catch up with you later.”
“Wait for me,” Noemi called out. “If you’re making any changes with my role, I need to know about it.” She took hold of Prince’s hand. “Come on, you need to learn your role, too.” She headed after Limlim and the others, and Prince followed closely. “Meri?”
“Very well,” Meri said with a sigh. She walked after the others. “But we need to work the toy into our smaller show first,” she called out to them. “Do you hear me? I’m not going to ruin all our competition work adding in someone who can’t perform!”
“I like him,” Lilia said to Adelina. “He has a kind face. Meri didn’t mean it personally. I’m sure you’ve practiced performing with him.”
“Well, actually…” Adelina held her hands behind her back. “He can dance, but I don’t know about performing.”
“He seemed kind of spacey,” Shannel said. “But that doesn’t mean Meri had to be a meanie about him.”
Practice
The Sylphides regrouped later at a small practice stage.
“Okay, places everyone,” Limlim said. “We’ll be rehearsing ‘Star’. A new role has been created for Prince. He’ll play the villian’s lackey. We’ve created this role because it’ll prepare him for a similar role in the competition play.”
Limlim handed Shannel a long thorn. “It’s a lance for the competition show, but we’ll pretend it’s a sword for this rehearsal. Okay, motivation overview. Shannel, you’ve been raised since you were a baby to believe all the land you can see belongs to your family.” She handed a thorn to Adelina. “Your village has lived in poverty because of Noemi’s evil lordship. Now that Noemi has been slain by my character, you want Shannel to bring peace to the land. Your request means Shannel will have to give up her family’s land and rule, the one thing she cannot do. Remember, Shannel, you believe everything your family has done is right and just, and Adelina wants to take it all away from you.
“Prince, you will play the part of Shannel’s lackey. Your motivation is an undying duty to serve Shannel’s family. You would give up your life for Shannel, which is why Shannel sends you out on a fight to the death against Adelina. You two battle, and you lose, but Adelina refuses to kill you. You have never seen such kindness, and you fall in love. You want to be with her and to protect her, but you don’t want to betray Shannel’s family. Your mind is in agony, and you kill yourself. Because your soul was so strong, you become a star in the night sky.
“Adelina reaches the castle, and she pleas for peace. After Prince killed himself, Adelina doesn’t want to see anymore lives lost. Shannel, you believe Adelina killed Prince herself, and is trying to lower your guard. The two of you battle with all your might, and Shannel defeats Adelina, taking her life.
“Like Prince before her, Adelina becomes a star in the night sky. Shannel realizes Adelina was willing to die to confront her. She visits a village where Lilia and Payan are poor and oppressed. Confronted with the true nature of her family’s rule, Shannel vows to right her family’s wrongs. That night, she looks into the night sky, and sees the two new stars. She knows those stars will always hang overhead as a reminder of her actions. Cue curtain call. Where shall be begin?”
“Where’s Meri?” Lilia whispered to Noemi. “I thought she’d want to be here to see this?”
“Library,” Noemi whispered back. “I guess she figured she wouldn’t need to be here for rehearsal since she’s on instrument.”
Tags: NaNoWriMo