to the one thing that felt true. She and Rafe were meant to be together. With him at her side, she could handle anything, she figured.
“All right everyone!” Rafe clapped his hands enthusiastically. “Let's go see our friend, Red.” The children cheered, and Keira smiled. Red? She felt herself really relax for the first time all day. Though he had just happened to be her guide on that first day here, he had turned into something of a friend, or at the very least a familiar friendly face around the park. He always seemed to have a kind or encouraging word for her. But why would he want to go see Red? She gave up trying to figure everything out. It sort of made her head hurt actually.
Keira followed Rafe and the children. The kids must have known where they were going as they ran out ahead. The landscape changed a bit. They seemed to be walking a long time when they came upon a very large bridge that crossed over a small flowing river. She couldn’t quite place where she was in the faire either. Surely she would have seen this place before. It’s positively magical. The bridge seemed out of place, but it was styled like an old covered one made of painted red wood with a white roof. On further inspection, Keira realized it wasn't a bridge at all, but a house built over the water.
The children ran over to the ten-foot-tall door and started hanging from the bell rope, which announced their arrival with a clang. Red slowly opened the door; the huge green troll stood there smiling down at all of them. His face changed to confusion and happiness when he spied Keira amongst the group. He looked to Rafe questioningly. As he looked around Keira also noticed that from somewhere Sarah had joined their little group.
Rafe immediately went up to greet him. “Good morning, Red!” he said cheerfully. “Sorry if we disturbed your breakfast. I'm showing Keira around and thought it would be nice for her to see the entire faire. She will be staying, and well I have decided that we need to show her the real faire…and how we operate. Since you are the first troll she's ever met, I thought we'd start with you, if that's okay.” Red's face went from confusion to sheer delight.
“Of course! The real faire you say?” he replied, smiling directly at Keira with his toothy grin. “I can do that. Come in, come in, I have a kettle going if you'd like some tea.”
“I'd be delighted,” Keira said, feeling like a storybook character in a fairy tale. A real troll? Well, if dragons, and bear people are a thing, why not trolls? “I've never had tea with a real troll before”
Red laughed and his large form shook with mirth. “I rarely have guests inside, but today, I will make an exception.”
But just as he did so Keira once again felt a strange sleepiness… “I’m sorry I feel faint again… I don’t know what’s wrong with me…”
As Rafe went to her side, Sarah suddenly seemed to wake up. “Wait, what did you say? Faintly feeling?”
“Why, yes.” she said, as she took a seat on a large stone.
Sarah immediately turned to Rafe. “Rafe, the Fairy faire veil spell…of course I’m so sorry! How could I have forgotten. I mean it is still in place for her, like for all humans here, no?”
“Oh my God, of course…It has been so long, I mean I forget it was even in place. But it’s still in place of course.”
Rafe and Sarah stood motionless in thought for a moment and then Rafe finally spoke. “Well, that makes sense then…why she fainted…and I mean why it is so hard for her to see…and accept.”
“Right” interjected Sarah. “But the fact that even so she has accepted so much and really been able to see so much already tells me she is ready.”
“You are sure? Can you remove it, for her?”
“Of course, it is only Fairy magic. My magic is much stronger,” Sarah said with a mix of pride and maybe a little judgement.
“Well, ok then. Let’s do it”
With that, Sarah turned to her and began waving her hands as if she were driving away flies, and simply said, in a rhythmic voice, “What is to be seen, may you see and accept what you see as what is.” Then she quickly added “for the highest good of all of course.”
For a moment Keira felt