To Hermit Mountain

The Queen had just formally asked a young fairy if she was willing to be trained to go to Earth and contact her missing daughter. The mission was dangerous because Earth has a corrupting influence on fairies. But if trained well and while still young, there was a good chance that a fairy would survive a mission to Earth and perhaps succeed in convincing the Queen’s daughter to return form Earth to the Higher World.

The young fairy felt quite shy as all attention in the room was focused on her. She tried to find her voice and at first let out a little cough before answering. She then looked at Lord Clarence and said in a rather childlike and shaky voice, “umm, okay. Yeah.” Vanessa bent over and whispered sharply to her. “Look at the Queen when you speak! Address her as ‘your Majesty’ and use more formal language.” Meanwhile the Queen and Lord Clarence both smiled endearingly. Another fairy started smiling and was close to letting out a small giggle but pulled herself together when she met the stern look of Vanessa who then prompted the young fairy again to reformulate her answer.

Sophia-Highborn then answered again, this time looking at the Queen. “Yes, your Majesty. I will do it. Send me.”

There was a general sense of admiration in the room. Some wondered if she really comprehended the danger of going to earth.

Lord Clarence bowed as a sign of gratitude and the Queen said “I offer you my sincerest thanks Sophia Rosemaracynthia Highborn. We shall provide a trainer for you and monitor your progress. When the time comes and you are ready, you shall be sent to Earth. And now, as a token of our gratitude, you shall receive a baby falcon whom you will train at Hermit Mountain in your free time and you will also receive a pair of shoes.”

Princess Selena Bell, who was the younger sister of Stephanie, also offered heartfelt yet formal thanks to Sophia-Highborn.

As a specialised, leading warrior, Selena’s title was ‘Head of the Elite’ and she was always seen in close fitting, light armour. But her armour was far from standard or ordinary. It had a greenish sheen to it and was considered at the time to be the most highly valued set of armour to exist. This was due to its fine quality, ornate style and the aged material that it was made from, being significantly more robust than steel and all other known metals. Last but not least, it had undergone a process of enchantment that took place over a period of nine years. Ever since this process had begun to take place, no one ever saw the face of Selena again because it came with a vow that she took to always stay encased in armour and only to remove her helmet for a single day every nine years. That day would become known as ‘Selena’s Day’ and the Palace would host a grand banquet in her honour and an entire week of partying would follow throughout the entire realm.

Although the helmet she wore did not cover her face itself but only the rest of her head, still, there was a darkness that completely obscured her eyes and nose while she had it on. But her mouth could be seen. It was when one tried to look any higher up on her face above her mouth that they could no longer see anything but darkness. She was in fact terrifying to look at if you had never seen her before, especially if she looked at you with displeasure. Every now and then there would be a glint and crackle from her armour. This was occasionally accompanied by an earie rumbling sound, almost as if the armour had a life of its own.

The Elite consisted of warrior fairies who had extra special training. They were usually called Combat Fairies. The male soldiers were called Saltor Guards or Saltor Warriors.

Neither fairies nor their male counterparts, the saltors required shoes but sometimes they were given as an honorific for certain praiseworthy actions and achievements. Gradually the saltors began to wear finely crafted boots because they tended to have an appeal for being well dressed and some upper-class fairies began to wear shoes simply because they liked the added air of respect that went with them.

It was later that day that Sophia-Highborn received her pet falcon in its own cage and her pair of shoes that were presented to her on a velvet red cushion and enclosed in a wooden box with two glass doors. The doors had small gold-plated round knobs and the shoes themselves were white, slightly raised at the heels and had a variety of small gemstones attached to them.

She was particularly delighted with the young falcon and immediately began thinking about what to name him. But as for the shoes, she just left them in her room on display and still inside the box. She then went outside with her new bird. Later that day she would have to say goodbye to her loved ones and go to Hermit Mountain where she would be trained over the course of ten months for her mission to the lower world.

Her teacher’s name was Elizabeth-Greatheart of Hermit Mountain. 

Hermit Fairies were those who lived more solitary and austere lives than others.

There was a Mountain where many of them lived alone, attending to various exercises such as study, meditation, history writing and archive building. Many fairy powers were first introduced by Hermits who discovered them and taught them to other fairies. Hermits were a form of specialist fairies, usually advanced in age, deeply wise and very powerful. 

Eva-Claire Yellowblossom was the most powerful of all publicly known fairies at the time but she had a very strict approach with anyone who became her student and because Sophia-Highborn was so young, they decided that Elizabeth-Greatheart, who had a gentler approach, would be more suitable for her. 

After a brave and cheerful farewell to her family and friends, Sophia-Highborn was taken by an escort of Combat Fairies, led by their mighty, dark faced leader, Selena, to the ancient Hermit Mountain where she was scheduled to meet her new instructor. It would be a long, arduous journey up the steep and rocky mountain. The destination was near the top and consisted in a hollowed-out cave with a wooden door at the entrance. 

Besides her family, she would be particularly missed by two of her friends who were also young: Melissa-Rosemary and Louise-Estella Starlingtongale. Together, they began to discus whether they should one day attempt to go there themselves, all the way up the mysterious and dangerous mountain, to visit Sophia-Highborn and see how she was getting on. They were not quite aware of all the rules or the reasons behind them that were in place at the hermitage but one thing was for certain which was that Sophia-Highborn was not permitted to receive any visitors during the period of her training and that this could end up compromising her progress and potentially put the entire mission in jeopardy.