Wings & Dreams

Masks

Along the way, I kept my head down, not daring to look into Fae's passing eyes. More precisely, it was Fae who flew here and there. I don't even know where I am right now, which obviously Fae Ventus is constantly pulling at me. You could say he led me by force.

"Clara, lift your head! You should see this!" Shouted Kei in the crowd. I even lowered my head.

"It's okay, Clara." That fae was stretching her body with me. "All Fae is busy. They won't notice you."

I hope his words are right. But why am I still afraid and hesitant? Ah, maybe I'm still traumatized by thinking about the Chrys attack. Even so, there is no harm in paying attention to the road. So I followed him and looked around clearly.

Many small buildings with uniform shapes and colors on my right-left. I couldn't help my amazement when I saw this beautiful place. The walls are painted in wood brown color. The roof is cylindrical, with tree roots sticking out as ornaments around the building. The small windows allowed me to look inside. The contents of the house were not much different from the cottage I had lived in before.

Some of the cottages are open to the public, as there are boards inscribed with the name of each store. What made me the least focused was Fae's appearance here. Their flapped wings produced a kind of cool breeze that cooled me. I can find a wide variety of wing colors here, such as red, blue, green, pink, purple, of course, in addition to the gray of Fae Ventus.

"How's it?" Kei asked who turned out to be smiling satisfied looking at my expression. I just nodded, still opening my mouth slightly. "I.I think Fae's place of residence is like..."

"Like?"

"You know what's commonly described in fairy tales." I looked at him. "Tree house, with dwarf housemaids. Then there's also Pixie, a little winged creature that helps pollinate flowers and so on."

Kei was even more interested in hearing my story. "Wow, Pixies? Cool!"

"Umm...is it true that in your world, there are no Pixies or Elves?"

"Hmm, Pixie is rarely found. They belong to the Fae class of animals, and only appear in the spring, even then not in all places," he said while paying attention to the road. "As for the dwarf or the Elf, I've never heard of him. I know it's an ancient creature that's long gone."

Ah, it turns out that way. Not everything told in a fairy tale is true.

We passed by a group of red-winged Fae males. One of them realized our presence and immediately penetrated the crowd to approach us. I hurriedly lowered my head and bit my lower lip. Don't look at me, don't look at me, don't look at me!

"Let's! It seems you are right!" Said the Fae. I could see his short black hair. Fortunately he was only focused on looking at Fae next to me. Kei squeezed out a little bit of my hand, probably to calm me down. "Rio! How are you?"

"How are you?" He repeated Kei's words, and casually embraced Kei's neck. "I miss you." Fae then kissed Kei on the cheek. I was surprised, trying to hide the smile that was beginning to expand on my face. I could see from the man's gaze that he really missed Kei. Maybe he's his partner.

"Rio!" Kei punched Fae's arm hard. "You were intentional?!"

"Uh." Fae it rolled his eyeballs. "Come, Kei. Why react that way when you meet an old friend?" Fae's eyes finally landed on me. I realized that I was staring at him, so I hurriedly hid my face into the hood of the robe.

"Who is he?" Ask curiously. Kei pulled my body back. "He's, umm. Zeyn's new servant."

"New servant Zeyn?" Rio explored my entire body with his black eyes. I felt uncomfortable and lowered my head. "You're still working for that Ventus Chairman?" Ask in a disgusting tone. He licked his own lips. "Kei, you could still hang on with her"

"He is a good Fae, Rio," Kei cut firmly. At first glance Rio's expression was like a heartache, but the look on his face returned to how it was. "Kei, you don't know that Ventus Chairman. I know your dream from a long time ago was to become a member of the Ventus Chief, but this is not what you have to live for." Rio rested both his hands on Kei's shoulders. "You just graduated from Faedemy."

"Click, Rio." Kei brushed off Fae's hand. I was surprised because again Kei uses human everyday language. It was strange to hear that word come out from the mouth of a Fae. Rio's confused. "You mean?"

"Stop vilifying Zeyn! I know you're just jealous of her because a lot of women are crazy about her!" Kei snapped, and Rio only replied with a hurtful expression as well as confusion with Kei's new and strange speaking style.

"Kei, but you know Fae was never-"

After Rio was lost swallowed by the audience, then I raised my speech. "Why your friend?" And immediately regretted because the condition of Kei's heart must have not improved. Luckily, Fae still answered my question. "Huh! He was just jealous of Zeyn!"

I'm speechless. Kei continued his words. "Rio doesn't like to see me follow Zeyn's group! From the very beginning we were friends at Faedemy, he knew I was a big fan of Zeyn."

I said Wow in my heart. "So Rio's jealous?"

"Jealous? Haha!" Kei laughed instead. "It's not like that. We're just friends. Maybe yes, but not something like.you know."

"Oh." I'm not sure I understand what that means.

"He's my best friend. It's only natural that I pay more attention to someone other than her." Kei has now led me to a quieter place with Fae. Now I can raise my head. "He's like a big brother to me."

I remember how much he loved the human world. "So he said, your dream is to become a member. Why are you interested in the human world? I thought Fae really hated my people."

Kei didn't speak. He finally stopped and focused his eyes forward. I was forced to follow the direction of his gaze, and was immediately wide-eyed to see what was presented before me.

The clear blue sea that stretched wide, reflected the sunlight and flickered from my eyes. "Finally you can see the Sea of Life, Clara." He smiles. "Hows it? Beautiful right?"

The sea is beautiful. However, it did not distract me. "Take me, Kei."

Kei sighed and finally gave up. "I will tell you this. Promise to keep it a secret?" I was surprised to hear that this was a secret, but I shook my head.

"That's what I'm trying to prove to everyone. To hide my interest in the human world." Kei scratched his head. "Fake dreams, fake acting, everything I play."

"Why? Why pretend?"

"I envy your people" he said softly. I blinked many times. "Dad? Why envy a weak creature like me?"

Kei looked at me sadly. "It's okay, Kei. I can keep it a secret." Kei breathed a sigh of relief. "I know I can trust you" he said with a smile. His gaze was then fixed on the sea before him. "I'm just..." He shook his head. "Since I first met the human race, their nature and behavior were different from what was taught in Faedemy, the school for our people."

"Different?"

"Yes. You are described as a being full of ego and only selfishness. Destroying and dropping each other. The negative things." Kei is still pensive. "However, I also see love in your eyes. You still have a sense of caring. You still have feelings."

I stared at my filthy fingernails from the dust of Fae's wings and the ground. Kei continued his words. "Your lives are simple. While Fae's life is difficult. We must be able to master our magic. We must always be prepared if our country is threatened with external dangers, such as war and the like. Fae's life is full of bloodshed." Kei closed his eyes, and bowed. I would love to pat him on the shoulder, say that everything will be fine, but I didn't do that.

"How does it feel to have no wings and no magic? Living only to provide for family and living with loved ones without fear of abandonment?" Kei Murmuring. My feelings were swept away by him.

As long as I live, the problems I have may be only one or two things, such as difficulty in making a living, difficulty to just fill the stomach with food. Difficulty to boast Grandma who has now disappeared and is not known whereabouts. I never thought of the life Fae described by Kei; the amount of bloodshed. A fairy tale certainly does not contain such a side of life.

"I'm sorry for not realizing your true feelings" I whispered. But Kei can hear it thanks to his sharp hearing. Faenya's ears twitched. "It's okay" he said with a smile. "After all, what the hell was I expecting?"

As we finally walked home, the question he was quoted kept ringing in my mind. Can I expect something that can't happen? Like for example the hope that Grandma is still alive out there. Hope that I will soon meet with Fae who I thought was the ringleader behind the destruction of Norlata Village. And the hope that my ability to predict is just a lie.