Kiera Daley "Fairen"
From Changeling Venue
link titleFairen was just turned fourteen. It was 1996. As a foster child who had been through the system so long she lost count of the families she had been through, she felt very unloved and unwanted. The only place she felt secure, and serene, was in Stadium Park near the Garden Center. She enjoyed sitting on the wall of the damn, listening to the waterfalls, the feel of nature around her, and enjoying the peacefulness of the area. She had settled in with a book when a ripple broke through the water, and an icy arm reached up, grabbing her around the throat and pulled her under the water. Down they went, deeper than the bottom of the pond's fourteen feet. She thought her lungs would explode. The events that occurred after that were now a bit blurred, thank goodness, but she recalled having her body twisted and warped so that the water environment wouldn't hurt her. Each day, day in and day out, she did the Undine's bidding. Some days, she brushed out her long, sandy blonde hair. Other days, she fed the Undine's pets--little fish that lived on the bottom of the lake that they lived in. She had no clue where she was, but bit by bit, the other slaves explained the situation to her, and helped her adapt to her new mistress's wishes. She learned and slaved. This continued until finally she could escape.
It was whisperred to her from the other slaves. Wait for the night where the nettles at the edge of the lake were red with blood (The Red Nettle Revolt). She recalled the running, the fear, the chase, and the deaths of three of her fellow slaves--her friends and confidents. Still today, she had nightmares of their deaths as they sacrificed themselves to allow the seven others to slip away.
She continued in the nightmare, unsure how long she was wandering. Time became distorted and she kept feeling the thorns tearing at her, ripping her sanity as she stumbled though them. The paths merged, blurred and were hard to find. She fought against the pain and the heartache as she slept, nightmares disrupting her sleep, then got up and continued to try to find her way out again.
Finally, she found a break in the thorns, and with relief stepped out...and found two Lost standing before her. She freaked out and started crying hysterically. It took quite a while before they could assure her that she was indeed free.
She's returned at 24, and after having broken from the hedge with the help of other retainers who escaped their capivity, has found herself in a totally new world around her. It's 2007, what are these things like cell phones? Windows jumped from 3.1 to Vista!
