[Editor’s note: Read part two here.]
Tam-Tam cast some diamonds on the fire and the hues of the rainbow reached its multi-colored fingers into the night sky. Waywis watched the flames. Both sisters waited for the coming of the Fairy Queen. They had been deeply immersed in their work for aeons and it was time for them to reap the benefits.
The full moon hung suspended in the night sky. One of their sisters flew across the face of the moon. She looked down at the fire of jewels as she traversed the sky. Someone was dying. She was the spirit-catcher of the night and she flew to meet the detached soul.
There was movement at the edge of the clearing. Tam-Tam and Waywis turned towards the sound. They saw Traylon, the Troll, as he entered the clearing. He slouched his great beastly body in their direction.
Waywis spoke. “What ho, meat-eater, wherefore have you come to this gathering?”
Traylon looked at the Fey Sisters and said, “I come to meet with the Fairy Queen. It is at her bidding that I come. She gave me leave to approach the Ring within you both wait. She told me my river would be in the hands of your sisters for the time of the meeting.”
“Humph,” said Tam-Tam, “why would the Queen wish to meet with the likes of you? You are that which rends and destroys. You are the eater of the flesh.”
“This I do not know,” replied Traylon. “I only know that she bid me come. I have always been her willing servant. I cannot know or understand the wishes or desires of She that watches over us all. You have always been her faithful workers and I have only done what I knew how to do. Yet this I know, my love for the Queen is no less than yours.”
At this statement both Tam-Tam and Waywis burst into derisive laughter. In their hearts they knew this deluded Troll had been called to be the jester at this sacred gathering of the Queen’s servants. They sat by the fire and waited for what they knew would be great and generous rewards. Traylon sat quietly with them. His only wish was to bask in the glory of his Fairy Queen. He prayed to the Goddess.
There was the sound of mighty wings. The Goddess was in the clearing. The rainbow light from the fire shimmered and danced within her great wings. She folded them about her and stood near her servants.
Tam-Tam and Waywis bent their small frames in a graceful bow. Traylon clumsily got down on his scaly knees. He felt the pain shoot through his legs. This was not a natural position for the beast, yet he could do no less and would, if called, do much more for his Queen.
She spoke to the gathering. “I have called you here today to reward you for your service to my Queendom. I ask you now to make an accounting of the services you have done in my name.”
Tam-Tam arose and spoke first. “Great Lady of the Woodlands, I am your servant. I have given the gift of growth to the gardens of the creatures of the forest and the cities. I have kissed the soil with the energy you have given me so that all may eat and feed their young. Look around you; look at the forest, look at the gardens, see the happy creatures that live in this world I have seeded. I have done this work for you and I have done it well.”
When Tam-Tam finished speaking, the Queen looked at Waywis. She arose and spoke. “Oh, Great Mother of all things, I have given the man creature the gift of flight. Thanks to my great work, man now soars the skies like the birds and like us, the great Fairies that work in your service. I have done your bidding and done it well. Tam-Tam and I have awaited your presence to claim our reward.”
“As well you shall,” said the Fairy Queen. Then she turned to Traylon, the Troll, whom had been kneeling quietly throughout the proceedings.
“And what of you, great beast? What have you to say about your recent activities?”
Tam-Tam and Waywis snickered. The Fairy Queen hushed them with a glance.
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