Flash Fiction #404 -- Lost in Elsewhre/14

"Talk to Lord Ice," Maggie repeated with a frown.  "And side with the snowmen in this one?"

I looked at those creatures where they waited just outside the warmth of the fire.  I suspected that they knew about fae magic and realized we couldn't keep this fire going for long.

"I wonder if they could tell me what they don't like about Lord Ice," I said, turning my attention to them.  "I don't think we could really help them if we don't understand."

She looked skeptical, and I had to admit that it was an odd idea.  I didn't like the snowmen, and I didn't trust them, but part of me thought this needed to be straightened out before it got worse.

"What do you want?" I said and kept the feeling that I ought to shudder at the sight of them from showing.  There were many odd creatures in Elsewhere and some even more dangerous.  I'd dealt with many of those.

Maybe that was even part of being fae.  I tried to consider that idea and wondered if it made me feel different at all.  I always felt different, though.  I had never fitted in, and I still didn't.  I would never be really fae --

The warmth I had been holding started to fail.

"Mark?" Maggie said and sounded worried.

"Who am I, really?  What makes me think I should be talking to dragons about treating snowmen better?"

"Sounds odd, doesn't it?" she agreed.

"Yeah."  But I noticed something even stranger.  As we talked, the snowmen were starting to get less agitated, and I had the feeling they were listening to me.

Maggie glanced toward them as well and then nodded.  "We'll talk to Lord Snow first and get a clear idea of how to approach Lord Ice.  Dragons have trouble with communications sometimes.  They don't understand all the things we are saying."

"We go," one of the snowmen said.  "We leave you."

"I can't say we'll gain anything for you," I replied as I stood.  "I will try."

A murmuring of voices as they started away --

"Wait," Maggie called out.  Dark-eyed faces turned back at us.  "What do you want of Lord Ice?"

"Our villages.  Ice knocks them down, destroys some of us, and we must rebuild homes and ourselves.  He flies to low."

I nodded.  "I suspect he doesn't realize.  White on white -- a dragon does not see things the same way that we do."

And I didn't even ask what a snowman might see.

"Banners," Maggie suggested.  "You should put banners up on poles at the four corners of your villages.  That should help.  But we'll still talk to Lord Ice."

The snowmen made sounds of agreement, and they headed away.  It was, at least, a little less cold.

But also dark.  Snowy.

"We have the path to get back," Maggie said and took hold of my arm.  "Let's get going before it disappears beneath the snow."

"I sent Edmond for help.  Listen for him," I said and moved along with her.  "This isn't much like the walks we used to take in the hills near home, is it?"

"No, it isn't," she agreed and gave a shake of her head.  "But this is home to me more than that ever was.  You have a different past, though it intersected with mine.  You had a good home."

"My mom was saving money to buy you from your parents.  That sounds bad, doesn't it?  But she kept saying that money was all they really understood, despite their act of being holier than thou."

"I never knew.  That's sweet."  She dabbed at her eyes and smiled.  "She was right about them."

"I liked our walks in the woods," I said and tried to move the conversation back to more pleasant things.  At least the path we followed back was plain enough, and I tried not to think too much about plowing through the snow.  "I sometimes miss walking through an area where the most dangerous creature might be a skunk."

"Hadn't considered that," she said with a nod.  "Yeah, I guess you're right about that part.   I like to fly, though, so I don't always think about what's going on at ground level.  You should get wings."

"Get wings," I said and looked at her with shock.  "I mean, you can just get wings?  Like Edmond did?"

"Yeah, kind of," she said.  Then she looked up in the sky.  "Edmond!  Are you there?  We're down here!"

I heard a distant sound.  We both stopped and turned.

"Edmond?" she said again.

A dark ball of fur came out of the sky, overshot us, and landed in the snow, rolling head over heels several times before he stood up.  Edmond shook off the snow and looked around --

"We're back here," I said.

He spun around, tail fluffed and ears back.  Then he settled again.  "Lord Snow should be along here soon.  Did you melt the little monsters?"

"We talked to them," Maggie said. 

"Figures."

"And they let us go without a fight," I added.    "We just have to let Lord Ice know what the problem is with them."

"Talk to the dragon," Edmond said, walking along with us.  "Well, good luck with that one.  Do one of you want to carry me before I freeze my paws off?"

I laughed and picked him up.  He settled around my neck and over my shoulders -- I always appreciated the warmth in the Winter Lands.

But honestly, I was ready to get out of the snow.  I thought fondly of wandering through a swampland with a friendly dinosaur -- and yes, I had done that in the past.  Travel in Elsewhere has always been exciting.

Though nothing had prepared me for a snow leopard bounding through the snow with a small black kitten attached to the top of his head.

"We help!" Five shouted and bounced as Lord Snow came to a stop.  "We help!"

And then she launched herself straight at -- something.