Tári of Dorthonion
an excerpt

Chapter Eleven:
In the Meadow of the Faeries

Zipping through rainbows and stardust inside of a tunnel that seemed to be a long bubble balloon, Katherine screamed for the first few seconds. However, once she realized that the tunnel ride felt the same as sliding down one of those swirly slides at the park, her screams quickly turned into gleeful laughter. In fact, she was still giggling when the tunnel abruptly ended, and she landed on her bottom in a soft, grassy field filled with flowers of every shape, size, and color imaginable… and that meant a lot, especially for a creative mind such as hers. Sitting up with her hands propped behind her back, Katherine took a deep breath in order to smell all the beautiful flowers, as well as to catch her breath from the swift ride through the portal.

As she sat there in the middle of the vast field, she began to notice little rustlings here and there among the flowers. Afraid that it could be a snake, Katherine carefully and silently pulled her feet and hands towards the center of her body and began to slowly stand up. The rustlings continued to get closer, and, worse, it looked as if they were surrounding her from all sides. With no where to go, the small, frightened girl wrapped her arms around her middle, as if hugging herself, and remained as still as possible in the hopes that whatever was in the field would leave her alone. The moment that the movements stopped, Katherine could hear a murmur of tiny whisperings coming from the spot right in front of her feet.

“Psst… psst…” was all Katherine could seem to here, but the kindness she heard is what caused her to bend her knees just enough so that she could crouch down near the spot of grass from which she could hear the sounds coming.

“H-h-hello? Is someone there?” Katherine spoke towards the grass and flowers at her feet.

Immediately, she heard the sound of tiny murmurings once more… only this time it was much clearer and a lot easier to understand. When she looked towards the direction of these whisperings, she found herself blinking a few times before believing the sight before her wide green eyes. Sitting on the petals of a rose colored lily were three tiny girls – each wearing a different color dress, which sort of looked like upside-down flowers and that matched their beautiful, iridescent stardust wings.

As she stared in giddy wonder, the tiny girl who sat in the middle of the group spoke up. “Welcome to the Meadow of the Fairies, Tári of Dorthonion. I am Róisín, and these are my friends, Layleigh and Dymphna.” Róisín was a lovely fairy with golden hair and sparkling violet eyes. The dress she wore was a deep, fuchsia color with accents of ivory while her wings were made of a glittering stardust in a lighter shade of fuchsia and in the shape of a rose’s leaves. When Róisín introduced her two friends, Katherine was able to see that these two fairies’ dresses and wings were exactly like Róisín’s. The only differences were that Layleigh had dark, red hair and twinkling emerald eyes, and her dress and wings were in a soft, mint-green color; and Dymphna had beautiful, raven-black hair with dazzling sapphire eyes, and her dress and wings were a colorful mix of golds, reds, and browns – just like the Autumn leaves Katherine saw back home.

Smiling kindly down at the tiny winged fairies, Katherine greeted, “It’s nice to meet all of you. I’ve never seen real fairies before. You are all very pretty. But, I have to ask… who is this Tar-ee person, and what is Dor-thone-knee-in?”

The three fairies giggled in tiny tinkling voices, and Layleigh answered, “Why… you are Tári, silly. And, all of this,” Layleigh flew up towards Katherine’s shoulder and made a gesture that encompassed everything that they could see, “is Dorthonion.”

“I’m sorry, but my name is not Tári… my name is Katherine.” The girl took this moment to stand up and look around. When she could not see any signs or other things that could tell her where she was and how to get home, she turned back to Róisín and asked, “If this is Dorthonion, then where is it? How did I get here?”

This time Dymphna flew up to hover in front of the girl’s face to answer her questions. “Dorthonion is the name of this world. It is sort of like the planet Earth, except that our world is not located in the same universe as Earth.”

“The only way someone can travel to Dorthonion is if they speak the language of Eáránë Séregon Melwasúl Anwamanë Eáránë Elendil Anwamanë Dorthonion,” Róisín said, finishing the other fairy’s explanation.

Shaking her head to try and clear the stardust out of her ears, Katherine looked from each fluttering fairy and blurted, “Huh?” Trying to sound out the funny words, she added meticulously, “The language of A-rain Sara-gon Mel-was-zul On-what-man-nut A-rain El-in-dill On-what-man-nut Dorthonion? What does that mean?”

“Eáránë Séregon Melwasúl Anwamanë Eáránë Elendil Anwamanë Dorthonion is pronounced Air-rahn-ya Sara-gon Mel-wos-syool Ahn-wah-man-yea Air-rahn-ya Elen-dell Ahn-wah-man-yea Dorthonion,” Layleigh giggled and corrected her politely. “It is an ancient book the color of emeralds, and its name means “The Sacred Tome of the Clans of Dorthonion.” The wee fairy fluttered in mid-air for a couple of moments before flying closer towards the child’s nose, the better to be seen. Then, offering a kind smile, she asked, “Do you understand now, Tári of Dorthonion?”

“Why does everyone keep calling me that? My name is Katherine, not Tári,” she told the three fairies in a rather angry voice.

After a sharp pause to allow the child to calm down, Róisín repeated her fairy friend’s answer from earlier, “You must understand something. Although you may be known as Katherine on Earth, your true name is Tári. You were born of Dorthonion lands, and so you have always been known as Tári to those of us who dwell here.”

Katherine nodded her head very slowly as she allowed this information to make sense. From her first conversation in this strange world, she had learned quite a few things: first, the large, green book she had found contained all the information about every single family from this land; second, she had a name that she never knew about… Tári of Dorthonion; third, she could read and speak a whole other language that she had never knew about before today; and, last, she now knew that magic portals and fairies were real. As she continued to think about everything the three fairies had told her, her mind kept coming back to the strange name they had called her. Over and over, she would say the name in her mind and even tried whispering it aloud as well, and after each repetition, she found that she liked this magical name much better than just plain ‘Katherine’. Not only did this new name sound pretty and special, but it truly was special because it was something only she knew – it would be her little secret, along with the magical book and the world of Dorthonion.

“Al-right,” the child began, “if my real name is Tári, and I was born of this place, then how come I’ve been living on Earth all this time? Are my parents really my parents?”

Dymphna, wanting to put the girl’s fears aside, fluttered her wings as she brought Tári’s hands together in her own wee ones. “Oh, Tári, do not worry. Ríona and Bréanainn are your real mom and dad.”

“That’s right, Tári,” Layleigh added as she fluttered her own wings and held the child’s hands as Dymphna had. “You see… your parents left Dorthonion a few years before you were born.”

Joining her faerie friends, Róisín continued, “And, like all the human clans of Dorthonion, they went to Earth so that their children could be born and learn about that world’s life.”

“But, why?” Tári asked. “Why do all these families have to leave? Why can’t they just let their kids grow up here?”

“Well, it’s one of the laws of Dorthonion,” Róisín answered. “The King and Queen passed this rule so that the children of Dorthonion would have to be born on Earth. Our rulers believe that this will allow the children to build friendships with the people they meet, as well as giving them the chance to learn about the planet’s ways of life.”

“Oh, I see,” Tári responded with a note of understanding. “But if the rule says that everyone has to be born on Earth, then why have I never seen faeries before now?”

Dymphna, Layleigh, and Róisín looked from the child to each other and giggled as they began flying in small circles of delight. “Silly, Tári,” Layleigh began, “only the human clans of Dorthonion are allowed to go to Earth.”

“Besides,” Dymphna continued, “even if we magical beings were allowed to visit Earth, the differences between us and the humans there could cause a lot of problems for our own world.”

“You, see… we cannot allow the people of Earth to ever know about Dorthonion.” Róisín finished gravely. “The moment they learned of our world, they would immediately begin looking for ways to come here. Unfortunately, this would be extremely dangerous for everyone living here because the humans of Earth are known for their use and need of high technology… and as you can see by looking around, Dorthonion survives on magic and simple science.”

Tári nodded her head in understanding, as she looked around the Meadow of the Faeries and beyond. Loving the beauty of the lands as well as her new magical friends, she knew in her heart that there was nothing she would ever do to destroy it. She was about to impart this information to the three winged ones when she suddenly remembered the mysterious creature from her painting. Confused, she asked in a slightly accusatory voice with a pointing finger for emphasis, “Wait a minute, if only the human clans can go to Earth, then how did that thing find its way into the painting I made at school?”

As Tári pointed towards the metallic, blue creature with the sea-green wings which was now flying over a forest of trees, the three faeries turned together and became as still as they could considering they were still hovering in mid-air. In a small, whispery voice, Layleigh sighed, “Ahh, isn’t it beautiful.”

“Umm, well, yes… it is really pretty,” Tári answered slowly. “But, what is it?”

In the same tone as her friend, Dymphna replied, “It’s a dragon, of course.”

“A dragon? But I thought dragons weren’t real.”

“Yes, but you also didn’t think faeries were real either, Tári,” Róisín stated. “I’m sure, as you continue exploring Dorthonion, you will find many things here that you think aren’t real… but they are.”

“Oh,” Tári said. “But you three still haven’t told me how that dragon was able to show up in one of my paintings. Which reminds me… if my mom and dad are from here, then how come my mom couldn’t see the dragon in my painting, too?”

Layleigh giggled again, as is her nature, then answered, “Well, some of the creatures here can make themselves known to the Dorthonions living on Earth… but only if there is an extremely important reason. If you want to know the reason why this dragon chose to appear in your painting, then you must find it and ask it yourself.”

“Which is most likely why your mom did not admit to seeing the dragon,” Dymphna added. “Every Dorthonion who is visited by a creature in this way must find the answers themselves.”

“So you three can’t help me then, huh?” Tári determined in a dejected tone.

Fluttering over to the child’s cheek, Róisín kissed her and said, “Do not worry, Tári… we know you will find your answers. Just remember, although you may be alone in your quest, there will always be someone who will be able to point you in the right direction.”

Smiling and feeling better, Tári laughed herself. “You mean, like the three of you have told me about how I got here and what I need to do, right?”

Smiling in return, the three faeries fluttered in front of the girl’s face, bowed, and replied simultaneously, “Exactly… you got it… that’s right!”

Laughing at the three winged ones’ silliness, Tári bowed herself and said farewell. “Thank you for all your help… but I should probably get going.”

“You’re welcome,” all three replied.

Pointing towards the stone castle on the edge of the meadow, Dymphna suggested, “You may want to head towards Alatariel Aldaríon first. There will be all sorts of books and maps and things that you can use to help you on your quest.”

“Alatariel Aldaríon… got it,” Tári repeated determinedly.

Waving good-bye to her newest friends, the young girl began walking towards the stone castle. As she strolled through the Meadow of the Faeries, Tári now noticed everything she hadn’t noticed when she first arrived. Here and there, she could see little homes in and around the flowers, and she even heard the tiny voices of all the faeries that were near her. Yet, with every step she took away from the meadow, a little bit of fear grew in her heart. She had never been on her own before, and worse, she had no idea about what would happen when she met this dragon. Therefore, it was actually a relief to be walking towards the beautiful stone castle with its tall towers and large, wooden double-doors. After all, Alatariel Aldaríon looked safe and inviting… not scary and forbidding like the forest of trees.