Observing

“You are observant” he said candidly.

“Yes” she said, with her gaze wandering all about him. Eve could also see the auric glow, which like a rosy sunrise rayed out some feet around him. Because of this, she did not feel afraid. A malevolent spirit could not produce an aura like this.

Puck was becoming a little unnerved by this unusual mortal - and decided there and then it would be best to make himself invisible. Moments later she was still just watching him as before, and he, her.

Once again Eve had mistaken a Fae for a ‘departed’ human spirit. Although her perception was developed, her clairvoyance had never seen the Sprites in the sunshine, the Elementals that swing from the shimmering trees, the thought-creatures that run hither and thither, the Goblins at the feet of the poker machines and the bars, the sad Elves who inhabit the libraries, the Jinn of the underground volcanoes, the Sylphs of cloud and sea, the familiars of the family pets, the fay ‘guides’ of the mediums, and the marshals of the woods and valleys - not a one.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Back Seat Dwarf

The Dwarf at the back was annoyingly kicking his seat from behind. Eve stopped the car, they had arrived outside her London flat. It was ground floor, with a basement bedroom.

They both followed her in. Puck wasn’t ready to walk away just yet, there was something about this young woman that he found mesmerising. She slumped her bag onto a broad feather filled couch and sat beside it. Her long black hair had loosened from her pony tail, it framed well her melancholy face, contrasting her pale white skin, even whiter since the afternoon’s toll. 

Although in her early thirties, Eve had never once been tempted to wear makeup of any kind. She sported a natural style, natural flair and natural grace, that truly reflected her persona from within, surrounded by an aura of natural perfection.

She had remembered all that took place now, and Puck read her thoughts (he could do this) and as it all came back to her, he could see that she saw him also. She was watching him look at her and genuinely bewildered as to who or what he might be.

He returned her stare - and, interestingly, when he changed his own eyes from brown into violet, she asked him outright, “Why are you doing that?”

Eve did not say this accusatively, it was more that she was curious and wanted to know more about the presence before her.

Puck was mildly taken aback as no other mortal had ever noticed him doing this. He ordinarily projected a ‘glamour’ about himself that presented as he would have it - and this overall impression seemed to be universally accepted, without question.

“You are observant” he said candidly.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Luck of the Irish

Puck could see distinctly the large diamond that was rolling at his feet on the floor of the vehicle where it had dropped. It had impressed radiant blue and purple sparks over his boot. Even without much light, it could speak in rainbows. He clicked open his seat belt and picked the rock up finding it heavy and cold to the touch.

Puck had heard of this stone, if it is the one he thought it might be: Irish. It was called that in recent legend, as it was said to have the ‘luck of the Irish’ - i.e. none. This stone had a reputation for bringing bad luck to whoever held it … and the car crash (now averted) seemed to confirm it.

He, on the other hand, was not at all worried by its powers of ill. Puck had magic bags for such things, that, with a nuclear force, could contain any Jinn, Sprite, or hazardous Diamond, if need be, indefinitely.

“Now I have saved you twice”, he said, well satisfied with himself.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

A Happy Finding

The basket itself could not be refurbished, for the smell lingered, and so Jonathon then made a fire, breaking the woven cane with a few snaps, and in doing so, he saw glinting in the firelight beside - a piece of gold that had been caught in the weave had now loosened and dropped to the dirt. It was an earring.

He turned it over in his hands - it was wonderfully fashioned. A golden hoop with a cast of blue Sapphires. It occurred to him that its golden partner might be buried where he had lain it, but the thought of digging up the head did not feel proper, however tempting. He carefully lay the earring onto a sieve and washed it in the trough, with a final rinse of what was left of his drinking water. He then solemnly placed it through the hold in his ear, and snap, it fitted perfectly. Well pleased with his find, and how his prospects had changed, he settled onto his bed and slept soundly til dawn.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

     

Burying the Stranger's Head

With the arrival of the laggard slave-master, Jonathon had one more reason, a very good reason, to move on. Isabelle had taken his tools, and a life in service to this heathen would be torturous indeed - to both himself and to those he facilitated. Perhaps Jamaica?

If I persist on this roundy-bout, he said to himself, I shall then be slave to them also - and so, all told, I needs must go. And that was that.

As the sun began to fade, Jon took a flat thin piece of iron and used it to dig a hole beneath the fir tree - but the roots beneath resisted, and so he gave up, and moved to the vegetable patch instead, where the soil had been worked, and therein he tipped (now in the half dark) the stranger’s head. He dutifully said a few prayers whilst laying the covering soil, and placed a cross made of two branches twined above, to deter anyone else from digging there.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Strangely at Peace

Alystraea 

“I have come to ask you if you would prefer to return … there is a way back into the Earth - if you and your daughter would like to come with me.”

A small tear glistened in the Grandmother’s eyes.

As he has asked this all important question, Patricia saw her life play out right before her, and also, that of her young child’s. It wasn’t the usual review of things past, but of those events which were yet to be.

Without hesitation, both she and her toddler took his outstretched hands, and before any time had passed, they were back in their family wagon driving past the very intersection where they had been curtailed before.

They kept driving until arriving home. Molly was asleep in her ‘safety seat’ and Patrica carried her into her cot. She had a thunderous headache, yet felt strangely at peace. All she could think of was, what should she prepare for dinner?

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Staring Eye to Eye

“Mama, what is that funny man doing?” Molly asked, looking over her mother’s shoulder at Puck who was waving at them.

Her Grandmother had seen him also, but had decided to keep it to herself.

Patricia turned around and suddenly Puck was staring eye to eye, so closely she could feel his gaze. He had an enormous cowboy hat and violet eyes. He could change the colour of his eyes at will, and found violet very persuasive. She felt that she could trust him.”

“Are you a long lost relative?” she asked.

“No, nothing like that,” he hurriedly said - as the seconds afforded him were few. Even though the time ratios were completely apart from the material world, it was important to be speedy, nonetheless.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series