Riding on fawn and fauna, Fiodora and Julian arrived through safe departure; it was a good thing too, considering how late it was getting, even in the land of the fae. When they had decided to take the journey to his homeland, Fiodora had communed with the woods and had convinced their nature to lend them a couple of mounts to make the trek more bearable. The ritual was strange, but was familiar, in an odd way, it reminded him of prayer and how one kneels to supplicate a higher power; except Fiodora wasn't kneeling she was flying in place and clutching her hands together. Nature ceded, and the two mounts sprang from behind some bushes. The first one to come out was a massive stag, beautiful and sporting a snowy white coat, its antlers were nothing like those of any creature he'd seen; the way they curled backend then straight up to a bend forward was more hellish than wondersome, and they glowed orange. The second one to come was smaller, and red, without horns, presumably a female version of his own mount, but it moved with incredible speed, fast enough to have him scratching his head. Normally, Fiodora rode the stag, but for some reason, it had chosen Julian, and she wasn't about to throw a tantrum over it after nature had been so generous in sending the fastest mounts in the faery world.
Faster than a car, the two creatures bolted off once mounted, and they set a course to the only city that was safe from hellish reign, the home of the halfbreeds, Amalgatopia. On arrival, both of them jumped from their respective rides and Julian followed Fiodora's lead while the stag and fawn darted back where they had come from the woods. Those woods were beautiful, Julian chewed on the thought; treetops glowing red and white, orange and purple, and the occasional blue and yellow, the barks of the trees were smooth and they seemed enchanted because on accident he'd brushed his elbow on a branch only to see it spark up. Fiodora interrupted - his thoughts cut short - by nudging his arm, she had pointed ahead to the gates; gigantic poles of enchanted wood held the fine grey stone gates together, adorned with swirling shapes and manipulated to form a pair of wings much like Fiodora's. The guards at the gate took a glance at the approaching firecracker and they begrudged the thought of having this one, in particular, raise any ruckus in their city. Still, they let her go in, along with Julian who was trailing behind like a lost pup, he noted the looks of self-satisfaction on the guards as he passed, as though they knew something he didn't.
Julian gave them a stern look, but it didn't work; he stood in front of the one that was the biggest and crossed his arms over his chest, defensively, presumably attempting to intimidate the guard as he'd seen in many television shows. "You got something to say?", He prodded, but the guard ignored him, which was strange; usually with these kinds of things wouldn't he at least get into some degree of trouble for even talking so familiar with the guards? Something was off, but he couldn't figure out what, not yet; he'd have to prod further, and he would have had it not been for Fiodora who was half-scolding him and half-dragging him away from the guards. He noted one of the guards sighing out of relief and it incurred the last bit of patience he had suppressed, "What is going on here?!", he shouted. "Why aren't they getting angry, what gives, who am I that keeps them in line like that?", He was shouting louder, losing himself to his emotions. Fiodora looked at him, admittedly understanding his freak-out, "You're part of an old clan, one that was greatly respected, one whose members have been all but wiped out; all except for you." She said without missing a beat.
Julian stood in place, dumbfounded by the plethora of information he'd gotten served, nothing in his past life had prepared him for anything like this, not even all the cartoons or video games he'd played. "Wait...Clan, so that means family." It finally dawned on him, and he felt a deep sorrow chill his bones; the realization of genuinely having no one left in his life, not even family, it was an ache that he couldn't shake away. Fiodora sensed the sorrow; as a matter of fact, many felt his sadness and the inhabitants near the gates all turned to him in awe. Julian was too consumed by his newcome depression that he did not witness a crowd forming around him, they approached him and formed a circle where they embraced him. Magic coursed through his body, he felt warm, he felt safe, this was his kin, the only ones that could understand him, the only ones who could know his thoughts; Julian felt at peace. The embrace lasted for a few moments before Fiodora broke it up and shooed a handful of halfbreed fae away "Shoo, go back to what you were doing, go on.", she said in a bossy undertone.
Fiodora shook her head, 'idiots' she thought, and turned to face Julian who seemed to be glittering with the magic that rubbed off on him; it had changed his demeanor in entirety. He even floated a bit without realizing it; an effect presumably due to the concentration of fae on one individual, it could be dangerous when they shared their light, put them on the map for those who might be looking for them. Fiodora took Julian's hand, considering he was still in a haze from what happened, she dragged him to the inner city, passing by canopies of faeish homes atop gargantuan spruce trees. Everyone flew here, it was the main source of transportation, and the only one for that matter; better to keep it that way where they could save their forest from any other sources of pollution. Though very few could actually say they were at one with the forest, it was a rare trait -being able to commune with nature- and not one common folk bothered to pick up. It wasn't like they disconnected from the woods, they saw it as the natural way of existing, rather than something forced to coexist with, and nature agreed to those terms. Nature spoke to no one, it listened but not always granted favors, it was sentient, altruistic but sometimes selfish, it existed like everything else.
Fiodora came across a red canopy, bright and bigger than the rest, it stood out among the flora; at the very top, a figure dressed in a blue spotted dress waved toward Fiodora. "Come on, we shouldn't wait any longer, follow me, and try not to attract anyone else to you, for the love of Gaia.", She scolded Julian. The sun was no longer anywhere he could see, except for the outline in the sky from this world's sunset, he thought it was an interesting change - with how different it was to his earth's sunsets- they were purple and blue, with a barely visible streak of orange in between. Julian followed Fiodora and looked around for an entrance; he had forgotten that the primary way of transportation was through wings. Fiodora took hold of Julian's hand and allowed him to borrow her magic for the time being. She fluttered her wings and took off, taking Julian with her; once up on the base of the canopy, they landed on a small porch that was the entrance to the mystery person's abode. They greeted with a hug, the woman in the blue-spotted dress held a significantly sturdier strength, it surprised Julian how such a small faerie could have such fortitude. Fiodora was unphased, in fact, she had returned the hug with just as much of a squeeze before she's welcomed inside to sit on a mushroom top chair, the table was an enormous red mushroom as well.
For a moment, the silence was the only thing floating in the tension of the room, then Fiodora broke the silence; she spoke, addressing the mystery woman. "Karie, we've got trouble, they finally found Julian, we seek refuge here in your city, humbly, so that we may form a plan to fight back." Karie's lips curled in a small smile, she had the confidence of a motivational speaker, though the way her words came out sounded more like a shy teenager's. "We decline your invitation to...How shall I put it? Get us all killed." Karie's face softened, though she was quite serious about rejecting their refugee status. "But--" Karie interrupted Fiodora by raising her hand in a shushing manner. "But, you may stay for two days, that's all you get, and then my favor to you is paid, and by then, you best hope he's not here, or I will make sure he sees the wisdom in retreating from places he's not welcomed. Fiodora got snippy, "Seems like your people already decided he was welcomed anyway, what do you say about that, will you speak over the will of the people? Besides...Karie, he's a halfbreed, he belongs here, he's from the Bloodmane Clan. He may be the only one we have that can finally end this nightmare for us."
"Us?" Karie inquired laughing. "You're not 'US', you're a full breed, you don't belong among us. Remember, it was your kind that threw us out of the promised land." Fiodora winced. "I didn't do that, and you know it. The council is dead, our people are all wiped out while fighting hell itself! Don't forget about that, we died so you guys could survive and live to pass on our tradition, but instead, you scorn us, call us names and isolate yourselves from the few of us that can actually help. Karie slammed her fist unto the hardened surface of the mushroom table and glowered. "That's enough out of you, get out! I need to talk to Julian alone, without the interference of a purebred." Fiodora was visibly angry, but she couldn't do a damn thing but acquiesce to her desire. She flew out and landed on the floor level, waiting for Julian to finish his conversation with Karie. "Julian. Is it true? Did the people embrace you?" Julian nodded. "Well, this is...Interesting to say the least. Did you feel any sort of magic from it?" Julian nodded again but spoke this time. "They all hugged me when I felt...Alone, it made me feel like I was at home, safe...At peace." Karie nodded.
"Julian, allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Karie Airop, kin of the Windwallow clan. Ours is the predominant clan in this city. Are you familiar with your own clan?" Julian shook his head, replying in a whisper, "No...I don't know who I am." Karie shook her head and lifted Julian's now sulking head by placing her fingertip under his chin. "It's okay, we're all family here...The Bloodmane clan was once the strongest clan. They were a pureblood clan, stationed here as ambassadors from the purebred cities. They left during the faction wars between heaven and hell. They never returned." She paused for a second to look at Julian's expression. "However, they left a few of their kind on the other earth to hide from the war, presumably you were one of them...Except--" Julian looked up at her. "Well, it's just that, you're a halfbreed, which makes no sense, the pure breeds would never leave a halfbreed in charge of the clan, even if the entire clan was dead, they'd prioritize their pride and disband the clan before letting a halfbreed in." Julian was uneasy, but he understood the politics of it since much of it happened in the other earth too. "It must mean that you were conceived during the war...Then left to fend for yourself without anyone's consent of existence." Julian furrowed his brows. "Consent of existence? Like I have to tell people I exist?" Karie shook her head. "Consent of existence basically means that no one let the families know you existed to give you a proper title or proper wings." Julian tilted his head. "Wings?"
"Yes, wings. You'll be receiving yours today." She said and called Fiodora back with a whistle. "Come on, we've got a lot to talk about." Fiodora glared up at Karie, who was smiling with a chilling toothy grin, she was plotting something, and Fiodora could smell it a mile away.