Chapter 12: The Forest

Collin, Brand, and his Grandfather had just gotten settled in the library when the door opened and Trink sauntered in, "Didn't plan on having a meeting without me, now did yea." Brand and Collin just groaned, the old gentlemen grinned at Trink and offered him a seat. Trink opened his mouth to say something, when Brand quickly said "tea, we are drinking tea tonight, its good for the system." Trink just winked at the old gentlemen and muttered.

Everyone sat in silence, finally the old gentlemen looked at the three just sitting, and asked "are we waiting for something?" Collin tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair he was sitting in and replied "just waiting for Keebler to come flying into the room asking for cookies" The three started to laugh, Brand finally explained to his grandfather who Keebler was, after he had stopped laughing.

Getting down to matters, Collin looked at Brand, "as I mentioned earlier today, Bitsy is very homesick, she needs to go home to her forest. Bitsy needs the forest to recoup, Brand, I don't think she has ever told you how difficult the daily shapeshifting is on her body." at the look of question on the old gentlemen's face, Collin tried to explain to them. "Bitsy uses a spell to change, she doesn't become something, else, she isn't changing shape into another being, such as a bird or a dragon. She is using her magic to enlarge herself, to become a 5'6" fairy from a 9" fairy. The only fairy part you don't see are the wings, which basically have just folded inside the skin of her back."

"I doubt she has also told you how very careful she has to be, if she remains in her shapeshift form for to long, she might not possibly be able to change back, while that would not kill her physically, I really believe it would kill her very being, that which makes Bitsy, Bitsy, she is above all else the tiny fairy we all love so much. I wanted to touch on another subject, one a bit more personal, but I had not anticipated our having company. said Collin giving Trink a look."

Trink just grinned and settled more deeply into the chair, muttering about it not even being Collin's house and hadn't he always been there for all the important discussions, why leave him out now, that it was enough to hurt an elves feelings. With a sigh, Collin looked at Brand and his Grandfather.

Brand, you want children, you want sons to toss around like Rav, you want little girls to worry and fuss over. Your Grandfather wants great grandchildren to know that the line isn't going to die out, and to watch growup and spoil. Bitsy knows she can't give you those children, or great grandchildren.

Brand sat looking at his tightly folded hands, his knuckles white, he had just gotten his brat back and it sounded like she was going to be taken away from him again, he understood what Collin had said but it didn't make the hurt any easier. He knew life wasn't always fair, but this was past unfair. Yes, he wanted children, he hadn't realized how much until he had met Rav, until he had seen Bitsy playing with the little hatchling. He wanted the mother of his children to be Bitsy but it wasn't to be. Sometimes when she was with him, full grown, he forgot the fairy part, that had been his mistake. He looked at his hands, startled as something wet dropped on them, then he realized it was his own tears. Brand stood up and left the room without saying a word.

Trink snorted and looked at the other two men, then at Collin, "sure know how to dash a man's hopes into the ground, don't yea, Collin, didn't even give the boy a whiff of hope, did yea. Mighty mean of you, if you ask me, ain't like you Collin, when did you get that streak of cruelty in yea? Collin glared at Trink "It had to be said, and Bitsy wouldn't of said it, she would have kept on pretending for him, each time giving up a tiny piece of her soul." Collin slapped his hand on a table, "She is the Queen of the fairies, in the heart of the forest, in the heart of the fairies, in the hearts of the forest folk, one day WindWhispers maybe King, but always in their hearts its Bitsy they will love, turn to, need, go to for help, and we both know it Trink!"

Trink jumped out of his chair and stalked over to Collin, "and your point is? does that mean she ain't got a right to be happy? ain't got a right to have a life of her own? so she won't be bouncing babies on her knee's, does that mean she has to stop being a girly? what are you gunna do? put a sign on her oak house, Queen of fairies, no love allowed to enter. so says his high and mightinesss, Virlane the dragon. Snorting again Trink glowered at Collin "Damn fool, dragon"

Hearing a light knock on the door, the old gentlemen went to the door and opened it slightly, glancing over his shoulder at the two men, he quickly turned back, grabbed the tray from the footman, slammed the door shut and locked it. Very carefully he set the tray down, staring at the huge dragon that was towering over Trink.

Trink putting up his fists, bounced around the dragon "what are you gunna do, toast me? try it, just try it." Virlane reached for Trink with one of his huge paws. The old gentlemen coughed and the two looked at him, "lets calm down and have a drink to sooth a few rather frayed nerves, fighting wont solve anything and I believe we have a few problems to work on." Opening a bottle, he mentioned "while I am not used to having dragons in my library, I don't mind at all but its rather disconcerting having a drink with someone who is glowering down at me from the ceiling." With a sigh, Virlane inclined his head and apologized, then with a shimmer once again became Collin.

The two sat glowering at each other, each with a drink in their hands. "What exactly were you you going to do? hit me?" drawled Collin. "why no, I was gunna bite off one of your talons and stab yea with it, yea big twit." muttered Trink. Hearing another knock at the door, the old gentlemen went to the door and unlocking it opened it, looking over his shoulder several times. He listened to the footmen, gave him some instructions then saying they didn't wish to be disturbed again, he quietly shut the door. Chuckling, he picked up his glass and sat back down. Collin raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Lady Helen was kind enough to send us several large mousers to take care of Brands rat problem. Hearing a shriek they both turned to look at Trink, who was standing on his chair looking frantically around the room, "rats, yea got rats? why didn't you tell me, why I've heard of rats gnawing on a body, while they be sleeping." Trink said in horror clutching the front of his breeches.

The three had a good laugh after the old gentleman explained to Trink about the rat incident. With tensions eased, the three looked at each other. "well now, I'm thinking its getting bothersome calling you, my lord, so what name do yea care to go by?" asked Trink of the old gentleman. Chuckling he replied "my given name is Stephen, or if you prefer you can call me Sheringham."

Looking at Collin thoughtfully, Stephen asked, "is there any land available in your area, I shall of course check with the King about a land grant, but I need to know my options first, by lands I mean an area large enough to build on." Collin started to shake his head, when Trink jumped in "of course there is the old Crackenmoor Manor, he died a while back leaving no heir, it went to the treasury. if I remember rightly. That was about the time Rav arrived, you probably didn't hear about it, Collin."

Seeing the frown on the old gentlemen's face, Trink said "its a mighty nice place that, right up against the forest, has lots of water, land, good sturdy buildings, the manor house is big, well built, If I remember rightly, the old boy used to breed horses, to bad he didn't breed a son or two, but guess he liked his horses better." Collin jumped in before Trink could start muttering on the subject of breeding. "Is there a problem with this?" he asked.

Stephen nodded "if it has already gone over to the treasury, to purchase it will be very costly, I'm sure you're both aware that our King is greedy beyond all understanding. I am considered wealthy by some standards, but not enough to try getting something out of the Kings clutches. Is there nothing else in the area?" They discussed the other properties that might work, but most were far from the forest and small in acreage.

Trink started to glower at Collin again, Collin looked at Trink, raising an eyebrow. "Damnit boy, you can't sit on that hoard of yours forever, you dragons and your hoards, amazes me you don't sleep with it." Chuckling at Trink, Collin replied "how do you know we don't sleep with it? and I had already decided that I would supply the needed funds." Stephen was looking back and forth between the two, having lost some thread of the conversation. Collin just chuckled and pointed to 3 chests now sitting in the center of the room.

Grinning at Collin, Trink sauntered over to the 3 chests and opened them, and whistled, as he saw the gold, silver, jewels of every imaginable description. Stephen started to object, saying he had no intentions of beggaring Collin just to get Brand next to Bitsy's forest. Trink slapped his knee laughing, "this is just pocket change to our dragon here, he could fill this whole room full of chests and still have enough to fill 20 more." "and how would you know that? Trink" asked Collin smoothly. Winking at Collin, Trink only said "we elves got our ways of knowing things."

They discussed Stephen going to the King as soon as possible, about whether to fill Brand in on what they had planned, deciding not too, until they knew if it was possible to purchase the property, no use getting the boys hopes up just to see them dashed, he'd had enough pain already. Taking a rather large swallow of his drink, he looked at the two and said something that he knew could change his life and that of Brands forever. "Why can't Brand become a fairy?" Collin and Trink looked at each other shaking their heads, then looked at each other again with questioning looks. Finally Collin spoke up "I don't know if such a thing is possible, I would have to talk to Marluxion and see what he has to say." "You and Kat did something similar, it shouldn't be all that hard for the old dragon to cook something up for Brand." said Trink.

Collin finally stood up saying he had to get back to his family, promising to let Stephen know if he found out anything about what they had discussed, dragging Trink along, they left the old gentlemen with a lot to think on. Sitting at his desk, he started writing notes requesting a meeting with some of the Kings advisors. Knowing the greed of the monarchy Stephen didn't anticipate any problems, as he glanced at the chests sitting on the floor.

A very subdued Brand entered the library several hours later. Apologizing to his grandfather for having left the room the way he had, he sat down with a tired sigh. "I can't move in on Collin and Kat permanently, but I will be visiting them as often as possible, until they tire of me and toss me out. I know my place is here with you, Grandfather, but I can't let Bitsy go, she has become my breath, my life, my laughter. I know I am the last of our line, I know I need a son to carry on the name, If I have to marry Lady Helen's horse faced daughter and get a son on her I will, if Bitsy will agree to be my Mistress, then I will have to be content with that."