Mina woke up in a chamber glittering with sun – filtered through stained glass windows, giving the room slightly reddish tones. She remembered being dizzy, and the laughters, ominous, dark and the cat eyes, everywhere eyes, which drilled her through.

She raised from the comfortable bed, she realized that she was still in her old clothes, dirty and ragged. She felt fear, but much less than a teenager in her position could feel. Everything still seemed like a dream, a bad hazy dream, from which she couldn’t awake… but it was too close to a mirage to be truly scared.

She stood, her feet touching the cold floor.

The stained glass tempted her with its undeciphered imagery. Mina was always curious, curiouser than all children in Vennklan Valley. She slowly approached the window, her hand reaching the glass.

They were scenes from life. Normal life. Hunting. Feasting. The flowing hair of the people depicted seemed to be real, though.

Mina couldn’t understand, the longer she was watching, the more shadows amassed between the characters of the tales painted on the windows.  The longer she looked, the more details she was seeing, details that shouldn’t be there, creeping darkness, wounded bodies, sun falling from the sky, to bury the earth under flames.

And eyes. They all looked at her.

Looked into her soul, brimming with hunger.

No.

No!

Mina backed off, the hazy feeling started to diminish, to give place to fear.

Where am I? Why? Who led me here?

Where is  T i y a n ?

“I see you like stained glass” she heard a voice. No one knocked, so she jumped in place, when she heard it. “No need to fear, child. You are a guest. More even, a gift. A treasure.”

Mina looked with mute curiosity at the fey who just slipped through the door. The fairy moved with grace, ethereal one – a descended vision from above, a goddess’ touch.

Or souleater’s curse.

She was small, with deep, round eyes, which seemed to be almost buried under the thick gossamer-like, whitish hair. She had short teeth, with fangs protruding from her mouth – Mina saw quickly that she tried to not show them off. Her complexion was tan, like she spent a lot of months exposed to the direct sunlight.

She was barefoot, like Mina now. Her robe was thin, glittering, behind her, the wings. Butterfly-like wings, with splattered patterns of green and brown.

And she was beautiful, in an uncanny, strange way.

“Where am I?” Mina managed to ask, but she already suspected where.

“In fae realm, no matter where precisely” grinned the fairy. “Here, everywhere is anywhere. Humans don’t need to know location. You can be in every place at once.”

Mina didn’t like it. It was not the answer.

“Will you kill me?” she decided to ask straightforwardly.

The small fey laughed. It was pretty, tender laughter, but her eyes were filled with indifference, with something not unlike emotionless void, which in comparison to her soft laughter, made Mina back off again.

“Kill you? Sweet girl, no! You are a guest. And not only a guest, a royal guest. And I have good news for you, sweetest child. You are invited to share a dinner with Lord Lorian. Isn’t it the biggest honor? Isn’t it good?”

Lord Lorian.

Mina didn’t know him, but she felt that she didn’t want to meet him.

“Dinner… with Lord Lorian?” she repeated, not sure how she felt about it.

“Ah yes, tasty dinner in good company” the fairy sounded like this dinner was about to be the most awaited event in Mina’s life. Mina didn’t share the emotion.

“Do I need to go?” she tried.

“Why not?” retorted the fey fastly.

“Because…” to be honest she didn’t know why. And if it all wasn’t a dream, bad dream. She didn’t want to meet Lord Lorian, and she felt it all won’t be as pleasant as the fey painted it. She remembered the dark eyes, the laughter and seemingly cats and the female fae pulling her by her arm, causing pain.

Or was it a dream again?

“I go… in this?” Mina kept to the last thing that made sense to it, showing at her ragged clothes.

“Yes? I don’t think he would mind” a dark glint in the fairy eyes. Like it was amusing her that she will eat a dinner in torn up shirt and pants.

“I think… I would mind, ” Mina said, with sudden fear. An unknown lord awaited her, and she was in rags. It was scary.

“Oh?” the fey made a saddened expression. Was she really hoping she will dine looking like a scarecrow? “Would you not go otherwise? Would you refuse?”

“Yes” Mina decided to hang on it, until she gets a good answer.

The fey looked like she planned something like that from the beginning.

“So the right clothes will be sent. Very right and fitting. Fitting to your skin, fitting to your soul. Do you like tears?”

“Eh… no?” that was even more strange.

“Then, they will be perfect” gleamed fairy and Mina thought that it begins to look a a mirage again.

She didn’t want tears. She wanted to feel normal again.

She wanted to see her family, not lords and ladies. Tiyan. Alina. Gravir.

And the characters on the stained glass still looked at her intensely, with ominous interest.

They looked into her soul.

The fairy crooked her head like a crow, her fangs showing a bit, she made an expression which looked even more uncanny, adding her slighly predatory look.

“Humans look so pretty in tears.”

Like rain-stained windows. Like water-touched crystal shards.