The Gypsies and The Other Realm -Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The Glimmering Thing
The diminutive little pixie fairy rode around the small pond on her spirited, white winged, translucent pony. In the moonlight. She could hear the rippling waterfall from the spring above, gently spilling over the rocks into the pond and see a myriad of reflections on the water, Tall grass swaying in the light breeze, cattails, , rocks, trees, plants an forest creatures lurking in and around the water. The frogs were perched on lily pads in the pond,, serenading with their raspy intermittent croaking, while birds and crickets chirped and clicked. This was like music to the fireflies that danced back and forth, flying between land, water, and air, creating a mesmerizing light show around the pond that delighted her. She reigned in her pony and brought him down into some tall green grass blades growing amidst thick foliage that surrounded the pond, to graze. Suddenly, the fairy heard the sound of giggling, and quiet whispers, humans she discerned, coming from the forest. The pond grew quiet. She and her pony had to go deeper into the denser foliage to hide.
The long grass and weeds rustled against their skirts and the twigs snapped under their boots as they approached the pond. Many of the nearby creatures of the forest ran into nearby burrows and holes, and a doe and her baby, that had been lazily grazing and drinking from the pond were startled, they both perked up their ears, and then jumped up and pranced away. The pixie fairy and her pony hid quietly inside some wildflowers so as not to be seen and so she could watch the visitors.
Mariska, and her closest friend Violet were conversing about two of the boys they liked in the gypsy camp in between looking under stumps, behind flowers, and under leaves for faeries, each girl wanting to discover a diminutive human with wings and magical powers. The older women had passed down stories to the children over the years about human interactions with middle world personages on earth. Some were even certain that they themselves had interacted with these fantastic bods.
Mariska had made a remark about how easy on the eyes Stefan was. Violet had giggled at this and began to chatter softly, that her choice would be Raj. She added that she loved Raj’s beautiful, silky black disheveled curly shoulder length hair, and the brightly colored bandanas he tied around his forehead. Violet, stumbled over a large rock on the path, as she continued her dreamy description of Raj. They both laughed at her clumsiness and Violet continued talking.
The inquisitive pixie fairy listened intently to the two gypsy girls conversation. Violet continued to talk about Raj and made a personal assessment of the boy she was crushing on. She told Mariska that she thought the jewelry he wore, a large, thin, gold hoop earring in his right ear, a few gold chains around his neck, and the gold bangle bracelets at his wrist fit his,” golden personality”. Mariska giggled at her. Violet continued to chatter on about Raj’s clothes, as Mariska listened. while she continued to overturn rocks and other debris hunting for faeries, seeds, leaves and some special herbs for her mother.. Violet's face was radiant as she spoke about Raj she loved the way he sported a plain dark brown leather vest over a beige peasant shirt, and he generally wore, tan tweed trousers and knee high, dark brown riding leathers. Violet said that she thought the look fit him.
Mariska thought quietly to herself, as she listened to Violet ramble on. A picture of Raj formed in her mind. All she knew about Raj was gossip around the tribe, he was thought of as a mischievous, flirtatious, high spirited, carefree, gypsy boy that was a terrific pony rider, and fighter and one of her brothers closest friends..
Mariska, then made a comment to, Violet, about," how handsome, she too, thought Raj was." He had a perfectly unblemished, round brown face, thick eyebrows, and coal black eyes that captivated your attention, when he looked at you. Raj's, eyes, reminded her, of deep pools of water you could get lost in."
Mariska, quietly thought again to herself that Raj was a very charming boy, many of the girls in camp vied for his attentions, but Raj gave, Violet, a lot of his attention and Mariska, had also noticed that, Violet, always swooned when Raj smiled at her with this astoundingly brilliant, but mischievous grin.
The girls became very quiet as they carefully climbed up some rocks in their bare f eet, at the bottom of a small waterfall that filled the pond from the nearby stream Each holding their flickering lanterns for light. Both girls perched themselves on a large rock, bent over to the waterfall and proceeded to fill up two wooden buckets, half full with fresh water to take back to camp. When their task was done, they set the buckets aside, got up ,and blew out their lanterns The moon was especially bright tonight and it provided enough light to see. They tucked their lanterns safely into their leather satchels and each girl climbed back over the rocks with their water buckets and then walked steadily, down a path to the pond. They set their buckets down and put their boots and stockings back on.
Mariska, had a small net, and Violet had a small clay jar. in their knapsacks. Both of the girls, chased and caught fireflies and put them in the jar. When they got tired, they sat down, and rested on a log, next to the pond, near the wildflowers and thick foliage, where the fairy and her pony stayed hidden.
The fairy and her pony cautiously moved up closer to the girls to get a better look. The fairy took in both of the human girls appearances. The girl closest to her, was petite, and had light brown skin, with flushed pink cheeks, thin eyebrows, and big, pretty bright green eyes that sparkled in the moonlight, her eyes were surrounded by long thick black eyelashes. This girl wore her shiny black mane of hair straight, and it reached down her back to her waist, She wore a meticulously embroidered black scarf of brightly colored threads woven into a floral design, that tied at the back, under her mane of hair at the nape of her neck. The fairy reigned in her pony closer so she could touch her hair. She noticed as she approached the girl, that she wore layers of bright colored silken scarves that were tied to her black skirt and a delicate white cotton blouse trimmed in gold embroidery thread that had golden threaded strings attached at the top front of the peasant blouse with golden tassels, that hung down and touched her blossoming but still small breasts. She wore a loose black embroidered vest over her blouse made of satin, that matched her hair scarf. The gold-colored chain link belt she wore around her waist had a menagerie of items tied to it, including cloth bags, nets, string, and a bone handled small gleaming silver bladed knife in a black crisscross leather banded sheaf that protected her from the sharp blade. She wore black sheer stockings with white wool socks that peeked out of her ankle high lace boots made from heavy black leather with thick soles. She had long black metal ornamental earrings, and a variety of strung flowers, earthen clay beads and glass baubles around her neck, she also wore thick black leather wristbands that encased ornamental bone and rock beads.
The faerie then curiously scrutinized the other girl that sat beside her on the log. She was somewhat taller.. She had long black hair with golden threads weaved into a braid that hung to her torso and was held together with a shiny piece of gold jewelry. The faerie noticed that this girl was darker in skin tone than her friend and had extraordinarily brilliant, violet-colored eyes, that were mysteriously reflective under the moonlight and her cat eyes were surrounded by long thick black eyelashes and she had thicker eyebrows than her friend. She wore a deep blue embroidered scarf embroidered with gold thread tied in the back, under her braid at the nape of her neck, also. Her scarf matched her fitted blue cotton dress, that was also embroidered with gold thread. She wore a gold colored concho belt with a menagerie of items tied to it as well and she wore blue sheer stockings with no wool socks and heavy brown boots that reached to the middle of her calves on her legs. This girl wore little in the way of adornment, just some small gold hoop earrings, a thin leather choker with a round decorative gold amulet around her neck and thin leather bracelets woven into some delicate gold beads on her wrists. The fairy was in awe and inexplicitly fascinated by their beauty. She elected not to touch them in the end and walked her pony back into the foliage to study them some more.
Both of the girls were quiet, as they gazed at the sky, studying the full moon and the stars. Mariska, pulled out a cloth bag, she had tied to her skirt , and picked some pond flowers and leaves that were near to her at the end of the log and put them in her bag. She noticed a glimmer of light in the foliage beneath the flowers that she had picked. Mariska, tapped Violet lightly on her shoulder, to get her attention, and motioned for her to get her cloth bag, that was tied to her skirt. Mariska,, pointed to the glimmering thing and when Violet had her bag open, Mariska, reached down, with the small net and scooped up the," glimmering thing." and then dropped it into Violet's bag, and Violet quickly pulled the drawstring on the bag to close it. The girls were so excited!
They gathered up the water buckets, and walked as quickly and carefully as they could back to camp, so as not to spill the water. They delivered the water to camp and a young boy about 12 years of age, took the buckets of water and poured them into the community wooden water barrel. Mariska, delivered her cloth bag full of flowers and leaves to her mother, whereas her mother would lay them out to dry, near the campfire, overnight, so they could be ground with other herbs and used as medicine, in the coming months.
Mariska and Violet, then went to gather Mariska’s younger brothers, Rudolfo and Robin , they were twins, and Livia. Livia was Mariska’s younger sister. Violet was an only child and enjoyed helping Mariska entertain her younger siblings. Violet had picked up some sticks of different sizes along the path into the woods, and after they found a large dark open area that was close to camp, they all formed a circle, placed the clay jar in the middle of the circle, and chose a stick.
The person who had the shortest stick, got to open the clay jar and let the fireflies loose. Tonight, one of the twins, Rudolfo, drew the shortest stick. Rudolfo, was very small, he was only two years old, and a little uncoordinated, and of course Robin, being his twin, had to help too, the two twins were inseparable. Livia offered to hold the clay jar so that Rudolfo could take off the lid and she could fend off Robin from trying to do his task. When Rudolfo, finally got the clay jar top opened , fireflies began buzzing out everywhere, and the excited group shouted in glee and chased them around trying to cup their hands and catch one to hold. The children were always delighted with the fire fly chase. After a while all of the fireflies disappeared into the forest, and everyone became quiet and sat down on the ground in the tall grass in a circle to rest.
Mariska, asked Violet for her cloth bag, so they could all peek inside and look at the," glimmering thing." Mariska, gingerly opened Violets cloth bag, and took a peek inside first, because she had been the one that had netted and captured the "glimmering thing," with her net.
When she opened the bag, a miniscule female person, with multi-colored effervescent wings, sitting on a white effervescent pony, with multi-colored effervescent wings and a glimmering aura of rainbow-colored light surrounded the small creatures.
Mariska, stared in amazement. She was speechless. After a few moments had passed a little tiny voice screamed, "let me out of here!" Stunned, Mariska, closed the bag, excitedly. The others watched her in bewilderment. After she had regained her composure she opened the cloth bag again and looked inside, the little person spoke again saying in a little tiny perky voice ,"my name is Selena, and this is my pony Jupiter, in case you’re wondering, I am a pixie fairy and now that you’ve captured me, I would like to know what your intentions are, as I have magical fairy dust that I could use to harm or help you." This frightened Mariska, and she closed the cloth bag again. This time she leaned over and took Violet into her confidence and whispered in her ear saying,, ”there is a fairy in the cloth bag, and she has a pony and she talked to me!”
Violet giggled at Mariska's make believe story and opened the bag herself, only to see that what she had told her was real! The little fairy calmly recounted what she had said to Mariska, in her little tiny perky voice, and to the fairy's surprise Violet closed the cloth bag. Violet once again took another peek inside the bag and then closed it quickly, looking astonished and in disbelief at Mariska, who she had thought was telling them a make believe story, to entertain them.
Livia, was tired of this nonsense and grabbed the cloth bag out of Violet’s hands, before Violet knew what was happening. Livia opened the bag, looked inside, giggled and then put her hand in the bag and gently lifted the fairy on her pony out of the bag. When the twins, saw the rainbow colored aura that surrounded the fairy sitting on the pony, they became very excited and tried to grab her out of Livia’s hand. Livia, cupped her hands together to protect the fairy and her pony and walked away from the group.
Mariska and Violet, left Livia alone, with the fairy and her pony, and quickly escorted the twins, back to camp. Mariska's mother, saw how excited they were and when they kept arguing they wanted to go back and see the rainbow pony, she laughed and asked the girls what kind of adventure they had taken the twins on tonight, and she believed it was all just a story, about the other realm, for the boys entertainment, the girls were relieved at no questions asked.
Mariska and Violet, hastily ran back to Livia, only to find Livia, sitting on the ground, with the palms of her hands outstretched, resting on her knees, engaging in a relaxing conversation with the fairy. Mariska and Violet approached Livia and each of the girls sat down beside her. Selena the pixie fairy said, I’m so glad that you came back, Livia and I, were just making plans, for a more permanent home, for me, and my pony should I decide to stay with you during your travels. I’m sorry but the cloth bag, just doesn’t work for me, however the clay jar, could work well, as a temporary home, until we can gather, the materials we will need, to build me a fairy hut. Mariska and Violet, turned and looked at each other, dumbstruck. Both of the girls knew, there were rules they had to abide by, if they were to take on guests from the other realm. Mariska, Violet, and Livia, talked amongst each other and agreed that each of them was willing to do their part in taking care .of Selena and Jupiter. Selena, agreed to stay with them, on her terms.
The night was moving forward, and it was late, so the girls gathered some leaves and stuffed them into the clay jar and helped Selena and Jupiter to fly into the jar and then they put the cap on loosely, and went back to camp, saying their good night’s to one another and their families, before heading to bed. Mariska and Livia, kept the jar with them.
The twins were fast asleep in the caravan, when they arrived , and they tucked the clay jar into a nearby corner on the floor and opened the lid. Selena and Jupiter flew out of the clay jar and landed gently on Mariska's right shoulder. Mariska, then asked Selena," if her or her pony needed some food or something," and Selena said," she might like a spot of water and maybe some crumbs of sweet bread for herself, and corn for Jupiter to eat. Seeds would be good too, if they had any." Livia, helped, Selena, and her pony, Jupiter into a straw basket that they had prepared for their two tiny guests. Livia, had put a colorful soft silk pillow in the basket and Mariska found a small clay bowl for water, and set a small clay plate in the basket, with the requested food on it. Selena, and her pony ate contentedly until they were both full and then Selena, said," g’nite," as she and her pony laid down and snuggled together to sleep. Mariska, put a small scrap of silk cloth over, Selena, and her pony and then covered the basket with the lid and tucked the basket under, Livia’s, bunk. Their parent’s would be in soon, Mariska, thought and didn’t want to risk them discovering their new found friends, not sure how they would react to creatures from the other realm
