Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Dancing in the Woods



Hi, this is Bree. The past weekend was a fun one for me. The highlight was that we went to the park on Saturday for a Christmas tree lighting. That's an annual tradition here, I guess - although this is my first winter holiday season here, so I haven't been to one before. There are choirs and bands who perform carols, and some sing along songs, and then at the end someone lights the main tree, and all the trees around the pond light up too. It was very pretty. Chilly, of course, since it's December, but the snow was only in patches, and the event gave out free hot chocolate, which helped us stay warm.

We got there early, shortly before dark, so mid-afternoon. While we were waiting, several of us wandered off to "explore" the park. It's pretty safe there, and it gave us something to do... plus walking around doesn't make it feel as cold as just standing there does.

Fiona and I went exploring together. I've known her longer than anyone else in the family because she's my biological sister (even though we didn't really live together very much before we moved here,) and we haven't spent much time just the two of us lately. It's fun to spend time with our new sisters, too, but this felt like old times, which is nice every once in awhile.

We went across the bridge and took the path that leads into the woods. No one else was really around, because most people had gathered for the tree lighting. Suddenly, Fiona pointed deeper into the woods, and said, "Hey, look at that!"

We saw lights through the woods, and shadows moving back and forth, so we got curious, and we left the path - following the sounds of laughter and singing - and found a ring of white stones. To my surprise, there were people gathered there, although it was hard to see them clearly because it was starting to get dark. They didn't look like they were dressed for the cold, but they seemed happy. I guess they were warm because most of them were dancing.

One of them grabbed my hand, and one grabbed Fiona's, and they pulled us into dancing with them. Now, normally I'm not much of a dancer. I'm pretty coordinated, but I'm just not graceful about it. I'm better at stuff like running, rather than artistic movement. Somehow I was able to keep up, though, and Fiona, the actual dancer, was in her element. I was totally breathless and couldn't stop smiling.

Finally, I said, "We should go get the rest of the family! They'd love this!" Fiona agreed, and we went to find our other sisters - and as it turned out, also Cécile and Marie-Grace, who had found them by the pond. It was getting pretty dark when we all met up. They followed us back to the clearing where we danced, and...

Nothing.

No music. No dancing. No one there, and no sign anyone had been there. Not even the ring of rocks. I couldn't believe it.

Kirsten said she thought we were lying, and was very irritated to have walked all that way. Kaya was more reasonable, and said we'd probably just gotten confused about where we were because it had gotten darker, and the dancing had probably really happened somewhere else in the woods. This seemed logical, since I obviously knew I wasn't lying, but it didn't seem quite right, either. There was a really recognizable double-bowed tree right by the path, so I had a landmark that I was in the right place. I just didn't know how else to explain it.

As we were walking back, Evelyn said, "Maybe it was the fairies!" Everyone kind of laughed, but... once she said that, I started thinking about it, and it made sense. What happened is just like some of the old fairy legends. Now I don't know what to think.

If vampires, shapeshifters, and strange powers exist... could fairies be real, too?

Love,
Bree

5 comments:

  1. Fairies exist, we believe in them for sure. Marsali's AG doll she has is dressed in a purple fairy dress and is named Seamist after a fairy she says used to spend time with her when she was a little girl. She was all alone in the orphanage, no real friends and Seamist used to come play with her all the time.

    So I bet you did just walk into the middle of the fairies dancing in the night, specially where they had the white stone circle where they were dancing.

    Up on tollgate pass we see mushrooms grow in a circle every year, Marsali told us she is sure it is a fairy circle. We love watching for signs of fairies on our walks. They just have to be alive too.

    We saw your post on Playthings, about the names they thought were bad, Valdimir and another one, we think they are very common vampire names. At least with some of the old names.

    Hugs,
    Taryn

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  2. Bree says:

    Thanks for sharing that you think fairies are real, too!

    It's good that Marsali had her fairy friend when she needed her.

    That circle of mushrooms sounds a lot like what we saw, only the circle in the park was made of rocks.

    If they were fairies, it's neat that we got to dance with them! I wonder if we'll ever see them again? Probably not, but since we're such weirdness magnets I wouldn't be totally surprised if we did.

    Love,
    Bree

    P.S. Blakeney says the names you're talking about from AGPT - Vladimir and Ivan - are names she just likes as names. But since they're Eastern European names, like a lot of vampire legends, there's probably a crossover with vampire names. ;-)

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  3. If it were fairies, I guess it was good you just danced with them, and didn't eat anything!

    Sounds like a lot of fun, though. Wish we'd find a fairy ring!

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  4. Whoa! You danced with fairies and saw a fairy circle? In my family, we definitely believe in fairies. You should be very careful, as Aurora said, not to eat anything they give you. You could become a Changeling!

    I'm actually auditioning to be a fairy this spring- maybe if I get the part, I'll learn more about the fair folk.

    -Inky

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  5. Bree says:

    Don't worry, girls - we live in Newfoundland! We know better here than to eat fairy food. ;-)

    It was a lot of fun, though!

    Good luck with your audition, Inky! I didn't realize for a minute that it was for ballet, and so I was trying to figure out how you could audition to really join them. I get it now!

    Love,
    Bree

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