The Blue Pixie

The Pixie was blue, and she was chatty. I wasn’t feeling the least bit chatty. Why wasn’t she green?

I looked around, and I was lost. Strangers passed by, some ran, others walked slowly. The Pixie provided guidance from her perch on my shoulder. “Is this my new muse? Am I caught in some hellish plane? What in the world did I ever do wrong to deserve this?” I wondered. The Pixie was already chattering again. I missed it. BlueWings here evidently has a name, and I missed it.

A rather scary looking man approached me. “Why me?!” I wondered. He just blurted out that he was going to hide here and I should keep his secret.

“If you know what’s good for you,” wasn’t spoken, but I sort of felt like it hung in the air between us.

I kept looking for the way out. The Pixie kept chattering about strange things, names that fell from her lips without hesitation; all of them meant nothing to me. It occurred to me about then that I should be keeping notes. What kind of bard was I, anyway?

“An untrained bard,” the Pixie smirked, and then called me by another name. Wow, that confused me. Why would I be considered untrained? What IS this place? Why doesn’t BlueWings know my real name? Maybe turnabout is fair play. I may have to yield on the name point. Alas.

I was about to introduce myself to the perfectly perched Pixie, (take THAT alliteration for untrained…) when a desperate woman came through. “Oh, Immortals help me fast, she’s stopping to talk to me!” I prayed silently.

“I’m looking for a man…” the woman began, describing the man that was here before. You know, hiding. “Have you seen him?” she finished, and stared at me.

BlueWings had something to say about this, of course, and seemed to suggest that I should answer the woman. I’m wondering why BlueWings doesn’t answer her.

“Can we just get on?” I asked BlueWings. Evidently not. For a long moment I weighed my options. I didn’t remember promising the man I would keep his secret. But he did scare me. The woman looked marginally more trustworthy. Marginally. The Pixie was no blessed help at all. I smiled quietly, waiting for the woman to go away. How could I tell who was lying and who was telling the truth when nothing was familiar?

The woman just stood there, waiting for me, I guess. Inwardly I groaned, which the Pixie took as some sort of sign to chatter some more. BlueWings is about as much help as a fiddler without a bow. So, thinking to enlist the woman’s help for a way out, I told her about the man.

The man was located, there was a scuffle, and he was hauled off. I am pretty sure he glared at me.  I was not proud of myself, no matter the outcome.

Then I realized the woman was gone! I thought,  “I really need to find a way back home. This is beginning to frighten me.” Before I could take another step a young warrior came by, clearly recovering from a recent defeat. Young warriors are my soft spot. I didn’t tell little BlueWings that. Come to think of it, they don’t even have to be young…

The young man gave me money to purchase a new weapon for him while he was running other errands. Evidently I looked trustworthy enough for him to just hand me money. What next, some mother will be handing me her baby…?

BlueWings chattered away, confident that I could at least find the armory. Step by step, I followed the directions on the map to the armory. I was glad the warrior told me what he wanted, there were so many things stocked at the armory! And now I have a small taste of the freedom of streets. Streets had to lead somewhere, right?

Notes; really, I should be taking notes. The Pixie nodded at me.

“What? Do you read minds, too?” I asked her. She giggled.

It only took one step past the armory when a town councilman asked for my help. He wanted me to watch for a meeting about to happen between smugglers. I was new in town, they wouldn’t recognize me.

Now, do I seem like a spy to you? But Pixie-Girl here started going on and on about what a grand idea it would be. So, I told him I would go and watch. He gave me directions to a public tavern. I had to hide, it was way out of my comfort zone. But BlueWings looked happy, plus, she was quiet.

The men met, and whispered. One handed the other a note. I could not overhear a thing. This is where it all went wrong. Pixie-Girl thought I should steal the note out of his hand and receive a commendation from the councilman. I don’t steal. BlueWings insisted it would be safe and the right thing to do. I did nothing. Pixie became insistent. I was scared the man just loitering around would hear her chattering.

So I did what my Mother told me to never do. I bumped into the man on our way out out the door and lifted the paper. I am not proud of it. Things moved quickly now while I stewed over what I had done. The councilman really was thrilled, the paper turned out to be crucial information, but he was short on people and wanted me to watch at the Temple for the people exchanging the smuggled goods. Then I was to give a hoot out to the waiting officers. I was new in town, nobody would be suspicious of me … blah … blah… blah. Hoot seemed to be such an ironic twist here, because I was beginning not to give a hoot.

I did it. But really, that was the end. I’d had it with the Pixie and these things. I don’t know how much penance I’ll have to do after these things already, and it weighed on me. I ignored BlueWings from that point on and fled the city at the first chance I got. A kindly guide took me to a nearby town.

The last word I heard from my ever present new companion, Miss Tricksy Pixie, was an small shriek when she didn’t know where she was as the guide took us through a pass.

Now whose turn was it to smirk? We will get along just fine, I think. I am not going to lie and steal just to make anyone happy because I am scared. I move by my rules from here on out. That road was one to ruin. All a bardess has is her reputation.

And my name. Miss Tricksy Pixie better learn the right name.

As we traveled from a clearing a sense of deja vu weighed heavily upon my heart. I grew so wary. Where was I going again? Why…?

 

Oh yes, the first thing out of that blue Pixie’s mouth should have been, “Abandon hope all ye who enter…”

Author: GSBardess

A young bardess named Luxelle is currently learning her trade and hoping to one day make a name for her songs in GemStone IV. Follow along with her adventures in life and song.

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