have had numerous “chance” encounters whereby my life was never the same. I would be lying if I thought that my life’s course had not been in some way affected in one way or another by an encounter that was just happenstance. I could say this of every deep friendship or intimacy of my life. The meetings were never planned. Nothing was ever contrived or conspired. Perhaps that is what always led to the longevity of such liaisons.
It was the first and by virtue of that fact, most memorable chance encounter was when I met He of the Silver Arm, the Red King, Nuada, that comes immediately to mind. He was the Supreme Sovereign of the Tuatha Dé Danan, and a wonder to all who knew him or had ever heard of him. It was determined by Morgienne that I would go to the Great Council to represent the Fortunate Island. Looking back I somehow believe that Morgienne sent me in the hopes that I would fail or fall victim to some dark, Unseelie Prince. Surely Queen Annwynn, the Queen of Air and Darkness would be sending her heir, Itet.
I pulled the dark cloak about me tighter. This would be the first time I had ventured out of the Black Forest in a very long time. but in this I had little choice. I had followed the Red King, Nuada, to Berlin. The very survival of the world depended upon alliances that could be drawn up here. I had passed through the first gates and fortifications, only to be stopped by a guard at the second.
“What is your purpose here, madame?” the human man, obviously of French origin asked me.
“I am here to see King Nuada, “I said simply in his own language.
The young man scoffed, shaking his head, “Sure, he said returning in French, “and just whom may I say is here to see him? ”
I pushed back the hood of my cloak to reveal my face. The young Frenchman looked at me with astonished eyes. The lightning bolt of recognition of my face clearly made him nervous.
“Tell him that the the representative Lady Morgienne, of the Fortunate Isle…..the Halfling wishes to see him.”
The young man was about to deny me once again, when I heard a voice, one that was used to commanding many speak.
“Allow her, Henri,” he said.
The shadows outside the penthouse of King Nuada were cool, and a welcome respite from the bustle of the City of Berlin. I peered from the tall double doors that were slightly apart. From inside I caught the scent of Seelie Incenses. When my escort opened the doors to announce my arrival to the King, I kept my face a mask.. As the door swung open for me to be received, I caught sight of the wizened, yet handsome head.
Nuada.
I stood barely inside of the door, for a fragment of a moment unable to move and I could not help but feel the rising tide of apprehension that rose from deep inside of me. It was as if each step had to be forced. I’faith it is hard to stand before the one whom many call the Great Seelie Uniter. I inclined my head but did not bend my knee, for as representative of Fortunate Isle, for me to do so would have implied allegiance. Morgienne would not have stood for it, and now was not time for that.
“You come at an inopportune moment, Halfling,” Nuada said quietly, appraising me, “Strange that Morgienne would have sent you.” His power was a palpable thing, and it instilled awe in that part of me that was human. “So, what do you think when you look upon your own people, Faelyn?” he asked.
I gasped, amazed that he already knew my name. “Her Ladyship thought it better that I should come,” I managed, “I have seen but a few of the Fae, Majesty” I inclined my head again.
With a soft approving chuckle he came toward me. When he at last stood in front of me he lifted my chin between his fingers. “Then there is much you will have to learn about your own kind.”
And so over the following days Nuada told me those things which neither my mother, nor my foster-mother, Morgienne, would do. It was he who was the one who instilled in me what it was to be Fae. Nuada was to me as my father was not. While I like to think of myself of possessing all of the tenacity needed to succeed in life, Nuada and our chance meeting stands out most in my mind as having set my feet upon my present course.
Muse: Fanny Fae
Fandom: Original Character / Folklore / Mythology
Word Count: 795
Crossposted to
Fanny Fae 
You mentioned in another post how this girl didn’t know certain things about England and how a Queen was to be properly addressed and such. Please allow me to critique this interesting story somewhat.
You mentioned Nuada of the Silver Hand (not Arm) being the Chief Sovereign of the Tuatha De Danaan. Three problems here. 1) Daghda (whose name means “Good Father”) was the Chief of The Clans. 2) The Sovereign is Dana, who is the Chief Goddess of the Land and Ruler of the Tuatha De Danaan. The culture was Matriarchal, but males could be Chieftains under a woman’s rule. Hence why they are called the Tuatha (Tribe) of Danaan (Dana) and not the Tuatha De Daghda or Nuada. 3) If a ruler was disfigured or maimed in battle, he/she could no longer rule. For women their rule could be taken from them if they proved to be infertile, due to injury or disease. Males who were injured were replaced. The Battle of Moy Tura bears this out with Nuada being replaced as Chieftain. He’s given a silver hand by Dian Cecht the chief physician of the TDD, but it doesn’t matter as the silver hand isn’t a natural part of his own body. His status as Chieftain is only restored when later on, Meach, (Dian Cecht’s son) is able to fully restore his hand.
The name of Morgieene is an interesting one. I’m assuming you’re making reference to Morgaine Le Fey, whose proper name in French is Morgue Le Fee.
Your reference to Queen Annwynn I believe is in error as Annwynn is a place, not a person. Annwynn is the Otherworld, one of the many names the Celts used for the place all person go when they die. If I recall correctly, Pwyll was the reigning Chieftain in Annwynn. Dana rules over all and the Chieftains rule over individual places.
Your setting of Germany is puzzling as most all references of the TDD come from Ireland and some from Scotland, Wales and England.
Other than that. Good story.
Please don’t think I’m being overly critical, but I realize that when people read stories, even fanfic, they assume the writer knows the background of the characters and will on that note take what they read as truth, possibly causing a misconception to be carried around with them for many years.
OOC
I am not bothered by your critique at all. I am new to much of the Celtic mythos. As I have stated, I have adapted alot of the mythology and rearranged it. In the book “Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race” by T. W. Rolleston, on Page 91, it does concur that Nada should have been the ruler of the Danaans, but his blemish forbade it. Bres was chosen and though beautiful to look upon proved to be horrible ruler. In other sources I have seen both online and off, and I really don’t have them handy, but I can look, Nuada actually was put on the throne after he proved to be more of a ruler. Again, I took creative license with it.
Morgienne had little to do with Morgan Le Fae or Le Fee simply because I think that particular figure is often confused and muddled by historians and writers throughout history. Morgienne is more like my vision of the Wicked Queen of Snow White with a touch of Vampire added to her. She is a conglomeration of many elements of many different pieces of folklore. Fanny / Faelyn is half Scottish and admittedly I am learning as I go.
Annywynn was a name that I *thought* I had made up. Oh well, learn something new every day! *g* I think that is the problem whenever you get into anything of this nature. I would be equally in a snit if someone took some names of Egyptian or Hindu deities and completely messed them up. But in those cultures, actual people were and are named after the Gods, and it has nothing to do with the actual religious constructs of the respective cultures.
The setting of Berlin was due to a previous story on Pan Historia called “The Midnight People” where half of it is set in the Mundane world and half of it in the world of the Dreamtime. Berlin was the place where the councils of both the Seelie and Unseelie were to meet to negotiate a deal – that part is set in the future, and admittedly I pulled that particular part of what I wrote tonight from that earlier piece. The Unseelie, under Prince Itet, had become increasingly disgruntled and blamed all of the ills of their world upon humankind. The Seelie, which Nuada was cast as their sovereign, was more of a mind that Human and Fae need each other. Enter Faelyn (Fanny) who is both things, Fae and Human and from the side of the Fae that is seemingly at war with humanity. It is a concept piece. Fanny’s story will most likely be in book form, but I have to pull names from somewhere and like most fantasies, including those of J.R.R. Tolkien, not everything is going to be rooted in history and follkore proper. That is the beauty of fiction, you can play with it.
And as for the person that I criticized. I do know the mun of that particular muse and we have discussed her concepts at length, therefore I don’t really fault her for going in the direction of creativity either.
Re: OOC
There is an author who has already written books on this topic. Her name is Laurell K. Hamilton and her first book on the subject is “A Stroke of Midnight”. The lead character is one Merry Gentry (hamilton’s maiden name was Gentry and it’s also another name for the Faery-folk in Ireland) Merry gentry is half-human half-fae, tha daughter of Royalty who thru many different scenarios finds herself bringing the Faery back from under the hills and into the mainstream. In her books the Faery live in America (having been exiled from their homeland in Ireland) and have all but given up their powers. I’ll say no more on the subject only to warn you that she mixes alot of sex with mythology. Some of it is right on and some of it disagrees with history. Her mixing of Scottish and Irish words to describe seemingly different things when in fact they mean exactly the same thing or are totally unrelated to the subject in which she uses it.
Great books, but rather long and drawn out. Like I said also, full of sex, basically a Harlequin Romance novel set in modern day with Faery magick thrown in for good measure.
Re: OOC
You are not the first person to point Hamilton’s books out to me after I had already started writing Fanny. I did try to read her books, and I found them to be incredibly self-indulgent. I am sorry, an entire chapter of foreplay before her character has some sort of ethereal sex with one or more partners – of nearly every male character in the books just does NOT appeal to me. I found the third book to be the worst of the lot. Merry Gentry the chacter, in my view is probably the most complete Mary Sue – type of character I have ever seen. Maybe that is what happens when you are writing about a Fairy Princess. I am told that Anita Blake is even more of a Sue than Merry is. I absolutely **hate** vampire fiction with a passion, so I am not at all inclined to read them. To me being a Sue is just as good as a death sentence. When Sue-dom hits any character in a story, then it’s time to execute the character. If Fanny EVER becomes a Mary Sue, I have sworn by all that is Holy and Unholy that I will kill her in a heartbeat in as messy, disgusting and as bloody a fashion as is possible! 😉
For myself, I have tried to make sure that Fanny has lots of flaws. She is egotistical to the extreme. She loves power and makes no bones about her fascination toward it. She is completely unapologetic for every single life she has ever taken and she recalls with great glee how she usurped her position from her foster mother, who killed her fully human mother. Fanny was born in 1444, during a period of a lot of upheaval in that part of the world and the majority of what I write for her is actually during the Jacobite and Colonial periods – that is if you don’t count Tombstone, too. She is immortal in one sense, or at least is of a considerable age. The lifespan of the Fae, no matter what the source, says that they are incredibly old. It is most likely that I will keep her in a more historical context because those periods of history are easier to play with. I really don’t think I want her to be in the modern era at all. It just doesn’t work, and Fanny is not really a very modern girl in alot of ways.
Even though she is well published and has a wide distribution, I don’t think that Laurel K. Hamilton’s ideas are all that original. Folklore is full of the ideas that the Fae and Humans met, fell in love, had liasons, etc. and ended up with children that were from both worlds. There are those that say that the whole idea in the Christian bible with regard to the “angels” that fell in love with the “daughters of men” – the whole Fallen Angel idea was synchretized, adapted and reused within the folklore and mythos surrounding the Fae. According to some the Fae are the Devas and Elementals, or Beings of Light, rather than at all incarnate. Since I work with plant Devas on a constant basis, and yet they are no less real than you or I, that is really where I was coming from when I started Fanny’s story. At any rate, folklore being as wide and varied throughout the word, I think that there is more than enough ideas to go around. No one author can claim to have a corner on ideas or jumping off places fictionally that may have some root in folklore, history, etc. I am sure Hamilton got lots of her ideas from other sources out there and just did alot of playing on paper.
Re: OOC
I wanted to add that I am very aware there are greater and lesser differences on the Scots and Irish words. I have tried to be as accurate as I can be, given that I do not speak Scots Gaelic. I have several references on it, and have *tried* to stick to the right definitions etc. If I goof up, then I depend on people like yourself, who is obviously way more knowlegeable on the subject pointing those things out to me. 🙂
Your story is interesting in that it must have been before you and I met. By the time we encountered one another, you were already well rid of your foster mother.
I have been meaning to ask you, do you still wish me to escort your daughter, Caroline, to her destination, ya Madame?
If her father approves, then I would be very honoured if you were to escort Caroline to her destination.