Celebration
“Merry Meet! Would you do me the honour and share our humble meal.” Oberon said formally to Dagmar as he bowed and took her hand and gently turned it over and kissed her palm. “Sir, I would be honoured to share this meal with you.” replied Dagmar just as formally. He then took both their hands again and led them to the table, where many familiar faces were already waiting. He led Titania to one of two ornate large chairs and pulled out the seat for her and then he led the girl to a smaller version of the large ornate chairs next to the vacant second large chair and proceeded to pull it out and help the girl sit down. He then made himself comfortable in the large chair and then leaned over and asked the girl “Well sweetling how are you getting used to your gifts? Fana told me that you have some wonderful gifts which seem to also be very strong.” she looked at him and replied “Yes Sir, I have and they are interesting and a little intimidating. Especially the communicating with trees and animals since I never actually know where the words come from and they are always in my head. I have not heard fae or human mind speak, that’s what Rhiannon called the communicating gift.” Oberon looked at Dagmar seriously “I think that is because majority of humans and fae have a mental wall which is there naturally. Some can drop that wall on command and others do so accidentally not knowing what they did nor what it does. When you communicate with trees or animals it is because they communicate that way naturally so when they feel an open mind they will reach out to assess if you are friend or foe.” explained the man. “I think I understand. I know I am feeling a lot of emotions right now and most of them do not feel like they belong to me. I suppose that this is the empathy gift. When we were travelling here I did not feel much with my empathic gift and now I wonder if Fana and all the others had shields up to stop me from feeling their feelings.” replied the girl. Oberon sat in thought for a while then turned to Titania and spoke to her quietly for a moment “Yes from what I have just gathered that is what they did soon after the gifting. They all put up mental walls to prevent you feeling their feelings, it was a way of protecting you by overwhelming you. Too many things happening at once could drive a person insane, I have seen it happen once and believe me it is not a pretty sight.” replied Oberon. “Ah food! Excellent! Where is the candelabrum? Oh good thank you.” he said as he accepted a very large three pronged candelabra from the hands of a young fae man and placed it into the centre of the table. Three very large and fat candles were delivered on a tray, brought by a pretty young fae girl with bright red hair. These were taken to Titania who placed them one at a time beginning with the white candle then the red one and finally the black one. She then in a clear voice, whilst lighting the candles, beginning with the white candle “Let us give thanks ….. From forest and stream; From mountain and flied; From the fertile Earth's nourishing yield;” she then lit the central red one, “We now partake of divine energy; May it lend health, strength and love to us. Blessed Be” she then lit the black one. Titania sat down after that. Oberon stood and smiled at the crowd before him an d then at every individual who sat at his table. “My friends. My family. My honoured guests. We are so very honoured this evening to have in our midst two newly gifted sweetlings. Their names are Dagmar and Ragnar. I would like to say to you both that I am very proud of you and I wish you both happiness and health and to make good use of your wonderful gifts. Now let us begin our wonderful feast.” and with saying that he sat down and food began to arrive in many varied shaped and sized containers, from plates to bowls. Some were steaming hot and others had shaved ice around and under it to keep it chilled and it all looked and smelled wonderful. Dagmar’s small bowl was filled by a well-meaning faery, with some hot delicious smelling vegetable stew. She found a spoon and took a small taste, found it to be very familiar and loved it she began to eat hungrily.
Having finished her small bowl, the girl looked around at the rest of the people sitting at the table. To her right was Oberon and to her left was a familiar face but she could not remember the lovely womans name. The woman felt the girls’ eyes on her and turned her head to look at the girl and smiled kindly “Merry Meet sweetling. We have met before at your welcome feast. My name is Addylyn from the Fresh Water Meadow Clan.” “Merry Meet Addylyn, my name is Dagmar. I thought I remembered your face from somewhere!” replied the girl politely. Whilst talking Dagmar noticed the shape of the womans beautiful indigo eyes, the outer corner was sharply slanting upwards which gave the impression that her eyes were stretched outwards. “This is my husband Tud. I have no idea who the two empty chairs belong to, then we have Lillianna who is mother of Niamh and wife to Randolph, who is sitting next to her. I have no idea who the next four lovelies are and then we have my son Beriothien, who has been away for a long time and next to him is our fosterling Lynx, she is a niece of Tubs', then there is Wouter who is sitting next to his wife Niamh and next to them is their adopted son Ragnar.” explained Addylyn. Dagmar then said “I can tell you who the four are over there.” Dagmar indicating with her chin slightly to the four sitting at a slight angle across from them “The lady sitting next to your son is Fana and she is the Green Mother the Keeper of the Karnayana Forest and next to her is Ripple from the Four Falls and then there is Sunna, she is the Four Falls Mother and then there is Dusk also from Four Falls. I stayed with them during my adventure and travelled with them back here.” explained the girl. They then became busy with the second serving which was chilled fruits of all kinds and more stew for those who had a mind to have more as well as freshly baked loaves of bread.
Dagmar enjoyed her chilled fruit plate immensely and then spotted some of that wobbly stuff from the picnic but this time it had bits of fruit suspended in it. The girl decided she wanted a little of it and before she had a chance to reach for the bowl a female faery popped up and served her some from the big bowl to a nice small clean bowl. A little startled by the appearance of the faery let alone the fact that what she wanted was given to her without her saying a word. “Umm, excuse me. How DID you know that I had decided I wanted some of this stuff?” she asked the faery. “Oh that’s easy my lady. I can hear peoples thoughts, that is my gift, so when I heard you think 'yes I would like some of that stuff' I knew what you wanted and just got it for you. Will that be all, my lady?” replied the young faery. Dagmar wondered why she could not hear people’s thoughts as that girl did “Oh that is answered simply my lady. We all have a natural protective wall around our minds and most with the gift cannot hear anyone else unless they are blood related, even then though most have that wall in place to give them and others privacy.” answered the faery with a cheeky smile “I am sorry for listening to your thoughts. You have such a gentle mind, if you don't mind me saying my lady. “and with that comment she slipped away.
Dagmar sat quietly and absorbed the information. She looked in the direction of Fana who was in a deep conversation with Beriothien whose blue eyes would flicker in her direction often. Ripple was too absorbed in the splendid food on offer to pay any attention to anything else around her. Sunna was eating daintily and looking around in a leisurely manner at all the other occupants of the table. Their eyes met and Sunna nodded and smiled encouragingly at the girl. Dusk was sitting back looking around, her eyes constantly darting from place to place, as a true warrior does so Dusk had told the girl once. They locked eyes and Dusk raised her left eyebrow in question, the girl shook her head ever so slightly and then Dusk nodded just as imperceptivity. Dagmar felt eyes on her and she looked around slowly and then saw Beriothien had watched the whole quick silent conversation between herself and Dusk, she looked at him and gave him a friendly smile, he smiled back shyly. His eye would then flick away to his other target which from the direction he was looking Dagmar guessed that he was watching Ragnar as closely as he was watching her.
When the meal was finished and the plates had been cleared by the serving faeries music began to play. The first song was a happy tune which got the toes tapping.
Tables were cleared to make room in front of the platform for dancing, which had begun before the tables were folded and taken away. Some of those at the high table were convinced by their neighbour or spouse to get up and dance. Randolph and his wife Lillianna were the first to take to the dance floor and were followed by Addylyn and her husband Tud, quickly followed by Niamh and Wouter. Oberon turned to the girl and asked with a cheeky look in his eyes 'Would you like to dance sweetling? It seems my wife has found a more interesting person to entertain herself with.” he said with a quick glance at his wife, who was in deep and animated conversation with Ragnar. “Thank you Sir but I don't know how to dance.” replied Dagmar. He was persistent though “Come sweetling I will teach you. It is very simple. Come give me your hand.” as he was saying that Oberon grasped her small hand in his very large one and was gently dragging her to the dance floor. A loud cheer went up as they joined the other dancers who made way for them to join in. Oberon, who still had a tight grip on her hand swung her around and put his other hand on her waist and began to gently lead her around the floor. After initially feeling apprehensive about dancing the girl soon began to enjoy this new experience and began to learn the intricate steps.
All danced for the next several pieces of music and then came back exhausted and thirsty. After Oberon had returned the girl to her seat he stopped and spoke to two new arrivals, both wearing dark cloaks with wide hoods that totally hid their faces. He then bowed and went to stand behind his chair, looking for people to quieten down their conversations. “My wonderful friends, family and guests, we have a great honour this evening, in our midst are two who have seen much and know more. Raise your cups and welcome the Wise Ones who have come especially for this marvellous occasion.” he turned in the direction of the two cloaked figures, who had pushed their hoods back off their heads “Merry Meet Rhiannon and Falcon.” and then the crowd all raised their cups and called “MERRY MEET”. Falcon stood and moved his hands in a manner which asked for quiet, which he immediately received “Merry Meet, one and all. It is good to be here during this wonderful time of new energies and fresh gifts. Rhiannon and I had the pleasure of being with Dagmar for her gifting and I know that we have a special sweetling in her. I have been told that young Ragnar also had his giting time whilst we were busy with Dagmars and he too is another very special child to have amongst us.” he smiled and sat down to the sound of many throats cheering again.
Dagmar leaned forward a little to look at both the Wise Ones and caught Rhiannon’s eye, they exchanged happy smiles. For a while after that much dancing and singing went on and Dagmar got up a few more times dancing with Oberon and also with Randolph. Later as the festivities began to wind down Oberon and Titania bade their good nights and soon after that others began to drift away to their private rooms. The girl remained for a while and then decided that she was also getting sleepy and knew that there would be more excitement the next day.