Ow.

Damia felt like she had just been kicked in the ribs by a very pointy thing. She sat up groggily and rubbed her side. There was a very tall-looking figure in the darkness of the night. It was looking at her very curiously.

“Did you just kick me?” Damia asked the figure with a touch of disgruntlement in her voice. After all, she had just flown a very long way, and she was TIRED, by the light. Fairies are cranky when they get woken up too soon.

“Vadjoo gey?”

“Huh?”

“Vadjoo geyng?”

Oh. Common. Right. I’m not in Eldrin anymore. Damia sniffed the wind carefully. Nope. No spell casting problems. Okay. Here goes nothing...

“Let’s try this again...” Damia was interrupted by a sigh of relief from the human.

“Oh GOOD. You DO speak Common. I was beginning to think I would have to fetch a translator just to speak to a... a... fairy? That I tripped over in an alleyway. Why are you out here anyway? I thought fairies hated humans! Why would one be here, in the capital of a human country?”

Damia felt a little bit lost. She was still a bit groggy from her sleeping, and the rapid-fire questions of the human were making her head spin. “Um. I’m a... um. I was... no. Where am I, exactly?”

“This is Damali. It’s the capital of Achryn. We’re... oh Ilithya, I haven’t a clue where we are right now. I was just in the marketplace mere minutes ago, I can’t have... oh dear me,” the human looked over her shoulder cautiously and had a frightened edge to her voice. “They’ll catch up to me any second now. Quickly! That room seems crowded; maybe they’ll not find us in there! Come on, will you? Hurry!” the girl pulled Damia to her feet and dragged her down the alleyway towards a building with the light of table lanterns and lots of raucous laughter pouring from the door and windows.

Nearing the end of the alleyway, the girl slowed her pace a little and looked nervous. She checked the alley where they had come from, then slowly poked her head around the corner of the building where the alley met the street. Damia took her hand back to rub her eyes wearily. Suddenly, the girl gasped with alarm as though she was about to scream, but something muffled her progress. Damia removed her hands from her eyes and backed up a few steps, readjusting her eyes to the gloom of the alley. Her companion was struggling in the grip of a very dirty, and very large, thug. There were three more beast-like men behind him, drooling and sizing up Damia in a very unpleasant manner. Damia was more than confused. What were these men trying to do to the girl? Whatever it was, it didn’t look like the girl wanted the attention. Though she knew very little about humans, she knew a lot about loyalty, and she was sure that her first loyalty was towards her new companion, even if she had kicked her in the ribs.

“Let her go,” Damia tried to make herself look bigger. It didn’t work very well, considering that their bulky assailants were almost twice her pint-sized height, but it made Damia look a little more confident than she was. She started focusing her energy into a spell that would hopefully knock a little sense into the thugs when a jarring laugh broke her concentration.

“Did widow Smithly kick you boys out of her establishment again, boys? Or can’t you find someone who you can pay to pretend they like you?” the speaker seemed to be a Mry’l, from where Damia was standing. Unless cat ears and a tail belong on humans, in which case, Damia’s education had been lacking. “Isn’t that one a little small for you? Really, do you want your children to be ashamed of you? If you’re not man enough to find a mate who will have you willingly, there’s no reason to have a mate at all. Your filthy seed should be kept to yourself, not spread all over the city to make the humans even more wretched than they are,” the Myr’l’s voice was jeering, and the thugs looked at each other with a touch of embarrassment.

“Ease off, Elira. We was just lookin’ for a little fun, a’right?”

“Mating isn’t a game, mutton-for-brains. Come on, fellas. You can find a dozen like her who won’t be screaming in your ear the whole time another place. I’m sure the beds at Smithly’s are more comfortable than this smelly alley any day. Let’s go, the first round’s free.”

The thug released Damia’s companion with a grunt. The girl rushed over to Damia and clutched her arm, as if expecting protection from the tiny fairy girl. As the Myr’l approached the tavern an excited voice cried out “She’s here!” and someone inside the door opened it, as if in reverence for the tiny catlike girl. The four grimy men followed the Myr’l into the tavern, already laughing and forgetting the two frightened faces in the alleyway. The human pulled Damia along, rushing after them and slipped in behind them just as the heavy-looking door closed with a thud.

“Thanks ever so much for the help. I’m Ria. What’s your name?”

“Damia. I... what just happened?”

“That Myr’l just saved us from those awful men. I’m so glad! I thought for sure that... wait. What were you trying to do when she started talking? I saw you... glowing green. Were you going to do... magic?”

Damia stared at Ria, filled with shock. “You saw that? But no humans can detect high magic. Only fairies can. It’s in our blood. How did you see that?”

Ria looked troubled. “It’s a very long story. Can you keep a secret?”

Damia looked puzzled. “Who would I tell? I don’t know any humans except you, and a crazy philosopher who stopped by our kingdom once, but I think he’s dead now. He was very old.”

“Alright. Well, as I said, it’s a long story. Why don’t we go and sit down?” she gestured across the room to where a surly looking man was sitting at one of the only nearly available tables.

“There? That man doesn’t look like very good company... are you sure?

“He won’t notice us. It’s all right. Let’s go ask him; it’ll be fine!” Ria smiled encouragingly. Damia wasn’t so sure, but she followed Ria across the lively tavern anyway, trusting her new friend’s judgment. After all, Ria had lived in the human city for a lot longer than Damia had. Surely she knew a thing or two about the city life.