1 - A Feast Under Hollow Hill

Ogygia sat next to the head of the long wooden table as platters and platters of food came up amid the midst of a crowd of reveling faeries. Across from her was the princess of the Seelie court, a girl who Ogygia supposed looked like a teenager like her, though she had her doubts as to her real age in human years. The faerie girl in all ways resembled a human with fiery hair, aside from her pointy teeth, of which Ogygia could now see as she smiled at her.

Next to the princess was the prince, the quiet older brother who had two tiny chocolate-colored horns poking out from his inky black curls. He was immersed in a book, his eyes glued to the book beside his plate, his head never looking up. His pointy faerie ears twitched occasionally.

“Young girl, why don’t you try the punch? I think you’ll find it quite sweet.” The Seelie Queen peered over at her cup, “There’s no need to hold back.” The queen was quite different from her daughter and son, only bearing the same green eyes as her children did, which were quite bright. Her skin was tinged a dark blue, reminding Ogygia of the people in Avatar.

“I’m fine, my queen,” Ogygia cleared her throat; her voice had sounded scratchy. “I mean, I don’t even know your names!” Her eyes darted around the bouquet hall, trying to search for a human face.

The princess decided to speak up, and Ogygia tried her hardest not to flinch away from her teeth. “You can call my mother Emithia. My brother is known as Aerin. As for me, just call me Aedith. And I would love it you drank it,” Aedith acknowledged the drink once more, “It’s my favorite.”

No matter how much Aedith and her mother coaxed her, and no matter how tasty the drink looked like, Ogygia had read enough fairy tales to know that eating and drinking faerie food wasn’t such a good idea. Ogygia didn’t know what it could do to humans, but she wasn’t willing to bet her life just out of curiosity.

Ogygia needed to find a way back to her world.

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The fey had partied into the morning, and now Ogygia had somehow survived the night without going crazy nor getting killed, which she supposed was a good thing. The queen had let her stay as a guest at the palace for some reason, leading to the girl now wandering the empty halls under the hill.

Ogygia felt drowsy, her eyelids heavy and several yawns had already been coaxed out of her. But she had seen the faerie prince, Aerin, holding a book during dinner, which meant that it was likely that they had a library. If they had a library, it might have the slightest chance of proving Ogygia a way of escape, or at least a way of survival.