Winter (Fae)

[fae iona cloudbreaker]

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“Right?” she exclaimed through a mouthful of fish cake. That was blasphemy to be speaking this way according to some on the island, but she was ultimately the end all be all for what happened on Hy-Brasil. Fae never wanted to exercise that on the other druids though, as it broke her own moral compass, but she technically had the power to make changes that could lead to a more prosperous and intellectual island than what they currently had. Change was scary, but also good. Technology would never be allowed, of course, but adopting foods and ideas was how the rest of the world worked. What was so wrong with that? She had always wanted to bring in new ideas but had been scared to do so. Seven years into her time as High Druid, she finally felt confident enough to start leaving her mark on druid culture. There had to be some adjustments without their barrier and Yrisle looming. Staying the same would spell doom for their way of life. She didn’t need a prophecy from Xiulan to see that.

The nasty thoughts about the decline of druid-kind were stuffed away in her head as another fish cake entered her mouth. “I do have to confer with the Council and elders first, and large changes would require the entire island. While I lead them, I do not want to make drastic moves without everyone in agreement.” Introducing something like butterbeer would benefit the island as a whole, and she could see very little drawbacks to that. There were probably some on the island that could brew it even better than it already was, and with ingredients that were more natural too. Having an export like that would in turn generate revenue that they could pool for the island incase anything like the bubble burst every happened again.

Just thinking about butterbeer over and over again was making her crave it, and while the fish cakes and other foods were excellent, she was starting to get parched. “Do you think we could find a place to get a drink? And sit, maybe?” she inquired, before plucking what looked to be a bag of red candies off of a cart in exchange for a sickle.

xiulan zhou ● 374 ● A Ghosts Broken Heart by French For Rabbits

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[xiulan zhou]

February 8, 2027

Fae explained that while she had the authority to make changes on Hy-Brasil when it came to adjusting older traditions on the island, she couldn't just do that on her own. She would still need to confer with the rest of Hy-Brasil's leadership about that. Xiulan understood; Fae didn't just want to turn into a dictator, and it probably wouldn't go well for her if she were to try. With the Druids' dislike for anything towards the darker side of magic, well, Xiulan guessed that developing a dictatorship would result in automatic banishment.

Apart from that, though, Fae asked a different question. "Do you think we could find a place to get a drink? And sit, maybe?”

While Xiulan wasn't sure that Fae wouldn't end up with three or four drinks to try (and somehow, she'd find a way to carry them all), they could find somewhere to get a drink.

As for those drinks, the options were just about as plentiful as the food. Water was obviously an option, since that could be poured straight from the tip of a wand. Tea was perhaps the next most likely, and it came in multiple varieties. Then, there were the vendors selling fruit juices in bags into which they then poked drinking straws. Besides those, there had to be some of the more common wizarding drinks in Britain in general—butterbeer and pumpkin juice and the like.

"What would you like to drink? A butterbeer?" Xiulan asked Fae in return. "I'm happy to get something for you, and you can find somewhere to sit down." She didn't mind going to get the High Druid something so that she didn't have to find a way to juggle everything at once, or she wouldn't have offered.

fae iona cloudbreaker

[fae iona cloudbreaker]

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Fae frequently forgot how butterbeer was a staple of mainland drinks. To her, it had become associated with work and travel - a way to treat herself once she was done with whatever the Council wanted her to do. Since they were afraid of going to the mainland and dealing with the Ministry directly, she figured it would be fine to indulge herself a bit every time. Otherwise the travel stipend was going to go unused. Immersing herself in the many different magical cultures was also a big deal to her. She knew that to gain the trust of the mainlanders, she needed to learn as much as possible. Her rudimentary knowledge of them outside of her two brief trips to Hogwarts for exams and then meetings for each of the half-dozen Ministers didn't come anywhere close to helping her. But events like today? That was what she needed more of. And butterbeer. She could always do with more of that.

"That would be excellent, thank you," Fae responded. Her excitement was easily contained, years of formal High Druid work helping with keeping certain emotions masked. She could gush over the drink once she had it in front of her. "Let's look over here for seating," she commented to her guardian, motioning in a general area so that Xiulan could also see. "We will be over there somewhere." There were still several sticks of food that her guard had in his hands, and she already knew she was going to be alternating between those and swigs of butterbeer. She could lament for days about how life would be different for her had she been born on the mainland. Not that she disagreed with the druidic way of life and was forever happy for her selection as High Druid...but there were so many things she had missed out in life so far because of it.

Breaking away from Xiulan, she allowed her guardian to create a path in front of her through the crowd and towards a seating area he had spotted over the heads of everyone else. That was the one nice thing about having him shadowing her whenever she was here. While he wasn't scary, he took his work seriously and didn't immediately get worried when she wanted to break from the agreed upon plans. Or ran off in the middle of a museum. Merlin's staff eased a lot of his worries, apparently. There was a general acknowledgement by the druids that the staff held enough power for Fae to easily protect herself, and she had to agree on that. The magical energy she could feel from it was tremendous. "How about there?" she motioned towards a corner table in the seating area, away from other people. That seemed to work for him, and Fae made her way over and took a seat. Any minute now and she'd have her butterbeer...

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[xiulan zhou]

February 8, 2027

Agreeing to find somewhere to sit while she got the butterbeer, Fae directed her guardian to an area nearby. Xiulan, with a general idea of where she would be able to find them after the butterbeer stall, went over to queue for butterbeer.

There were a good number of people who were lined up ahead of her to order butterbeer for themselves or others with them, but it wasn't a terribly long wait. The people working at the stall obviously knew what they were doing and didn't waste any time fulfilling the orders as they received them. When it came time for her to order, Xiulan purchased not one but three butterbeers: She had gotten one for herself, one for Fae, and one for the High Druid's guardian, just in case.

Levitating three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer was a challenge even without so many people around, but Xiulan maneuvered herself and the drinks through the crowd at a slow pace to keep from spilling any of them. She soon caught sight of where Fae and her guardian had decided to sit, and she moved towards their corner table.

Allowing each of the three tankards of butterbeer to come to rest on the tabletop, Xiulan smiled softly at Fae and her guardian. "Here," she said, if they hadn't seen the drinks that she had brought over for them. She acknowledged the guardian in particular, though, and explained, "I bought one for you if you'd like it." Butterbeer was certainly not something that Xiulan could stand to drink on a regular basis; it was exceptionally sweet, and she wasn't honestly sure that she'd finish the tankard that she had bought for herself.

fae iona cloudbreaker

[fae iona cloudbreaker]

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"It isn't any more crowded than when we host Hogwarts students," Fae responded sternly to her guard, who was still complaining about the amount of people around them. She had learned over the last several years that the average mainlander didn't know who she was once she dressed like them and physically altered her hair and whatnot with her metamorphmagus ability. Everyone seemed to forget that she could instantly disappear into a crowd if she wanted to. "And the Ministry has people everywhere too." she added quietly. It didn't take much looking around to see the aurors stationed on every block, ready to spring into action should something happen. While Fae knew she couldn't criticize the mainland openly for their struggles, at least they made the impression that they were attempting to keep the peace. It seemingly worked for their people, despite everything that had occurred over the last five years.

Xiulan returned, three butterbeers floating ahead of her. Fae immediately grabbed the closest, taking a long drink before looking up and muttering a "Thank you!" through a frothy sugar mustache. She could hear her guard groan behind her, obviously due to her lack of decorum. But Xiulan didn't care about any of that, and it wasn't like anyone else around them would even notice. Today, she was supposed to be normal. "Drink," she said up to her guard, who was staring at the butterbeer. He had refused to have it all of the other times he'd been sent along with her to the mainland. Something about 'staying sound of mind'. She got the feeling that he assumed it was alcoholic, despite the fact that she only ever walked away with a mild sugar high.

"I hope to one day have butterbeer available on the island. I think the children would enjoy it very much." In moderation, of course. She was sure they could find a way to make it taste them same but also be healthier. The real problem was whether or not she would lose interest in the drink if it became readily available. Currently she viewed it as her prize for hard work on the mainland (along with a new book or two). "This is what my people have missed out on," Fae gestured around them. "This blending of cultures is so important, and yet we locked ourselves away. I hope that we can work at easing our way back into this, without losing who we are."

xiulan zhou ● 410 ● Song by Artist

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[xiulan zhou]

February 8, 2027

It took Fae only a moment to grab her tankard of butterbeer, and she took a sip of the drink before thanking her for having brought it. The guardian who was with her sounded far less pleased, though. Xiulan understood that Fae had a high-profile position on Hy-Brasil and was seen as Hy-Brasil's representative to the rest of the magical world, but that shouldn't have been enough to keep her from enjoying a butterbeer.

Fae instructed her guardian to try the butterbeer, too, but he seemed far less interested in it than she was. In fact, he looked at the beverage as though it might have been poisoned. It was possible, in theory, but then again, so were a lot of other things. Xiulan wasn't going to force anyone to try anything that they didn't want to, nor was she going to insert herself in the middle of Fae and the Druid whose job it was to look after her.

"I hope to one day have butterbeer available on the island. I think the children would enjoy it very much," Fae expressed. It was a goal that shouldn't have been controversial in any way, but there was still a chance that the Druids wouldn't approve of it. Clearly, though, Fae's ambitions ran deeper than just butterbeer. "This is what my people have missed out on," she said of their surroundings. "This blending of cultures is so important, and yet we locked ourselves away. I hope that we can work at easing our way back into this, without losing who we are."

Hearing that Fae was so inclined to learn more about cultures of which she knew so little, a smile came upon Xiulan's face. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Fae," she said. There were "mainlanders", in Druid parlance, who didn't think that way. If all it took to build bridges was a little butterbeer, then maybe the world wasn't quite as dark as it seemed.

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