Due to me shacking up with one of my brothers for a while, we shall have an interlude, Gilded Blue Theft will resume next update.

This is the story of Kaytelen, who became known throughout her land as being the bravest of her peers. Kaytelen was not very old in years, but she was strong of heart, and after all, sometimes the strongest people can be the youngest, too, because when you are younger, you are not afraid to explore, and to go to places that older people cannot or will not tread. Now Kaytelen was one of the Wee Folk. You might not know what the Wee Folk are. They are not a special race, like the Conepeople are, instead, they are similar to what you or I might call a child, but not quite. She sometimes got underway of the feet of her elders, and she asked a lot of questions, as all Wee Folk are known to do. On some special days, she was tended by an elder woman, who took great care that no harm would come to Kaytelen until she could grow into one of the Big Ones. This elder woman was of Kaytelen’s lineage, and was an ancestor from a few steps back, so the Wee Child called her “Mother-Mother.”

“Where are we going?” Kaytelen asked, because Mother-Mother was seated at the helm of a fine carriage (or at least Kaytelen thought it was fine, because it could whisk them wherever they pleased in the blink of an eye, although it was not really very fine, because there were others much better in the land).

“We are going on a Journey to a different place,” said Mother-Mother, glancing in the reflection shard at their surroundings.

“Yes, but what place?” she asked, swinging her legs.

“We are going to a Banquet,” said Mother-Mother. And this pleased Kaytelen, because she was hungry, as she had only eaten a dish of grain rings that morning, and her little belly was now grumbling like a Wild Hund.

“I think I will like a Banquet,” she said.

“I know you will. And along with the Banquet, there will be other Wee Folk there, so you can talk to them, and play with them. And after the Banquet, the Givers will bestow upon you a prize.”

Kaytelen was very young yet, only a handful of summers, but she already knew that prizes were not given, but were won, or else they were not really a prize. “What will I have to do to get the prize, Mother-Mother?”

But the Elder did not answer the Wee Child, for they had already arrived at their destination.

Kaytelen scampered out of the silver-gilded carriage, and leaned her head back on her short neck to get a better view of the Palace before her. Even as Mother-Mother slipped her hand around her wrist, she did not pay attention to her elder, but to her surroundings instead. The palace was made of cleanly-hewn pale bricks, with a great diamond window in the wall, much larger and more knowing than all the twinkling windows in Kaytelen’s village house. (The Wee Folk and their Elders all live together in one house, which is why it is called the village house. It is not like other lands, like Elcon or its surrounds, where each person lives in their own house, next to their neighbors. Instead the houses are stacked, one above the other, and pulleys are used to move from one house to the next, and when people get too loud, the Elders tap on their roof, which makes the upper house’s floor, to quiet them down.) The palace was decorated with a pair of golden curves on its highest point, that soared toward the heavens like bows of sunshine.

The inside of the palace was noisy, as all the Wee Folk and their Elders prepared for the Banquet. They stood about waiting for the Givers. The Givers wore different clothes than the Elders or the Wee Folk, and Kaytelen guessed this was because they were also In-Betweens, those who are not Wee Folk, but not yet Elders in their own right. They wore tunics of crimson and saffron, and their heads were covered with special caps, and they talked and called to each other over the sounds of the kitchen, and over the smell of warm Grazermeat. No sooner had Kaytelen seen these wonders than she was distracted by something else. All throughout the palace, on great flags, were images of the King of the palace. The King did not look like regular people. Not like you or I. Kaytelen could tell this right away, for the King had hair the color of flame, and stripes of fire painted across his moon-white face.

As Kaytelen gazed at the images of the Lord of this place, Mother-Mother voice entered her ears.

“My child, like most good things in this world, the Banquet will not start right away. And as we must do with good things, we will need to be patient. But while we wait, I would like you to look over there.”

Kaytelen furrowed her little brow, and almost asked another question, but instead she allowed her gaze to follow her Elder’s thin finger, past the diamond window.

“That, dear girl, is the Palace of Delight.” But Kaytelen didn’t think it looked like a Palace at all. It looked like a beautiful colored flower, all different shades and shapes made into one form.

“The Palace of Delight?”

“Yes. It is the place where the Wee Folk gather until their Elders call them back. And you may go with them, for a time. Do not get into mischief, or to danger. When you come back to me, if you are good, you shall have your prize.”

Now if you or I were told to go to a Palace, and to come back to a reward, I don’t think you or I would protest, and Kaytelen was only one of the Wee Folk, and the promise of new adventure pulled her very strongly. And so with one last look at her Mother-Mother, who smiled beneath her facepaint, Kaytelen went forth.

The diamond window that made one side of the palace could be crossed through a pair of double doors, but Kaytelen struggled to open them. She threw all her weight against them, and yet they wouldn’t budge. Then she saw a small hand press against the bar. It belong to another Wee Folk, a dark-haired boy child.

“My name is Zakeri,” he told her, and together they pushed and were able to make it past the barrier.

The Palace of Delight was even more brilliant up close, more brilliant than any of the Wee Folk could imagine on their own. It is not big enough to be a true Palace, since it is confined within the walls of stone, but it seemed to those who were not yet Big Ones, to be a great Wonder. It didn’t seem as if humankind could build it. It is a mass of hollow circles, squares, and twisted chutes, painted and lacquered in dazzling colors. Its walls are of woven filigree. And greatest of all is a sort of lake filled with spheres that glow like gems.

As if to remind the Wee Folk to whom they should be grateful for all this spectacle, there hung another banner with the grinning moon-faced King, watching over his palace.

Zakeri rushed ahead, intrepid, and after standing a moment in awed silence, Kaytelen followed him with a cry. “Hey, where are you going?”

“Haven’t you been here before?” Zakeri asked. “Don’t be afraid! It is called the Palace of Delight, after all. You’ll have fun.”

The boy child settled upon the ground, and began to pull his shoes from his feet, as though he were going to enter Holy Ground. “You must do the same,” he said, so Kaytelen carefully removed her own slippers, and placed them in a large painted cupboard that stood nearby. Then she squared her shoulders and looked at the bright towers looming above her before she stepped through a parting in the woven filigree, and stood before the Sea of Gems.

The Sea of Gems is a square compartment in the Palace of Delight, stretching away for an endless expanse, at least to the eyes of the Wee Folk. It is not really filled with Gems, but the round hollow balls have often been compared to such. Some of the Elders are filled with superstition, and believe that the Sea of Gems is unwholesome, and breeds disease, but this has never been proven.

Kaytelen was new to this sight, but Zakeri was not, and he launched himself into the rainbow colors. So did Kaytelen. She waded throughout the orbs, laughing and shrieking. Zakeri pelted her with a few light missiles and she threw them back with spirit. At last, they waded their way across to a foothold, then scampered to the next floor and into a small blue-violet chamber. Through a great clear window in the chamber’s rounded walls, Kaytelen could look down below at the shining tiles of the floor, and even through the diamond window beyond. She thought she saw Mother-Mother there, but she could not be sure, for the woman was clutching a platter balancing two scarlet boxes Kaytelen could not identify. She thought vaguely of her prize, when she suddenly heard a tiny cry from somewhere above her.

As I have said, Kaytelen had seen only three or four summers, but this cry belonged to someone who was even smaller than she. She turned about in the blue-violet chamber, and did not see Zakeri, but it was not Zakeri who was whimpering so fearfully. And so, without any idea what to do, she hurried toward the source of the cry.

She passed through two more chambers as she made her way up, one red and one green, the light filtering through the thin walls and casting a glow on her arms and hands as she crawled through the narrow space. She had to clutch with all her strength when the palace floors went from solid plate to woven net. She could see the Sea of Gems through the net bridge, and gasped, but hurried ahead, for the cry had gone from something small to something large, a scream.

At last, she entered another colored chamber, but one wall had been carved away, until it was little more than a round hole. At the edge of the hole there crouched a girl-child, and Zakeri was there too, prying at her hands, which gripped the edge of the wall.

“What are you doing?” Kaytelen sternly demanded. Zakeri answered, not roughly, but with some exasperation. “She won’t go.”

“I’m afraid!” wailed the smallest child.

“Where won’t she go?” Kaytelen asked.

“She won’t go down the chute. And if she does not go, we cannot get down.”

“Not get down?” Because they were Wee Folk and not Elders or In-Betweens, or Big Ones of any kind, it did not occur to them to trace their steps, and climb down as they had come up. So their fear was very real.

“I can’t go down!” screamed the youngest. “I’m afraid!”

Kaytelen was afraid too. She didn’t know where the chute ended, it spiraled away like a beam of yellow light. But how else would they get down?

“I will go down first,” Zakeri suggested. “Let me past.” Again he pulled at the small girl-child, but she held fast, and would not be moved. Zakeri sulked and slouched against the wall.

It felt as if the compartment were shrinking around her. Kaytelen furrowed her brow and tried to think. The child would not move. She would not let Zakeri blaze the way. “What if you let me go first? Would that be okay?” Kaytelen asked. She tried to keep her voice steady, so as not to frighten the child further.

The little one’s blinked up at her. “Okay,” she sniffled, and crawled away, next to Zakeri at the far wall.

The chute was like some path to another world. But if they did not want to be trapped in the Palace of Delight, which was quickly losing its luster, what else could be done?

So Kaytelen propelled herself down the yellow slide. It twisted. It turned. Somehow Kaytelen became twisted and turned too. Her hair stood upon its ends. She thought she would never be freed from the endless tunnel. And then, face first, she came into the bright light once more. And there was Mother-Mother beyond the diamond window, beckoning her to come.

Kaytelen had never disobeyed her Elder before, but now she did not hurry to her side. Instead she peered up into the heights of the Palace, until she saw a small brown face blinking from a window above the golden chute. Kaytelen waved to her. She called out, “Here I am! Come with me!” The little face disappeared, and with a series of squeaks and groans from the slide, suddenly appeared at the foot of the palace. Zakeri followed, happy and triumphant.

Kaytelen patted the girl’s braids as the child ran to hug her, then watched her go to retrieve her little boots. Kaytelen also claimed her slippers from the cupboard, then bid Zakeri farewell. At last, she was reunited with her Elder.

She expected her Mother-Mother to be stern with her for her tardiness, but instead the old woman smiled. “I watched you help that child through the window. Well done, Kaytelen! You were very brave. And see? You have been rewarded – our food is here!”

Kaytelen allowed Mother-Mother to guide her to a small table, where she sat in a black metal chair. The Elder handed her one of the boxes, colored red and crowned with the same golden arches that graced the building’s walls. Kaytelen opened her box and pulled out a sandwich, potato fries, packets of sauce, and, at last, her prize.

The prize was small, but that didn’t make Kaytelen love it any less. It was a little figure of a woman, with long sunshine hair. Her clothes were carved onto her body, but her arms and head could turn. Kaytelen grasped it in both her hands, and thought solemnly of the events of the day.

Her grandmother must have noticed, because she asked, “Well, Kaytelen? You have had your fun in the Palace. What do you think of the Banquet.”

The Wee Child did not answer right away. Then she said, at last, three words:

“I’m loving it.”