Current mood:	hungry
Current music:	Chess - The Deal (No Deal)
Entry tags:	007 an unfamiliar landscape, author:kabochan, genre: fantasy, original

007 An unfamiliar landscape
Prompt: 007 An unfamiliar landscape
Universe: Original (Fantasy Fair)
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rating: PG
Warnings: Hot elves!!!
Word Count: 1585

Here is the origin of my Fantasy Fair story. It's the very beginning - no background explanation needed! However, I haven't decided yet whether it's going to actually start here, whether this will be incorporated into the book via prologue/flashbacks/etc., or whether it will just be backstory. (Mostly because I mean for this to be YA, and the other protagonist is the one who's the right age. Which is weak reasoning, I know, but I can figure it out later.) Anyway, onward.

***

Janeene Sorenson was a dreamer with her feet on the ground. In normal society, she could blend in fairly well; she could talk about the trends in popular culture, discuss current events convincingly, and even appreciated the athletic achievements of the local college. All these things were of little interest to her, though, and she secretly lived in a world in her head filled with magic.

When Janeene finished school and decided to start her own business, she began to share her secret world with those who she knew felt the same way. “Everyone wants a little magic in their lives,” she told her family, “and I’d like to give them some.” So she leased a bit of property, a little building on the edge of town, and began to put her dream together.

Thus the Fantasy Fair was born: part bookstore, part game shop, part art gallery, and all the magic one human could produce.

The day of the Grand Opening was a celebration of epic proportions. Janeene had managed to pull in a couple of authors to sign books and give addresses. Sales were very positive, and so was the store’s reception. Several games were held, with store merchandise for prizes. Because Janeene always relished the chance to wear her medieval garb, there was even a costume contest, and characters from sci-fi and fantasy movies paraded around the store. Janeene herself dressed like a queen, and ruled the event graciously. The refreshments disappeared, were refilled, and disappeared again. It was a great success.

After the last customer had finally left, the store looked like the aftermath of a riot. A riotous party, anyway.

“Nice job, Janeene,” said her brother Skylar, a senior in high school. “I think everyone had a good time.” He was examining a couple of swords displayed on the wall, and in his Crusader’s tunic he looked like a knight deciding on his next blade.

“Yeah, I think it went really well,” Janeene said, pulling a trash bag out from under the counter and gathering up garbage.

“Here, let me help,” Skylar said. He wiped the tables off, took down the banners and opening decorations, and straightened the books and other merchandise while Janeene vacuumed crumbs off the carpet. Together they had it cleaned up quickly.

“Well, I guess I’d better take off. I’ve got practice early tomorrow,” Skylar said when the store was under control again.

Tired but feeling accomplished, Janeene thanked him and let him out with a hug, then locked the front door behind him.

“I’ll take this trash out back and then close up and call it a day,” Janeene said to herself, hefting two large trash bags and hoisting them through the back room.

She carried them past the shelves full of stocked books and figurines, past the slats of art prints, and through the small room adjoining the back door. She unlocked the door, twisted the knob, then backed out of it as she picked up the second sack again.

When she saw grass under her slippers instead of asphalt, Janeene stopped and turned around. The countryside before her looked as though it had never seen asphalt, nor perhaps even heard of it.

Instead of the cement and blacktop parking lot, with its brick wall lining the property, there was open meadow and rolling hills. The moon was bright enough that she could see the neat rows in the fields and distant clumps of trees that broke up the graceful line of the horizon against the starry sky.

Startled, she dropped the trash bags and turned around again.

There was not a door behind her, but a crevice in a rock face obscured by greenery. The rock continued up steeply to a snow-capped peak, and stretched to either side as far as she could see in the dark. She placed a hand on the rock at the opening. It felt real enough, rough and cool to her skin. What had just happened? Janeene began to move into the crevice when she turned back around on an impulse. She searched the skyline – there was a rhythmic pounding coming closer. Were those...

Janeene froze. A figure on horseback emerged from the night, slowing to a walk at the crest of the hill. Janeene’s heart pounded, realizing that she was alone and defenseless, at night, in a strange place. She backed against the stone as though trying to shrink into the mountain, but the trash bags were in the way and she caught her foot on the plastic.

The rider reined in and turned toward the noise, drawing a sword that shone silver in the moonlight. Janeene drew in a sharp breath, pondering absurdly that if the blade hadn’t been directed toward her, she might have admired the shimmering steel. As the rider slowly closed the gap between them, she braced herself further into the crevice, hoping that it was too dark to see her.

The rider paused a few yards from the entrance. Janeene heard a murmur and then light burst from the rider’s raised fist. She threw her arm up to shield her eyes, but in the seconds it took her to adjust to the sudden brightness, she forgot how to breathe.

On the horse was a man. No, not exactly – her shocked brain struggled to work. In a single instant she took in his embroidered tunic, the rich cloak draped over his shoulders, breeches, leather boots and gloves, the light from one hand glinting off the sword in the other. But his face – she’d never seen anyone like him. Thick, dark hair well past his shoulders framed a narrow face with fine features, angular and graceful – the face of an angel.

Not an angel – an elf. His pale pointed ears contrasted sharply against his hair.

Her shock was mirrored in the expression on his lovely face.

Janeene wasn’t sure how long she stood immobile, staring at the exquisite figure on the horse before her. It could have been hours, or only seconds. The creak of leather jarred her back to herself, and she suddenly remembered her vulnerability. Alone and defenseless in a dark, strange place was bad enough, but now she was faced with a stranger on top of the rest. She snatched a thin tree branch from the brush and held it in front of her as the man swung smoothly to the ground. The light hovered in the air above him, and he stepped closer, not taking his eyes from her.

“Stop right there,” she said in her most commanding tone, brandishing her stick and trying to look threatening. He was tall, lean but well-muscled, beautiful but masculine, and graceful even without moving. He held the reins of his elegant horse in one hand as he watched her.

Fool! her mind shrieked. He had a sword, and her chances of running away with yards of heavy skirts around her legs were minimal. And even if she did run, he had the horse, and she had nowhere to go. She hoped the terror didn’t show on her face.

A whimper fluttered in her throat and her arms shook, but the man simply peered at her, disbelief and confusion and fascination all warring for dominance. The glow floated closer, bathing her in cool white light. The man sheathed his sword, eyes wide.

He took a step forward, raising his hands unthreateningly when Janeene jerked the stick. He spoke a few inquiring words, but they held no meaning for her but the beautiful lilting sound of it. She shook her head blankly. He frowned a moment, bringing a hand to his temple. Then he murmured something else, and a soft golden light brushed his mouth and ears.

“Are you alright, my lady? I didn’t mean to startle you.” His voice was rich and resonant, and the timbre of it danced so that she had to concentrate to make out the words.

Janeene stared, heart pounding in her throat. When his expression turned worried, she whispered, “I’m alright.” His face cleared again, a delighted smile blooming instead. She nearly smiled herself, but clutched the branch tighter.

“My name is Daliseth Tembrilayne. I do not believe I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance.”

“Janeene Sorenson,” she said cautiously.

The man looked puzzled. “Do you mean Queen Janeene Sorenson? Or perhaps Lady Janeene Sorenson?”

She frowned. “Uh, no — why?” Her arms were beginning to ache with the effort of wielding her stick.

“But your attire is such that—” he paused, eyes carefully taking in her gown and fur-trimmed surcoat, her aluminum circlet and costume jewelry, her guarded expression – and the garbage bags a few feet away. “Amazing,” he whispered. “You truly are not from here.”

With a sudden uneasiness, Janeene reached behind her with one hand and touched not stone, but wood. Her fingers closed on a doorknob, and in a rush of adrenaline she wrenched the knob and whirled her skirts through the door. “My lady, wait!” she heard the man cry, as she shoved the door closed behind her and quickly locked it.

As she slid to the floor of her back room, lungs heaving and legs shaking, Janeene cast her eyes to the branch clenched in her hand. It was not from any tree she recognized. Flashes of light and the sound of her name lilting from the elf’s lips echoed through her mind, and she took an unsteady breath.

This was not the kind of magic she had expected at her store.

***

What I'm looking for help on:
I think the scene needs to be pumped up a bit, perhaps with more conversation, perhaps something else. I do feel that the conversation's unnatural, but I couldn't figure out what they'd say. ^^;
FYI, it's instant smit on both sides, but they spend the length of the book working up the courage to make it known to each other. Also, Janeene goes back the next day, despite her better judgment, because she's so struck by him and to see if she imagined it all.
Also, I don't want to fall into Edward Cullen description mode when I talk about the elves, so help me be careful with that, too, please! Keep in mind that Janeene sees Daliseth at night (she'll see him in daylight next time), so some things she might not notice. I'm not sure if I picked the right ones.