Another day...<br/><br/>It was dark outside and the pub was full of people.  Helping out behind the bar, Tara could hear the murmurings, picking out bits and pieces of the conversation.  People weren't happy that much it was easy to tell.  "I tell ya, me orchard... somethings killin' it.  The leaves are all curlin' up and one tipped over. Looked like its roots been near gnawed off!"<br/><br/>Pulling another ale, she smiled absently. "Yer daft, Michael!  It' jes' cause ya didn't take care of 'em gophers when ya should have!"  There was a smattering of chuckling, but the mood seemed more serious than usual, even the jesting seemed forced.<br/><br/>"Y'know Sully's been saying that two men left the construction job.  Said they were hearing voices in their sleep. They figured the forest were haunted."  Tara could see several folks looking back and forth to each other with dubious looks.<br/><br/>Things were quiet for the moment so she wiped her hands against her apron, and headed to the kitchen where her aunt was resting for the moment on a stool.  “People are worried Aunt Mary Lin.  What’s going on here?”  She leaned on a tall table that was littered with the debris from pie crusts, idly she played with the dough as she looked up at her aunt.<br/><br/>“Ah chile’ I tole’ ye what’s happening, but ye looked at me wit’ yer American eyes and doubted me every word.”  Mary Lin smiled sadly at her niece, unsure herself if it was a good thing she didn’t believe in the stories.<br/><br/>“That’s not true! I’ve been in the forest. It felt odd, I admit that but fairies?  Little pixies with wings?”  Tara brushed back a loose strand of black hair, her dark blue eyes narrowed as she pondered what the answers could be.<br/><br/>“Nae child.  Donna think jes’ because I remember tha’ wee ones, donna mean thas’ all thas there in tha wood.”  Mary Lin pulled her sweater tighter around herself and glanced toward the darkened window.  “There’s much worse than any pixie out there. Jes as we have good an’ bad folk, so do they, but e’en the good ones donna think like we mortals do.”  She slid off the stool and went to pull a tray of meat pies from the stove.  The aromatic steam filled the air, and for a moment it felt safer and more homey than any place on earth.<br/><br/>“They’re right though, something’s got ta be done. I jes’ wish I knew wha’ would make ‘em happy agin.  I’m nae sure stoppin’ tha road is enough.”<br/>