The Edge of Faerieland

I returned, and was in bed, a mere ten minutes before my partner arrived in a burst of V-twin noise and the joyous greeting howls of her dogs. I explained my bone-deep lethargy on feeling sick, and she poured vitamin C tablets and cranberry juice into me and made dinner that I could barely touch.

The next day I had to cancel my two clients, but the day after that I felt able to return to work, and the day after that I felt affectionate again as we lay cuddling in bed at night.

I didn't return to that mountain-top for more than a month, and even then we just drove straight through on our way to the other side, but I often stared hard at its misty head in the distance as I lay on the couch on that side of our verandah, wondering just what the fay folk I didn't believe in had needed me for.