Setting Sail for the New World

The French were the first to follow. (The tall, proud Hadas of Spain had already departed- however reluctantly-with their diminutive domes- tic relatives, the Duendes.) From France came the sturdy seafaring Korreds of Brittany; the nomadic, shape-shifting Lutins of Normandy, Dames Blanches and Dames Vertes, coquettish maidens from the river valleys of the Aquitaine, Loups Garoux from the forests. All these found refuge from the onslaught of Man upon the chill and rocky northern coast of the New Found Land across the sea. Forsaking the sun-tanned Riviera, water Dracs, playful-as-porpoises, and the languid, amorous Fadas found contentment upon the hot southern shores of the New World, amidst pink, long-legged birds and high, swaying palms. In England, the erstwhile high-honored court of the Fairy Queen was now much diminished. Her Majesty, Mab Herself, and many of Her subjects, Pixies, Hobgoblins, and Boggarts alike, had shrunk to tiny size. Robin had been exiled to Sherwood. Right gladly did all that company hear the news of a haven in the West, and right swiftly they embarked therefor. The venerable Dutch merchant empire of the Lowland Alven was also in its autumn. Their sailor-