Freehold.page

The Freehold

     A freehold or mew is a place where the magic of dreams, called glamour, takes a firm grip. Changelings, beings sometimes referred to as fairies, gather in freeholds to talk play and be free of mortal judgements, and to escape the mundane world for a time. Freeholds are outposts, sanctuaries, and strongholds of the Dreaming. They protect Changelings from the outside world for a time. Some freeholds are ruled over by Changeling courts, and some are held by commoners (these are called mews). Freeholds can be found nearly anywhere, in nearly any place, but in the modern world they are very rare. All official Changeling court functions take place in a freehold. The freehold is naturally the center of Kithain (Changeling) society.

      Most freeholds have a balefire, but a few very rare freeholds are glens which are natural springs of glamour. When in a freehold a Changeling does not age in either his mortal seeming or fae form. Furthermore they can assume their Kith shapes without using glamour or worrying about the mysts. Freeholds are rumored to have healing powers and are able to sooth the wounds of a banality ravaged mind.

       The discovery of a new freehold is significant. Many freeholds are hotly contested by commoners and lords. In the end, as the freehold protects the Changeling it is every fae’s duty to protect the hold.

                   Come now and have a peek at the Mountain Heart Freehold.

      You are in a big one-room mountain cabin. The ceiling is about 15’ high and the room is about 100’x100’. The building has no electricity or electrical appliances present. Candles and oil lamps light it. The front and back doors are very solid and though thinner than the average door they reach to a height of about nine and a half feet. Antique door handles, and knockers adorn each of them, and neither seems to have any sort of a lock. The cabin has smooth polished wood floors and the four windows each have plate glass works set in them displaying a unicorn, a griffin, a pegasus, and a dragon. Each window can be opened to allow in fresh air during the warm months or shuttered to keep out the cold winter winds.

        There is a large round oak table in the center of the room with about 8 oak ladder back chairs around it The tabletop is set on a pedestal that splits on the bottom ending in three delicate clawed feet. Each of the rich brown chairs’ legs also end in delicate clawed feet. It is a mystery how the large piece of furniture got into the room through the small doors.

         There are two long plush black leather sofas along the walls in the main living area, and various armchairs and rocking chairs set in a semi circle facing a beautiful wood stove fireplace that is placed in one of the dark corners of the room. The stove is set on a marble slab and is the work of a master craftsman. Every bit of exposed metal is covered in filigree, scrollwork, and vines. When the stove's fire is lit one can watch the flames flicker merrily through the fireplace grate from almost any point in the room, and at night when the lamps are turned down shadows will flit around the room chased by the warm firelight. The silver surface shines in the lamp light at night and sparkles in the sun light coming though the small windows during the day. If you look at it very closely you can see rainbows playing across the stoves surface out of the corner of your vision. On the opposite side of that end of the room are three large beds placed closely together. Each has many pillows, and a pile of quilts neatly placed upon them.

      Across the room on the other side of the big table are cupboards, and countertops, set in them is a sink and a very, very, old well pump. Beside them is an old fashioned cooking stove. It too is beautiful, but not at all as lovely as the main fireplace. In the opposite corner of the sink and cook stove are sets of shelves, bench seats that open up to reveal storage space, coat hooks, and a large, tall cabinet/closet. Beside the cabinet, set in the wall, is a large slate chalkboard, with a piece of chalk on a long twine string.

       To Changelings’ eyes the freehold has much the same simple elegance but there are some not so subtle differences. Small motes of light in various colors drift through the room. Technicolor mushrooms and toadstools grow in the empty corners and underneath the beds and tables. Each of the windows creatures seems to be a picture set in glass, and appear to move from time to time changing their positions. The doorknockers have stern faces set into them and seem to watch all that enter with a skeptical air. The walls glitter and the floors sparkle with tiny crystalline jewel flecks.

       In the corner the wood stove fireplace glows. In the mundane world it is a work of art, in the eyes of a Changeling it is a work of pure magic. It holds the balefire, which burns constantly imbuing the place with glamour. Its energy draws chimera, living bits of dreams, into its sanctuary, hiding them from the icy cold grip of banality and staves of the bitter cold of the coming Winter.