Follyglass : Cedar
On the first dark and still night after wintertide, every household in our village stacks cedar in their fireplace and sets it alight. Slowly, the rooftops are wreathed in fragrant smoke, and when we look up, the stars beyond are ringed with their own constellations. It is then that we begin to see the delicate steps of the fairies dancing above us. The reason they are dancing is simple; by burning the cedar, the contract between our village and the Winter Court has been renewed, just like it has every year for the last two-hundred years.
The deal is simple: those that think dark thoughts about us cannot enter the village without raising the ire of the fairies.
Nobody comes to our village, especially when the smoke wreaths the winter sky. Not even when we had shining coins to offer for bread.
