Turns out, corgis are from the faerie realms.
It really
shouldn't have been a surprise to me. Or any mage with even an inkling
of awareness. It's not like there weren't somewhat magical creatures
currently living on the physical plane, but we all thought they had been
cataloged already.
Most of us know corvids are from higher
realms, as are cats, of course. Raccoons, dolphins, and parrots are
telepathic to varying degrees. Roses and orchids aren't from the base
Earth realm, though the exact origins are lost. The list went on,
unchanged for time immemorial.
But no one knew about corgis.
In
hindsight, someone should have seen the signs. Corgis were more than
just smart; they were extraordinarily clever and crazy intuitive,
bordering on psychic. They brought happiness and joy to everyone they
met, and always had a smile on their face. Corgis were impossible to
keep down, and I'd never met a traumatized one.
Someone also
should have noticed that there was no breeding the corginess out of
them. German shepherd and a corgi? Shepherd-colored corgi. Pomeranian
and a corgi? Pomeranian-coated corgi. Kingsnake and a corgi? Well, maybe
nothing that drastic, but we don't know for sure that it wouldn't be a
scaled corgi.
I do know that when the worlds shifted to a closer
alignment and the doors of Alfhame opened to reveal Prince Niall and his
honor guard of armored corgis, my mind was figuratively blown, and not
just by the smoking hot elven prince. While I'd stared in shock with my
jaw hanging open, Auggie, my current corgi, had just stared at me with
an oh-so-smug smile.
I wanted to kick myself for not having
noticed the glaringly obvious signs. I'd only run a haven for lost
faeries for the last decade, boarded the feline familiars of my friends,
and had kept corgis all my life. Never once had I thought I had
anything but normal dogs, even when my faerie friends fawned on them or
my corgis unerringly understood what I was saying. It hadn't even seemed
strange when Auggie had brought me what turned out to be my strongest
divining rod.
How many other magical creatures were living right under our noses, waiting to be acknowledged?
