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WonderWings
"Leave a window open for wonder."
-- A Threadling saying
WonderWings are the butterflies of Threadbare, and creations of If, the FirstSpun of Imagination. Their wings are patchwork, no two ever alike, and every scrap of that patchwork is covered in microscopic stories: entire imagined worlds, lived out in full on a pair of wings no bigger than a thumbprint. Wherever a WonderWing flies, something wonderful happens. Wherever it lands, flowers stitch themselves into the world. And wherever WonderWings gather, the Weave is still whole.
| Core Thread | Imagination |
| Created by | If |
| Found | The Mythical Meadows, The Song Sanctuaries, The Imagine Isles, and anywhere the Weave is well loved. Rarely seen near The Fraying, with one famous exception: HemsHollow |
| Life cycle | Ploterpillar, Manuscrysalis, WonderWing |
| Collective noun | A Bolt of WonderWings |
| Known for | WonderBlooms, Wonder Trails, and leaving Threadlings Wonderstruck |
| Can be caught | Never |
A WonderWing's wings are pieced together from scraps of fabric, each one different: a corner of gingham, a sliver of velvet, a patch of faded floral, joined by fine contrasting stitches that run through the wings like veins. Its body is small and soft, like a tightly wound thread, and its antennae curl at the tips like loose ends.
When it lands, a WonderWing folds its wings flat and looks for all the world like a small swatch of cloth, which makes it very easy to miss. Look closer, through a jeweller's loupe if you have one (Bree ButtonBoon recommends it), and the patchwork turns out not to be pattern at all. It is writing. Tiny scenes. Whole worlds.
Near the Void, a WonderWing's colours fade, just as the world around it does.
Every WonderWing carries an entire library of fiction on its wings. Tiny kingdoms rise and fall across a single patch. Voyages set sail along a seam. Heroes, villains, families, feasts and quests play out in microscopic detail, each one a story that never happened anywhere else, imagined into being and lived out in full on the wing.
The stories never stop. As a WonderWing flies, it gathers new chapters from whatever it passes. Flutter past a storyteller and new scenes appear. Rest near a choir and a musical kingdom springs up on one wing. Spend an afternoon by a bakery and an entire civilisation of bread will be thriving by sunset. Every WonderWing is a flying scrapbook of everything it has ever imagined.
Scholars at The University of the Unseen have tried, many times, to read a whole wing from beginning to end. None has finished. The WonderWing always flies off at the best part. This is not least of all because Wonderwings cannot be caught, and so the scholars have to rely on following them in the field and hoping for a long enough rest to take place. which of course never happens.
1. The Ploterpillar. A WonderWing begins life as a Ploterpillar, a small, fuzzy, thread-spinning caterpillar that sets the plot long before the wings appear. It nibbles its way along the edges of leaves in looping paths, and every loop is a plot point: a beginning, a twist, a secret, a happy ending. Patchlings love to trace the nibbled edges of leaves and guess the story.
2. The Manuscrysalis. When its plot is ready, the Ploterpillar winds itself up in its own thread, round and round like a loaded bobbin, and becomes a Manuscrysalis. Inside, the plot is written out in full, stitch by stitch, into the wings that are slowly forming. Threadlings never disturb a Manuscrysalis. As the saying goes, you should never interrupt a writer.
3. The WonderWing. When the story is ready to be told, the Manuscrysalis opens and the WonderWing unfolds its wings like the first page of a book.
Wherever a WonderWing lands, tiny embroidered flowers stitch themselves into the fabric beneath it - Daisies of every colour. These are WonderBlooms. One landing makes one flower. A whole Bolt of WonderWings settling on a hillside leaves a meadow behind.
A WonderBloom lasts only as long as someone remembers seeing it. Point one out to a friend, and it will last a little longer. Tell someone else about it, and longer still. Some WonderBlooms in Frays End are said to be centuries old, kept alive by nothing more than being talked about.
WonderBlooms are the gentle opposite of a Void Bloom. Where the Void unmakes, the WonderWings make something small and lovely in its place.
As a WonderWing flies, it leaves a faint, glittering running stitch hanging in the air behind it, which lingers for a few moments before it fades. These are Wonder Trails. Patchlings chase them across fields and through streets, and folk wisdom says that following one always leads somewhere worth finding.
Sometimes, if you watch very carefully, the loops of a Wonder Trail spell out a word. It is never the same word twice.
Anyone near a WonderWing feels a sudden, bright rush of curiosity. Grumpy Threadlings start humming. Tired ones find a second wind. Stuck writers suddenly know exactly what happens next. Grown-ups find themselves asking "what if?" out loud without meaning to. Threadlings call this being Wonderstruck.
A WonderWing landing on your nose will make you laugh. Every time. No exceptions.
- Reflections. A WonderWing's reflection, in a mirror, a window or still water, is never a butterfly. It shows whatever the WonderWing imagines itself to be, at full size: a great soaring bird, a dragon, a whale swimming through the sky, a sailing ship with patchwork sails. Many a Threadling has looked into a pond in the Mythical Meadows and fallen straight over backwards.
- Shadows. Their shadows are never butterfly-shaped either. A passing WonderWing might cast the shadow of a tiny teapot, a lighthouse, or a knight on horseback, depending on what it is daydreaming about.
- Floating Things. When enough WonderWings gather, small things nearby begin to float. Hats drift off heads. Buttons rise out of pockets. Teacups hover just above their saucers until the Bolt moves on.
- Colour. A WonderWing brushing past a grey, faded wall leaves a small patch of colour behind.
- Puddles. A puddle a WonderWing has drunk from will, for a little while, show the reflection of somewhere else entirely.
No one in Threadbare has ever caught a WonderWing. Cup one in your hands, and it turns into a soft little scrap of patchwork. Open your hands, and it flutters away again, unharmed and, by all accounts, a little amused.
This is an eternal mystery, and incredible fun for Patchlings, who have tried every trick there is: butterfly nets, upturned hats, jam jars, very quiet tiptoeing, and pretending not to be interested at all. Not one has ever succeeded. Not one has ever stopped trying.
The KnitWitches say a WonderWing can't be kept for the same reason imagination can't be kept. It can only be shared.
- Wing Day. Once a year, a great Bolt of WonderWings crosses all of Threadbare, and every town and village they pass bursts into WonderBlooms. Threadlings leave out scraps of fabric, ribbons and buttons as gifts. Bree ButtonBoon swears the WonderWings trade back.
- The First to Return. WonderWings are the first creatures to come back to a place that has been rewoven after the Void. When they arrive, Threadlings say the place has "remembered how to wonder."
- A Mender's Blessing. The KnitWitches often stitch a WonderWing pattern into a finished mend, as a blessing that the repair will hold.
- Coming Home. It is said that when The LoomLight Festival is lit once more, the WonderWings will come home to Frays End in the greatest Bolt Threadbare has ever seen.
- Sayings. "Leave a window open for wonder" (Threadlings leave their windows open in spring, in case a WonderWing wanders in). "Wait for the wings" (be patient, the good things come back).
WonderWings are rarely seen near the Fraying, with one famous exception. In HemsHollow, the small, shabby border town whose East Wall holds back the Void, WonderWings are seen more often than almost anywhere else in Threadbare. They drift over the patched rooftops, dance above the wagon stage of The EverAfters, and gather in Bolts around the town square whenever a story is being told, which in HemsHollow is always.
Stranger still, the EverAfters are rumoured to be able to still them, and even to speak with them. A WonderWing that would never let a Patchling within arm's reach has been seen to settle on an EverAfter's shoulder, fold its wings, and rest there, sometimes for the length of a whole story. No one else in Threadbare has ever seen a WonderWing stay still for anyone. They are not caught. They simply choose to stay. Of all the troupe, it happens most often to Winn WellWhisper, who is said to whisper to the WonderWings, and to be whispered back to.
The University of the Unseen has sent scholar after scholar to HemsHollow, notebooks and jeweller's loupes at the ready, desperate to learn how it is done. Every one of them has come home with nothing to report. The EverAfters only smile and say that they are good listeners.
Many in HemsHollow believe this is where the troupe's never-ending supply of fresh stories comes from. Every WonderWing carries a library of imagined worlds on its wings, and a WonderWing that rests a while on a storyteller's shoulder, they say, always leaves a story or two behind.
- Restoration feedback. Reweaving an area releases WonderWings, and WonderBlooms spread across the map, showing the player at a glance that a place has been healed.
- Wonderstruck. A short, gentle boost when near WonderWings, such as faster story discovery, or Wonder Trails that reveal hidden paths.
- The Endless Chase. Players can try to catch WonderWings as often as they like. They never succeed, but every attempt leaves a trail of WonderBlooms behind.
- The Wing Journal. Players record the wings they have seen. Because no two WonderWings are alike, every new wing design is canon.
- Contributor hook. Design a WonderWing's wings, or write one of the tiny stories that lives on them. Short, joyful, low-stakes, and an ideal first contribution.
- If - FirstSpun, Creator of the Great Weave, Keeper of Imagination
- The Mythical Meadows - where WonderWings are most often found
- KnitWitches - who stitch WonderWing patterns into their mends
- Bree ButtonBoon - who trades with them on Wing Day
- The LoomLight Festival - Threadbare's lost festival of light
- The World of Threadbare - the lore, landscape and denizens of Threadbare
- WonderBlooms - the flowers they leave wherever they land
- HemsHollow - the border town where WonderWings gather in remarkable numbers
- The EverAfters - the storytellers WonderWings come to rest on
- Winn WellWhisper - the EverAfter said to whisper with them
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