Nilina never had a home. She learned to live with it. And with a premonition that death is near. Learned, but you never get used to that fear.
Namely, Nilina is a rain elf. These wonderful creatures live in small waters, puddles, drops that collect in a dry stream or a forgotten container in the yard.
That's why the rain elves are condemned to constantly change their home, when the old one evaporates.
When you don't have a home
Ksenia Kirilova (40), a Russian journalist and author with an address in Belgrade, came up with small creatures for her "Fairy Tales for Refugees", which she Talia published in Serbian language.
She wanted to, says Ksenija for our newsletter Medjuvreme, to write fairy tales for adults who bear the trauma of refugeehood, loss of home, loved ones.
"Fairytales are not a substitute for therapy, but they do have a therapeutic quality. Many say they have helped them," she says.
"I decided on fantasy because a fairy tale reminds me of childhood, of something magical. And because I didn't want too realistic a text that could be a trigger for trauma."
He says, being a refugee means not knowing what will happen tomorrow. "The best way to forget the pain is to open a new chapter, but refugees can't even build a new life because they don't know if they can stay somewhere."
There are some on YouTube. meditation exercises – a velvety voice tells you to relax, that you are safe, at home. "But for some people, it's not a relaxing meditation, it's abuse. They've lost their home. I wrote for them."
Russians in exile
Kirilova fell in love with Serbia as a high school student through television. She watched the country suffer in the bombing in 1999 and wondered how this was possible in the middle of Europe. And now he is also watching the Russian war against Ukraine from afar.
She lived in the United States, now she lives in Zvezdara. He speaks fluent Serbian. It welcomed a new generation of Russian emigrants who settled in Belgrade.
What is bothering them? What is chasing them? He says, it's hard to say just like that. People are different and cannot be put into boxes.
For some, Russia has become foreign and they do not want to return. "These people want a new life in a new place. They see Serbia as their home. They travel the country, learn about its history, learn the language. They want to be useful in this society."
Others would go further, to Western Europe. The third may be developers whose companies have moved here, otherwise they don't care. The fourth fear mobilization and would return to Russia when peace comes.
Dragons and vampires
"Fairytales for refugees" are, says Ksenia, her way of repaying Serbia. "They are based on Serbian mythology, there are dragons, fairies, vampire. And they are now published in Serbian."
They were previously published in English and are read all over the world. They were published in Russian and, to her special delight, in Ukrainian. In Kiev, in the middle of the war, with bombs and electricity shortages, someone was engaged in translating and publishing fairy tales.
"They wouldn't do it if they didn't think it was important and could help," says Ksenia.
In one of the fairy tales, the character, after much suffering, says: "You will be able to love your world again, I'm sure of it."
