Chapter Text
Two hours ago Queen Clarion herself had ordered as many of the fairies of Pixie Hollow to lay down their tools and join her in The Pixie Dust Tree. Of course, no one knew why. Rumours spread and gossip lingered on people’s lips as the crowds bustled towards their homes centre piece. But still, no clear answer arose.
And Katie was frankly freaking out over it, it wasn’t exactly often that everyone and their mothers were told to gather! Even some of the winter fairies had managed there way across the borders… with the help of some of the newly designed snow backpacks people in her classes had made, of course.
In nervous anticipation hundreds of fairies gathered and sat in the main area of the tree. Familiar faces occasionally fluttered past, her old classmates who had since graduated and members of other talents who she had seen across the hollow. At one point a bubbly water fairy zipped past her, she had seen him around sometimes and frankly it was difficult to miss him and his water-like hair. His smile was contagious and beady eyes couldn’t help but make her grin too. Every few seconds another fairy would zoom past in search for a seat to call their own.
Behind the main orchestra of the stage
Floated a small group of people. The 4 seasonal ministers spoke to the queen and Lord while bustling guild leaders of each talent scrambled for various tasks before whatever the meeting was about commenced. She recognised the familiar face of her teacher, Fairy Mary, who she was sure at one point gave her an unsure glance - as if scanning her up and down for something… was there something on her face? Surely not?
As she began to scramble for a mirror in her satchel a voice spoke out “Pixie Hollow, we thank you all for gathering with us this evening at such short notice.” The queens voice wasn’t harsh, it was gentle and well spoken but beneath it all there was still a sense of authority every fairy in the area could feel. “It has been a good year so far and as we leave winter to welcome spring myself, Lord Milori and the rest of your leaders wish to make some announcements.” Her highness was beautiful, gown of dust itself flowing and as she mentioned the other members of the council each gave a gracious smile, wave or slight bow towards the crowd. It was endearing, seeing such a unified group after such a long time of division amongst the seasons.
“What we’d like to discuss is not a warning, or a threat but rather a celebration. As spring encroaches myself and the ministers have decided to make a change.” Always something going on with this place, Katie thought to herself as she tried to prevent the furrow between her eyebrows from growing any larger. “Two days from now we shall be visiting the Mainland and meet with the fairies work beyond the hollows borders.”
A small pause echoed out across the tree, the continuous whispering had almost come to a stop and hesitancy emerged. “Do not panic, young ones. Our departure is not forever, but simply for a short period. The people of the Mainland need our assistance and while we can help from where we stand, only so much will work in the long run.” Katie felt a growing pit in her stomach. She knew Fairy Mary had been acting weird!
“As for the reason we called you all here… in our absence we will need a temporary leadership to look after the tree and ensure spring is sprung. Lord Milori has made sure all of the key guild leaders have chosen one of their students to lead their talent and so we have gathered you all to announce and celebrate your new council.”
As if on queue the infamous white haired man stepped forwards, hand behind his back his posture an immaculate example of leadership. “Thank you, m’lady.” He cleared his throat “As The Queen says, each of your guild leaders have chosen a young fairy to take on their roles and ensure springs arrival, we expect all to be trusting and kind to who we have chosen and understand that not everyone will be able to have this opportunity.”
Fairy Mary made eye contact with Katie yet again and as the thumping in her ears grew louder she felt her eyes slip shut for a singular moment to let out a sigh.
“Please can each of the key guild leaders take the stand and announce your new leaders this coming month, let’s start with… the Garden Fairies.”
Soon, Milori was swapped with a plump woman, whose gown shone a beautiful pink that caught in the sun - as she stepped to the stand a undertone of whooping and cheering commenced from the section where her pupils sat “Thank you! Thank you!” The woman cleared her throat and looked upon the crowd with kindness in her eyes “It is with great pleasure and trust that I stand here today, my students have been such an incredible group of fairies and I would entrust any one of them with this job. As for the fairy I have chosen? She is kind and gentle, her voice is soft spoken but I know that every student in her class would agree when I say this role was destined to become hers one day.” A general mutter filled the tree “Please everyone, may we welcome to the stand: Cherri!”
It was like a parade had started in the tree, clearly Cherri was a loved fairy because the previous whoops and cheering had gotten even louder. Katie didn’t know the girl currently fluttering down to the stage in a slight state of surprise but she could recognise that she was pretty.
Her hair was a pinky tinted brown that cascaded down the folds of her flower dress decorated in seams and patterns. Her most striking feature was her eyes, completely whited out and yet still carrying a sense of kindness amongst them.
Soon the bustling came to an end as the new leader came to the stand, it was a taller man dripping in oranges and red leafs that formed a decorated outfit. He didn’t have the same response from the audience as the previous woman, although it wasn’t negative - just clearly in charge of a quieter group.
“Good evening all, I hope you’re all doing well. As for my chosen student… the fairy I have chosen is because of her true passion for everything she does. I couldn’t give you a better student, and while I believe she has faced challenges plenty of times. I trust her truly. May I call to the stage, Mae.” It took a moment for anyone to stand, eventually a young auburn haired girl fluttered towards the stage with a nervous smile. Her outfit was similar to the guild leaders; autumn leaves formed a ballerina like skirt and a vest while smaller plants decorated her hair.
Soon, two more fairies were called to the stage; the bubbly water fairy that had flown past before and a yellow draped light fairy who stood tall over the other. The boy was as unusual looking as ever, blue tinted skin and short hair made of water itself. Darker blue clothes were stitched together to cover his body and odd pink water flower decorated on-top.
The light fairy had dark red hair that flowed down her back and a thick fringe that accentuated her crimson eyes. Her clothes looked like the sun itself, yellows and browns mixed together to form a bouncy, long sleeved dress while a cream cape like piece rested on one shoulder to her back. She seemed reasonable, a smile of proudness spread across her face and her posture was impeccable compared to busy water fairy next to her.
Eventually, Fairy Mary took the stand. Katie had honestly zoned out the moment she started talking. “When I was given the task of choosing a fairy I wasn’t sure who. I have so many wonderful students whose work stands out amongst the rest. But I haven’t chosen my favourite or my best student, I’ve chosen a student who I think needs a challenge. A student who I trust, but think needs to learn to find her own path, please can Katie join me?”
Katie wanted to lay down and die. The words didn’t properly hit her until every single face amongst the tinker fairies turned towards her. It felt like her own personal hell, she knew that Fairy Mary meant well but really? Her?!
The idea of her being in charge of all tinker fairies for nearly a month?! It was like putting a sheep in charge of the wolves! Would you ever choose one of the worst performing students to run the government? No!!
Nonetheless, her feet began to move and with a deep sigh she was slowly floating down towards the stage. Every single eye in the tree was on her, and her classmates whispering was certainly not subtle…
Things like: “her? Isn’t she failing class?” Or “Jesus, I heard she’s not even allowed to tinker outside of class yet. What a strange choice!”
It was safe to say Katie felt sick by the time she’d reached the bottom of the seats and the muttering turning into full fledge chatter did not help. Eventually she had fluttered over to the line up of young leaders and parked herself next to the light fairy, Apo if she remembered quickly.
Apo smiled down at her with a slight raised eyebrow, she’d probably heard the up-roar at her name after-all. “Hi…” smiled Katie nervously
“Hello!” Came the water fairy, peaking his head around the corner of Apo “I’m 4C! It’s nice to meet you!”
Finally, the leader of the fast-flying fairies stepped forward, his purple suit like clothing standing out against his pale skin and raven hair. “Right, as for myself, I have taken the liberty to make an… unusual choice. The boy I have chosen is someone many of you will not know. This is his chance to prove himself, to prove to everyone that a fairy can change.” The room was quiet “Nominal, please join us on the stage.”
For a fast flying fairy the man sure was slow to make it to the stage, a hesitant whisper of distrust engulfed the tree. And yet, Katie had no idea why. She didn’t recognise the boy but his appearance stood out amongst the crowd. A purple leaf shirt and trousers linked together to make one and a vibrant yellow streak dashed through black hair like a lightning bolt. His eyes were yellow and purple with sharp angled wings on his back.
“What’s up with that guy?” Muttered Katie as he elbowed Apo gently
“I hear he’s some rogue fairy outside the hollow, apparently he was caught and brought back here. No one really knows… strange choice for a leader if you ask me.” The light fairy explained with a shrug as the topic of discussion wandered over and stood next to Katie with a grin
“Hiya, pleasure to meet you guys.” Nominal nodded, a thick accent lacing his voice like a jacket “The names Nom.”
“Nice to meet you Nom! I’m 4C!” The water fairy smiled again, never letting down the exuberant personality as he gave an energetic wave.
Queen Clarion glided back to the centre of the stage in all her glory, the 6 fairies stood lined up like soldiers being sent to war. 6 young fairies entrusted with the fate of the seasons and hundreds of fairies as they knew it. “Let’s give them one last round of applause for your new leaders this coming month!”
As if on queue the uproar began again. Most basked in the glory of it all, Katie wanted to curl in a ball and die, this whole thing was a humiliation ritual at its finest.
Overtime the crowd died down as fairies nestled to bed for the night and others ventured back to their jobs. It was nice not having so many beady eyes on you at once, like a weight had been taken off her.
When the queen and lord left and put trust in the guild leaders to escort the fairies to their accommodation for the next month Katie nearly choked on her own saliva.
She supposed it wouldn’t be that bad if she was living like a queen in the pixie dust tree, nothing like waking up to a gourmet meal and warm bedding beneath her body.
As they entered down winding corridors and tall ceilings she watched as each of her supposed colleagues gawked in awe.
Mae was zipping up and down each endless hall and pulling the same poses as the painted portraits hanging on the walls with the widest grin on her hair. Meanwhile, Nominal, or Nom as he had said, was walking along side his talents elder as he muttered words of dismay and confusion just quiet enough for Katie’s ears to only catch every other word.
Merrily ahead was Apo and Cherri who smiled and made conversation. Of course, that meant she was stuck with 4C, the bubbly boy hadn’t stopped talking since they started walking and with no sign of stopping her tiresome day was about to turn into an exhausting one. “Mhm. Very interesting.” Sighed Katie as she pretended to listen to the fairies insistence that rain ‘wasn’t so bad’.
“You’ll be sharing rooms - two to each - and you’ll all be situated down this branch of the tree.” Fairy Mary spoke out, her voice never failing to grind Katie’s gears “Katie you’ll be with Maezes, 4C with Nominal and Apokuna with Cherri! Good? Splendid! See you tomorrow!”
Without further instruction or advice the woman and her posse swiftly turned and glided away towards where they came from. “Okay…” Katie whispered under her breath in a whistle as she looked up the winding branch.
Sure enough several doors lined the walls and a sign hung above them, their iron chains making them sway in the gentle breeze. As she fluttered down the first doors sign read the words:
‘Apokuna and Cherri’
It’s swirling font decorated the deep red sign and matched the engraved door, its patterning showcasing two fairies fluttering in a forest like scene. Further down was a blue door with the names ‘4C and Nominal’ hanging above it and further past that was a green door with her own name and her roommates, all sharing the same beautiful engravings.
When she pushed her door open Mae was already inside, fluttering up to the hanging swing that came down from the roof. The scene was like something out a dream, colourful flowers laced the walls, wrapping around beams that stretched up to the leafy ceiling. Balconies came out at every angle with different florals trimming the hand railings and book cases climbing all sides.
“…woah.” She gawked up at the scene, making eye contact with her new roommate - who offered a generous wave before yelling down:
“This is amazing isn’t it?!” Her laugh echoed out and bounced off the walls with hair falling behind her as she began to swing.
“Amazing? This is insane! I’ve never seen something like this!” Yelled Katie back up at her, all her worries flying away for a moment as she explores the room with endless possibilities.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all?
Just as the words entered her mind she felt a small, cold palm hit right between her wings and a bellowing “Tag! You’re it!” follow on. Katie spun round as fast as she could but only saw the tail end of a blue decorated fairy as he leapt for the exit.
Never-mind, this was going to be terrible…