The Fairy Kingdom

         The fairy sounded the warning, but it was too late.  Humans descended in massive swarms, leaving the poor, bewildered fairies too easy to capture.  Poor Flower, the youngest of the fairy kingdom, was taken by one of the youngest humans.  Miranda was only six years old, but even then, she knew what her parents were doing was wrong.  Nevertheless, she wanted to take Flower Fairy to play with, just because she was lonely; nobody wanted to play with her.

         So Flower settled in with the humans, desperately frightened.  Homesickness darkened her mind, leaving her wings drooping, her eyes filled constantly with tears.

         Finally, Miranda knew she had to do something.

         “Flower,” she declared one day, when she had come home to find Flower in the same desolate state.  “I’m going to take you back.”

         “Really?” Flower queried in desperate hope.  Her eyes glowed like fine sapphires, shedding every tear.  Miranda nodded firmly, her mind made up.

         “We’ll have to leave in the night,” she cautioned Flower, but nothing could quell the fairy’s happiness.  Miranda felt sad, but knew she was doing the right thing.  Flower didn’t belong with humans.  She belonged with her own kind—the fairies.

         Late that night, while her parents lay in bed, sleeping, Miranda crept out of her room, carrying Flower in one pocket.  If caught, she would say that she wanted some water.  The excuse would not be questioned; Miranda frequently got thirsty during the night.

         She gained the front door without pause, then slipped out of the house, looking up to her parents’ dark window, blinking back frightened tears.  Miranda was only six; she had never really been separated from her parents before.

         Flower whispered in her ear that the fairy kingdom wasn’t that far.  Sparks of hope rose in Miranda, making her trek onward.  Flower flew up to rest on her shoulder; the little fairy’s weight comforted Miranda.

         Darkness battered Miranda back; she nearly fell under the physical onslaught until Flower started singing, her sweet, pure voice rising, forcing the darkness back.

         “It’s just our defenses,” Flower explained before she started singing once more.  “I don’t know why they’re fighting you.  Maybe it’s because you’re with me.  Or it recognizes you or something.”

         High-pitched squeals echoed through the darkness.  Suddenly, it tore, wisping into nothing.  Two little fairies flew through, chattering with excitement.  One was Blossom, Flower’s older sister.  The other was Petal, Flower’s friend.  They both looked worried when they finally met with Flower and Miranda.  Flower questioned why.

         “The Queen is rampaging,” they said in unison, looking frightened.  “She’s mad that the humans took so many fairies.  Oh, Flower, we think she’s going to fight the humans!”

         Even Miranda quailed when she heard that news!  The fairies had powerful magic; she didn’t think the humans could stand up to the fairies without sneakiness.

         “We have to get the fairies back,” Miranda said decidedly.  The three fairies looked confused, but soon realized the wisdom of the little girl’s words.  They indeed needed to retrieve the stolen fairies!

         One wasn’t very far off; Magnolia had been captured by some fairy-ologist, who was quite willing to give her up if it would prevent conflict.  Magnolia was beautiful, with flower-petal skin.  Lavender hair flowed down her back.  Tears overflowed her beautiful spring grass eyes when she saw her rescuers.

         “Thank you,” she said sweetly, her eyes shimmering with joy.  “You saved me.”

         “Now you can help us save others,” Flower explained.  Magnolia nodded, darting off on her mission with Blossom.  Now it was just the three of them.  Off to save the world from fairy wrath.

         They encountered no real difficulty until they came to rescue Oak.  Oak was very young, though no younger than Flower.  He represented trouble since his captor was very cruel, hitting him, even putting a butterfly net over his head!  Since butterfly nets stopped a fairy’s magic, this was very mean indeed. 

         Flower persevered, though, smashing some jars of jam on the floor, so the man got hopelessly jammed.  They then easily rescued Oak, who was even more grateful than Magnolia.

         Soon they had rescued everybody.  Now they just had to get back to the Fairy Kingdom in time!

         Miranda was very tired by now.  She had stayed up most of the night, ferrying fairies.  Her eyes kept drooping closed until Flower noticed.  She sprinkled fairy dust on the little girl so she could keep going.

         Queen Sparkle was just readying her troops for battle when the beleaguered group came in.

         “What is this?” she began imperiously, then her poise dropped when she saw them fully.  “Oh—the lost fairies—oh thank goodness!”

         She came, embracing each fairy until she came to Miranda.

         “Who’s this?” she questioned.  Flower explained that Miranda had been her captor, until she realized she had to take Flower back.  Then Queen Sparkle hugged Miranda, too, giving her delicate sparkling kisses on the cheek.

         “You’re fairy now, too, girl,” she told Miranda firmly, sparkling tears in her eyes, though she tried to hide them.  “You saved the fairy kingdom from terrible war.”

         “Oh, thank you,” Miranda said breathlessly, her own eyes suspiciously damp.  “It was wonderful!  I’m so happy I could help the fairies.  I—I wish I could be fairy, too,” she said, suddenly turning shy, looking at the ground.

         “Perhaps that could happen—shortly, anyway,” the Queen said, smiling.  She waved her wand.  Suddenly, Miranda had wings; sparkly fairy dust glimmered on her body.  She was fairy!

         “You can stay like that for the rest of the night,” Queen Sparkle said.  “The night will happen for hours yet, too; time is different in the Fairy Kingdom.”

         Miranda was glad it was so.  She never wanted to go home.  But she knew she must.  When the night finally ended, she regretfully started to go home, only to find Flower by her side.

         “What?” she exclaimed, surprised.

         “I want to come visit you,” Flower said, beaming.  “It’s no hardship when you’re friends…right?”

         “Right!” Miranda confirmed, delight filling her body.

         The two headed for home, secure in the friendship that would never come undone.