“Then why did he ban his own child from his land?” he asked.
“Because he’s afraid… the powers of his son could be dangerous,” Elvina explained.
“So, the rumors are true… he’s the nightmare bringer, really?” Fayette asked, almost like she assumed Pip and Elvina had been joking before.
“Would someone be so kind as to clarify for me who or what the nightmare bringer is?” I asked.
“We don’t know for sure… but in a prophecy thousands of years ago, it was once mentioned that someone would be born with immense power. A power of destruction and despair, causing the world to turn into chaos or something,” Pip muttered, who seemed to not believe a single word of the myth.
“Yes, and that’s why his father sent his own child away. He feared he was the one bringing them into chaos, or darkness,” Fayette added.
A parent sending his own child away? It didn’t surprise me that mythical creatures weren’t as flawless as people believed.
Why bring someone into the world if you’re not going to accept and support them with all your heart? Why be so afraid of what will come, when you’ll never know for sure?
I just wished for a world where all parents could love their children, regardless.
“Fayette, don’t scare away our new guest with any horror stories of the Elven Kingdom. We were never there. We can’t tell for sure. Gwendolyn, do you want to join us for the spring garland party?” Elvina asked, waving me over to the huge table at which so many other faeries were staring at me, like I wore myclothes upside down or had purple skin.
“A spring garland party?”
“Yes, as soon as the warm rain has washed away the snow and ice, it means that the times of winter are over and the season of spring has just begun. In honor of this season change, we offer our spring garland fairy a tribute by giving her a feast,” Fayette explained to me as she sat herself at the table. She pointed to the empty seat beside her.
The enormous glass table they were gathered around shimmered in the sunlight, overflowing with pastries that looked like they’d been plucked from one of my dreams: glazed doughnuts, sprinkled cupcakes, tarts shaped like delicate rose petals, and other sugared pastries.
Somehow, I was torn between the urge to join them and the nagging thought that I should be searching for a way back home. And yet, the kindness of the faeries made me want to stay.
“Can I offer you some tea and cake?” Fayette asked, gesturing toward the silver tray filled with rose-colored buttercream pastries.
I hesitated for the briefest moment—should I not be more cautious? But the warm scent of bakeries and the sweetness of the faeries made me relax.
Eventually, I took the empty seat beside Fayette. Although the stool was too small for me, it was still stable enough to hold me. There were at least ten other faeries dancing around in the most dazzling kinds of clothing.
The tea tasted like roses, and the pink cake was vanilla buttercream with a hint of strawberry to it. The cake was so delicious that I even took another slice of it. Being with the faeries felt like such a lightness that it made me never want to leave.
“So, what brings you here, strange faerie without wings?” Pip asked.
“Pip, no wonder you barely have any friends when you introduce yourself like this to our new guest,” Fayette admonished him, giving him an annoyed look before her eyes went back at me. “How did you find us? Normally our village never gets visited, since we live in the deep forest.”
“I actually have no idea. I just fell into a hedge of roses.”
All the faeries looked very confused. Some might think I was crazy and, well, since I talked with faeries, I might be.
“Oh, that’s strange. I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Elvina commented, and then her gaze wandered over to Pip. “You’re the only person who ever left our faerie village before. Have you ever heard of a magical rose hedge?”
“The only thing I know is that our world is filled with magical beings able to follow dreams and wishes. Maybe someone wanted you to be here and found a way,” he explained as he took a bite of his cake.
I think I had to finally acknowledge that this was not a dream. What dream felt this real? But then who wanted me to see all this? Was I really special enough to be here and receive the privilege of witnessing a world of magic and faeries, like the kind I read about in books?
“Where is your home?” Pip asked.
“The place I come from is... very different from here,” I stammered, struggling to find the right words. I was unsure how to explain to Pip and the others about a world without this kind of magic.
“But what is the feeling of your home? I have never heard of this word, really,” Pip stated, strangely bewildered.
Was the wordhomereally not familiar to them?
“Well, home is normally the place where you feel safe, secure and loved… where your family is.” I wasn’t sure if I had explained it correctly, because somehow the place with my mother never made me feel such emotions. It was rather theopposite.
