The Fairy of the Woodlands

By Sierra Foster

It was love at first sight.

The second Sarah set eyes on him she knew he was the one, he had eyes that told the truth, a smile as bright as a rising sun, a laugh so magical it could put anyone in his trance.

Sarah was at the age of 15, which was about the time her mother Katniss had met her father Peeta. And that was when she first noticed Edward.

He was sitting on the edge of a cliff, singing a song. Sarah knew she shouldn't interrupt. Silently hiding behind a tree, she listened to his magical voice. Over a course of two months, Sarah found out that every other day, Edward would be on the cliff singing that same song. And over that course of 2 months she knew the song by heart. It went like this:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
And when again they open, the sun will rise

Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away

Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.

Sarah loved the song so much she began humming it wherever she went. She would hum it when she was sleeping, and she would hum it when she was walking. One day she was humming it in front of her mother, and she didn't notice her mother singing the words until her father called her. Her mother kept on singing, and Sarah was amazed that her mother knew the song. She stared at her mother in complete surprise, until her mother stopped, noticing her daughter staring at her.

"Why in the world are you staring at me?" Her mother stared back at her with puzzling eyes.

"Wait! What? How did you?"

"How did I what?" Katniss's confusion grew, her eyes showing more and more puzzlement.

Sarah fumbled over her words. "You—you just—you know the song!"

"Well of course I do! I sang it…" she left the sentence hanging. Her face went slightly pale, as if a haunting memory had decided to attack her. She took a deep breath, and continued. "I sang it to my ally when she died."

Sarah's confusion grew. "Wait. You had an ally? But for what?"

"Listen, you must promise me that you will not tell your father about this. You understand me?" Her mother's eyes were tensed. Her beautiful gray eyes turned dark, as if she were afraid to let Sarah know of the truth.

Sarah stared back at her mother, slowly nodding. "I promise."

Her mother took a deep breath. "Back when Mr. Snow was president, he had a game. Now that game was to take two tributes from each district, one boy and one girl. There were twelve districts back then, which meant twenty-four tributes. But the Capitol didn't have to give two tributes, because they actually… hosted the game, I guess.

"The game was the most horrible thing the Capitol could hold. Every year, twenty-four kids would go in the arena, but only one came out. You are lucky, because your father and I were picked one year, and on national television he announced that he loved me, so we had a plan to act lovelorn to each other so we could stay alive. It worked, until the end. You see we were meant to stay together until very few of us were left, but it ended up to be us two. I couldn't kill him and go home—I would feel too ashamed. And he couldn't kill me because he would feel terrible; so we decided to die together. If the gamekeeper won't let two people be crowned as victors, then the gamekeeper didn't get a victor. We put poisonous berries, the kind that immediately kills you, in our mouths, and right as we were going to swallow the gamekeeper changed the rules so that if two people from the same district are left standing, then they are both crowned the victors." She took a shaky breath.

"Rue was my ally. She reminded me of my sister, Prim. We needed each other so we became allies, and I came right in time to see a tribute kill her. I killed him, then put Rue's head in my lap. That song was the lullaby I sang to her as she died." Katniss started crying. The tears slowly fell like a silent waterfall down her cheeks.

"Mom, I—I didn't know," Sarah whispered, trying to calm her mom down.

"Sarah!" Her father's yell was loud and clear, and by the tone of his voice, she could tell he was growing impatient.

"I'm coming!" Sarah yelled back.

Sarah hurried out of the room. So many questions were going on in her head. How did Edward know the song? Why was he singing it on the edge of a cliff?

The next day Sarah hurried with her choirs, and dashed out of the house running like a mad dog to get to the cliff. Edward sat at his usual place, singing her mother's lullaby. She didn't bother to keep quiet - she ran right to him and yelled.

"Why on mother earth are you singing the song on the edge of a cliff? And how do you even know the song? That song was my mother's! How? When? Why?" She sputtered out the questions, confusion evident in her eyes.

"What?" yelled Edward in confusion.

"That song you sing every other day on this cliff... You know the words."

"Yea-a-a-a-ah..."

"How did you know the words?"

"I heard a bird sing it."

Sarah stood there shocked. "But the song is my mother's! She sang it to her ally in... in..."

"The Games, yes I know about the Games. I found the shows one day, and sort of just watched them. Did you know your parents were in it?"

"Yes, I know." Sarah sighed, before realizing she had questions unanswered. "Then why are you singing the song on the edge of a cliff?"

Edward paused. He dug his fingers into a small patch of soil, his fingernails scraping the bottom of the hard cliff floor. "Because this is where my mother died."

Sarah was surprised at how silent his voice was. She stared at him, saddened. "Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry for you loss."

He relaxed, turning to give her a small thankful smile. "Wait," he interrupted, catching Sarah's attention. "It's my turn to ask the questions now. How did you know I was here and that I sang that song?"

Sarah blushed a bright pink. "I sort of came upon you by accident, then I started... spying on you." Sarah blushed an even brighter pink.

"Okay."

Shock covered her face. "That's it? You're not mad at me?

Edward shrugged. "No."

There was a short silence. "I'm Sarah by the way."

A playful smile appeared on Edward's lips. "I knew that. I'm Edward."

"I knew that."

Sarah didn't realize she was smiling until Edward asked why she was smiling. She didn't answer the question, for she felt if he knew she liked him, then it would ruin the very slim friendship that was just beginning. Instead, she excused herself, and ran back to her house with the biggest smile she ever had.