A Friend She Didn't Know She Had

By Chrislma

For Telemachus

The rain was falling sweetly onto the soft grass of Neverland, reminding her that her best friend was no longer here. Of course, she would soon be back, as she was busy helping with the coming of Summer.

Sayo didn't consider herself a popular person. She had reason to believe that she wasn't. She was well known, but not in the ways that she would have liked. She was never referred to by name, always "her", "she", or "that girl". She was always talked about behind her back, in rude terms like "a waste of Pixie Dust" or "a waste of space". She was always called a "reject".

Currently Sayo was sitting on the frozen porch of her ice sculpted home, sitting lonely on a tree of snow-covered Evergreen. The everlasting winter around her seemed distant to her as she held in front of her a special book.

This particular book was given to her by Lief, a music talent fairy. Sayo smiled at the memory of the small harp player when she had stumbled upon one of their secret practice sessions on the Havendish Stream. Sayo still didn't understand why the music talent had taken to the two of them, instantly suggesting that she play music for them so that they had something to dance to. She figured it wasn't all that important to know. Some things were better left ignored.

She flew up now, the book still in her hands, and she dashed to fly around the Pixie Hollow looking for something to entertain her. She hated these times of the year, when Zazie had to leave to help bring the Seasons to the Mainland. She was always left alone with nothing to do, and everyone else always ignored her anyways. Sayo felt it was unfair – she had never been to the mainland and really wanted to see it.

She stopped her flight at the Pixie Dust tree and sat down on one of the branches, a little close to the Queen's veranda, but Sayo guessed that the Queen couldn't see her from the window. It was here that Sayo came to cry.

And that's what she did.

Why was she so different from everyone else? Why couldn't she do her talent normally, like what Qana and the Minister of Winter wanted her to be able to do? Why couldn't she do anything but be a waste of dust and space?

Despite the act she played, Sayo was probably the saddest Fairy in all of Pixie Hollow.

"Sayo...? Are... are you okay?"

The voice startled her, causing her to turn around in surprise, quickly wiping the tears out of her eyes. Before her hovered Shiver, a fellow Snowflake talent that always had a constant shiver in his bones, hence his name.

"What do you want...?" Sayo muttered to herself, as she turned away. "Why do you care?"

She couldn't see Shiver, but something told her that he had been hurt by her words. "Sayo... I don't like all the teasing you get. It makes you sad, right?"

"So?" Sayo asked as she cuddled up on the branch, as if trying to distance herself from him.

Shiver flew into her view, a frown on his features and his arms crossed. "You should just ignore them. They don't know what they're saying. They're frustrated that you can't help, sure, but I know that you try! You're different, sure, but you're different in a new way. I believe that you were born to create a new way to do the things that we do."

Sayo hadn't been expecting his monologue and had just blinked at him the entire time. He wasn't done.

"I believe that you were created for a reason. That reason was to distance us from the way we do things, have us make snowflakes in unique ways – we're all like some assembly line, Sayo. Despite being individual fairies, making individual snowflakes, we all make them the same way. Haven't you ever thought that was weird?"

"I find it downright annoying," Sayo agreed slightly as she moved her head away from him, considering his words. "But... I don't understand you."

Shiver seemed slightly confused by her words.

"Why do you care about me and the way that I feel? Why do you care about what I do, and ignore the words that the others say? They're right," Sayo explained as she closed her eyes.

Shiver shook his head as he sat down next to her, his bones shivering and his teeth slightly chattering. If one were to look on his pale face, a blush was on his cheeks. They weren't from the cold.

"Sayo... you don't understand," he said hesitantly. "I don't listen to them, because I feel that they are misguided. I feel that you are not a waste of space or dust. I feel that you are special, important to the future of Snowflake Talents. I..."

She had noticed his stop and looked at him more closely, curious to what he was going to say.

Shiver let out a sigh and looked at her square in the eyes, a blush on his cheeks and a look of uncertainty on his face. "Sayo... I love you."

Sayo suddenly felt a warmth inside her that she had never felt before. A smile came to her face – one of those smiles that she had ever only let Zazie see – and she let out a light laugh as Shiver looked relieved.

She hugged him.

From the window of the Queen's veranda, Queen Clarion let a sweet smile out as she watched her two fairies hug on the branch nearby. She turned around and headed to the book on her table, opening it to a page that had a picture of Sayo.

"It looks like her time of acceptance is almost here..." The Queen muttered to herself, adding Shiver's name just underneath Tinker Bell's.

The Queen had never been more proud.

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Random Fact: Shiver was created shortly before he arrived. He's based off of Telemachus!