Shoulders
It was three years ago today. She's been gone for three years.
Princess Michelle of Domino stared into the small white flame of her lamp, trying in vain to find some respite from the bitter memories.
Much as the sixteen year old Princess wanted to close her eyes and feel the oblivion of sleep, no matter how hard she tried, she was dragged back to that terrible day.
The day three years ago, when Michelle's beloved grandmother, Queen Bloom, had been felled by a heart attack before her very eyes.
Oh I've just got to get to sleep, thought Michelle.
"Michelle, it's almost midnight! Why is your light still on?" cried the familiar voice of Julia, Michelle's governess.
"I just can't sleep; I've tried almost everything!" Michelle said with a resigned sigh.
"I could get you some warm milk, if you would like," offered Julia, a dark haired forty-something woman wearing a loose fitting blue nightgown. "After all, you'll need all the sleep you can get. You've got a big day tomorrow!"
"No thanks, Julia," answered Michelle with a sigh. Michelle hated warm milk, and the way it made her breath smell the next day, even after brushing her teeth. It would be terrible form for the Crown Princess of Domino to show up for her first day at Alfea College for Fairies with bad breath.
But it would also be terrible form for her to arrive at Alfea bedraggled and drowsy. She needed her beauty sleep.
"It's okay, love. I know how stressful this week has been for you; first there is the anniversary of…well, you know, not to mention the situation heating up across the Galaxy, and then you're going off to Alfea. I can totally see why you can't sleep."
This was one of the things Michelle loved about Julia. Julia treated Michelle like an old friend, not even bothering to refer to her charge by her royal titles. In these stressful times, this was one thing that gave Michelle respite from the chaos around her.
"I know," said Michelle. "I think I'll just turn the light off, so I can clear my mind."
"Suit yourself, love. I'm gonna miss you when you're away at Alfea."
"I know, Julia. And I'll really miss you." Michelle smiled sadly as she reached for the lamp. "With everything that's been happening, you've been the best friend I could have."
She flicked her wrist casually, and magically extinguished the flame, enclosing her chamber in darkness.
"Good night, love. Sweet dreams."
"You too, Julia."
Julia left with a chuckle.
As she lay in bed on her side facing the window, Michelle thought of the light she had just extinguished. So ends my childhood. Now I am going to become Guardian Fairy. It won't just be extinguishing lamps and lighting small fires now… I'm old enough to learn some powerful magic. Just imagine all the tricks I'll be able to do when I'm flying!
And then Michelle was jolted awake by an idea. Flying.
"I think a little night flight will help me get to sleep!" Michelle said to herself excitedly.
Focusing her inner self, Michelle took on her basic fairy form: A naturally sparkling dark blue miniskirt and tube top, both fringed with gold, white gloves, silver tiara, and dark blue high heeled boots. This outfit was accompanied by a set of shiny, blue-white wings not unlike that of a young butterfly upon her back. In her Fairy form, Michelle looked much like her grandmother Bloom—whose great statue was Michelle's destination.
Moving quietly, Michelle walked toward the door leading to her balcony, her wings shimmering in the moonlight.
Domino's Royal Palace stood atop a small range of hills overlooking Domino's capital, New Drakenstadt, on its west end. Michelle opened the glass door to see the city lights, the assorted office buildings, palaces, monuments, and construction sites bathing the valley in an assortment of bright colors.
After looking upon the city lights for a moment, Michelle took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her wings beat faster as she focused her magical energies. In a moment, her feet left the ground. Michelle had practiced this many times since the onset of puberty, when magic had first begun to present itself, if only in brief spurts and sputters at first. At sixteen, having developed physically and mentally, she was starting to maintain the degree of control over her magic that qualified her as an adult—and thus able to start her first term at Alfea.
Michelle took off from the balcony, and flew up to the roof of the palace, before jumping again to the side of the palace facing east, away from New Drakenstadt.
To the east lay the Domino International Peace Park. This was the location of the old capital city—the one that had been destroyed over a century ago in Valtor's Great War. The land, once a cursed, frozen moonscape before being freed by Princess Bloom and her friends, the fabled Winx Club, had returned to its natural state of rolling green hills. However, battle scars remained in the form of the craters left by the nuclear weapons as they fell. Many of these craters, since decontaminated of their radioactivity, had filled with water, creating beautiful, circular, blue lakes that attracted visitors from many nations.
But the centerpiece of the park had been constructed more recently. Following the death of their beloved Queen Bloom, the people of Domino had built a great stone statue of their late queen, to commemorate the liberation of Domino from its curse. The statue, over thirty meters in height, overlooked the largest of the crater lakes, where the most powerful bomb had dropped, and depicted Michelle's grandmother staring defiantly out over the lake, right arm outstretched, as if challenging the evil of the galaxy to come out from the darkness and fight her. Completing the epic display, the statue held a gas-fed flame in her right hand, mimicking the magic of the Dragon's Flame held by the Queen in life—and now held by the Princess Michelle.
Michelle smiled when she saw the eternal flame in the distance; that was her target. Michelle's wings beat furiously as she leaped from the palace roof, and flew out over the Park's crater lakes, softly lit from above by the stars and Domino's moons. Michelle rolled in flight, wings and arms outstretched, as she neared the flame. Michelle slowed to a stop, hovering by the flame, and looking into her grandmother's face. Perhaps it was her imagination, or perhaps it was a trick of the moon's and fire's flickering light, but the statue seemed to be smiling, ever so slightly.
Slowing to a maneuverable speed, Michelle positioned herself on Bloom's right shoulder, facing directly into the fire. This was what she needed.
Michelle sat gazing into the fire. "I wish you were here, grandmother."
"I am always here, Michelle."
Michelle was so startled that she nearly fell backward off of the statue. Had the statue just spoken to her? After steadying herself, Michelle twisted around, looking to see if this was some trick, and listening for the voice again.
"And I have been watching you." There it was again—unmistakably her grandmother's voice.
The red light of the gas flame was now burning a brilliant, pure white. Michelle smiled with a mixture of shock and wonder. Somehow, she was communing with her grandmother's spirit.
"Look at how much you've grown in three years, Michelle! It wasn't long ago that you could barely flutter. Remember when Uncle Aaron had to catch you?"
Michelle laughed at the memory; during her first flight at age 12, she had tried to float down from the top of the great staircase in the palace to the bottom, during a royal reception. It ended badly; instead of a graceful descent, she fell uncontrollably. Luckily, her Uncle Aaron, the new King of Eraklyon, was there to grab her just before she hit the ground. After their initial shock, the two of them broke out laughing. The fact that this took place before a crowd of press and other dignitaries only added to the pandemonium.
"I do remember, grandmother!" Michelle laughed.
"And now you are able to fly all the way to my statue. You know, I never really would have wanted this to be built; I never liked big egotistical displays of myself."
"The people think it's beautiful though," said Michelle. "Mom doesn't though, because…"
"Because to her it's just a reminder that she'll never be as good as me," said Bloom, finishing her granddaughter's sentence.
It was true. After Bloom had died, Michelle's mother Queen Vanessa had been increasingly depressed. She ate very little, and was extremely nervous, second guessing her decisions constantly. As a result, Vanessa retreated deeper into drink, at the expense of sharing time with her husband and daughter. Michelle's mother's feelings of inadequacy were not helped by the international tabloid press, which had taken to calling her drunk and indecisive. In between sips of wine one night several months ago, Vanessa had confided to Michelle that she felt that she was a "lightweight of the noblest blood," while holding the latest political cartoon, depicting Vanessa as standing precariously over the edge of two giant high heeled boots, which represented Queen Bloom in her prime as a Fairy. "Big shoes to fill—and how," read the cartoon's caption. It was hard for Michelle to see her mother in such a bad state. The only thing Michelle could do was throw herself into her training as a Princess.
"Your mother's wrong of course, she does have potential. There never was a smarter or kinder child than her," said Bloom. "She just lost her way in those wonderful times after my friends and I liberated Domino. We all thought the peace would last forever," mused Bloom.
"But it didn't," said Michelle, her eyes downcast. "Nothing lasts forever, especially times of peace." She had reason to be pessimistic. The Human Empire had become increasingly aggressive in recent years, particularly after Bloom's death, building up massive war fleets and massing troops along its borders, not to mention publically executing real and imagined dissidents by the thousands at a time. Despite a small internal resistance movement, it looked like the galaxy was headed for certain war.
"But soon enough, Michelle, you are going to have to step up. I see a great darkness coming," said Bloom. "But don't despair, Michelle."
Michelle looked up. She didn't know what to say about this.
Bloom continued, "You will be tested as never before. It may be hard, but I can see the strength inside you. And you will have friends by your side to be there for you."
Michelle stared into the fire, filled with newfound purpose. She was headed to Alfea in the morning, where she would learn to be a Guardian Fairy, just like her mother and grandmother. She could stand up to anything.
"And when you triumph—and I know you will—I will be by your side, Princess Michelle. I will always be at your side." said Queen Bloom, full of confidence in her voice.
"Always," said Michelle with a smile, her hands outstretched.
"Always," said Bloom.
At this the fire grew larger and larger, swirling out of its container and dancing around the Princess. Some of the fire was absorbed into Michelle's hands. Rings of concentrated flame swirled around her wrists. Then it was over; the fire stopped glowing white, and returned to its natural red color, a pale imitation of the Dragon's Flame.
Michelle knew it was time to go. Her wings fluttered as she kicked her body off the statue, and rose into her air. She stuck her hands behind her, and used the flame rings around her wrists to propel her at an incredible velocity back to the palace.
Alighting on her balcony, she immediately walked into her room and fell into her bed, her clothes returning to her standard silk pajamas.
With a smile, she rolled over. She was tired and contented. Princess Michelle of Domino fell into a much-needed deep sleep.
She had a big day ahead.