"It's time."
Queen Clarion's voice echoed over the expanse of Pixie Hollow. A soft sound of flittering was heard as thousands of fairies made their way to the Pixie Dust Tree to witness the birth of a new fairy. "Gather around, everyone," Clarion stood at the head of the tree, with the ministers behind her, eagerly watching the leaf where the fairy would take his or her first steps and choose a talent.
The wind blew gently through the trees, carrying a small red tassel. As it passed by the Pixie Dust Tree, it dropped the tassel on the leaf.
"Ahhh," the group of fairies said collectively.
"What is it?" someone said.
"It's a Lost Thing, you know, something from the Mainland." came the reply.
"It's pretty!"
"Shh!"
Queen Clarion made her way to the large glowing pool of pixie dust, where the fairies traveled each day to receive their necessary dose. The dust gave them the ability to fly far distances, and it was also crucial for their work. Now, Queen Clarion would use it to bring the new fairy to life. Her small golden hand reached for the cup as she scooped up pile of dust and brought it to the leaf.
"Now, I want you to all be sure to welcome the new fairy warmly. This is a very stressful time of the year, and in order to utilize his or her skills effectively, the need to feel comfortable is everyone's responsibility. Understood?" The fairies were making the transition from winter to spring. This was generally the most difficult time for them, but especially now as there had been an arcane lack of supplies this year. As she began to sprinkle the pixie dust, Clarion nodded towards the fairies sitting on the surrounding leaves. "Bring forward your oblations," she commanded.
Silvermist hopped off her leaf and placed a beautiful dewdrop on one of the small gold toadstools surrounding the leaf. Rosetta put a glowing pansy next to it. Iridessa created a tiny dot of light, which was placed next to the flower. Fawn produced a considerably large egg, which she carefully set down on the other side of Silvermist's dewdrop. Vidia waited until the rest of them had gone before she huffed over to one of the remaining toadstools and generated a tiny tornado.
"Tinker Bell?" Queen Clarion said.
Tinker Bell had been chatting with one of the neighboring fairies when she heard her name called and realized that she still needed to present the tinker fairies' object. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she said, her face as red as a ripe tomato. Vidia rolled her eyes as Tinker Bell brought a small twig-and-rock mallet and laid it on the remaining toadstool. She smiled sheepishly at Clarion as she flew back.
Clarion nodded. "Very good," she said. She sprinkled the last of the dust onto the tassel and placed the cup back on the leaf next to the pool.
Everyone leaned in and waited. And waited. Nothing seemed to be happening. "Perhaps… a small boost is needed," Queen Clarion said thoughtfully. She flew to the tassel and gave it a small tap. Almost instantly, a small burst of pixie dust took place as the new addition to Pixie Hollow stood up.
She was female, wearing the tassel as a small, odd-fitting strapless gown. Her hair was a dark strawberry blonde, which went nicely with her snow white skin. Her small, upturned nose was dotted with freckles. At first there appeared to be nothing particularly impressive about the new fairy. But then she opened her eyes. They were a clear, beautiful green, large and friendly. The new fairy blinked a few times as she looked around. She tucked some hair behind her ear and smiled awkwardly. "Hello," she said to Queen Clarion.
"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer. Happiness has brought you here. Welcome to Pixie Hollow." Clarion declared, giving her usual welcome statement.
"Um, thanks," the new fairy said shyly.
"Now, let's have a look at these wings..." the queen said as she gently touched the new fairy's glistening wings. They immediately popped out, creating a soft flitting noise.
"Oh, wow! Thank you," The new fairy said as she looked at her wings. Then she noticed all the talent items. "What is all this stuff?" she asked.
"Every fairy and sparrow man has a talent," The queen explained. "Something they are particularly good at. These items represent all the different talents in Pixie Hollow. Choose."
The new fairy felt a tremendous amount of pressure. She felt confused. "But how will I… know which to…"
All the fairies smiled knowingly. They'd heard this before. "Trust me. You'll know." the queen said.
The new fairy nodded. She looked around. That flower sure is pretty, she thought. The new fairy stepped to the flower and grabbed it with both hands… it promptly fell into pieces. The new fairy was ashamed at what she'd done. "I… I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to-"
The queen waved off her apology. "It is no matter. Try something else, my dear."
The new fairy nodded eagerly. She turned around and her eyes fell upon the dewdrop. This time, I'll be more careful, she assured herself as she reached out and gently touched the ball of water with a finger. Although it didn't break up quite as devastatingly as the flower had, it immediately fell and rolled off the leaf onto her bare feet. "Oh! Cold!" she exclaimed. Next came the snowflake, which broke and splashed on the toadstool. The tornado disappeared into the air. The number of options was dwindling. The new fairy spotted the mallet. Well, at least that looks strong enough for me to not break it, she thought hopefully as she reached for it. The mallet didn't break, but slid out of her hands and landed with a bang on the leaf. "Oh my! I'm sorry!" she said, but her apology was once again ignored.
"Continue," the queen directed.
And so the new fairy did. The egg shattered into tiny pieces. The cake crumbled in her hand. She tried to read Rune's book and ended up ripping out half the pages. She picked up the paintbrush and managed not to break it, but when she tried waving it in the air she accidentally threw it and it hit Vidia on the head.
"Oh, I'm sorry, miss," the new fairy said quickly.
"Yeah, whatever," Vidia said flatly as she rubbed her sore head. She was in a good mood, so she was being friendly. I'll take care of her later, she thought.
The new fairy looked around. There were two things left: the ball of golden light and the ladle. She looked at Terence, who had brought the ladle. But Terence was not looking at her; his eyes were locked on Tinker Bell, who was looking right back. It was obvious that Tinker Bell and Terence shared a special relationship. The new fairy felt that if she became a ladle-talent she would disrupt that relationship somehow. Instead, she peered up at Iridessa, who was looking at her.
Smiling, The new fairy approached the ball of light and cupped it in her hands. As soon as the new fairy touched it, the ball slowly began to expand.
"Ooh," the group of fairies and sparrow men said collectively.
The new fairy slowly stepped back as the ball of light became huge, and then mutely exploded into little dots of light which fell to the ground. It was quite beautiful, and when it was over, the new fairy felt very proud of herself.
"Excellent!" Queen Clarion said, clapping her hands together. "My dear, you are without a doubt a light-talent." she announced happily. "Light fairies, meet your newest addition... Lux."
"Great!" Iridessa and several other light-talents flew over to the large leaf where Queen Clarion and the new fairy stood. "Welcome, welcome, welcome! We're happy to have you! Your Majesty, may I show Lux to her new home?"
The queen nodded. "Yes, Iridessa. Thank you."
"Come on!" Iridessa shouted happily as she and the other fairies flew off towards Sunflower Gully. Lux curtsied graciously to the queen and then quickly took off to catch up with Iridessa and the others.