All the guardians apprentices had worked hard to organize the midsummer gala. The guardians had been to busy to help, but they had nearly all arrived now, a few minutes before the gala started.
"Have you seen Azura yet? " Glee asked Elina. They were just putting some finishing touches on the snacks table.
"No, but she's really busy with lots of paper work, I was hoping that she would be able to take tonight off," replied Elina.
"I can relate," said Sunburst, flying over, " Violet gets loads of paper work, and she won't even let me help!"
"How is it in-between you two now?" asked Glee.
"Not much better, I think she preferred the old me," sighed Sunburst.
"That's ashame," said Elina, " I like you more when your nice,"
"So do I," Sunburst grinned," oh well, it can't be helped, I don't deserve any better,"
"Yes you do," argued Glee, but before she could continue, Azura finally appeared, carrying several scrolls.
Then she tripped and fell over.
"Azura are you alright?" asked Ruby, helping her up.
"I'm fine thanks," replied Azura.
"But the cake isn't," cried Viridescent, the green guardian fairy.
Bubble giggled; one of the scrolls had fallen into the cake, ruining it.
"Pff, I suppose it's to be expected from a Bluebell, Saphire should never have chosen you, you always ruin everything," Violet, the purple guardian fairy, remarked nastily. Immediately there was silence in the room. Elina had not understood what Violet had said, but from the look on nearly every guardian's face she could tell it was bad.
"How could you say something so mean!" Topaz cried shrilly.
"Personally I agree with Violet," said Amber, the yellow guardian.
"Then your just as bad," said Ruby, turning towards him camly.
Only Elina noticed Azura rush from the scene, and was midly surprise to see a look of pure upset on her face.
All the guardians were taking sides now, and the apprentices all backed away. They had no idea of how much rivalry, and coldness there was between the guardians, who ought to know better.
A few minutes later Elina also left, partly because she couldn't stand it any longer, and partly because she wanted to check on Azura.
finally Elina found Azura's room. It was locked but Elina opened it easily with a small touch of luminescence.
"Azura?" she said quietly, entering. Azura was curled up in a ball, on the corner of her bed crying.
Elina came and sat down next to her, then put her arm round her. Azura did not want to talk, or have any company for that matter, but Elina stayed by her, hugging her. While she was doing so, Elina got to take a look around her. She had never been in Azura's quarters in the fairy palace before. The room was mostly lots of different shades of blue, except the ceiling and the duvet. They were both pink.
Eventually Azura started to calm down a bit.
She looked up at Elina:
"I... I..."
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's OK" said Elina softly, though really she wanted to know why there was such a rivalry between the guardians, and what was the the meaning of Violet said.
"It's fine, you probably want to know," replied Azura, finally managing to keep her voice steady. Sewer line, and picked up the photo that was on her bedside table. It was an image of an older fairy wearing a blue dress and who had brown hair. she was standing next to a much younger Azura who looked about Elina's age.
" this was Saphire, I was her guardian apprentice, " Tears formed in Azura's eyes. "I miss her," she added.
"The rivalry started when I had a fight with Violet, from that time onwards, she aways bullied me whenever possible," sighed Azura, wiping away her tears.
"I suppose some habits die hard, but before Saphire was always there for me..."
Elina hugged Azura, as she (Azura) cried some more.
A little while later Azura and Elina went back to the gala, to see how it was getting on. Someone had finally had the sense to call the enchantress, who had soon broken up the fight.
As soon as Violet noticed Azura she came over, and apologized profusely, and Azura graciously accepted the apology.
Privately Elina thought that Violet would probably not have apologized if the enchantress hadn't been there, but she kept these thoughts to herself.
A little while later the enchantress came over to ask Azura privately if she was alright.
"I'm much better now thank you," replied Azura, curtseying.
"And to think it all started over a hair brush," the enchantress sighed.
"If only I hadn't accidentally picked up Violet's, all the guardians would be friends," agreed Azura.
"I think you'll find it better now, and hopefully each of you can learn something from your apprentices, they certainly have a strong friendship,"
The end