A/N: Okay so bear with me here. This chapter is very much introduce the characters and establish some relationships. No Milori in this chapter :( But there is a reference to him! See if you can find it. (It's kind of like a scavenger hunt, except it'll be pretty easy to find.) But they will sorta meet in the next chapter.

And now, get to reading!

(Oh, and for Queen Isa's hair, kind of imagine a thick Katniss braid. I don't know if that's important or not, but now you know!)


"Hello?"

The young fairy looked around timidly at all the unfamiliar faces around her. There were so many mouths smiling and eyes staring, it was almost nauseating to look at. The young fairy's insides starting turning, and she couldn't quite force herself to stand up. Where was she?

"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here."

The fairy froze at the sound of the voice behind her. She cautiously turned to face the voice and found herself in front of a very regal fairy. The lady was probably the single most beautiful being that she had ever seen, not that she had seen many. The dress was a shimmering gold, and it almost hurt the fairy's new eyes to look at. Her raven-black hair was swooped back into a thick braid. On top of her head sat a bright ring, the perfect contrast to her dark hair.

With a jolt, the fairy realized this fairy was the queen, and hastily went to bow.

The queen let a little chuckle and said once again in her projecting voice, "Welcome to Pixie Hollow."

The young fairy looked around curiously at her surroundings. Now that she could put a name to it, she realized how well it fit. Pixie Hollow. She liked it. The fairy felt a grin spreading on her face.

Before she knew it, the queen was standing in front of her. "My name is Isa," the queen said in a motherly tone. "Come now, lets see your wings."

The queen flew to the back side of the fairy. "Open," she said gently. The fairy carefully spread her wings. "Beautiful," said the queen. "Now flap." The fairy felt her wings move back and forth until her feet lifted from the ground. A smile spread on the fairy's face, as well as the queen's.

Then the queen made a gesture to behind the new fairy. The fairy watched in awe as several little tables appeared, surrounding her.

"Wha-"

"Bring forth the talents!" Queen Isa rang out. Then, as several fairies and sparrow-men came towards her carrying strange objects, Queen Isa looked at the new fairy, who was beginning to feel overwhelmed. "Every fairy has a talent they special at," the queen explained.

Behind her, the fairy heard a small, almost unnoticeable snort. Curious, she turned to see who made the sound. The queen quickly grabbed her hand to lead her back to the circle of tables, which all now contained a talent, but not quick enough because the fairy was able to get a quick glance back at a small fairy with auburn hair and a sneer on her face. She was standing on the landing the queen was standing on minutes ago with three others who looked about her age. Behind them stood two fairies and two sparrow-men. The new fairy turned her attention back to the Queen, who was explaining the importance of every talent.

The queen then gave the fairy a motherly smile and gently pushed her towards the center of the circle.

The fairy turned back to look at the queen uncertainly. "How will I know?"

"You will," said Queen Isa confidently.

The fairy timidly walked around the circle, gazing at the different substances to the different talents. There was a blob of water, a flower, a hammer, and so on and so forth.

Suddenly, she heard a collective gasp from the crowd.

She looked confused at the queen, who seemed to be holding her breath in awe.

Out of the corner of her eye, the fairy saw something glowing. She turned to see all the talents she had passed in the circle so far had become brighter. When she looked the other way down the circle, the fairy saw these talents, too, were beginning to glow.

The fairy took a step back into the center of the circle. By the look of shock on everyone's face, she took this to not be normal.

The Hollow was dead silent. The fairy swore you could hear a petal drop if you were to try.

She finally worked up the courage to break the silence. "What's happening?" asked the young fairy. As she looked put to the crowd, she realized they were all looking upon their queen expectantly. The fairy turned around to the queen, who was now flying steadily towards her.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked the fairy, with worry in her voice.

The queen landed in front of her with a look of surprise on her face. "Of course not, my dear. On the contrary." Queen Isa then grabbed the young one's hand and gently pulled her up to where she was fluttering at the level of the audience. No one took their eyes off of the fairy.

"Fairies, and Sparrow-Men, of Pixie Hollow!" projected the queen. "Today is special indeed. Not only do we celebrate the coming of Winter tomorrow, but today we welcome a very special young fairy into the hollow. She possesses all talents. Please give a warm Pixie Hollow welcome to Princess Clarion!"

A cheer went up in the Hollow that startled the young fairy. Then the realization hit her.

The fairy turned to the queen. "Me?" she asked in astonishment.

The queen smiled and gently tugged the fairy, Clarion, upwards again. "We were hoping you would come," whispered the queen. Then Queen Isa led Clarion through an alcove and into a giant room. Clarion gasped in awe.

From the center of the ceiling hung a chandelier with strings of rose petals hanging down. One side of the room was covered with bookshelves from top to bottom. On the other side was a complete work area, complete with a desk and a miniature bookshelf above. Across the room from Clarion was a bed the whole population of Pixie Hollow could fit into. The sheets where the lightest shade of pink with dainty rose petals stitched on here and there. Hanging over top was a screen of what looked to be the same material as the queen's dress. To the right of the bed stood an antique wardrobe.

Clarion gently flew around the room inspecting everything. She could feel her silly grin become larger and larger the more she saw. When she reached her bed, forgetting the queen was still in the room, she launched herself upon it. She felt herself being engulfed in its softness and began laughing.

Queen Isa began laughing too as she crossed the room and sat upon the bed. Soon they both were in a fit.

When they finally calmed down and wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes, Queen Isa looked at Clarion with a twinkle in her eye. "So you like the room?"

"Oh yes, Queen Isa! I like it very much," said Clarion. As an afterthought she added, "It's perfect."

The smile on the queen's face seemed to widen. "I'm glad." The queen then looked at her suddenly serious. "Princess Clarion? I'll make you a deal," said the queen. Clarion looked at her with interest. "If you call me Isa, I shall call you Clarion. There should be no formalities between the queen and the soon-to-be queen. We are of the same rank, you're just a little less trained. Would that be alright?"

Clarion nodded eagerly.

"Great!" said the queen - Isa - brightly. "Now, the Ministers and their apprentices should be up here as soon as the excitement below settles a bit. Why don't you change for the time being?"

"But I don't own any other clothes," admitted Clarion sheepishly.

With a sly smile, Isa said, "Check the wardrobe."

Curious, Clarion fluttered up off the bed to the wardrobe. When she opened it up, she felt her breath catch. Inside were five dresses, all of them exactly the same. They were made of tiered rose petals that shimmered when it moved.

Excitedly, Clarion donned one. It fit perfectly.

Grin on her face, she turned to show off the dress to Isa. She smiled and nodded in return.

"It fits you well," she stated. " I was hoping you would be my size."

"This is your dress?" Clarion asked in wonder.

Isa nodded. "I wore it during my training."

Before Clarion could marvel at the dress more, she heard a voice at the entrance.

"What an auspicious day!"

Clarion turned to see a stout, balding sparrow-man with crazy white hair coming out of the sides of his head.

"Really!" the man continued. "I just got word from the Woods that they've chosen a successor to be Lord of Winter! Just incredible!"

Clarion found herself fighting the urge to giggle. Isa just smiled and said, "Aquilo, it truly is a wonderful day." Then she looked down at Clarion and winked.

Clarion watched as seven other fairies and sparrow-men came into her room.

"Clarion," Isa said, "I would like you to meet the Ministers of the Seasons and their apprentices."

Clarion held up her hand and gave them a pathetically shy wave. "Hello," she said timidly.

Isa then took her hand and led her through the line. "This is the Minister of Winter, Aquilo," she said as she motioned to the man who burst in before. "And his apprentice, Snowflake." Clarion looked at the pale serious girl with slicked back hair. Snowflake nodded at her, and Clarion continued down the line. Isa stopped beside pretty fairy with flowers woven in her blonde braid.

The fairy smiled Clarion. "Princess Clarion, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Hazel, the Minister of Spring. And this," she said, as she motioned to the gangly sparrow-man behind her, "is Hyacinth, my apprentice."

The boy looked nervous when Clarion looked him over, and when she smiled at him he seemed as if he were about to faint. Uncomfortable, Clarion slowly flew further down the line from him.

As the princess moved down the line, she came to a short fairy, with dark and wavy hair. She wasn't as pretty as Hazel or Isa, but she had a pleasant face. Clarion's first reaction was that she was very innocent looking, so Clarion was surprised when the girl introduced herself as the Minister of Autumn, with the name of Autumn. Her apprentice, Redleaf, seemed nice enough, though. It wasn't until Isa and Autumn started to discuss how Autumn went on the Mainland when Clarion saw his true colors. When she tried to make small talk with him, he rolled his eyes and turned away. Dejected, Clarion moved on, hoping for a friendlier face.

"Clarion," Isa said, pulling her out of her thoughts, "this is the Minister of Summer, Augstin, and his apprentice, Anona."

Clarion immediately recognized the apprentice as the one who snorted during the ceremony. She could feel herself physically get nervous around the girl - Anona. Clarion could see her mouth move into a small smirk of pleasure. Up close, Clarion could see all the small specks of freckles on Anona's face.

Even though she hated to admit it, Anona was pretty.

"Wonderful!" Isa exclaimed, jolting Clarion out of her thoughts. "Now you're all acquainted! Tomorrow I'll take you around all the seasons and tell you a little bit about each of them, Clarion. And we'll be off to a good start." Clarion beamed back a Isa. A day with the queen and no one else sounded great.

"Now, Queen Isa, please tell me you didn't forget our meeting about that - uh - special situation - tomorrow," Aquilo said from the other end of the room.

Isa snapped her fingers. "Shoot!" She gave Clarion a sympathetic smile. "We going to have to reschedule."

Before Clarion could respond, though, Hazel spoke up.

"The apprentices could show her around. They should know about each of their seasons to tell her just a little."

All the Ministers smiled and nodded in agreement looking at their apprentices, who looked as enthusiastic as Clarion felt.

"Well I guess that's that then," Isa said, beaming at Clarion. For Isa's sake, Clarion forced a smile at her, and then at the apprentices.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day...


A/N: So what'd you think? Am I off to a good start? I like to think Queen Clarion got her motherly touch in the movies from the queen before her that treated her like a daughter because she was so excited she arrived... And what about Anona? I know you don't really know much about her, but does she have the makings of a good antagonist?

And now please review! It'll take two seconds to type something in to let me know you're reading this and enjoying this story. Even if you just say "I like this", it completely makes my day. And if you really enjoy this story, and you want to spend three seconds on the review instead of two, that's even better! :) Please review!