A soft birdsong woke up the young apprentice in her blue dorm. Azura opened her eyes with ease and saw a small hummingbird sitting on her nose. The bird tweeted and flew on a small table near the girl's bed. Azura sat up and wiped her eyes. The first sunbeams peeked in from the windows. The hummingbird still tweeted on the table. Azura slipped out of the bed and walked to the table.
There were two flower cupcakes on the table, a small bowl of petal-salad, and a cup of buttercup-milk. The bird hopped around on a paper. After a moment of thought Azura saw that it was a folded letter. She took the letter, not listening to the hummingbird's disappointed squeak, and unfolded it. The message was written in a beautiful handwriting and scented with rose.
Good morning, my little angel!
I'm sorry that I can't be with you right now, it's a wonderful morning.
I'm sure you found your breakfast. And the little friend with it. Her name is Lola.
Eat up and meet everyone on the grass court in front of the dorms three hours after the sunrise.
Which means half an hour after you wake up.
I'll see you there, my darling!
Sapphire
Azura read the letter and a smile rose on her face. The hummingbird tweeted to let the apprentice know that she was the friend mentioned in the letter.
"Sapphire was like a Mother for me," Azura said and let out a small sigh. Elina watched the Guardian closely and noticed a tear forming in her eye. Azura blinked it away quickly and continued as happily as ever. "She even remembered the time I usually woke up and let the bird wake me in just the right time," she said. "And she knew that my favourite birds were hummingbirds."
"Well, they are much better than firebirds," Elina mumbled. Azura replied with a soft chuckle. "You must have experiences with them," she said. "But I wish I hadn't," Elina replied. "Brrr..." Bibble shivered and took another cupcake to get his thoughts off the terrifying birds. "And Sapphire's cupcakes were delicious," Azura noted watching as the puffball ate the big sweet. "Almost as good as yours."
The young apprentice ate her breakfast being accompanied by Lola, who tweeted at every movement Azura made. The girl began to almost understand the bird. When she finished her breakfast, Lola sat on her shoulder and she flew out of her dorm into the shining sunlight. But just as she left the room, she bumped into a young fairy.
"Sorry, Topaz," Azura said as she moved a bit farther from her friend. "It's okay," the orange apprentice said when Azura pulled a little hummingbird out of her hair. "But we got to stop bumping into each other like this." The blue apprentice nodded as she smoothed the bird's feathers, while Lola tweeted huffily.
"We need to hurry," Topaz said changing the subject. "The others are on the court and we don't have much time until the Guardians arrive." "Actually, we do," said a quiet voice behind Azura. The apprentice turned around in surprise and saw a young fairy in front of her. "We have exactly two minutes and fifty seconds," added the girl a bit shyly.
She had shoulder-length blonde hair and a shy smile. She wore a long green dress with small yellow flowers on shoulders. She was a bit shorter than Azura and very slim.
"There you are, Jade!" Topaz called happily. "I wanted to introduce you to Azura." The green fairy flew forward and curtsied. "I'm Jade, Emerald's apprentice," she said in almost a whisper. "Nice to meet you," Azura replied not knowing if she should curtsy as well. "I'm Azura..." "...Sapphire's apprentice," Topaz finished for her. Seeing that no one will mind, Azura didn't curtsy. Jade smiled at her giving Azura a warm feeling of a new friend.
"Okay, now we must hurry!" Topaz said pointing at the seven fairies coming from the Crystal Palace. The three girls flew quickly to the grass court and landed next to the red apprentice.
"Good morning!" Topaz greeted the boy. "Good morning, my ladies," Ruby replied and made a small bow. Jade and Topaz smiled at his politeness, but Azura still marveled the other apprentices' greeting ways. She noticed the three mean fairies from yesterday standing a bit farther. Navy was throwing angry glances towards her, but this time Azura decided to act as she didn't see her.
"Good morning, apprentices!"
A soft and familiar voice made Azura look in the other direction. Seven fairies had landed before them. Everyone knew who they were. The seven Guardians of Fairytopia.
There was the red Guardian, Coral, with red hair just a bit longer than Jade's. She wore a red dress made from flower petals. Every one of the female Guardians wore the same kind of dress, only in other colour matching their colour of the rainbow. Coral was the tallest one of the Guardians, and seemed as the most strict one as well. She looked at everyone with a frown as if she was checking if they were all fit for being an apprentice. But when her look stopped on Ruby, her face turned into a warm smile.
Next to Coral stood a Guardian who very much resembled her apprentice, Topaz. She had a wide smile on her face, and sparkling amber eyes. Citrine's short yellow hair was a bit longer than Azura's. She wore a dress like Coral's, only her's was orange.
The yellow guardian was a brown-haired man. His outfit was yellow and everyone knew that he was Amber. He looked at every apprentice very closely, very much like Coral, and smiled at Tourmaline, one of Navy's followers.
Emerald was the green guardian. He had unusually long blonde hair for a man. It was tied back in a long ponytail. His outfit resembled Amber's but it was green. Emerald seemed as a much better fairy to Azura, than Amber. He smiled at each apprentice, but the most encouraging smile was meant for Jade, who looked around nervously and seemed a bit afraid of everyone at the moment.
The next Guardian was someone Azura had waited to see again. Sapphire seemed to almost shine as she looked at the apprentices, each one with pride to be his or her tutor, and smiled encouragingly to them all.
Crystal stood by Sapphire's side. Her long curly dark hair flew in the small wind. Crystal wore a dress very similar to Sapphire's, only a little darker. She didn't look anything like her apprentice, Navy. Crystal smiled just as Sapphire letting everyone know that it was an honor for her to stand in front of these fairies.
The last Guardian was Alexsandrite, who they all called Alexandra for it sounded much better. Her long black hair was pulled up in a ponytail almost on the top of her head. She was the slimmest of the Guardians and looked a lot like a ballerina. Her gentle and warm smile told Azura that this was another fairy she wanted to be friends with.
"Welcome apprentices!" Crystal called. Lola quickly flew to the Guardian and tweeted huffily. "And honored hummingbird guest," Sapphire added pleasing Lola who flew back to Azura. "You have been invited to the Crystal Palace to learn from the Guardians how to preform the Flight of Spring," Crystal said. "We preform this annual ritual to release a magical rainbow, giving Fairytopia another year of vitality."
"First we use magic to interact light from water," Sapphire explained and made a small wave with her hand. A ball of magic appeared in front of her. Inside it everyone could see water forming into a chamber. "Creating the chamber where the ceremony takes place," Crystal added. "Then we perform flance, the combination of flight and dance," Sapphire said and seven fairies appeared in the magical ball, dancing in air around a big blossom. "Which draws the Blush from the inner fountain," Crystal added. Azura noticed that the purple Guardian's legs made almost the same dancing steps as the magical fairies around the blossom, but she seemed to be the only one who noticed, everyone else watched the seven magical fairies in the ball of magic.
"Finally, through luminescence we channel our light energy into the blush." Sapphire pointed at the magical blossom in front of her and a ray of light shot at the flower. The light pink bud opened and all the apprentices agreed that they had never seen a flower so beautiful. "Releasing the first rainbow of spring," Crystal finished for Sapphire.
"If something goes wrong, the Blush will wither and our land is doomed to ten years of bitter winter," the blue Guardian said and the magical blossom closed and wilted. Soon it disappeared.
"You have been chosen to learn this ritual, so one day you will be able to follow in our footsteps and preform this vital ceremony," Crystal finished the story.
"Here are your class schedules," Coral said and made a wave with her hand. A magical sparkle came from her fingertips and a scroll appeared in front of every apprentice.
"Good luck!" Sapphire said and didn't forget to give Azura the most loving smile before leaving with the other Guardians. The seven Guardians took into the air and flew back towards the Crystal Palace. Azura noticed that Alexandra's flying was more like dancing in air.
"And Citrine didn't fly straight either. She twirled around and seemed to be playing in the wind," Azura said. "She was just like Topaz." "They remind me of Glee," Elina thought remembering her fellow apprentice. "They are all very joyful dreamers," Azura agreed.
"Dizzlepoof," Bibble mumbled. "Glee reminds Bibble of Dizzle," Elina explained. "We haven't seen each other for a long time." "I'm sure you'll meet again soon," Azura said.
The apprentices unrolled their scrolls. "I have magic class first," said Azura and heard Navy say the same thing to her friends. "I do too," Ruby replied and Azura felt great relief that she didn't have to go to the same class as Navy without a friend. "Jade and I will see you at the flance class then," Topaz said after looking at the green apprentice's schedule. Jade and Topaz took off into the air just in the right time to not notice the indigo apprentice coming towards them.
"Well, Blueberry," Navy said to Azura when she stopped before her. The blue apprentice and Ruby frowned at the insulting nickname. "I just wanted to wish you good luck," Navy said in a tone that said that she meant the exact opposite. "You'll need it," she added with a smirk and left with her two friends. Azura sighed. That first class was not going to be good.