"Come on, Snowdrop, let's go pick some flowers for your mom."
A young Elyon laughed and jumped to her feet.
"Okay!"
She ran up to the young man's side with a wide smile. She reached up ad grabbed his hand as they walked.
"What kind of flowers should we find for her?" she asked.
"Well," the man began with a smile, "I don't think it matters what kind of flower you give her. She'll be happy you gave her flowers."
"Oh, okay! You're pretty smart, aren't you?"
The man laughed and gave her a light pat on her head.
"I must be. Your mom wouldn't put up with me if I was stupid and weak!"
The little girl laughed as they continued down the path to the flower field.
"Elyon? Come on, get up. We have to get moving."
"Rise and shine, Elyon!"
The girl rubbed her eyes and sat up. Next to her, Joel was sitting with his brow furrowed.
"Geez, you sleep like a rock," Joel sighed, "We don't have time for you to-"
"But I'm still tired..." Elyon stuck out her bottom lip ever so slightly as she moved her bangs to look up at him.
"Guh!" Joel scooted back with a slight blush. "Just get up!"
"Don't yell at her!" Eress snapped, then pinched the girl's cheek. "How can you get frustrated with this adorable face!"
"Even trolls are adorable when they're compared to you," the boy sniffed.
"How dare you!"
As the two were going back and forth, Elyon had a chance to wake up. She stood up, dusted off her clothes, and swung on her cloak. When the pair finally stopped their bickering, the trio set out. As they walked through a relatively normal looking forest, something shocking happened.
"Flapping my wings is like you walking," Eress was explaining, "in fact, it's probably harder since I'm so much smaller!"
"You're a tough cookie," Joel observed.
Elyon stared at him with wide eyes, though neither of her companions seemed to notice.
He just complimented her! Oh, maybe they can get alo-
"... Surprisingly," Joel added.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Eress snarled.
... Of course.
"Please don't fight," Elyon requested.
"How about you look for the Faery Road again, bug?" Joel asked.
"I'm not a bug, for the gods' sake!" the faery snapped, "But give me a second and I'll check."
The blue faery fluttered her wings. Then, particles of light gathered together to form a gate. Elyon lightly clapped.
"Thank you, thank you." Eress jokingly bowed. "I present you the last Faery Road!"
"Let's go." Joel started walking to the gate.
"Yes, let's!" Elyon quickly followed behind.
They made their way through the glittering tunnel until Eress found the right gateway. Upon walking through, the trio found themselves at the base of an overwhelmingly large tree. It was so large, they had to step back to see the whole tree.
I guess this is the Tree of Knowledge...
"Well, how do we ask it a question?" Joel turned to the blue faery.
"Well, it's sleeping if I'm not mistaken." She closed her eyes in thought. "Here, let me try something!"
With that, she flew off towards the tree and entered a tiny crevice.
"WAAAAAKE UUUUUUP!" she screamed.
"Eress!" Elyon gasped, "That's incredibly rude!"
"What did we expect..." Joel grumbled.
Just then, the ground began violently shaking. Elyon let out a squeal and clung to Joel's arm.
"Who has awoken me?" said a voice so loud and deep, it made the ground tremble.
"Tree of Knowledge, we have come because we need your guidance," Eress stated, fluttering in front of the tree.
"Regarding what?" the tree questioned.
"My friend, Jo- Eep!"
As Elyon had begun to answer the tree's question, when she was suddenly lifted into the air by one of the tree's roots. Joel and Eress cried out as the girl was carried higher and higher.
"Sire!" cried a feminine voice. "Her hair's snow-white!"
A female figure formed and leaned out from the tree. She smiled at the girl.
Is she a dryad? Oh, she's so pretty!
Elyon offered a smile in return.
"Indeed," the tree rumbled.
"S-Sir and ma'am, I'm terribly sorry to bother you," Elyon began again once she regained her composure, "However, we need your guidance. The boy down there is Joel, my... friend, and he has somehow lost his magic."
"That boy?" questioned the dryad.
"Ye- Gah!" Joel was answering when he was suddenly lifted into the air by a tree root.
Eress cried out and flew up next to her two companions.
"Do you know a way him to get it back?" Elyon asked.
"Hmm... The young man's magic has not been lost by natural means. Someone has taken it from him," the Tree of Knowledge explained.
"Someone... stole it?" Joel's eyes widened.
"The quickest way to recover your magic is to confront the being who has taken it."
"But who stole my magic?" Joel furrowed his brow.
"The answer is within your heart."
A sudden rumbling shook the earth. The two wizards nearly fell off the roots they were standing on.
"I have listened to your question," the Tree of Knowledge said with a yawn, "Now I shall go back to sleep."
"Wait! What about me?! I've completely lost my memory!"
"If you stick with your friends, you shall find your answer..."
"What kind of help is that?! Hey!"
However, the faery's cries went unheard. The tree had already fallen back into a deep sleep.
"Ooooh! Now he'll be out until at least tomorrow..." Eress groaned, "He's only up once a day!"
"Hey! You should have told us that beforehand!" Joel snapped.
"Don't blame me!" Eress snarled back, "I've lost my memory!"
Elyon sighed, not bothering to stop their arguing. As Elyon was trying to figure out how to get down, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. As Elyon went to scream, the dryad shushed her.
"Don't panic, Elyon," she reassured the girl, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"What do you- Oh!"
Suddenly, the dryad pulled Elyon into the tree. Her companions noticed and cried out as they tried to grab her. The tree closed, and Elyon found herself sitting on a ledge above a large abyss. Small lights floated around the inside of the tree. As Elyon looked closer, she found they were glowing dandelion seeds.
So the tree is hollow?
She gulped and held onto the small crevices in the bark. Next to her, the dryad sat.
"Sorry about that," she apologized, "I just wanted to talk to you privately. My name is Almoris."
"N-Nice to meet you." Elyon politely nodded. "Might I ask what it is you needed to tell me?"
"Of course! You're such a polite girl, though I'm not surprised. Madam Cloeten expected that of you."
"How did yo-?!"
"Benefit of being the dryad of the Tree of Knowledge. I don't see everything he does, but I he lets me in on interesting things."
"Ah, I see."
"Now, for what I need to tell you." Almoris grew serious as she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You need to be very, very careful. Get out of here as soon as you can, Elphyne is not safe for you."
The girl felt her stomach drop.
"W-Why?"
"That's a long story, one that you needn't worry about," Almoris replied, "so just focus on getting out."
Elyon furrowed her brow and sighed.
The dryad reached out and patted her arm.
"Well, your friends are waiting," Almoris said, "Prepare yourself."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the ledge beneath the girl gave way. Elyon screamed as she slid upside down on a steep slide, going faster and and faster. Up ahead, she could see a doorway of light. Even as she got closer, she didn't slow down. Shutting her eyes, Elyon waited for whatever was going to happen next.
She let out another scream as she felt herself fly forward without anything to hold her up.
"El- OOF!"
Suddenly, she collided with someone. They crashed to the ground and rolled a bit before they finally stopped. The other person groaned from under her, and Elyon opened her eyes.
"Joel? Oh, Joel, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" she cried, checking him for injuries.
"Ugh..." he moaned again, "Get off me!"
"O-Oh, of course!" she nodded, scrambling off him.
She offered a hand and he took it. Once he as on his feet, he dusted off his clothes.
"Are you alright?" Elyon asked again.
"I'm fine, you just caught me off guard," he replied, then looked at her with concern,"Where did the dryad take you?"
"Oh, she told me that we should get out of Elphyne as soon as possible. She said it wasn't safe, but she wouldn't explain why."
"At least for you," Joel said, clearly remembering the brier faeries, "Let's get going."
"Are you sure?" Elyon asked.
"Yeah, we've made progress. Now we know that someone has stolen my magic. Now we have to find out who it was that stole my magic so I can confront them about it."
"Hope is in sight," Elyon said, taking hold of his hand.
"Yeah, and I have you to thank for it." Joel gave her hand a light squeeze.
"Could you two stop flirting for five minutes?" Eress gagged.
The two blushed and pulled their hands apart. Elyon lightly coughed before addressing the faery.
"We found you some help, too," she reminded her with a smile, "I'm glad.
"Yup, guess you get to be graced with my presence a bit longer."
"More like cursed," Joel quietly added.
"Anyway," Elyon said, trying to prevent another argument, "Do you have any idea who the thief could be?"
"If I knew, I would have told you."
Elyon closed her eyes in thought. Suddenly remembering her tarot cards, she reached into her bag and pulled out her deck.
"Oh, a one card tarot reading?" Eress questioned, leaning in.
"Yes!" The girl nodded.
She laid out all the cards on a nearby tree stump. She mixed the cards around, silently asked who stole Joel's magic, and flipped over a card.
"That's the Magician card," Joel observed.
"What does that mean?" Eress asked.
In the regular position, it means creativity and concentration," Elyon explained.
"Try it again," Joel ordered.
The girl nodded and scrambled the cards. She silently asked the question and flipped over a card.
"The Sun," Elyon mused, "and in the regular position."
"That means life, glory, and stuff like that," Joel added, then growled, "but that doesn't make sense. Do it again."
"Only if you say please," Elyon huffed, "people have been doing rude things all day."
"Fine, please do it again."
Elyon nodded and repeated the process once again. She flipped the card and sighed.
"The Fool," Eress stated, "This is weird. We're asking the same question, but we keep getting different cards."
"You noticed that too, huh?" Joel said.
Elyon furrowed her brow. Then she placed the three cards in the order she'd found them. The trio stared at the cards, trying to find some sort of constant. Elyon narrowed her eyes, then gasped.
"They all have flowers!"
"What?" Joel tilted his head.
"Here, look!" She pointed to the cards. "The Magician has white roses, the Sun has sunflowers, and the Fool has snowdrops!"
"How does that help us figure out anything?!" Eress snapped.
"I-I don't know, but it's the only constant..."
"Wait. Flowers... If I remember right, the day before I lost my magic, I picked a strange, wilted flower," Joel told them.
"A wilted flower, you say?" Elyon leaned in.
"It was strange since I'd never seen anything like it before."
"So you think there's a connection?" Eress questioned.
"Dunno, but it's the only flower-related thing I can think of..."
"Then surely it has some significance," Elyon replied.
"Or you messed up the reading," Eress muttered.
Elyon huffed and gathered her cards without responding.
It wouldn't kill you to have some faith in me...
Agreeing that they weren't likely to find out anything else, the trio started their way back to the academy. By the time they got back, the sun was already setting. Elyon shifted her sore feet, looking forward to resting in her bed.
"We have to hurry, or we'll miss curfew," Joel stated.
"We've really cut it close, haven't we?" Elyon sighed.
"Not close enough."
The two wizards jumped and whipped around. There they found a terrifying sight...
An annoyed Prefect Klaus and Professor Schyuler.
"Staying out overnight without permission is a grievous breach of the rules," Klaus coldly informed them.
"Let's hear your explanation," added the professor.
"Oh, dear..." Elyon murmured.
...
...
"... Elyon?" Joel called out.
The detention chamber was dark and cold.
"... Yes, Joel?" she replied.
Both wizards were terribly uncomfortable. Yet, Eress had somehow managed to fall asleep.
"Are you alright?"
"... May I ask why we didn't talk to the headmaster or one of the professors?"
"I think we just acted without thinking."
"... Yes," she sighed, "that would explain it."
"Sorry to drag you into all this."
"It's no trouble. After all, we're getting closer and closer to you regaining your magic."
From the other cell, Elyon could hear Joel let out a small sigh. She shifted around in her own cell, trying to get comfortable on the stiff bed.
How is an academy allowed to have a dungeon? I would think there would be some sort of rule against it...
As the girl was staring out the window, she heard the boy lightly cough.
"You know, you never did tell me what happened to you after we left," he reminded her.
"Ah, I suppose I did tell you that, didn't I? Should I tell you now then? It's not all that interesting."
"If it's boring enough, maybe I can sleep down here."
Elyon rolled her eyes before she began.
A young Elyon sat silently in her house. She was all on her own now, a heavy grief weighing down the air. The other villagers, finally overlooking their prejudice over the single mother and her child, reached out and tried to help the young orphan. But it seemed to be too late. Elyon had become an empty shadow of the girl she had once been. The nearby women would come in and make sure she was eating, while the men repaired different parts of the house. Even the children tried to get her to play.
Yet Elyon remained in her lonely home. She seemed to believe that if she just waited, her mother would come back for her, or her heroic, yet mysterious, father would come sweep her away. Evelyn had told her daughter stories about her father, how he was kind and funny, yet she never gave specific details.
One day, as Elyon sat on her back porch, and old woman came hobbling up to her. It was her neighbor, Madam Cloeten.
"It's been three weeks," she stated, "it's time you pick up the pieces. Hurry up. Pick out some things and follow me."
The little girl stayed silent and made no sign of movement.
"You had better respect your elders," Madam Cloeten snapped, "you're being quite rude."
"... don't wanna..."
"What was that?"
"I don't wanna move!"
"First, that is improper English," the woman sniffed, "it would be 'I don't want to move'. Second, I was not asking what you wanted to do. Your neighbors may be satisfied with letting you just sit there day in and day out, until your bones crumble and your voice is truly gone forever. However, I will not allow you to waste your life just sitting there waiting to die. If you do that, you'll have no right to face your mother after your death."
"Shut up!" Elyon snarled, "Jut leave me alone!"
"Say what you like, but deep down you know I'm right. Right now, you're burdening those around you and causing them pointless worry. Now, I'll say it again: Pick out some things and follow me."
Elyon bit her lip and let her tears drip down her cheek, but the old woman was unfazed. They stayed like that for almost ten minutes, glaring at each other. Elyon was the first to give in. Muttering under her breath, she grabbed some clothes, a toothbrush, and a pot of her glowing flowers, and followed the old woman to her mansion.
"Madam Cloeten?" Joel repeated, "The old woman with the pretty garden? Didn't you steal her flowers and fruit?"
Elyon nodded.
"Now, I had no idea what would happen once I got there..."
"Straighten your spine! Lift your wrists! No, not your whole arm, you look like a marionette!" Madam Cloeten snapped.
"I-I'm trying!" Elyon shot back, growing more and more uncomfortable.
It had been three months since Elyon had moved in with the old woman. She went back to her own house on the weekends for a break, but with each visit, her home had become less and less depressing, and more nostalgic.
During her stay at the old woman's, Elyon was being taught how to be a 'proper lady'. That included lessons on how to walk with perfect posture, how to ballroom dance, how to hold a deep and intelligent conversation, how to play the piano and so on. It was all far more difficult than it sounded.
Yet Madam Cloeten never gave up on her, nor did she let the girl quit. It wasn't until many years later that Elyon realized these lessons weren't just meant to teach her how to be a lady; the lessons provided a distraction from her grief.
As time went on, Madam Cloeten began bringing the girl along to parties and to salons for conversation. She gave the girl gifts as rewards for her hard work. Elyon believed that it was because all her family in the village had died in the epidemic that took her mother, one had been a girl Elyon's age. They were both lonely, and needed someone to at least somewhat fill the hole left in their hearts.
Years passed, and the old woman was growing weaker and weaker. She still maintained her sharp tongue, but there were times where her mind was somewhere else.
"Veronica? Where have you been, little sister?" she'd often say, "why are you looking at me like that? It's me, Edith!"
Other times, she thought Elyon was her granddaughter.
"Josefina? Where are you going, you silly girl? Come lay down with me!"
Elyon never bothered correcting her. She knew it made the old woman feel better, thinking she was with her real family. However, after she had died, Elyon learned just how much she cared for as well.
Her will gave everything, her estate, her wealth, all of it, to Elyon. Despite once again losing someone close to her, Elyon handled it fairly well.
She had been taught to deal with grief gracefully, as a proper lady.
"So that whole mansion is yours?" Joel asked, surprise evident in his tone.
"Well, yes and no," Elyon answered, "I gave it to the mayor so it could become a new orphanage and school. There were a lot of orphans after that epidemic, and you remember how tiny that other orphanage was. It was too small for those children! And with a new school, and such a huge library, the children are able to achieve a better education!"
"Wow..."
"It was Madam Cloeten's idea, at least the school part. I read it in one of her journals."
Elyon rolled over to look at Joel through the bars of the chamber. She smiled at him.
"I think I can sleep better now. Goodnight, Joel."
He shifted to face her.
"Goodnight, Elyon."
Allowing her eyes to fall shut, the girl curled up and slowly drifted off into sleep.
