Hi guys, here's my take on how Queen Clarion and Lord Milori met and how they grew up together. All properties belong to Disney. Enjoy ;)
Once upon a time, when pixie hollow was very young, two fairies met and fell in love…
In the magical world of Neverland, beneath a behemoth and beautiful tree, lived the immortal realm of Pixie Hollow. Here, thousands of pixies and sparrow men trained to change the seasons on the mainland and bring light, colour, rejuvenation and beauty to the human world. However pixie hollow had two sides. One, a large and diverse field divided into the seasons of spring, summer and autumn, with flowers and trees reaching hundreds of feet high compared to the tiny fairies.
On the other, a vast wonderland made entirely of snow and ice, with enormous mountains and ice glaciers grazing the top of the sky. However, no fairy from any side possessed any interest in what lay on the other side of the great unknown, and were much happier to keep to themselves. In the warmer seasons, fairies were assigned talents at birth, such as water fairy or garden fairy or animal fairy, whereas winter fairies were optioned with frost, snowflake or hibernation fairy. Each world so similar and yet so different, both ruled by their own beloved leader. But they weren't always rulers. They were once young adults, young adults who's star crossed love resulted in a tragic ending…
When the Queen was gifted to Pixie Hollow by the child's laugh that sent the dandelion petals flying, she had sprouted gorgeous golden wings made of pure pixie dust. The entire assembly gasped and knew that their queen had arrived at last. When she stepped into the ring of talents, every representational item had merged into one and re-manifested themselves as a shimmering golden crown that landed gracefully on the young queen's head. The crowd cheered and bowed to their new queen, a fairy to be named Clarion.
On the winter side, a dandelion petal was picked up by a strong gush of wind and sent to the winter caverns where Milori was born, with large silver wings unlike any other sparrow man. The winter fairies bowed to their new ruler, and Milori inherited all the talents of winter.
With lives so different it was not surprising that the queen of the warm side, and the lord of winter never met. But fate decreed they would.
Years later, when Clarion and Milori were older but still young, about 17 years of age, they saw each other for the first time. The queen had managed to sneak away from royal duties and have some time to herself, her parental-figure advisors and ministers calling out for her and trying to find her. She giggled as she flew further away, annoying her guardians more and more. She wore a shimmering golden dress hat ended just below her knees, and sparkly gold flats with tiny bows on the ends. As she flew through the autumn wood, she noticed two playful bunnies skipping along the border that separated the warm from the cold.
Happily, the bunnies jumped through the wall of snow and instantly turned white as they received their winter coats to protect them from the cold. Clarion giggled but ducked behind a tree when she saw an animal fairy fly past, here to make sure that the fluffy little bunnies crossed safely. When the supervisor was gone, Clarion cautiously ventured towards the border. Hoping to see more of the playful bunnies, and hearing the voices of the other ministers closing in on her, she decided to cross the border and venture on. She didn't care for royal duties, and tended to evade them if she could. On the outside it looked like she was lazy. But deep down she was just under a lot of pressure; pressure to be the perfect queen. She needed a break and a change of scenery.
Clarion immediately covered her arms to shield herself from the bitter cold as she crossed the border. Every breath she took sent a visible cloud of mist winding through the air from her mouth. Snow delicately fell around her. It was beautiful. She flew around for a bit, unaware of the dangers about warm fairies in winter conditions. She spied the bunnies off in the distance and watched them play in the snow, jumping off snow piles and rolling about in the winter wonderland. Yet as time went on, Clarion became colder and colder, and had the feeling that someone was watching her.
The young queen ventured further into the forest, and then decided to turn back as she was freezing. Yet she realised that she had lost her way. Frantically, she flew all over the place, trying to navigate the forest. She tried flying up to get a better view but her wings had gone stiff. She started to panic. As her cheeks began turning scarlet red and her lips turned blue, she started fearing for her life as she tried desperately to navigate her way through the endless sea of white. She was lost and unprotected in winter, with nothing but a sleeveless dress for cover. She felt herself going limp and numb, and fell to the ground as she felt a pain in her wing…
When suddenly, someone with hair as white as the snow itself grabbed her by the arm and started flying back towards the border at full speed. They flew extremely fast and Clarion's mind, weak with cold, could only figure out the detail that her saviour was a sparrow man. Eventually they made it back to the border and the mysterious figure placed her down on the warm side.
"My gosh, what an earth were you doing? Two minutes longer in that cold and you would have broken a wing!" Exclaimed the voice. Clarion sighed with relief as she felt the warm sun caress her skin, yet she was still shivering.
"I-I'm sorry" was her reply. "I only meant to be there for a moment, but, I lost my way. All the snow looks the same." she said. The young man sighed.
"It's alright. But don't do it again, for your own good. The tips of your wings are blue…" he trailed off as he noticed the sheer majesty of the young fairies wings. 'Oh my goodness, you're the queen aren't you. My lady…" he said as he sank to his knee.
"Oh no, get up" replied Clarion. "No, please, accept my apologies. I'm Milori, lord of winter." Clarion smiled. She wasn't the only royal one here, it seemed. "Well then, Milori" She said "Your humble servant." Clarion said as she nodded her head in a curtsey.
"What can I do to repay you for saving my life?" She asked. Milori smiled. "I'd settle for your name?" Replied the young sparrow man. "Clarion." Said the queen. "Clarion?" Asked the lord as he took the queen's hand. "That's lovely." He lightly kissed the top of it, and the queen blushed.
"If I may ask, your lordness" Clarion began "What were you doing in the forest saving me instead of doing, I don't know, lord things?" She asked.
"Oh well, you know" Replied Milori, nervously. "Just trying to escape all the snooty ministers and duties and all that. It's too much pressure." he said. Clarion's face lit up. "That probably sounds foolish…" Milori said, turning his head away.
"Not at all!" Said the queen, reaching for his hand. "I know just how you feel…" the two held hands for a moment and looked into each other's eyes. Clarion had opal shaded blue eyes and gorgeous, long auburn hair that tumbled down her shoulders in curls. Everything about Milori was icy blue or white, including his hair, and honey brown eyes. Milori was extremely pale and Clarion a lovely shade of olive. The two made a handsome couple.
"Will I see you again?" Milori asked after a while.
"Well, I suppose if it's just at the border…" started the queen
"And we don't have to cross…" said the lord.
"I'll be here at 7 tonight!" The two said in unison, before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Your majesty?" Called a voice off in the distance "Queen Clarion!" called the minister of Spring.
"Oh no, that's Hyacinth. He's looking for me!" said Clarion. Another voice was heard off in the distance.
"Milori? Where have ya gone off to now?" Milori's face fell.
"That's Dewy, he's after me too." He said. "I'd better go…" the two said at the exact same time, leaving a small smile on both the teen's faces. Milori grasped the queen's tiny hand. "Until this evening…" he said "My queen." Milori kissed the top of Clarion's hand again, and the queen blushed.
The minister of spring came into view and burst into a fit of frustration when he saw the young girl. "Oh your majesty, we are late late late!" He began, not noticing the platinum haired boy disappear beyond the wall of snow.
Dewy came flying into view as well, equally oblivious of the golden stranger on the other side of the border. "There ya are lord Milori! We better go, we have to finalise chapter titles!" Dewy said and grabbed Milori's hand, much to the young lord's dismay.
Hyacinth rambled on as he attempted to drag Clarion away from her daze. "We have 20, no, maximum 22 minutes until your speech at the historical society!" He ranted on to the queen, but Clarion wasn't listening. She couldn't take her eyes off the spot where she saw Milori vanish from view.
"Your majesty?" Asked the minister.
"What?" Replied the queen, snapping out of her daze.
"Who was that blue looking boy with you, Clarion?" Asked Hyacinth. "Who was I with? I, uh, I…. don't know what you're talking about…" she chuckled with nervous laughter. But the minister only frowned with a look on his face as if he'd just been sprayed with flower paint. "Mmhmm…" he muttered as he led the young queen away. But he knew he had seen someone there. "A winter side scum…" he thought. "Clarion is mine. No one else's."
"Who was that with you?" Dewy asked Milori as they flew through the winter woods. The boy only smiled and said "A friend…" and flew back to the winter library.
As Clarion was escorted back to the pixie dust tree, her best friend, Fairy Mary, poked out from behind a tree.
"Don't you think I didn't see that, missy!" she giggled and playfully nudged the queen. Clarion blushed with embarrassment. "Mary, you hush. I just met him today." Fairy Mary giggled. "Too bad he had to be a winter" she said. "He looked like quite a catch if ya ask me. Don't worry Ree, we'll find you a nice, warm side fairy for ya someday." And with that, she flittered away, leaving a melancholy Clarion behind.
When the time came to meet that evening, both fairies were there on time. They sat on the very end of both their worlds, where spring touches winter. They talked for hours and hours, for so long that the moonlight made reflections on the snow and the river beneath them. They agreed to meet again the following night, and as the two young rulers sat watching the sunset together a spark inside their very souls lit up. They were meant to be together. Eventually the two fairies began to feel tired, as they had been awake for a whole day. They held hands and stayed in each others presence for as long as they could, until their wings eventually drifted them apart, neither one of them looking away for a second.
Milori however did turn his back and fly away, leaving Clarion in a world of her own where all she could think about was the boy who seemed to be made of the snow itself. Her mental bubble was popped however when Fairy Mary suddenly appeared behind her.
"Clarion?" She asked, making the queen jump in surprise. "Mary, don't sneak up on me like that! You scared the petals right off of me!" She scolded, but Mary only stared at the queen with a look of all seriousness. "Mary? What's wrong?" Clarion asked.
"Listen." The Tinker fairy began "I know what you've been up to." Clarion's eyes widened. She had feared being found out. "And what you're doing is dangerous. It's only a matter of time before the two of you can't stand this, this… divide anymore. This divide between warm and cold is gonna become too great for you too to bear. And when that happens, someone's gonna break a wing. I suggest you end whatever's going on while you can." And with that, Mary flew off into the early hours of the morning, leaving behind a conflicted young queen.
Meanwhile, in the icy heart of winter, behind the north mountain, Milori and Dewy were pacing the library floor.
"Milori, I'm a tellin you it's too dangerous!" Pleaded the keeper of knowledge. "I've studied the fairy brain. Love is a strange thing, and it can get in the way of what's safe." Milori stopped pacing and looked Dewy in the eye "Love? Who said anything about that! We're friends, good friends, that's all." He said in denial, not sounding genuine in the slightest. Dewy knew better. "Right. Sure, I believe a you." The short sparrow man crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at the teen. Milori only blushed.
"Alright, you got me Dewey, but don't worry. Me and Clarion will not be tempted to do anything." Milori argued. But Dewey was unconvinced.
"Whatever you say Milori. But please" Began the sparrow man "Be careful."
The two fairies met each other again the following night, and the night after that, and the one after that, and before long the fairies were growing up together.
A year had passed and both had celebrated each other's birthdays, which were acknowledged by a trading of flowers; one, a lily from Clarion and the other a periwinkle flower from Milori. The two fairies had fallen madly in love with each other, yet were forbidden to be together due to their seasons. It had seemed that the queen herself had been unaware of the dangers of crossing the border a year ago. A warm fairy's wings were far too delicate handle the freezing temperatures of winter, more than a few minutes in the cold and their wings would freeze over and snap. The wings of a winter fairy relied on constant cold in order to function, more than an hour in the heat and their wings would wither and break.
However, The minister of spring had grown aware of the young royal's nightly meetings at some point along the way, and was secretly hatching plan to make sure that that winter nuisance stayed away from his queen forever.
But one night, the two lovers decided they had had enough.
"Milori" said the queen as she desperately gazed into the eyes of the wintery sparrow man. "I can't take this anymore. I need to be closer to you, I need to be with you!" She pleaded. "I want you to cross the border, with me." She asked, looking serious. She knew this was coming, Fairy Mary was right. What had she gotten herself into?
Milori looked taken aback. "But…why?" He asked. 'Oh no' he thought. 'Dewey was right!' Clarion turned her head and sighed, taking a deep breath and braced herself for what she was about to say.
"Because I love you…" She said nervously. There was a short pause, and the young queen and the young lord could feel their hearts pounding in their chest the whole time. After a while, Milori replied with
"Well that's convenient… because I love you too." and with that, the two fairies shared their first kiss. Milori flittered his magnificent wings as he took Clarion by the waist and flew into the air, descending back down in a small spiral.
"How can I cross?" He asked as they landed. "My wings… It's simply impossible." he said. "Nothing's impossible!" Exclaimed the queen. "What if you come to autumn? The coolest season of the warm ones. At night, when it's coldest and others won't see us?" She suggested.
Milori took a deep breath. "I will meet you here at midnight tomorrow." He kissed the top of her head. "Until then, my queen." Queen Clarion's eyes never left the trail of pixie dust in Milori's wake as he flew away.
However the two fairies did not know that they were being watched. The minister of spring had heard the whole thing, and decided to put his plan into action.
"Just a bit more time…" the wicked minister of spring thought to himself. "And that repulsive winter worm will never fly again!" He cackled horribly into the night.
The next night, the two fairies emerged from their respective sides. Although it was dark, they wanted to take extra precaution that they weren't seen, so the queen hid herself under an autumn leaf, while the lord of winter hid himself under a snowflake. They both fell from the sky and landed at the same time. They looked up at each other, each one bursting with excitement.
"You ready?" Asked Milori, offering his arm.
"It's you who should have to be ready you great big snowman!" giggled Clarion, taking his arm. Milori smiled. Disregarding the danger, the two lovers crossed the border.
Clarion started the evening with a tour of the autumn forest, and Milori flew up to admire the colours and patterns of the warmer seasons. Although a bit overcome by the heat, he ignored the pain and pressed on, wanting to please Clarion.
They flew through spring but stayed clear of summer, as even at night summer was too hot for a winter fairy. Milori began to feel a little bit too warm but carried on to please his beloved, wiping his brow as small beads of sweat began to form. Clarion showed Milori butterflies, flowers, dewdrops and leaves, and Milori thought it was all beautiful.
"But no where near as beautiful as you." He said to his love, and the queen blushed, and they kissed again.
Meanwhile, the minister of spring used his magic as a light fairy to change the temperature of the spring valley. With a flick of pixie dust, he raised the temperature bit by bit. He hovered nearby, staying out of sight.
Back on the tour, Milori was starting to overheat. Even queen Clarion said "It's a warm night. I think we should get you back to winter." And Milori nodded. But they had ventured so far into the warm seasons, it was nearly half a mile to the border. After travelling at a decent pace for about five minutes, Milori could take it no longer.
"Clarion…" he began "Please forgive me, but, I must return to winter… NOW!" Clarion gasped as she realised he had been over here for nearly an hour, and it was unusually warm tonight. She wondered why. The two began to race back to the border, neither one of them noticing the wilted state of Milori's wings.
Meanwhile, Hyacinth continued to raise the temperature, until Milori found himself struggling to fly and fell to the ground as he began breathing deeply. "Oh my goodness!" Said Clarion. "What have I done!" She rushed to Milori's side and tried with all of her might to lift him, but he was a much larger build than her. Still, through bitter determination, she flapped her golden wings with all her might.
"My wings…" said Milori through batted breath. "I can't feel them… " The minister of spring smiled evilly from afar. A small tear escaped the queen's eyes as she saw the completely wilted look of her beloved's wings. She eventually managed to get Milori to stand, and the two began racing with all their might, Milori barely conscious.
"We're almost there!" Cried Clarion as they ran back through the autumn woods. "We're almost…" Clarion managed to practically throw Milori back over to winter, and both of them collapsed in the snow.
"Oh my god, oh my god Milori! I am so sorry! This was a terrible idea! What have I done? this is all my fault! Milori? Can you hear me?!" But the young man could only mumble "Cl-clarion, get back t-to, the warm side…" but he couldn't finish his sentence, as an unbearable pain shot through his back and down his right wing.
Clarion screamed. "Milori! NO!" She screamed over the horrible sound of a wing breaking. It was the same sound as any bone breaking or fracturing, a sharp crack, but it came from something so delicate and beautiful that it sounded unnatural. She looked down at his now shredded wing. The heat had been too much. Milori's right wing had completely ripped in half, leaving a horrid jagged edge along the part still connected to his back. Milori managed to regain some consciousness, and clutched his shoulder in pain.
"No…" he sighed as he felt his missing wing. "No!" He cried into his hands.
"Milori…" Clarion reached out a hand, but Milori just shrugged it off.
"Not now, Clarion." He snapped. The queen was taken aback. "Milori, I am so sorry, I-" "JUST GO!" He yelled, and the queen buried her face in her hands as she flew away at high speed, while Milori then collapsed, overcome with dizziness, in the snow. The minister of spring fluttered down to the border and gazed at the pathetic sight in front of him.
"She'll never want you now, you disgusting winter fairy." He spat. "Who could ever love a cripple? Who could ever love a fairy that cannot fly." He cackled horribly as he flew away. His plan had worked perfectly.
When Milori awoke he was lying on a block of ice in a healing talent fairies examination room, with an aching pain in his back. Dewey was right next to him. A healing talent fairy explained the whole story, about how Dewey had found him unconscious in the snow near the border, with a broken wing. The end of his wing was bandaged but he was told the jagged edge would remain. Milori couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stayed in the hospital for a few days until he was dismissed to go home. He would never fly again. Due to his new disability, the lord of winter sank into a quiet but great depression, but never let his subjects know. He always managed to crack a smile for them.
On that fateful night, queen Clarion retreated to her home in silent shock. She had went to her bedroom within the pixie dust tree, ignoring the glances received from the ministers as she flew through the hall. She pushed open her door and sat down on her bed. She just sat there for what seemed like hours, which was only 10 minutes in reality. When all of a sudden she broke down in a fit of tears and buried her face in her many pillows. The minister of autumn knocked on her door and flittered over to the queen. Although Clarion was 18, Redleaf could only see a distraught little girl. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ree?" he began, speaking to her as if she were his own daughter. "What happened, dear?" He asked. But he was not given an answer. He would never be given the answer. Instead, Clarion stood up and called in the ministers, not caring that they were in her private bedroom. She decided that she should make her first official proclamation as queen. That evening after many hours of nagging and pushing, she had made it illegal for any fairy to every cross the border, and passed the "Great Divide Bill", stating that any warm fairy discovered in the winter woods shall be taken to her immediately, and if a winter fairy is found on the warm side they were to be sent to lord Milori to be dealt with. This was Clarion's way of apologising to her now flightless beloved, by making sure that no one will suffer the same way he had suffered ever again.
The following week however, when all had settled, the two fairies had psychically known that they would both be at the border one night, and they took their final look at each other when they met. Clarion flew closer, her hand against the soft white wall of falling snow that separated autumn from winter. Milori took her hand in his.
"I'm sorry." He said, not able to meet her gaze.
"No Milori" began the queen "I'm sorry." She said. Milori turned his head to look a her.
"I heard about the new law. I've agreed to sign it." He said as he retrieved some parchment from within his cape, which he now always wore to hide his mutation, to hide his shame. "I received the draft you sent me. My name is on it." But Clarion wasn't listening. With one quick move she threw her arms over Milori's shoulders and kissed him hard. Milori deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist.
"We have to say goodbye." He said, and Clarion nodded through tears. When one rolled down her cheek, Milori touched it, and turned her teardrop into a tiny, beautiful snowflake. He placed it on her palm and closed her fingers over it. All queen Clarion could do was keep looking at the flake, and did not notice that her love had disappeared into the night. "Goodbye Milori…" she whispered.
Over the years, Milori acquired a beautiful snowy owl named Avalanche, which would serve as his wings. The lord of winter often retreated to conceal himself inside the walls of his ice palace when he was finished with his duties. He now always wore a long feather cape to hide the horror situated on his back. He was ashamed. Ashamed of himself. Ashamed to be a fairy who would never fly again.
The monarchs of pixie hollow lived far longer than regular fairies, and in fact lived to be hundreds of years old, although never resembled their ages. As one whole century passed, the two lovers never once saw each others face, but never lost their love for each other.
Little did they know however, that two dandelions born of the same laugh were headed straight to the twin pixie dust trees, one in summer and one in winter. Two fairies that would one day change their lives forever.
Never was there a tale of more woe, than a fairy of gold, and her fairy of snow.
Thank for reading, beautiful reader :)