"It's A Boy"

Note: Roy spends time with Dad, and his wings grow out. Brandel is nowhere to be found. Hopefully I'm not too clinical in my description of how Fairy wings work. For future reference, Fairies (in these stories, anyway) reach adulthood at about 100 years of age, and then their aging slows down drastically. Updates for this and "A Strange Bond" will be very slow for a while, I think. Life got busy!

"Chapter 5: Small Changes"

1512, March

Fairies might have looked an awful lot like winged humans, but they most certainly were not. As with human children, Fairy children had both growth spurts and periods of time where not much seemed to change at all. For Fairies, aging came to an abrupt halt at around the end of the baby's first year, and for the next year and a half they remained physically the same while their minds continued to expand.

Aside from his early bout of reflux, and aside from the fact that his first word had been 'no', Roy was generally a cheerful, pleasant baby. There were tantrums, of course; all children had them. Still, he was never put out for long. He was puzzled by his father's strange reticence when compared to his doting grandmother and loving mother, but Fergus still made him feel safe, and he loved to watch him work.

Fergus often brought him along when there was work to be done in the yard, since his grandmother (and sometimes his mother) slept during the day; babies weren't the quietest of people. And, since Fergus had had to abandon his work as a tanner, he found some purpose in showing his son how things were done and why.

It fascinated Roy to no end when Fergus, holding him in the crook of his arm, would flutter up with a pair of shears to clip away the dead twigs on the big 'tree house'. Fergus would explain what he was doing, telling him that he might have to do this himself one day. "And we never cut the sticks that have leaves on them."

Roy was more interested in watching the sticks and twigs drop down to the ground than he was in what his father was saying. For some reason, the sight of them falling to the grass struck him as funny, but at Fergus's last statement he stopped giggling and looked up. In terms of speech and general intelligence, Fairy babies tended to learn at a much faster rate than human babies, and in this Roy was no exception. "Why?"

Snip, snip.

"Because they're still growing. Cutting them off hurts the tree. We cut the gray ones. That doesn't hurt the tree at all, and helps it grow better. Here," Fergus hung the shears on the stub of a broken branch that jutted outward from the tree trunk and snapped off a dead twig for Roy to inspect. "Feel how dry that is."

Roy stuck out a finger and poked at it. He frowned. "Why dry?"

'Because it's dead' was the answer, but Fergus didn't want to get into that conversation today, and so he simplified it a little. "Because the tree is finished with it."

"Why?"

"Because." Fergus dropped the twig, and tightened his grip on Roy in case the child lunged to grab it. He didn't.

Roy stuck his finger in his own nose and asked in a toddler's lisp, "'Cause why?"

Fergus automatically corrected this action by lightly pushing Roy's hand back down. "Just because. Here, look. See this twig with the leaves?"

Roy nodded.

"When they do this," Fergus gently pushed down on the twig, and it bent instead of breaking. "that means we don't cut it."

Roy stuck his thumb in his mouth and said nothing.

"Do you understand?" Fergus asked, thinking he had made things perfectly clear, and feeling quite pleased with his teaching effort. His face fell when Roy merely sucked his thumb and blinked at him. "Hm. Maybe that's a lesson for another day. Here, get your thumb out of your mouth before your grandmother sees it and has a fit. You'll throw your bite off."

Roy didn't know what 'throw your bite off' meant, but he knew that mouths were not detachable, and even though it wasn't in his father's nature to pull his leg he thought that Fergus just might have done it this once to make him stop sucking his thumb. He liked sucking his thumb, and he saw no reason to quit, so he shook his head and scowled. "Mm-mmm."

Fergus put on a stern expression, but his voice was more serious than angry. "Take your thumb out of your mouth."

"Mm-mmm!"

"Why not?"

Roy removed his thumb just long enough to speak. "Just because."

Upon having his own phrase used against him, Fergus knew he had walked right into that one, and he fought to keep from smiling. Positive feedback for blatant sass wasn't the best response, and he mostly succeeded in keeping his stern expression. He decided to just let it go; he didn't feel like arguing with a two-year-old today! "I guess you're too young for it to make a difference yet. Let's go inside and have some lunch."

Roy had always been a good eater, and he brightened at this. "Yay, lunch!"

Storytime with Momma wasn't as comfortable as it used to be. Her belly had gotten very round, and Roy was no longer able to sit on her lap without feeling like he was about to slide off. Or, more recently, without being 'kicked', as Momma had put it. Those weird little nudges made him giggle when he felt them, and his reaction only seemed to trigger more of them, but they made it hard to focus on the stories. Instead, he had taken to cuddling up beside her when it was time for his bedtime story. And this was fine. Nice, even. But the word 'baby' being applied to Momma's belly instead of him? He wasn't exactly upset by this, but he didn't quite understand it either.

On some nights it was Daddy who put him to bed, and though Fergus did his best, he just wasn't a good storyteller. His 'stories' mainly consisted of him talking about the interactions he'd had during the day, conversations that might or might not be interesting to an adult, but to a toddler? Not so much.

A neighbor's garden had moles, whatever those were. So what?

And what did a toddler care about the potato harvest, or how the old codger next door could always tell it was going to rain because his shoulders ached? Yes, mashed potatoes tasted good, and the shoulder thing worked and was a neat trick, but these weren't really stories, were they?

What about the funny, short-lived humans who couldn't see past the ends of their noses? Now, that was interesting! Fergus didn't seem to like them very much, but Cori had so many human tales to tell him!

But this night, Momma was working. Gran was tired again.

And Daddy was worried. Roy wasn't aware of that, however. His back was very itchy, which made it hard to get comfortable. And, to make matters worse, a thunderstorm had rolled in. It began with a distant rumble, but before long it was clear that the storm would pass right over the Fairy town.

One particularly loud crack of thunder boomed directly above them, and that was all it took before the boy was screaming.

Fergus was still awake, unable to relax as the thought of his pregnant wife braving the storm plagued his mind. He was irrationally angry at Tooth Fairy for having gotten ill those few years ago, and he loathed himself for it. He knew it wasn't her fault, just as he knew that his wife was very capable, pregnant or not, but he feared for her and their unborn child just the same.

A candle burned low on his bedside table, and Fergus stared at it for so long that when he looked away he had a large, purple spot in his field of vision. Worrying wouldn't change what was, he knew, and he had just decided to try again for some sleep when his son's cries had him out of bed in a flash. It wouldn't do to have his mother-in-law wake up, frail as she was becoming, and he knew that most small children needed reassurance during thunderstorms. He went into the adjoining room, gently scooped up his wailing toddler, and brought him back into the room he shared with Cori. "That was a loud one, wasn't it?"

Roy didn't even realize that his father had spoken, but he knew who had him, and this calmed him somewhat. "Loud, Daddy! Loud!"

"It is loud. But we're all right." Fergus paced the room with him, patting him on the back and wishing he had Cori's gift when it came to reassuring small children. As much as he loved his son, and he did love him very much, his efforts to be nurturing were clumsy at best. He'd simply had no example growing up, and his father was still missing in action. This would have been a good thing, except not knowing where Brandel was meant not knowing when, if, or from where he would appear next.

Fortunately, it didn't matter that Fergus couldn't think of anything comforting to say, because two and a half year old Roy wouldn't have been able to absorb it at the moment anyway. Being held by those strong, warm arms went a long way towards helping Roy begin to feel safe, and it wasn't long before the boy had stopped crying and was listening to his father's heartbeat in between thunderclaps.

"There's a brave boy," Fergus whispered when Roy grew quiet. "No more crying. It's time to sleep now."

"Nooo..." Roy squirmed, and tried in vain to scratch his own back. He whined in irritation. "Itchy..."

His wings. Right on schedule, then...

Fergus nodded. Roy's wings wouldn't emerge tonight, but it wouldn't be long now. "It'll go away in time. It happened to Daddy, too, when he was your age. And now I have wings. It itches when they're getting ready to come out."

Roy looked up at his father, then at Fergus's large, red wings with something akin to awe. "Me too?"

"Yes," Fergus nodded, but not without a twinge of sadness. His son's wings would be perfectly functional, and they would serve him well...but they would still be smaller than normal, and purple to boot. "You'll have wings someday. And it won't itch anymore."

"Now?" Roy asked, both about his wings and the cessation of that infernal itching.

"Not yet," Fergus shook his head, "but how about a story?"

Remembering the dubious quality of his father's stories, Roy's hopeful expression dropped into a comical scowl.

Fergus laughed quietly in spite of himself. "Right. No story."

There was another loud clap of thunder, and Roy squeaked and hid his face. "Story, story, story..."

"Hmm..." Fergus sat down on the edge of his bed and considered for a moment. There was only one story he knew well, as all Fairies did, and this was the story of how the 'Tooth Fairy' came into being. If anyone should know this story, it should be the one who was next in line for the job. "Did you know that there was a time when the Fairies and the humans used to be friends?"

Roy looked up at his father and shook his head. "But not now?"

The answer to that question wasn't exactly a 'no'. It was a bit more complicated than that. "Not in the same way as before. We can leave our home and talk to them, because sometimes we need to buy things we can't grow or make here, but when we do this we have to pretend to be humans. Like this..."

Fergus snapped his fingers, and his wings seemed to disappear. Roy loved that trick, and smiled in spite of his fear of the storm. Fergus snapped his fingers again, and his wings reappeared. "You see...humans don't have magic. At least, not like we do. And a long, long time ago, a few of them learned that they can steal our magic from us. And some of them did."

This was frightening on a deeply instinctual level, and Roy lost his smile and whispered, "Stealing is bad..."

"It's very bad," Fergus agreed, nodding solemnly, and he continued, "and one day, King Oberon and Queen Titania decided that the Fairies would leave the human world. So, they gathered their people together...and they made this place. But to keep it hidden from the humans, they needed some very special magic."

There was another rumble of thunder, but Roy never even noticed. The thunder was getting further and further away, and this was getting interesting. What was this special magic his daddy was talking about?

"When humans are very small...when they're children, just like you...they have a special kind of magic that lets them see and believe the things most grown humans can't. And as they grow, that magic slowly leaves them." Fergus found it easier to tell this story as he went on. Perhaps getting started was the hard part.

"Why?" Roy asked.

"Well...every race, from humans to Fairies, from Elves to Sprites, gets two sets of teeth in their lifetime. We lose our baby teeth as we grow up, and our adult teeth grown in. And every time a human loses one of their baby teeth, they lose a tiny bit of that special magic." Fergus paused to let this sink in.

"Why?"

"I don't know," Fergus shrugged. "It's just the way it is. But King Oberon chose a Fairy woman to fly out and collect those baby teeth, so that the magic could be used to hide this place from the humans. That woman was your many-times great-grandmother."

"Ohhh," Roy nodded as if this made sense to him. And it did, at least a little. But this ancestor really didn't mean anything to him, because he had no idea who she was. "Why hide?"

"So that the humans can't steal our magic. Remember?"

Roy nodded.

"Well...one day, Mother Nature noticed that the Fairies had all but disappeared from the Earth, at least from what she could see. And there was a place...this place...that she could no longer 'see'. So, one night she caught the Tooth Fairy by gently holding on to one of her wings..." Fergus reached up and made as if to lightly grab his own wing to demonstrate, but lowered his hand again. Even he couldn't bring himself to touch his own wings. "...and asked her where all the others were. And the Tooth Fairy told her what they had done. Well, Mother Nature saw the wisdom in this, and things went on like that for a very long time."

"Why?"

Why, why, why...At least I know the answer to this one! "Because it worked. This place stayed hidden, and we live near the humans, but not with them. But something unexpected happened."

"What?" Roy sat up, more awake than ever. This story didn't make him sleepy like Momma's did, probably because Daddy didn't have the 'soothing tones' way of telling it, but it was a good one.

Fergus smiled a little. "The humans began to notice what was happening with their baby teeth. One family decided to get to the bottom of things. And one night, after their daughter lost her third tooth, the parents stayed up to watch what would happen. And when a woman with wings on her back came inside and tried to leave with the tooth, the trap was sprung. But these weren't bad humans, and they didn't hurt the Tooth Fairy when they caught her. They asked her who she was and what she was doing there, and after the Tooth Fairy told them a little bit of the truth, but not all of it, they let her go."

"Gran?" Asked Roy.

"No," Fergus shook his head. "Not Gran, but her Gran. And that human child told her friends about the Tooth Fairy. And they told their friends. Time passed, and a new legend began among the humans."

"A wha'?"

Fergus gave a tolerant smile; he was used to the interruptions of a curious toddler by now. "A legend. A special story, I guess you could call it. Humans told their children that if they put a baby tooth underneath their pillow, the Tooth Fairy would come and leave a coin in it's place. Because it's very rude to take someone's magic, even if they don't need it anymore or even know about it, and not give them something in return. We, as Fairies, always honor this rule."

Roy nodded solemnly and repeated, "Stealing is bad."

"Mm-hmm. And Mother Nature approached the Tooth Fairy, and asked her if she wanted to join the Council of Legendary figures. She said yes. And from that day onward, the first child born to the Tooth Fairy would become the new Tooth Fairy. Momma will be the Tooth Fairy after Gran...and you will be the Tooth Fairy after Momma. And did you know that you'll be the first boy to do that?" Fergus asked.

Roy shook his head, and now he was frowning. "Don't wanna."

"Oh?" Fergus tried not to show his own misgivings. "What do you want to do instead?"

"Play!" Roy grinned.

Well, of course.

Fergus nodded. "You can do that, too, sometimes. But right now, it's time to go to sleep."

The child protested. "But...more story!"

"The story is over, though. And it's getting late. The storm is far away now. And Daddy's very tired." Fergus tried to reason with him.

"I'm not."

"Well, I am." Fergus blew out the candle and settled down to sleep, shifting his wings a bit so that the lower one stretched out behind him on the mattress. "Just lie down. You don't have to sleep."

Roy did as he was told, determined not to fall asleep. He was snoring three minutes later.

As the days passed, Roy began to grow lethargic, and his itchy back was making it nearly impossible to sleep. Fergus and Cori were not alarmed by this, as it was a perfectly normal (if uncomfortable) part of Fairy childhood, but they brought him to see Dr. Tanin, just to make sure everything was as it should be.

Dr. Tanin lifted the back of Roy's shirt, and nodded at what he saw. The developing purple wings no longer looked like a tattoo, and stood out in sharp relief against the smooth skin that covered the rest of the child's back. The skin that covered the wings themselves had grown thick and tough, and was transparent like an empty butterfly cocoon. There was a small, raised 'hill' underneath these wings, which was a muscle group that no human possessed, but that the Fairies needed in order to fly.

"Excellent. Your son's wings should emerge within the next few days," Dr. Tanin smiled at the couple, who smiled back and exchanged a relieved look. "When this happens, he'll fall into a deep sleep, and you won't be able to wake him from it. This is perfectly normal, and all you need do is be there when he awakens."

"How long does it usually take?" Asked Cori.

"Anywhere from four to six hours is the average amount of time, but twelve hours is not unheard of. Given the small size of your son's wings, you can expect it to take less time. He will be thirsty when he wakes up, and he might be a little disoriented at first." Dr. Tanin explained as he handed Roy back to his mother. "Waking up with two more limbs than you went to sleep with is a big change to get used to. Most of us can't remember back that far, but those of us who can will tell you that a positive attitude is very reassuring. If you treat this like it's something that should be celebrated, because it is, the change will be a lot easier for him."

Cori smiled. "I vaguely remember waking up with mine. It was a bit of a shock. Do you remember getting yours, Fergus?"

Fergus shook his head. "No, I don't remember anything from when I was that young."

Roy squirmed and tried to reach his back to scratch it, then gave up and began to cry out of frustration.

Dr. Tanin shook his head in sympathy. "In the meantime, there are methods to help relieve some of the itching. A poultice of oatmeal is quite effective."

Fergus smirked. "We only just got him to stop making a mess with his breakfast, and now we're rubbing it on his back?"

"Essentially, yes." Dr. Tanin chuckled. "The important thing is to keep him comfortable. He won't want to move very much, so you won't have to worry about keeping him still. Will they, little man?"

"Itch..." Roy whimpered. He didn't know what the grown-ups were talking about, and he didn't care. He just wanted relief!

Cori lightly swayed her body as she held him close and rubbed his back, the friction of this actually helping somewhat with the itch. "I know, darling. Let's go home, and we'll see what we can do."

It happened three nights later, when everyone else was asleep. Roy had taken to sleeping without his shirt on for comfort, and when Cori came to wake him up in the morning she received a surprise.

Roy lay curled up on his side, cuddling the blankets to his chest. Bits of hard, clear material were strewn about on the mattress behind him. A cute little pair of jewel-like purple wings, already dry and fully extended, adorned his back. As expected, they were smaller than one would normally find on a Fairy boy, but to Cori they were perfect.

"Fergus? Fergus, come and see! Bring some water." Cori called, her voice pitched low in a loud whisper.

Roy twitched at the sound of his mother's voice, and at his father's answering footsteps. Something didn't feel right. His head ached only slightly, and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his dry mouth. He smacked his lips and opened his eyes. His back didn't itch anymore, but as he stretched and tried to fully wake up, he felt...

What was that?

His wings gave an awkward, out of synch flap, which startled him. Unnerved, he reached for his mother. "Momma..."

Cori smiled and picked him up. "Well, good morning. Look, darling, you got your wings! See?"

She pointed at the mirror, and Roy turned his head to look. They weren't big like Daddy's, but they were there, and he could move them if he chose to; he gave it a try, and his little wings gave a triumphant buzz. He smiled up at his parents, still a little groggy, and accepted the cup of water when his father offered it.

"It'll be time for flying lessons soon," Fergus told Cori, picking the last few bits of chrysalis from his son's bare back. This didn't cause any pain, and Roy ignored it as he quenched his thirst.

Now that Roy's magic wasn't focused entirely on growing his wings, he would begin to grow again, but at a much slower rate than before. He and the new baby would end up looking like they were the same age in a few years.

Two young children running and flying around. I hope Cori and I have the energy for this, because it's happening. And it's happening so fast.