THE TEACHINGS OF DOÑA DARIA

by Galen Hardesty

Part Nine

~*~

Quinn wore a fifth garland of flowers now. She had invented a way to hang flowers on low tree branches, and was decorating a charming little dell she'd discovered. She sang a la-la song as she worked.

"Quinn."

Quinn's head came up. She looked all around her, searching for the source of the voice. Seeing nothing, after a few seconds she called out, "Who are you?"

"I am Titania, Queen of the fairies," the ethereal, yet dignified voice replied. "Your efforts to protect the little cute things of the forest have found favor with us. We have observed you and found you worthy. I have decided to grant you the power to change into a fairy, whenever you wish."

Quinn gasped, and a look of delighted wonder lit up her face. "Will I be able to fly?"

"Yes, Quinn, when you are a fairy, you will have beautiful fairy wings, and you will be able to fly anywhere you want to go. And you will always know where the fairy revel will be held that night."

Quinn was enraptured. "Oh, thank you, Queen Titania, thank you! I'll be a good fairy, you'll see! Uh... how do I turn into a fairy?"

The voice said, "I have sent you the magical Glitter Berries by my servant, the troll maiden Darga. Once you have eaten them, you will be able to change into a fairy, and back into a human girl, whenever you wish. Farewell, Quinn. I'll see you soon."

"Wait, Titania, don't go! I have so many questions! ...Titania? ...Queen Titania?" Quinn looked all around, and listened intently, but saw and heard nothing. "Uhh... troll maiden?"

Leaves crackled to Quinn's right front, and a female creature stepped into sight. She was rather plain looking, and her clothing was coarse and drab and very unfashionable. She walked with a heavy tread, carrying a sky-blue pillow with something on it. She might have been considered good-looking among trolls, Quinn thought. The female stopped, then spoke. "I am Darga. These are for Quinn."

Quinn cautiously approached the creature, who remained where she had stopped. She saw now that there were about a dozen dark berries on the sky-blue pillow. "Are these the Glitter Berries?" she asked. "Do I eat them now?"

The female called Darga stood stolidly, holding the sky-blue pillow in front of her. "These are for Quinn," she said.

Quinn hesitated for a moment, then said, "I am Quinn. Should I eat these now?"

"I am Darga. These are for Quinn." Darga stood there, saying nothing further. She might be a good servant, Quinn thought, but she evidently wasn't very bright. Quinn wished she could talk to Titania some more. Titania had said, "I'll see you soon." She'd probably meant at the fairy revel tonight. She'd said Quinn would know where it was. But that was only when she was a fairy. And to be able to change into a fairy, she had to eat the Glitter Berries.Titania had said she'd sent the Glitter berries by her servant, the troll maiden Darga. Here was Darga, and here were the berries. "I guess I'd better eat them," she thought.

Quinn walked up to where the troll girl stood and reached out a hand to take a Glitter Berry. Suddenly the berries and the pillow flew up in the air, and Quinn felt something tighten around her wrist. She tried to jerk back, but couldn't. There was a rope around her wrist, and the other end of it was around one of Darga's wrists. "What are you doing?" she cried.

"Keeping you safe." Darga replied.

"You fool! You've spilled the Glitter Berries!" Quinn wailed. She looked down and saw the pillow, with two berries still on it. She quickly knelt, grabbed the berries with her other hand, and popped them into her mouth. "Hey, these are blackberries!"

"Yeah.. Couldn't find any Glitter Berries."

A light came on in Quinn's head. She looked closely at the troll maiden's features. "Daria! You! You've ruined everything, you, you...troll! I hate you!"

"I know." Daria actually looked sad when she said this.

Quinn began tugging wildly at the knot on her wrist as she rose to her feet. Daria knew that it was possible for her to loosen the slipknot and pull her wrist free, and put a hand on the knot to prevent it. Quinn struggled more fiercely, trying to fight Daria off.

Suddenly Daria cried out in pain and put her free hand to her cheek. It came away with blood on it. The struggle halted abruptly. Daria stared at the blood on her hand and then accusingly at Quinn.

Quinn seemed shocked that she'd actually drawn blood. She looked at her own hand and found a jagged nail, then back at Daria with regret. "I'm sorry... but let me go, dammit!"

"I'm not going to do that, Quinn, because pretty soon the effects of those berries are going to wear off completely, and then you're going to realize that you're naked and lost in a very big forest. And when you do, you're going to want someone to show you the way back to camp. I can't keep hunting you down again and again until that happens. I'm too tired."

"I'll have you know I've been doing just fine, thank you, and I'm not naked, I'm natural! This is the way we were born, you know, and it's very comfortable! You oughtta try it sometime! Now let me go!"

This was Quinn's strangest symptom, Daria thought, her most bizarre behavior. Quinn loved clothes. Whatever mental quirk the berries had induced in her contrary to that should be easy to overcome.

Daria replied, "Maybe I will, as soon as we get home and I get into the shower. Nice body painting, by the way. The linework is lively but not sloppy."

"Um, thanks."

" I like your use of line to lead the viewer's eye to your pubic area."

Quinn covered her pubic area with a hand. "Hey!"

"And that smiley face on your left boob is so cute! Especially the way you use your nipple for the nose. Makes me want to beep it."

Quinn covered as much of her bust as she could with her other hand and arm. "Daria! Quit staring at me!"

"Why? You're not naked, you're natural! Oh, and those palm prints! A lot of girls would have overdone those, but you didn't. Those two on your butt are especially intriguing. It looks like someone stood face to face with you, reached around and grabbed your ass and pulled you right up..." Daria made illustrative motions.

Quinn realized she'd run out of hands. "Daria, stop it! That's mean! Can't you see I don't have any clothes on?"

Daria suppressed a smile. "Why, yes, you're right, Quinn. You don't. You took them off and left them in the forest somewhere."

"Oh, hell. And I don't even remember where." Quinn whined, looking around her very unhappily. "How far is it to camp?"

Daria let a little of the smile out. "About a mile and a half, following my marked trail." Quinn looked even unhappier. "However..." Daria picked up the blue pillow and handed it to Quinn. "Here are some clothes I found lying in the forest."

Quinn suddenly looked very happy. "My clothes!" Her look changed to iritation as she tried to figure out how to unfold the 'pillow'. "What... everything is stuffed into one leg of the jeans! And they're folded like they're trying to swallow themselves! Why'd you do that?"

"To make it look like a pillow, of course. You're welcome, Quinn. Happy to be of assistance."

~*~

A seemingly interminable time later, Quinn was finally getting her shirtsleeves rolled up just the right amount. Daria was preventing herself from fidgeting by sheer will power. "Come on, Quinn, you're a vision of loveliness, for cryin' outside."

"Yeah, right. Well, I guess I look good enough for you and squirrels. This would have gone a heck of a lot faster if you hadn't insisted on keeping a rope on me all the time, like I was a wild horse or something. I know you just did it 'cause you're mad about having to chase me," Quinn said resentfully.

Daria frowned. "No, I did it because your eyes are still dilated, and I don't want you to have to spend tonight in this forest, lost and alone." She paused a second, then added, "Your crying and screaming might keep me awake, if you were too close to camp."

Quinn disregarded that last statement out of long familiarity with her sister's brand of sarcasm. She looked at Daria and felt a little bit sorry she'd said that about Daria being mad at having to chase her, especially when she saw the bloody scratch on Daria's cheek. Daria hadn't even mentioned it, much less tried to retaliate, as she would have when they were little. "Um... yeah, I guess," she said, and looked away.

Quinn looked around the little dell once more, and her eye fell on the flowers hanging from the tree branches, and the garlands that she had worn, now lying abandoned on the carpet of leaves. She blinked rapidly and made a little hiccuppy noise. Her shoulders shook.

Daria laid a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Quinn. I know how you feel, but we need to go."

Angrily, Quinn shook off the hand. "You couldn't possibly know how I feel!"

"I couldn't possibly know how it feels to be awakened unwilling from a beautiful dream into ugly reality? To ache for what can never be? No, I guess I couldn't. I don't have a heart or a soul. I'm just a brain," Daria replied bitterly.

Shocked, Quinn looked at her sister. Daria turned away. Suddenly, for an instant, she was back in the enchanted forest, flying beside a beautiful fairy princess, glittering gloriously in the magical moonlight... and it was Daria. Then the vision vanished like a burst bubble. The rope jerked at her wrist, and she had to follow her sister on foot through the gloomy forest of reality.

~*~