Chapter 5: Meeting Bismuth

Princess Lapis and her friends had flown over a great stretch of ocean for what seemed like an eternity and everyone was growing weary.

"Are we there yet?" Amethyst complained.

"Where?" Steven replied. "We don't even what place we're supposed to be going to."

"We've gotta find the nearest landmass and rest for a while." Sapphire panted.

"Look!" Ruby cried out, pointing at something coming up over the horizon. "There's land just up ahead!"

"Finally." Pearl said, breathing a sigh of relief. "My wings could use a break."

Once the upcoming land was easier to use, the group of ten could make out a shipyard that was right beside a medium-sized island. The fairies landed and Prince Jamie climbed off of Lapis as they all took in the surroundings. Just then, they noticed that the shipyard was full of ogres and trolls, and they all were very surly, grotesque, and barbaric.

"Ugh, no one warned me that we were going to encounter trolls and ogres on this quest." Peridot spoke in a uncomfortable tone.

"Should we use our magic to disguise ourselves as humans?" Stevonnie offered as a suggestion.

"No, just using any magic is enough to make a scene." Lapis stated, advising against it. "I think it'll be best if we just lay low and not draw any attention to ourselves."

"Let's try blending into the crowd." Garnet suggested as the group approached a mob of ogres. "And remember, no flying."

The human prince and the fairies walked among the ogres and trolls, trying to mind their own business. At the same time, they were also trying to stay their toes and keep their guard up. Just then, Stevonnie and Lapis each felt a pair of brawny hands firmly grip their shoulders, pulling the two fairies back as they screamed in surprise.

"Lapis!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Stevonnie!" Garnet cried.

The friends saw in terror that a pair of ogres were attempting to kidnap the unsuspecting fairies. Stevonnie managed to elbow the ogre that grabbed her in the stomach, granting her the opportunity to escape and rally her friends to help rescue the fairy princess. Lapis tried to copy the tall pink fairy's actions, but her captor pinned her arms to her sides and lifted her up a little while she tried to squirm free.

"Aren't you a pretty little fairy." the ogre said to her. "Hey, everyone! I caught a pretty little fairy!"

A crowd of trolls and other ogres gathered around the incarcerated fairy. Jamie and the eight fairies tried to get to their friend, but there were too many burly bodies to maneuver through.

"So what's your name and where are you from, sweet fairy?" Lapis' ogre captor asked.

The fairy princess bit her lip and refused to say a word.

"Aw, what's wrong?" one of the trolls in the crowd teased. "Cat got your tongue?"

The troll then pulled something out of a small burlap sack he was carrying. It was a long, stiff feather that looked like it was dusted with glitter. The young fairy princess was worried about was going to happen so she turned her face away from what was about to befall her. But a bigger ogre with even bigger hands grabbed her head with one of them to keep it still. And then, the troll took the feather, stuck it's tip into one of her nostrils, and started wriggling it around. Every so often, the troll would switch back and forth between nostrils; tickling them with that feather.

Lapis scrunched her face from the tickling, but she could not move her head away. The glitter that coated the feather made the itching sensations that were already building up even worse.

"P-p-please stop." Lapis breathed as the tickly sensations continued to worsen. "I...I...I'm gonna..."

"Gonna what?" another troll from the crowd taunted as grins began to form.

Realizing that she couldn't keep it in any longer, the young princess let out a great, big sneeze, followed by a few more; "HATCHOOOO! HATCHOO! HATCHOO! HATCHOO!"

The ogres and trolls all smirked and laughed like a clan of hyenas as her nostrils kept being mercilessly harassed by the tickly feather.

"Stop it!" Lapis pleaded desperately as more ticklish sensations were starting to get to her. "Somebody...HA...HA...HATCHOO! Help me!"

The blue fairy felt absolutely humiliated being publicly sneeze tortured at the mercy of trolls and ogres like this. And the worst part was, neither her husband nor her friends couldn't do a thing to help jet without attracting attention to themselves from the beastly creatures instead.

Just then out of the blue, a blurry figure (at least it was blurry through Lapis' eyes since they were watery eyes from all sneezing) dashed through the beasts with ease and snatched the young fairy right out of the ogre captor's grasp.

"Come on, follow me!" shouted an unfamiliar voice. The rescued fairy could feel that she was in the arms of someone, tell that she was moving, and hear the shouts of an angry mob running behind her.

Lapis had eyes squeezed shut, almost too afraid to see who had grabbed her. She didn't know if this stranger had truly rescued her from her being tortured or if they were just saving her to have her all to themselves. She opened her and found that she and her friends were in some alley, hidden from the seething mob. Then, she looked up and gazed upon the stranger who had saved her.

The savior was a burly feminine character and had grayish periwinkle skin, black eyes, a caved-in multicolor gem on her chest, and rainbow-colored hair in dreadlocks. She wore an outfit of pink lily and red poppy petals that were secured by a maroon belt and had a matching pair of boots. She also had a pair of silvery, multicolored wings that shone in the sun. Wait, wings!? Could this be who Lapis thought it was?

"Oh my gosh!" the young princess gasped. "You're a-"

The fairy cupped her over the blue fairy's mouth and whispered, "Shhhh, be quiet! Do you want those brutes out there to hear you?"

"Sorry, it's just that we didn't know there was another fairy on this island." Lapis said to the burly fairy.

"I didn't either until I saw all of you." the unknown fairy replied. "Never thought I'd ever see my own kind ever again."

"What do you mean?" Amethyst asked. "Who are you?"

"And how long have you been on this island?" added Stevonnie.

"The name's Bismuth." the rainbow-haired fairy introduced herself. "And I lost count of the number of days I've been here a long time ago. But if I could guess, I'd say it's been about eleven years."

Everyone was silent with shock.

"Wow!" Lapis was the first to speak. "I can't believe I've never seen you in the fairy world."

"Neither can we." Ruby also said. "And my sister and I were just born about a day ago."

"New arrivals, huh?" the burly fairy spoke.

"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners?" the blue princess apologized, realizing that she forgot to introduce herself and her friends. "This is Ruby, Sapphire, Peridot, Amethyst, Steven, Stevonnie, Pearl, Garnet, my husband Prince Jamie, and I'm Princess Lapis Lazuli."

"Princess?" Bismuth echoed. "But there hasn't been a princess-"

"For several years?" Lapis cut her off. "I know. It's a really long story. And I know that you're confused about why humans and fairies are together, but that's a long story too."

"Well anyway, what's the lot of you doing here?" the brawny fairy asked. "Don't you know that trolls and ogres are dangerous?"

"We don't plan on staying here." Garnet explained. "We're just resting our wings for awhile before we continue heading west."

"You see, an evil fairy whose wings were taken away ambushed our home with a fairy hunter and an army of snow monsters to back her up." Pearl added. "So we're on a quest to find an artifact called the Seven Prism Wand and use it to save our kind."

"The only ones who about the wand's whereabouts are the Elder Guardians, but we don't know where they live." Lapis also said. "What we need is some kind of map."

"A map?" said Bismuth. "I know a place that's filled with all kinds of maps."

"Really?" Lapis smiled, her enthusiasm peaked. "Can you take us there?"

"Hold on, Lapis." Sapphire halted the young princess. "I don't know about this. We don't know anything about this fairy. I mean, we just met her."

"Sapphire's right." Steven whispered. "What if Bismuth is just trying to trick us?"

"But, she's not like the ogres and trolls who kidnapped and harassed me." argued Lapis. "She saved me. You can't gain anyone's trust farther than that."

"If Lapis trusts Bismuth, then I trust her too." Prince Jamie stated.

The other fairies gave in and gave nods of approval to accepting Bismuth's help.

"Okay, Bismuth." said Stevonnie. "Lead the way."

"It's just over the hill." The burly fairy spoke as the nine fairies fluttered in Bismuth's direction with Jamie riding on Lapis' back once again.

While some of the fairies were a little skeptical about putting their trust in a fairy they barely knew, Lapis showed no fear in Bismuth whatsoever. After all, she did save the fairy princess. Why would Lapis have trust issues with a fairy who rescued her?