The Fairy without a Talent – Chapter 18
Once she had pulled me into a secret room, away from prying fairy ears. She whistled for a firefly to come flittering out of the cornucopia she had hanging from the wall, and was waiting for it with a single open lamp lantern. Holding it close to her face, she whispered, "Nora, come with me."
"Queen Clarion, where are we going?"
My words trailed her shadow as I followed her up a dark flight of stairs as she held the firefly lamp with one hand to light our way. As we walked, she didn't even look back as she nodded towards the closest door, fishing out a single acorn out of her pocket.
Clenching it tightly in her palm, I looked over the Queen's shoulder as she turned to see my wings glow with a golden, pure essence glow. "You said you saw Maya, are you sure?"
"I'm not … I don't even know who she is," I said, looking down to see where I was still holding the framed portrait of a slender young fairy with long dark hair, rippling down her back, as she stared back up to with those same, piercing blue eyes I had witnessed before. "I mean … this is her I saw."
"With silver wings and a golden glow?" Queen Clarion asked me carefully as she slipped the acorn into a slot in the wall.
"And, blue eyes, I remember seeing them … but, that was before I woke up," I said, looking up to meet the Queen's similar blue eyes that I had seen vividly in the frame. "I'm sorry, Queen Clarion, the rest … I can't remember the rest."
"Just Ree, please," the Queen suddenly said, catching me off guard as she unlocked a hidden door. "It's just Ree, while we are in the Hopeful Athenaeum, or library if you prefer to call it just put simply. Come along, there is much for you to see."
Holding the door open for me, she tilted her head toward the entryway as my wings began to flutter and led me inside as Queen Clarion lifted her hands to reveal a glittering swirl of golden pixie dust. I watched her as she released her breath on it and it flew about the darkened room, scattering until every delicate speck found its place along the wall as the room grew brighter.
"This isn't the council hall library," I started to say before the soft chuckle of the Queen echoed along the emerging halls as ancient bookcases emerged from the side trunk walls and the ceiling curtains rose to let in more of the morning light shining through the dome at the top of an apparent skylight.
"No, Hyacinth had requested to use it for his plans for the Spring Festivale next year," the Queen said, flittering over to one of the bookcases to pull out a big book. "This place, however, was very special …"
Looking around to see a row of desks carefully preserved over by one side of the wall, I turned in a small circle to take in all of the books that glistened and glowed with a clear sheen of silver pixie dust. "Looks almost like a sort of classroom," I murmured as Queen Clarion sat the giant book she held in her hands down on an ivy stand and began to thumb through the pages of the ancient texts.
"It has to be here somewhere …" I heard the Queen mutter as she turned one final page. "Ah, here it is!"
"What?" I inquired, flitting over to see the Queen running her fingers under the title, The Hopeful Chronicles, pinned by her majesty … Maya the Wise, circa. 0203, at the midwater dusk stream of Havendish and the Golden roots of the Never Dust Tree.
"The Big Book of Fairies," The Queen recited from the cover, holding up the tome. "This book was started over two millenniums ago by her, and it has collected all facts from the generations of fairies and pixies before and after. This is the actual book of all fairy knowledge, and … It was written by the Hopefuls themselves."
Turning on her wings, she watched as my pixie mouth almost dropped to the floor as I covered it, looking up to mysteriously hear the echoes of past laughs come forth the veins in the walls, that distinctively remembered the flutters of multiple fairy wings studying, even practicing, their would-be talents (right here in this very room!).
"Written?" I repeated, still hearing the giggles that feigned from the trunk veins, which fresh pixie dust swirled down past as the Queen's presence radiated ever more to allow them to sparkle.
"At least, they inspired it," Queen Clarion said, hinting over to a chair as we both sat down, the chair sitting across her on her lap.
"A hopeful is a born fairy that goes out in search of her talent, as I have said before," Ree recited, meeting my curious gaze. "Now, with fewer of them reaching the shores of Never Land, they are quite rare. Even so, today."
"You said that I was a Hopeful," Nora said, gazing down at her hands. "But I found my talent, right?"
The Queen simply nodded as she rose, again, in her feet as she said, "You did, but did you ever wonder if there was more to it than you were actually seeing?"
Now, I was more perplexed than ever. "What do you mean?"
"I need your help, Nora," Queen Clarion said as she turned back to the book and brought me over to read it alongside her. "This request comes with some serious challenges, but it all comes down to this: You have a special ability. Only a hopeful can find what Queen Maya has left behind."
At the mention of her name, my eyes suddenly sparked as I gasped. Maya was there, it was only for a second, but connecting her eyes, the piercing scream of a giant golden hawk honestly made my heart tremble before a sudden glow blinded him and a thousand tiny streams erupted from the base of the Tree and tiny fairies started to skip about and fought back against him, using skills they never knew they had. "Queen Clarion," I whispered, breathing hard and holding my chest, "Maya … She …?"
"She was the very first laugh, and still was so," Queen Clarion sighed. "After the attack of the Golden Hawk, Maya used every bit of her strength to draw him away, but the strain … Her glow released the birth of fairies. In essence, that first laugh that was heard on the Mainland … It created her and the start of something even more special."
"So, the fairies?" Nora questioned, wanting to know more.
"Some were born with their talents, some were incomplete, and there were those who became the keepers and teachers in helping each fairy, no matter how different, find that special something that made them unique. The Hopefuls became just that," Queen Clarion said, turning away a bit as she smiled in memory. "How do I know all this? Because I was once one, too."
And, then, I could picture it. The Queen told me of how her arrival revealed something mysterious, how her connection with the Tree itself led her to find her talent in eventually Queen of Pixie Hollow.
"We all have gifts that we have to learn to explore, and … There are gifts that will reveal themselves in time," Ree smiled as I thought of my experiences so far, and what so much more I had to learn.
"What is it that you need my help to find?"
"We aren't sure what it is, but I heard tide tales from Dewey and the scribe talents that it was something that formed when Maya, right at the very moment that the fairies were born, disappeared. Something was seen right at the base of the Tree and then it was gone, but since then, the flow from the Pixie Dust Well has been constant, allowing the fairies to fly," the Queen explained.
"Fairies can't perform their magic without pixie dust," Nora incurred. "That's common knowledge, and without it … We can't fly but just a few inches at a time."
"That's correct," Ree said, closing the tome. "Do you want to think on it?"
"I would like to help, Ree," Nora said, not feeling right about calling the Queen by her bestowed name, without the title. "However, I not sure on how I can. All I have to go on … It's not much."
"Maybe not, but it can be a start," the Queen said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Just think about it, that's all I ask."
Soon, flying out just past the Pixie Dust Well, where the never-ending stream of golden never ceased to flow, I felt the mid-morning breeze come up and cherish my cheeks in fond greeting. Allowing my arms to carry me to ride the breeze, I beated my wings in trepid flutter as I hovered (a generous trick I learned from Vidia) and I rode it down past the bank of Havendish stream.
Coming in for a landing, my feet crunched down on the soft earth as I glanced up to see Rosetta and another garden fairy fly on by, leading a fresh group of flower buds as they came up skittering down the path.
Waving goodbye, I was still flying as I found myself colliding with a dark haired sparrowman as we both tripped to the ground. "I am so sorry!"
Chuckling warmly, he dusted himself off as he reached over to help me up. "It's ok, it was my fault! No worries. What's up, Nora?"
"Oh, nothing really," I replied, smiling as I recognized him. "Thanks for asking though, Aquan. Hey, have you by chance seen River anywhere this morning? I need to tell her something."
"Oh, I wish," he muttered, automatically blushing as he saw a curious, knowing look come across my cheeks as he cleared his throat. "But no, I haven't."
"I think I know where to look," I replied. "She's been by the Border a lot lately, spending time with her sister. I don't blame her."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Aquan said with another smile. "That's cool! I've been wanting to visit the Winter Woods ever since I heard that Tinker Bell and Peri found a way for us warm fairies to cross. I bet it's beautiful."
"It is certainly a sight," Nora agreed, turning on her wings. "Just be certain you get your wings frosted before you do. Have a nice day!"
"You too!" Aquan called out with a mild shake of his head. I guess not everyone was used to clumsy sayings, but he seemed like he didn't mind as he flew off, too.
Sure enough, my instincts were right, for as I neared the Border (where spring touches winter), I saw both River and Snowdust look up as I stopped and landed just in front of the snowfall. Covering my nose for a second as the snow tickled it, I heard Snowdust's quiet laughter as I took a seat beside River as she was sipping a chilled cup of slush.
"Try it, Nora, it's Snow's specialty," River greeted me as Snow passed me a cup. "Cold flavored ice, haha."
"Just like your ice cream hit in the tearoom," Nora chuckled, trying it. "This is good."
Snow just beamed as River sensed something else. "Were you wanting to tell me something?"
"Now, how did you know?"
"A little firefly told me," River said, shrugging her shoulder as her pet green firefly Torch came peeking out from under her short black hair as he trilled two high notes and a low one. "He saw you coming."
Grinning, Snow stuck her finger for him to land on as his little feet tickled her pale skin. Pulling out a leafpad out of her pocket, Snow wrote something down and handled it me as I read her question, What's on your mind?
"You both want to know?" I asked them, not surprised to see both of them nod in the same way.
"Don't keep us both in suspense," River said, waiting for me to continue.
"Alright, well it's like this," I started, explaining everything about how my dream kept me from getting a good night's sleep to all that the Queen told me of the Hopeful library.
Scribbling down a message, Snow held it up with an excited gesture but River spoke up first. "It sounds amazing, I honestly would have imagined something as real at that happening. I wonder what it all means …"
Poking her sister's arm, Snow made another note, this time with raised little bumps that River could read as she ran her fingers down over them. "Why didn't you say so?" River asked her sister as Snow just sighed.
Noticing that Snow wasn't wearing her crystal, River spoke up for her, "She left it at home."
"Her necklace, the one that lets her speak? But, I thought it was …"
"As far as we know, the crystals help and when we're together … I can see and Snow can talk, which she loves to do, even when it's without words," River said, discerning the ornery look coming from her sister's smile as she laughed.
"What did she have to say?" Nora cued, seeing the note curled up in River's hand.
"Snow thinks you might find out more about the Golden Hawk in Dewey's library, she said. In fact, she just remembered Lia telling her about it, maybe it'd tell more of what you saw," River said, with Snow placing a hand on her arm in agreement.
"I think it's good idea, and I can already sense I'll need all the help I can get," Nora said, standing to her feet. "I'll just go grab my winter coat and meet you girls back here in a hour."
"Sounds great, see you then," River shouted up as Nora hurried off, looking over her shoulder already feeling Snowdust frosting her wings in preparation. "You know, I think we'll need one more person to help us out here. Let's go find Lord Milori, maybe he'll know more. It can't hurt."
Alright, apologies again fellow readers. Here is chapter 2 of Nora's newest adventure, part II. Hope you like it. ;)
And, who is Maya? Hopefully this clues into a bit and what her role in this story will be. Any thoughts? Feel free to leave them in the comments. Keep on flying!