Chapter 3 – Faust Village

The ship was silent while the specialists were piloting it. The Winx were really tired, even if they slept a little more than the night before. After the Winx decided to go on Lynphea, they called their boyfriend who accepted to go with them. They didn't know if their journey was going to be long, but they were going to accept it in order to save Magix.

Flora didn't say a word since they went out of Alfea. Even if she seemed more relaxed, she was still thoughtful.

When Tecna told her friends about the prophecy, they decided to bring the book with them. Astrid was told to be someone with a lot of knowledge.

"We have to stop in the forest below." Riven said, breaking the silence. "According to the computer, there's no other space large enough for our ship to land. And from here, we'll just have to follow a straight road to go at the village. True, Flora?"

"True…" She replied, looking through the windows, as the ship slowly landed down on the ground. There was abundant greenery, with a lot of flowers. Flora was telling the truth: she never took her friends there.

As the specialists were about to open the doors, Flora slowly stood up and said, shyly "Everyone, there's… there's something I didn't told you about my village." She almost whispered, but everybody heard. Now, she had to tell them the entire truth.

"The people of this village… adopted me." She sighed. "They aren't fairies, they aren't specialists. They are wizards and warriors. And they don't look like us, physically."

They all looked amazed by her confession. It was true that she wasn't the one who talked the most about her. But she has been adopted! Why didn't she tell her friends about it?

"You… never told us about it, Flora." Layla started, breaking the new silence.

"I know. And I'm really sorry about it." She sighed. "But remember what I told you yesterday."

The threat. They remembered. Everything made sense. She couldn't tell them about it in order to protect her village. It was logical… But something still disturbed Stella.

"What do you mean by "they don't look like us physically"?"

Flora gave them a hint of a smile, a little amused by her friend's reaction. "You'll see by yourself. But you'll be really surprised, I think."

"Maybe they are trolls!" Stella tried to guess, turning towards Musa. "I'm pretty sure that her village is made of trolls! She said we would be surprised, so…"

"Or maybe her village is made of animals, like werewolves!" She replied.

"Werewolves aren't good, Musa." Tecna shrugged.

"Good werewolves so!"

"I think they're giants, or Cyclops, but goods, not like in the story of "Ulysses" Bloom told us about!" Layla pointed out, whereas the others looked at her as if she was a perfect stranger.

Flora seemed chocked by their enthusiasm, and then burst into hearty laughter, in the same time as the boys behind her. She felt happy that her friends took it so well. The boys also didn't look so angry about it. Even Helia had a smile on his lips! She feared that her friends would be mad at her, but in fact, it was the contrary.

As they went out of the ship, Flora pointed them the road to follow, then slowed down, until she was at the end of the line, walking next to Helia who was staring at the floor. While the others were still trying to guess how the village looked like, she whispered to her boyfriend "Are you mad at me?"

It would have been logical. She hid one of the most important things of her life from him. She would have understood very well if he was mad at her and preferred staying distant. But instead, he looked up at her, his handsome smile appearing on his face. "No. Absolutely not." He looked down again. "I'm just puzzled."

"Why?"

He waited a few seconds before answering "I never thought you'd been adopted."

Flora sighed. She knew he was lying. But she didn't want to argue. So she simply replied.

"I should have told you about it, but I would have been unfair towards the girls. I really trust you, and you know it, but… it was something I didn't want to talk about. I'm really sorry, Helia." She looked down, sadly. She felt really unfair towards him too. She trusted him so much. He took her hand in his, squeezing it gently, as she looked up at him, meeting his soft gaze. His beautiful eyes were shining just like diamonds. "Don't worry about it anymore, okay? I understand. It is not something easy to talk about. I understand that. Plus, they are like your real family right?" Flora nodded. "So you've been honest towards us."

Flora smiled at him. He always had the rights words to comfort her. She squeezed his hand tighter. She loved when she had her hand in his. It was the only way she had to show her love for him, because it was the only thing she could do in front of their friends without being embarrassed, even if she wanted more than everything to hold him and kiss him hardly. "Yeah, you're right, I think." Helia stopped and took her chin in his free hand and nearly closed the distance between them. Flora felt a little embarrassed first, knowing perfectly what he was going to do. She then felt under his spell and closed her eyes, feeling his and hot and slow breathing on her mouth as their noses touched each other. His hand moved to her cheek, stroking it softly. Flora felt like nothing could bother her anymore. As long as he touched her, no darkness existed. It has been a long time since she wanted him so much to kiss her… The world around them totally disappeared, as his lips were about to touch hers, but…

"Hey! You're late, you two!" "Yeah, don't get lost!" Flora recognized Brandon's and Riven's voices. It was true: the others were already far ahead, and the two boys were looking at them with smirks on their faces. As they blushed and laughed a little, they started to walk a little faster, still holding hand, but Flora heard somebody scream "Who's there?!"

As they arrived behind their friends, they saw Brandon threatened by a sword. The sword was held by a person with a purple skin and light-blue hair clipped up in a ponytail. It was easy to see her sharp ears. She was wearing white gloves, a light yellow skirt and a sleeveless shirt. In her head was a sort of crown. She was an elf! She was beautiful, but her suspicious expression was a little scary. Brandon had his eyes wide open, and was shaking (not too much, he thought.)

"Who are you, stranger?!" She threatened again, holding her sword even tighter. "Answer!"

"W-well, w-we are friends y-you know…" Brandon tried to form a sentence.

"Don't touch my boyfriend or I'll get mad!" Stella threatened too, standing next to Brandon and clenching her fist.

"You…"

"It's okay, Esma. They are my friends."

They turned around by the sound of this voice. While Brandon seemed relieved, the girl, Esma, was about to release her sword. Her eyes were wide open, and her body started to shake. She seemed chocked.

"F-Flora?" Flora smiled a little. "I-Is it really you?" Flora nodded as she came up in front of her, and then Esma ran towards her and took her in a hug, before taking her shoulders and looking deeply into her eyes. She was the same height as Flora, and she seemed to be the same age as her.

"Flora… We thought…"

"I'm sorry, Esma… I didn't want to leave like that."

Esma put one of her gloved hand on Flora's cheek. "We thought you would never come back, Flora."

Flora looked down, sadly. She felt so guilty. "Why did you leave us?"

Flora said something, and her friends barely heard "Diala". Esma seemed to understand. The brunette said, speaking louder this time. "I was at Alfea, the college for fairies. These are my friends."

While she was pointing each one of them and saying their names, they all looked amazed: Flora's village was populated by…. Elves!

"I'm sorry for earlier." Esma said to them, clearing her throat and lowering her head in respect. "I didn't know you were Flora's friends, and here we don't really trust strangers." A smile appeared for the first time on her face. She looked more relaxed, and more confident towards them (and more beautiful Brandon thought). "My name is Esma, and I'm the captain of the army of Faust Village."

"CAPTAIN OF THE ARMY?!" All the boys screamed in chock in a perfect synchronisation, making Flora laugh and Esma look at them like if she said a stupidity.

"Elves are good warriors, you know." Flora gave them a wink. "The women are as strong as you. And Esma is the strongest warrior of the Elves people."

Riven's and Brandon's jaws were about to touch the ground. Flora couldn't help laughing again at the sight of their faces. They were so funny! She expected them to be surprised, but not as much as they were!

"So, what are you doing here?" Esma asked after a few minutes. "If you wanted…" Esma stopped for a second and didn't finish her sentence. "You came back with your friends for a good reason, no?"

"We are here to see Astrid." Flora replied "Do you know where she is?"

"She isn't here now. She is at the annual meeting with other healers."

Musa moved forwards. "It is really important! Magix will be destroyed soon if…"

"Calm down, Musa." Flora put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Esma, a virus starts to spread at Magix, and two of our friends are victims of it. We came here because we thought that maybe Astrid would be able to save them, and save Magix at the same time." The elf seemed to be chocked. "Do you know when she will come back?"

Esma nodded. "She said she would come back in, well, three or four days."

"So we'd have to come back later. We are strangers so-" Brandon started but was cut off by Esma.

"Oh, no! Stay here!" They all looked at her surprisingly, except Flora. "Yes, I told you our thoughts about strangers, but you are Flora's friends, so that's not a problem." She gave them a wink. "Follow me. I'll guide you to the King."

The village was really big. Even if they went directly to the palace, they saw a lot of houses made of wood. Magic was everywhere. They saw a lot of elves sitting at a table, with their drinks flowing on their glasses, or kids trying to impress their friends with their powers. The villagers seemed welcoming and smiling, and were happier as Flora waved at them.

The palace was made of, nature, crystal and diamonds. Every single part of it was made of wonders. The walls were as bright as stars, and the floors of the whole palace were covered with a purple carpet. Each chandelier were made of shining pearls, all the furniture was decorated by white roses chains, and on a lot of doors were made of diamond garlands.

"It's beautiful." Musa said, looking up at the ceiling like a little girl.

"Totally amazing." Tecna added, in a lower voice.

"This is the palace of King Eyal, Queen Cely and Princess Mira." Esma told them as they stopped below crystal staircases.

"Esma? Weren't you supposed to be at the village's gates?"

They all turned around to see another guard. She was a little bigger than Esma, and her skin was a little darker than her. Her red hair was put in a bun, and a sword was attached in her back.

"Yes Diona, I was. But I met someone that I thought his majesty would be happy to see." She looked at Flora above her shoulder and smiled. When Diona saw her, she also smiled and ran towards her to take her hands. "Flora! You finally came back!"

Flora nodded, a smile on her lips. She was about to reply, but they heard footsteps behind them. Esma and Diona knelt down, as the King and the Princess came down from the stairs.

"Your majesty."

Third chapter of Astronomia, finnished! I hope you liked it, and there will be a little more revelations in the next chapter. I hope I surprised you with the Elves! ^^ Reviews? :)

(At first, I didn't have any idea for the people of Flora's village. Then, I played a game. This game inspired me. It is named "Ascension couple creator" by Rinmaru Games. You can create beautiful characters with it, and the music is just... wonderful!)