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Lizzy's Sunset - Chapter 5 - Lizzy/Beth's Trials
Beth woke to a knocking on her royal apartment door. Her head was still swirling from all the faces and names she had met yesterday. They had played "tag-team" all day, passing her from group to group, and proudly showing off their world. Most of them were quite impressed that she already seemed to know her way around Pixie Hollow.
Beth slid out of bed, and stumbled to the door. She found a trim-looking fairy in the hallway, dressed in a colorful uniform, and wearing an odd-looking bugle at her waist.
"Good morning, Beth. I'm Viola. I see you're not quite ready for your first day of talent-finding. May I come in?"
"Certainly." answered Beth.
Viola entered, and turned to face Beth, eyeing her Arrival garment. "You don't want to be wearing those rags, now." Beth blushed. Viola strolled over to a closet and rolled back the large door. Hanging inside were 10 new dresses & outfits, in every color of the rainbow, plus a few.
Beth gasped in joy as she stepped forward. "For me?" she asked.
"For now. You'll find they all fit. Pixie Hollow tailor fairies are very efficient. All they need is a quick look at you." Viola continued "Once we find your talent, you'll be responsible for your own clothing." Viola hopped to the door. "Change quickly. I'll take you down for breakfast and pixie dust, then you're to see the queen." Viola stepped out and closed the door.
Beth quickly brushed her light golden brown hair, and twisted the back into a pair of loose braids. She then chose a dress, and slipped it on.
Minutes later, Beth entered the hallway. "How do I look?"
"Green?" asked Viola, with raised eyebrows.
"It's my favourite colour."
"Green is a tinker color." It was a basic tinker dress, but a bit longer & looser. Viola shook her head "No matter, let's go."
"You should feel privileged" stated Viola to Beth. "Not many fairies get to see this part of the Pixie Dust Tree." She knocked softly on the ornate door.
"Enter." came a female voice from inside. Viola and Beth stepped into the darkened room, and closed the door behind them. Queen Clarion sat at one end of a large oval table. Before her was a glowing crystal in a fixture. The rest of the table was covered in a thin layer of pixie dust, leaking from a hole in the ceiling. A ridge around the table, and a drainhole kept the dust from spilling onto the floor. The dust & the crystal were the only sources of light in the room.
"Thank you Viola. I'll let you know when we're done." Viola bowed and left.
"Sit down, Beth" Clarion indicated another seat at the table. "What I am about to show you, I must ask you to keep to yourself."
"Yes, Queen Clarion." answered Beth.
"Only the Ministers and a few fairies know about... my hobby. The problem is that it takes a considerable amount of my time, so I'd very much like to find someone who could help out. That's why you're here. I need to see if this is your talent." Beth nodded. "Let me show you what I do here."
Clarion cupped her hands around the crystal, and gazed at the dust-covered table. Some of the dust jumped from the table, and formed itself in the darkness. It was as if one were looking at a live, animated, 3-dimensional drawing in glowing pixie dust. The view was of Pixie Hollow, as seen from high in the Pixie Dust Tree.
Beth watched the viewpoint zoom down near ground level, and follow one of the main roadways. She could even hear fairies talking, and other sounds. The viewpoint slid into a small shop, where she saw fairies chatting as they worked.
"That's not all." said Clarion, still gazing at the dust, "I'll show you the mainland."
The dust swirled wildly, then cleared to show a view of fairies busily working around their Fairy Camp Tree on the mainland. The view then lifted up, panned around the countryside until a human city came into frame, then zoomed fantastically to show human buildings & houses.
The dust settled to the table as Clarion turned to Beth.
"You must trust me when I tell you this: I do NOT use this to spy on my fairies. It has a much more important use, which I'll tell you if you have the talent." Clarion got up from her seat. "Let's try you out. Please sit here, Beth."
When Beth was settled, Clarion told her "Place your hands around the crystal, as you saw me do. Gaze into the dust, clear your mind." she said softly "Now, imagine your apartment. Imagine standing there, looking at the walls, furniture, windows. Imagine you're actually there."
The dust jumped off the table sporadically, in lines and panels, but nothing coherent. Clarion coaxed Beth for a couple of hours, but the most Beth could do was make the pixie dust boil and flop.
Clarion sighed. "I'm afraid this is not your talent, Beth."
"I'm sorry, Queen Clarion."
"You've nothing to apologize for." Clarion smiled. "We'll try you on some other rare talents. Remember, not a word to anyone about what you've seen here."
"I promise."
There was a knock at the door. Viola had returned.
As they chatted over lunch in Dulsie's tearoom, Beth said "Viola, do you mind if I ask... what's your talent?"
"I'm a summoning-talent. When Queen Clarion needs someone, I call them in."
"That sounds useful." Beth smiled "How many of you are there?"
"Just me."
Beth's smile fell. "So you were like me then." Viola nodded. "Were you afraid?" asked Beth.
Viola looked down at her plate. "Yeah... but it didn't take long to find my talent." She looked up with a small smile.
"How?"
"It was during hide-and-seek games. I won every time." Beth looked puzzled. "You see, "summoning" is what I do, but my actual talent is that I know the exact location of every fairy I've ever met."
"Oh, THAT'S useful. Maybe I'm a summoning-talent, too!"
"Okay..." said Viola, recognizing an opportunity, "Where is Queen Clarion, right now?"
"Umm, in her..." Beth whispered: "...dark room?"
"Nope. She's in the Council Chambers, speaking with the Ministers. You're just guessing. I don't think you would be a summoning-talent." Beth's shoulders slumped. "Not to worry, you're going to see Ruth this afternoon."
"Ruth, this is Beth." said Viola "Try her out, see what you think. Don't mean to drop & fly, but I need to go, Queen Clarion is calling." and Viola flew off.
Beth eyed Ruth. She was a lanky fairy, with frizzy red hair, dressed in a riot of clashing colors.
"So. Haven't got a talent, 'ey? Let's test you on my old practice grounds." They both jumped into the air, and headed away from Pixie Hollow.
"What's your talent, Ruth?" asked Beth.
"I'm a water-dowsing-talent. It's sort-of part water, part mining talent, but I live with the garden talents. They usually don't like me around, because of my "unique wardrobe"." She laughed. "I wear this just to bug them, but they sure are glad to see me when their plants are drying up!"
"That certainly sounds useful." said Beth, as they set down in a very parched area, boxed-in by cliffs on all sides.
"Now this area has 3 potential springs," explained Ruth, "but they move around, so you need to work to find them." She pulled out a Y-shaped twig from her belt. "I'll show you how I do it." She grasped a branch of the Y-twig in each hand, pointed the 3rd away from her, then walked along slowly. Beth followed, watching closely.
A short time later, Ruth said "Ah! Look at that." The 3rd arm of the Y-twig was seemingly pulled toward the ground. She put the Y-twig in her belt, saying "The water talents are better at this part than me, but..."
Ruth bent over, cupped something invisible with her hand near the ground, and "pulled" it upward. The ground became wet before her. "There. That's one." Beth was amazed. "Now you try." smiled Ruth.
Over the next hour or 2, despite Ruth's patient coaching, Beth tried unsuccessfully to find water. She became more & more thirsty, as her nose and ears toasted in the hot sun. She was relieved when Ruth flew her back to the cool shade of the Pixie Dust Tree.
"Sorry, girl." said Ruth "I guess water dowsing's not for you. Don't worry, you'll find your talent."
"Thanks for trying me, Ruth." Beth waved goodbye, as Ruth flew off.
Beth was ready for Viola the next morning, and after breakfast and pixie dust, Viola dropped her off at Twire's scrap metal recycling shop. Beth looked around apprehensively at the clutter.
"How do you move about in here?" asked Beth.
"Carefully." answered Twire. "Watch out for sharp edges. I keep asking for larger quarters, but I've heard nothing back yet. Let's get out to the cove."
On the flight to the cove, Twire explained this was part of her morning routine. "All sorts of strange human stuff washes up there." She laughed, "I've even caught mermaids tossing stuff onto the beach. If I don't get it, the tinkers will. Besides, I keep the beach tidy."
As the beach came into view, Twire gasped, and said "Oo-oo."
"This is nice." Beth commented on the scenery, as they landed.
"Yes, but not why we're here. Walk around, see if you can spot, or sense any scrap metal." The beach looked bare, but Beth wandered around anyway. Twire continued, "My talent is mostly scout, which lets me find hidden things. But there's also some tinker and art talent in me."
As Twire talked, she looked down at her feet. She dug into the sand with her foot, and partially uncovered a chunk of human metal. She then sauntered away, to see if Beth would find it. Eventually Beth did, when she tripped and fell over it.
"Ow!" cried Beth, rolling over to see why she tripped, "Found one!"
"Good. Move it up the beach and keep looking." said Twire, "Don't just use your feet." she laughed. "Use your nose, and try closing your eyes to sense the metal."
"What do you do with the metal?" asked Beth.
"Sort it by type. The precious metals go to jewelry and art talents. The aluminum, copper, brass and steel go to the blacksmith talents... Watch the water!" Beth had, eyes closed, wandered into the water. "Sometimes I keep a few pieces to play with."
After about a half hour of fruitless searching, Beth declared the beach was clean. Twire grabbed a sturdy twig, saying "I'll show you what you missed." She dug up 3 more pieces, which Beth moved up the beach with the first. Twire used the twig to dig a curved groove in the sand.
"Now, the jackpot." Twire said, reaching into the groove, and lifting something large with all her strength. When she stopped to rest, a 10" silver dinner plate was sticking out of the sand.
"Aww!" moaned Beth, dropping onto her bottom. "I must have walked over that a dozen times." She looked at Twire gloomily, "I guess I'm not a scrap-metal talent."
"Not today." confirmed Twire. "I sensed this from the air, before we landed."
Beth helped Twire dig out the plate. They dropped the other pieces onto it, and after a sprinkling of pixie dust, the 2 fairies carefully flew the over-sized load back to Twire's shop.
After another lunch with Viola, Beth flew with her to a building attached to the Pixie Hollow Fairy Hospital.
"Ouch." said Beth, as they landed. She gently rubbed some scrapes on her arms from her morning with Twire.
"Don't worry, Mr. Wong will fix that up." reassured Viola. "He's our only apothecary-talent. I've heard he's been hoping for decades to find the right student."
Viola paused to catch Beth's eyes. "He's been in Pixie Hollow... forever. He's very wise, but also very eccentric. When you meet him, give him a little bow." Beth nodded.
Viola and Beth entered the apothecary shop, and walked up to the large counter.
"Hello, Mr. Wong" said Viola. Viola and Beth gave him a slight bow.
"Viola, dear! What can I do for you today?" Mr. Wong appeared to Beth as a tall, slim, middle-aged Chinese sparrow-man, immaculately dressed in traditional dark Chinese silks.
"This is Beth, our newest fairy."
"Ah, yes, I've heard." he said, eyes twinkling at Beth.
"She doesn't have a talent yet, so we'd like you to try her out."
"Well, let's have a look at you, child." Beth stepped around the counter. "Oh, you've hurt your arms." Wong noticed the scrapes. He reached under the counter and produced a small container, which he handed to Beth. "Use this on them, keep it with you."
Beth gingerly rubbed some of the ointment on her scrapes. It felt warm & cool, and the irritation faded. "Thank you, Mr. Wong." she said in wonder, and dropped the container into her pocket.
"I'll leave her with you, Mr. Wong." Viola said on her way out.
Over the next couple of hours, Wong showed Beth his shop, the large inventory of dried & fresh botanicals, stocks of basic oils, alcohols, vinegars, & filtered water, and tools & glassware. He was especially proud of his Materia Medica books, which contained most of his recipes. Beth was thoroughly impressed with his stock filing system, which made finding ingredients easy & efficient.
Wong gave Beth a few tests, laying almost identical dried herbs on a table, and asking her to grade them by potency. Beth didn't do well. She was later moving a stack of boxes for him, but didn't notice the top one fall. Wong was across the room in a flash, and caught the box before it passed her waist. Beth couldn't believe a fairy could move that fast.
Late in the afternoon, Wong told Beth "I need to look at some patients in the hospital. Please watch the shop for me. If anyone needs anything, I should return shortly."
"No problem, Mr. Wong." smiled Beth.
Soon after Wong left, a fairy entered the shop with a nasty scrape on her leg. "Mr. Wong's not here?"
"I'm minding the shop for him." Beth smiled.
"I need some ointment for my leg." handing Beth a leaf with some writing on it.
Eager to please, Beth read the note, and flipped through one of Wong's books. She found it was a fairly simple recipe. She dug out the dry ingredients, portioned them into a mortar bowl, and began grinding them with a pestle. She smelled something warm, and noticed the bowl was getting hot.
Suddenly, there was a loud BANG, and Beth was thrown against some storage cabinets.
"I'm not putting THAT on my leg." said the fairy customer, backing away.
It was about then, that Wong re-entered the shop. "What happened?" he asked in surprise.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wong." Beth picked herself up from the floor. "I was making some ointment for this fairy."
Wong read the leaf, reached under the counter, and handed a small container to the customer. Beth smacked a hand on her forehead in embarrassment.
"Thank you, Mr. Wong." said the fairy customer. She bowed slightly to Wong, glanced at Beth, then left.
"Beth, child," started Wong, looking at her, "I was hoping for a kind way to say this, but... I don't think you'd make an apothecary-talent." Beth nodded sadly. "You can, however, bring your injuries by any time." he smiled.
"Thank you for trying, Mr. Wong." She helped him clean up the mess, then left for dinner.
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Author's Post Note: More about Clarion's hobby in a future story.
I did my best to guess Lizzy's hair color. The problem is, it changes with the lighting. I found a good picture of her on the Internet (shortly after they pull up to the farmhouse), and placed it side-by-side with hair images of the major hair-color makers. The closest I could find was "light golden brown". Later, in a store, I found a "light auburn" which might also do. Why is there no universal hair-color chart, labeled from yellow-to-red-to-brown on one axis, and white-to-black on the other axis?
The character of Mr. Wong was inspired by Wong Fei-Hung, a legendary Chinese doctor and martial arts master.
More of Lizzy/Beth in chapter 6!