Kokoro was sobbing. She was being taken away against her will to most likely be punished for something she wasn't sure she'd done, and all the people that had promised to save her were nowhere to be found.
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad!" the yellow-haired fairy said, planting her tiny hands on her narrow waist. "Jeez, it's not like we're going to kill you or anything."
That didn't comfort her at all. "I-I-I just wanna go home," she stammered.
The fairy sighed irritably. "Well, if you'd just give us back the stone, then we can take you home. But you had to go and make everything difficult."
Kokoro clutched her skirt. Baron had told her to keep the stone with her at all times. That included not giving it to the fairies, at least not until he said it was okay. She shook her head.
The fairy sighed again. "Man, you humans make our lives so complicated," she said, knitting her delicate golden eyebrows together.
The fairy suddenly looked up as one of the other fairies spoke to her in a foreign language. She then glanced at Kokoro before looking forward again. "We're almost there. But be warned, you won't like it."
Kokoro suddenly felt like her body was on fire, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard not to scream.
When she did open her eyes, she shrieked. Why had everything gotten bigger? And why were there now five fairies holding her, instead of a hundred? And then Kokoro saw why. She had shrank!
Just by looking at her body, you couldn't tell anything was different. But when she looked around and thought she saw a huge green airplane, when it was really just a leaf fluttering past, she knew something was wrong.
The fairies carried their captive through a dense forest, their glowing forms casting strange shadows on the trees.
"We're here," the fairy said. She looked down at Kokoro. "I see you've changed size. Well, you fit in a little better that way." She spoke to the fairies carrying her in their strange tongue, and they stopped.
The fairy flew forward and landed on a tree branch in front of a very large tree. More foreign words flowed off her tongue, and a rectangular piece of bark popped out, revealing emptiness. From above, lights glowed faintly inside the hollow tree.
With the other fairy's command, the fairies holding her carried Kokoro through the door and up into the tree. She had expected the inside of the tree to be dark, but it was relatively bright inside. They passed numerous fairies flying throughout the tree and into other holes.
Finally they brought her to what she presumed was the top. The fairy knocked on the big double doors, and a call came from within. The doors flew open, and the fairies carried her inside and dropped her on the floor before exiting the room and slamming the doors shut.
The room was not decorated excessively, for what she suspected was an important room. The wooden floor she was dumped on was polished to a shine, so she could see every tiny bead of sweat drizzling down her forehead and cheekbones. She could also see, from its reflection, a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging above her, illuminating the room. In front of her, sitting in front of a large hole that let in moonlight from outside, were two wooden thrones. They were intricately carved with ornate, flowery designs, and draped with flowering vines. She noticed that all the blossoms on the vines were deep red.
"Well well well, so this is the silly little human that's causing so much trouble," a voice said from above her. Kokoro shook out her hair and looked up to see a woman stretched languidly over one of the wooden thrones.
She was wearing a scarlet dress with a shimmering gold cape that spilled over the arms of the chair and onto the floor. Her brown, waist-length hair fell down her back, several fat chunks thrown over her shoulders. Thick stripes of red were streaked throughout her dark brown tresses, curled into thick red ringlets. She had glittering scarlet eyes, and her full red lips were turned up in a smirk. On top of her head rested a hoop made of shining, golden leaves. Behind her, a set of sparkling, pale red wings that resembled a butterfly's lazily waved, somewhat like a cat's tail.
She kicked one of her legs up and swung her body over so she was seated properly in her throne. Her smile widened as her eyes narrowed, and she waved the fairy that had spoken to her away. "Come forward, human," she said. "I want to get a better look at you."
At that moment Kokoro was too scared to protest, or act offended at being called 'human.' She cautiously stood up, gripping her skirt, and tiptoed forward.
The elegant fairy leaned forward and took Kokoro's chin in her hands. She then turned her head at awkward angles, scrutinizing her features.
When the woman was satisfied, she dropped her hand and leaned back. "Well, at least you're not too ugly," she said, raising a delicate brown eyebrow.
She suddenly snapped her fingers and a kettle and teacup appeared in front of her. She poured herself some tea. "Well, I'm sure you, being a dumb human and all, don't know that I am the Fairy Queen, Queen Esmeralda," she said, taking a sip of her tea. "Do you have a name, or do you expect me to keep calling you 'human'?"
The sudden command startled Kokoro, but she nodded. "I-It's Kokoro, Your Highness."
"Kokoro… That means 'heart', right?" She nodded. Queen Esmeralda's eyebrow rose higher. "Looking at you, that's the thing I say you have the absolute least of."
Hmmm. I believe that name suits you to a T.
Kokoro's jaw dropped. Why would Baron tell me that if it wasn't true? she wondered sadly.
"So, kid," Kokoro looked up as Queen Esmeralda placed her chin in her hand and looked at her with her burgundy eyes, "you gonna give my stone back or what?"
Kokoro clutched her skirt tighter, remembering what Baron had told her. She vigorously shook her head.
The queen's eyes narrowed. "So, let me get this straight: I have people forcibly take you to my castle, and I could easily turn you into a teakettle or a mouse or something, and you still refuse to give me back what's rightfully mine?" Kokoro nodded. "What gives you the courage to openly defy a powerful fairy like me?"
"Baron Humbert von Gikkingen," Kokoro stated bluntly. Frankly, she was becoming tired of the queen's arrogance. "He told me to keep it with me at all times. Besides, how do you know I have it anyway?"
The Fairy Queen smiled. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "How could I possibly ask you to disobey explicit orders given to you by that… that… cat?" Her perfect eyebrows twitched, but she continued smiling. "I'm so sorry for my rudeness. As an apology, won't you have a cup of my delicious tea?" She snapped her fingers again, and a steaming teacup materialized in front of Kokoro. "It's rosehip," she said, taking another sip of her own tea. "I absolutely insist!"
Kokoro carefully took the teacup in her shaking hands and stared into the swirling liquid. It did smell good. She lifted the cup to her lips and took a careful sip.
She had been afraid that the tea was poisoned, or that once she drank it she would turn into something horrible, but nothing happened. And it had been good. Not quite as yummy as Baron's special tea, but still good.
Queen Esmeralda smiled as Kokoro finished off her cup. She then burst into laughter.
Kokoro looked at her, a confused expression on her face. "What?" she asked, using her wrist to wipe off the tea sticking to her upper lip.
The Fairy Queen continued laughing. "You humans are so gullible!" she giggled, covering her mouth with a gold-gloved hand. "I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book so easily!"
"W-W-What did I do?" Kokoro asked nervously, her hands quivering in anxiety.
Queen Esmeralda wiped her eyes and caught her breath. "When a fairy invites a human into their home, and offers them a cup of homemade tea, and the human drinks the tea, the human becomes indebted to their fairy host, and automatically engaged to their host's oldest child of the opposite gender," she explained gleefully. "I invited you into my home, offered you tea, and you drank every last drop! So now, according to custom, you are now engaged to my son, Prince Aidan! And you fell for it hook, line, and sinker!" She doubled over in laughter.
Kokoro dropped the teacup. It rolled around on its side before stopping, a trickle of what was left of the tea draining out onto the wooden floor. Her entire body shook as she took in what the Fairy Queen said. The shock had worn off, and she could finally speak. "Y-Y-You mean… I'm now engaged to a fairy prince?!"
~*~