A/N: HAPPY SINGLE AWARNESS DAY!
For those of you who have noticed *cough*VidiaPhoenix*cough*, yes. I dislike the Minister of Spring. He's just too much of a kiss-up for my personal taste, and it's so much fun to portray him as a villain! He's also going to be VERY OOC, for a warning, and his name Elhas I'm going to keep from my other story. The Minister of Autumn's name is Adahy and in Cherokee it means "In the oak woods" so I thought it would be a cool name for him.
Thanks for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
1 season later…
The Minister of Spring casually flew to Tinker's Nook to see Fairy Mary. He didn't visit her often - as she wasn't much of his friend – only to check and see how preparations for springtime were coming, which was only twice a year. This was one of those times, except for the fact that the Minister was on a mission. A mission that needed allies to work.
He quickly spotted her berating Bobble and Clank over something stupid and waited until she was alone a moment later before approaching her. Naturally, a few fairies bowed their heads in respect as he passed and he inclined his head back to them in acknowledgement. When he finally reached Fairy Mary, he evenly said, "Mary."
The fairy jumped and turned to look at him in surprise. Then she saw who it was and she relaxed scolding, "You startled me!"
"Sorry."
"No, no! It's alright. Are you here to see how preparations are coming along?"
The Minister hesitated before cautiously answering, "Yes and no."
"Oh? What else do you need?" Mary asked narrowing her eyes in concern. It wasn't like him to be so calm and collected. Something was off, she figured.
He looked around before touching her arm and leading her away from the bustle of the Tinkers and into an alcove not far away, but far enough so not to be overheard. "What are you doing?" Mary exclaimed.
"I need to talk to you. If a fairy or sparrow-man comes within hearing distance, we will talk about preparations. Understood?" The sparrow-man demanded, eyes burning down on the shorter fairy.
Her eyes widened, but she nodded. Something is wrong with him, she thought worriedly.
"Another thing: You will not repeat this conversation to any one –"
"What about Clarion?" Mary intervened.
"Especially Queen Clarion and Lord Milori."
"Why?"
"We wouldn't want them to know about our…secret plans."
"I didn't agree to anything yet, and I don't keep secrets from my friends. What's going on, Elhas?" Mary cried, wrenching her arm from his grasp and looking at him suspiciously.
Elhas just rolled his eyes and was about to answer when he saw out of his peripheral vision Tinker Bell fly toward them, holding some strange contraption in her arms. Probably a new experiment, he thought. All the more reason I'll need them on my side if this plan is going to succeed. Meanwhile, he switched subjects. "So," he began, "are they all set then?"
Mary saw what he was doing and narrowed her eyes again before replying coolly, "No."
"Why ever not? Spring –spring is in three months!" Elhas made his voice raise an octave in fake worry, to make Tinker Bell not suspect anything.
"We'll have it ready by then."
"Um, excuse me Minister of Spring, but I need to talk to Fairy Mary really quick. May I?" Tinker Bell cut in, landing next to them.
Before he could answer, Fairy Mary turned to her favorite Tinker and said, "Of course, Tinker Bell."
"Really?" the younger fairy asked hopefully.
"Yes. What is it that you wanted to tell me?"
Tinker Bell held out her…thingy… and exclaimed, "This!"
Fairy Mary blinked a few times before asking delicately, pointing at it, "What exactly is that?"
"It's a new contraption that stores five times more sunlight than before! And it's got radar to tell where the most sunlight is! Pretty neat, huh? Oh! And this right here –" Tinker Bell enthusiastically showed off the rest of the device and when she was done five minutes later, Elhas could barely understand what she had explained. But the head of Tinkers sure did, for she praised Tinker Bell and sent her off with a smile to go and try it out. Then she turned back to him, and her eyes were once again cold with suspicion.
"So what is going on?" she repeated, hands on her hips.
"First of all, you cannot –" Elhas started repeating the rules again.
"Well that's a sour rule! You know I can't do that."
"If you don't, then I will be forced to tell all of Pixie Hollow and Clarion your secret!" The Minister of Spring threatened. He had no idea what her secret was, or if she even had any, but it seemed to work because she faltered for a moment.
She regained herself a second later and declared, "That won't work with me! I don't have any secrets!"
"Oh really? What about the one that you don't tell Clarion? That big one?"
Mary once again faltered and this time she hung her head in shame. "You know about that? How?"
"It was hard at first, but I investigated a little and found it out. And for your honor, I shall not repeat it out loud. So now you must not repeat any of this, at all." Elhas felt smug look cross his face as she agreed. So he continued, "I need allies."
"Allies? What for?"
"To surprise the Winter Fairies and Lord Milori."
"Why do you want to surprise them?"
"Stop asking so many questions!" He snapped. "I want to surprise them – all of them – and for that I need your help. First I need to surprise Clarion, Milori, and Allya, but that would be no problem. Than after that comes the Winter Fairies, and that's where you come in. Understood?"
Yes, something is definitely wrong, but I can't say anything or else he will tell Clarion! Mary panicked while nodding her head.
"Good." Elhas said firmly. "Now, I need you and some Tinker Fairies to build a giant chamber –"
"A giant chamber? Good Heavens! What is that going to be for?" The fairy exclaimed, completely shocked at the order.
"Don't question me! I want five of those chambers done by the end of spring or else! Is that clear?"
"Yes, but I'll only do it if you tell me why!"
The Minister sighed and lied, "So it won't take so many birds to carry the cargo to the Mainland."
Fairy Mary narrowed her eyes and studied him. He was lying, she knew that for a fact as he always was a worthless liar, and his eyes weren't the usual fretting stare as before. Instead they had a certain fire to them, like he wanted to get revenge on something or someone. How long has he been like this? Fairy Mary asked herself. To Elhas she asked, "But wouldn't that be too –"
"Just do it." He ordered before flying away. Over his shoulder he used the worry voice and called out, "Good-bye Fairy Mary! I hope to see them done soon!"
And Mary knew he wasn't just talking about the spring preparations.
Elhas flew into his room in the Pixie Dust Tree and closed the door irritably. Blackmailing and being a bully wouldn't last very long against a fairy as smart and witty as Mary, much less a hoard of fairies and sparrow-men he hoped to control for his plan. It would get too tiring and too confusing to keep up with all the lies, and pretty soon a fairy might figure out he'd tricked them and the whole thing would blow up and backfire in his face. All this Elhas knew, so he sat at his acorn desk and thought of all the ways to control an army of fairies into doing what he wanted to do.
In his notebook, he sketched out possibilities and wrote down ideas and took note of all the things Clarion did to remain in control. And after endless minutes of planning did he finally come up with a reasonable idea.
He'd have to "befriend" the fairies he wanted in his control and through correct manipulation; he could make them do anything for him blindly. It was perfect, so he got to work on which talents were crucial to need. Tinker Fairies were a definite because they could build, as were Dust-keeper Fairies to supply Pixie Dust and Fast-flying Fairies to bring messages back and forth quickly.
As for the Winter Fairies, Elhas thought cruelly. They can go rot in the sun until they die.
A knock echoed from his door just then, and he slammed down his journal and snapped to attention. "Y-yes?" He asked timidly, hoping it wasn't Clarion or a Royal Guard.
But it was just the Minister of Autumn and he flew in arrogantly, head held high and smiling brazenly. "Hello Elhas," he greeted.
"H-hello Adahy," Elhas greeted back.
Adahy assessed him before saying, "You look upset."
"I'm not upset! What do you want?" The shorter sparrow-man squeaked.
The taller gave him a stare that showed he didn't believe him, and instead teased, "Why, is poor wittle Ehwas stiw moping around that Cwarion isn't his?"
"WHAT? N-no! I've –I've gotten passed that!" His voice raised an octave in real worry and fear.
"Are you sure? What are you hiding then, hmm? A journal?"
"N-no!"
Adahy cocked an eyebrow and flew forward while Elhas shielded his notebook with his body. The two danced around each other, one trying to see and the other trying to guard. After a few pointless moments of dancing, Elhas pushed Adahy away and growled, "Enough."
Shocked at his behavior, the Minister of Autumn said nothing and only stared at him. "What?" he asked finally.
"I said enough." The Minister of Spring repeated.
Adahy just stuck out his tongue and flew out the door, calling over his shoulder, "I knew it! Ha! Wait till I tell the other Ministers! Elhas still loves –"
Elhas flew to the door and slammed it hard. "What a snail," Elhas muttered. "But he will be taken care of as well. Along with other threats."
He then went back to planning for the rest of the day with little to none interruptions.