I'm here again! New character alert!

The sprites palace was carved into the tree, inside the hollow trunk. The halls were carpeted in fuzzy moss, feeling extremely soft to her now-tiny feet. The walls were smooth bark and decorated with many paintings on 'large' leaves. They showed her around, and she found great awe in the 'observatory', a room with a clear piece of glass over the top. When she asked what the clear, hard substance was, they said it was the result of lightning striking sand, hardening it into that. Everything seemed to be magnified through the piece of glass, the moon looked close enough for her to reach out and grab right out of the sky. Once acquainting her with the palace grounds, she was shown to her room. It was round in shape with a single firefly in a leaf pouch hanging above creating light. It was surrounded by little crystals on all sides, so the room was colored a million colors, filtering through the jewels. Her bed was a large walnut shell with lilac petals for a mattress, a tiny bit of cotton for a pillow, and a single yellow rose petal for a blanket. There was a desk and chair, and a window seat. A vase of pretty flowers, surprisingly sprite sized, sat on the table beside her bed.

Raz sighed, gliding over to the window seat and plunking down, pulling her knees up to her chest. Wrapping her arms around the, she lay her head down and looked up at the stars. She picked out the different constellations, a few made up by she and her siblings, some traditional. For a while she just sat there, watching the sky, watching the memories whiz by in her head, eyes filling up with tears. Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she sniffled quickly, hastily wiping the tears on her wrist. "C- Come in."

Princess Alleigh opened the door and hurried over to her, sitting down in front of her. "Aww… what's wrong? Why're ya so sad?"

"H- How did…"

"Your wings." She pointed, and Raz glanced backwards. Sure enough, they'd changed from silver to a dark, depressing gray. "They change color with our moods. Sad is gray for you, apparently. So" she fluttered her own for a moment. "What's got ya so upset?"

"I…" she heaved a sad sigh, tears slowly creeping back into her eyes. "I guess I'm a little homesick."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The chipmunk sprite apologized. "We'll have some medicine prepared and-"

"Huh? No, no, not like tha. Ah'm not sick sick, just… homesick. Iss' when…" she swiped at her tears. "Iss' when… yer away from yer fam'ly an… ya miss 'em so much, i' hurts. Like yer sick."

"I'm sorry." The sprite princess apologized, reaching forward to pat her arm. "Maybe I can get mom ta whip ya up a transportation potion."

"Girls!"

"Oh, right." Alleigh blushed. "That reminds me, it's time for dinner!"

…

The banquet hall was large and impressive. The windows magnified the stars, decorated with leaf streamers and flower bows. The chairs were beautifully carved and studded in shiny geodes, the placemats beautiful woven grass circles, dyed many pretty colors according to the diner's color. Her own was purple, naturally. The long table was long and smooth stone, and Raz was escorted to a chair directly left of the queen's at the head of the table, Alleigh sitting across from her. The queen clapped her hands and the food was brought out; honeycomb, pieces of corn, honeysuckle, and the drinks… when Raz sipped it, she instantly started at the heavenly sweet taste. "Wh- What is this stuff?"

Katrina's smile was kind as she patted her hand. "That is nectar my dear? Quite the pleasant taste, mm?"

She opened her mouth, but never got to respond, as the queen suddenly pushed back her chair and raised her arms. When it was silent, she raised her acorn cup. "A toast" she began, gently taking Raz's arm and having her stand. "For our wonderful guest!" everyone cheered and raised their glasses, drinking gladly.

After dinner, there was 'music', things she'd never think of as music unless you were sprite sized. Crickets, air blowing through the air, buzzing of bees, croaking of frogs. Thrown all together, it actually became a nice, danceable melody. Everyone went around talking and dancing, some up in the air and some on the floor. Raz unsurely drifted around, waving at the occasional person, shyly refusing when Alleigh asked her to come dance with her and her friends. "Oh…" she heaved a sigh and found a nice corner, sliding down to the floor. It wasn't that the party wasn't nice, but… it reminded her of the parties they'd have at home. Just a happy family playing music, chatting, hanging out.

She thought maybe she could sneak out unnoticed, maybe go back to her room and sulk, but before she could, there was a tap on her leg. She turned. There before her stood a sprite even smaller than all the others, a little mouse girl, with cream colored fur and brown eyes, blinking up at her innocently. Her wings were miniature butterfly ones, a gentle pastel pink with purple polka dots. "Can I… help ya?"

"U- Um… I was wondering…" her voice was sweet as she put her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth.

Raz crouched down to her height. "Yes?"

"A- Are you really gonna be the queen?" her voice was light and airy with awe.

Raz tried for a smile. "Yeah… thas me."

The child lurched forward and hugged her leg. "Oh goody!" she chimed. "I always wan'ned ta meet a princess!"

"Don'tcha know Alleigh?"

She shook her head as Raz gently detached her. "N-No… we were jus' invited cuz you were 'ere." The child frowned, as if deep in thought. "I ain;t import'nt like them." she pointed across the room to two red fox sprites. "Their the- the duch'ss thingies."

"Ah."

"I'm not like them. I always wan'ned ta see the palace, bu' I couldn't. I'm not like the princess er queen."

Raz blinked, before slowly smiling. "Y'know wot squirt?"

"What?"

"I ain't like them eith'ah. Theh jus chose me cuz theh though Lord Blackheart would think Ah gotta pretty face. I ain't no queen."

"I don' care." She said indignantly. "I think yer a grea' queen."

She patted her head. "Whas yer name?"

"I- I'm Lela."

"Well Lela" Raz held out her hand. "Why don'tcha c'me with me back ta mah room? Ah think I've go' something y'll like."

"Ok!" the little girl chimed, skipping for the door.

As she watched her go, starting after her, Raz felt a few tears form. She was much like Flynn, happy and innocent.

Noticing her getting far ahead, she started up her wings and hurried after her. "Lela! Wai' fer me!"

Well? Yes, I know, not much action, but I needed something to introduce Lela with. I'll get right to work on the next chapter, I've got a little tweaking to do. Please review!