The Sixth Chapter

The next days were difficult for Mikkel. Lukas' mind was catching up with his own and he was becoming too wise to the human world. When he talked to Lukas, it was similar to talking to someone from a different country instead of someone from a different species. It became more necessary to be ethical and professional. Lukas started to catch lies he told.

"Do you have more bread?"

"No," he replied.

"The oven is hot. I know there is bread in there."

Mikkel had to give him a piece of bread once it was out of the oven and cooled. There were still concepts that he was oblivious to due to Mikkel's lies. They weren't lies to Lukas, they were the only truths he knew, like that clouds were made of spun sugar, but they were too high to reach, and the reason why Mikkel had once been smaller was because the only thing that makes someone grow tall is a mother. According to Lukas, he was never smaller, never a child. He simply was one day.

He'd said he'd wished he had a mother so that he could be as tall as Mikkel was, to which he replied, "I like you as you are."

Lukas had been bringing in more flower petals. Mikkel kept having to sweep them off of the floor. "Why do you keep bringing flower petals into the house?" He finally asked. The fairy said, "A flower is too big for me to carry. The petals are for you."

"What would I do with petals?" He jested. Lukas's face fell, unbeknownst to Mikkel. After bringing in an armful of petals an eighth time just to see Mikkel sweep them away when he thought Lukas was out of sight, the fairy stopped bringing them in. The man thought nothing of it.

One day, while they were both down by the sea tossing stones into the water, Mikkel asked, "I suppose there is no reproduction for fairies, correct? Since you have no mother?"

Lukas buried his body in a patch of sand, humming and letting his hair whip his cheeks. "Reproduction? What is that?"

Mikkel almost said nevermind and was finished with the conversation, but he needed to know more about the creature, so he said, "It's when two creatures create one creature."

The fairy inwardly beamed at the idea. This was sounding pleasant so far. "What sort of creature?"

"The creature is the same sort as whatever the two originals are. For example, my mother and my father, a woman and a man, came together as one and created me."

"Created you?" Lukas shifted, letting some of the warm sand brush off. "How does one do that?" Once he knew how this was accomplished, he had his mind set on creating another fairy. It would be effortless, he hoped. Mikkel wasn't answering. "Do NOT think of a lie," he demanded, shooting a glare at the man, who laughed nervously and adjusted his glasses.

"Two creatures create another with their love."

"That's a lie," he hissed, standing and kicking Mikkel's ankle. "I can feel the lie."

"No! It actually isn't."

"Love. Hmph. How do I make one more fairy?" Lukas sat on Mikkel's knee, looking up at him and covering the sun with his hand. The man didn't want to answer. He already had the answer to his question, which was no, the fairies did not reproduce. At least, not as animals or humans did. "Once I study you enough, perhaps I'll know how to make another fairy for you."

Lukas wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he stopped questioning him and laid down, shutting his eyes and still needing to squint. Mikkel covered the sun for him with his hand, watching his small face relax. "I have another question about what it's like to be a fairy," said Mikkel. "Do you serve a purpose? Some humans believe that fairies bring a frost."

The fairy smiled a little at the statement. "Frost? That's the cold, yes?"

Mikkel nodded. Lukas flipped onto his stomach and curled up, yawning quietly. "I don't do any of the things you read to me in the fairy tale book."

That was only slightly disappointing. One could only be so disappointed when they'd discovered a fairy at all. "I have one more question," he said. "I promise it is the last and then you can take a nap."

He whined, but agreed and said, "What is it?"

"Do you possess magic of any sort?"

Lukas remembered magic from the fairy tale book. Sadly, even he didn't possess magic. "No. Maybe other fairies do. I could not give a woman a beautiful dress from my hand like in the story."

"I see. That's perfectly acceptable! Your existence at all is magic to me."

"You are silly," he said, rolling his eyes and shutting them again to sleep. "Be quiet. I am tired, Mikkel." Within a minute, he was asleep on his leg.

Soon, Mikkel had to go back into town for more supplies. Lukas had always stayed at the house, but this time, he wanted to go into the village as well. "Stay hidden and you can come with me," he said. To get into the village, Mikkel took a bicycle that his uncle kept just for the sole purpose of travelling around the island with ease. Lukas rode in the basket on the back until they came into the village, then he had to hide in the back of Mikkel's shirt. "Stay silent," he whispered.

The village was quiet and the market wasn't busy. Mikkel grabbed the supplies he could get over the counter, then walked up to the cashier to purchase the products and buy anything they had for a sunburn if anything at all. They kept candy on the counter and Lukas must have been peeking because he said, "Mikkel, get me the—"

He reached a hand back, sliding a thumb over his mouth. The cashier turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Did you need something else, mister?"

"Uh, yes! I would like a handful of that candy, please!

The man bagged a handful of hard candies and clicked on the register. "You got a sweet tooth?" He asked, putting some sort of ointment for burns into a bag for him. Mikkel nodded, giving a nervous chuckle. "Yes! Definitely a sweet tooth." Lukas bit down on his thumb and he grimaced, pulling his hand back. The man narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as he slid the bag over and counted his money.

"I've got this, uh… the sunburn, I mean, it's on my back," he lied. The man gave him back his change and said, "I hope it works out alright. You have a good day now, mister."

"You, too! And thank you, sir." When he was out of the store, he took Lukas out of his shirt, tossed him into the bag, and sucked the blood off of his thumb. Once the two were rolling along, he said, "You bit me! I can hardly believe it."

"Your thumb was in my way."

"Well you shouldn't have spoken! I told you not to and what do you do? You speak. Be more careful, please," he scolded. The fairy keened from inside the bag and popped up, giving him a look. "No, you stop that! I don't feel bad," Mikkel said. The fairy continued to look at him for the entire ride and at the end of it, his face twisted like he might cry. The man gave in. "Fine! It was my fault and I am terribly sorry for being unkind. Are you happy?"

The fairy chirped softly and sat on his shoulder, resting against his neck. "You were being upsetting."

"Alright, alright. I was being upsetting," he repeated, smiling as he carried the bags inside and gave him a piece of candy that was still overwhelmingly big for him. Mikkel unpacked the supplies and began to cook dinner. "Lukas?"

The fairy was trying to fit more of the candy in his mouth, but was unsuccessful. "What, Mikkel?" He dropped the candy onto the table with a soft thud and rubbed his jaw. "Is it a question?"

"Well, yes, actually! I don't mean to ask so many, but I'm trying to compile a book."

"Books seem good. Ask me the question."

"Why hasn't anyone seen fairies? Do you all hide?"

Lukas picked up the candy again, licked it a few times, and laid down with it in his arms. "I don't know. To be safe? I am small, you are big. There are scary things, like animals. I got hurt."

"What? You were hurt? When you were hurt?"

The fairy shivered as he thought back to a run-in he'd had with an animal. He couldn't recall the name. It wasn't nearly as big as Mikkel, but it was big enough to hurt him with its sharp teeth. "A wolf hurt my neck," he exclaimed, pointing to a scratch on the back of his neck. Mikkel examined it with a microscope. "Lukas, we don't have wolves here. It must have been something else. It wasn't very big, from the looks of it."

"I was afraid, Mikkel. It was big."

"I know. I understand you were afraid, Lukas. I don't mean to offend!"

Lukas grumbled something intelligible, but didn't seem upset otherwise. Mikkel finished cooking in silence and gave the fairy his food. Once he'd eaten, he said, "Feelings. A feeling to hide when you hear a noise behind a tree. And fear. That is why I ever hid."

Mikkel wrote down his answer. He could have guessed the answer himself, but he wanted to hear it from the fairy and not assume, but his assumption would have worked. The fairies hid on instinct, just as animals did.