The Fairy Isles

3. The Bellwater Festival

It looks like the whole village is at the Festival with how busy it is! The Bellwater Festival is the largest Festival held on our Isle. It is the second largest Festival in all of the Fairy Isle's! It always blows my mind how popular and crowded it gets this time of the year. We have all the students who have left the village for schooling back, all the travelling merchants, many representatives from the neighboring races like vampires and werewolves, and of course Fairies visiting from all of the Isle's. The Royal Court used to come for the Festival as well, but they haven't appeared at a Festival since the Princess was lost. Poor Queen Adeile and King Finnegan, my heart physically hurts whenever I think of what they have gone through, losing their only daughter. All of the Isle's knew that it was difficult for them to conceive, and they most likely won't have another child. I always think it's a little odd how much it affects me when I think about it, but I am very empathetic, so it must just be that. There is no need to dwell on things that I can't do anything about. It's time to enjoy the Festival! Lucy asks me, "What are you the most excited for this year, Aurora?" And I can't help but answer."You know my favorite part is always the games! I always love the flower game." The flower game is where you use your magic to get the flower bulbs to grow into the biggest and most colorful flower for the whole night. Mine is always the winner, I just can't help it with how my magic works. It's just as competitive as I am! I ask Lucy, "What are you excited for Lucy?" And she responds with,"I can't wait to see our friends Lilac and Bess back from school! It will be cool to hear about their experiences so far. I hope I get into Berkton Academy." Lucy has been wanting to go to Berkton Academy her whole life. With her parents as the village leaders, she's always had a great chance at getting into Berkton Academy. I have a chance with my magic being so strong, but I'm still not confident I will get in. They only take on so many students, and this year has more eligible students with a high magic strength, so it will be tough. I'm not too worried though, I've got plenty of options for work in my village so I don't need more of an education to succeed and be happy in life. I do hope Lucy gets in, though. I know it would make her so happy. I tell her, "We all know that you're definitely getting into Berkton Academy! Don't stress about it too much." She agrees and grabs my hand to pull me over to our friends Lilac and Bess when we notice them waving and walking our way. Lilac gets to us first and throws her arms around me for a hug while Bess and Lucy hug. Lilac says "Oh how nice it is to see you two! School has been so boring with just Bess!" Which prompts Bess to lightly smack her arm and say,"Like you could be bored with how often you're seeing a new man!" Causing them both to start laughing. "We all know exactly how Lilac is, tell us something we don't know!" Says Lucy. Lilac responds with, "Nothing new at school honestly, just learning and waiting for the festival so we coil see each other." Prompting me to say, "Well then, it looks like it's time to enjoy the Festival! Let's go play some games!" My friends all agree, so we go to play the games. "Wow, Aurora, your flower is the largest it's ever been! Your powers have grown so much since you got them, I bet you will make it into Berkton Academy. We would have the best time if we were all going to school together!" Exclaims Bess and Lucy respond with."Oh, that would be a dream!" As they both squeal in excitement thinking of the possibilities of that causing Lilac to intergect, "Why don't we save the excitement for when everyone actually gets into the school? Then we can have a big celebration." Lucy responds with, "That sounds like a great idea! Now let's go get some food, I'm starving!" Everyone giggles at that, Lucy is always starving. As we start heading towards the food, I say to everyone, "Save me a seat, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick!" They agrees so I break off towards the bathrooms.

As I near the bathrooms, I can hear two voices having a heated conversation, and I recognize one as my boyfriend Claude, so I get closer to listening and possibly calm the situation down. My boyfriend can get worked up easily, and I don't want him getting into trouble at the Festival. As I get closer, I can hear my boyfriend say, "I think we found the lost Princess, Dad." What? Why are they talking about finding the lost Princess? I hear his Dad say something about testing her magic, and Claude responds with, "I've been testing her, I think she's the one!" Who the heck has he been testing? I try to listen for a response, but I only heat parts of what his Dad says back. "We need to be sure.... Can't get away... Aurora.... we need to get rid of her. This Princess will be yours, son." Wait, what? Are they trying to get rid of me? Are they trying to find the lost Princess so they can take advantage of her position? I hear a few more muffled words, then they start making their way towards me, and I run off to the bathroom so they don't catch me snooping. What am I going to do about Claude? I might have to break up with him so they don't try to get rid of me or something. They must want me out of the way since they think they found the lost Princess. I've always known his Dad is dangerous, but I was hoping Claude would be different. As I leave the bathroom, I hear Lucy yell for me. "Aurora, we got you food!" As she approaches me hovering her food and mine in front of her. Her magic has been focused on hovering items for her since she came into them. She loves being able to do that! My friends distracted me from the conversation that I heard while we enjoyed our food together. Bess throws away our garbage and comes back yawning. "Well, I'm exhausted! It's time for us to head home and go to bed. Let's all get together tomorrow so we can hang out more before Lilac and I have to go back to school. Hopefully, both of you will be chosen and meeting us at Berkton Academy soon!" I respond while hugging Lilac. "They always begin announcing students they day after the Festival, and they make sure all announcements are made before the week is over. Won't take long for us to know if we will see you soon!" Bess and I hug while Lucy says."I think we will both get in! We will all be together at school soon! Have a safe walk home, and we will definitely see you tomorrow! Good night, ladies." They walk towards their homes. They are neighbors, and it won't take them long to get home. Lucy and I always go home after eating at the Festival, so we start walking home together. We get to Lucy's house, and we hug goodbye while she says, "Get home safe, Aurora, and let me know when you're awake tomorrow so we can all meet up!" I respond with."Of course, Lucy. Sleep well!"

As I get closer to my house, I see Elder Agnes, and she says, "Look at you, shining so bright in your festival dress! Your shining just as bright as your magic, almost as steong as Queen Adeile! You're almost as powerful as they predicted Princess Celeste to be when she was born. You have great things ahead of you. The path will be difficult, though!" She doesn't even stop as she says this. he just continues walking on like nothing happened. What a strange thing for an elder to say! I haven't dwelled on it too long since I've just arrived home. I get inside and up to my room without seeing my parents, I'm sure their dancing the night away at the Festival. I get dressed in my pajamas and use magic to get rid of my makeup and brush my hair so I can go to sleep.