Wingless Mors

Wings

{•°•°•°•}

"Dewberry, Bramble, Why are you so late?"

Bramble smiled sheepishly at the woodland fairy before us as we closed the oak door and I answered first,

"Forgive us, mother, I was hiding in the leaf bush to scare Bramble."

She gave a tut and tucked a loose strand of light ash brown hair behind her long ear, rubbing her finger against my cheek probably wiping away some dirt. Her eyes seemed to gaze right into me, all the way from my eyes to my wings.

I waited for her to speak, to tell me something that maybe I should know but instead she snapped her head to Bramble who waited mostly to be scolded.

A sigh slipped from her lips as she ran a hand through his spiky hair after which she waved a hand to both of us and gestured to the leaf table, I barely thought as I sat in front of my small leaf plate with berries of reds and purple waited.

Bramble sat beside me while watching our mother pick up her stick-fork, her voice sliced through the silence.

"You two know better than to be so far from the grotto, it's not safe out there."

"But mother the fairy palace is so far from us, the nearest town is an hours' flight. The only thing dangerous around here are the animals tha-"

Mother slammed her fist against the leaf almost damaging its fragile form,

"Dewberry! You are not allowed to go past the border. Whether it's to scare Bramble or get more food, you stay here."

She spelt out the last few syllables as I went silent feeling the berry in my mouth go sour, Bramble cleared his throat before talking to her again.

"Mother perhaps it's best that we-"

"We are not pushing the border further. You two don't understand the danger outside of the grotto..."

She let out a deep breath before flying closer to us and hugging us.

"I love you both so much, both of you are troublemakers but please," she looked into our eyes pleadingly. "Just please stay inside the borders."

My eyes darted to Bramble and we gave a short nod,

"Yes, mother."

{•°•°•°•}

For the rest of the day Thistle slashed her sword at her opponent barely paying attention to their voice, in her head she screamed at herself. She may be the royal general of the Fairy palace but even with what power she had it was never enough to make a difference, not as long as Flutilia decided otherwise.

If it was up to her then no fairy would've been missing with unexplained circumstances, eventually, the fairy stopped swaying her sword bending down to regain her breath.

The guard in front of her offered a bottle of sweetened milk, a natural favourite. Of course, she took a swig of the liquid and relaxed a little, she ordered the guard back to his post before fluttering back into the palace.

Her eyes gazed over the small bluebell houses below, all leading up to the biggest in the meadow.

"Thistle."

She glanced up at Flutilia who was at the entrance of the largest bluebell, she held a scroll in her arms and waved her closer.

They gilded side by side with dense air between them, Thistle needed no instruction on which room to enter next.

She turned her attention to Flutilia after the petal doors closed,

"What is it?"

"I have to tell you something..."

Her eyes darted at the queen, attentively.

"You know of our history right? How mortals and fairies mingled together for many years before the new era."

She gave a firm solemn nod,

"They killed hundreds of us, pinned against boards and experimented on...ripped our wings off."

The mention of ripped wings makes them both shiver before Thistle continued.

"Why do you ask sister?"

She pulled open the scroll and placed it on another leaf table, it was detailed with knowledge of the past and involved their parents.

Thistle tilted her head in confusion before reading the scroll with Flutilia,

"Thistle, a while back when our grandparents ruled the Fairies they made sure that all fairies stopped believing in mortals being real. Only the royal line would know the truth and it's because of that decision many of us have lived in peace, but our family always feared the return of mortals and although many have forgotten our existence..."

She laid out an item on the table, clearly using magic to make it smaller, it was a painting of some sort. It was at that moment Thistle's eyes widened recognising them as mortals with short round ears, no wings and odd clothing.

"This was recovered from the last area the fairies were seen, sister...these fairies are not missing. They have been fairy-napped and by mortals, but most of all..."

She took a deep breath,

"They lead towards the furthest of our kingdom, the Treefair town."

Thistle glanced down at the scroll and item, her eyes distant before hearing Flutilia speak softer now as if in a whisper.

"Thistle...I have never told you this as our parents warned me not to until the day was right, I fear that day is now. You must understand I always wanted...the fairies in that town? There is a Woodland fairy family there we must visit,"

She paused hesitantly.

"Our answers will be there."