The elder inspected Alta and Icasondra with confidence as she sat bored on her vine throne. The green woman shifted slightly her posture, her bountiful breasts jiggling copiously and threatening to spill out of her leaf clothes.
“Oh, my~” She sang. “Icasondra, it has been a long while since you visited.”
The Moonlight fairy nodded along with a slight bow. “Greetings, elder.”
“Elder? Please, call me Flrynwydl as always.” The woman added with a seductive yet motherly smile. “Who’s the cute fairy you brought?”
Alta remained impassive before the woman, her feet touching the wood floor of the tree’s canopy. And whilst her face was serious and intimidating, her thoughts were rather lax. Why does everyone have to have complicated names? The chimera had difficulties memorizing the myriad of new words, and the fact that every inhabitant of the village had progressively more complicated names didn’t help.
“She’s Alta, a Blossomflame fairy,” Icasondra responded.
“Is she, truly?” The green lady asked.
“Yes, I know that you haven’t known a Blossomflame fairy but she is-“
“That’s not what I meant with my question, Icasondra.” The woman raised her voice, more serious and less amicable than before. “I have lived around fae for eons, and that is no fairy. Tell me, creature, what are you?”
The green lady’s voice turned hostile as she directed toward Alta. The air in the room became stale and the Blossomflame fairy could smell the salty sweat trickling down Icasondra’s nape as she became fearful once again. Alta readied the biomass just in case, and while she admitted that the creature before her wasn’t a prey but a hunter, she knew when a hunt was about to begin. And now it wasn’t the time, or her instincts told her.
“A chimera.” She responded dryly, unbothered by the threats of the elder.
The elder inspected Alta closely, still casually sitting on her throne without a shed of worry. The woman’s eyes were unlike anything Alta had seen. Not corporeal like the ones fairies and humans had, nor spiritual like those of the flames of the wardens. Something in between. A pair of white eyeballs with lime accentuations. No irises whatsoever, only sclera, but the chimera knew she was looking directly into her eyes.
“I have not heard of such race, I’m afraid.” The elder replied, unsure of Alta’s statements.
“If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem.” The Blossomflame-shifted chimera explained, enlivening the flames on her back menacingly. “But what are you then?” Alta continued. “You are not a fairy but feel similar to them.” To their magic.
“You are right, chimera.” The elder added with a derogative jab. “I’m a spirit, one of the fae, but not a fairy.”
She stood up, her curvaceous figure being highlighted by the sunlight filtering through the leaves of the canopy behind her. The spirit was massively tall, beyond the three-meter mark, two-thirds of that being her legs alone.
The elder gazed down at Alta, yet it was impossible to intimidate a shape-shifting creature with size, as her own size could shift massively bigger than the green lady.
Seeing that her demonstration of power didn’t work out, the elder finally opened her dark green lips.
“I am a dryad, nature spirit, keeper of the Evergreen, and leader of this village.”
Alta looked up unamused but satisfied with the information. But I can also play that game.
Crunching sounds were heard in the room as out of nowhere the Blossomflame fairy grew taller, her legs extending upwards. For the onlookers, it would have seemed that only her arms shrink, but in reality, her torso was the more affected part, becoming so thin that it was unsuitable for life, yet her fiery red dress covered those details.
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In a matter of seconds, she stood up at a height of two meters. Not even close to going toe to toe against the well-dotted dryad, but her statement was made.
“I see.” The dryad responded unamused, yet unbothered.
She then sat down on her throne, slowly putting one leg on top of the other, her thighs thicker than the whole body of a fairy. The dryad left the leg on the top pointing upwards.
There was no fight, no hunt. Only two hunters showing their claws and jaws.
“Flrynwydl.” She stated after a while.
“Alta.” The chimera replied.
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Icasondra held her breath as she looked at the standoff. The situation was tense. Too tense. She wouldn’t have brought Alta to Flrynwydl if she had known this was going to happen. It was too much for her little heart.
Alta had shifted, moving the biomass, as she called it, from her arms onto her legs and growing taller. Her figure looked sickly, yet now she stood taller after Flrynwydl had sat down. They looked at each other with hateful understanding, a shed of respect in their expression.
The dryad tiredly gazed at them, but with a hint of hatred Icasondra had never seen coming from the motherly spirit.
“Icasondra.” Flrynwydl said, breaking the silence.
“Y-yes?” She responded without hiding the fear in her voice.
“Did you find the chimera in one of your outings?” Even as she lay on her throne, she stood far above the Moonlight fairy. Her authority, not just of the leader of the village, but of raw power, loomed over Icasondra.
“Yes, Flrynwydl.” The fairy nodded obediently. “I found her on the Barren Lands.”
The dryad raised a brow. “Icasondra.”
“Yes?” She responded with a more controlled voice, yet her fear only intensified.
“Didn’t I tell you to not go to the Barren Lands?”
“Yes, Flrynwydl.” Instead of a nod, Icasondra now looked down.
“Humans are becoming rather aggressive as of late, and the only reason why they haven’t tried any foolish stuff is because the Barren Lands deter them from coming to the Evergreen, but that doesn’t mean they don't cross the lands from time to time. It’s a dangerous place.” Flrynwydl looked at the Moonlight fairy’s expression. “Icasondra.” She called her once more.
“Y-y-yes?” It was getting difficult for her to talk, memories flowing back to her. That had been just yesterday, in the end.
“You found humans, didn’t you?” At this point, Icasondra couldn’t muster any more words, her throat itching and hurting as she had never felt before, yet she nodded at her mentor and mother’s question. Flrynwydl sighed. “Oh, you foolish child. Come here.”
The dryad opened her arms and Icasondra rushed onto them, borrowing her small head in the infinitely welcoming bosom of the matron of the village. A warmth embraced the fairy as did the vegetal arms of the dryad, careful not to graze the sensitive wings of the fairy.
“Tell me, what happened?” Flrynwydl whispered to her ears as she caressed her long platinum hair.
“I... I’m sorry.” Icasondra finally broke down, tears coming down from her eyes as a monsoon. “I’m so sorry...” She repeated, not truly knowing what she was even saying.
“Do not be sorry, child.” The dryad put one finger below the fairy’s chin and raised her head. Then she wiped her tears with her green hand. “Now, explain it to me.”
Icasondra remembered the fear and blood, the smells and the vivid colors. It all had happened in such a small window of time that she hadn’t truly processed it, rather thinking that it was a cognitive illusion or a bad dream.
Words slowly poured from her mouth, akin to the tears she was shedding.
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“The humans... they captured me while I was sightseeing.” The child revealed.
It hurt Flrynwydl’s hurt seeing Icasondra like this. Her eyes were opaque, no longer shining like the sapphires they usually were.
“They said they were going to sell me as a slave... and do bad things to me.” The Moonlight fairy began crying once more.
Hearing her words made the dryad’s sap burn. She could only caress her child’s hair and comfort her.
“What happened then?” The words may have been cruel, gnawing into the affected fairy’s wound, but Flrynwydl’s words were bolstered with Life and comfort. She was the calmness of the forest.
But also its wrath.
“Nothing,” Icasondra whispered dryly, “Alta appeared before them and killed them all.”
Flrynwydl looked upon the chimera, who had reverted back into a normal and inoffensive-looking Blossomflame fairy, and wordlessly thanked her. For she would have done the same.
“The blood, the flesh, the bones... it was horrible...” The fairy’s last whisper was almost unintelligible, and she had her on top of her bosom.
Icasondra was pure, too pure. It was surprising considering how she was the only adventurous of all the fairies of the village, the only one who dared to step beyond not only the village but the Evergreen itself. In this case, her bravery was fueled by ignorance rather than courage.
Yet the Moonlight fairy was also the most knowledgeable of the outside, even more than the dryad herself.
But Flrynwydl knew deep down that something like this was bound to happen. Icasondra had only been lucky so far, she was destined to have her childish bubble of fantasy popped and get revealed to the gritty reality.
For now, Flrynwydl sang until her child fell asleep.