Eri was very happy that morning. Dad had hunted a wild piglet for breakfast and had even let her use his own fire to cook the meat, something he hadn't done in a long time. Moreover, the night before, they had told her an amazing story, this time from Mom. Almost all the exciting stories were from Dad or someone she didn't know. She loved this one.
Early in the morning, they were taking care of the mounts. Peony seemed well-rested; people always felt better around her. She no longer spoke, which was strange, but Eri was sure she understood everything she said and still communicated with head gestures. That morning, for example, she was rubbing her head against Eri's affectionately. Eri gave her a sugar cube and ate another one herself without Dad seeing.
When the sun finished rising, they mounted again. In a few minutes, they were crossing the sky towards the fairy valley. Everything was much easier when you could fly.
The world was really beautiful from above, but Eri preferred to see it from the supply cart, lying in a tent and chatting with Koro. From so far away, you couldn't see the little animals or appreciate nature in the same way.
At one point along the way, Eri dismounted and used her own wings to fly closer to her parents. She stroked Mom's head, gave her a strengthening kiss, and challenged Dad to a race. When she got tired, Peony was ready to receive her. It was like another person always taking care of her, and she didn't have few of those in her life.
Dad, Mom, Mrs. Mera, silly Bestenar, Uncle Jim, Grandpa, Aunt Clessa, Koro, Mr. Pankoro, Mikorin, the gatekeeper, Mom's teacher who smelled bad, the awesome lady who was like Dad but a lady, the chubby king, Queen Eyren, all the people she liked to visit… At that moment, Eri thought about how happy she had been since that wonderful day when she came down from the mountain in Dad's arms. Her smile grew so big that she almost ate a little bug passing by.
Even so, there was something she wanted, but she could never talk about it. Some wishes were better left unsaid, and others were better forgotten. She had asked Mom once, and she had gotten sad.
A few hours later, they finally found the valley. She could even see the clearing with the pond, as if the trees were opening a path for them or indicating the place. Dad signaled that they would land right there.
The clearing looked like any other day. Eri didn't see the fairies and hoped she could hear Peony's voice again there. It had been hard, but she finally remembered that it was precisely there where she heard it for the first time, before she was born. It didn't happen; the unicorn remained silent.
“Eri, now you must return the spear to the pond,” Mom said, placing a hand on her shoulder, but at that moment Peony began shaking her head very insistently.
“What's wrong, Peony?” Eri asked. “Don't you want me to return it? Should I keep it?”
The little unicorn shook her head again.
“So, are we in the wrong place?”
Another shake.
“Maybe…” Dad intervened, “we should wait. That time Eri came here at night and said she saw the fairies.”
This time, Peony seemed to nod while pawing the ground with her right hoof.
The family then decided to wait until nightfall. Eri spent the day exploring the valley with her own wings while her parents talked about complicated things. She found fruits on some trees and brought them back to the clearing in several trips. She was a very strong girl, but if she took too many, they would fall.
When the sky turned the color of her strengthening fire, she hurried back before it turned the color of the flame that made her see strange things. Dad would be angry if it got dark, and she didn't return.
She arrived just in time. Everyone looked at the sky through the leaves of the trees in the clearing, waiting for something to happen.
When the last ray of sun disappeared behind the mountains, lots of little bugs with lights on their backs flew out of the bushes. They were pretty, but Eri remembered well that the fairies were different, brighter, and prettier.
Peony pointed to the pond.
When they looked at it, everyone's reflection was a bit different, not too much. Eri, of course, looked taller, and Dad had a bit of a beard. Mom just had long hair instead of short, as she liked it. The curious thing was a blurry shadow behind them. When they turned around, there was no one there. Eri remembered that the last time, Peony was already with her in the reflection.
“Little princess, I'm glad to see you again,” Eri recognized the voice in her head as Peony's.
“You speak to me again, how happy I am! But we see each other all day.”
“My child, your unicorn is only my conduit, it is not she who spoke to you.”
Everyone could hear the voice because Dad and Mom were looking around for it. They looked up and down, everywhere, but the voice seemed to come from inside, as if it were speaking to them from their heads.
The reflection of the pond turned into a thousand lights, as pure white as the water they floated in. In an instant, they were flying all over the clearing, slowly circling them as if watching, but they conveyed no threat. On the contrary, a sense of peace seemed to be present.
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As if she had always been there, the figure of a woman materialized over the pond, appearing like light itself when a candle is lit. Eri thought she was beautiful. She was tall with long blonde hair, fair skin, and golden eyes like coins. She wore a tunic similar to Aunt Clessa's but much longer, hanging to the ground even though she was flying with wings like the little bugs', only much prettier. Every time she moved, the lights around her moved with her.
“My name is Fae, do not fear. I am simply the eldest of the fairies who care for the creatures of the world. Just as Peony is my emissary, I am the emissary of the Goddess of Peace,” she smiled with that same smile everyone who met Eri for the first time had. Her voice was sweeter than before, reminding Eri of Mom in those early days when they first met.
“Are you the one who spoke to me then?” Eri took the floor, seeing that her parents were too surprised to say anything. “Why did you stop talking to me? Did I do something wrong?”
“Forgive me, little one,” she said with a voice that sounded sincere. “The truth is, I am forbidden to help anyone in battle, but I was able to help you heal people that horrible night. Also, I can only speak to you from dusk until midnight.”
“My mommy sends me to bed at dusk almost every night. That's why we can never talk.”
“That's right, pure-hearted little one. After several centuries of waiting for someone worthy of the silver spear and the sacred mount, I am visited by the offspring of the spear thief, who already has it in her possession. Her wish is so beautiful and so humble, but I cannot grant it…”
Dad and Mom looked even more surprised. Dad was the first to step forward and ask.
“Do you mean that Eri is…?” Dad choked on his words, like that day he had to say the word “fiancée” and Mom got angry.
“Eri is the result of Erina's greatest sin, I'm afraid. I could see it, for I see everything the bearer of the spear does. She tried to end an innocent life: the dragon in the egg. The unicorn horn cannot be used that way; it does not harm the innocent, regardless of their nature. Instead of destroying it, she began to heal it, but the fire was too powerful. It ended Erina and almost ended the life that was just forming inside her. Then, the ancient unicorn horn fused both lives into one, consuming itself completely to give them a chance. The spear remained hidden in the baby's heart until, through Peony and her horn, I could reach her, reach you, pure-hearted little one.”
“I don't understand, ma'am,” Eri had wanted to ask where human babies came from, but Aunt Clessa hadn't had the chance to explain. “Did I come from an egg or not?”
Mom stepped forward. “Yes, my love, at least in part,” she put her hands around Eri's shoulders, not letting her continue asking. “Fairy Fae, we have come to return the silver spear and also to ask, if you permit us, the whereabouts of the dragon king.”
“Princess,” the fairy lady spoke to Mom as Mom spoke to Eri, “the dragon king and I are realities of this world, part of its very essence. It is not the fate of mere mortals to face him, much less defeat him. You have already seen it, Eri. Your destiny is to fight him alongside Peony. But in due time. For now, he rests on another continent, far away. He will not return for many years, until he has regained his power. You took most of it when you were born. And because of that, there will never be a new dragon prince born of the king.”
“If that is the case,” Dad said, “is there any way to defeat him? Or is it possible to reason with him?”
“That is only within Erifreya's reach,” the fairy rose a little above them. “I asked Peony to help me speak with you because after all your sacrifices and your desire to fight the dragon king, you decided to return the spear.”
An image like the one in the pond was reflected in the air itself. It was Eri with her parents, with their eyes closed in front of the pond, making their wish, surrounded by bright lights.
“When you were here,” Lady Fae said to them, “like everyone else, you made a wish. Fairies are generous beings; we give people who reach us something they desire or put them on the path to achieving it. For you, instead, I helped with your mission to find the pegasus. For your wish is beyond my reach, only a creator god like the Goddess of Peace herself could grant it.”
“Lady Fae,” Eri looked at her sadly, her wish was very important, “can I talk to her? To the Goddess of Peace?”
“You already do, little one, every time you clasp your hands and close your eyes.”
“But she never answers me.”
“The Goddess of Peace speaks to you through the world itself. I have never heard her voice or been in her presence. You must believe that your words are heard.”
“So, is it possible that if I ask a lot, a lot, a lot, she will grant it?”
The beautiful fairy smiled sweetly in response. Little Eri knew that when people didn't answer her questions, it was because they didn't know either but didn't want to admit it. Adults were too complicated.
“Are you ready now, little dragon princess? If you give me the spear, it will not be in the pond. I will take it from this world until the Goddess chooses a new bearer.” The fairy extended a gentle hand as she crouched down to be at Eri's level.
“Yes, ma'am,” Eri placed her hand on her heart again, and with a glow, the spear began to emerge from her chest. Eri took it to pull it out. It was incredible that it appeared from that light in her heart, as if it had been embedded there. When it was out, she placed it in Fae's hand, where it turned into a little ball of light, similar to those surrounding the clearing, before flying around and disappearing.
The silence that followed the act was brief but significant. The mission accomplished, should something else happen? Eri remembered that heroes usually received rewards from fairies in stories. But at the same time, she felt bad expecting a reward for doing the right thing. She was returning something stolen, like when the bad kids took Mikorin's ball. Eri just wanted her friend to smile again.
The lights became more subtle, revealing the form behind each one. Indeed, they were fairies, in the shape of beautiful women wearing outfits made of a shiny material. Their small wings, similar to those of dragonflies, moved frantically. Each tiny face was smiling at her. Eri was so proud of always having been right about them and so happy to see their smiles that hers was the widest of all.
The bright beings surrounded them once more, flying close to them and forming lines of light that enveloped them, just before suddenly disappearing as if they had never been there. Fae herself was nowhere to be seen.
The family found themselves in the dark in the middle of the clearing until Eri lit the firewood Dad had gathered. They decided to spend the night there, talking about what the future might hold for them. They didn't have a tent, so they lay down near the fire, under the stars.
Shortly after midnight, when the family was asleep, exhausted from a long journey, whispers could be heard, the echoes of their wishes. The ones they had made that day.
“If only I could leave them…”
“It's just that I always wanted to give my husband and my daughter…”
“I want to know what it's like to have one for real, and my parents never talk about it…”
The next morning, Mom said she felt a strong pain in her lower abdomen, under her belly.