Hailey Aerys held her practice bow tightly in her small hands. She aimed at the bull's eye hanging on the old red cedar tree outside of Aerys Manor.

"I've got you this time," she mumbled to herself, as she pinched the soft feathers of the readied arrow between her fingers against the left side of her bow. Hailey closed her right eye and took a deep breath.

Hailey was the youngest of Reid Aerys' children. She was a very shy girl in public but energetic and fiesty with her family.

Hailey was a very petite young girl with very long wavy light-brown hair that covered most of her face, and hung down past her elbows. 'Have you ever had a hair cut?' Everyone would ask her as if it had never been said. She had, but not many. And never were the barbers allowed to shorten it. Her unordinarily long hair was her pride and joy.

Hailey's long hair hid her big round ears, and covered her two eyes that slightly differed in colour; on the left was an eye of hazel, while on the right was an eye of bright green. Under her veil of hair were freckles sprinkled across her face and a little gap separated her crooked smile. She was very insecure about many things and her hair comforted her and protected her from the world around her.

Hailey released her arrow from the bow and fired at the bull's eye- missing the target completely.

"Fuck," Hailey sighed.

Her arrow had disappeared into the brush and out of sight.

"Like this, Hailey," spoke her older sister Mia, "You've got to hold the arrow like this."

Mia Aerys was a pretty girl. She had a kind and caring heart, though. Hailey wished she had Mia's perfect features; her nice smile, her captivating pale blue eyes, with her silky blonde hair that she wore in a stylish low ponytail.

Hailey's hair was rarely brushed and always messy. Her sister Mia looked abnormally pretty. It was as if she was born from out of the silk stone sculpture of an ancient goddess, Hailey thought, like as if an old statue was to crumble and fall away she would emerge from within it. 

Mia held her arrow against the right side of her bow. Mia took a deep breath, holding it.

Releasing her readied arrow Mia skillfully pierced the bull's eye in the center circle.

Her sister was also a skillful archer. She held her supply of arrows in her draw hand while firing her bow. It was a strange but impressive technique. Most preferred using a quiver to store arrows around their back or sides. Mia preferred them on hand for faster shots accompanied with her superb accuracy.

Mia was far faster at hitting her targets than Raimes was, and far more accurate than her father Reid was. But, Mia's perfect shot didn't impress Hailey. Mia had practiced on the same target for weeks and knew that she could hit the center target.

"Bull's eye!" Mia announced clapping excitedly with a big smile.

"Show off," mumbled Hailey as she reached for another arrow in her quiver.

"Amazing shot," Hailey's eldest brother Raimes congratulated Mia, patting her on the back. "Both eyes open as well. I wish I had a shot like that."

Their father Reid Aerys nodded his head in approval as he walked by into Aerys Manor with a smile.

"See that, Mia. Father noticed your shot. He's probably real proud of yeah," whispered Raimes.

"You think?" Mia smiled, blushing.

Hailey shook her head and examined her empty quiver. Mia always seemed to get all of the attention. Only Mum really paid attention to me, thought Hailey. Mum didn't seem to like Mia at all, in that matter.

With her last arrow off in the brush she knew she had to venture into the forest. 

Without the notice of her siblings, Hailey snatched the lit oil lantern hanging on a hook against the stone wall that she leaned against and snuck off into the brush of the woods, stepped along the soft dirt of the forest floor. Her feet sunk into the loose dirt leaving a visible trail of little shoe prints.

'How far did it go?' She wondered, clearing branches from out of her way with her hands.

Her frilly blue gown caught against the finger-like branches of the woods and scrapping against her bare arms and thin stockings covering her legs.

A glowing illuminating light moved along the forest floor, ducking in and out under tangled tree roots and forest weeds and shrubs. It was like a flickering candle. Perhaps a firefly without wings or dandelion wisp, she thought. She chased after it but with each step it moved along further.

Hailey stumbled and tripped over the many obstacles in her path. Her foot caught a wireroot peaking from out of the soft dirt. Her lantern had shattered as it hit a hard chunk of dirt and rock, leaving her in darkness.

Hailey turned around. She had wandered further than she had thought.

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She spun around.

The flickering light had disappeared and left her in the dark of the woods alone.

"Shit," she mumbled, accidentally cutting herself on the broken glass.

'Which way was it?' She thought while wiping the small streak of blood on her blue gown.

A small tear rolled down Hailey's cheek as she sobbed, lost in the dark.

"Eh, you lost?" spoke a feminine voice in her ear.

"Who's there?" Hailey questioned, wiping her eyes and glancing at the silhouette of thin trees surrounding her that all appeared much the same.

Hailey noticed the flickering of a light once again. It illuminated the forest around her. Once again she could see.

She peered over her shoulder.

A very, very miniature being stood on her shoulder pointing up at her.

The being was the height of one of Hailey's tiny fingers and an aura around it illuminated like a lit candle. Hailey gently picked the being up by its clothes with her two fingers and held her up in front of her eyes.

"What are you?" Hailey questioned with her jaw wide open.

"My name is Evie. Evie Brightloom."

Evie was a miniature girl dressed in strange attire. She looked human but with very large blue eyes and blonde hair that floated by itself in the mystical aura of light shining off of her. She must of been a gatherer of sorts as she had several berries in a cloth satchel. She carried a twig spear with a sharp blade at the tip for a weapon. Even though she was very small she looked to be of twenty years of age, thought Hailey.

"But, what are you? Like a pixie of sorts?" questioned Hailey as she placed Evie down on her lap.

Evie held up a juicy red salmon berry from her satchel and took small bite into it. The berry itself was bigger than her tiny head. She chewed away happily while looking up at the enormous Hailey.

"With your big feet we could reach the Spiral Tree in no time," Evie suggested.

"What's that?"

"My home, my colony," she answered with her mouth full, just chewing away.

"I can't go any further into the woods. I've got to find my way home."

Hailey ruffled through a napsack tied to her side and pulled out an empty bottle with a cork top.

"What's that for?" questioned Evie, who dropped her berry and armed herself with her spear.

"I've got to show you to my friends," answered Hailey, popping the top off of the bottle.

Evie darted off of Hailey's lap and leaped onto the dirt below in a panic.

Hailey effortlessly scooped Evie up off of the dirt and dropped her into the open bottle, then sealed it with the cork top.

"I'll let you out once we get back home," assured Hailey.

Hailey held the bottle tightly. It illuminated the forest and allowed her to see. She looked down at the shoe imprints along the soft dirt floor and followed her steps back towards the recognizable paths of the forest. Evie's light had saved Hailey.

Emerging from the forest brush the exhausted Hailey recharged with excitement. She had to show her sister Mia what she had found. Her sister jumped, spooked by Hailey's abrupt appearance and loud noises in the brush. She had been quietly widdling a piece of wood into the shape of a doll in the backyard of the manor.

"You've got to look at this!" Hailey barked excitedly.

"Were you just in the forest?" questioned Mia with a strange look, "You know we're not suppose to go in there."

Hailey opened her napsack and pulled out the bottle.

"Nevermind that, look here!"

"Aye, it's an empty bottle," Mia stared at Hailey, tilting her head with a confused expression.

"Shit, she got out!" sighed a frustrated Hailey, "Be back in a moment."

Hailey darted into Aerys Manor. Her dirt-covered shoes marked the polished halls. Looking at the mess Hailey pulled the buckles from off of her shoes and kicked them off at the entrance and darted into her room, slamming the door.

'You've got to be in the napsack somewhere,' she thought. Hailey frantically emptied the contents of her napsack on the bedroom floor. She could feel what she thought was Evie's movements along her arms but the thought of it made her hairs stand and her head itch. It reminded her of the feeling of a spider down her shirt.

Evie peaked out from the top of Hailey's gown, "You looking for me?"

Evie slid down her gown and landed on the bedroom floor. She darted and gracefully dived under the small opening from where Hailey's bed stood up off of the floor.

"Come back! I just wanted to show you to my friends," she whimpered, sitting on the floor.

Evie watched from safely as Hailey sat on the floor sobbing.