Deep in the Teforh Forest not far from the base of the mountain there was a certain village living life as normal this fine evening. The fall wind brought with it a chill and took the leaves to spin around the air before littering the ground like a carpet. Now the bare branches had begun to become quite visible, though the fir trees kept their needles and remained quite green. They alone stood as proof of the forest's usual lush vegetation. In the air was the smell of damp earth and rotting plants as the fall took hold of the mountains.

Fluttering through these trees was a small shape that seemed to be swept to and fro on the wind like a winding leaf. On closer inspection however it revealed itself to be a person, or perhaps human-like creature would be more apt. It was in fact a fairy: a diminutive member of the fey that were known for their mischievous natures and pretty wings. Such a creature hadn't been seen by human eyes in a very long time, though it was clear by now that the world was changing.

This particular fairy went by the name Salferia and she was quite petite at only around four inches in height. Her pretty wings are colored in purple, red, and blue. Draped behind her back was long dark purple hair tied into two pigtails. Her skin was pale and her sparkling eyes were a vibrant emerald. Though lacking in stature it was well made up with by her vibrant personality, which was the reason she was here in the human world.

She was a chronicler for her fairy clan which meant being more adventurous than your average fairy. All that mattered to her was finding and collecting fun and fascinating new stories to share with her friends. It was an obsession, a reason to exist, and what drove her in life. To this end her typical outfit was one of an explorer. She had a fancy brown hat, a nice cloak, nice boots, and a skirt pant combo all in various browns and reds. Around her waist was a thick belt that had all manner of pockets and pouches. There was even a nice grass journal that she used in conjunction with her magical pen to write things down with.

What manner of story could have brought a fairy out of their secret hiding place? The human world had been so boring for so very long. Salferia was only two-hundred and eighty-two years old but she knew just as much as anyone that nothing interesting happened with humans as of late. Not since the great cataclysm when the goddesses all vanished.

Well that's what brought her here actually: a goddess had appeared in the world again! While certainly not a being someone like a fairy wanted to meet personally the human worshipers of the goddess were fine targets for research. That's what this forest-bound village called Doovlin was filled with according to reports. So here she was to find out what fun things they got up to!

Salferia fluttered through the branches of another towering pine tree and gasped when the village came into view. Already it looked like nothing she ever knew with all manner of strange round things reaching out between the buildings. Then she noticed in the middle of the village there was water coming out of one of these long things. The humans had made tiny streams in the air! Coming here was definitely a good idea.

She felt the excitement welling up inside her chest as she flew down closer to ground level, quickly ducking into a nearby bush. There was no sign of the goddess around and none of these humans seemed particularly full of magic meaning there were no mages here either. Just regular helpless humans as far as the eye could see.

She put her hand to her chin to think. Revealing herself wasn't particularly dangerous as she had all manner of magical ways to defend herself from normal humans. However they were still likely to either be afraid of her or hateful towards her. Perhaps she'd view from a distance first and then reveal herself later. Yeah that seemed good.

Which her plan set Salferia flew through the air over the village and headed for the biggest building, the one that had delicious smelling smoke coming from its chimney. These were called inns according to her memory and were places lots of humans gathered to talk to each other. Perfect for information gathering.

Using some simple manipulation of mana she was able to turn herself invisible to slip in the open door undetected. There were only a few humans inside here at the moment which made infiltration even easier. She decided to settle down on a high shelf behind the bar counter, nestling herself between several bottles. Now in her hiding place she dropped the spell and after listening for a short while she learned the names of a few of humans.

First there was the ruler of this building: an older man with dark blue hair named Jackson behind the counter. Second was a bulky man with short black hair and a big beard named Elphonse who was sitting on a stool at the counter. Third was a woman named Deliah who had long blonde hair and brown eyes that seemed quite young. She was mainly in the kitchen. These were the three humans that were closest to the shelf.

Salferia stood there and listened for around an hour, just watching and waiting for something interesting. It seemed however most of the conversation was boring and just about boring human life. No one was mentioning this goddess at all or anything mysterious at all. She sighed and leaned in on one of the bottles as she thought about what she'd do if this lead was a bust. Most of the other humans had left in the time she had been here as well leaving just the three by the counter.

In her apathy the fairy hadn't noticed that the bottle she was leaning against was close to the edge of the shelf. Suddenly she shrieked as the huge wall of glass slipped away from her body and left her swinging her arms to maintain balance. With only a little push even her minuet weight had been enough to send it over the lip and into the air. The bottle fell to the floor and shattered, its contents spilling everywhere.

Jackson whirled around and looked at the bottle on the floor in surprise.

"What the hell?"

The other two humans immediately looked up at the shelf and the woman Deliah pointed directly at the tiny figure standing there.

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"Look there!"

This was normally the part where Salferia would reapply her invisibility spell but she decided against it. Just waiting around for these humans to talk about the goddess was getting her nowhere and she needed to speak to them to make them spill the beans. She thought a goddess existing again would've been seen as a bigger deal to these humans. Yet here they were sitting around as if this goddess was a normal part of life! It honestly confused her and pissed her off.

The tiny fairy stepped forward to the edge of the shelf and took a bow with flair. Then when she stood back up she whipped her pigtails behind her back. She puffed up her chest and tried to speak boldly to keep them on their toes.

"Greetings humans! Yes it is I! The powerful fairy of the forest! Fear me and I shall grant you mercy, become insolent and I shall smite you!"

Of course from the human's perspective her voice was quite squeaky and high pitched. Despite the faint glow around her wings she just appeared as a tiny human no bigger than an adult's palm. None of them were particularly afraid of her and after their initial surprise they actually seemed pretty nonplussed with the fairy.

This in turn caught Salferia by surprise who stopped puffing herself up and just stared in shock at the humans below her. Thus both parties were locked in a stalemate of staring for several moments. Neither were quite sure what to do with the other.

Eventually it was Jackson that lifted his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat. He then walked closer to the shelf and looked at the newcomer, clearly trying to sound polite as he spoke.

"Another one of the goddess's friends I suppose?"

Salferia balked at this and stepped back, then forward again with her hands on her hips. Her face twisted into a scowl.

"Um no! Why would I want to be around a goddess? They're powerful and scary!" Her face then changed to a frown as she pointed at Jackson's face. "You humans are the dummies that stumble around at their feet!"

It was Jackson's turn to be insulted and he took a step back.

"We do no such thing!"

There was a cough from behind him at Elphonse could be seen covering the grin on his face.

"I don't know what else you'd call it."

Seeing some manner of support from another emboldened Salferia. The fairy also was so caught up in her emotions that she didn't notice the seemingly tame reaction they were having to her appearance. So with a huff she turned around with her hands on her hips.

"You dickles have left me standing here for an hour listening to your idle prattle. All I wanted was to hear about this goddess and only now you're bringing her up. Humans!"

Elphonse put aside the small tankard of drink he had been sipping and sat up on the stool.

"Well if you wanted to hear about Goddess Jenna all you had to do was ask."

This made Salferia even more confused and she turned back around to face them.

"But... I'm fey. Shouldn't you be afraid of me or try to kill me?"

Jackson let out a laugh and stepped back to lean on the counter so the little fairy had her space. Just another way the old man was considerate of others.

"Honestly with what we've seen in the last year having a fairy show up isn't that frightening. Also we've no need to be afraid of you. You don't seem like the evil type. What're you doing here anyway?"

All of this was quite overwhelming for Salferia's little fairy brain. Humans that had no negative reaction to fairies and seemed to unafraid of goddesses as well. They were just standing there conversing with her as if nothing was out of the ordinary. What was with these humans?

"I'm here to learn about the goddess" she replied. "Why else would a fairy come visit stupid and boring humans?"

Elphonse scratched his chin and looked up at her again.

"Aren't you a bit- well small to be out adventuring alone?"

This made Salferia angry again and she crossed her arms over her chest with a pout. She even closed her right eye to try and give the human a stink eye glare.

"I'll have you know I'm two-hundred and eighty-two years old! I'm a responsible and capable grown up!"

It was at the same time the fairy was explaining this that the woman Deliah walked into the room. She was looking around in confusion.

"What's going on out here? Who are you- Eek!"

When she spotted the fairy on the shelf she suddenly stumbled backwards and shrieked in alarm. She might have even fallen over if not for the door frame being there so she could catch herself.

"A fairy! We need to escape!"

All three of them turned to look at the woman as she stumbled to her feet. This was the reaction expected of a human when a fairy was found among them and it made Salferia feel vindicated.

Jackson walked over to help the woman stand up again.

"Now now Deliah. There's no reason to panic. She's just here to ask about the goddess is all."

Deliah clung to her savior and looked fearfully at the fairy on the shelf.

"Really? She's not here to turn us all into mice or something horrible?"

This prompted Salferia to laugh like a little ringing bell.

"I might!"

With a sigh Elphonse shook his head.

"Nah! You wouldn't do that. Then you couldn't hear about the goddess after all."

The little fairy went back to pouting and turned away from him. She clearly didn't like her bluff being called out.

Deliah had been left to stand on her own now and adjusted her clothing to try and preserve her dignity. She then stood up tall and proud.

"Well if you want to know the goddess I'll tell you she's very merciful. I used to be a prostitute at a terrible brother until Goddess Jenna appeared. She took me to this village and allowed me and many others to live here. I tried working here at this inn and have since come to enjoy it."

"That's right" Jackson said nodding. "You're a hard worker and are quite pleasant to everyone you meet. I'm happy to have you here helping me and my wife run the place."

Deliah smiled and blushed some. "It's a nice feeling serving others. Though here I'm not being exploited to do so."

It was Elphonse who spoke up again next.

"Indeed. Our goddess has a way of improving the lives of anyone she meets. This village was just an old struggling settlement with only a lumber mill to our names. That was before she showed up and changed everything. Even got us our fine defensive walls that she built herself for the most part." He winked up at the fairy. "You'll find she's quite capricious though, not unlike a fairy."

Salferia decided she wanted to meet this goddess. She seemed quite unlike anything she'd heard of before, not the horrible type of ruler like the ones from the past. However a goddess was still extremely dangerous so it was lucky to have three of her worshipers here as potential hostages in case things went sour.

With a huff she fluttered down to the bar counter in front of Elphonse. She then lifted up her right hand and pointed at each of them individually, turning herself around to do so.

"I've decided I want to meet this 'Goddess Jenna' and all of you will make this so or I'll turn you into bugs!"

Jackson held up his hands defensively.

"Now hold there. We can't just summon her-"

"Yes you can" Salferia retorted cutting him off. "If you three pray to her you can bring her here." She put her hand on her chin. "Tell her... Tell her 'if you want to know how to avoid death as a goddess come visit me.' That'll work."

The three humans all looked at each other in confusion and a bit of fear. Now this fairy was actively threatening them and they had no idea if the goddess would actually come here at their summons. Just the idea of it seemed bizarre, not to mention the thing they were supposed to be praying to her. At this point however they didn't have a choice. So they all bowed their heads and began to pray out loud, adding in the request for safety in to the message internally.