" no it is not acceptable!" Dewdrop said.
The Fairy Queen sighed. "It will have to do."
And so it came to be, that Dewdrop had to settle in her new life. Days had passed now, days of observing, and watching.. occasionally learning something new from Cornelius, but mostly watching her parents fret over her disappearance. It was like a slow sinking terror she could never forget, as the emotions just boiled to the brim.
" this really sucks," She thought to herself. It was hard to describe as she watched the threads of her life fall away. The boy she once was had disappeared for an hour. Possibly it could be explained. Teenagers got up to odd things when they fancied. He would be back soon, perhaps before dinner... Dewdrop observed the plate at the table being set for her. She could smell sausages and mashed potatoes with peas.
Then it became a day.. a night...
Police were called...
Another day...
More tears, distress, sadness- all felt like a constricting tightness upon her fairy body.
Dewdrop watched it all, from the simple overhead lamp of her bedroom as they sought sign or reason for why he might have disappeared. "Oh please don't go through my web history!" she face-palmed as they examined the computer. Penny of course now knew to act as a toy, whenever adults were around and Alice knew to keep her flying a secret for now.
Alice knew of Dewdrop's existence. But even if she did tell anyone, telling the grown-ups her brother had turned into a fairy-girl and was 'still around' would have just raised a few eyebrows at her 'coping mechanism' for this situation and loss of her beloved brother...
A lot of the time she spent watching her mother, who cried daily. Mrs Harper blamed herself, blamed the world but was trying to be strong for Alice. While her mother slept, Dewdrop made the somewhat difficult journey to the bed to offer what comfort she could. She didn't want Cornelius to help her in this, for the simple reason that this was.. personal. She pulled herself up to her face, as she slept on a pillow.
"...I'm sorry Mom.. so.. sorry" she cried quietly as she hugged close to her face. The little fairy rested upon her cheek, in silent sorrow. This was as close as she could get.
Cornelius waited for her, then returned to pick her up and take her back to their little 'nest' of sorts behind the bookshelf. "Dewdrop, why are you so sad?" He asked. "I must admit this whole thing confuses me."
The young fairy looked shaken. "I've just lost my whole life," She whispered with an edge to her voice that made Cornelius step back. She stared at him, daggers in those green eyes. Straight into his mind. "You... your people have made my life utterly unbearable." The sentence was too much as she collapsed into a heap, her eyes down and sullen. If it were not for the fact she could still connect and talk to Alice, she had no doubt she would have gone completely mad.
Cornelius looked even more surprised. " and you do not wish to marry me?" He asked tilting his head.
" is that another rule?" The young girl demanded, with shaking fists. "Are you now going to 'force' me into marrying you? I'm not a girl you- you-" and now she realised, a fairy had trouble swearing. ".. Berry-nose!"
Cornelius cleared his throat. "Well, it's... not a rule more of a tradition. You remove a curse, and thus live happily ever after with your betrothed."
" Right. Well... that's one tradition that's going out the window," Dewdrop said rubbing her temple. "I've been watching my mother and father cry all week of me being gone. There are weird magical items in the world, and I can't do anything but hide in this bookshelf. I want to go to school, see my friends, I want to see what happened... but your 'Queen' is more a tyrant then anything else, controlling everything I can do." As an act of some minor defiance, she used her new wand to change her clothes into something she more 'typically' wore. Her lovely dress changed into a set of jeans and a boyish shirt.
" it's honestly best you not speak ill of her," Cornelius insisted as he watched her change those clothes. It was... not very faltering to her look, but she still had a lovely face. Still they were not on any task, so technically she could wear whatever she wanted. Right now, anyway.
"She's not my Queen, I am a free citizen. We don't do the whole 'royal thing'. What's the deal with this!" She demanded angrily.
Cornelius rubbed his chin. "It is I admit, quite perplexing. Humans that join us is a rare thing indeed, but not completely unheard of. I knew one that was an orphan, who faced a terrible life of hardship in the 17th century. After her parents died of plague, she wondered the woods and found us... she became one of us. She lives a comfortable life in the Fairydom and has had many children of her own."
"It's different when a person already had a life. The life you are forcing upon me, results in the death of another life. What does your philosophy of serving life say to that?"
" I... I don't know," the male fairy admitted. "But, you can't have been made a fairy by accident. There must be a purpose behind this. Titania, Queen of Queens would have prevented this otherwise."
"It doesn't matter," said Dewdrop lying down. "I.. I can't go on like this, I just... can't." What more was there to do... she just wanted to switch off. Forget she was alive. Her depression was giving way to a dark aura upon her skin, as an inky blackness in her heart seemed to give way to wavy patterns of energy.
"You've been... putting off the Tasks," said Cornelius concerned. He swallowed as he saw the first sign of the Dark in her. This.. really was not good. "It's wise to accomplish at least one a day. It would.. not go well otherwise. We might get a visitation from a Task minder."
"I didn't sign up for this! I'm not.. doing anything more until I get an answer. I don't even know the laws of this 'fairydom', but it's unfair. It's wrong!" she looked so angrily. How dare they... just... how dare they turn her into a girl, and make her into some kind of 'slave'. Maybe that was not the intention, but that is how it felt. She couldn't fly, she couldn't do anything. Just be picked up and dropped off by her 'suitor'.
Cornelius placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know it must be a difficult adjustment... but I do believe in you, Dewdrop." He used what power he had, to contain the darkness in her heart. "You have to understand, fairies do not... have the same level of free will, as a human could enjoy, though certainly more then a Djinn. We are an Elder race, older then dragons, elves, and many. Without the tasks, we go astray... and what befalls a fallen fairy can be as terrible as any Angel..."
Dewdrop wasn't really listening. All she could do was feel the sadness in the walls of this house. Even Alice was not completely unaffected by it. " I need to do something," she said. " can I .. make my family forget me. Forget I ever existed. Make the pain go away."
".. such is possible, easily. With the right Glamour spell, we can hide your room such that nobody would ever know it was here. Humans need never have known of you, and it would pass as a wave through your world. Memory alteration is a very simple magic for accomplished fey-folk."
" and that would make my parents happier, right? To have never known me?" She cried softly. So many tears, as she never thought about.. what her family really meant to her. Now it was her, who was about to cut the final string. Once there was no memory of her, there would be no sadness. How could she make her parents bare this pain, if she could make it go away? True she would be the only one remembering them but.. it would have to be.
" let's consider it as an option," Cornelius said obviously noting the pain this was causing her, but grateful that the dark seemed to be contained. "In the mean time, I can take you to this school and see what has befallen them if that is your concern."
"What's the point. I can't do anything."
"You can't be seen, and can't talk to adult humans. That is far from not being able to 'do anything'... and if it pleases you, I swear a vow. I will do everything in my power, to seek a way for you to become human, and return to your family, for as long as you desire this to be. My Sacred Vow." He used his wand to write this, upon his own Tasks.
Dewdrop looked in wonder. "You.. can give yourself your own tasks?"
" just one."
