When Stars Fall

Chapter 5 - How Stars Fall

In the heart of the Neverland Jungle, where vines hung like snakes from the treetops and the calls of various animals mingled in the dark of night with the chirping of crickets, stood the gnarled sister tree of Hangman's Tree. One might have thought it was easy to find such a colossus among the smaller trees; after all, its crown towered over the tallest giants of the jungle. However, since only Peter and a few others in Neverland were able to fly, everyone else was left to search on foot ... and having often witnessed even the native people or the pirate pack get hopelessly lost in the endless paths of thickets and shades of green, the leader of the Lost Boys was convinced that a fairy spell protected the tree.

When he searched for the way to the tree, he followed his nose, his gut feeling, and the ringing of Tinkerbell alone. Otherwise, he would have been lost in the ever-changing paths between bushes full of inviting honey-golden berries or cotton candy-rosy blossoms. The little folk was cunning and not easy to figure out. Not without reason, Peter in particular had a special relationship with them. Their heart was always full of chaos and you never knew if they wanted to do you good or bad or if their view also agreed with those of the 'lucky' one. This bond had made him and Tink friends and made the little people tolerate the boy near the tree.

Sometimes he would come to watch the Eternal Dance. Among the countless roots of the fairy tree, which dug into the earth like tentacles or rose from it in some places, was one of the ballrooms where the fairies celebrated their endless feasts. Even though he had seen this spectacle hundreds of times before, it was always breathtaking how the timeless beings turned and moved, far from the sticky threads of reality, as if they only had to reach out and reshape them. Wings fluttered between golden shimmer, fragile and more fragile than the thinnest glass.

But woe to him who underestimated the Fae and their countless offspring, which stretched like leaves on tree branches under the most diverse names into all realms of legends and stories. While he always forgot everything again, surrendered to the ease of forgetting, and lived into the day, these beings were the epitome of eternity. He usually came only for fun and games, to race the fairies in the air, or to catch a glimpse of the fairy rulers. Today, however ... he had not come for that.

With a soft groan, Peter pushed his way through the old tree's roots. The passage was so narrow that even a boy like him already had trouble fitting through. Tink flew ahead, seeming to show him the way between the tangle, and the old branches made a little room for the guest in their unhurried way. Some of the leaves on his clothing came loose from the rough bark and tumbled in a roundelay into the depths before he finally let himself sink the last bit onto a more prominent spur of a root.

The faint sounds that tuned his senses and made the flecks of gold in his piercing green eyes glow like fairy dust made the boy stop and listen for a moment. He always felt at home here, welcome and at the same time like a pebble among shimmering diamonds.

Peter drew his arm horizontally in front of his belly and placed the other behind his back, as he had sometimes seen the male Fae do in the lighted halls of London before bowing effusively.Blond hair fell before his eyes like a curtain. Waves through which the wind had brushed, salt of the Neverseas had clung, and fairy dust had made it shine.

"I request an audience with Your Highness, Queen Titania, the true and only Queen of Summer and Sun, Spring and Dawn," Peter said, his velvety voice sounding unusually rough. He was evidenced by worries that displaced the otherwise easy youth.