A Land of Flowers and Fae

Chased

Elina was struggling to focus lately. But it made sense. It had only been a few days since the Summer Moon festival. And Dandelion would not stop talking about it. Which meant Elina had to be suitably vague about her experience. If her fiery orange friend found out that Elina had not only partnered with someone, but also harmonized with them? Dandelion would screech to the skies until Elina agreed to go back to Fairytown and find this stranger. And Elina now had embarrassment mixed in with all her other feelings about the event. Because she had harmonized with someone, then run away.

 Like a coward.

 Dandelion would be justified in her outrage. You just didn't abandon someone after you harmonized with them. That connection was too rare, too precious to waste. I was unthinkable, unheard of to run away from that connection. But, Elina fortified herself with the certainty that getting turned down by the fairy she had harmonized with would be a thousand times more humiliating.

Besides, there were more pressing things to worry about. Namely, getting the pixies to leave her alone.

She had been minding her own business, when three of them zoomed into view. The pixies zipped back and forth, their high-pitched voices making their words sound stitched together. "Hey Val!" One called to another "What do you call a fairy with no wings?" Elina rolled her eyes. As if she hadn't heard this one before. The pixies ignored her and continued their joke.

"I dunno. What do you call a fairy with no wings?"

"Nothing! Who would wanna call a wingless fairy?" They all laughed, tumbling through the air.

Bibble jumped up from where he'd been napping next to Elina and hissed at the pixies, shouting at them in his wordless trill. You'd think they'd find something better to do. Elina hopped off the flower she had been using to sunbathe and cut a path towards Peony. Maybe if she wasn't sitting around they'd find something else to amuse themselves with. Then, something whistled past her ear. It exploded into hard stones when it hit a stalk in front of her. One of the seeds clipped Bibble on the torso, making him squeal. It was a seed pod. She whipped around, eyes narrowed.

One of the pixies hefted another seed pod. A nasty smile on her face. "Hey, bet you cant hit her on the head!" One of the other pixies dared. Elina backed away slowly. The stored seeds in seed pods tended to be packed tightly so they'd explode out when they hit the ground. They stung pretty badly when they hit you and could even break skin.

"Bibble are you OK?" She asked, casting an angry glare at the pixies. Bibble hissed an affirmative.

She skittered behind a flower stock and took off running. "Come on!" She said to the puffball. The buzzing of his wings telling her he was following.

"After her!" One of the pixies squealed.

Elina smirked. If they thought she was just running away they had another thing coming. They'd caught her on perhaps one of the worst days of her life. And they'd hurt Bibble with their stupid prank. Today of all days, she was done taking hits.

She sprinted towards an orchid patch, zig-zagging between stalks. See pods exploding near her feet. The pixies were terrible shots at least. Though judging by the stinging in her calf she was probably already bleeding.

She skidded under a hanging orchid, grabbing as many pollen balls as she could. Then, she jumped behind a rock, waiting.

The pixies zoomed by overhead. Perfect.

She threw the first ball. The chalky yellow pollen exploding into a cloud when she nailed the first pixie in the back. Two more throws and the other two were engulfed in yellow powder. Coughing and sneezing.

Bibble trilled in celebration.The first pixie had to land because she was sneezing so hard.

Elina strolled forward, tossing the last pollen ball in her hand. "Hey, you three" She called. The three pixies turned. You couldn't tell them apart now since they were all dyed a garish yellow. Elina knew from experience it would take a couple dunks in the river to get all that pollen out of their hair.

She hefted the last pollen ball "Anyone else want another turn?"

"Ahhh! Shes crazy" one squealed, and zoomed off in a cloud of fairy dust and pollen. The other two were quick to follow, casting terrified glances over their shoulders.

Elina sighed and dropped the last pollen ball.

Bibble trilled a question, gesturing to her calf that was indeed bleeding.

"Im alright Bibble. Are you sure they didn't hurt you?"

He waved a little hand, blowing off her concern. His fur had probably protected him from the impact.

"I think I'm done being out in the meadow today. Lets go home" she said, gesturing for Bibble to hover near her shoulder as she walked.

That exchange had exhausted her. Normally she could shrug off the cruel things other fairies said. Normally it wouldn't make her so angry. But after several days being haunted by those memories of that stranger. Several nights dreaming about him. She was finding it harder and harder to keep all those emotions hemmed in.

She had hoped that once life got back to normal she'd find it easier to forget what had happened at the festival. Yeah, she just had to think about other things. Those memories would fade and that would be that.

Even in that moment she knew she was terrible at lying to herself.