Land of Mistique

Chapter Six

After the worst night of sleep in her life, Leanne woke up. She half-hoped everything would turn out to be a dream, and she'd wake up to the sweet smell of her mother's savory maple syrup waffles, but no, she couldn't be that lucky. She was in the tiniest bedroom ever, sharing a peasant-sized bed with her snoring brother.

He had certainly slept well enough, considering the environment. There was barely enough space for the both of them, and yet he was still sleeping as soundly as ever. Leanne rolled her eyes and went downstairs. Peveri had gone back into Leanne's body during the night, and Lunari had gone back to the palace. Well, it couldn't really be called a palace. She'd gone back to the king and queen's home.

She felt Peveri surge within her, wanting to materialize out, but she pushed her familiar's will down with every shred of willpower she had in her body. She never wanted to see that shape shifting dragon again. She felt her rejection to the manifestation of her familiar go deep, and Peveri's voice instantly filled her head.

The dragon almost sounded panicked. 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦... 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦.

I don't care, Leanne responded stubbornly. And my name isn't Lareli.

Peveri didn't have anything to say about that. Leanne supposed she could get an early start today. It was only 6am, she estimated, but it should be alright. She sent a message explaining everything to her mother and to Miranda. Of course, it didn't go through. Satellites probably didn't exist here.

She exited the house, looking around. Most people were awake already, their wings pulling their bodies to the ground. Apparently being stunted was a convenience here, she thought with a smirk, as she noticed a stunted fairy with long, wavy, raven-black hair tumbling over her shoulders.

"Are you looking at me?" the fairy asked. She sounded skeptical and a little... Suspicious.

"Oh! Sorry! Your wings just... Um..."

"Yeah, they're damaged," the fairy said flatly. "I know. I'm disadvantaged, and I'm-"

"Isn't it better to have stunted wings?" Leanne interrupted.

"What are you talking about?" the fairy asked, confused. For once, she didn't sound hostile. "Of course it's better to have proper wings. I can't even fly. And don't talk to me like that, like you even know how this feels."

"I look like I have wings to you?" Leanne asked, showing the fairy her bare back.

The fairy's eyes widened. "You don't even have wings?"

"I'm human," Leanne said dryly.

"Oh. Oh, wow," the fairy exclaimed, looking awed. "Then you're... Queen Mitzi's chosen one?"

"My gosh, no. I'm just a regular girl who wants to go home."

The fairy laughed. "That's what they all say. I'm Snowi, by the way. But you can call me Ivy." There seemed to be an edge in her voice, for some reason Leanne couldn't understand.

"Sure, Ivy. I'm Leanne, but you can call me Lea," Leanne offered. Snowi finally showed her a true smile.

"Thank you, Lea," Snowi said quietly.

"I didn't do anything," Leanne said, confused.

"You wouldn't understand," Snowi murmured, looking away. "So you are the hero sent to us. To free us from the Titans."

"I guess so. Though I don't think I'll be able to do very much."

"I'm sure you can," Snowi said, smiling warmly. Although... There was that look in Snowi's eyes that said she didn't trust Leanne.

Leanne couldn't blame her. She was an outsider with a weird name that didn't end in the typical letter I. The strange thing was that Snowi's nickname, Ivy, didn't seem to end in I either - unless it was spelled I-V-I.

"Just a... Question, how come you go by a nickname that doesn't end in I?" Leanne asked curiously. She expected the answer, 'no, Ivy does end in I - Ivi', and she was prepared by the answer, but instead Snowi closed her eyes.

"It... I always liked ivy. Poison ivy specifically. It can be pretty, but it's dangerous," Snowi answered quietly, her eyes never straying from the ground.

"Wow. That's a way better reason than my nickname," Leanne mumbled.

"Is Leanne a nickname?" Snowi asked. "Is your name Leanneli or something?"

"Oh, heavens, no," Leanne laughed dryly. Leanneli? That was... Worse than Lareli. Maybe even worse than Erici. "Also, the queen insisted on giving me a fairy name - Lareli."

Snowi didn't seem to have heard the later part of Leanne's answer. "Heavens?" she asked, rather coldly. "The heavens turned their back on us."

"Sorry. It's a common expression where I come from."

"Really?" Snowi seemed suddenly curious. "Well, here, we tend to use 'for the love of Mistique'."

"Noted," Leanne said with a small grin.

"Did you... Come with anyone?" Snowi asked.

Leanne was about to explain Peveri summoning Leroy before realizing that was much too long, so she simply said, "Yeah, I did. My brother, Leroy."

"Leroi?" Snowi asked, frowning. "Hm. I've never heard of using another vowel before the I."

Man, these fairy naming systems were just plain weird. "Um, no. Leroy is spelled L-E-R-O-Y."

"Oh!" Snowi flushed. "Sorry. I didn't realize-"

"No, it's fine," Leanne promised, before adding, "Ivy."

Snowi smiled. "Sure... Lea."

"What do you do in the village?"

Snowi shrugged. "Mainly just trying our best to survive, you never know when-"

"THE TITANS ARE HERE!! EVERYONE, RUN!!!"