Of Fairies and Noontime

Fire

"We'll do some flying practice tomorrow," Ellabelle said to Hadley as they began walking to Lue and Catra's houses the second time that day.

"So, what do fairies do for fun?" Hadley asked, kicking a rock the size of her foot out of the walkway.

"Oh, lots of things. Skipping stones, bonfires, reading books, making crafts-"

"You guys read books?"

"Oh yeah, loads of them. There's a whole library in the village square, if you'd like to go see it." Ellabelle replied.

Hadley smiled. Now she was speaking her language. "I'd love to do that."

"But first we gotta get you practicing on those wings." Ellabelle said, cringing to herself.

"Don't worry, Ellabelle, I'm like a sponge when it comes to information. I'll be fine." Hadley reassured her, adjusting the cloak on her shoulders. "So... what else do fairies do?"

Ellabelle was starting to get self conscious. What if someone was listening to their conversation? They'd start getting suspicious for sure. Ellabelle tried to keep her voice down.

"Uh, well... lots of different things. Some fairies invent things, some fairies take care of the gardens, some are in charge of taking care of creatures and whatnot, kind of like what we did today with Bartholomew." Ellabelle explained.

Hadley looked up at the sky. The stars were beginning to poke through the rainbow painted sunset.

"I have a question," Hadley began, itching the back of her neck. "If you guys live outside, how did I get here from the inside of a tree?"

Ellabelle thought on this topic for a moment. She didn't exactly know how to answer. "There's somewhat of a disconnect there that I'm not understanding either." She said plainly. "Maybe it was like a portal that got you here, and we just have to find the other end. But how you landed in my house to begin with is beyond me." She added, stroking her chin.

"The fairy realm is weird." Hadley said with a sigh. "You guys are too overly complicated."

Ellabelle nodded. You have no idea, she thought.

They finally reached their destination.

"Come on, I can see the smoke. Catra and Lue must already be out back." Ellabelle said, her tone light and happy. For one moment, she didn't look anxious; her cheeks weren't flushed and her smile looked genuine. It made Hadley happy inside to see her this way.

Ellabelle grabbed Hadley's wrist and led her behind the two neighboring houses. They unlatched the gate and revealed a crackling bonfire, with Catra and Lue sitting on rocks around it.

"Finally, you made it." Catra said with a smile.

"Sorry that we're a bit late. We were working on a project." Ellabelle said, being sure to make it vague. Catra and Lue both looked at each other knowingly.

"That's Ella, always making something new." Lue chuckled quietly.

Ellabelle and Hadley sat down on their own rocks, settling down for the evening.

"It's so good to see you guys when we aren't, you know, wrangling up pet frogs." Ellabelle laughed, pushing her hair behind her ear. The others laughed.

"Yeah, that was quite the day." Catra added. "How's the little guy doing now?"

"He's just chilling in his cage now. I think he likes his new size better than being ginormous." Hadley replied.

"I'm glad we can relax now." Lue said, yawning. The warmth of the fire and the darkening sky was causing their eyes to grow weary.

"This is usually the time of night when the fireflies come out," Ellabelle explained to Hadley. "They're one of the most beautiful parts of the night."

Hadley smiled. "Awesome. Do you guys roast marshmallows?"

Ellabelle's eyes got wide.

Catra and Lue looked at one another.

"What's a-"

"Oh, aha, she's just joking. I don't even know what a marshmallow is." Ellabelle laughed awkwardly, shooting a concerned glance at Hadley.

Hadley took the hint. Don't mention anything human-y. She began to wonder why.

Just then, a swarm of fireflies entered the area. They were amazed by the colorful wonder of the bugs. Hadley had never seen fireflies that were any other color than yellow, but apparently, they existed. They were so large now that she was the size of a pebble, and they gave off so much more light. Pink and yellow and bright blue lights illuminated above them, and they watched them in awe.

"They're beautiful," Hadley whispered. Lue glanced over, more closely examining her. Her cloak hid her hair, making him, and the rest of them, curious. They wanted to know more about Hadley, whereas Ellabelle was trying to hide her new friend's true identity. Hadley didn't look like a demon, though. She didn't have sharp teeth, she never seemed to want to eat any of them, and she certainly didn't act rude or anything.

After the fireflies put in their brilliant light display, one landed next to Catra on her rock.

"Aww, hey little guy," Catra said. The thing hardly moved, but his abdomen was still flickering. The group watched as the firefly didn't move a muscle.

"Huh. That's peculiar." Lue said, shrugging. "Maybe he just wanted to say hi?" He asked as he itched his pointy ear.

Catra's smiling face shifted to a scowl. Her dark eyebrows furrowed at this thing. She felt a shift in her stomach. Something was not right.

She waved her arms around at the firefly, thinking it would get scared and fly away. But it continued to sit, staring off in the distance.

"This doesn't seem right-" Catra said, standing up from her rock. She ran over to the edge of the grasses and grabbed a large stick. She hopped up on the top of her rock, held the stick high in the air, and smashed down on this so-called "bug."

To their surprise, sparks flew from its corpse, and its abdomen's light abruptly stopped shining.

"A... robot?" Hadley inquired.

Ellabelle gasped. "What does this mean? Where did it come from?"

Catra examined the tiny mechanical pieces of the bug. "I don't know," she admitted. "But whatever's going on, I don't like it one bit."