The Firefly Tree: Planet Terra's Magic Crisis

Chapter 8: Lynn

Gloria pokes her head through the door in the morning, and tells Glow and I
that breakfast is almost ready. Glow goes to the bathroom to get dressed, and I
stay in the room. Last night I dreamt that King Flicker let me go back home. The
moment I saw my parents, I jumped into their arms, and Fido licked my cheek.
But I woke up in the middle of the night, and I saw that Glow wasn’t in bed. I
thought I heard whispering in the hallway. I didn’t know for sure, so I fell back
asleep.
I brushed my hair and left it down around my shoulders. There was a
knock at the door. “Come in.” I called and Gloria came inside. “I would have
some clothes for you too, Lynn but all our shirts have holes in them for our
wings.” She explains. “That’s alright I have some in my backpack. Gloria nods and turns to leave but
just before she leaves she turns back around and says, “So Lynn, what are your
thoughts on King Flicker?”
“Well,” I say, “It’s complicated. I try to be a good friend to him but he has that
thing against humans. So he doesn't like me very much.”
“Oh. Because his parents were killed by humans?”
“Yeah, that's why he doesn’t like me. But I have a plan. I’m just going to be
kind and friendly to him. And since I’m going to be living in this world for the rest
of my life, I figure he’ll warm up to me eventually,” I explain.
“Oh. I thought that there might be something romantic between the two of
you. That’s why I asked.”
“Oh no. Nothing like that at all.” Why would she think that? He clearly
hates me. “Well I’ll let you get ready. Take your time,” Gloria says as she leaves
the room and closes the door behind her. I quickly change into a green shirt and
flowery shorts. Walking over to the mirror on the wall, I begin to brush my hair.
A few minutes later, I find everyone in the dining room. The only empty
seat is across from King Flicker, so I sit there. “Good morning, Miss. Gelmer.”
King Flicker says. He seems a little less distant this morning. He isn’t being
sarcastic or moody. In fact the king isn’t frowning or scowling. His expression is
almost… welcoming. Almost. He is also wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts
instead of his usual dress shirt and pants. His hair is combed but not in the
perfect way it usually is. He does not look like himself at all. In a good way I
mean.
I smile and say “Good morning, King Flicker. I trust that you slept well?”
“Yes I did. How about you?”
“Same here.” Then I realize that Glow, Gloria and Dale were looking at us,
actually it's more like staring. Finally Gloria speaks. “How would you three like to
see my flower shop? I thought it would be an excellent time to show Lynn the
plant life of our world.”
“Great Idea!” Glow says. After we eat breakfast we follow Gloria to the
flower shop next door. Inside are lots of windows. In the back is a checkout
counter. I look around and saw beautiful flowers and plants on shelves. “This one
is a flos. They are very common in The Wingmercia. It's like our national flower.”
Gloria explains, and Glow took a picture of the flower with her camera. The
flower has five different colored petals. One yellow, one orange, one blue, one
red, and one white. The middle is purple. It is shaped like an anemone.
“This one is our version of a rose. We call them rosas.” Gloria takes a pot
with a rosa in it off a shelf. It is a heart shaped rose. Its stem is just like a regular
rose, with thorns. The petals were white but blended with pastel colors. It is
definitely my favorite flower in this world.
“They were Mother’s favorite.” Glow says, taking a picture of the rosa. “If
you smell the flower, you would smell your favorite scent in the whole world.”
Glow sniffs the rose. “Smells like a bakery. You try Lynn.” I sniff the rosa; it smells
like my Grandmother’s perfume. The one that my mother put on me before Lukas
and Iris came over to my house. “It smells like my Grandmother’s perfume.” I say.
King Flicker sniffed the flower and smiled. Yes. The King Flicker, the
saddest guy I have ever met, smiled. “It smells like Mother and a little bit like
Father too,” King Flicker says.
“You have a nice smile, King Flicker,” I say softly. He looks at me, frowns
and just like that the king was back to his usual serious self. He shakes his head.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“It is like Mother said, Flicker-” Glow says.
“Don’t say it. Not in front of the human.” King Flicker interrupts, but Glow
doesn't listen.
“Flicker Fidelis Firefly, you are so much more handsome when you smile!”
King Flicker sighs and shakes his head, clearly embarrassed. “Fidelis?” I raised
my eyebrow. “It’s my middle name. My father picked it out.” King Flicker explains.
“Trustworthy is literally his middle name. Isn't it ironic,” Glow laughed. “Not at all.
In fact it makes perfect sense.” There is a knock at the door and Dale answers it.
Outside is a guard wearing blue armor, probably a guard for the dragonfly palace.
“I was sent by King Pluviam.” He says. “His Majesty, King Pluviam has requested
that the Firefly siblings and the human report to the palace.” We say goodbye to
Gloria and Dale, and follow the guard out of the flower shop.
                            ✬ ✬ ✬
We came to the center of town when we heard a loud roar. About twenty
feet away was a brown bear with huge bat wings and a crocodile tail. The bear
had a gray, heart shaped marking on its chest. It must have come from the
nearby forest for some reason. “Glow, Miss. Gelmer, run. I’ll hold her off. Females
tend to get aggressive.” King Flicker says to us without looking away from the
strange bear. The guard gave King Flicker an extra sword and they slowly walked
toward the bear. However the beast is charging at them, ready to kill. Glow
started to run but I know better than to run from a bear. I stand still and the King
gives me a strange look and exhales loudly. “Glow, get Miss. Gelmer out of here.”
Glow grabs my hand and continues running. “Glow, your brother is insane!”
She doesn't say anything in response. I just hope King Flicker knows what he is
doing. What he is doing is brave. The thought of King Flicker protecting all those
people brings a smile to my face. But what was that look for? Maybe he’s just
being his usual jerky self. “He’s awfully brave though, don't you think?” Glow says
as we hid behind a tree. “Surprisingly… yeah he is.” Glow and I watched the
action from behind the tree. The brockadile scratched King Flicker in the arm. He
gritted his teeth in pain as his blood dripped on the ground. The way he was
handling the situation was very kingly of him. Just the way he isn’t freaking out
and is so calm. The guard jabs the beast’s crocodile tail and is knocked over by
it. King Flicker then thrusts his sword into the bear’s chest. The bear roars in pain before collapsing on the ground, dead. Everyone claps and cheers for the young
king and the guard including me. King Flicker helps the embarrassed guard up
before getting his arm bandaged by a doctor. Glow runs over and gave her
brother a big hug and I said with a smile, “That was really brave, King Flicker.” He
gives me a glare that sends a shiver down my spine. The instant Glow pulls
away, the king steps closer until there is little space between us. His arms are
folded and he stares down at me, and the glare never leaves his face. I know that
this isn’t going to end well. I have never felt small but now I do. “Did I do
something wrong?” I whisper to him, meekly. King Flicker stays silent for a
moment, probably thinking of ways to execute me. Finally he says, “Humans are
dumber than I thought.” Heat rushes to my cheeks and my throat feels tight.
“When I tell you to run, you run. Why didn’t you run huh?” I look down at my feet.
I feel tears appearing in my eyes. This is what that look ment. “I-it was a bear…
King Flicker. You aren’t supposed to run f-from a bear.” Then he explodes in
anger, “THAT WASN’T A BEAR! THAT WAS A BROCKADILE! You run from a
brockadile! This isn’t Earth, human!” I wince at his anger. I don’t dare look up at
him. I feel everyone's eyes on us as murmurs come from the crowd. But you
didn’t run. I thought to myself. King Flicker returns to a dangerously calm and
quiet voice.
“If something happens to you, I won’t hear the end of it from Glow. If
something happens to you I’m responsible for it. I don’t need your death on my
conscience. Use your brain…if you even have one.” He raises an eyebrow and
continues. “Got that human?” I nod quickly in answer and he turns away from
me. “Good. Let's go.” As we continue walking to the Dragonfly castle, I realize
that I haven't been breathing so I take a deep breath. He scared the breath out of
me. Glow asks me if I was okay. I don’t feel like saying anything and when I don’t
respond she leaves me to give her brother a piece of her mind, which I
appreciate. “Why would you say that to her?” “She’s just a human. She’ll get over it. Why do you care about her so
much? Don’t you remember what her kind did to our parents?”
“It wasn’t her, Flicker. I trust Lynn because she reminds me of Mother and
Father. I know she reminds you of them too.” King Flicker just shakes his head so
Glow must be wrong. “She’s just a dumb human who can’t follow simple orders,
Glow.”
✬ ✬ ✬
A short time later, we are in the throne room of Dragonfly palace. The castle has
an obvious blue theme to it. A flag of the Dragonfly kingdom hangs above the
throne. The flag depicts a glittery blue background. With dragonfly wings and a
blue raindrop in the center. On the throne sits King Pluviam. The King stands
and walks toward us with open arms. “Welcome to Dragonfly Kingdom, Flicker
and Glow!” He says. I haven't seen the two of you in a long time. Almost a year in
fact. How are you doing?”
“As well as to be expected, King Pluviam.” King Flicker answers.
“Arbor told me that there was a human in our world, and I just had to see
for myself. I’m King Pluviam Dasher. You can just call me King Pluviam.”
I extend my hand and shake his. “Lynn Gelmer. Nice to meet you.”
“You as well Lynn. Say, would you like to meet Felix?”
“Who’s Felix?” I ask.
“He is my seventeen year old son, and heir to the Dragonfly throne. I have
a feeling the two of you will hit it off right away.” King Pluviam nods to a nearby
guard and the guard leaves. “You are going to love Felix. He is easy to get along
with.” Glow says. A few minutes later a short boy with fluffy red hair comes
running headfirst into the throne room. The guard that left ran far behind the boy
trying to catch up. The boy somehow tripped over his own feet, and fell on his
face. Completely unfazed, Felix quickly stands back up. Felix looks nothing like his dad, who is tall and has short raggedy black
hair and blue eyes. Now I see that Felix’s eyes are green. Felix is just as tall as
me.
“Flicker! Glow! It is sooo good to see you both again!” Felix takes the
siblings in a group hug.
“Yes, yes nice to see you too, Felix.” King Flicker says, quickly pulling
away.
“Son, this is Lynn Gelmer. Lynn, this is Prince Felix.”
“Wow a human!” Felix bows, and I bow back. “Pleased to meet you, Miss.
Gelmer.”
“Please, just call me Lynn, Prince Felix.”
“Lynn it is. You just call me Felix. No need for the title. You are probably
wondering why I don’t look like my dad.”
“Well I didn’t want to be rude, but yes I am.” I answer. Felix tells me how
his Dad never married and needed an heir. So King Pluvium adopted him. His
name was originally Felix Scarlet-Dwarf. Then he went on and told me about how
he got picked on because of his height, at the orphanage he was from So he
fought back against the bullies, often roasting and or headbutting them.
“Lynn, stand next to Flicker.” Glow says, pulling out her camera. “We need
a picture for the scrapbook I’m going to make. I inch closer to King Flicker but not
too close. “Come on Lynn. You can get closer than that.” Glow waves me toward
King Flicker. He looks at me and says, “I don’t bite, Miss. Gelmer.” I step closer to
King Flicker and Glow smiles approvingly.
“Good. Now, Flicker put your arm around Lynn.” The king’s face turns red.
“Um… no.”
“I don’t bite, King Flicker,” I say to him. All of this picture taking reminds me
of when Iris took a picture of herself, Lukas and I when we met. King Flicker put
his arm around my shoulders awkwardly. Felix stood next to me, and Glow stood
next to her brother, then King Pluivum stood in front of us all and took the picture. Then king Flicker puts his arm down normally. I kind of expected him to put his
arm down quickly, like I have the plague or something. Maybe he didn’t mind as
much as he led on. The thought was ridiculous. “Since you guys are here, I need
your help with something.”
“What’s that, Felix?” I ask. “Well there are these two guards who have
been fighting with each other for weeks. The three of us are good friends but we
haven't really talked since Matt Catrick and Scott Pawthon started arguing. I try to
help as much as I can but they just won't listen to me.”
“So you want us to make Matt and Scott stop fighting?”
“If you could, that would be great.”
“Alright. Where are they stationed?” King Flicker asks. “I’ll take you to
them.”
Felix leads us out of the throne room and towards the left wing’s main hall.
Glow looks at Felix and asks, “What are they arguing about anyway?”
“About some random board game lore and ghosts inside of rock statues
that come alive at a restaurant.” We round the corner and two voices grow
louder. “Did the murders come before or after the arm nibble of ‘89?”
“What are you talking about now Matt Cat?” Felix asks and Scott answers,
“He’s theorizing about my board games again.”
“Here me out Scotty P,” Matt continues, “I know what’s inside the chest at
the end of the fourth game.” Scott’s eyes widened in fear and he shakes his
head. “Some things are best left forgotten, Matt Cat.”
Felix sighs and says, “Scott, everyone knows that it is the statue version of
the weeping kid that Kile Matton built to revive his son, Arron. Who is obviously
the victim of the arm nibble of ‘89.” I suddenly burst into laughter and everyone
turned to me, confused. “Sorry this just reminds me of these two famous people
on Earth. I love them.”
The guards continued to bicker with each other. Now annoyed, Flicker
cleared his throat to catch the attention of the two arguing guards. “What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?” King Flicker asked. “Well, as a hobby I make
these board games called Four Days At Hoppy’s, aka F.D.A.H. They have
become very popular with the other guards in the castle. Anyway along with the
board games I write short novels. They tell stories of a murderer named Kile and
his family, but Matt Cat keeps making these theories that are far-fetched and
make absolutely no sense.”
“They're just theories,” Matt said defensively.
I try my best to hide my laugh but fail. “Anyway…” Glow looks away from
me and asks, “Matt, Scott, how about you work together on the next game?”
“My wife Stephane will have a cow. She hates it when I look for lore.”
“Just out of curiosity, who is your favorite character Matt Cat?” I ask him.
“100% Melody Man.”
“-Glow is right,” King Flicker says before I could comment, "If the two of
you combine your passions, Matt with your lore and Scott your original ideas, the
two of you could make a great game as well as a book. Then you both can get
along.”
I watched both guards ponder it over. “I guess working with each other
could be fun.” Scott admitted. Matt Cat nodded in agreement “I do have some
theories that could be used for some very interesting game play.” No longer
fighting with each other, the guards immediately began discussing ideas and
making notes. They looked like two over excited little kids talking about their
favorite show. Felix grinned and thanked us for helping solve the problem. He
said he couldn't remember the last time they weren't at eachothers throats.
Now that the problem was solved we made our way back to the throne
room. The sounds of the two guards ecstatically planning out the next game got
quieter and quieter the further we walked. We opened up the throne room doors
and Felix asked “Hey you all need to get to the Moth Kingdom right?”
“Yes.” Glow answered. “Well most of the portals in our world are on the fritz because magic is
disappearing,” King Pluvium says.
“But you can use one of ours, and if you are lucky, it might take you to the
Moth Kingdom.” Felix explained. King Pluvium and Felix led us to their portal
room. In the back was the moth portal. “Here we are.” King Pluvium says as we
reach the portal. The portal is a crab apple tree with a small crescent moon
carved into it. “We wish you three the best of luck. I must leave now. Lots of
Kingly things to do.” King Pluvium leaves but
Felix stays. Felix gave us all a group hug. “See you soon.”
“Goodbye Felix.” I say just before King Flicker opens the portal, and
everything goes dark and silent.