The water fairy (Farah Dowling )

6.

Farah took a sip of her tea, then looked at Yara, her gaze holding a mix of curiosity and concern. "How is everything going with your family?" she asked, delicately steering the topic towards the rocky relationship between Yara and her sister, Queen Luna.

Yara looked away, her grip on her cup tightening for a moment. The subject of her family was always a sensitive one. "It's... rough," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "I've never been on good terms with Luna, and now... well, now it's worse than ever." Yara looked up, her gaze meeting Farah's. "You know, it's not just our different personalities," she confessed, her voice tinged with bitterness. "They all say that I'm a bastard, an anomaly. Because while they're all light fairies, I'm the only water fairy in the family. It's the thing that sets me apart, the thing that makes me the black sheep."

Farah placed a hand on Yara's arm, offering a comforting gesture. "They are fools to treat you that way," she said firmly. "Behaving as though your type of magic makes you any less of a part of your family, less than them... it's absurd."

Yara gave Farah a small, sad smile. "You would think so, wouldn't you?" she said. "But it's been this way since I can remember." She took a deep breath, pushing back the pain that the memories brought. "My entire family has always made me feel like I don't belong. Like I'm not good enough because I don't fit their mold."

Farah's expression hardened at that. "Your family's blind to what makes you special," she said, her tone firm. "Your heritage doesn't define you, Yara. Your heart, your resilience... those are what truly matter. They should be appreciating and celebrating your uniqueness, not treating you like an outcast."

Yara's eyes darkened with old pain as she recollected the memory. "You know," she began, her voice almost a whisper, "the worst part is... I was supposed to be next in line for the throne. The oldest, the heir. But because I was the only water fairy in centuries, they all..." She stopped, her voice choking. "They all decided I wasn't fit to rule, not a true descendant of the ancient royal bloodline. So they skipped me and crowned Luna instead."

Farah's face showed a mixture of disbelief and anger at the unfairness of it all. "They did what?" she asked, her voice sharp. "They'd rather change the line of succession, change centuries of tradition, than accept that you're different? That's not just foolish, Yara, it's cruel."