Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER FOUR - PHI (Edited)

PHI'S POV

I obeyed the king. I went back to my nest.

Grandmother insisted that I finish my weaving work. I turned my back to her before rolling my eyes, but complied until the moon fully moved out of the earth's shadow. Then, once the humans shut their gates to the night, I led my grandmother by the arm and headed towards the middle of the alley, enlighted by a circle of will-o'-the-wisps, where the ritual was to take place.

The fairies, all dressed in their flowy white tunics, walked slowly in direction of the gathering point. Their chatters were strident, bouncing on the dark alley's walls.

"Go on," she urged as soon as she reached her friend, Grannie's, side, the oldest fairy in the community. "Find your friend."

I beamed at her and kissed her hand before letting the crowd swallow me.

I stepped over churned up mud and followed the whispers that said Halia was close by. Was she okay? And what about this change she'd seen?

Is King Siegfried right? Has Halia been sick because she had been a child for so long? And can it be that the change she saw is our coming of age? The king had once confided in me that, "As long as you remain children," he had said, "no sigil marks your skin; the curse cannot find you." An ominous thought.

I made my way through the different fairies and other creatures, dwarfs, stubby goblins with long noses and crooked teeth, women laminaks who had light coming out of their mouths while they spoke, and men laminaks with copper skin, long hair, and hairy faces. Both women and men had palmed feet.

Winter was over but they were all still shivering cold under their poor and ill-fitted garments. Although it had just rained, the stench the humans had left behind remained. Pudrid odors of chamber pots, sewage and decaying matter.

At last, two red-haired fairies stood out from the crowd. Aras and Halia. My heart leapt.

"Halia!" I called out. She turned around at the sound of her name. "You had me worried sick."

"Funny choice of words," she said with a poor smile "I am better."

The creatures around us were trying to eavesdrop and I knew Halia hated the attention.

"Watch out! Pukey is here!" a mocking voice said behind me. It was Urach, a mean girl if ever there was one, with golden locks and freckles.

'You're an aberration, Halia," added Losra, a brown haired disciple of Urach as she passed by to reach her friend's side.

A roar of laughter burst around us. Even a few elders, blind to Halia's mortification, laughed at the new, lame nickname.

"Was that meant to be offensive?" Tönx asked, sneaking in behind us. "The only thing offending me is your faces."

I offered him a smile. He was my second best friend after Halia. It was nice to see his friendly face again. He must have been worried about Halia, too, and came to find us.

"Sorry," he said. "Not my best line, but it was the best I could do on short notice."

Halia dried up the few tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes "That was fine," she said. Enough to make them wander off."

"Tittering like idiots," I added.

"Don't listen to them," Aras said to Halia. "You're special. One day, you will accomplish great things."

Halia shrugged.

Great things will only happen if we leave this alley.

I pulled my friends away from any unwanted ear.

"When you were out," I whispered to Halia, "you said that our lives were going to change."

Her emerald eyes sparkled. "I know something is coming," she said, "but I don't know what it is."

"Something is coming?" Tönx asked, clueless.

I ignored him. We didn't have too much time before the ceremony. I had to know. "Not even a clue?" I insisted, holding my breath. Perhaps a way out of this life?

She hesitated a moment before answering. "I'm not sure if it is a clue, but when I fell asleep, I dreamed of two people coming through the fog." Then she shrugged. "But it could only be a dream."

That's it? "Come on, Halia, you know the king thinks you have the gift of sight," I said.

"He does?" Tönx asked.

"He thinks that you were sick because we've been living in this awful alley and stuck in our child form for too long," I went on.

"If that's all true," she pondered. "I am not really good at seeing. What's the use of knowing that something will come if you can't even tell what it is?"

I shook my head. "Your powers are inhibited because we have not gone through an aging ceremony yet. Once that happens, you will have a very powerful gift."

Tönx gazed through the crowd and sighed. "It could be death," he said. "Maybe more death will come. Maybe more humans lost their faith in us."

Damn it, Tönx!

"No," I said, darting my eyes at a scrawny little creature white ghostly white hair and skin. Banshee. "Don't think that way. Besides, Banshee did not scream." Thank the Mother, the Banshee's screaming could stop a heart.

"Maybe she has not felt it yet, just like the queen cannot feel the change yet," she said. "Maybe she will scream soon."

"You two are definitely bringing me down," I replied. "In any case, the king will know soon enough. He is praying to the Mother as we speak, to invoke a vision." I hoped it was brighter than what Halia was thinking.

*

Our conversation was cut short. Everyone stood still. Only the sound of the wind blowing through the alley broke the silence.

"Is the ceremony about to start?" I asked Halia.

Of course, she did not know more than I did.

I climbed onto the tip of my tiny toes while steadying myself on her right shoulder to get a glimpse of what was happening in front of us. The fairies' heads were all turned towards something or someone. I followed their gaze, to the high-collared queen.

"Change is coming," the Queen of Complaints said in a vibrant voice. "I feel it now." She was as motionless as a statue in front of the crowd. If only she had been standing on something, a platform, she'd been easier to see.

Right, as if she felt it first. I snorted and Halia dug into my ribs with her elbow.

"Something is going to change," the fairies repeated through their pale and chapped lips.

I watched as eyes filled with both anticipation and fear turned towards my friend once more. Halia's body stiffened. My hand found its way to hers, to give her courage.

"We still don't know what this means," Halia whispered between her teeth. "If it's good or bad for us."

"It means you were right," I snapped.

I couldn't help myself. I looked over in Urach and Lesra's direction and gave a sneer. Their lips twisted with envy and my heart filled with pride.