The Fairy Whisperers

Flower power

I let Alice lead the way. She seemed pretty confident with the map. She stopped to point out landmarks and explain where we were to me as we walked briskly through the forest. I would have been happy just to follow, that was how it worked on my hunting missions. But I suppose it was nice to be consulted.

I realised as we were going that I really didn't care one bit if we found the horn. I didn't think it was real and I wasn't too interested in talking to my food either. I just kind of observed Alice, saw how focused and determined she was. Watched how she moved. She was really fascinating to me.

"Tell me about yourself," I said to her, while we were walking.

"You want to know why I've dragged you into this crazy quest, don't you?"

Actually, I wanted to know how old she was, her career, her interests. But that was a very good question too. So I nodded.

"You've probably figured out by now that I'm a bit obsessed with fairies. Well not just fairies, all winged creatures really. I have been since I was a child. Imagine what life would be like if you could fly," she said, her eyes getting dreamy as she looked up at the sky which was now bright with the sun just above the tree canopy.

I guess I always thought running at full speed felt a bit like flying, but I suppose it didn't really compare to soaring through the sky. She continued.

"Anyway, my grandmother used to tell me an old fable, maybe you've heard it. The one about how the sasquatch came to be a predator."

She looked at me expectantly.

"I've never heard that one. Tell me about it," I said.

"Well, the story goes that hundreds of years ago, all the animals lived in peace together and spoke the same language. But one day the sasquatch accidentally tread on a slitherer. He was apologetic and tried to get the slitherer's forgiveness, but he was angry. So he turned all the other creatures against him. And because the sasquatch was faster and stronger than all the animals, they became scared of him. They made a secret language he couldn't understand and made him their enemy. They attacked and in his anger, he bit off their heads. Ever since then the sasquatch was cursed to feed on flesh and for all other creatures to flee from him and all animals that slither would be his natural enemy."

"Huh," I said when I thought she was done and she smiled. "Do you believe that?"

"Maybe, I don't think we'll ever really know" she said thoughtfully. " But the story doesn't end there. Legend says there is a mystical horn that can break the curse. Any sasquatch who hears its ring will be able to once again understand what all the other creatures are saying and live in peace with them. And I want to be the first sasquatch to talk to a fairy."

"But if we live in peace with all the animals, what will we eat?" I asked confused. It was a lovely story but didn't make much sense to me. I hunted creatures, not because I hated them or out of some resentment at not knowing what they were saying, I did it because it was where my food came from. To me, they were just food, not friends, just food.

"We can eat plants too you know."
Somehow this was the craziest thing she had said all morning.

She laughed when she saw my expression.

"I know because I've tried it. And if you're brave enough, you should too."

I wasn't sure that I was brave enough and said as much to Alice. She tried to persuade me, tell me how there were so many creatures in the forest that ate meat and plants. But I couldn't be swayed. It just sounded unnatural.

We agreed to disagree but she made us stop near a thick of random shrubs with dark green spikey leaves and small white flowers all over. She picked one of the flowers and threw it in her mouth. My jaw dropped.

She held one out to me. It had tiny black specks on it and looked poisonous.

"Just one, it's fine, trust me."

I looked at her sceptically. She nodded, urging me on and pushing her hand closer to me insistently. I took the flower. She had eaten one too after all. I just assumed she wasn't crazy enough to poison herself just to play a practical joke on me.

I shredded it with my sharp teeth and it released a disgusting, bitter flavour that permeated my entire mouth. I dry heaved and looked up to see her giggling uncontrollably at me. How had she had managed to eat this with such a straight face and why hadn't she warned me not to chew?

The taste lingered in my mouth long after we had moved on, and it was hard to keep a sunny outlook when the day was literally leaving a bad taste in my mouth. But along the way, I started feeling surprisingly bubbly, almost euphoric. The world just looked so much brighter, like everything was glowing. It was amusing to me, and I started to giggle, which turned into raucous laughter. I guess Alice could see it too because she started laughing along with me. She was glowing too. And then she sprouted wings, beautiful ones just like a fairy's. They were big and sparkly like crystals refracting sunlight and turning it into a million rainbows. She looked so beautiful. I stopped laughing still mesmerised by the wings but Alice's incessant giggling was too infectious. We laughed and laughed until our sides hurt we couldn't walk so we just collapsed on the ground and stared up at the treetops.