Emerald Oasis

Our Fairy King

"Do you know where Marjorie is?" Joyce asked the nurse on duty.

"She's in hospital. She had a nasty fall and bumped her head."

"Oh dear, that's a shame," Joyce lied.

"At least we'll have some peace and quiet."

As soon as the nurse opened the doors to the gardens, she ran through the doors. The staff told her to slow down otherwise she would fall or get hurt but they soon became a distant sound. It didn't take long before she spotted one fairy hanging on a bird's nest. Joyce picked the fairy up in her hands and patted her head.

"Good morning," she said.

The fairy screamed. "You can see me?"

"Of course I can see you," Joyce said. "You're in my hand."

"Humans aren't suppose to see us," she moaned, wiping dirt off her dress. "I don't know how you're able to see us."

"Because you're real," Joyce said to her. "Anyway forgive me for my lack of manners. My name is Joyce, what's yours?"

"Mimi Dory," the fairy curtsied. "So how many of us have you seen?"

"I've met Emily last night and of course I saw some fairies floating around last night and I met Larry when he was in wolf form."

Mimi dropped her mouth and she crawled backwards towards the tips of Joyce's fingers. "How long have you been here for?"

"This is my second day here," Joyce said. "My son brought me here from hospital."

Mimi shook her head. "Horrible places them hospitals. Worse than prison I think."

"You've been to prison?"

"I used to work in a fairy prison," Mimi explained. "I worked there with someone called Emily. She might be the same Emily that you met yesterday. She's got really bronze skin."

"That sounds like her," Joyce said. "Anyway, I'm sorry for scaring you. You see, it's my first time in an enchanted place. I've always wondered why hardly anybody comes here."

"When it's summer it will get busy," Mimi explained. "We're in March and it's quite windy so it's only the gardeners that will come. In the summer it's packed in here, they bring the barbecues and the picnics. It's quite a sight to see."

"MIMI! JOYCE!" It was Emily flying towards them and hovered next to Mimi. "Wow, I can't believe that you two have finally met. I was trying to find you all night so I could tell you."

"So it is only me that can see you?" Joyce asked.

Both fairies nodded, but only Emily spoke. "It seems like it. It must mean that you have a high spirit."

Joyce wiggled her nose. "What do you mean by that?"

"High senses," Mimi said. "Like high sensitivity and a pure spirit. That's quite rare nowadays."

"It's always been rare."

"So I'm special then?"

"Yes," Emily nodded as she spoke. "You're special. That's why you can see the magic whilst other people can't."

"Then why are trying to hide from everybody?" Joyce said.

"Even though they can't always see us," Emily frowned clutching onto her wings, "they can still hurt us."

The two fairies faded into obscurity. She jilted her head around the garden and didn't see anything until she saw two wondering women walking towards the rosebush. Joyce made her way over to investigate. One woman was around the same age as Joyce and the other appeared to be a woman half her age. The middle-aged woman was wearing a mauve gown and a golden tiara to match her permed hair. She appeared to be a queen of some distant land.