The Diary of Joy

Mom's tale

17. Peace, the year of the Phoenix

Dear Angel,

Last time, I told you a bit about my best friend Echo and I mentioned his parents, The fact that they had a lot of difficulties being accepted by society simply because they were different from each other. Now I feel like I should satisfy your curiosity and tell you a bit more about their tale of love.

You might wonder how I know about the love story of aunt Linky and uncle Syllis, and the answer is simple, mom told us about it in one of her many real fairy tales. It is one of her favorite stories to tell because no matter how many problems they had, she is always happy that aunt Linky and uncle Syllis met and fell in love. The reason for that is that she had never before seen her best friend so happy and free.

Anyway, one night when my siblings and I were especially restless since it was raining outside, mom started telling us her stories much earlier than usual to entertain us. It worked perfectly. The problem for her was that she couldn't remember many of the tales of her own life so quickly, so she decided to tell us a story about her best friend who was almost like a sister to her.

At the time, we were all settled down on a magical carpet that was both soft and floating above the ground. That was a consequence of my obsession with the Aladdin story mother had told us the previous night. As for mom, she was sitting in the armchair while all of us drank hot cocoa with marshmallows trying to make the long rainy evening pass more quickly. It was quite fun actually although we kept complaining about being unable to go out.

"Once upon a fairy dance, there was an energetic little fairy who thought rules were meant to be broken. She thought that life was meant to be fun and free. Her name was Linky and she was out to show the world that being unique was a gift, not something that had to be controlled, changed." Mom started her tale.

"She was as free as the wind and as fun as the butterfly fluttering from one flower to another. Often times people told her that she should find a nice fairy boy and settled down because that was the purpose of life. She didn't listen because she knew that life was not a set of rules to follow but a set of adventures to live through.

One day, her adventurous spirit brought her to the part of the land that she had never been to before. It didn't belong to the fairies nor elves or any of the magical creatures Linky was aware so her adventurous spirit urged her to go on.

Mind you, children, going without knowing where one is heading is not a smart thing to do but our hero was anything but cautious. She was sure that if trouble came her way, she could telepathically call out for help and her best friend would come running, well flying, as the case was.

As she was wondering around the unfamiliar forest, Linky could feel that the forest was magical in its own right, it felt to her as if the forest was alive. The trees didn't look like just regular trees to her, but as animated objects, even more than that, as sentient beings.

Every tree seemed to have a different personality, a different essence, if you will. Some of them had an air of confidence and wisdom about them, while others felt like mere saplings. She wasn't sure how but she could sense their being, their personality and it fascinated her to no end.

Never in her long life, had she felt anything like that. It was raw, untamed magic that seemed to be in everything around her, even in the air she breathed. She was simply enchanted by the wonder of it all. Although she thought she had seen everything long ago, the virility and personality of the trees was something that she had never even dreamed of.

Linky was enamored by the idea that she would be the first one ever to find out the secret of the forest. To do so she needed to go on, to enter deeper into the mesmerizing forest. The forest didn't feel in any way dangerous to her, just very much alive.

Later on, she used to say that she was drawn to that particular area. That something was leading her there. Something that she wasn't sure how to define, but that helped her find what she didn't know she had been looking for her whole life.

Soon enough, she quickened her pace until she reached the tree at the end of the trail she was following. There was something about that particular tree, something special that didn't let her just leave. The energy from the tree had such a strong and yet soothing, energetic feeling that she felt like she needed to take a closer look.

Slowly but surely, she approached the tree. As she came closer, she extended her hand and touched the rough bark of the tree. Soon enough she let out a frightened screech since she could feel a pair of hands reaching out for hers.

In a moment of fright, she pulled her hands away, but yet again her curiosity won over. She extended her hands once again, and they were grasped by the hands from inside of the tree. Soon enough, a whole person started coming out of the tree.

"Thank thee for thy assistance." the unfamiliar male with odd appearance told her.

"Many a moon had flown by since I was last able to behold the outside of the tree in a form of corporeal wholesomeness. The entrance to my abode had been difficult to move aside, thus it was my fate to stay as one." He said.

Linky was surprised by the strange speech and even stranger event. Yet she felt the sparks flying. There was an instant connection between her and the being whose name she didn't even know, nor family, nor species.

Still, there was something in the swirling color of his eyes that didn't seem able to decide which color they would like to be, that told her that maybe he was that something special that she had been waiting her whole life, the special connection that knew no bounds.

Suddenly, her knees wobbled and he had to catch her before she fell down and steady her. It was at that moment that she knew that he would always be by her side, no matter what. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she was more certain of that than of anything in her whole life.

These days, she tells me that she is pretty sure it had something to do with the wild magic that was the life of the forest, something that enabled her a glimpse into the future. She didn't know how or when, but she knew that one day he would become the one person who would always be by her side." Mom said.

"And they are living happily ever after, is that right mom?" I asked.

"They sure are. Even though others don't approve of their relationship, they are as happy as we are and have a better life than Linky could have ever imagined." Mom told me.

Anyway, I better start getting ready, it's already the end of the rest time we had from school. Tomorrow school starts again and mom sure is a strict teacher.

Love,

Joy