The Diary of Joy

A Long School Day

21. Peace, the year of the Phoenix

Dear Angel,

Today was a long and tiring day. As I am looking at the beautiful sunset now, I can't fully enjoy it since my eyes are drooping with tiredness. Still, I've decided to write to you. Well, I am not exactly sitting down and writing, but my quill is doing the writing. It's called mind-quill writing. It's very convenient since I don't feel like I have enough strength to even lift a quill.

We had a long day at school, a very long day, if I am being honest. I generally love school, and I think it's fun to learn new things, but today was just too much. I feel like my brain will explode at any moment from so much information.

First, we had Fairy Dust Usage and Disposal class, and that one was fun for me since I am already an expert in using my dust. But after that, everything became more difficult. The next class was language class, and today we were studying nymph languages and dialects. Honestly, I was terrible at it. As you can imagine, Echo excelled in those classes.

Before I go on, I should probably explain that nowadays, with the help of my parents, Linky, and some other open-minded magical beings, an all-inclusive magic school has been created. Here we learn to communicate and integrate with other magical beings. As you can imagine, there aren't many fairies in attendance but still, there are a few and that's progress, I feel.

Anyway, as part of that integration process, we are also learning about each other's languages and culture which is great but very difficult. I mean, there are some sounds in nymph language that I don't think fairy or elf mouths are even physically capable of pronouncing.

Still, I try to do my best, especially because I don't want to make my best friend sad, but it's so tiring. I have to maintain full control over my mouth and throat muscles during the whole class, and that is such a challenge that after the class ended I already felt exhausted. Sadly, it was only my second class.

Echo tried to cheer me up by saying that I was much better than before, but I know that he was just trying to cheer me up being the good friend that he is. Honestly, I love languages, and I think that the nymph one is very fun to listen to, but it is the most difficult one for me to pronounce.

Anyway, after that mentally exhausting task, we had flying lessons. Now, I must say, I adore flying lessons, but today I simply couldn't focus. I kept almost knocking off my fellow fairies and other flying magical beings, and I was such a mess that even the teacher noticed.

"Are you okay Joy?" Miss Roseblossom asked me after I almost crashed into Yam, my fairy cousin.

"Yes, I am sorry, Miss Roseblossom, I am just a bit exhausted. I promise I will try harder." I said.

"That's okay Joy. We all have days when we are not ourselves. Why don't you take a break." She said.

Fearing for the safety of others flying around me, I did as she suggested. Honestly, I was sad I had to do that, but it was best for everyone involved.

As you can see, nothing was going my way. Even my favorite class didn't go well today. However, opposite to my name, today I didn't feel a lot of joy, I was angry with myself, for not being better stronger, smarter.

I rarely lose spirit, but I was just too tired to stay positive. However, life always has a way of balancing things out. You see, I am generally not very popular among my peers because of my heritage, so when some called my name, I was very cautious.

"You are Joy, aren't you?" An elf girl asked me.

"Who wants to know?" I asked annoyed by the way the day was going.

"I am sorry my name is Jasmine Springwater. My mom has told me so many wonderful things about your family, and I just had to come and meet you. Your parents are the reason that my parents dared to make their relationship known. Otherwise, I might not have even been born." Jasmine said.

"Oh," I said lost for words scrambling like crazy to change my attitude.

"It's...it's nice to meet you... You are a..." I said not knowing how to end my sentence.

After all, what was a polite way to talk about someone like me, are there any rules that I was not aware of? I didn't want to sound rude to someone who seemed to admire my very existence but I had no idea what to say.

"Yes, I am a half elf half water spirit. It is said to be one of the most impossible relationships, but mom and dad make it work." Jasmine said.

"I thought that elves are more open-minded about things like these. I mean dad didn't have any big problems, a few stares here and there, some comments about not choosing 'nice elf girls' but nothing worse than that." I said.

"That is generally true, but the same rule doesn't apply to the relationships between corporeal and non-corporeal beings. It is said that they can never leave in harmony although they can both became either corporeal or not using magic. Still, mom and dad met, fell in love, and found a way to be together. However, without the bravery of your parents, I am not sure they would have made their relationship known, and we wouldn't be the happy family that we are today. So, please thank your parents for me." She said.

"Sure," I replied stunned by the revelation.

Honestly, I had no idea that water spirits even came out of the water, let alone that they could fall in love, that only goes to show you how little we know about the magical world we live in. I started feeling so emotional, the idea that my parents made such a difference in someone's life made me so proud.

So of course, I spent the rest of the school day as an emotional mess, thinking of everything my parents had been through, how even after everything that had happened to them, they shower us with love and support. It's astonishing how, after so much struggle, they could come out of it all as wonderful parents and awesome beings.

Okay, so there is no way I can keep my eyes open for much longer. Even this wonderful sunset isn't helping with my emotional and physical exhaustion. It doesn't help that I have spent the last hour crying because of all the pain and struggle mom and dad had gone through and how sometimes we don't appreciate them as much as we should.

So, goodnight, sweet dreams, my dear Angel.

Love,

Joy