Fairies or Foes

Chapter 1

        The girl slammed the door on her way out, scowling. Those children were downright awful, even though their father was such a nice man. Ever since she had been adopted by the mayor of this small town, she had been an outcast; even in her own house, they didn't really welcome her. The mayor had been so kind to her after she had arrived here, but the rest of the town were cruel to the outsider amongst them. Even the mayor's own children ostracized her for everything she did: for looking different (her silver hair was strange and uncommon), for talking different, for having powers.

        'They just resent that I, an orphan from the mountains, have something that the mayor's children, of a privileged upbringing, don't.' She comforted herself with this, though it wasn't much. Letting her angrily crossed arms fall to her sides, she stopped and took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill her lungs. She loved the cold, always had, and probably always will. It reminded her of the time she spent in the mountains, with her mother, Frostecia, the arctic dragon. Those eight years had been happy ones, but had ended far too soon, and she was spending her ninth year of life in this depressingly undiverse town. Walking down the main boulevard, she watched as the townspeople scurried by, each on their own errands that made the little town functional. She had almost made it to the town square when she heard the sound of yelling children, one of which that sounded ominously like her horrid adopted siblings.

        She began walking at a faster pace now until she was full out sprinting towards the crowd of children that had gathered by the central fountain. Through the taunting jeers of the town's peoples annoying offspring, she heard the quiet sobbing of a source she had yet to hear. Was there someone that, even in a town this small, she hadn't met yet? No, there was a greater possibility that it was the niece or nephew of one of the village folk, come to visit for a while, being "initiated", as the children called it. They had tried it on her too, but she had beaten the living snot out of the butcher's son, who was five years her senior. No one had tried anything on her again.

        The sobbing continued, louder now, but the children weren't ceasing their taunting. This had to stop, and she would be the one to put a stop to it. Easily pushing through the crowd of smaller children (she was a very tall child, long and muscular), she made her way to the center of the crowd. There, trembling on the ground, was a dark haired girl who appeared to be no more than five or six (she was tiny), clutching a small bag to her chest as though her life depended upon the security of the contents. Being careful not to hurt her, she pulled the girl to her feet, and pushing through the crowd, took off towards the woods. The girl continued to sob, and it was really starting to piss her off. What did she have to be crying about? She had just saved her for heaven's sake. She continued to run, until she realized she was practically dragging the girl, who was wheezing. She had forgotten most people didn't have as much stamina as she did.

        "U-u-um…" The small girl said. She looked at her with slight annoyance, but decided to at least attempt civility.

        "What?" She snapped. The girl flinched and cowered. She kind of felt bad, but the townspeople have never been kind to her. Why should she?

        "T-thank y-yo-u," she stuttered. The tears had slowed and it was not her sobbing that made her stutter.

        "So? Whose niece are you?" She asked, preparing to walk the girl back to the village, and out of her woods. The woods were her place, not for those townsfolk, and the girl needed to go back to where she belonged.

        "I-I-.. S-sorry, I d-d-don't kno-w wh-what you m-" She was interrupted.

        "Your stuttering is annoying and incomprehensible. Can't you talk normally?" The girl asked.