BracesForum.net
English => General => Topic started by: Sparky on 06. May 2022, 21:30:18 PM
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Overall, there won't be large amounts of braces in this story... so think of it more as a "story that has braces" rather than a "braces story".
Oh, yes, it's a Fairy Story!
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Chapter 1
They were all at "The Golden Cup" public house. Well, ok, when I say "all", Flora had, not too surprisingly, passed on the invitation... 'not really her sort of thing'.
Lilly had decided that everyone involved with rescuing Sebby in one way or another should get together for a drink, and she had bought the first couple of rounds. As well as Lilly, there was Tats (her work partner), Magic and Sparkle of course, plus Elida, Faylinn, Emma and Puck. In addition, Wendy and Emily were there: those two worked in the same office as Magic and Sparkle, and in fact all 4 of them had worked together trying (and succeeding) to get Dave and Andrea together. Sebby was specifically NOT invited, for fairly obvious reasons!
The Golden Cup (the human part) is where they actually got Dave and Andrea finally together. So, what is special about The Golden Cup? Well, it's actually 2 pubs in one: at ground level it's a human pub. But about 20 ft up in the air (and held there by magic) is the fairy pub.
Most of our group of fairies have been drinking gently, but Lilly, being Lilly, has been celebrating hard. Like the others, she had started with the 'Elven Fizz' (a quite strong beer) but she had moved onto some stronger drinks, and was currently trying some rather stronger 'Leprechaun Lager' (I think that's just the name of it, I mean, come on, there's no such thing as Leprechauns!). So far, the evening has been fun, recounting previous adventures and that sort of stuff, but the drink was starting to get to Lilly, and she was starting to get quite loud.
"So, there I was, dressed in a cute pink outfit, with matching pink roller skates.... and I go into the cellars of the Old Palace.... 'Hello' I called out...., 'Hello'.... Tell you what, my Theatrical Society training came in helpful! 'Hello' I called out, and suddenly, there she was, in front of me, The Dark Princess!". It goes without saying that Lilly was being sufficiently loud as she recounted the story, that everyone in the pub could probably hear her. "There she was, all in black... I will admit, the outfit did look good on her, showing off curves that most fairies don't dare show off! All in black, and she unfurled her wings, trying to intimidate me, a lost school-fairy! 'Who are you?' she asks. 'I'm Lilly, I'm a little school-fairy, and I think I'm lost...'". Lilly laughed as she said that. Magic and Sparkle giggled too: they had watched it happen live over their high-tech video link, and knew what was coming.
"The next thing was she spotted my roller boots: 'What are they?' she asks. Oh, come one, what fairy has never seen roller boots! Clearly our Dark Princess hadn't!" continued Lilly. "She asked if I could magic some up for her - in black of course!'. It was tempting, they would have suited her, but I told her that ‘mum had magicked them up for me' - now that's a laugh in itself, could you ever imagine my mum ever giving me pink roller boots?"
Of course, everyone there knew who Lilly's mum was, and found it pretty amusing.
"The next thing I knew was 'blam'". As she said that, she actually cast a spell down onto the humans. "She gave me braces... and some headgear too!".
Elida had just looked where Lilly has cast her spell, and spotted there were two people down there with headgear - which probably meant they also had a mouthful of braces!
"Lilly, what are you doing?" shouted Elida.
"Just doing what our Dark Fairy did to me... 'blam'". And she cast another braces spell - another girl apparently got braces and headgear!
"Lilly, stop it!! Sparkle, can you do a 'FairyTime' spell?".
"Why should I stop, it's FUN!" said a very loud Lilly, as she cast ANOTHER braces spell! Luckily, by then, Sparkle had managed to cast the FairyTime spell, and human time had pretty much stopped.
The others realised that Lilly was now 'drunk in charge of a wand' - albeit that she hadn't actually used a wand, and were unsure quite what to do next. As no one seemed to be doing anything to actually stop her, Elida (probably the most junior fairy there - so with probably the least to lose) went up to her.
"Lilly, you just crossed the line!"
"Who cares?" replied a very drunk Lilly. 'Blam', she threw another braces spell!
"Ok, enough is enough!" shouted Elida, who was rapidly thinking what to do. One spell came to mind: it was one which she had found for Lilly to use against the Dark Fairy. Ok, in the current situation, it might be a lot of overkill, but if she could pull it off, it would stop Lilly in her tracks. She stood back, and called up her wand, and said the words of the very old spell.
Chains appeared in the air, with manacles on the end, which clamped themselves on Lilly's wrists and ankles, the other ends attaching themselves solidly to the bar. Elida then launched a second, rather simpler, spell: a bucket of very cold water appeared, and threw itself over Lilly. As a now rather cold and wet Lilly and the chains fell to the floor, the room was completely silent. Of course, the other effect of the spell was that it deprived Lilly of her magic, so she couldn't give anyone else any braces.
"I'm sorry Lilly," said Elida, "but you're very drunk, and you went too far, and something had to be done!". There was a load of clapping from the other fairies in the room, who had just realised that Lilly, a pretty experienced fairy, had just been stopped by a much more junior fairy!
"Come on guys," said Faylinn, "let's sort all these braces out before the FairyTime runs out. I just hope she didn't use the same glue that Sebby did!"
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Chapter 2
Two days later, and a very sombre Lilly walks up to Elida's desk.
"Excuse me, Elida," she said very politely, "can you spare me a couple of minutes?". Elida wasn't quite sure how to respond, after what had happened the night before last. Lilly had gotten herself rather drunk, and had DEFINITELY 'crossed that line'.
"Yeah, ok...." replied Elida. From the way Lilly was standing, she had a feeling that she was maybe there to apologise. "Let's use a meeting room" she suggested. Even if it wasn't about the other night, anything else that Lilly might want to talk to her about was probably still something that neither of them would want the other fairies hearing.
Lilly closed the door behind her, and turned to Elida.
"Elida, I need to apologise for my behaviour the other night. Yes, I was drunk, but that's no excuse. I did something - several somethings in fact - that I should never have done. I crossed that line, and, to be honest, if it hadn't been for your quick thinking, it could have turned out a lot worse, not just for the humans, but for me too! I've watched the video, and I wasn't a very good example, was I?"
Elida smiled: she realised that what Lilly had just said was probably NOT easy for her, and the fact that she had come and said it meant a lot to Elida.
"Thank you, Lilly.... yes, you DID go a bit far, but your apology is accepted"
"It was interesting watching that video... you were the ONLY one who reacted, everyone else was just watching, even Sparkle and Magic. Ok, so that manacle spell was rather melodramatic - and yes, I did recognise it - but actually a good call! And I guess I deserved the bucket of water too!"
"Yes, it DID get quite a round of applause! I would have done something a bit more discrete, but in the few seconds I had, it was the only spell that came to mind! Do I gather that you might have got into a bit of trouble with your bosses?"
"Yes, Sir Donald called me into his office yesterday - needless to say, I was a bit late! - then made me sit and watch the video - it was rather embarrassing. But I think he was rather impressed with what you did! I'm assuming that the others managed to sort out the braces I magicked up?"
"Yes, Sparkle got the FairyTime running very quickly, and within a minute or two, the others - mainly Faylinn - had removed the braces and headgear."
"Well, that's all I came over for... once again my apologies, and well done for what you did!". They left the meeting room, Elida went back to her desk feeling pretty good, and Lilly went off to see her mum.
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Chapter 3
It's a few days later. Another day, another case. Today, Elida is by herself, and Flora is having a few days off. Elida has got to really like Flora: she is a wise old Fairy, but understands that things change. And she has learnt a lot of stuff from her, not just teeth related stuff, but other stuff too. I mean, just because a girl is a Tooth Fairy, doesn't mean she doesn't do other stuff too.
Today Elida is at an orthodontist's, where a young teen is to get braces. When she arrives, she recognises the kid: not only did she help his older brother with his braces, but she has had to fulfil a few of his (non-teeth related) wishes too.
The problem is he's a bit of a brat. All of his wishes were 110% selfish wishes. Things he wanted for his birthday. Some chocolate. Expensive trainers. Never ANYTHING for someone else. Now whilst the fairies are honour-bound to fulfil the wishes, HOW they fulfil the wishes is very much up to them. If the person wishing is nice, then they will sometimes get a pleasant surprise. But if they are a royal PITA, then sometimes the wishes can be fulfilled in a not-so-nice way. Take chocolate, for example: "I wish I had a big block of chocolate" does NOT have to be fulfilled with lovely expensive Swiss milk chocolate. Bitter dark chocolate fulfils the wish just as well!
Today little Tommy is getting braces. Fairies don't ACTUALLY need a wish (although 'the system' greatly prefers it if there IS one). So today Elida was going to try and influence the orthodontist, to get him to give Tommy a nastier (but still valid) treatment... I'm thinking about giving a patient headgear rather than a twin-block or a Herbst, that sort of thing.
Elida tried several spells that she KNEW should work, but she was just unable to cast the spells. Ok, maybe she'd just made a mistake. Right then, 'plan B': rather than reducing little's Tommy's stress and pain, she would try and make it worse. I mean, there was no doubt that Tommy ACTUALLY deserved it! Again, Elida tried, but was unable to cast the spell.
Tommy was far from being a model patient, and Elida could see that the ortho and his assistant were both getting a bit stressed out. The strange thing is that when she ran a spell to reduce their stress levels, it worked the first time.
Even though Elida's magic to make Tommy's life a little less pleasant had failed, the universe itself seemed to agree with her feelings: Tommy was not only given a set of 'larger than typical' brackets (that's what you get when you get them free on the NHS!), he also got upper and lower expanders, and a lovely shiny metal tongue crib to finish things off! Not to mention the rather embarrassing lisp that goes with that lot! I don't think Tommy was too happy! Elida was though!
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Back in the office, Elida was thinking about what had happened. She was a bit worried, but wasn't really sure who to talk to. I mean, if you hurt yourself, you go see the Fairy Doctor or Fairy Nurse. If you need help buying something, you speak to the Fairy Shopkeeper.
But who should she talk to about magic problems? In the end, she decided that it came under the banner of 'work things', so decided that she should ask the boss. Whilst she was a bit apprehensive, because the magic she had tried was 'not 100% good', she knew that, at times, pretty much ALL fairies did it. In a way, it WAS still good, as it was to try and change a little brat into a better human...
"Hey, boss, I don't suppose you can spare me ten minutes, can you?" Elida asked the boss when she called her.
"Sure, Elida, come and see me when you're ready!".
With everything that Elida had done to help with the Dark Fairy case, and the subsequent work she had been doing down in the Dark Archive, Elida had a pretty good relationship with her boss, so wasn't really too worried about telling her. She grabbed a coffee, and walked to the boss' office.
"Hi Elida, what's on your mind?" asked the boss after Elida had sat down next to her.
"Well, something odd happened this morning" explained Elida
"Odd? In what way."
"Well, I'm not sure I should really be complaining, as what I was trying to do was a little 'naughty'....", and she explained what had happened earlier.
The boss was smiling at her. "I think we've all been there at SOME point... I can remember a few things I did when I was younger"
"Yeah, but why was I actually UNABLE to cast the spells? I mean, I've seen plenty of other fairies do it. And it sounds like you've done it too."
"That's a good question, a very good question, and I'm not really sure. But I do know someone who might have an idea... would you mind if I shared with her?"
"Sure, I'd love to understand what's going on with me!"
"So, apart from that, how's things? Still enjoying working with Flora?"
"Oh, absolutely. When I first met her, I didn't think I would, but we seem to enjoy each other's company. Which means she's been telling me loads of stuff."
"Oh, that's really good news - I know that some fairies find her hard to get on with! And I'm sure you're trying hard to bring her more up to date as well! So, how's the hunting going with Sebby, down in the Dark Archive?"
"Well, we've found a couple of bits of interesting stuff - I'm thinking about the braces spells - but nothing that does quite what we want yet."
"And on the historical side?"
"There's a lot of books down in that 'history' section, none of which are indexed, so there's a lot of reading to do... but I am indexing it as I read it, Sebby too. It's strange, we were hunting her down a few weeks ago, but she's actually the same sort of age as me, and we now get on pretty well"
"All good news... so apart from what happened this morning, you're ok?"
"Yes, I think so." Even out of work, her life was good: she and Puck had started dating. Puck was very shy as far as girls go, and they were taking things very slowly, but Elida absolutely loved it when they went out together.
"Ok, well leave it with me, I'll have a word with this fairy I know, and I'll let you know if I find something".
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Chapter 4
Elida's phone rang: it was two days later, and it was the boss calling her.
"Elida, are you free?"
"Yes, I am..."
"In that case, go grab a coffee, and come to my office, will you? I think I might have some interesting news for you about what we talked about the other day"
"Oh, great, give me a couple of minutes...". Elida finished what she was doing, and got herself a coffee (if she had been outside, she would probably just have magicked one up, but she was inside, where there were magic dampening spells.... not that THAT would actually stop her, she had already shown that there were (magic) ways around it).
As Elida entered her boss' office, she saw an older lady also sitting there. "Come on in, take a seat. This is Lady Zia; she is a lecturer at Fairy University".
"Hello Elida, it's nice to meet you, I've heard many good things about you. Oh, and just call me Zia" she said in a very gentle voice.
"Hello... Zia... it's nice to meet you!". Elida looked at Zia. An old lady, probably as old as Flora, but didn't quite look as 'rough'... no doubt the difference between working as a fairy out in the field, as opposed to being someone who worked at the university.
"So, Posy here told me that you had some problems casting some 'naughty magic' the other day: I think I might be able to explain things a bit, so how about we go and have a chat...."
Elida, first of all, smiled to discover that her boss was called 'Posy'. A very pretty name, but it felt odd, as it was the first time anyone had ever called her that. She was also very pleased to hear that someone might be able to help with her 'problem'.
"Ok, I'm sure one of the meeting rooms is free...."
"I think it needs to be a rather more confidential chat, just you and me, so why don't we go down into the Dark Archive?".
"You know about.... the Dark Archive?".
"Oh, yes, indeed. I've spent many hours down there, reading those lovely books, although most of it WAS a few years ago. Posy tells me that you have become its librarian, and to be honest, that doesn't surprise me. Come on....".
Zia led Elida down to the Archive. "Would you mind if I went in first?" Zia asked as they stood in front of the door to the 'Dark Magic' books. She opened the door, walked in, and looked around. "Hello books, it's been a while!". As soon as Zia said that, the books started jiggling around excitedly. "Come on in, Elida, sit down".
"So, you guys know Zia?" Elida asked the books. The fact that these many books, full of dark magic seemed to have a respect for Zia actually relaxed Elida. She sat down, putting her cup of coffee down on the table.
"Now, Posy said you were having problems doing some magic the other day - tell me about it"
Elida explained what had happened.
"So, when you say you 'couldn't cast the spell', what exactly do you mean?"
"Well....it's like if you have a pen, but it's run out of ink: you try to write something, you move the pen as you would normally over the paper, but... well nothing happens. So, I prepared the spells like I would do any other spell, but when I tried to actually cast the spell, it just didn't happen. Does that make sense?"
"Oh, yes, perfect sense. Ok, let's find out a bit more about you... let me see... I hear that you seem to 'understand' magic, able to combine multiple magic spells with little thought?"
"Yes, I can, it's not hard to do...."
"Not hard for you maybe, but most fairies don't find it quite so easy. And I hear you can work with Dark Magic with little problem. These books of Dark Magic not only don't worry you, but it's also very clear that they respect you, as they respect me."
"Yes, I had to use some dark magic spells to help remove the braces that The Dark Fairy put on some people. Plus, I used another dark spell to help find her." She omitted to mention the use of the chains on Lilly a few days before. "As for the books - I find it odd that other fairies have such a problem with them, they've always behaved perfectly when I'm looking for something, even sometimes helping me."
"Also, Posy tells me that you can get around magic dampening spells".
"Yes, although it wasn't that big a space I created...."
"Don't worry, you'll get better with practice. And from what I hear, you get on well with other fairies. But now it seems that you can't do any sort of 'negative magic'. Does all that sound like a reasonable summary?"
"Yes. I guess it is. Is there something wrong with me?".
Zia smiled at Elida. "Definitely not, in fact, it's the opposite. Everything I just said about you applies to me too, and I can promise you that there's nothing wrong with me!". Zia paused a few seconds. "You and I are both 'once in a generation' fairies"
"'Once in a generation' fairies? Is that... good?"
"Oh yes, absolutely! I... well, I guess it's 'we' now.... we are essential to the peace of fairy-kind. In fact, you and I are probably the two most powerful fairies in England, even though you don't realise it yet!"
Elida just sat there, not believing what she had just heard. 'Most powerful fairies?' she thought. She, who was unable to cast a spell on a brat of a kid the other day? How is THAT powerful? Elida felt Zia put her hand on hers, and felt some magic come from Zia. Calming magic. Trusting magic. (And all in a place where you shouldn't be able to do any magic!)
"I think I need to explain to you who I really am: there aren't many fairies who know who I really am, even Posy thinks I just work at the university. I believe that you have met Lilly's boss, Sir Donald?"
"Yes, I have, I met him when Lilly and Tats showed me around FI5... he's a nice man..."
"Well, Sir Donald is one of three fairies who run FI5, and thus are pretty much in charge of what happens to all fairies here in England."
"Three? Lilly said there were two"
"And as far as Lilly is concerned, that's what she needed to know. On a day-to-day basis, Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte run FI5. But with such power becomes a problem: what if they were to 'overstep the mark' and do something that was bad for fairykind? I am the third fairy of the team, and I make sure that Donald and Charlotte never go rogue - and from what happened recently with Princess Sebille, I think you understand what I mean".
"Yes, but what happens if YOU went rogue? Of if they did, and you couldn't stop them?"
"That's the point: I can't go rogue, I'm like you, I can't do any magic that the universe deems to be 'bad'. As for stopping Donald and Charlotte, I am far more powerful than both of them put together, and they KNOW it! Whilst I can't actually ATTACK them, I can easily DEFEND us all against them, or any other similar dark threats. For example, the other week, when Lilly went in to meet The Dark Fairy, with Sparkle and Magic, I was also there - I was part of the FAS backup team: if anything had gone wrong, I would have been the first one in to help them. That's what I do. And so will you, once you understand how... But before we get there, I need to be absolutely certain that you are the one that I seek..."
It was a LOT for Elida to take in. Sat next to her was a most gentle old lady, who claimed to be the most powerful fairy in the country. And who claimed that she, Elida, was just the same.
"And how do we do that?" asked Elida.
"Well, that's partly the reason for coming down here, into the Dark Archive. There's a book in the library here, and I need you to find it. It is a very old book, one that belongs to me... well, I guess it does still belong to me, but soon, if you are the right person, it will belong to you."
"And we'll know that.... how?"
"Oh, don't worry, the book will know, and will let you know too. So, you ready to find it?"
"Yeah, so what do I need to search for?"
"That's part of the test... you need to work it out for yourself". Elida stopped, and thought for a moment.
"Ok, books, you heard the lady... which of you am I looking for?". The books remained silent and unmoving. "Ok, fair enough, I guess I didn't *really* expect that to work! So, I'm looking for a book.... an old book I'm guessing... a very important book by the sound of it. I guess you have belonged to many fairies over the years, so maybe you don't actually belong down here?". Still nothing. Zia also remained silent.
"Ok.... so, Zia thinks I'm to become a powerful fairy, so maybe you contain magic that is relevant to me, and only me, to help me become a protector.... a powerful protector". One of the books moved out a little bit.
"Hello there!" said Elida more softly, "if you're the book I'm looking for, please come out and say hello...". The book came out of the shelf, and flew gently over towards Elida. It was a large book, a quite impressive book, with a very ornate leather binding and covers. It was also VERY well worn. As the book hovered in front of her, she reached out, and touched it: she got very good feelings from the book.
"Yes, that's the one, said Zia.
"Ok, beautiful... do come onto the table," said Elida to the book.
"Hello again," said Zia to the book, "It's been a while. You have helped me a lot over the years, but now it seems you need to belong to Elida. I think maybe you'd better open yourself up, and show her your front page." The book opened, showing a very simple, yet also very ornate, front page to the right, but to the left was a long list of names. At the top, it simply said 'This book belongs to...'. At the bottom of the long list of names, it had Zia's name.
Zia put her hand onto the book. "Put your hand onto the book too....". As Elida also touched the book, she saw her own name, 'Elida', being added magically to the bottom of the long list of names.
"Well, the book seems to agree with me: it belongs to you now. And it also means that you are definitely the fairy that I hoped you were. This lovely book contains a lot of magic that will be essential for you." Elida gently turned the pages, to see a beautifully written book of spells, with all sorts of illustrations. She spent several minutes looking through it, reading some of the spells, and admiring its sheer beauty.
"This book has been added to by its owners over the years. Look, there's one I did": Zia pointed to a drawing of a pretty flower. "It's yours, until you too pass it on. Add your own experiences and knowledge to it." Elida noticed there were still several empty pages at the back, and before that were several hand-written pages. Ok, so the whole book had been hand-written, but these were notes added by later fairies.
"What if someone else finds the book, and reads it? I saw some pretty powerful spells there, and I'm sure some could be turned to be dark spells quite easily."
"Don't worry, it's a very safe book. It now knows you, so will only ever open for you. So, take it with you, you will both be quite safe!"
"But I'm guessing this isn't everything I need to know?"
"Oh, no, you'll also need to read a lot of these other books too!" said Zia, pointing around the bookshelves. Don't worry, they will help you find what you need. They have already accepted you as their Librarian, they now also accept you as their Protector, as they did me."
"But Lilly and her mum, the boss, said I can't just read the books as I want..."
"... in case you go rogue? But the last thing that can happen is you going rogue - the universe simply won't let it happen! You and I are the two fairies who not only CAN, but NEED to, understand all this dark magic, so we can protect AGAINST this magic. You can safely read any and all of these books"
"They also said I might not be safe down here alone, with all these dark magic books."
"Don't worry, you are their Protector, they would never hurt you... or me, for that matter.". Zia stood up, and ran her hand across the spines of the books, then motioned to Elida to do the same. As Elida touched the books, she got a variety of sensations. Some were pleasant, but some indicated darkness, but none of them felt at all threatening.
"As you touch them, they try and talk to you... it can be a great way to find something... ask for what you want, and you can feel if the books can help you... And it's not just the books in here, the more normal books next door are the same"
"Yeah, why ARE there two rooms? It seems to me that they should all be together. It would make it a lot easier to find things."
"Yes, I've wondered the same in the past. I suspect that they simply ran out of room, so arbitrarily split the books into two. Of course, now that you are their librarian, maybe you can do something about it"
"Can I?"
"Why not? You're the Librarian now"
"But how?"
"Well, you've already shown you can do magic in places where it's not allowed"
"Yeah, but that was tiny..."
"So... practise!". Zia created a small sparkling 'bubble', just like Elida had done.
"Yeah, mine was that small too..."
"So, you make it bigger..." Zia motioned with her hands, and the 'bubble' grew larger... and larger... so that it included both of them inside it. Then she expanded it even further, to pretty much fill the room. "So, what magic do you need to do?" asked Zia with a big smile. "Hey, magic me a coffee, will you?".
Elida ran a couple of simple spells, one for a cup of coffee, another for some biscuits! It was about now that Elida realised how powerful Zia must actually be.
"Thank you! So, just take what you already know, read your new book, and combine spells..." said Zia, letting go of the 'bubble'.
"Ok, so how many spells did you actually use there then?"
"In total, by the end, I guess 5 or 6...". Elida was suitably impressed. "You just need to keep practising, till it all becomes second nature. It's actually an important thing to be able to do: you need to be able to protect others even in magical places, where magic is normally not possible, so places like the office, or even at the Palace. By the way, I'd suggest you learn a couple of the 'door locking' spells sooner rather than later, so you can have a bit of privacy in the practice rooms, you don't really want other fairies wondering what you're doing!". Elida nodded in understanding.
"So, back to the library - I guess I'll need a big enough 'bubble' so I can use magic to adjust the walls and add doors and stuff. Sounds like I need to practice a bit!"
"Yes, and don't be scared to try things. Yes, you'll make mistakes, but that's how we learn. But when you are ready to make changes to the library, let me know, I'd love to help!"
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Zia and Elida stayed for a while in the Dark Archive, talking. Elida had many more questions, which Zia answered, keeping no secrets from Elida. Zia also had a few questions for Elida, which she answered.
"It's a lot to take in, I know! I felt exactly the same when I found out, although it was a few years ago."
"Hey, you said we're 'once in a generation' fairies, but there's actually another generation between us..."
"Yes, there is, but we never found anyone in that generation. Maybe one wasn't born, or maybe they simply have no idea of their potential. But it doesn't matter, you're here now."
"So, from a practical perspective, what now?" Elida asked Zia.
"Well, in the short term, don't let anything change: I understand that you do Tooth Fairy duties with Flora - lovely lady, isn't she? So, continue with doing that. You can still come down here and learn when you want - don't worry, I'll let Posy know that it's all ok. Oh, we'd better swap phone numbers: I'm sure you'll have more questions, plus it will make it easier if I need to get in touch.
Elida was actually feeling very good about what she had been told - there wasn't actually anything wrong with her at all, as she had originally feared. Although all that stuff about being a very powerful fairy was, in itself, a little scary. She also realised that her life was about to change, in a very big way.
"So, is all this something that I should keep quiet about for the moment?"
"That would probably be a good idea. You don't really want to attract attention to yourself..."
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not more braces... but interesting... good
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Chapter 5
The rest of the week was reasonably busy: as well as spending time with Flora, on one of Flora's days off, she teamed up with Faylinn for an afternoon. Apart from the drinking session, this was the first time she had worked with Faylinn since they worked together on removing braces that The Dark Fairy had put onto people.
It was strange, whilst Elida KNEW that Sebby was indeed The Dark Fairy, in her mind they were two very different fairies: anything that happened up to a few weeks ago, well that was The Dark Fairy's fault. Anything since would have been done by Sebby, a very pleasant young fairy.
Today's job didn't REALLY need the two of them, but things had been quiet for a few days, so the boss suggested that Elida could work with Faylinn for the day, if only to get her out of the Dark Archive for a bit.
As they flew off to see their 'customer' they chatted, and Faylinn could feel changes in Elida - good positive changes. She seemed very much more self-assured (well, she'd rather demonstrated THAT at The Golden Cup!), and less nervous/apprehensive. It also became clear that she had been doing quite a bit of 'studying': whilst she didn't know the details of the 'Dark Archive', Faylinn was aware that Elida had been given access to 'certain restricted libraries', where she was being trusted to research certain aspects of 'darker magic'.... something Elida had proven she was well able to handle.
Their customer today was Harry, a gentleman in his early 20s, who knew very little about braces, but knew enough to know that he really needed to have some. He had an appointment with an orthodontist (it turned out to be his first-ever ortho consult), and was 'rather apprehensive', so much of their job today would be to help keep him calm.
They found him in the waiting room, where he was sitting upright in a less-comfy chair. "I wish I didn't feel quite so nervous," he said.
"Elida, would you like to?" asked Faylinn
"I would be honoured!" replied Elida, who waved her wand, and ran a gentle calming spell. Harry relaxed a little.
They both flew down and took a look at Harry's mouth, and more specifically the teeth in that mouth.
"Oooh, not good...." commented Faylinn.
"Hmm, I wonder....." said Elida. She took out her wand, and cast some spells. In front of her, an image of Harry's teeth and jaws started to appear. A final spell, and both fairies could now see a clear image of Harry's teeth. Faylinn had a big smile on her face.
"Why you smiling then?" asked Elida.
"Because of you.... how many spells did that take to do?" she asked
"Erm... five...."
"I'd have big problems doing 3 or 4 spells at the same time, but you just did 5, without even thinking about it, but more importantly, without making a big deal about it. Not only are you very talented, Elida, you are also very modest about it too! I have a lot of respect for that! Anyway, what can we see on this lovely image you just created?"
"Well, it's a shame he didn't get braces as a kid, that lower jaw is a little too short, and some twin blocks or a herbst would probably have fixed it. As an adult, he's either going to need surgery..."
"Yes, unless the ortho can be a bit creative, and sort of cover up the problem"
"Mmm, yes, I guess so, but I CAN see another way...."
"Go on..."
"Well, what if his jaw were to grow a tiny bit? Look...". Elida ran another spell, which changed the model, growing the lower jaw a bit. Then she moved the teeth around, also removing two upper premolars... the result looked very acceptable. "I mean, it really is just a tiny bit of 'growth'...."
"I'm not sure we should...."
"Why not? It will make his life a LOT better. I mean, can you imagine him going for surgery? He'd be a nervous wreck!" said Elida. In the background, Elida was also thinking that, if she was actually ABLE to do it, then clearly the universe would define it as being 'ok'. "Look, Faylinn, he wished to not be so nervous: if that ortho tells him he's gonna need surgery, his nervousness will shoot through the roof... we're just helping to fulfil his wish. Tell you what, I'll do the actual jaw, if you can just tweak his memories a bit."
Faylinn looked at Elida. Strangely, she had a lot of trust in Elida, in the way she interpreted things. She was quite right, doing this would make Harry's life a lot nicer. "Go on then..."
Elida waved her wand again - yes, she could have done the spells without the wand, but she DID like being able to wave it, it was fun, plus it showed that she was a properly qualified FAIRY! Very gently, Harry's lower jaw grew by a few millimetres - so clearly the universe WAS ok with Elida doing it! As Harry's lower jaw slowly grew, Faylinn was tweaking Harry's memories of his lower jaw, so that his newly extended jaw felt quite normal.
Once again, Elida modelled his teeth and jaws: whilst his teeth were still crooked and crowded, with many months of shiny metal braces, he would look rather good, even if not perfect.
They stayed with Harry as the orthodontist got him to sit back in the treatment chair, and looked at his teeth.
"Well, yes, you have quite a problem there, your teeth are badly misaligned. Luckily, I believe that I will be able to give you an acceptable result without needing surgery: if your lower jaw had been any shorter, I would probably have advised having surgery, to extend it a bit.". The ortho went on to explain his suggested treatment: remove the upper premolars, upper expander to push the upper molars out a bit, brackets on all the teeth, and various elastics and powerchains during treatment.
"What about invisible aligners? Could you not treat me with those?"
"I'm afraid that, because of what needs to be done, plastic aligners simply won't be able to do what is needed. I can, however, offer white - so less visible - ceramic brackets for your front teeth..."
Elida quickly cast a simple spell onto Harry... it was a 'no, you don't really want those, besides, they'll cost more' sort of spell. "I hope you don't mind?" Elida asked Faylinn.
"Absolutely not, good call!" she replied.
"Well," said Faylinn, after they finished at the orthodontist's, "it was really nice to work with you again, Elida. I mean, yes, I'm sure I could have managed alone, but it IS nice to have some company. And besides, you have a bit of a different way of looking at things, which is refreshing.... maybe we can work together again sometime?"
"I'd like that. Flora is going part-time, just a couple of days a week, so no reason we can't"
"How is Flora? I hear you two have been getting on really well!"
"She's actually very well, but just wants to spend a bit more time with her family, and the grand-fairies while she's well enough to enjoy it. And yes, I'm not sure why, but we get on really well together, she's been giving me all sorts of helpful hints and tips."
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Chapter 6
"Good morning, Elida!" said a voice that Elida recognised. She looked up to confirm that Zia had just walked up to her desk.
"Oh, hello again, Zia, nice to see you again. What brings you here? I was just about to go and 'do some research'"
"Well. Posy tells me that there's nothing in your diary for today, so I have something I'd like to suggest that you might like to do, specifically this afternoon, but you'll need to do a bit of research first, this morning...."
"That sounds interesting, do tell me more..."
"How about we go grab a drink, then go into that certain 'research location' and have a chat?"
A few minutes later they were down in the Archive. "Good morning books!" said Zia as they went into the "Old Magic" room. The books seemed to be extra happy when they were visited by more than just one fairy.
"Ok, let me explain..." started Zia. "Whilst I'm not directly involved with their teaching, we have a small group of students who are training to join the FAS, and they need to practice their magic. To do that, they need 'targets', someone who is well able to defend themselves from their attacks. Often, that means me! I find it useful, if only because it lets me practice my defence spells, plus it's always nice to be able to let off a bit of steam! I was wondering if maybe you'd like to be their 'target' this afternoon?"
"Wow... yeah, that could be fun, but I really don't think I can defend myself well enough yet!"
"Ah, don't worry about that: they will be practising their use of four specific spells, so you just need to understand those spells, and learn how to defend against just those spells"
"Ok, that doesn't sound so bad. But what if they use another spell on me?"
"Don't worry about that, they won't. They are a pretty good team, and good at restricting which magic they use - they have already learnt - the hard way - what happens if they don't stick to what they are supposed to do!" explained Zia with a bit of a smile. "I'll be there too, ready to intervene if anything happens. It will actually be good for them to work with someone different, and I have a feeling you might enjoy it too!"
"Yeah, ok, why not. I mean, it's all well and good me reading all this magic, and practising it in the practice rooms, but it will be good to try some out on real fairies"
"Oh, absolutely. I often do training sessions with the actual FAS security team, keeps them on their toes... and me too!"
"Have you ever been hurt?"
"Not really, and definitely not as much as I've hurt them! Not on purpose, of course, but I do have to be a bit rough at times. Ok, I guess you need to know what magic we're practising this afternoon....". Zia requested a handful of books, which came over to the table they were sitting at, and Zia showed Elida the relevant spells, and then helped her search for suitable protective spells.
"Now, I KNOW you know that 'prevent magic with manacles' spell - the one you used on Lilly recently - but I think you could do with knowing a couple of more discrete versions of that spell!", and Zia requested a couple more books. "Of course, there ARE counters to most of these spells, but I'm not actually aware of one for the manacles though!"
"Hey, Zia, any chance we could go to a practice room, and try these out?"
"Sure, why not, although I'll probably need some help." As they left the Archive, Zia asked Posy (= Elida's boss) if she'd like to join them for a bit of magic practice. "It will do you good to get out of this office for a change!".
On the way, they all refilled their coffee cups, and once in the room, Elida cast a 'secure door locking' spell.
"Good spell, I should show you a couple of better ones sometime!". Zia then spent a couple of minutes explaining to Posy what they were doing.
"Don't worry boss, just go for it!". Elida had already loaded up 5 of the defensive spells she had been reading down in the archive. Moments later, she could sense that Posy was about to launch a spell at her, which she successfully repelled.
"Nicely done Elida! Ok, Posy, try another!". Over the next 30 to 45 minutes, Posy launched the 4 different spells - in different ways - repeatedly at Elida, who responded with the different spells she had learnt. Elida was starting to understand how the different protection spells worked, and how effective they were against the different attacks. Only once did Zia need to get involved.
"Well done, Elida!" said Posy with a big smile. "You're getting good, and I'll be honest, I wasn't holding back towards the end there! Feel free to ask me next time you want to practice, Elida, I actually enjoyed that a lot!"
After some lunch, and on the way to the university, where the training session would be, Elida asked Zia "Hey, can I dress up?"
"What do you mean, dress up?"
"Well, I was thinking... if I'm like this, they will look at me like a normal fairy. I was thinking about dressing up as a sweet little fairy. Work on their psychology as well as their magical technique!"
"I like the idea!" replied Zia, "Yes, go for it. Maybe after that, you could change into something 'darker, and more 'offensive'. Don't want to make things easy for them...".
The training session was held outdoors (so away from any magic-dampening fields in and around many of the buildings), in a fairly isolated field. There were four student fairies: three 'boy fairies' and one 'girl fairy', plus Zia, one of Zia's colleagues from the university and Elida.
"Hello again, everyone, nice to see you all again," said Zia. "So, this afternoon, rather than fighting me, you're going to be going up against Elida here. I'm not going to say anything about her skill levels, that's for you to discover." Elida stood there, dressed in a very 'cute' pink outfit, with a short wispy skirt, and her hair up in a nice bun, with various clips, and a nice rose in it. In her hand, she held what would best be described as a 'kiddies wand': pink with fluffy bits on it. To a casual observer, she could easily pass as Zia's very cute grandfairy.
"Please remember, like always, stick to the chosen spells: you're here to practise those spells, not to defeat Elida. Don't hold back, I'll be ready to take action if needed. Start whenever you're ready..."
"Hi guys," said Elida. "Zia tells me you like cute fairies, all dressed in pink....". She blew a kiss at them, which, along with the magic spell she cast at the same time, knocked them back by a couple of meters. Elida already had at least six protection spells ready to launch back at whatever they threw at her. The big burly guy went first, and Elida easily repelled his magic. "Call that offensive?" she said. "I'm offended by its weakness!". Zia had agreed that she could do whatever she wanted - within reason - to goad the four students into a good practice session.
Initially, the four students were relatively gentle against Elida, but they soon realised that, despite her appearance, Elida was actually a strong opponent, and able to block their magic almost as well as Zia could.
"Ok, timeout!" called Zia. Even though it had only been about 20 to 30 minutes, they all needed a bit of a break, and a drink of water.
"So, Elida, let me introduce you to the guys you've just been practising with. Guys, as you now realise, Elida is no cute fairy, she's in principle as able as I am, just needs to learn a bit more magic, and practice it, which is why I invited her along today. How did it feel to be working with someone different?"
"It was actually VERY helpful, and if nothing else, it reminded me that appearances can be so deceptive." said one of the guys. "Yeah, your defence was pretty good, you must have spent a lot of time practising..." said the girl.
"About half an hour this morning," said Elida. "And yes, I suggested to Zia about dressing up as a sweet little fairy, to try and spook you a bit, and it definitely worked at first!"
"Yeah, it just felt wrong to attack someone who seemed to be so innocent"
"Ok, well, would you like me to be someone less sweet and innocent?" suggested Elida. "Sebby told me what she looked like when she was The Dark Fairy.....". Elida, without using her wand, gestured, changing her clothes into a tightly-fitting black leather catsuit. Ok, maybe Elida didn't quite have the same large boobs that Sebby had, but she still looked pretty good. High-heeled black shoes too.
She gestured again, and her hair changed to long and black, cascading over her shoulders. She shrugged her shoulders, letting her wings come out... "I need to sort those out too...." another wave of her hands, and she had lovely dark black wings.
"I'm not 100% sure I quite pull off the look, but it was worth trying"
"Well, you definitely look more like someone who's wanting to cause us trouble," said another of the students.
"In that case, come and get me then!" she taunted. Their first session had been relatively static, staying pretty much on the ground, but this time Elida flew up high, and then swooped down, casting some relatively lightweight magic against the students (which the universe was ok with her doing - the fact that it was a training session probably meant that the universe was being a bit more lax with her!) ... so fireballs and that sort of stuff.
This time, the four students started working more as a team, making it harder (but more fun) for Elida. For the next fifteen or twenty minutes, they practised their magic against Elida, trying out different ways of casting the four spells they were using.
Suddenly, she was hit by four simultaneous spells, and she started to fall from the sky, landing gently on the grass. The four students went over to her, to check if she was ok. They were about 6 feet from her when they saw her hand twitch, and she launched a set of spells against all 4 of them, lifting them several feet off the ground, and incapacitating them at the same time. Elida stood up, then, just for fun, she released the girl, and let her start to cast another spell... that's when she hit her with the magic-stopping manacles spell!
That last bit of theatre made everyone smile. Elida gently dropped the other 3 students back down onto the grass, then went over and shook their hands. "Shall I leave her like that?" asked Elida, pointing at the girl who was in the manacles. She waved her hands, and released her, then went over, and helped her up.
"Guys, that was so much fun!" said Elida, who by now was fairly exhausted: it had been a while since she had done quite as much physical magic. "I hope it helped you practice that magic, it certainly helped me understand those spells so much better, and how to defend against them!"
"Yes, it was certainly good for me: I think we all had to think a bit differently there, I reckon we've got to know Zia too well. Maybe you can come along again, sometime?" said one of the students.
"Yeah, thanks for that, Elida, it was really good! And I do like the black look, it's reasonably intimidating!"
By now, Zia and her colleague had joined them. "Good session there, everyone, and that includes you too, Elida!"
-
Chapter 7
<ping>
A message from the boss popped up on Elida's phone. "Sebby's here...." was all it said. Whilst it was a fairly innocuous message if anyone else saw it, the implications were more serious. Sebby had arrived to go into the Dark Archive again with Elida, to look through a few more books.
Elida and Sebby were getting on surprisingly well together: they were both the same sort of age, and they were both tooth fairies. The big difference was, of course, the fact that Sebby was from 100 years ago, and was still learning about the modern world. So far, she had been living at the palace, under the watchful eyes of the Queen, goodness knows how many palace staff, and, of course, Tats.... which rather shielded her from the 'real world'. And one of the side-effects of being at the palace was that she wasn't able to do magic - a fact that pleased a lot of people!
"Hi Boss... Hi Sebby! You ready to go down into the archive?" asked Elida.
"Just before you do: Sebby here has been tested by goodness-knows how many psycho-fairies, and they all believe she is clear of her previous darkness from the old Palace, and is, therefore, ready to take her place in the world. However, it's felt that, for the foreseeable future, her use of magic needs to be supervised, 'just in case'."
"Ok, and you're mentioning this because?"
"Because I was hoping you'd be willing to supervise her some of the time, said the boss.
"I do promise to behave myself!" Sebby said to Elida
"You two seem to get on pretty well, and I thought you might be a good role model for her". Yeah, as in not being able to do any 'bad' magic!
"Please?" asked Sebby. Elida smiled. Whilst she hadn't spent a lot of time with Sebby, she got good feelings when they were together, which made her believe that Sebby would behave herself. And if the boss was willing to trust her with the task, then why not.
"Yes, ok, I'll do my best to look after her"
"Can't ask for more than that. If there's anything you're not sure about, just ask. Either of you. So that's all I wanted to say. You know where the door is....". If she had said that last bit to any other fairy, they would assume the boss was kicking them out of the office. But for Elida and Sebby, she meant the cupboard door... the secret entrance that led down into the Dark Archive.
"Thank you, Elida"
"That's ok. So, now we're down here, what do you fancy doing? History, or braces-related magic?".
Sebby had two things she wanted to learn from the Archive: first, she wanted to search the many un-indexed history books, to see if they could find out more about what had happened a hundred years ago, when the Old Palace had been destroyed. Not that she really expected to find much, she still hoped she might find a little more detail. The second thing she wanted was to find a spell to remove the braces that she had put on Lilly, and maybe even another similar one to allow her, or maybe Elida, to give other fairies some braces. Whilst she had managed to give Lilly the rather nice sparkling braces that she currently had, she had been very much under a 'dark influence' when she had done so. In fact, she had only been able to remove the double headgear that she had also given Lilly by getting angry whilst in the old palace again.
And she had decided that she didn't really want to get THAT angry ever again. Looking back, she fully realised that she had been in a pretty bad place back then, and she felt so much better, so much more 'normal' now.
Since then, whilst not allowed (or able) to do any magic, she had spoken to several people, Lilly, Tats and Elida included, and had learnt that while magic had greatly changed and even perhaps improved in the last 100 years, modern magic seemed to be a lot more 'gentle', and if you needed something 'stronger', then you often needed to use older magic. Of course, a lot of older magic was so strong it was actually quite dangerous for most fairies to use... which is why it wasn't publicly available, but was locked away in The Dark Archive, and available only on a 'need to know' basis.
Officially, the only reason Sebby was allowed into the Dark Archive at all was to do her history research: her access to search for the braces magic was much less official, and was on the condition that Elida, or someone similar, was with her at all times.
"Can we start by searching for braces magic? Then do some history searching later on?"
"Ok, let's start by doing some more searching in the 'Old Magic' room, then move into the "Dangerous and Dark Magic" room if we get nowhere....." Elida led Sebby into the 'Old Magic' room.
"Good morning, books, and how are you all today?" asked Elida as she and Sebby sat down at the small reading table. Elida looked around her, at the old bookshelves, the dark and dirty décor, the tatty old chairs and table. Ok, she could appreciate 'oldness', but this place looked like it had been completely uncared for, for far too many years. Which is exactly what had happened. "You know, these books deserve better...." said Elida to no one in particular, but mainly to Sebby, because she was there.
"What do you mean?" asked Sebby.
"Well, you've been in our main library, haven't you? It's clean, it's bright, the chairs are comfortable to sit on too. The shelving is more modern - I mean, I bet the books find these shelves are quite uncomfortable." Many of the books vibrated in agreement. "I'm the Librarian... I need to do something!"
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Hi, Sparky! You are awesome and I admire your great fantasy!
-
Hi, Sparky! You are awesome and I admire your great fantasy!
Thank You! Your comment is, as always, much appreciated.
Hopefully you'll enjoy what's about to happen in the story....
-
Day 1:
It's a Tuesday morning. Elida was woken by her alarm clock: the time was 7:15, and while it might seem to be a bit early for some of us, it did mean that she didn't need to rush to get to work for 8:30. She got up out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown that was hanging on the back of her door, then went into her kitchen, where she put the kettle on, ready to make that all-essential first-cup-of-the-day of coffee. She would normally have had a dish of her favourite cereals, honey & nut cornflakes, but she had finished those off last night ('must get some later today' she thought). So, she opened the new loaf of bread she had bought yesterday after work, and took out two slices, which she put into her toaster. Whilst the toast would be 'ok', Elida much preferred to have cereals for breakfast.
The kettle clicked off, and she poured some water into the cup, where she had just added a spoonful of that nice instant coffee she liked. While she waited for the bread to toast, she got the butter and marmalade out of her fridge.
With her toast all done, she took it, and her coffee, and sat on the comfy chair in the lounge part of her small flat. As she ate her toast she looked out of the window: the good news was that today it not only wasn't raining, it looked like it might be an even nicer day later on, which was nice - flying to the office when it was raining was never all that nice. As she continued eating her toast, and drinking her coffee, she thought about Puck, her boyfriend. Puck was a technical person, and, to be honest, a bit of a geek. He'd never had a girlfriend before, and felt a bit difficult when socially around girls. Ok, so Elida wasn't THAT experienced either, but she had had three of four boyfriends before.
Ella, Lilly and Tats were all fairies at work, so not fairies Puck interacted with socially, so he was fine with all of them. He'd originally met Elida through work, and had actually really enjoyed working with her on the magic detector, so whilst he'd needed a bit of a push to take the first steps, he actually felt pretty relaxed with her too.
Elida realised that Puck was a bit inexperienced as far as relationships go, but she didn't mind. He was actually very sweet, and they both seemed to just enjoy being together. Elida had finally managed to get her first kiss from Puck a few days ago: not such a big deal for her, but a huge step for Puck.
With her breakfast finished, she stopped daydreaming about Puck, and after putting the dirties into the kitchen, she went and took a shower. Her hair felt a bit greasy, so she also washed her hair, something she usually did maybe once a week.
With her hair nicely dried, she clipped it into place (it was no fun flying when your hair kept flicking into your face), dressed, then put on her 'flying coat'. With her flat door locked, she went outside, and launched herself into the air, and flew to the office. At her desk, she took off her coat, put her small bag of bits into her drawer, and went off to get her all-essential SECOND cup of coffee for the day. She was a few minutes early, so she wasn't needing to rush, and had a chat with a couple of other fairies whilst getting her coffee.
Back at her desk, she took out her tablet, and logged into their computer system, to check her diary: no calls had come in that needed her attention, which meant that she would be able to spend some time this morning down in the Dark Archive. Because all the fairies were coming and going so much (going out to fulfil wishes and that sort of stuff), the fact that she wasn't at her desk for hours at a time didn't seem at all strange to anyone else, so she walked off to the boss' office, and knocked on the door.
"Come on in....,” said the boss. "Oh, good morning, Elida, wanting to go into the Archive?"
"Yes please!". The boss waved her hand, casting the spell needed to open the 'portal' to the dark library (otherwise, if you went through the door, it was just a store-cupboard!). Of course, thought Elida as she walked down the stairs, does that mean that the Dark Archive is ACTUALLY under the boss' office, or did the portal actually take you somewhere else? Not that it really mattered - well not for the moment it didn't.
"Good morning, books" said Elida, as she went into the 'Older Magic' room. Today Elida was going to continue reading her own 'Protector's' book, and read up on some related magic, and as most of that was just old, and not especially dark, this seemed to be the place to be. Very quickly she got quite engrossed in what she was doing, and suddenly realised it was already 1:15.
"Hi boss, I'm just going to go get some lunch. Has anything come up that I need to do, do you know?"
"Not that I'm aware of....". Elida went to the fairy canteen, and got a nice salad, then went and spent the afternoon once more down in the Archive. She set the alarm on her phone to play a noisy tune just before 'going home time'. She started the afternoon continuing reading 'her' book, then later on decided to see what she could find down there about teeth. Yes, she had searched stuff before in the Dark Magic room, specifically to sort out the Dark Fairy's work, but this time she was in the Old Magic room (so the spells were still old, just not as 'dark' or 'nasty'), and she just wanted to see what sort of stuff was in there. Obviously, she wasn't going to find out anything with braces in there, thus she was looking at teeth stuff.
"Ok, books, time for a bit of searching....". Elida could sense the books turning their attention to her: they seemed to enjoy having Elida search them, she tried to make it fun for them. "So, I'm a tooth fairy, and I understand the modern magic relating to teeth, so I'm looking for older magic, maybe stuff that hasn't been used for a while. Let's start with basic stuff, we can quickly move on from there if it's not so interesting. So, anyone got some interesting basic teeth stuff? You know what to do!"
About 7 or 8 books moved out from the shelves by an inch or two. Elida took a quick walk around, and noticed that there were only a few books. "Ok, there's not too many of you, so why don't you come on over to the table, and put yourselves in a neat pile, and I'll take a look at you all.". The books were very used to how to do things, so without rushing, all came gently over to the table, and put themselves in a pile. "Hey, can you top two lift up, and let that third book out....". As requested, the books lifted up, and the third book came out, and sat in front of Elida, then the other two dropped themselves gently back on the pile.
The book in front of her was actually a fairly plain looking book, but it was nicely made, and looked like it was probably the oldest of these books. It turned out to be an interesting book, with a lot of medical sort of information - and lovely pictures - of teeth, along with related magic spells. She actually recognised some of the spells: some were exactly the same as ones she still used, others had certain similarities to spells she knew. A lot of the spells were no longer relevant, as human dentistry had massively improved, plus most people did seem to look after their teeth better. She also managed to take a look at 3 of the other books too.
It's just as well that she had set her alarm, because she got quite engrossed in reading these books. Deciding it was time to go home, she decided that she might as well leave these books out, piled up neatly on the table. If it had been the main fairy reference library, then she'd have had to put the books away, but she was pretty much the only one coming down here, so it didn't matter.
"Learn anything interesting today?" asked the boss as she left.
"Yeah, I was reading some old books on tooth spells, it was interesting to see how fairies used to do things to human's teeth. Well, if nothing comes up for me tomorrow, I'm sure you'll see me again!"
On the way home, she picked up a box of those lovely 'honey nut cornflakes', it would be good to have those for breakfast tomorrow.
Elida had a quiet night by herself: watched some fairy-tube videos, also looked over on Daisy's streaming channel, to see how she was enjoying her latest braces (she was!!). Had a bedtime drink, then went off to bed.
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Day 2:
Elida was woken by her alarm clock: as expected, the time was 7:15. She got up out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown that was hanging on the back of her door, then went into her kitchen, where she put the kettle on, ready to make that all-essential first-cup-of-the-day of coffee. She opened the cupboard door, to take out the new packet of her favourite cereals, honey & nut cornflakes, but they weren't there.... which was odd, because she was SURE that's where she had put them. She looked around, but still couldn't find them, so instead she opened the new loaf of bread she had bought the other day after work, and took out two slices, which she put into her toaster. Something didn't feel quite right.
The kettle clicked off, and she poured some water into the cup, where she had just added a spoonful of that nice coffee she liked. While she waited for the bread to toast, she got the butter and marmalade out of her fridge.
With her toast and coffee done, she went and sat in the lounge area and relaxed as she at the toast and drank her coffee. Just like yesterday, the weather was looking promising, so again she'd have a pleasant fly into the office.
Next it was time for her shower. Her hair felt a bit greasy, so she also washed her hair, something she usually did maybe once a week.... but hang on, hadn't she washed it yesterday?
With her hair nicely dried, she clipped it into place, dressed, then put on her 'flying coat'. With her flat door locked, she went outside, and launched herself into the air, and flew to the office. At her desk, she took off her coat, put her small bag of bits into her drawer, and went off to get her all-essential SECOND cup of coffee for the day. Like yesterday, she was a few minutes early, so she wasn't needing to rush, and had a chat with a couple of other fairies whilst getting her coffee.
Back at her desk, she took out her tablet, and logged into their computer system, to check her diary: clearly no calls had come in that needed her attention, which meant that she would be able to spend time again today down in the Dark Archive. She walked off to the boss' office, and knocked on the door.
"Come on in....,” said the boss. "Oh, good morning, Elida, wanting to go into the Archive?"
"Yes please!". The boss waved her hand, casting the spell needed to open the 'portal' to the dark library.
"Good morning, books" said Elida, as she went into the 'Older Magic' room. She sat at the desk where she had left the pile of books last night - but they had gone.
"Hey, guys, have you been tiding yourselves up while I've not been here? No big deal, but could those books I was looking at yesterday come out again, and come on over here?"
Not only did the books do nothing, she was getting a feeling of 'what IS she on about' from the books.
Something was just not feeling right about today. She had her phone in her hand, and turned it on. Something caught her eye... under the time, it said that today was Tuesday. But YESTERDAY was Tuesday, so today is Wednesday. She took out her tablet again, and logged into the diary system again. Odd, it was ALSO saying it was Tuesday.... Then she remembered about breakfast: she couldn't find the new box of cereals, and hey, the loaf of bread was unopened (she had opened it yesterday!). It was a crazy idea, but could she just have DREAMT about yesterday?
"Ok, books" she said a little hesitantly. "... time for a bit of searching.... so, I'm looking for older tooth magic, maybe stuff that hasn't been used for a while? Let's start with some basic stuff...". Like yesterday, she walked around the room, noticing again that just a few books had popped out from the shelves. "Ok, would you all please go and pile yourselves up on the table...."
Back at the table, she looked at the pile of books: they all looked very familiar, especially the third one down. "Third book down: would you like to come out and over here. She opened the book: she recognised it instantly. But if yesterday had been just a dream, why would she recognise the book so well, if she'd never seen it before yesterday?
'Ok, so maybe I'm in a dream right now?' she thought. She pinched herself: yes, she could feel that. Next, she created a 'non-magic-bubble' where she magicked up a pin, and pricked herself. OUCH! No, she was definitely awake....
Elida had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something very odd was happening, but it was sufficiently odd that she had no idea who to talk to about it... they would think she had gone a bit crazy.
Elida tried to call Zia's mobile, but got no reply. So, she rang the university, and whilst they confirmed she was 'not in the office today', they were unwilling to tell her where she actually was. She left a message, asking if they would pass it on to Zia.
She spent the day working down in the Dark Archive, and again, on the way home, bought herself a new packet of honey & nut cornflakes.
-
Day 3:
Elida was woken by her alarm clock: as expected, the time was 7:15. She got up out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown that was hanging on the back of her door, then went into her kitchen, where she put the kettle on, ready to make that all-essential first-cup-of-the-day of coffee. She opened the cupboard door, to take out the new packet of her favourite cereals, honey & nut cornflakes, but once again, they weren't there.... and this time she KNEW that's where she had put them when she got home after work yesterday. So, she took out the loaf of bread: it was still sealed..... and she KNEW she had opened the bag yesterday... and the day before. Sod it, toast again!
She went back to her bedroom, and picked up her phone, and turned it on.
Tuesday.
It said TUESDAY!
AGAIN!
Like yesterday!
She made the coffee, and put butter on her toast - she couldn't face marmalade again today! Sitting in her lounge, she felt her hair: it felt greasy again. Despite washing it yesterday. And the day before.
Elida started to worry. Once again, she had that very bad feeling in her stomach, you know, the way you feel when you know you're about to get some very bad news. Suddenly she thought about a human film she had watched, one with Bill Murray in it. Where he was a weatherman, and kept re-living the same day over and over.... Groundhog Day, wasn't it?
It would certainly explain what was going on to her. But how? And why? And why HER? And was anyone else suffering the same thing? How would she even KNOW if there was anyone else was suffering the same thing?
She thought very carefully about yesterday: when she went into the Archive, the books she had left on the table had apparently gone... but maybe things had just 'reset' to how they had been at the start of the 'first' Tuesday, that would make sense. And why there were no cereals in her cupboard, both yesterday and today. And why the bread was unopened.
Elida realised that she was shaking... she was scared, mainly because she just didn't understand what was going on to her.
Once again, she started thinking about who she could speak to. The only one person she could think of was Zia. She tried calling Zia, but like before, got no reply. She sent a text: "Zia, please can you call me, I need to talk to you, it's important..."
For the first time in a very long time, Elida felt very alone.....
In the office, Elida KNEW she had nothing in the diary for today, so after getting her all-important 'second cup of the day', she went down into the Archive. She felt both safe and secure down there.
"Hi Sebby! ..... So, what you doing today? ........ Fancy coming and joining me in the Archive? ...... Yeah, when you're ready, just tell the boss that I'm expecting you".
Yes, it would do her good to have some company for the day.....
----------------------
Day 4:
Elida was woken by her alarm clock: she was not at all surprised to find that the time was 7:15, and that it was Tuesday. Shower / wash hair. Get dressed. Coffee.
NO, not TOAST again!! Elida could cope with having toast for breakfast occasionally, but not 4 days in a row! So, she went out to the local shop and got some cereals and milk, and a bottle of Prosecco for later. Oh, yes! Cereals for breakfast! The effort had been so worthwhile! Go to work. Second coffee. Dark Archive. Call Sebby again (she had had a nice day with her yesterday). Text Zia, maybe TODAY she'd call back....
In the afternoon, she called Puck, and invited him over for the evening: it would do her good to have some company. Besides, she'd not seen him for several days. Well, from HER perspective it was several days, from his, it was (counts on fingers) just a couple.
"Puck" she said as they sat down after having dinner (and the Prosecco!). "Do you know anything about time loops?". She had been thinking quite a bit whether to even say anything to Puck, and had decided that it wouldn't hurt: he wouldn't remember anything about it tomorrow. She had also been thinking about WHAT to say, and again, decided it didn't really matter.
"Time loops? You mean like in Groundhog Day?"
"Yeah, exactly like that. What causes them?"
"You're rather assuming that they CAN actually exist... I mean, Groundhog Day was just a story!"
"Oh, time loops exist, I can promise you!"
"You sound very positive about that - how do you know?"
"Because I'm stuck in one. So, today is Tuesday. For me, yesterday was also Tuesday. And the day before, and the one before. I'm in the fourth day of a time loop...."
Puck said nothing for several seconds, he was clearly thinking. Trying to decide if Elida was messing with him - he had no real reason to believe she WAS messing with him, but stuck in a time loop? "Are you for real, Elida?"
"I'm absolutely for real. I don't know WHY, and I have no idea how to get out of it." Well, ok, she had one idea, and that was Zia, but Zia didn't return her calls. Puck was still not convinced.
"Ok, so let's say that you ARE in a time loop... when does it start, when does it end?"
"It starts every morning at 7:15, when my alarm goes off, and it ends when I finally fall asleep, so some time between 11 and midnight..."
"Hey, what's your alarm music? It's not 'I've got you, babe' by any chance?". Elida remembered the reference.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Well, it is a bit far-fetched...."
Elida thought a moment. What she needed was some sort of proof - if not for tonight, then maybe for next time. "Ok, so I get the feeling I'm not going to persuade you tonight, but maybe next time: tell me something that you KNOW that I don't know about you..."
"Ummm... how about the fact that I hate both peas and sprouts?"
"Yeah, I'll agree with you on those! Ok, that will do for starters - or maybe the main course! Something else?"
Puck thought, then smiled. "Ok, when I was really young, like before I started school, I had to go to hospital because I got a bead stuck up my nose. That do you?"
Elida started giggling, as she tried to imagine a young Puck sticking things up his nose. "Yeah, I could actually see you doing that!". Elida didn't say any more about the time loop for the rest of the evening, she knew that she wouldn't be able to persuade Puck this time around.
-
Day 5,6:
Wake up. Shower. Wash Hair. Make coffee. Eat toast. Go to work. Say 'hi' to the boss. Maybe invite Sebby along. Research in Archive, talk to the books. Feel more and more frustrated. Even with Puck. Go to sleep
Repeat.
----------------------
Day 7:
Elida was woken at 7:15 by her alarm clock: god, she was starting to HATE that alarm sound. She grabbed the clock, threw it up in the air, then threw a magic fireball at it. That definitely silenced it.... well, for today it did: Elida had no doubt it would be back beside her bed tomorrow, beeping at 7:15.
Wake up - no, already done that!. Shower. Wash Hair. Make coffee. She couldn't face the toast, so went out and bought some cereals again. Plus a few bottles of beer. And some rather extravagant food for dinner (heck, she was in a time loop, she'd have all the money back again tomorrow morning!) Go to work. Say 'hi' to the boss. Invite Sebby along. Be a bit rude to Sebby. Try to research in Archive, talk to the books. Be rude to the books too!
Just as she came out of the Archive, in fact, just after she had come out of the boss' office, she overheard someone say "oh, here's come's the boss' favourite little pet...". Elida walked over to her, punched her in the face, no doubt breaking her nose, and walked off.
Yes, clearly Elida was in a bit of a mood today! Probably something to do with having to keep repeating the same day, over and over.
Back home, she had the nice food, and drank some of the beer. That didn't stop her getting frustrated about being stuck in a time loop. It was a week already, with still no end in sight. She went to the fridge, opened the bag with the bread with it, and flung it all over the floor. Did the same with pretty much everything else in the fridge. And the cupboard too. It made quite a mess in the kitchen: there were two possible outcomes, and both seemed vaguely OK to Elida. If she remained in the time-loop, the kitchen would be tidy tomorrow. If she escaped the time-loop, then tidying up the mess would be a small price to pay!
Elida fell asleep amongst the mess in the kitchen: she was crying.
----------------------
Day 8:
Elida was back in bed again, and was woken by her alarm clock: as expected, the time was 7:15. Moments later, the alarm clock magically exploded!
This time, she grabbed her phone, and just looked at the date, or should I say the DAY. Guess what: it was Tuesday.
'Oh, NOT again'... thought Elida. Shower / wash hair. Get dressed. The mess she'd made in the kitchen had, of course, all gone.
Today, rather than having toast and coffee, or going and getting some cereals, she decided to go off to a place that did Full English Breakfasts, near work. It was, of course, far too much food for her, but it sure beat toast and marmalade! Even more amazingly, she actually got to work pretty much on time, where she grabbed her second coffee, and went off to the Boss' office.
"Oh, good morning, Elida, wanting to go into the Archive?"
"Yes please!" said Elida rather sedately.
"You ok?"
"I will be later - I stupidly treated myself to a Full English this morning, I think I maybe had a bit too much!".
"Oh, you young fairies! Take it gently, and you'll be ok....". Down in the Archive, she decided to not call Sebby today, but just spent time reading her book, and researching into some defensive magic that her book referenced. For the moment she had given up trying to get in touch with Zia, it didn't seem to matter WHAT she put in her messages, she never called back.
In the afternoon, she felt a little better, so she called Puck, and invited him over for the evening again. Maybe THIS time she'd persuade him that she really WAS in a time loop.
"Puck" she said as they sat down after having dinner. "What do you know about time loops?".
"Time loops? You mean like in Groundhog Day?"
"Yeah, exactly like that. What causes them?"
"You're rather assuming that they CAN actually exist... I mean, Groundhog Day was just a film!"
"Oh, time loops exist, I can promise you!"
"You sound very positive about that - how do you know?"
"Because I'm stuck in one. So, today is Tuesday. For me, yesterday was also Tuesday. And the day before, and the one before that too. I'm in the seventh - or maybe it's eighth - day of a time loop...."
Puck said nothing for several seconds, he was clearly thinking. Trying to decide if Elida was messing with him - he had no real reason to believe she WAS messing with him, but stuck in a time loop? "Are you for real, Elida?"
"Yes. I said all this to you a few days ago, and not too surprisingly, you reacted just the same, so I asked you to tell me a couple of things about yourself that you've not told me. So, food-wise, you told me that you hate both peas and sprouts"
"Erm... ok, yes, that's true, and I don't remember telling you, but...."
"...but someone else could have told me. Ok, how about this one then... I don't think THIS is one you would have told too many people about: when you were really young, before you started school, you had to go to hospital because you got a bead stuck up your nose. That do you?"
"How did you find THAT out?"
"You told me the other night! Puck, please believe me, I'm stuck in a time loop! Tell me ten other things, and I'll repeat them to you tomorrow... my tomorrow, your repeated today! What else do I need to tell you so you'll believe me?". Tears welled into Elida's eyes. This was why she'd not tried to tell anyone else, this was the sort of reaction she knew she'd get. But she thought that Puck might be different. "I'm sorry, Puck, it's just that I don't know what's going on. Why it's happening. When it will stop. I'm so sodding scared!". Elida knew that Puck wasn't good with emotional girls, so she got closer to Puck, and put her arm around him. "Just pretend for a moment I'm not your girlfriend, but I'm someone at work, who has come up to you and said 'I think we're all in a time loop...'. They are someone you trust 100%. Talk to me please, Puck!"
"Well, Bill Murray was in a time loop coz he needed to do things right with Andie MacDowell. Technically, I guess 'the universe' decided he needed to 'fix something'. Dr Strange used a time loop to stop someone doing something catastrophic. I know there's loads of films, and they are pretty much all about needing to fix something.... something that's usually time-critical". Puck was responding better now: it probably didn't matter if he fully believed Elida or not, he was thinking practically.
"Ok, so how do I find out what I'm supposed to fix? I've been thinking on and off about it the last week, and there's nothing obvious."
"Ok, so assuming you ARE in a time loop... when does it start, when does it end?"
"It starts every morning at 7:15, when my alarm goes off, and it ends when I finally fall asleep, so sometime between 11 and midnight..."
"Hey, what's your alarm music? It's not 'I've got you, babe' by any chance?".
"No, it's more like 'Beep, beep, bloomin' BEEP!'" said Elida, finally smiling again.
"And does ANYTHING change from one day to the next?"
"No, when I wake up, I'm back to where things were before. Everyone else does the same thing, unless I do something that causes them to do things a bit different"
"You can't store stuff on your tablet, or write it down?"
"No, tried both those..."
"Did you try writing it on your own body?"
"No, not tried that... worth a try though!"
"Tried killing yourself yet? Bill Murray did that quite a few times!"
"I'm not feeling THAT bad quite yet....."
"Have much have you tried doing different things?"
"A little bit..."
"I'm thinking that if there's something you need to do, something you need to achieve, something you need to fix, then maybe you need to do stuff VERY differently, to find out what it is..."
They talked a bit more, but Puck didn't really have much more he could suggest, other than asking others for advice. Elida pointed out how hard it was to get people to actually believe she was in a time loop. "I mean, you're still not 100% convinced, are you?".
After Puck had gone, Elida lay down quietly, and started to think of things she could do, to try and find out what it was that she needed to do.
-
Day 9:
Elida was woken by her alarm clock: the time was 7:15, no real surprise there! She didn't even bother to grab her phone, to check, by now she KNEW it would be Tuesday again! She felt her hair: yes, greasy again, definitely still Tuesday!
Get out of bed. Drink coffee. Sod, it, just eat the toast with marmalade!
Elida was tired. Not from lack of sleep, but mentally: she just needed a break. "I need a day off!" she said out loud to herself. Elida sent a message to her boss, saying she wasn't feeling well, which was sort-of true.
She spent the rest of the day doing nothing, apart from watching the fairy equivalent of Netflix. A few messages came through - she already knew they would be (she's had them 8 times before!).
Later on, as she was getting ready for bed, she opened the drawer in the bedside cabinet: the light reflected on something, and it caught her eyes. She moved the tissue that was covering it, to find several sets of human braces: these were the braces that she, Faylinn and Flora had removed from several of Sebby's 'victims' when she was 'The Dark Fairy', and that she'd been allowed to keep. She took them out of the drawer, held them in her hand, and looked at them: they really were VERY beautiful. So shiny, made of lovely smooth metal. You had to hand it to her, Sebby had worked out how to magic up some VERY nice braces!
As she ran her fingers over the lovely braces, a sort of 'tingle' went up her arm, and down her spine, making her shiver with pleasure. She suddenly felt very jealous of both Lilly and Sparkle, both of whom now had their own braces. Yes, maybe she needed to work a bit more with Sebby, to find spells to not just remove Lilly's braces, but to be able to give other fairies, herself included, braces.
In the meantime, Elida went to bed, holding the braces in one hand, then used her other hand to do something that I dare not describe here....
----------------------
Day 10:
Elida was woken by her alarm clock: the time was 7:15. She knew she was still in the time loop simply by how her hair felt. Having the previous day off helped her feel a bit better this morning. After a shower / hairwash, she went to the shops, to get some cereals: for a change she got some chocolate flavoured ones she'd never tried, but had never wanted to potentially waste her money on - of course, 'in the loop' that wasn't really an issue. Back home, she decided that they would be added to the 'don't bother buying again' list. Maybe she'd try something else tomorrow.
At work, down in the archive, she called the university, this time being rather more forceful, and even possibly rude to them, but they still only told her Zia wasn't available. Out of boredom, she texted Zia, not expecting any sort of response... it's just that she felt she SHOULD, just in case.
For the evening, she persuaded Puck to go out for an indian meal with her at a local restaurant. She decided NOT to say anything about being in a time loop, instead she just enjoyed the evening with her boyfriend.
----------------------
Day 11:
Wash. Rinse. Repeat
----------------------
Day 12:
Having had a very 'normal' morning (I'll leave out the bit about the shower and hairwash, and the toast and marmalade), Elida went to the pub by herself, and had a few drinks. Probably one or two more than she should have had, especially at lunchtime.
Back at work, she walked loudly into the office, attracting the attention of several of the girls who were there. Then into the boss' office.
"Hello Posy, you lovely fairy!" she said, going over and sitting on Posy's lap, putting her arms around her, and giving her a big hug. "I wish you were my mum too!"
"Elida, get off of me! Have you been drinking?"
"Yeah, and what you gonna do about it?". Elida didn't care: she knew that tomorrow would be today again, and everything she did today would be forgotten. "Let me down into the Archive....."
"No, Elida, not in the state you're in right now"
"God, you can be a right bitch at times, Posy! I want to go into the archive! Come on, let me in!"
Posy... sorry... the boss stood up: "I said NO, Elida. Now go home! Sober yourself up!"
"No, you can't make me!". The boss went outside, and got one of the other fairies to 'escort' Elida back home. Once at home, she just started giggling. Yes, she wouldn't have DARED to do that if she had been sober, and not in the time loop, but it had been so much fun!
----------------------
Day 13:
Destroy alarm clock / coffee / hairwash / buy cereals / shower / whatever (but maybe not in that specific order)
At work, Elida was getting a bit bored with just reading every day, so today, she spent a short time seeing if she could find any spells related to 'doing magic inside a magic dampening field'. She had started with 'her book' but not finding anything, tried a more general search, where she found a couple of vaguely useful references.
Now, normally, if she were wanting to try out some magic, she would have used one of the practice rooms, where the magic dampening fields were much less restricted... but that would defeat the whole purpose of what she was actually trying to achieve. So, instead she cleared a bit of space in the archive, and worked on it there.
With very little effort, she created a small shimmering ball, about the size of an orange, just like she had done before. Next she tried a whole load of 'expand' spells, to see what effect they would have. It was so frustrating, because she KNEW that Zia had all the knowledge she needed, but she just couldn't get hold of her.
After a couple of hours of trying different things, she could get the 'allow-magic' bubble as big as about a metre across, but any bigger than that and it got unstable, and promptly disappeared with a sort of 'plop'. Although a bit frustrating, she actually felt good with herself: whilst part of the reason for trying out the magic was to be able to create a bigger 'allow magic' bubble, it was also an opportunity for her to try out a set of new spells, and understand, just by playing with them, how they worked and interacted.
On her way back from lunch, she passed a few fairies that she vaguely knew - she had been passing them for most of a fortnight now. One of them was actually quite cute, so today Elida decided to have a bit of fun. She went up to her: "Hi I'm Elida, and I must say, you look absolutely gorgeous today!" and then kissed her on the lips. She (the other fairy that is) went instantly bright red, and Elida walked away with a big smile, going straight back to the archive again.
"Hey, Sebby, what you doing this evening?" asked Elida over the phone later in the afternoon. "Would you like to come over to my place for dinner tonight?"
------------
Day 14:
Coffee / exploding alarm clock / hairwash / eat toast / shower / get dressed / go to work.
The loneliness was getting to Elida. She needed some company, but someone different from Sebby. She knew that Flora had the day off, but she wondered what Faylinn was doing, so looked at her diary - ah, good, she's was due to be with a customer!
"Hi there, Faylinn!"
"Oh, Elida, always nice to hear from you."
"Look" said Elida, "I've got nothing in my diary for today, but I see you've got a customer... would you mind if I tagged along with you?"
"Of course you can! I'll actually be in the office in a couple of minutes, see you there..."
Elida had a really nice morning with Faylinn: a teenager was getting braces. But THIS teenager was a NICE teenager. So they did everything they could to make the whole thing go ok. So, things like helping the metal bands nicely fit her molars the first time. Adjust the expander a bit, so it was closer to her palate. For 'some reason', they were out of normal brackets, so they had to use the next size down... - I mean, how terrible is THAT! - that sort of thing.
It felt so good to be out doing some actual tooth-fairy work for a change.
But it DID give Elida an idea.
"Hey, Faylinn, do we have maybe half an hour free?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, you see, I have a problem... well, two problems combined actually. My first problem is that, for a reason I can't really go into, it seems I can't do any sort of 'negative magic'. My second problem is a young teenager called Tommy Jones, a lad with a bad attitude. He got braces recently, but I would like to 'make his life a bit more difficult'".
"Tommy Jones? *THE* Tommy Jones? OMG, yeah, I've had to deal with him too.... a right brat. What can I do to help?" said Faylin, with a slightly wicked look on her face.
"Erm, I'm not really sure..."
"Ok, so what braces did he get?"
"NHS provided a pair if expanders that don't fit anywhere near as well as our last patient. Lovely large shiny metal brackets. Plus a nice tongue crib."
"Oooh, yes, I'm sure we can do something with that lot.... let's go and find him!". Faylinn explained that she had first met young Tommy when his first baby tooth fell out. She left him a nice new shiny one pound coin, but it seems he felt that 'the tooth fairy was being a bit cheap'. Kids should NOT say such things if, in later life, they might need the tooth fairy's help! And his attitude only got worse as he got older.
They found him at school, eating his lunchtime sandwiches: that must have been difficult enough to do with the expander and tongue crib, but little did he realised how much worse things were about to become. They took a good look at his braces.
"Sure you don't want to do this yourself, Elida?"
"Whilst I would dearly LOVE to do so, the universe has decided that I'm just not allowed to do it! I hope you don't mind doing this, we - or more like you - could get into trouble"
"If you say nothing, and I say nothing, who will ever know?" said Faylinn
"Tell you what, can you do a 'block wishes' spell on him too?"
"Very good idea! Ok, so what we gonna do first?"
"Expand his expanders, and lock them in place for 24 hours?"
"Like it.... ". Suddenly Tommy screamed in pain as each expansion screw turned itself by four notches (so one whole turn!). "... and locked in place till tomorrow!" said Faylinn. "Now, those prongs of his tongue crib look FAR to blunt...."
"You hate him as much as I do!"
"Absolutely, but I should highlight that I'm doing this on behalf of a long queue of fairies, who have to put up with kids like him!" replied Faylinn. Tommy suddenly tasted blood, as one of the - now rather more pointy - prongs of his tongue crib went into his tongue.
"You know, I feel there's something else we should do," said Faylinn.
"How about time-bombing the glue on a couple of his brackets.... so they fall off just when he gets home tonight, needing an urgent visit to the ortho?"
"Sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do....". Once more, Faylinn waved her wand. Elida closed her eyes for a moment, savouring the moment.
"Faylinn, thank you SO much for that, I feel a LOT better!"
"Oh, Elida, it was completely my pleasure" replied Faylinn with a slightly evil smile.
And that, dear humans, is why you should ALWAYS, but ALWAYS, be nice to fairies: they have sneaky ways of getting their own back!
-
Day 15:
Coffee / alarm clock out of the window / hairwash / eat toast / shower / get dressed / go to work.
'How many days did Bill Murray have to suffer this in Groundhog day?' Elida asked herself as she went down into the Archive. She logged onto the human internet, and started to search.
"No way! 12,395 days! That's over 30 years! I'll go mad long before that. Probably kill myself.... Ah, yeah, he did that a few times too, didn't he?". She cheered herself up by looking up a list of the ways he killed himself in the film.
----------------------
Day 16:
Elida magicked up a stupidly large cartoon-style mallet, and hit the alarm clock with it. Yes, that seemed to stop it beeping just fine.
Coffee / hairwash / eat toast / shower / get dressed / go to work.
----------------------
Day 17:
Today, Elida magicked up a flame gun. Not only did it destroy the alarm clock, it also took out the bedside table and the bedside lamp. Also singed the side of the wardrobe, but Elida reckoned that it will have fixed itself by the next loop!
Go to work / eat coffee / drink toast / wash the shower / take the hair. Oh, yeah, make sure you put clothes on too!
----------------------
Day 18:
Today, Elida got a LOT of pleasure from magicking up a machine gun, which she used to completely mess up the bedroom. However, she completely missed the clock, which continued beeping. Guns can be used to break clocks without bullets!
Go to coffee / wash the toast / eat the shower / have some clothes / drink the hair....
----------------------
Day 19:
A 22" Machete can cut an alarm clock in two with a single stroke.....
Have a pee / have a shower / wash hair / have a coffee / skip breakfast (get something on the way to work). Remember to put clothes on!
----------------------
Day 20:
Elida's alarm went off. With her eyes still closed, she magicked up a big heavy metal anvil, which she dropped onto the clock from a metre up. It ruined the bedside cupboard, but luckily it missed her phone, which escaped completely unscathed.
She opened her eyes, and looked around. Yes, still in her time loop! How many days was it now? It must be close on three weeks worth of todays.
She felt a little sorry for herself again today. What she needed was a hug. In fact, what she needed was to have a 'weekend' again. As she got dressed, she realised once again that, if she actually did NOTHING again today, it wouldn't REALLY matter. Ok, so maybe she would be no further on in working out what the heck was going on, but she might feel better in herself. Her 'Netflix day' last week had been good, but she needed something more than that.
In the kitchen, she looked at the unopened loaf of bread. No, she could NOT face another slice of toast for breakfast! She got dressed, and went to her local shop, where she bought some cereals. Heck, she also treated herself to some expensive Belgian chocolate - she knew that not only wouldn't she put on any weight from it, but the money would be back in her purse tomorrow!
Back home, she had a dish of cereals! So much better than goddamn TOAST! - the effort was so worthwhile! Then a quick shower - she wanted to smell nice and fresh today - and then got dressed. After finishing the last bit of her coffee, she flew over to the FI5 office, and went into reception: she'd been here once before, after 'The Dark Fairy Incident', when Lilly had shown her around and introduced her to Sir Donald. Hmm, maybe she needed to aim higher up the chain, get to speak with Sir Donald. But NOT today. She needed to take things a bit more gentle today.
"Good morning, Miss, how can I help?" asked the gentleman fairy on reception. His attitude was a little condescending, to say the least: from his perspective, he was wondering what a young fairy doing here so early in the day.
"I was hoping to see Puck, please".
'Ah yes' he thought, 'she's a young fairy come to annoy her brother or boyfriend...' Nevertheless, he still needed to be reasonably polite. "I don't know if he's available, who should I say it is?" he asked, trying to remain polite.
"My name is Elida; would you like to see my Fairy Pass?". Every fairy on any sort of active duty had a pass. It's the one thing that not only showed who you were, and where you worked, but also gave your security level. The same security level that Lilly had bumped up to 50, when they had visited the Dark Archive.
"Yes please" said the receptionist, expecting it to say something like 'trainee', with a security level of about 5. He took Elida's pass, and as he swiped it on his reader, then looked at it, he got quite a surprise, and his attitude suddenly changed. "I'm so sorry miss, I didn't realise who you were!". He gave Elida her pass back, and she looked at it: she hadn't noticed that her security level had been changed, and currently stood at 95! As he didn't recognise Elida, he assumed that she must be some sort of important visitor, and quickly guessed that maybe she didn't actually know her way around the office. "Do you know where to go, or would you like me to get someone to show you there?"
"I have no idea where Puck works, so yes please...". The receptionist picked up his phone and made a call. Less than a minute later a middle-aged fairy came out.
"Good morning, Miss. I believe you'd like me to show you where Puck works?" she said very pleasantly
"Yes please..."
"Follow me then, please". It was strange, since the receptionist had seen her badge, and seen her security level, no one had asked WHY she was actually there to see Puck, they simply assumed that she SHOULD be there, for some reason that they did not need to know about. And they had suddenly become VERY helpful. All useful information to remember for another day!
Of course, Elida did wonder WHY her security level had shot up, and had to assume that it was related to her meeting with Zia, a few weeks ago.... which was really only a few days ago.
Elida was taken up to the fourth floor, and along a short corridor, into what was clearly a test and development lab area. The guide led her into the office next to the lab area, where Ella was.
"Hello Elida! Nice to see you again!" said Ella cheerily.
"Hi Ella... is Puck around?"
"Yeah, he's around, somewhere... ".
Elida turned to her guide: "In that case, thank you for your help! I'm sure Ella can find Puck for me!". Her guide left. "It's so good to see you, Ella! So, where's Puck hiding then?" asked Elida.
"Yeah, he'll be somewhere in the lab... hey, come with me, I'll show you around as we go!". She led Elida past lots of technical stuff that the team were developing, very briefly explaining the sort of things they did. "Hey, you might recognise that over there, that's the magic detector you helped us with! Ah, there's Puck!"
At the mention of his name, Puck turned around. "Hey, Elida, what brings you here?"
"I need you" she said, going over to him, and putting her arms around him. "I need you to just put your arms around me, and hold me...". As Puck put his arms around Elida, she started to cry.
"Elida, are you ok?" asked Puck.
"No, not really.... Puck, can Ella manage without you for a few hours? If so, I just need you to come, and be with me...". Thick-skinned and inexperienced with girls though Puck was, he realised that - for some unknown reason - Elida needed him, so he went and spoke briefly with Ella.
"Ok," said Puck, "I'm yours.... where do you want to go, what do you want to do?"
"Somewhere, anywhere, as long as it's away from... well, everything... don't worry, I'll explain" said Elida, with tears still in her eyes.
Outside the building, they flew off, and out of the town, into the fields. As they left the town behind, Elida started to relax a bit. For some reason, they suddenly hit an updraft. "Come on, it's been AGES since I've done this!", and they both caught the updraft, a bit like gliders do, and let it take them higher. A LOT higher. Finally, after free-flying for some time, they landed, and sat on the gate of a field, looking out of the large green pasture. Elida felt a lot better.
"What's wrong, Elida? I know you wouldn't have brought me out here if it wasn't important."
"You're probably going to have problems believing what I'm about to tell you, but I promise you, it's true. I have lived today now about 20 times. I'm stuck in some sort of time-loop, and I don't know why. I've been working close to non-stop all that time, and whilst I do know a bit more dark magic, I'm STILL no closer to working out what's actually happening! And I just needed a day off. To relax...."
"A time-loop?"
"Yes, I keep living the same day, again and again. You must have seen the film Groundhog Day? Just like that. I'm feeling so stressed out! Now, right now you're thinking I'm maybe a bit crazy, time loops don't exist, so how about I tell you that I know that you hate peas and sprouts, also, as a kid, you had to go to hospital coz you got a bead stuck up your nose. I know those because you already told me, later tonight, in one of my time loops".
Today, maybe because he was a lot more relaxed, Puck's brain seemed to be working properly, and he was almost willing to accept that Elida was in a time loop.
"Why didn't you ask me for help... I mean, I'm not sure what I can do, but I'd like to help"
"My darling Puck" said Elida, putting her arm around him. "I have asked you several times, and each time you say pretty much the same thing. But it doesn't matter, I'm taking a day off today! I don't imagine it will change anything, but maybe I'll feel a little less stressed tomorrow. So, yeah, help me by simply relaxing with me!"
"If that's what you'd like me to do, then I'll try and help! Hey, fancy a drink?"
"Yes, that's a lovely idea. How about one of those stupid silly cocktails?".
"Ok, I'll give it a go". Puck called for his wand, and said a spell. Ok, not quite as fancy as you would get in The Golden Cup, but it was good enough for Elida.
-
Day 21:
7:15: the alarm went off. After spending most of the day yesterday with Puck, just relaxing, Elida felt a LOT calmer. She gently pressed the button on the clock to turn off the buzzing. Yes, definitely much calmer!
She put on some clothes, and went to the shop, to buy some of her favourite cereals. In the shop's fridge, she found some expensive Jersey Full Cream Milk to go with the cereals. And it also seemed so impolite to leave those two chocolate and cream eclairs there, all alone.
When Elida had visited FI5 yesterday, to see Puck, she'd got a pleasant surprise: her security clearance was stupidly high. Which meant that Zia must have spoken with Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte about her. Which she hoped meant that (a) they would both be willing to talk with her, and (b) they would take what she said seriously and (c) they might know, and be able to tell her, where Zia was. The university kept fobbing her off: it didn't matter if she phoned or turned up in person, was polite or rude, they basically ignored her.
She flew over to FI5. Today, she didn't mess around. She handed her pass over to the gentleman fairy on reception, and simply said "I'm here to see Sir Donald, can you get me a guide to take me up to him please". As soon as he saw her pass, he called someone on the phone. Elida decided she could grow to like being treated like this!
"Someone will be here in just a moment to take you up, miss". A few moments later, the same fairy who had guided her to see Puck 'yesterday' arrived, and took her up to Sir Donald's office. Like yesterday, she took mental notes on where she was being taken, so next time she probably wouldn't need a guide.
Yes, 'mental notes': she was getting a lot better at those. Normally, you could just write something down, or enter it into your tablet, and just read it later on... but that just didn't work in a time loop. Been there, tried that and failed. Anything she did one day would be 'blanked out' when she woke up the next day. The only thing that survived the daily reboot was her. In fact, just her mind and memories. She'd even tried writing stuff on her body, as Puck had suggested, that didn't work either!
Elida dismissed her guide, saying "thank you!", then knocked on Sir Donald's door: she REALLY hoped he was there.
"Come in" said a voice from inside. Elida opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her. "Elida?"
"Good morning, Sir Donald, I'm sorry for coming to see you unannounced, but there's something very important I need to speak with you about..."
Relaxing with Puck yesterday, then having another talk with him had helped to concentrate her mind. She only had so much time available each day, and really needed to get the most she could out of the time she had.
"Take a seat... now, how can I help?"
"I'm assuming both from the fact that you haven't instantly thrown me out, plus the fact that my security level seems to have recently had quite a boost, that you are aware that I met with Zia a few..... days ago". Elida almost said 'weeks', and to her it WAS weeks, but to anyone else it was just a few days ago.
"Yes, I am aware, and yes indeed, that's why your security level has been increased"
"I desperately need to speak to Zia, but try as I can, no one can, or is willing to, tell me where she is."
"I'm afraid that Zia is actually out of the country for a couple of days. Can your problem wait?"
"Not really, no it can't. Is there any way you can get a message to her?"
"I can try, but I know she's quite tied up in a lot of meetings"
"I really do need to speak to her today, it IS important"
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything". He opened his drawer, took out a pad and pen, and wrote a short note. She looked at the pen he held: it wasn't a cheap one.
"Nice pen..." she said, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Yes, I was given it for my 50th birthday!". Elida filed this information away: she had already discovered that remembering things like this could be useful.
A door on the other side of Sir Donald's office opened, and a fairy started to walk in, but then realised that Sir Donald was busy, so went straight out again.
"So, your problem, is it maybe something I can help you with?". Just then his phone rang. "Hello Julie.... can I call you back in a few minutes? I'm in a meeting right now." Once again, Elida tried to remember this, and glanced up at the clock on the wall to take a note of the time.
Eliza thought a bit: whilst she COULD waste time trying to persuade him about being in a time loop, she thought it might take time.... No, she would wait until tomorrow, when she could make her point a LOT quicker. In the meantime, she could continue her research.
"Erm, probably not, if I could only speak to Zia, I would be ok...."
Elida said goodbye, and left.
--------------
Day 22:
Same place, 23 hours and 59 minutes later:
.......she's quite tied up in a lot of meetings"
"I need to speak to her today, it really IS important"
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything".
"Ok, stop: you are about to open your desk drawer, and take out a pad and a pen to write a note. The pen is red, and it's a present you got for your 50th birthday."
Sir Donald did indeed open his desk, and took out the pad and pen. "You're quite right, it was a birthday present for my 50th birthday, how did you know?"
"That’s not important right now.... Your secretary - well I assume that's who she is, is about to walk through that door...". Sir Donald turned his head. As he did so, the door on the other side of his office opened, and a fairy started to walk in, then went straight out again.
Elida checked the clock. "And finally... your phone is about to ring: it will be Julie....". Donald looked at her, goodness knows what he was thinking. Just then his phone rang. "Hello Julie.... can I call you back in a few minutes, I'm in a meeting right now?"
"Ok, Elida, you definitely have my attention now: how DID you know about all those things?"
"Because it's exactly what you told me yesterday, and what happened yesterday"
"But you weren't here yesterday"
"Strange though it might seem, I actually was. Well, in MY yesterday, your today. You see, I seem to be stuck in a time loop. That's why I need to speak with Zia. Urgently!"
"A time-loop?"
"Yes, I keep repeating today, and I'm rather hoping Zia will be able to help, so I need to speak to her"
"Ok, I'll see what I can do for you. Can I help with anything?"
"Not at the moment, I don't think so, unless you happen to know about time loops?"
"Not really - so how long have you been in this time-loop?"
"About 3 weeks so far. And something tells me it's gonna be a bit longer, till I work out what's happening. Is it possible that Lady Charlotte knows something about time-loops?"
"I have no idea, let me call her. In any case, it might be useful for you to meet her." Sir Donald called Lady Charlotte, and asked if she could come to his office for a few minutes.
3 minutes later a lady walked in. Slightly taller than average. A great figure, and still looked reasonably athletic for her age. "Ah, Charlotte, I don't think you've actually met Elida, have you?"
"No, I haven't. Elida, so nice to actually meet you, I've heard good things about you! So, what brings you here today?"
"Well, I have a problem. I seem to be stuck in a time-loop, and am having a lot of difficulty working out how to get out of it". Charlotte looked slightly perplexed, and a bit unsure whether to actually believe Elida.
"Umm, I think she's telling the truth...." and he explained about the pen and the phone call.
"Time loops: no, whilst I've seen them in films, I've never heard about one for real." replied Lady Charlotte. "Did you look down in the.... errr.... you know about the Dark Archive, don't you? Of course you do!"
"Oh, I know the Archive well, the books have been trying to help me the best they can, but they don't seem to have anything relevant. That's why I'm trying to contact Zia, see if SHE knows anything!"
"Good idea, maybe she does, but... I hate to say it... I think you might be sort-of on your own with this... But if there's anything specific you'd like us to help with, then do ask."
"Thank you, I will. Hey.... I don't suppose you have a codeword that you two use, maybe with Zia, to flag something is important? I have a feeling that I'll be needing to ask your advice a few more times in the future, and I'd like to 'get your attention' somehow, without needing to 'jump through hoops' so to speak". Elida realised that it was no use inventing a NEW codeword, as it would be forgotten by the next iteration of today, she needed one that already existed.
"Yes, we do: 'Saint Petersburg'" said Sir Donald.
"'Saint Petersburg'? As in the Russian city?"
"Yes, that's the one"
"Ok, that's great. Well, thank you BOTH very much for your time today, nice to actually meet you, Lady Charlotte. And Sir Donald, sorry for just barging in on you. Look, if I need to come back again today - on another 'today' that is - will you both be available most of the day?"
"I'm free pretty much all day - Charlotte, what about you?"
"Unless something comes up, I'm around too"
"Thank you: I'm sure I'll be speaking with you again soon, although unfortunately you won't realise it".
-
Day 22 (later on):
Whilst Elida could have gone into her office, she decided to stay at home. She sent a text off to Zia "Urgent - Saint Petersburg - please call me as soon as you can!", hoping she might get a reply soon.
It was close to midnight when her phone rang.
"Hello, Elida, you texted me?"
"Yes, I have a problem, and I need your advice. Sir Donald suggested that 'Saint Petersburg' might flag it as important"
"Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't call sooner, Elida, I'm at a very important international conference, and have been busy all day. So, how can I help?"
"I'm in a time loop. Today keeps repeating itself, I've been in it for 3 weeks now..."
"I hope you're not joking, Elida."
"Absolutely not. I've tried a few things, but need some expert advice..."
"Well, I know nothing about time loops. I assume you've been searching the Dark Archive?"
"Yes, and no luck so far, but I've been learning a load of new magic along the way"
"Well, that in itself could be useful. I need to think about this, maybe ask around. I'll get back to you tomorrow morning...."
"No use, that will be too late, my day is about to re-boot! Look, I need to get through to you earlier in the day, what can I do?"
"Yeah, good point, well, you could always.... damn, my battery's about to die.....". And the call dropped.
--------------
Day 23
A day later, close to midnight: Elida's phone rings.
"Hello, Elida, you texted me?"
"Yes, I did, now Zia, this is very important, so please just listen, and PLEASE believe what I'm about to tell you. First your battery is about to die, so don't waste time. I'm stuck, in a time loop, been in it for over 3 weeks now, I've done all the obvious stuff. You told me you don't know anything about time loops. My day is about to reboot, and we need to talk for longer, and earlier in the day. Clearly 'Saint Petersburg' isn't important enough for you! Tell me how to contact you!"
"Text me like today, but use 'Constantinople' rather than Saint Peters...." Once again, the line went dead, as Zia's battery died.
--------------
Day 24
The following day, but just after she woke, Elida texted Zia once more. This time the text said "Urgent - Constantinople - please call me as soon as you can!". Elida was very pleasantly surprised to get a call from Zia only 20 minutes later.
"Elida, I assume that WAS you, sending that text. I hope this isn't some sort of joke, I'm incredibly busy right now. And where did you get the Constantinople codeword from?"
"This is no joke, I'm deadly serious, Zia. Yes, I know, you're at some sort of international conference, and very busy, you already told me. I tried contacting you using the Saint Petersburg codeword, and have spoken with you twice already, but each time your battery ran out after less than a minute, although last night you told me to use Constantinople."
"We've not spoken since I've been here.."
"Sorry, I forgot to say: I seem to be stuck in a time loop: today keeps repeating itself. I've been in it now for over 3 weeks.... I spoke to you later tonight, twice"
"A time-loop? What do you mean?"
"I mean that every day for the last 3 or so weeks, I wake up, and I'm repeating the same day. It's just like in that film, Groundhog Day! I've spent too many hours researching down in the Dark Archive, and still have no idea what's going on... or how to get out of the loop!"
"Ok, yes, definitely worthy of a 'Constantinople'.... give me a moment, I need to go somewhere we can talk...". There was a pause as Zia found somewhere more discrete. "I'm supposed to be on a Q&A panel, but I think they'll have to wait, sounds like your needs are rather more important."
"Thank you, Zia. I'm really at a loss what to do."
"Well, I've never been in a time loop, never heard of anyone else in a time loop, and never even read about a time loop, so I guess this is new ground for both of us! I assume you've spoken to Sir Donald?"
"Yes, briefly, also Lady Charlotte, mainly to get in touch with you! But they don't seem to know about time loops either".
"Ok, well don't be scared to talk to either of them, I'm sure they will try to help you if they can. I'm guessing you had to spend a while persuading Donald to listen to you?"
"The second time was easier, when I was able to tell him a couple of bits that he told me the previous day!"
"Ok. Look, here's another codeword for you: 'feather duster'. I'll understand it, so will Donald and Charlotte. It means 'This is very urgent, treat what I'm about to tell you as 100% important and 100% true'. But I'm sure both Donald and Caroline will do whatever they can to help"
"'Feather Duster'? Where DO those words come from?" asked Elida, giggling slightly.
"Semi-random words that are distinct, and that we're unlikely to use in normal conversation. Ok, back to your problem, tell me a bit more, like when you wake up, when you fall asleep..."
"I wake up at 7:15, when my alarm beeps at me, it's the same each day. Everything is reset to how it was the first time around the loop. Unless I do something different, everything around me happens the same. The only difference is that I can remember what I did all the previous times, but it's new to everyone else. As far as the end of the day goes, it doesn't matter where I am, soon after midnight I feel drowsy, and fall asleep. And yes, I've tried very strong coffee, and several other things, but I always fall asleep."
"And it's just YOU in the time loop?"
"Ummm... no idea, to be honest. No one obvious at least. How would I know if someone else was in the loop?"
"Well, I guess they might do different things each day. If they are the cause of the loop, they may try to do the same thing, but they will make small mistakes. Of course, you say you've done different things each day, so they will know you're in the time loop too. I guess it's also possible that there's someone else like you, that you've not found yet, that's in the loop, wondering what's happening to them."
"Yes, sounds reasonable. But how can I find them?"
"I guess it depends if they WANT to be found. I mean, you could just send out an email!"
"Not so stupid, although that might alert someone that I'm in a time loop... but it's something I can think about. More importantly though, you got any ideas how the heck I get OUT of the time loop?"
"I'm thinking that you need to discover the REASON for the time loop."
"Yeah, Puck - he's my boyfriend, and works at FI5 - suggested that too, but no luck with that either. So, what causes a time-loop?"
"Sorry, I have no idea. I guess magic might be able to... if someone has a reason for the time loop, and has used some strange magic that I've never come across to invoke it.... and maybe it's gone wrong. Or... maybe even the universe itself has created a time loop, to protect us all somehow?"
"Why would it do that to just me?"
"Because you and I are the two 'Protectors' of fairykind, and fairykind needs somehow protecting right now? And there's no way I can get back home by tonight, so it's up to you! And you're going to need to train yourself to fix whatever it is that's going on...."
There was a certain logic to that last idea, thought Elida.
"You need some help. I would suggest Lilly and Tats, but for the moment, they must NOT know that you are a Protector - please just accept that fact. Maybe you could ask Sparkle, she's pretty savvy... I believe you have a good relationship with her, and I'm guessing you trust her to keep her mouth shut?"
"Yes, I do"
"Oh, good, so speak to her, use her skills. Well, I can't think of anything else that might help right now...."
"Ok. Zia, thanks for chatting, I feel a bit more positive now"
"That's ok, call me again whenever you need to, and don't feel at all bad about using 'Constantinople' and 'Feather Duster'. Good luck, Elida!"
Well, a few ideas there. Yes, go and talk to Sparkle: not only was she was a bright girl, and might be able to give her some ideas, but they got on well together - probably something to do with a customer called 'Daisy'!. Elida finished getting ready, and went into the office. She grabbed a coffee - the second of several she knew she would be consuming during the day - then went to Sparkle's office. Sparkle wasn't there (and Elida realised she'd not seen her today for the last 3 weeks), so she went and spoke with Magic.
"Oh, hi Elida!" said Magic, pleasantly.
"I was looking for Sparkle..."
"Yeah, she's not in yet, which is unlike her. Maybe she's gone straight out to see a client... let me look". Magic logged into the diary system, and looked up what she was supposed to be doing today. Whilst Magic and Sparkle often worked as a pair, there were plenty of times they did things alone too.
"No, not seeing anything on the system for her... why don't you call her?"
"Yes, I will... thanks Magic!"
Elida went back to her desk, and tried to call Sparkle. No reply, so she left a message. She also texted her, and sent her an email. Normally, Elida would have checked her diary, but she knew exactly what was in her diary for today: nothing. So, as on many 'todays' before, she went down into the Dark Archive, to do more research, and more self-learning.
The Archive was a place that Elida felt quite safe: the books were a great comfort to her, always being as helpful as they could.
By lunchtime, Elida still hadn't heard from Sparkle, so checked with Magic, but she'd heard nothing either, nor had the boss. Elida decided that she maybe ought to go check on Sparkle, so flew off to where she lived: since they had both started doing 'extra duties' with Daisy, the two of them had got to know each other quite well, including spending a bit of time at each other's places.
When she got there, she discovered the front door was slightly open. Fearing trouble, she loaded up a couple of strong defensive spells that she had learnt and practiced over the last few weeks (or was that 'today'?)... kinda like the 'magic manacles' but rather more discrete, and more effective. She quietly walked in, and not seeing anything in the lounge, she checked the kitchen.
** Holy Sh*t! **
Sparkle's lifeless body was tied tightly to a chair, ropes around her body, arms and legs, her head flopped forwards.
"Sparkle! SPARKLE!!!" screamed Elida, tears welling up in her eyes.
-
Wow. Not that this story wasn't already interesting, but things just got more interesting. Keep up the great writing.
-
I did think about leaving it for a few days, to increase the tension a tiny bit, but it's not THAT exciting....
However, I can tell you that Elida's time loop is about to get a lot more interesting!
=================================================
Day 24 (continued):
Holy Bloomin' Sh*t!!!
Sparkle lifted her head, turning it towards Elida, opening her eyes at the same time. With the rest of her body incapacitated, it was the only part of her body that she could actually move.
Elida saw Sparkle moving. "Thank goodness, you're alive... I thought you were... dead... for a moment!"
Sparkle would have loved to have replied, but she had gaffer tape over her mouth. "Mmmmhhhmhmh" she grunted. Her eyes were slightly red: clearly - at some point recently - she had been crying.
"Sparkle, what happened?" asked Elida, hugging Sparkle. She carefully removed the tape from her mouth, revealing a load of dried blood underneath.
With a lot of difficulty, Sparkle replied: "When I woke up this morning, there was a couple of Elven thugs waiting: before I had a chance to do anything, they pulled me out of bed, brought me through here then tied me up to the chair with these anti-magic ropes... then ripped out my braces, along with some of my teeth!!!". Elida just stopped, and winced, then continued to untie the ropes that held Sparkle so tightly to the chair.
With all the ropes finally all undone, Elida put her arms around Sparkle, and hugged her again. "You'll be ok now!" said Elida.
"No, I won't" replied Sparkle, crying. "You don't understand, it will happen again tomorrow, and the day after. It's been happening for about the last 3 or 4 weeks... Always the same, they come in, grab me out of my bed, tie me up, pull out my braces, then just leave me here, all alone till I fall asleep in the evening...". Sparkle was sobbing and crying. "This rope stops me doing any magic, and without any magic, they are far too strong for me - I know, I've tried!"
The severity of what Sparkle had just said hit Elida: if Sparkle's been in the same time loop as she has been then she's been suffering like this non-stop for OVER THREE WEEKS!
... Tied to a chair the whole day
... unable to move
... unable to shout out for help
... all alone.
It really didn't bear thinking about. Elida held Sparkle in her arms for quite some time.
"Something tells me that you're in the same time loop as I am,” said Elida. "Come on let's see what I can do for you now, then see what I can do to stop it happening again tomorrow". She took Sparkle through to her living room, then got her a glass of water, plus a warm damp face-cloth. After looking at her mouth, she could see that poor Sparkle had 4 teeth missing, she assumed pulled out when the elves ripped out her braces.
"Would you like me to see if I can sort out your teeth?" asked Elida. "I mean, it's kinda what I do....". Sparkle nodded. Doing tooth magic on other fairies is much harder than doing on humans, but after a few false starts she sorted out her teeth pretty well.
"I don't think it's any use getting anyone else involved, I've already spoken with a few people, and they know nothing about time loops, so it's going to be up to you and me to sort this all out. First of all, any idea WHY they are doing it?" said Elida.
"No idea. Absolutely no idea. I don't suppose YOU have any ideas, do you?"
"Not really... hang on... your braces: didn't Santa give you those braces?"
"Yes, he did, plus Emily and Wendy used a special bit of magic to let me keep them. Why?"
"Well, I'm thinking that there must be a lot of magic in those braces. But I can't see how that would be any help or interest to a couple of elves. Ok, in the morning, what time do they arrive?"
"I'm not really sure..."
"Ok.. well has your alarm gone off when they get here?"
"No, but thinking about it, it goes off a few minutes later, I hear it for a little bit as they start to tie me up"
"... and how long do they hang around for?"
"I'm guessing no more than 10 minutes, they seem to know what to do, and they just get on with it."
"What time is your alarm set for?"
"About 7:15"
"Damn, that's going to be close, but I can give it a go...."
"What do you mean, Elida?"
"My alarm goes off at 7:15 too. Allow a minute for me to get out of bed and throw on some flying clothes, then about 10 minutes flying time, I MIGHT just make it here in time! It's got to be worth a try...."
"Oh, I see, yes..."
Elida explained to Sparkle that she was a 'Fairy Protector' (but please, don't say anything to anyone else). She explained about Zia, and Sir Donald, and Lady Charlotte. Explained that Zia reckoned that, to be able to get OUT of the time loop, they needed to find out why they were in it in the first place, then they might be able to find a fix.
"We need to talk to those Elves! And I'm going to need your help, because I may not be able to do what is needed!"
"I just had a terrible thought" said Sparkle a bit later on.
"What's that?"
"Well, I'm not the only fairy with metal braces: what about Lilly?"
"Good point. Very good point. Hey, look, you know Lilly much better than me, why don't you call her, see if she's ok"
"Yeah, but what do I say? I can hardly ask her 'hey, I don't suppose any elves have tried to tie you up and take your braces from you', can I? Well, I could, but there would a a LOT of explanation needed."
"Yes, good point! To be honest, we just need to know that she's ok, so simply seeing if she answers the phone will tell us that.... but I guess you still need a reason to call her... how about asking if she'd like to join you for dinner later in the week?"
"Ok, yes, that would work."
Sparkle made the call. Lilly picked up quite quickly, and Sparkle asked about dinner, agreeing to get in touch later on to sort out the details. "Lilly seems fine, at least for now."
---
Elida spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with Sparkle, it was the least she could do. Whilst Sparkle's body had been getting plenty of sleep the last 3 weeks, the same could clearly not be said of her mind: Elida could only guess the effect it had had on her.
The good news is that the food that was in Sparkle's fridge was as fresh as it had been when the time loop had started, so Elida was able to make them both some dinner. She had considered calling Magic, to tell her that Sparkle was ok... well, ok-ish. But she'd not remember anything beyond tonight, so why bother? To be honest, that's why Elida had spent so much time down in the Dark Archive: down there, any reading and research she did was useful, as SHE would remember it the next day. The only time she really bothered asking someone else was if they had some sort of information that would help her.
She had also got used to being a bit brusque with many of the people around her: she had realised that anything she did would be forgotten, so the quicker she could get what she needed the better.
Over the last 3 weeks, she'd only actually had a couple of days off, so it was rather pleasant to spend some time doing something else, apart from learning magic. She got on pretty well with Sparkle these days, so spending time with her was good.
Come bedtime, Elida decided to just fall asleep on Sparkle's settee. If there was any chance that was where she would wake up, then that would be a positive, although she doubted it would happen. She fully expected to wake up back in her own bed.
--------------
Day 25:
Elida's alarm went off, and she woke up. Yes, she was indeed in her own bed, as she guessed she would be. Sparkle... she HAD to get to Sparkle! Took off her pyjamas, put on her flying suit, and got on her way. She flew as fast as she could, but Sparkle lived on the far side of town. When she got there, the door was open, so she went in, spells prepared. All she found was Sparkle, alone, in her kitchen, tied up the same as yesterday. She ripped off the gaffer tape from her mouth.
"You missed them by about 2 or 3 minutes.... Go, see if you can find them!" said Sparkle. Whilst she hated leaving Sparkle all tied up, she rushed out the flat, and started searching. She tried casting several spells, including the one she had used to find Sebby, all those weeks ago. And a collection of other 'angst detection' and similar spells, and whilst she detected a couple of worried fairies, there was nothing else, no elves.
Back at Sparkle's, she untied her, and fixed her teeth, plus stopped the bleeding: having worked out what she needed to do yesterday, it was a quicker job today.
"If only you could get here quicker!" said Sparkle. "I don't suppose you know a good 'teleport' spell, do you?" she added, half joking.
"No, but maybe Zia does...". Once again, she texted Zia, with the 'Constantinople' key word. Zia called back less than ten minutes later.
"Zia, thanks for calling back so soon. First of all... I would like to confirm the 'Constantinople' and also add in a 'Feather Duster'...".
There was a slight pause. "Well, I'm not sure where you got those from, but you have my complete attention! Let me find somewhere a bit more private.... Ok, go ahead, Elida"
"Ok, well, I'm in a time loop, I keep reliving the same day, so far it's getting on for over 3 weeks. We've spoken before, but, of course, you won't remember. And you told me that you know nothing about time loops. You suggested that I should see if anyone else was in the time loop: I've found her, it's Sparkle. And as for the 'Constantinople ' and 'feather duster', you told me them a couple of days ago!"
"Ok. So clearly we've already discussed that I can't get back quick enough, otherwise I would have already done that.. or have I? Ummm, do you know the cause of the time loop yet"
"Maybe. Sparkle gets attacked, and her magic braces get removed by some elven thugs - they're the braces that Santa gave her, so I'm guessing there's something a bit special about them. The problem is that, if I fly here, I get here a couple of minutes too late. I don't suppose you happen to know a teleportation spell, do you?"
Zia laughed. "I wish! I've never even read about one. But...."
"Yes?"
"Well, I'm wondering if... look, you know how we talked the other day about being able to combine stupidly large numbers of spells... it's something you and I can do, but other fairies seem to have a problem with. Go down the Archive, think laterally, try and work out what you would need to do to teleport: break the whole thing into multiple individual components, and solve each one. Call me as much as you need to. If it's possible, it's gonna be quite a few strong spells. And make sure you also look in the "Old Magic" library, as well as the "Dark Magic" one, the spells you need may not be particularly dark!"
"Sounds like I've got some work to do. Shame Sparkle isn't actually cleared to go into the Archive"
"Well, technically, you now have the authority to take her in with you, but that might need a certain amount of explaining to Posy. Why not ask Sebby to help - she might have some 100-year-old insight..."
"Good idea. Zia, thank you!"
"The least I can do! Tell you what: it sounds like you're gonna be a much better Protector once this is over! As I said, call me!"
"Oh, don't worry, I plan to!"
---
"I'm sorry, Sparkle, but I think you may need to suffer a few more days yet..... assuming I can work something out!" explained Elida.
"That's ok... to be honest, I felt a lot better about things this morning, knowing I wasn't going to be alone all day like before."
"Tell you what, I can leave searching the Archive till later, why don't we go out for a fly in the countryside?"
"Thanks Elida, that would be nice. Hey, why don't we go and visit Runesdale. I'm not thinking about visiting Daisy, just take a fly around..."
-
Days 26 - 33:
For the next week, Elida would go straight over to see Sparkle as soon as she woke up, untying her and sorting out her teeth. Then she spent a lot of time searching in the archive, helped by Sebby, and regularly calling Zia for advice. The books themselves had actually been VERY helpful, even making a couple of helpful and relevant suggestions. Whilst there was nothing that stood out to say 'you need this spell to be able to teleport' there were things in other spells that, once you saw them, became relevant.
For example, in many spells you have to 'define the extent of the spell'.... so, two people holding hands, you want to turn one of them to wood (yeah, not nice, I know, but it WAS one of the spells!), then you need to define what that 'person' was... does it include their clothes? Other things they are touching? Like that second person? Similarly, if you are wanting to teleport something, you need to define it. If you're going to teleport a fairy, then you probably want to take their clothes with them! (yes, I suppose you COULD teleport naked, then have yet another 'give me clothes' spell the moment you arrive... but it all has to be thought about!)
Sparkle had offered to go to the Dark Archive with Elida, but she had explained that, whilst, technically she could do so, it would be hard to explain to the boss how she - Elida that is - suddenly had a rather high security clearance. "Besides," said Elida, "how would you explain your lack of braces to everyone?" However, Elida did try and share some of her research with Sparkle, and occasionally Sparkle was able to make a few useful suggestions.
Elida had thought about who else could help her: it really needed to be someone that she could take into the Dark Archive without needing a lot of explanations, which is why she had got Sebby to help so much. Yes, she could ask Lilly or Tats to help, but Zia had asked (before the time loop started) that she not tell them anything about being a protector. Yes, she could also ask Magic to help, but like with Sparkle, that would need her to explain too much every time.
So, she usually asked Sebby to come over and help: she was actually pretty good, and very willing to do - with few questions - what Elida asked her.
And, unlike in the first 3 weeks she had been in the loop, she now had something VERY specific to research and learn about, which made it a bit more interesting.
--------------
Day 34:
The problem is that the research work was pretty intense, and Sparkle could see that Elida was getting rather stressed, so 9 days into working on the teleporting spell, just after Elida had flown over to Sparkle's, and released her from the magic-preventing rope, and then fixed her teeth, Sparkle stopped Elida.
"Elida: you're completely stressed out, you need a day off! So, the last few days I've been doing some searching, and boy are we going to have a fun day today!"
"You sure you want me to just take the day off?"
"Hell yes! Another day in our loop will be worth it if you can work out how to teleport, and then hopefully get us out of this goddamn loop. But without a break you won't do that any time soon! Look, Elida, those first 3 and a bit weeks were... well, 'hell' doesn't do it justice, but I'm coping ok with you coming over each morning first thing. Yes, it's maybe ten to fifteen minutes of pain and discomfort, but I KNOW you'll be over to be with me, so I'm coping."
"Ok then... and yes, you are right, it's about time I had another day off, it's just that...." Elida took a deep breath, deciding not to finish that sentence. "If you're ok with things, then so am I! So, what we doing?"
"Well, I thought we could start the day with with a bit of flying..."
"Flying? I just did that, to get here..."
"No, I mean FLYING..... you'll see.... let me go get washed and dressed...".
It took the two of them about 15 minutes to get there: they were apparently at a small airfield, with several human airplanes parked up. Above one of the buildings was a sign: 'Accelerated Freefall - Learn to SkyDive!'.
"I'm sure they won't mind if we go along with them" explained Sparkle. "Ok, yes, I know we can fly, but how high have you managed to actually GO?". Elida had the most enormous smile on her face! "So, from what I could see on their website, they tie two humans together, then jump out of the plane at about 10,000 feet! You up for it?"
"Try and stop me!" said Elida. This was EXACTLY what she needed to get rid of the stress from the last few weeks!
They went inside, where the humans were being trained. They looked at the pictures on the wall, showing pairs of people flying through the air. "I reckon if we magic up some harnesses, and a rope, then we can just clip ourselves onto them..." suggested Sparkle
"I'm thinking two ropes, one connected to each of those shoulder clips, then stand on their shoulders, ride them down like we're riding a chariot! We'll need to keep our wings in though!". Elida was definitely enthused.
So, an hour or two later, they are at 10,000 feet. They have both got themselves clipped on to the shoulders of a couple of the instructors (who also had a second human attached to the front of them)... and moments later, the noise of the aircraft was gone, replaced by the wooshing of them falling through the air. They were both 'surfing' through the air on the back of a human.... well, two humans each, I guess. They were plummeting through the air FAR faster than if they had 'fallen out the sky'. Elida was screaming out loudly "Amazing!!!!". Yes, she had flown up high before, but never THIS high!
They were in freefall for about 30 seconds: then the parachutes came out, and they spent the next four or five minutes drifting back to the ground. Both fairies were having the time of their lives.
"I've got to do it again!" said Elida.
"Maybe another day, I've got something else lined up now... something similar, but different...." said Sparkle. After relaxing for a bit, to get over the sheer thrill of what they had just done, Sparkle led them to the middle of a field, several miles away. They stood at the base of a large TV mast.
"Ever heard of BASE jumping?" asked Sparkle.
"No... do explain..."
"Well, BASE stands for 'Buildings, Antennae, Spans, and Earth'.... spans are things like bridges, and the last one is stuff like tall cliffs. This is an antenna. We're gonna jump off the top of it, with our wings IN!"
"Wings in? Ok, that definitely sounds stupid.... but a lot of fun! I guess we're gonna need to fly up there first?"
"No, this place is big enough that there's a small lift most the way up! With great views too! We just need to break in first...."
For a pair of fairies, adept at magic, they could open the door locks with no problems. Another bit of magic, and they were going up in the small lift, which was little more than a wire cage attached to the side of the large mast, giving great views of the surrounding countryside.
Yes, Elida had flown as high as this before (for example, when she rode the up-draughts with Puck, a couple of weeks before), but this was pleasantly different: she was able to just relax, and enjoy the views. Once at the top, they got out the lift, sending it back down again.
"I'm thinking we should go all the way up" said Sparkle: they were currently on an open platform, full of wires and big aerials, but still a short way from the actual top of the mast, where there were many more - mainly smaller - aerials. It was a little breezy, so they were both holding on carefully. "Come on, climb up the ladder....". A few minutes later they were right at the top, with just the flashing red lights and the lightning rods above them. They moved over to the down-wind side, and sat there - legs dangling over the side - for a few minutes, just taking in the peacefulness of where they were, and the views. Yes, they could easily fly this high, but normally they never would, there was no real need to. And usually when you're flying, you're doing it for a reason, and don't bother 'looking at the sights'.
"So, humans use a parachute to do this" explained Sparkle. "But we'll free-fall a lot slower than humans would, so I'm thinking we just throw ourselves off the top here, wings in, free-falling for most of the way... you up for it? The wind will probably take us over towards the trees over there". Throwing themselves through the air with their wings IN was not something that fairies normally did, so this was FUN for them to try!
The adrenaline was pumping through Elida like it had never done before: when they did the free-fall earlier, they were 'safely' on top of a human, who actually know what they were doing. This time it was just the two of them! "Yeah, let's do it!". They took each-others hands, and jumped...... and fell.... and fell....
The good news for Elida and Sparkle is that the terminal velocity of a fairy is indeed a lot lower than that of a falling human, so as they approached the ground, they slowly unfurled their wings, both landing gently on the grass some way from the trees. Both of the girls had big smiles on their faces.
"Excellent! Just a different sort of fun from before!" said Elida. It was clear that Elida's earlier stress was starting to wane.
"Ok, so let's go find some lunch, then I'll give you a choice for what we do next, depends on how extreme you'd like to go!"
They managed to find a small place in the country, run by a lady fairy and her daughter, where they were able to have a rather nice lunch.
"So, you said I had a choice for this afternoon."
"Yes, a choice for the first thing this afternoon... we can either do a bungee jump, or mountain-bike down a pretty steep hill - the latter definitely looks quite scary.
"In that case, sounds like we need to go mountain biking"
"I never realised that you were such an adrenaline junkie, Elida!"
"Neither did I, but you got me going this morning. I'm already feeling pretty good, but I think I need a bit more, to straighten my brain out! So... mountain biking... do you have some fairy-sized bikes we'll be using then?"
"No, there's a small group of guys who will be going downhill on mountain bikes. We just need to hold on tight, and enjoy the ride!". Sparkle and Elida flew for 20 minutes, which ended up with them flying up to the top of a pretty rough looking hill. At the top, a small group of mountain bikers were unloading their bikes from a couple of 4x4s.
"You've got a choice: that guy in the blue top with the braces is ok-ish, but he's gonna fall off halfway down. The guy in red is pretty good, but we'll need to hold on VERY tightly with him, he doesn't hang around. All the others are a lot slower, and much less adventurous, but 100% safe!"
"Mr Red, please! Mr Red!! So, how do we hold on?"
"I'm thinking we start by sitting on the handlebars, one of us each side. Then we rope ourselves on to the handlebars very tightly, with a safety rope between us, just in case....."
"Ah, right, ok...."
While the guy in red got himself ready, Elida and Sparkle tied themselves very firmly to the handlebars of his bike, with another rope tied between them. "Not too late to change your mind...". To be honest, Elida did feel a little apprehensive - what she didn't realise was that Sparkle was feeling just as bad!
As Sparkle had said, Mr Red was a good cyclist, but didn't hang around, and was very happy taking large jumps though the air, landing with quite a thump. Overall, the ride was a bit like a roller-coaster, just a bit longer, and a lot bumpier! It's just as well that Mr Red couldn't hear our two fairies: they were screaming pretty much all the way down.
"Phew.... that was amazing!" said Sparkle. "A bit bumpier that I expected, but wow, that was good. How you feeling Elida?"
"Oh, I'm good, but I think I'm gonna need to change my pants before we do anything else!"
-
Again, you manage to make me laugh. Imagining two elves strapped to a handlebar holding on for dear life and screaming their souls out while their human chauffeur is totally oblivious to that...
You really have a special way, evoking pictures in our minds. Love it!
-
Again, you manage to make me laugh. Imagining two elves fairies strapped to a handlebar holding on for dear life and screaming their souls out while their human chauffeur is totally oblivious to that...
You really have a special way, evoking pictures in our minds. Love it!
Oh, if you liked that, then I suspect you'll enjoy tomorrow's episode too!
PS: they are FAIRIES, not ELVES!!!! The fairies are the good guys, the elves are the bad guys :D
-
PS: they are FAIRIES, not ELVES!!!! The fairies are the good guys, the elves are the bad guys :D
I hang my head in shame :-[
-
The excitement for our two
elves fairies has not yet finished: Sparkle has one more bit of fun lined up for Elida - she's trying very hard to clear all that stress from Elida's mind. And who would have guessed that Elida would be such an adrenaline junkie?
==============================================
Day 34 (continued)
A while later....
Sparkle waved her wand, and two fairy-sized deck chairs appeared, along with a small table. Another wave of the wand, and there was a pitcher and 2 glasses on the table. They were in yet another small field. At one end was a row of 4 archery targets, at the other end were tables and so on, for the archers.
"Take a seat, and pour yourself a glass..."
"Ok, what is it?"
"Fairy Pimm's of course! Now, if I got my timings right, we'll be getting a bit of sunshine in a moment...". Sparkle sat in the second deckchair, and grabbed the other glass, which Elida had filled for her.
"Well, this is very nice, I must say, but I'm not seeing that this is any form of 'extreme sport', in fact, it's pretty much the opposite...."
"The extreme bit comes shortly, but we actually get to do three things here. Relaxing and having a drink in the sun is just the first of the three." And that's when the sun came out.
"Oh, yes, nice, I can live with that!"
There were currently 2 people practicing their archery, but it wasn't long before another couple came out, and started preparing themselves.
"From what I can make out, these two are brother and sister. And they are BOTH pretty good at shooting arrows...."
"Oh, ok..." They were sat just a short distance from them, so Elida looked at them: it was hard to be exact about their ages, but late teens, maybe into very early 20's would seem about right. After a couple of minutes getting things sorted out, they both put their quivers over their shoulders and picked up their bows. The first couple of shots at the targets were 'ok' at best, but between shots they were making adjustments to the sighting systems on their bows. Over the next two or three shots, they got closer and closer to the centre of the targets.
Sparkle finished her glass of Fairy Pimm's. "Ok, ready for the second bit? Follow me...". Sparkle led the two of them to in front of the male human. His sister said something, and he smiled, revealing a shiny wire across his front teeth, top and bottom.
"Oooh, nice, Hawley retainers......" said Elida. Yes, it was actually nice to see a good looking human with some form of shiny metal over their teeth. And his teeth looked really nice - just made ten times nicer by that silver wire. Definitely a lot nicer than those rather boring clear plastic things that so many people got nowadays.
"Now go look at his sister!" said Sparkle. Elida flew over to the girl. She was also good looking (for a human), and had an even nicer smile... not because her teeth were straight, but probably more to do with the fact that HER teeth were covered in metal brackets. Clearly NOT the large NHS ones, they were substantially smaller, but they suited her. The red ligs looked nice too. A tiny shiver of pleasure went down Elida's back as she looked at her mouth. The girl then smiled wider, revealing that she also wore a Herbst appliance.
"Oh, yes, very nice! I mean, her brackets could do with being a couple of sizes bigger, but no, these look nice on her!"
They returned to their seats, and poured a second glass of Fairy Pimm's.
"Well, very nice so far, but I'm still not seeing anything particularly extreme here..."
Sparkle smiled. "While you've been working hard trying to figure out how to teleport, I spent a bit of time doing some physics research"
"Physics research?"
"Yeah, stuff to do with mass, amd momentum, and velocity. You know, I discovered something VERY interesting".
Elida was interested to hear more. "Go on" she said.
"Well, did you realised that the 'stuff' in our Fairy world is quite different from the 'stuff' in the human world. I mean, when we interact with the human world, it's either with magic, or it's quite minimal. This morning, for example: we roped ourselves onto that sky-diver, but he had no idea we were actually there, and we didn't upset his balance or anything. Same on the bike. It seems that we have close to no effect on the human world, certainly as far as momentum goes..."
Elida's jaw was wide open, as she realised what Sparkle was saying. Then her brain connected that to where they were, and what was going on.... and her open jaw became a massive smile.
"Are you about to tell me what I THINK you're about to tell me?"
"Most probably. You up for it? It IS pretty extreme..."
"Hell, yeah, DEFINITELY extreme!! So have you worked out exactly HOW we can do it?"
"I'm thinking we'll need a brief bit of 'Fairytime' (ed's note: stops time for the humans for a while), and I think we'll need to rope ourselves on VERY tightly - just holding on probably ain't gonna be enough!"
Once again, they put their drinks down, and flew over to where the brother and sister had started to do a few 'synchronised' shots. They both reached behind themselves, pulling another arrow each from their quivers, then loading them onto their bows. At the same time as each other, they pulled back on their bows, almost ready to fire.
"And we're in Fairytime..." said Sparkle. "I don't know about you, but I'm a bit nervous"
"Nah, I mean, what could ever go wrong?"
"We're too fat??? I mis-calculated??? The universe thinks we're not worthy???". Both Sparkle and Elida carefully and gently flew down and sat astride the front of the arrows, then leaned down, hugging the arrow with their arms, and wrapping their legs around it too. They each ran a 'rope spell', making sure they were both very tightly bound to the arrow.
"Ready when you are!" called out Elida. Sparkle released the Fairtytime spell.
Twang!
A LOT of acceleration, as the arrows left the bows.
Whoosh...
They silently flew through the air at over a hundred MPH. Then, less than two seconds later...
THUD!
And a massive deceleration, as the arrows hit the target, about an inch or two below the centre of the 'bull'.
Neither of the two said anything for several seconds, I think they were both in a bit of shock. Sparkle looked over at Elida, and Elida looked over at Sparkle: they were both smiling stupidly.
"That extreme enough for you?" shouted Sparkle from the adjacent target.
"Yeah, definitely!... fancy doing it again?" suggested Elida, as she cast a spell to remove the ropes. She was just starting to get up when 'whoosh, thud!' and another arrow came screaming in. Sparkle looked on in horror as the arrow went straight through Elida, and into the target (luckily for Sparkle, she had't yet undone her ropes yet, and the arrow that came into her target just missed her). The arrow had gone into Elida's b*m, and came out of her right shoulder!
"Elida!!! Elida!!! are you ok?" screamed Sparkle, sounding very worried.
"Yeah, why shouldn't I be" replied Elida.
"Well, you look a bit like a fairy kebab right now. Doesn't it hurt?"
Elida looked down, and could see that she had been indeed 'skewered' by the arrow. "It's odd, whilst I can't actually move, I can hardly feel it, and I'm not seeing any blood either. Must be that fairy versus human physics of yours. I guess I'll just have to wait for Mr Archer there to come and pull the arrow out of the target, so I can 'slip off' the arrow!"
Whoosh! Thud! And another pair of arrows struck the target, both missing the two fairies by a hairs breadth. "They are good shots though, aren't they?" commented Elida.
Sparkle, seeing that the brother and sister were now walking towards the targets - she guessed to retrieve their arrows - finally undid her ropes, and went over to Elida, and looked at her carefully. "It's odd, it looks like its both inside you and not inside you, all at the same time!"
Five minutes later, they were back at the other end of the field. Once Mr Archer had pulled the arrow from the target, a little bit of magic helped Elida slip off the arrow, with no apparent injuries.
"You REALLY want to do this again?" asked Sparkle.
"Yeah... but no ropes this time...."
---
Back at Sparkle's place, the doorbell rang: they had decide to get a 'Deliverah' takeaway. The day had been a LOT of fun for both of them, but I think they had both finally had enough excitement for one day.
"How you feeling, Elida?" asked Sparkle.
"Physically quite exhausted.... but mentally, I feel so refreshed! Thank you Sparkle, you were absolutely right, we needed that today. I think I can cope with things for another week or two now."
"I never realised you were such an extreme sports junkie! So, you think it's gonna be as long as that?"
"It's so hard to say. I've made a lot of progress, but I still seem to be missing one or two important bits."
"Sounds like you need a bit of extra help.."
"Well, Sebby has been really great, sometimes her just being there keeps me going, but she's not actually all that experienced"
"Sounds like you should ask Lilly or Tats for help"
"But Zia said I shouldn't involve them, not let them know for the moment about my skills"
"That's easy for her to say, but she's not the one stuck in the time loop! Even if you DO involve them, they probably won't remember anything - well as long as you don't tell them anything on the last day we're in this damn loop. And you don't actually need to TELL Zia."
"Yeah, I'd never really thought about it like that. But, to be honest, I know Lilly is good at doing magic, I've never felt she had the ability to create new stuff..."
"So ask Tats then, she knows you, know's that you're quite able..."
-
Another day in 'the loop': I think Elida is feeling very (mentally) refreshed today, after her rather 'extreme' day yesterday!
------------------------------------
Day 35
"Hi there Tats!" said Elida as Tats answered her phone.
"Oh, hello there, Elida. Didn't expect to hear from you... You looking for Lilly?"
"No, it's you I wanted to talk to. Are you particularly busy today?". Elida already knew that she wasn't.
"Not really, what you wanting?"
"I was rather hoping you might be able to spend a couple of hours with me in the Dark Archive today, doing a bit of research"
"Oh, ok.... you know, I've heard about the Dark Archive, but I've never actually been there, so yes, why not? I might as well come straight over, if that's ok for you."
"Thank you Tats. Just one thing: probably best not to say anything about this to Lilly yet. I'll explain when you get here. I'll be at my desk....". Elida actually knew Tats more by reputation, than from spending time with her. It was Lilly who she had worked with, when tracking down 'the Dark Fairy' (aka Sebby!), and Elida hadn't been there when Tats turned up, right at the end.
Yes, they had met at that now 'famous' pub incident, and Tats had seen Elida in action there, first hand, so it was clear she knew about Elida. Sparkle actually knew Tats better, she had met her a few times before.
"Hi there, Elida!" said Tats, as she arrived at Elida's desk. There was a certain amount of whispering around the office: it wasn't that often they got a visit from a real princess (strangely, noone really considered Sebby to be a princess - probably partly due to a lack of familiarity, and partly because what had happened when she was 'the Dark Fairy' had been massively played down), and certainly not one with the reputation that Tats was starting to get! (I guess I should add that it was a GOOD reputation she was getting: capable, but not someone you want to mess with).
"Oh, Tats, good to see you again!". More whispering... 'Elida KNOWS her?' sort of thing. "Lets go get a coffee...."
"Good morning, Elida" said the boss, as Elida walked into her office. "Oh, Tats, nice to see you again too! Looking for something downstairs, or you here to help Elida?"
"Well, I've never actually been into the Archive, only heard about it from Lilly, so when Elida called and asked if I could help her, it was very easy to say 'yes'. So where IS it then?" asked Tats.
"In the storeroom....". Elida walked over to the door, and opened it, showing Tats that it was indeed just a storeroom, then closed the door again. "Ok, boss, can you let us in please?". Elida opened the door, and Tats could see that the storeroom had been replaced by some stairs"
"Very nice" said Tats, "an excellent disguise!". Elida led the way downstairs. "So, 'old magic' in this room, 'dark magic' next door. At the end is 'historical stuff'."
"And that door?" asked Tats.
"Oh, the most important door of the four: it's the loo!" explained Elida, smiling. "Lets start in the old magic room....". As she opened the door, the light came on (not electric, it was magic). "Good morning books, I have another visitor with me today, a PRINCESS no less, but she likes to just be called 'Tats'!".
"You talk to the books?"
"Yeah, of course? How else do I find stuff? Ok, let's try this. Does anyone have anything about Princess Tatiana?". Elida looked around at the books near her. "Ok, if I can't see you, why don't you just gently come around to the table?"
Tats was amazed as one book flew from around the corner, and landed gently on the table. "Ok, who are you then?" Elida asked the book, which then opened it's front cover, to reveal it's title: 'An almanac of the Royal Family'.
"Ok," said Elida to Tats, "I guess it makes sense." She turned back to the book "So, what do you know about Princess Tatiana then?". The book opened towards the rear, to a page which had a part of the family tree that covered Tats' immediate family, with a short bit of detail for each member of the family. After they had both read the entries, Elida sent the book back to it's shelf, with a 'thank you'.
"You're very polite to them"
"Doesn't hurt to be polite - in return they do try to help me!"
"Ok, so you asked me to help you with some research, which is odd, as you hardly know me: I would have thought you would have asked Lilly"
"Correct, Lilly would be the obvious choice, but I know Lilly, I've searched with her down here before, when we were looking at stuff to stop Sebby being a Dark Fairy, and I know she wouldn't be able to help me. I have a feeling that your mind works differently to hers, so maybe you can help me. But first, I need to tell you a bit of a story. It's going to be a bit of a hard story for you to believe, but I promise you it's true. I've already spoken with Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte, and they have already been quite helpful." (She hadn't mentioned anything about Zia to Tats, as she probably knew nothing about her.) "I'm hoping you have a different set of knowledge and experience, that might help me...". Elida spent about 10 minutes explaining about the time loop, about Sparkle, and about needing to invent a teleportation spell.
"Clearly you can talk with Sparkle about things, but the others won't know anything about it - yet, although I can probably get Sir Donald or Lady Charlotte to 'authenticate' me." (by which she meant that she could invoke 'Constantinople' and the 'Feather Duster'!). The good news is that Tats was sensible enough to realise that Elida simply couldn't make this up.
"No, that's fine. So, how can I help you? I'm yours for as long as you need me, which I guess means all of today!"
Elida spent some time explaining about needing to combine a large number of spells together, to be able to teleport. "I've worked out some of the obvious bits, but I'm getting a bit stuck.... let me show you what I've worked out so far...."
The day was good in several ways. First of all, Tats had some VERY helpful ideas and suggestions, and they found several spells that could indeed be helpful to Elida. But more importantly, they got to know each other better: Elida's respect for Tats' abilities grew, and Tats started to see that Elida was actually far more than a mere 'young tooth fairy', and clearly understood what magic was about, and how she was indeed able to combine multiple magic spells to do some clever stuff. Shame she'd forget it all by tomorrow.
"Hey, Elida, how was your day" asked Sparkle, as she arrived there for dinner.
"Today has actually been a VERY good day. Tats came to the Archive, and she came up with some really helpful ideas: I'm starting to really believe that I WILL be able to teleport! Meaning that we MIGHT get out of this bloomin' time loop!"
"Sounds like you got on well with her"
"I did, she's very intelligent, like Lilly, but in a different way: I can see why the two of them work together so well! And I think that she understood that I'm quite able too...."
"Maybe you need another session with her again, maybe tomorrow?"
"Funnily enough, that's exactly what I was thinking!"
Elida and Sparkle had dinner, and spent the evening together again: they were becoming really good friends.
-
day 36:
Buzz buzz buzz. Click.
Coffee
Shower / hair wash
Dress
Get some takeaway breakfast on the way to work.
Call Tats again. For the first time in a while, Elida felt enthused and amazingly positive: yesterday with Tats she'd made so much progress.
Explain everything to Tats again, including how helpful she'd been 'yesterday'.
It was just after lunch: Tats had made a suggestion which it turned out was a VERY significant one.
"Oh my god, I think I actually have enough here to try a simple teleport!"
"Of you?"
"No, no, something small and inanimate. Come on, let's go to a training room!". Elida didn't even need to check whether training room 2 would be free: she just remembered! Lock the door. Plus a locking spell on top: you can't be too careful you know!
"So how many spells are you going to need to use?"
"Eight, I think....."
"And all at the same time?"
"Well, yes and no. Some you just start off, and they keep going. Others are... how would I describe it?... 'momentary'?... sort of a 'checking something out' spell, then the rest of them together".
Elida's first attempts were close, but didn't quite work. The object she chose (a simple pencil) disappeared for a moment, but then just reappeared in the same place.
"I have an idea" said Tats, "There was something in that really old book...". Back in the Archive, they found the book that Tats meant. "Here, read this...". It seemed that one of the spells that Elida was (ab)using needed a second 'supporting' spell in certain circumstances, to make it work properly.
Back to the training room. Elida loaded up the nine spells she needed. Nine spells at once was more than she'd ever done before, but she had a feeling that, after a few tries, it would become a lot easier for her.
As she waved her hand to cast the spells, the pencil disappeared from where it was on the table, and re-appeared on the table again, a couple of feet away.
"Well done, Elida!! Well done! That is pretty spectacular! Time for a celebration: I'll treat you to a cup of coffee from upstairs!". (the last bit was actually just a joke: the coffee upstairs was free!).
Elida was over-joyed. "Thank you Tats, you probably don't realise quite how helpful you have been!". Elida also felt VERY relieved: she had proven that the CONCEPT of teleportation was valid: it was now 'relatively simple' to scale it up, and make it work with a living thing, such as a fairy.
(Where 'relatively simple' means just another three or four days of work!)
------------------------
Days 37 - 40:
By the 12th day (after she had first found Sparkle, that is), Elida was managing to combine a total of 9 spells without too much effort, and could teleport small objects over small distances - she would go up into the practice room with Sebby, then double lock the door before trying out the ideas. If you're wondering why she was working with Sebby, rather than with Tats, it was simply that, whilst Tats had been really helpful, Elida just never felt fully relaxed working with her. By comparison, Elida felt quite relaxed when working with Sebby. If she got stuck, she could always have another day with Tats.
By the 15th day she had combined 12 spells, and managed to safely send a large plant - so something living - over to Sparkle's place. The following day, using 14 spells all carefully combined, she sent a small rabbit, which arrived pretty unharmed (ok, it seems like it was a bit disorientated for a couple of minutes when it got there).
"Ok, this is it, Sebby,” said Elida. She was about to try and teleport herself across the room.
"Are you sure, Elida, I mean, what happens if...."
"If I kill myself? I think I'd just wake up again this morning, and be able to try it once again!". To be honest, Elida WAS worried. She COULD actually die if she screwed up. But she wasn't planning to do so... and even so, it seemed likely that the time loop would just resurrect her.
Elida concentrated VERY hard: she was now up to 15 spells, and combining 15 spells at the same time was NOT easy (well, not the first few times you do it, it isn't!), and she knew that, before she could do what she REALLY had to do, she'd need to add in a couple more spells, which she would be wanting to invoke on landing. After a deep breath, she summoned up those 15 different spells, each responsible for a small part of moving her from one place to the other - heaven only knows what would happen if they didn't quite synchronise properly!
With a wave of her hand, she disappeared, re-appearing instantly on the far side of the room. She felt slightly dis-orientated, but she felt that partly because it was the first time she had done it, and it felt a bit weird seeing something one moment, and something different a moment later. But after just a few seconds, she felt ok.
"Oh, wow, you did it, Elida! Do you feel ok?"
"Surprisingly yes....". Over the next hour, Elida repeated the teleportation spell within the room several more times: she felt that she needed to be both familiar with the spell, and improve her accuracy. Landing was a bit like when you're flying, and need to land: initially the landings aren't particularly good nor accurate, nor elegant for that matter, but you quickly get a lot better at it. Also, the more she repeated the spell, the easier she was finding it to actually combine all of the 15 spells.
After taking yet another coffee break, she announced "Ok, next jump I'm going over to Sparkle's". When she had teleported the other objects, the difference between a short and a longer teleport - from the magic perspective, that is - was pretty minimal. She just needed to visualise where the object should land (and make sure Sparkle wasn't in the way!), and it just worked.
"Ok, Sparkle, I'm going to aim for your bedroom, near the bed" she said on the phone that Sebby was holding. Once again, she concentrated, and invoked the many spells...........
"Oh my god! She did it!" screamed Sparkle down the phone, so that Sebby knew she had landed ok.
"I feel a bit like.... I hit some turbulence on the way" said Elida taking some deep breaths, "but that was pretty much where I was hoping to land!"
Sparkle passed her phone to Elida. "Hey, Sebby, want to head over to my place?". They planned to continue with a few jumps between Elida's and Sebby's: she needed to land in just the right place at Sparkle's tomorrow morning, to be able to hit the two elves hard.
Over the last 2 weeks or so, the first thing Elida had done every morning was to fly over to Sparkle's to release her, and fix her teeth. Then she debriefed Sparkle regarding EXACTLY what the elven thugs did, and where they walked. Over those 2 weeks, Sparkle paid more and more attention, and her descriptions became more and more detailed, which helped Elida, as her landing place needed to be somewhere they never walked (as she wasn't yet 100% sure of her timing relative to theirs), but somewhere she could quickly see where they were, and launch her defensive magic against them. The great thing was that, from what they could tell, the elves were NOT part of the time loop: they did *exactly* the same thing every day, so if Elida failed tomorrow, they could always try again the next day!
Elida teleported back to her place, where Sebby was waiting - she was expecting the 'side effects' this time, so didn't feel at all bad when she landed. The more she teleported, the easier it came. Each time she teleported, she loaded up an extra couple of 'retaliation spells', practising for the next morning.
"Ok" said Elida to Sebby, "once you know I'm there ok, fly over and join us, Sparkle has made us all some dinner!". For this last jump, they had lined up a couple of plants (ones that Elida had teleported earlier in the week!) where they thought the two elves would be, as targets. As Elida landed, she launched off the couple of small fireball spells that she'd loaded up, turning both plants instantly to dust.
"Well, I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" said Elida.
Sparkle went and hugged her, holding her tightly. "Elida, thank you SO much for everything you've been doing for me these last couple of weeks! I finally have some hope back again..."
Elida, Sparkle and Sebby spent the evening together at Sparkle's place, and in fact they all fell asleep there. Yes, an amount of alcohol WAS involved... but being in a time loop did have a couple of advantages: you never got a hangover, and you never needed to go shopping - apart from the Honey and Nut Cornflakes, that is! The only downside was Elida would never get paid for all the extra overtime she was putting in!
-
Day 41:
Elida's alarm went off: she gently pressed the button to turn the noise off. She shook her head a couple of times to get her brain working. Her brain reminded her that she needed to teleport straight away over to Sparkle's. Still in her pyjamas, she loaded up the 15 spells she would need to teleport over to Sparkle's place, plus two more: one to incapacitate the two elves for a short time, the other to tie ropes around them.
Elida cast the 15 simultaneous spells, and instantly she was in Sparkle's bedroom. The two elves were walking out of the bedroom door, with Sparkle in front of them, the anti-magic rope around her, stopping Sparkle from doing any magic. She couldn't have asked for an easier target: the two elves had heard something behind them, and had just turned, to see Elida there launching the incapacitation spell at them... followed immediately by the spell to tie them both up.
"OH YES!!!!!" screamed out Elida. By now, Sparkle had turned around, and had a huge smile on her face. "Elida, that's just AMAZING!". For the first time in nearly 6 weeks, Sparkle still had her teeth and braces!
"You ok?"
"I will be once you get this rope off me!". Elida undid the anti-magic rope. They dragged the two elven thugs back into the living room, and the elves started to come to.
"Good morning gentlemen!" said Elida, who was still dressed in her pyjamas. "Although I think that's being a little rude to REAL gentlemen. I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news, as far as you're concerned, is that, apart from what I've already done to you, there's not a lot more I can do to you. The BAD news though is that Sparkle there doesn't have that restriction, and I think she's built up a lot of anger over the last 5 or 6 weeks, what with you coming in every morning, tying her up, pulling off her braces, along with a few teeth, then leaving her alone in her kitchen for the rest of the day"
"6 weeks? What you talking about? This is the first time we've been here!" complained one of the elves.
"Well, it may be the first time for YOU, but because of you two, Sparkle and I have been stuck in a time loop for about the last 6 weeks, and Sparkle has built up a bit of an anger issue. I suggest you tell her what you're up to, and who you're doing it for, unless you want to feel very sore in several places. Sparkle, I'm going to go into your bedroom and call Sir Donald, I'll leave you to deal with your anger issues!"
Elida walked out into the bedroom, and called Sir Donald: it was only 7:22, and she guessed that Sir Donald would be at home, but this WAS important. VERY important. She started with a text: "Constantinople - I will call you in a moment, Elida". Next, she called Sir Donald, who answered immediately.
"Hello, Elida?"
"Good morning, Sir Donald, I'm so very sorry for calling so early. First can I repeat the 'Constantinople' and also add in a 'feather duster'. Don't worry, Zia explained to me what they mean, and I'm deadly serious in using them"
"Ok, Elida, you have my complete attention, how can I help?". Elida was VERY relieved that Sir Donald appeared to be taking her seriously.
"It's a bit of a story, so here goes: about 6 weeks ago, I got stuck in a time loop, repeating every day. I've spoken with you, Charlotte and Zia several times in those 6 weeks, and you've all been very helpful to me. About 3 weeks ago, I discovered that Sparkle was in the time loop too. Every morning, just before she awoke, two eleven thugs broke in to her apartment, dragged her out of her bed, tied her up with anti-magic rope, and pulled out her braces - along with a few teeth - leaving her tied to a chair in her kitchen until the end of the day, until it all happened again the next day. She had been suffering like that for three weeks, till I found her". As Elida paused, there was a loud scream in the background.
"What's that? Is everything alright there?" asked Sir Donald.
"I think so... I left Sparkle looking after the two elves, I have a feeling she's getting rid of six weeks of anger onto them... I'm guessing she probably just kicked one of them in the nuts, sir! Now, where was I? Ah yes, so after I realised that Sparkle needed my help, I flew over as soon as I woke up: sadly, I was a couple of minutes too late. So, I have spent the last 2 to 3 weeks working out how I could teleport from my place to hers: I finally did it this morning, about 10 minutes ago". There was another scream in the background.
"Excuse me a moment, sir.... Sparkle, they talking yet?" called out Elida.
"No, they're not!" said an angry voice from the other room.
"Something tells me that Sparkle won't actually manage to get them to talk, so maybe you'd like to organise a couple of your beefy FAS* guys to come over, collect the two elven thugs, and see if THEY can persuade them to talk!"
(FAS: Fairy Air Service... like the british 'SAS', or US 'Special Forces')
"Did you just say 'Teleport'?" asked Sir Donald, sounding VERY surprised.
"Yes, sir, I did sir. You know, it only takes 15 spells to teleport, so I was also able to bring a couple of extra defensive ones with me to use when I landed! So, will you be able to organise a couple of guys?"
"Teleporting... I'm impressed! As for the FAS team: I certainly can. In fact, maybe I should come over there myself....". Elida made sure Sir Donald had the correct address, then they hung up, so he could organise the needed manpower.
Elida went back to the lounge, where Sparkle was simply standing on top of one of the elves.
"Feeling any better for that?" Elida asked Sparkle. Yes, Elida knew that Sparkle had probably 'overstepped the mark', but she didn't mind, they deserved whatever Sparkle had just given them. Besides, if the loop repeated, you could easily claim that she'd never actually done anything to them!
"A bit! Tell you what though, it feels so good to still have all my own teeth and braces in my mouth for a change, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like. Elida... would you mind if I hurt them just a LITTLE bit more?"
About half an hour later, Sir Donald turned up: of course, Elida was in her pyjamas when she had first teleported to Sparkle's, but she had popped home in the meantime to get dressed. Almost the same time that Sir Donald arrived, a couple of noticeably burly FAS guys also arrived, and took the two elven thugs with them. The two elves hadn't told Sparkle anything of use.... but she guessed that they may change their tune soon, once the FAS guys 'played' with them!
"As soon as they tell us who they are working with, we'll go to apprehend them" said Sir Donald
"Something tells me that, by the time you get anything out of them, their accomplices will be long gone, and we'll need to do all this again tomorrow". Elida spent a few minutes explaining what had been happening the last 5 to 6 weeks: she knew that she would most likely need to do it all again tomorrow, but there was a SLIGHT chance that today could be the last day in the loop, in which case being polite to Sir Donald would be worth it. More importantly, she needed him to really understand how important it was for him to tell her ANYTHING they discovered today, so she could tell him again the following morning.
"So, Sir Donald, as soon as you know anything, can you please let me know. From your perspective, our tomorrow will just be another repeat of this morning for you, and you won't know anything"
"Yes, I understand, very good point.... so yes, I'll let you know by the end of the day at latest what we find out" said Sir Donald.
"Hopefully, if we can tell you the details first thing tomorrow, you might have a better chance of finding them."
"So, you say you actually teleported here? To my knowledge, no one has achieved that before...."
"Would you like a quick demonstration?" asked Elida.
"Oh, yes please, that would be very interesting!".
"Ok... Sparkle, I have an idea" said Elida, picking up an orange from a bowl. "Stand over there, then when I tell you, throw it in the air, and I'll try and teleport over and catch it.". To be honest, she didn't really imagine that she'd actually manage it, but it would be fun to try. With Sparkle on one side of her lounge, and Elida on the other (with a settee in the way too!) she prepared herself, loading up the 15 spells she would need. "Ok, Sparkle, throw it up". She looked where the orange was, and cast the spells. The next moment she was in front of Sparkle, and actually caught the orange!
Sir Donald was suitably impressed. "So, do explain in simple terms what you did..."
"I ran fifteen different spells, almost simultaneously, each handling part of the process. At the moment, I'm limiting myself to somewhere I know, and with the proviso that I KNOW it's an empty space. If I'm going to use it more, I'm going to need to add a few more spells, to do some safety checks...."
"Fifteen: very impressive - how on earth did you manage to do that?"
"It's not that easy, but it does get a lot easier the more you do it. Since YOUR yesterday, I've been working on this pretty solid for close to 3 weeks! So I've been working up the number of spells over that time. After a few tests, I finally managed to teleport yesterday."
"And you've been in the loop for 5 or 6 weeks in total you said?"
"Yes, somewhere between 5 and 6, to be honest, I've lost count. And I'm going to assume that we'll need to do it at least one more time"
"Well, I can manage to do 2 or 3 spells at the same time, how you manage 15 is beyond me! I know Zia can also do that sort of thing too, but it's still very impressive. It's very clear that you will make a very worthy 'Protector' for us all! Ok, I'll let you know what we learn, until then, I think you two deserve to take the rest of the day off! And I'll look forward to hearing from you tomorrow... or maybe that should that be 'earlier today'?". Elida was very pleased that Sir Donald not only trusted her, but also appreciated the implications of her being in a time loop.
Late in the afternoon, Elida received a call from Sir Donald: the 2 elves had finally given them some information, including an address, but when the FAS team had got there, the place was empty.
"Looks like we get to do it all again tomorrow, Sparkle,” said Elida.
"Yeah, not to worry. Hey, why don't you try a different spell to immobilise them tomorrow?"
"Nice idea, suggestions?"
"Hmmm.... how about pull them up by their legs? Have them hanging upside down?"
"Yes, I'm very ok with that! Hey, my glass is empty....". The girls had taken up Sir Donald on his suggestion of taking the day off - they certainly deserved it, as well as needing it - and they had gone out and got a couple of bottles of wine, and a load of food that they shouldn't REALLY be eating.... they had realised that it didn't matter WHAT they did today, they'd be quite normal and sober again when the morning came!
-
Day 42:
Elida's alarm went off. She shook her head a couple of times to get her brain working. Yes, she needed to go and sort out two elves.... yet again! Still in her pyjamas, she turned off the alarm (hopefully for the last time in a while), then loaded up the 15 spells she would need to teleport over to Sparkle's place, plus two more, similar to yesterdays, yet slightly different. At least today Elida pretty much knew what to expect when arriving at Sparkle's place.
Elida ran the 15 simultaneous spells (every time she did so, she found it easier to do), and once again she was instantly in Sparkle's bedroom. The two elves were walking out of the bedroom door, but today she was a second or two earlier, which made them even easier targets.
"Hey, punks!!" she screamed. They turned around, and were rather surprised to see a second young fairy in the room, still in her pyjamas. "Prepare to die, punks!!!" she added, just as loudly. She paused for another couple of seconds: she knew they couldn't do anything to either Sparkle or her in that time, but it was so worth it, just to watch the reactions on their faces. She launched the two spells on them, and moments later, they were dangling upside down, hanging from ropes that were held in the air by magic, their hands also tied together, and gaffer tape over their mouths - all purely 'protective magic' mind you!
Once again, the elves had no idea what had just hit them! Sparkle had turned around to see what Elida had managed to do. "Oh yeah, nice one Elida!". Elida rushed over and removed the anti-magic rope from Sparkle, then gave her a hug - she could only imagine what had been happening inside Sparkle's head when these two had, once more, broken into her flat and dragged her out of bed.
"And as for you two, hopefully this will be the LAST time you try and attack my friend! The good news for you two is that I suspect that she's not feeling QUITE as stressed out as yesterday. But Sparkle, they are yours to play with, I need to call Sir Donald!". Sparkle and Elida dragged the two (currently floating) elves into her living room, then - as she did the day before - Elida walked into the bedroom, and called Sir Donald, leaving Sparkle alone with the two elves: again, it was 7:22, and she knew that Sir Donald would be at home, but this WAS important. She started with a text: "Constantinople - I will call you in a moment, Elida". Next, she called Sir Donald, who answered immediately.
"Hello, Elida?"
"Good morning, Sir Donald, once again, I'm so very sorry for calling so early. First can I repeat the 'Constantinople' and also add in the 'feather duster' too. Don't worry, Zia explained to me what they mean, and I'm deadly serious in using them"
"Ok, Elida, you have my complete attention, how can I help?"
"It's a bit of a story, and hopefully it's the last time I'll need to tell you, but here goes: about 6 weeks ago, I got stuck in a time loop, repeating every day. I've spoken with you, Charlotte and Zia several times in those 6 weeks, including yesterday morning, and you've all been very helpful to me. Around 3 weeks ago, I discovered that Sparkle was in the time loop too. Every morning, just before she awoke, two eleven thugs broke in to her apartment, tied her up with anti-magic rope, and pulled out her braces - along with a few teeth - leaving her tied to a chair in her kitchen, until the end of the day. Then it all happened again the next day. She had been suffering like that for over three weeks, till I found her".
"Oh no, not nice.... but do please continue".
Elida explained how she'd taught herself to teleport, and how she had actually captured the two elves yesterday, and how Sir Donald had organised some FAS guys to elves take them away, and do some 'persuading' on them. "Of course, you're not in our time loop, so you won't remember any of that. But you managed to get an address off these two, which you gave me"... she gave Sir Donald the address. "I'm hoping that if you can get a couple of your guys over there straight away, you should be able to catch them. In the meantime, once again we've got the two elves here, incapacitated....". There was a loud scream in the background. "Sorry, that's just Sparkle, she's probably doing some torture on them again... now where was I? Ah yes, maybe you can also send a couple of FAS guys to Sparkle's to collect these two?"
"Well, Elida, what you have just told me sounds far too amazing to be a prank, so you can be sure I'll get things sorted straight away. I think maybe I should come over there too, if that's ok?"
"You are very welcome to visit, Sir Donald....". Once again, she made sure he had the address.
"Umm... are your two 'captives' going to be ok with Sparkle...?"
"Oh, she's actually a very pleasant torturer!" replied Elida. They ended the call.
"So, Sparkle, what HAVE you been doing to them, to make then scream like that?" asked Elida.
"Did you know that elves hate having their earlobes crushed?", Sparkle went to one of the elves, and pressed his earlobe tightly between her thumb and forefinger, making him scream in pain. "It's very cathartic you know, you should give it a try...."
"Well, it's NOT magic, and they aren't fairies either.... so why not!" Elida went and squeezed the other elf's earlobes - both at once, making him scream loudly. "Ooooh, yes, that DOES feel good, doesn't it!". I don't need to tell you what the two fairies were doing to the two elves for the next couple of minutes!
-
Let's be honest, do non-elves like having their earlobes squeezed tightly?
Really enjoying the story.
-
Day <it doesn't really matter, but it's an ACTUAL day later>
Elida woke up. For a change it wasn't her alarm that woke her. And she wasn't in her bed either. She looked around: last night she had stayed over at Sparkle's, sleeping on her settee, and that's where she was now. Which could mean just ONE thing: THEY WERE FINALLY OUT OF THE TIME LOOP!!!!
Whilst Elida could have gone back home last night, she would have had the problem of not knowing if Sparkle was ok when she woke up, and whether they were still in the time loop. This way it was more obvious, plus she felt that she owed it to Sparkle to stay with her. She sat up, and realised that she could smell coffee, so she got up, and walked out into the kitchen, where Sparkle had just poured two cups of fresh coffee.
"Good morning!" said Elida. "How you feeling?"
"Very happy to have been able to get out of bed by myself for a change".
Elida put her arms around Sparkle. "Yes, it is nice to finally be out of that time loop... I was getting a bit fed up with doing pretty much the same thing, day after day!"
"Elida, how on earth do I thank you for what you have done for me these last few weeks?"
"Don't worry, that's what friends are there for! And I'll be honest, I wanted out of that time loop as much as you did!"
"Thank you, Elida! Thank you! Hey, how are you and Sebby getting on with finding a spell to remove Lilly's braces? I was thinking that maybe it's time to get mine taken off too - but not by any elves!"
"I actually saw something the other day - or maybe it was the other week, the days all seem to just feel like one - that might be useful, so let me work on it!"
So, the previous day, the FAS assault team had broken into the address given to them by the elves a couple of days ago: they apprehended three other elves, plus found two fairies that they had kidnapped in the middle of the night. It seems that this group of untoward elves had heard that there were a couple of fairies with 'magic metal braces', and that the metal in these 'braces' could be used by non-fairies to cast fairy magic (this information was quite correct).
Their plan was to force the two fairies that they had kidnapped to somehow 'process' the metal, so that they - the elves that is - could use it. If it had worked, then they would also have gone after Lilly's braces the following morning! Clearly the whole concept of any elves being able to use *any* fairy magic was abhorrent to the universe itself, so it had immediately put both Sparkle and Elida into their time loop, until such time as they managed to sort things out. Obviously the universe knew how good Elida would be!
Now, whilst you might have thought that such an event would make the fairy news headlines, the reality was that very little had actually happened: A fairy had caught two elves trying to break in to another fairy's apartment. Three other elves had been apprehended, having kidnapped two other fairies a few hours before (but had actually looked after the fairies pretty well). The fairy 'powers that be' (so Lady Charlotte and Sir Donald) didn't really want to upset the mainstream elven community: relations between the elves and fairies weren't all that good at the best of times. After 'due processing' (which seemed to leave the elves with a few unwanted bruises) the 5 elves were passed to the elven police, who offered to 'take good care of them' (I think that may have included adding a few more bruises!) - it seems they 'were well known to them'.
As for Elida and Sparkle, they had ended up going to FI5 HQ (where Sir Donald specifically kept them away from Lilly and Tats - 'don't want them to know about your special skills yet, Elida') where they had explained to both Lady Charlotte and Sir Donald in as much detail as they could remember about the past 6 weeks or so. By lunchtime, they were all done, and they took the afternoon off.
Today, Elida and Sparkle also planned to have a very relaxing time: Sir Donald had spoken with their boss yesterday, telling her that Elida and Sparkle were 'doing a special job for FI5, and would probably be back tomorrow'.
"Hey," said Elida. "I have an idea for this afternoon: fancy going to just watch a brother and sister shooting arrows at a target? If we time it right, the sun will come out just as we sit down to enjoy our Fairy Pimms"
"No extreme sports?"
"No, no extreme sports! Just sit, watch, and relax"
"That sounds just excellent to me....."
----
Day <actually the same day as the last chapter!>
So, mid-morning, after sitting and chatting a bit, Elida decided that she needed to go and have a word with Puck. After all, he WAS her boyfriend.
"Hey, Sparkle you gonna be ok by yourself for a while? I'd like to go and see Puck"
"Yeah, sure. Hey, I guess he doesn't know a thing about what's been happening, does he?"
Elida thought a moment: whilst she had visited Puck at FI5 once, plus spent several evenings with him whilst stuck in the time loop, he wouldn't remember anything about those times. So, whilst Puck would still be the same Puck, she had started to get to know more about Puck: whilst rather inexperienced with girls, he was a 'nice guy', his heart was in just the right place as far as Elida was concerned, and she wanted to get to know him a lot more. "No, he doesn't, and I think maybe I need to tell him... and tell him how I feel about him!".
Elida flew over to FI5: yes, she could have teleported but she would have had to land outside, which gave her two problems: first, she'd not know if the area was clear, and second, she didn't really want anyone else to know her abilities. So, she flew there gently, enjoying everything around here: for the first time in ages, it was a NEW day!
"Good morning, Miss, how can I help?" asked the gentleman fairy on reception. His attitude was a little condescending, just like the last time (ok, last TIMES, it this was her third solo visit) she'd visited, even though that was during her 'yesterdays'.
So, this time, she was going to be more assertive, and enjoy seeing his face when she showed him her pass. "I'm here to see Puck!" she said, handing her pass over. As previously, he swiped it on her terminal, and got quite a surprise when he found out how important she was.
"Do you know where to go, or would you like me to get someone to show you there?" asked the receptionist.
"I do know where he works, but thank you for asking!" replied Elida, politely. The security gate opened, and she walked through. From there, she took the lift to the fourth floor, and along a short corridor, past the lab area, and into the office next door. Puck and Ella were both there,
"Hello Elida! It's good to see you again!" said Ella cheerily.
"Hi Ella!" replied Elida. She walked straight over to Puck, who was sat at a desk sketching something, with bits of hardware next to him. She put her arms around Puck, then leaned over, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Puck, my darling, I just need you to know that I love you!".
Puck stopped what he was doing, and turned noticeably pink. Yes, it wasn't really a 'done thing' to show affection in the workplace, but Elida didn't really care. "There's a bit of a story I need to tell you, and there's no reason Ella can't hear it too....". Elida sat down, and started to explain about how she, and Sparkle, ended up in a time loop for six weeks.
"So, whilst you won't remember any of it, we spent several evenings together, sometimes I tried to persuade you about my time loop, others we just spent time together, and I enjoyed each of those times we spent together. So, I'm finally back to normal time, but there's something else you need to know about. Again, I'm ok with Ella hearing it, but you both need to promise, under your contract of working with FI5, that you won't tell anyone else...".
Elida explained about being a 'protector', how that gave her certain 'skills' (although it was actually the skills that made her the protector, I guess!), which led to her being able to teleport. Which finally got her out of the time loop. Ella had a load of questions about teleporting, which Elida tried to answer.
"I've got a lot to learn still, but Puck, I'm rather hoping you'll be willing to be there for me while I do it!"
Puck was, unsurprisingly, a little apprehensive about what the future might hold, but the thing that he liked about Elida was her determination to do stuff. After all, that's how they'd first met, when she helped him with what he was working on, to help find The Dark Fairy.
"I'll try my best to be there for you..." he replied.
"I can't ask for more than that..." replied Elida.
"So, what you going to be doing now?"
"That's a very good question, Ella, and I'm not sure. I need to learn a lot more magic - protective magic - but I think I need to do that without other fairies knowing what I'm up to. I know for a fact that some of the fairies in the office resent me, they think I'm sort of 'teacher's pet' because of the amount of time I seem to spend in the boss' office - little do they realise what I'm really doing."
The three of them chatted for a while: it felt so good to Elida knowing that they would actually remember what she said: it really had become so annoying having to repeat herself every day.
"Puck, it's almost lunchtime - want to go somewhere for lunch with me?"
-
So, you've all been reading these fairy-stories for a bit now, and have met quite a few of the "gang": Elida, Faylinn, Flora, Sparkle, Magic, Sebby, Lilly, Tats, plus Lady Charlotte, Sir Donald, and Lady Zia. And mustn't forget Queen Tinkerbell.
There's a lovely gallery of fairy pictures at https://dereferer.me/?https://www.deviantart.com/wildguardianangel31/favourites/81868179/i-love-fairies .... I'd love you to take a look, and see which pictures match, in your imagination, any of the above characters. (don't panic, there's no naughty pictures on that page! Although some fairies do show a bit of ankle or knee!)
-
I would never have guessed that it was the doing of those nasty nasty fairies that caused the timeloop. Abducting those poor elves and (forcefully) removing their braces to get access to elven magic... no wonder the universe had to intervene. Just glad that it worked out in the end ( ;D >:D ;D )
As to your pictures: I have a hard time finding pictures that actually fit my imagnation.
This picture however (https://dereferer.me/?https://www.deviantart.com/delphineart/art/Dominatrix-Fairy-38708104) comes close to what I imagine Sebby to look like.
And elves gaining fairy magic are of course (https://dereferer.me/?https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/brutal-obese-man-fairy-costume-holds-magic-stick-teeth-purple-background_17494996.htm)
-
Day <whatever, we're out of the loop now!>:
"Good morning, Elida,” said Zia. It's a couple of days later, just before lunchtime, and Zia had just called Elida. "Sir Donald has just told me quite an amazing story!"
"Zia, you're back at last!" said Elida happily, "Yes, I've had a very hectic few weeks..."
"And all in one day, it seems! I was wondering if you'd let me take you to lunch? I have a lot I'd like to discuss with you, including letting you tell me about how you managed to invent teleporting!"
"I'd love to! Where are you at the moment?"
"I'm currently in reception at FI5, about to leave..."
"Ok, umm... humour me... go outside will you? Make sure there's noone else around. Then tell me EXACTLY where you're standing." Zia walked out of the building, and a little down the path in front of the building.
"Ok, so I'm standing just in front of that big tree, on the left of the path, in front of the building"
Elida knew exactly where she was standing. "... and noone else near you, I hope?"
"No"
"Ok, half a second..." said Elida, as she quickly loaded up the 15 spells she needed. "Hello Zia" said Elida, arriving a couple of metres away from Zia, "it's so good to see you again!".
"Very impressive, Elida! VERY impressive!". Zia had a big smile on her face: she was so proud of what Elida had achieved.
"From you, Zia, that is great praise, which I'm VERY happy to accept! Now, you said something about lunch?"
"Indeed I did, and as I reckon this is a 'working lunch' - so FI5 will be paying - I say we go somewhere nice, where we can talk without worrying about anyone listening in.". Zia took Elida to a VERY nice place for lunch: it definitely beat the fairy canteen!
Over lunch, Elida told Zia all about what had happened, and how it was her, Zia, that had originally suggested asking Sparkle for help, and that was how she had found her.
"So, how many times did you call me then?" asked Zia.
"Well, it was about 3 weeks ago that I started working on the teleporting, take off the couple of 'days off' that we had, so it must be something like 15 to 20 times. A couple of days we spoke more than once. And I'm guessing you don't remember any of them, do you?"
"Well, that's the strange thing, when I think about it, I have a very vague reminiscence, like it happened in a dream. So, I was thinking about your ability to teleport: as a Protector, I can see that's going to be very useful to you."
"Yes, I think it will be. But I need to do some more work on it."
"Oh, why?"
"Well, at the moment, I'm only going somewhere that I know is clear space, which is why I asked you if it was clear earlier on... I need to work out how to do some sort of remote probing spell...."
"That makes a lot of sense, I might be able to help with that."
"That would be very useful, thank you. The next one, which I suspect might be harder, is to pre-project an 'allow magic' space into our protected buildings, so I can teleport into them. I'm thinking that if, say, the palace got intruded, it might be rather essential!"
"You've thought this out, Elida, haven't you - good on you. Again, I'll do anything to help"
"The last one, and I have no idea if I'll even be able to do it, is to take a second person with me"
"Yes, I could see THAT could be VERY useful...."
-
So, a quick summary: At the start of "The Dark Fairy", Elida was a young, petite, inexperienced tooth fairy, with a softly spoken Irish accent. It seems that she has some close-to-unique skills when it comes to magic, and the universe itself has decided that she can't do any bad magic, but in terms of good magic, she just understands what magic is, how it works and interacts, and can do clever stuff.
And Zia told her that she is a "Protector".
Then something happened, which the universe took offense to: elves trying to steal fairy magic... thus it used Elida to sort out the problem. Which pushed Elida very hard, but she came through, and as a result, is now incredibly confident in her abilities to not only DO magic, but also LEARN NEW magic.
It sounds to me that Elida just staying as a young tooth fairy would be a bit of a waste. And in fact, the whole story up until now is to let us all understand Elida's potential. Elida's story REALLY happens in the next couple of chapters!
-
Chapter "A"
"Are you free to meet this afternoon, say 2pm?" said the message from Zia that popped up on Elida's phone. It was several days after Elida and Zia had lunch together, and Elida was currently at a dentist's with Flora, helping to calm a rather nervous young boy as he had a couple of baby teeth removed.
"That's fine, where?" replied Elida
"Meet in practice room #2 at your office - Zia,” said the reply.
"Someone loves you!" said Flora.
"Sadly, it's not Puck. I need to meet someone, to organise some new training" explained Elida, "So you'll be on your own this afternoon... but I'm sure you have enough experience by now to cope by yourself!" added Elida, cheekily.
Flora smiled back. "That's fine by me...".
So, at just before 2, Elida went to the practice room: Zia was there waiting for her. Almost without thinking, Elida threw out 2 locking spells, to give them some privacy.
(The more astute of you may be thinking 'but surely the building has magic dampening spells?' Yes, that is right, but in the practice rooms magic is allowed - and indeed encouraged - but the magic is generally slightly restricted to stop anyone getting too badly hurt. And the walls have some very strong spells on them, to stop them being damaged!)
"Someone paid good attention.... good spells! Can you do a 'confidentiality bubble' yet?" said Zia.
"I've seen it, but not got around to trying it out yet" Elida replied
"Well, why not give it a go?". Elida used her wand to try and cast the spell, but nothing happened.
"Close, but you mispronounced that second word... it's a soft 's' sound rather than a hard 'c'. Want to try again?". Elida tried the spell again, this time saying that second word correctly, and with a slight shimmer, a confidentiality bubble enclosed the two of them.
"Nicely done!" said Zia.
"So why the secrecy?" asked Elida.
"Because what I'm about to tell you is, for the moment, for your ears only. No-one else must know for the moment. It's actually so important that I'd like you to let me put a spell on you, to stop you accidentally telling anyone. You going to be ok with that?"
"You mean I can't even tell Puck? Or Sparkle?"
"When I've finished telling you, I think you'll agree that you can't even tell them just yet"
"Oh, ok, THAT important...".
Elida, like most fairies, was generally a bit usure about having magic done on them. But Elida was getting to know Zia pretty well: she had trained with her, had spoken with her when she was in her time loop many times, and then had lunch with her. So not a huge amount of time, but she felt good about Zia.
"Yes, ok....". Zia opened up her tablet, and referred to some notes: clearly this was not a spell she used very often. With a wave of her wand, and some silently said magic words, the spell was cast.
"So, a week or two ago, when we met in the Archive, I explained that I worked with Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte, and that we ran FI5. The thing is, we are all getting to that point in our lives that we're looking to retire. We were very young when we took on the task of running FI5, and feel it's time to 'pass the baton on' to someone rather younger."
"Ok... but who's going to take over?"
"That's where YOU come in..."
"Pardon?"
"We've been looking for a couple of good fairy operatives to take over the running of FI5, and we have two VERY able fairies lined up - not that they know a thing about this yet - but our stumbling block has always been 'the safeguard'"
"The safeguard?"
"Yes, someone to replace me. Someone to stop those other two fairies from 'crossing the line'."
"You're looking right at me, aren't you?". Elida had just realised what this was all about. She, little and not particularly experienced Elida, was being lined up to be one of the three fairies running FI5.
GULP!
No pressure.
Only 'the safeguard'.
The Protector - that's the word that Zia had used the other day. Or was it 'the other week'?
And yeah, definitely NOT for anyone else to know just yet!
"Don't worry, Elida: I was actually slightly younger than you when I became 'one of the three', and Donald and Charlotte were only a little older. So, yesterday evening we all chatted: I told them what you told me over lunch, about what had happened to you when you were in the time loop, and how, in a relatively short time, you worked out what you needed to do. Our decision didn't take long to reach."
"And who are the other two fairies then? The two that will take over from Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte?"
"Lilly and Tats, of course!"
Elida was silent, letting this new information gently seep into her brain. They wanted... Lilly.... and Tats... and her...... to take over running FI5? Zia didn't interrupt this process: she knew very well it was a LOT to take in.... it was something that had happened to her several years previous.
"You guys think that Lilly, Tats and I are all suitable and ready to run FI5?"
"Suitable? Absolutely! Ready? No! Not yet. You all have a lot of training and learning to do, but we think you'll be ok in maybe 3 or 4 months..."
More silence, as Elida's brain processed the implications of what was about to happen to her. Her life was about to change. Drastically. And dramatically.
"So, I'm guessing that I'll have to give up my Tooth Fairy work, and working down in the Dark Archive?"
"No, not at all. Being a protector is something probably best done quietly. In the past, I read that some protector fairies were quite public about who they were, and what they could do, and as a result were constantly challenged by fairies and others. They could never win - you know, damned if you don't, and damned if you do, but that still never stopped them. But what a waste of time! I hardly changed what I did when I first took on the job. Of course, as time went on, certain new doors became open to me, that's how I ended up at the university. So, you can absolutely keep on being a tooth fairy for the moment, if that's what you want. And working in the Dark Archive is going to be essential for you, especially in the short term. You have a lot of learning to do, but something tells me you won't mind that."
"This is all happening very quickly...."
"I know. We've been waiting to find 'you' for quite a while. Your skills are essential to let us pass our jobs onto younger fairies. And there is no doubt about your skills after your being caught in that time loop, and working out how to teleport. One thing we had been worrying about was whether you'd be able to actually stand up against Lilly and Tats, if they 'crossed that line', but a couple of weeks ago you proved that we didn't need to worry".
Elida thought back. That night at The Golden Cup! Yes, it was probably only 2 weeks ago, just the time loop made it feel more like 3 months ago! "Did you set that up?" she asked.
"No, it was simply quite fortuitous. If it hadn't happened, then, yes, we would have had to set up something similar. I must admit, when we watched the video footage back, we were most impressed! You handled yourself very well! And made Lilly realise that you weren't to be messed with. I assume you'd be able to handle Tats just as effectively, if needed?"
Elida was smiling. Elida got on well with both Lilly and Tats, but yes, that night, she had put the powerful Lilly into her place. "Yes, with a bit more practice, I think so! Hey, do Lilly and Tats know anything about all this?"
"No, not yet. But they will do soon. I'd like to take you over to FI5 this afternoon, to meet with Donald and Charlotte. Don't worry, Posy knows that you'll be 'unavailable' for the rest of the day".
-
Chapter "B"
"Just swipe your card" said Zia when they got to FI5 headquarters.
"Good afternoon, Lady Zia, good afternoon, Miss Elida!" said the receptionist (not the same one that Elida had got to know on her looping day, or the other day when she went to see Puck) as they walked in.
"She knows me?"
"Only because their computer just flashed up your name when you swiped in. But soon they'll recognise you by sight!"
Zia took Elida up in the lift to the 10th floor of the building. This was clearly not a floor with offices, it was far too quiet. No, it was a floor of meeting rooms. "Come on in" said Zia, and they entered a very plush meeting room. In the middle was a large table, with about 10 seats around it. To the side was a smaller table, with telephone, computer and a few other bits on it. There was a tray on the table, with cups on it, plus 3 flasks, one marked 'Tea', the other 'Coffee', the third was smaller, and marked 'milk. And a plate of rather nice chocolate biscuits.
"Take a seat, help yourself to a tea or coffee...." Zia picked up the phone, and pressed a few buttons. "Hello Donald, ready when you are, we're in 103...". Zia then went and sat next to Elida, and got herself a cup of tea. As she looked at Elida, she could see that she looked very nervous, and rather out of her depth. She put a hand onto Elida’s, and made a small spell to help calm her. Once again, the fact that they were in a building that would have been treated with magic dampening spells made no difference to Zia.
"Elida, I know it's a LOT to take in, but there's absolutely NOTHING to be worried about. Underneath, Donald and Charlotte are actually not that different from me or you, just your normal sort of fairy. Very experienced, but also very normal. They both have lovely grand-fairies. Try and treat them as your equal, which they are... more importantly, remember that YOU are equal to them! It's just that we're all a bit older than you, and have a few years more experience doing this stuff."
The pep-talk helped, and Elida felt a bit more relaxed. Just then, the door opened, and two other older fairies walked in. Elida recognised both Sir Donald, and Lady Charlotte. She stood up as they both came over to her.
"It's nice to meet you again, Elida. This is Charlotte, I don't think you've met before, have you? Oh, and don't worry about calling us 'Sir' or 'Lady'".
"Hello again, err... Donald. And actually, errr... Charlotte, we HAVE met before, but that was when I was in my time loop, so you won't remember!" It felt odd using just their names. I mean, it would be like addressing her boss as 'Posy'!
"Take a seat. Zia, I don't suppose you could pour me a coffee, could you, as you're closer to it? And I'm sure Charlotte would like one too". He turned again to Elida. "So, I'm guessing that Zia has explained what is going on?"
"Yes, she has. I'm still getting over the shock, to be honest"
"Yes, I can imagine. So, what do we need to tell you? Why don't I start by explaining what I do here, then Charlotte can explain her role too - after all, you need to understand what goes on here if you're going to take over from Zia. By the way, once you have signed all the formal paperwork, despite your current lack of experience, if you think that any of us are over-stepping the mark, then you are welcome to take suitable action, just as Zia is.".
Over the next 15 to 20 minutes, Donald and Charlotte explained what they both did, answering a few questions along the way.
Donald then turned around, and picked up the phone, pressing a few buttons. "Hello Lilly. I don't suppose Tats is with you, is she? Oh good, in that case, can you both come up to meeting room 103, please?"
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. "Come on in" said Sir Donald.
As Lilly and Tats walked in the room, they stopped, both rather surprised. Whilst they both recognised Donald and Charlotte, they didn't recognise Zia. And what the HECK was Elida doing here?
"Take a seat please, ladies. Help yourselves to coffees.". Lilly and Tats sat down and grabbed coffees.
"Erm, Sir Donald, what's going on? Is there a problem?" asked Tats.
"No, no problems. And just call me 'Donald' from now on, will you? So, what's going on, you ask? Elida, I'm thinking that YOU might be able to explain things better than we can...."
"Hi Lilly, Tats. So, you know Donald, and I guess you probably know Charlotte too.... this is Zia, the third of the three that run FI5..."
"The THIRD?" asked Lilly.
"Yes, whilst Donald and Charlotte run FI5 on a day-to-day basis, Zia is a powerful fairy, who, like me, is simply unable to do any 'bad' magic. She stops Donald and Charlotte - and the rest of you too, I guess - from 'crossing that line.". This was all new information to Lilly and Tats, and their confusion showed in their faces.
"Ok.... so why are YOU here?"
"Yes, if you had told me first thing this morning what I'd be doing this afternoon, I would NOT have believed you! So, it seems that Donald, Charlotte and Zia would like to retire... as in step down from running FI5"
"And.....?"
"And they want us three to take over....". The room went silent as the enormity of what Elida had just told Lilly and Tats sank in.
"You want.... US...... three..... to.... take over...... running FI5?" stammered Lilly a minute or two later.
"Yes, we do. You and Tats will take over the daily running from me and Charlotte, and Elida will be your 'safeguard, your 'protector'".
"Safeguard?" asked Lilly.
"Yes, safeguard. In case you 'cross the line'. Like she did when you were drunk the other week, at The Golden Cup.". Lilly thought back to that night: her memory was still a bit fuzzy, but she had seen the video from the security cameras: with very little effort, Elida had completely taken control of the situation, and stopped her rather crazy actions (which had seemed to be quite ok when she was drunk!). Tats had also been there, and also had quite a bit of respect for how Elida handled herself that night.
"Elida, do YOU really feel YOU'RE up for this?" asked Tats.
"No, no more than you two think you're up for it! But these three seem to think that we can do the job, given a bit of training - and I know I'm VERY capable and good at learning, I think I proved that when I was in my time loop."
Tats looked at Elida with a very confused look on her face. "Ah, yes, I guess no one has told you about that, have they? I got stuck in a time loop for about six weeks, and ended up working out how to magically teleport - I'll tell you about it later."
"Teleport? You're kidding me?" said Lilly.
"Nope, but now's not the time... later...." replied Elida.
"I've been reading a lot about what you two have achieved" said Charlotte, "and I'm in no doubt that you are the right fairies to take over from us. Don't worry, even though we'll be retiring, we'll still be available if you really need us. Same as Zia will be there for Elida."
"And I have no doubt that, with a bit more training, Elida will be able to put BOTH of you into your places, if she ever needs to!" said Zia.
"So, when do we start? I'm hoping not tomorrow!" said Tats. "I don't think I'm quite ready....".
"Zia told me maybe 3 or 4 months...,” said Elida.
"Yes" said Donald, "that's when we hope to finally and officially hand over to you. But before then, we want you to start taking over certain responsibilities. However, in the short term - as in the next few days - we'd rather the news didn't go beyond these walls. To that end, I believe Zia has already put a spell on Elida to block her accidentally telling anyone, would you mind if she did the same to you two, purely as a precaution?"
"You're ok with all this, Elida?" asked Lilly. Lilly had seen Elida in action on quite a few occasions now, and she both trusted and respected her, despite her young age. Heck, who was she to talk, she and Tats weren't THAT much older than her.
"Yes. I trust Zia absolutely"
"In that case, I guess I'm ok too. Tats?"
"What the heck...."
-
Chapter "C"
"You can TELEPORT?" asked Lilly. Lilly, Tats and Elida were still at FI5, in that nice meeting room. Donald, Charlotte and Zia had left, so they could chat amongst themselves.
"Yes, I can, but currently a little limited. For example, I can't get into any of the official buildings yet, due to the magic dampening spells. And I need to improve the way I do it....".
"I've never heard of a fairy managing to teleport before" said Tats.
"I guess that's either because no one has ever done it before, or if they had, they never wrote it down. I will admit, Tats, you were a GREAT help to me in working out how to do it..."
"Uh?" said Tats.
"Ah, yes, that's the other thing - I was stuck in a time loop for 6 weeks.... some ugly Elves were after Sparkle's and Lilly's magic braces, and the only way I could stop them - and get out of our time loop - was to be able to teleport over to Sparkle's place, and stop them. Took me about 3 weeks to work out how to teleport, with help from Tats here, Zia, Sebby and a few others. Yeah, need a word with you guys about Sebby at some point."
"So how DO you actually teleport then?"
"A combination of 15 spells, pretty much all at once."
"FIFTEEN????" said Tats. "You can do fifteen spells all at the same time?.... that's pretty impressive!"
"Yeah, and I'm thinking it maybe up to 20 or so by the time I'm finished, but I guess it's the sort of thing I need to be able to do, to protect mankind and fairy-kind against untoward attacks by fairies or others." She went on to explain more about what was going on in the time loop.
"So... the elephant in the room.... running FI5. How do you guys feel about it? Got over the shock yet?" asked Elida.
"Question: do you think we get a choice in the matter?" asked Lilly.
"Technically, probably yes, but in practice... probably not" replied Tats. "But how do I feel about it? Yes, a bit of a shocker. Are we up to it? I think so. We two seem to get on with everyone here, and I'm rather assuming that you'll be relatively 'invisible', Elida, rather like... er, Zia wasn't it?"
"Yeah, that was my plan, but Tats, you have to understand that I won't hesitate to stop either of you, if you overstep that line. Whilst that time loop was a right pain in the butt, one thing it did do was to massively improve my self confidence: I mean, if I can work out how to teleport, I should be able to do pretty much anything else I need to, including 'controlling' you two!"
"I understand, but what happens if YOU overstep that line?" asked Tats.
"I can't, it's as simple as that..." and she explained about little Tommy. "Doesn't stop me doing bad THINGS, but there's no way I can do bad magic. Tell you what though Lilly: I don't see you as being a good figurehead, if you still have braces!"
"Good point, Elida!" said Lilly, starting to laugh. "You made any progress on being able to remove them yet?"
"Actually, yes. I was doing some research with Sebby down in the Dark Archive, and we think we've found something that we can work with. Still got a bit more to do on it, but it looks hopeful. Sparkle has decided that maybe it's time to get hers off too: I guess having your braces ripped off - and some teeth too - every day for six weeks makes them a lot less attractive."
"She ok now?" asked Lilly.
"I'd say 'ok-ish', I think she'll be a lot better when I've removed them. Which leads me on to Sebby..."
"What about her?"
"I'd like all restriction on her lifted. Look, guys, I worked with her so many times when I was in my time loop, and she's not a threat to anyone, there's not a hint of darkness left in her, not even in her little finger. We need to let her 'get on with her life': I think means she want to be a fully qualified tooth fairy, but I'm also rather hoping she will continue to be willing to work with me - she's surprisingly good. Tats, you live in the palace, spend a bit more time with her, talk to her, ask her awkward questions. Lilly, you should try and get to know her too...."
-
Chapter "D"
It's three days later, mid morning. The boss had come over to Elida's desk. "Elida, I think we need to have a talk...." she said sternly, "my office, now, please!". As Elida followed Posy, she could see other fairies whispering... she bet they were saying something like 'oh, Elida's in trouble again...'.
The truth of it was that Posy had sent Elida a text, asking her to come and see her. Elida texted back 'I assume you have been speaking with Sir Donald?', to which the answere was a simple 'yes'. So Elida had popped into one of the meeting rooms, and called Posy, asking if she would come and call her sternly into her office, to try and put everyone else off the scent!
Thus Elida followed Posy to her office, as if she were a naughty schoolfairy! The boss closed the door behind Elida, who created a small magic bubble and used it to put a locking spell on the door.
As they sat down, Elida created another, larger, magic bubble around the two of them, and cast the confidentially bubble spell inside it. "I'm thinking that we probably won't want anyone disturbing us..." explained Elida. "I assume there's been a formal anouncement?"
"Someone has definitely been practising their magic," said Posy,"I'm suitably impressed! And as for an announcement - yes, there has, although the information about you was much more... how do I say it... 'restricted'".
"That makes sense: I mean, I assume that you weren't aware that Zia worked so closely with Donald and Charlotte. Of course, I bet you're proud as punch about Lilly?". A huge smile came over Posy's face.
"Yes, I am. It's been quite amazing watching her the last year or two. But you, that I was NOT expecting."
"Maybe I need to explain a few things: a LOT has happened in my life in the last 2 weeks", and she explained all about her meeting with Zia, the time loop, and working out how to teleport.
"I did wonder where you and Sparkle were that day. Is she ok now?"
"Probably not 100%, but getting there. So, who told you specifically about me?"
"Sir Donald. He spoke VERY highly about you. So, are you allowed to tell me anything more about being a protector?"
"I don't see why not. Like Zia, it seems that, whilst I'm completely unable to do any of that bad magic we talked about a couple of months ago - hang on, that will be a couple of weeks ago for you, won't it - once I get myself trained up, I'm gonna be a pretty capable fairy. My purpose is to stop Lilly, Tats, or any other fairy for that matter, from 'crossing that line' between good and bad. But I don't think I want to broadcast that fact. I think I need other fairies to continue to think of me as 'little Elida, that cute tooth fairy."
"Well, that sort-of answers my next question: do you want to continue working here?"
"Absolutely, I think I need to have a good 'cover story' - oh my god, its soundling like I'm Bat Woman or Super Girl! I'll be honest, I really enjoy working with teeth and braces.... so I'd like to keep doing that work - for the moment at least. I'm also going to need to continue spending time in the Archive, but I do need to organise another way in to it, rather than having to come to your office every time, but I'm working on that. I'll also need to spend some time surrupticiously doing some advanced magic training with the FAS guys, so any ideas you have to give me a 'cover story' would be appreciated".
"Funnily enough, that's something Sir Donald also mentioned. We think I need to create a special job for you: for some yet-to-be-worked-out reason, we need someone to go and visit all the remote fairy offices. Sir Donald thinks it will be useful for you to be aware of where our offices are, plus meet the fairies that work there. And, of course, if you're away, who knows where you might be any any given time! Still need to work out why you get the job though"
"I'll see if I can give you a good reason... While I'm here, can I mention a couple of other things?"
"Yes, go on..."
"I've been talking to Flora: I think she'd like to actually retire, but she's too proud to ask. I think we should make a big fuss of her - of the fairies who work here, she by far the oldest, and she must have helped to train up so many tooth fairies, even if they didn't appreciate her at the time. Let me work on her, make her 'willing to retire'. But I'll need you to work on a really good retirement package for her".
"Yes, happy to sort that out. You said you had a couple of things...?"
"Ah, yes, I need a bit of a favour. I know she tends to prefer working alone, but I've worked with Faylinn a few times now - we worked together on removing the braces that Sebby put onto people, plus I spent a lovely day with her while I was in my time loop - and I think she'd be ok with working with me. Can I tell her that I spoke to you, and that you're ok with us sometimes working together, if she'd like to?"
"Sounds like a perfect idea, absolutely fine with me. Ok, anything else on your mind?"
"Yes. Sebby. I was working a LOT with her, in that time loop. There is nothing wrong with her, she's not going to hurt anyone. But she's getting bored, so we need to give her some real work to do - and without any stupid restrictions. Yes, she's got a lot of 'catching up' to do, but I'd love to help her out there, getting out into the human world, granting people their wishes. I've already talked with Lilly and Tats, I'm hoping they will support me, but I was hoping you might be able to help things along through the current official channels."
"Ok, yes, I'll do that, I have a feeling she would be a good addition to the team here. Now, let's forget about the job a moment: how are YOU? It's only about a week since you got stuck in a time loop, then got a big promotion.... you coping ok?"
"I think so. I think it's gonna take me a bit to get over that time loop: what those elves kept doing to Sparkle was pretty nasty, it's a difficult image to forget. I've not actually said this to anyone else, but that day when I first walked in on her - I really thought she was dead for a moment! That was NOT nice!"
"I can hardly imagine how you felt. You should talk to Zia about it - I mean, by all means come and talk to me if you think it will help, but I think Zia can probably be more helpful to you."
"Yes, you're probably right."
"And how you coping with the 'promotion'?"
"I'm glad I found out about being a 'protector' several weeks - well in my time it was several weeks - ago, it made the actual 'promotion' a much smaller step. It's still quite scary though, thinking about what I may have to do, but since I managed to 'invent' teleporting, I'm feeling a load more positive about my capabilities"
"Yes, Sir Donald mentioned that you were able to teleport - how on earth did you manage THAT?"
"Well, it took three weeks, and a lot of help from Zia, Donald, Charlotte, Tats, Sebby... and you - not that any of you will remember!"
"Me? Really? I don't remember anything."
"Exactly."
"So, how DO you teleport?"
"Remember we had a meeting in here, when I first met Sebby? And I mentioned how I can do multiple spells at once? Well, at the moment, I'm using 15 spells pretty much simultaneously to be able to teleport, but I suspect that's about to get higher...."
"15? That's quite impressive... but what do you mean about going higher?
"I need to do extra stuff, like get into magically-protected spaces, like here or the Palace, and take things or other fairies with me"
"Ah, yes, that makes sense..."
"By the way, I guess I also need to apologies to someone for the small number of not-so-good things I did to various fairies in those 6 weeks I was in the time loop. I got stressed out a few times: not only was I rude to quite a few fairies, I think I literally broke a couple of the girl's noses. And I apologise for my behaviour towards you when I got drunk one lunchtime: I am SO glad you don't remember it!"
"I'll accept that apology on behalf of everyone affected!" said the boss with a big smile (and probably wondering what it WAS that Elida did!)
"I guess there's one more thing that we need to talk about: whilst I'm now clearly the most senior fairy in this office, I'd rather that wasn't the case. Please, keep being my boss. Tell me off when I deserve it. Treat me just like the other fairies here. For my part, I'll work with you to work out 'excuses' when I need to be elsewhere. I need to try and stay as 'normal' as I can, at least in the short term..."
"Yes, I can understand that. By the way, who else knows about 'the new you'? Clearly Lilly and Tats do. Oh, and Sparkle, of course!"
"Yeah, whilst Lilly & Tat's promotion will soon become relatively public knowledge, we've decided to keep my involvement more to a 'need to know' basis, but there are a couple of others I need to confide in. Sebby, for a start: she has helped me so much recently - although she doesn't know it or remember it - and I'd like her to keep helping me, if you don't mind. Definitely Magic. I'd like to tell Faylinn too, but I need to check out her security files before I do so."
"You told your mum and dad yet?"
"No way! If they know, then half the fairy kingdom will know!".
The two of them chatted a bit more, before they both got up, so Elida could leave, and get back to work.
"Hey boss, I don't suppose I could give you a big hug, could I? You've been so good to me!"
"Of course!" she replied, putting her arms around Elida.
As Elida started to walk to the door, she turned to her boss. "Err, boss, I think many of the girls thought you were going to tell me off... so how about you make some suitable comment as I walk out? I really don't want them thinking I'm 'teacher's pet'!".
Elida released the magic lock on the door, and started to walk out: "Now, Elida, next time, tell me BEFORE you do something like that, will you?" said the boss in a reasonably loud and firm voice. It took a lot of effort for Elida to suppress the smile that she would have otherwise had on her face.
-
For whatever reason, I couldn't leave the story there. There were 2 things missing: (1) Elida needed to find out the technical stuff about how the Palace / Offices were built (with the magic dampening spells), plus find out WHERE the Dark Archive actually was; (2) she had promised to work out how to remove Lilly's & Sparkles braces.
-------------------------------------------------
Follow-up #1
"Good afternoon, your Majesty!" said Elida, curtsying as she came in front of the Queen. Elida had gone with Tats to visit the Queen, as she needed to ask about certain 'information' that she needed, in order to develop her magic, and thus enable her to carry out her duties of being 'The Protector'.
"Hello, Elida, it is good to finally meet you, Zia has told me a lot about you! And Tatianna, you know that it's always nice to see you. Elida, this is my eldest daughter, Princess Rosemary. Anything you wish to say to me today needs to also be said to her: like Zia, I have decided that it's time I started to hand some of my duties over to Rosemary. Do please sit down..."
Tats and Elida sat down in two sumptuous chairs, opposite Queen Tinkerbell and Princess Rosemary. As they did so, Elida looked around. The room was quite big, and tall too. Very airy, and lots of light streaming in through the large windows. Lovely (and no doubt expensive) wallpaper, and lots of very nice furniture. And those curtains - so many, and so big! Yes, it was most definitely what you'd expect to find in a Palace.
In front of Elida and Tats was a low table, on which there was a lovely polished silver tray, with a silver tea service on it, along with 4 cups and saucers, sugar bowl, and milk jug. The teaspoons shone brightly. And not forgetting the cream cake, of course.
Queen Tinkerbell was quite an old lady - similar sort of age to Flora, Zia and so on. A bit wrinkly, but otherwise apparently in good health. Princess Rosemary, the queen's eldest daughter (and thus first-in-line), was middle-aged, and whilst dressed reasonably formally, there was a certain informality to her style.
"Tats, would you care to do the honours..." said the Queen, indicating the teapot. "So, what can we do for you, Elida?"
"Well, your majesty, first of all Flora asked me to err... send you her love".
"Oh, how nice of her! We got together briefly after Sebby joined us here at the place, how is she? Still working hard, no doubt?"
"She is very well, but has finally decided to spend a bit more time with her family: we work together just a couple of days a week now, but I'm hoping to persuade her to retire soon too. She tells me you went to school together."
"Yes, we did, and whilst we kept in touch for a while, when I became Queen we sadly lost touch. Maybe I need to invite her over to the palace again sometime."
"I'm sure she would enjoy that!" replied Elida. "So, the reason I am here.... as you are aware, like Zia, I seem to be a Protector, although I know I still have a lot to learn. Recently though, I did have an opportunity to learn a lot of magic in a short time..."
"Yes, Zia explained that you were in a time loop for... six weeks wasn't it? That must have been interesting, but probably very annoying too?"
"Yes, to both! The time loop was caused by the actions of some elves, who were trying to steal Sparkle's braces: prima face, that may not seem that important, but the braces were made by Santa, and contains a lot of magic. So do the braces that Sebby gave to Lilly. In the wrong hands, they would have allowed the elves to carry out fairy magic - not good!"
"Definitely not good. Do go on..."
"You have probably heard that, to stop the elves actions - and get us out of the time loop - I had to work out how to teleport. Along the way, I learnt a lot of other magic too. I realise that, being able to teleport will help me greatly in my task of being Protector to Fairykind.... but.... at the moment, there are certain limitations. Already I'm working on being able to take extra things with me as I teleport: my aim is to be able to take another fairy with me. I also need to be able to 'probe' where I'm hoping to go, so, for example, I don't end up in a wall. But more importantly, and part the reason that I'm here, is that I am currently unable to teleport anywhere there are magic dampening spells... so in our offices, and here at the palace, for example. My worry is that, if anything is going to happen - something maybe as unthinkable as an eleven attack on the Palace - then I need to be able to access those places."
"Yes, I see. What you say makes a LOT of sense. So how can I help?"
"The Dark Archive contains many old and important documents, but one area that is completely missing is information on the creation of our important buildings, and the magic spells used to protect them. Clearly they must exist somewhere, so I am guessing that there is a special library, probably here at the palace, with that information. There is actually a second reason for needing that information, but I'll come on to that in a moment. So, am I correct in my assumption? I've asked Tats, and while she knows a lot about the Palace, she is aware that there are certain things that she doesn't know about."
The Queen smiled. "I'm guessing Tats told you the story about our 'Royal Snug', didn't she! So, yes, Elida, you are quite correct: we do have a small special library hidden away, and I suspect it probably does contain the information that you need. Access is highly restricted, for obvious reasons, but in your new role, you clearly need to have access. I've only ever been there twice myself, to be honest. You know, I think that this is something that I should be asking Princess Rosemary to work with you on, if you don't mind?".
Rosemary smiled upon hearing that she was being delegated a new bit of work.
"You said there was a second reason?"
"Yes... The Dark Archive. I need to understand more about The Dark Archive. Where it actually is, what magic protects it. As it's new Librarian, I need to extend it and update it, and I'm going to need to understand how to do that."
"Elida..." said Tats, "what do mean 'where it is'? It's under Lilly's mum's office, surely?"
"No, it's definitely not there! If you plot it out, the main library actually goes under her office - took me a while to work that one out! Her office only has an on-demand protal to the Dark Archive. In fact, one of the things I need to do is to create a second portal to it - if anything happens at the office, we need backup access. Plus, I need to know exactly where it is so I can teleport there in emergency"
As they talked, they drank their royal tea - and jolly nice it was too. And as for the cream cake - just yummy!
"Elida, it has been interesting to meet you," said Princess Rosemary as they left the Queen's drawing room. "and I'm looking forward to working with you. Whilst I can see you are very young, it's clear that you are actually very wise for your years. I need to go away and find out exactly how we access this special library - today is the first time I've heard about it. In the meantime, are you in a rush? If not, I'd like to introduce you to my eldest daughter, Princess Celeste: she's your sort of age, and I'm thinking that, as time goes on, you're going to want to interact with her more".
Elida instantly understood what she was saying: Celeste was second-in-line to the throne, and would herself be queen one day.
----
Several days later, Elida received a call from Princess Rosemary, inviting her and Tats to join her at the palace, in order to access the Special Library.
Access to the library wasn't easy: it needed 3 separate fairies, each of whom needed to 'persuade' the palace that they were 'worthy' of entry: luckily Tats, Elida and Rosemary all seemed to fit the bill. It required a combination of magic, dexterity, many doors and time delays, and finally, after almost 20 minutes, the door to the the special library opened for them. The room was small, and rather dark, but Elida was able to create a 'magic bubble', in which she ran several light spells. It wasn't particularly old - as old as the new palace - and certainly nowhere near as old as the archive.
"Good afternoon, books!" said Elida very cheerfully. "My name is Elida, and I am both the Librarian of the Dark Archive, as well as being The Protector. It is my pleasure to meet you!". Her words had the desired effect, and the 'mood' of the room massively improved.
Elida had brought one book with her, her 'own' book, her 'protector's book', and she put it onto the reading table: she had brough it as there were a couple of spells in it that she felt might be relevant. Elida went over to the books on the shelves, and started to touch their spines: not only could she feel things about the books, she had no doubt that the books would pick up her feelings too.
"As Librarian and Protector, I need to understand about the building of The Dark Archive, as well as our other fairy buildings. I need to understand how the protection magic in all those places work. I have two reasons for doing this: I need to be able to remotely teleport into those magically protected spaces to provide protection, plus I am wanting to extend and upgrade the Dark Archive. So, if any of you think you can help me, do pop your noses out of the shelves!"
Several books volunteered themselves.
"Ok, not too many of you: would you all like to come and stack yourselves on the table here... no rush, take your time." The books came over. "Top 3 books, could you lift up, and let number 4 out please?". Clearly the books liked the way that Elida was treating them, and did as she asked. That 4th book was, without any doubt, a lot older than the others. Elida carefully opened it, and started to read. It clearly came from the previous Palace, as it contained many drawings of a building that Elida did not recognise.
"I think this must be the old Palace! I bet Sebby would like to have a look at this sometime. Look, I need to persuade you and Princess Rosemary to let me take some of these books with me. I realise that we don't want to risk the contents of the books being known, that's why I brought my 'Protector's' spell book with me, it has some very relevant spells to protect the books. I'll only ever want to read them when I'm in the Archive anyway."
"Well, if you can show me that they are secure, and I'm with you as we go back to the Archive, then it's fine with me." replied Tats. As they continued to read, they chatted.
In the third book she looked at, Elida started to find the details she needed. It turns out that she was quite right about the Dark Archive not being under Posy's office: it was actually located under the Palace!
"Hey, the Dark Archive is actually down here somewhere...." said Elida. She kept reading, and suddenly a big smile came to her face.
"What you smiling about?" asked Tats.
"I just worked out where the Dark Archive is. It's through a door over there...." said Elida, pointing to the far end of the small library, where there was bare wall.
"What door?" asked Tats. "I'm not seeing any door over there!"
Elida walked over to where she thought the door should be. "It should be hiding just here....." said Elida. She cast one of her 'allow magic bubbles', then cast a 'reveal hidden things' spell inside that bubble: there was now a door in the wall.
"How did you do that?" asked Princess Rosemary, who was clearly quite impressed. "I thought you couldn't do any magic inside the palace, except in the practice rooms?"
"Most fairies can't: they can't cast the number of simultaneous spells needed to do it. There's probably only Zia and me, and maybe one or two others who can". Elida opened the door. She recognised exactly where she was: at the top of the stairs that led down to the Dark Archive, in fact exactly where the portal from Posy's office led to.
"Well, this is going to make it easier to move those books to the Archive, isn't it! Princess Rosemary, do come and visit the Dark Archive with me!". After showing the princess around, they returned to the small Palace library, leaving the door open for the moment.
After a little more searching, she found the details about the magic used to protect the buildings, and the magic used to protect the Dark Archive, as well as the library they were in - exactly what she need to know. She cast a couple of spells on the books that she wanted to leave in the Dark Archive - one made the pages appear blank to anyone else, the other 'locked' the book, so that it would only open for her - and took them into the Archive.
"Ok, everyone" said Elida to the books in the 'Dark Magic' room, "I've brought some guest books with me, which I'll be leaving in here: please make them welcome!". She then returned, closing the door behind herself, and removing her spells.
"Princess Rosemary, Tats, thank you both so much for today: it's been a most successful day. I'll sort out returning those books when I'm done with them, which shouldn't be too long: they really DO need to live here, at the Palace, for their own safety."
------------------
Follow-up #2
It's a few weeks later. Elida now has a small office at FI5 HQ: she doesn't plan to particularly use it, but it is a convenient place from which to create a second portal down to the Dark Archive, which means that she's no longer needing to use the entrance in Posy's office. As far as any of the girls in the office are concerned, Elida is currently on 'extended leave', for a reason that no one is saying. The reality is that she's been working from her FI5 office in the Dark Archive, with the added bonus that she gets to see Puck at lunchtimes.
Elida has spent quite a bit of time reading the books she borrowed from the Palace library. Having sorted out the new portal, she has been "adjusting" her teleporting, and can now 'probe ahead' to check that the space she will go to is safe, but she's still working on the several other aspects, which are a bit more complex.
A couple of days ago, she and Sebby finally found a combination of spells which Elida could potentially use to give other fairies braces: Sebby is currently sporting a very nice set of large shiny metal brackets!
"Hey, Elida, I think I may have found something...". Sebby and Elida were, once again, down in the Dark Archive, doing research. One of the things that Elida has been helping Sebby with is trying to do multiple spells together: Sebby seems to better than average at that, and can now just about manage a total of 5 spells at the same... which is useful, as with 4 spells she can create a small sized 'allow magic' bubble, allowing Elida to test out her braces spells on Sebby a bit more easily whilst still down in the Archive - and that's how Sebby ended up with braces!
"Oooh, yes, interesting..." Elida read the spell description carefully: one thing she had soon learnt was that the information in most of the books in the Archive was quite precise: whoever had written these books wanted to make it both clear as well as easy to select and use the relevant spells. In fact, Elida was in the middle of working out how to describe the many steps needed to teleport, so she could add it to her 'Protector's' book, but she wanted to make sure it was suitably precise and easy to understand.
"You know, I think this could be the last bit of the puzzle: want to be my test victim again?"
Sebby smiled: if this let Elida succeed in removing Sebby's braces, then there was no reason it wouldn't also work for Lilly and Sparkle. And over the weeks that Sebby had been working with Elida, her trust in her had grown. "Yes, go on, let me do the bubble for you....".
With the 'allow magic' bubble covering Sebby's mouth, Elida referred to her notes, and started casting and holding the spells needed: in fact, there were only 7 spells needed, the problem had been finding the correct 7! Sebby put her hand up to her mouth: the braces were loose, and she was able to remove them!
"It worked" said Sebby, "Well done, Elida! Hey, looks like you can now have a nice side-line selling other fairies braces, and also removing them!" added Sebby with a smile - a braceless smile of course. It goes without saying that, as a tooth fairy, Sebby's teeth were beautiful.
"Yeah, a nice idea I know, but I don't really want to be advertising my 'special skill set'. I need to have a word with Lilly, to work out how we publicly explain how she and Sparkle get their braces removed.
----
"Hey, Lilly, good news: it looks like I can remove your braces at last: I'm assuming you DO want to get rid of them?".
Lilly ran her tongue over her braces. The shiny metal brackets that Sebby had given her when she was the Dark Fairy. The funny thing is that whilst she had found the braces to be a bit embarrassing at first, she had actually become quite used to them, and they didn't annoy her any more. But yes, when meeting people, her braces did seem to distract them, so maybe it was time to get them removed. I mean, being head of FI5 whilst having braces... the image didn't feel right!
"Yes, I do. But how? We don't want to make your skills public...."
"Well, people know I can do multiple spells, just not quite how many I can actually do. It's only 7 spells to remove the braces, so too many for pretty much all fairies to do, but at the same time not too many for me to appear too powerful. And they are all vaguely tooth-related. We could 'dumb it down a bit' and say I'm only using 5 spells... By the way, if you're interested, it's 8 spells to put the braces on!"
"Oh, that's not too bad then. Sparkle still wants hers removing I'm assuming?"
"Yes, she does."
"And you tested this how?"
"Oh, I gave Sebby some braces - which was actually pretty easy - then worked out how to remove them again!"
"So, it worked for Sebby, how sure are you that this WILL actually work for Sparkle and me?"
"I'd say 98%...."
"Ok, so how about we get a few friends together, record it, and post it online. I don't think we can hide it happening, too many people know about them, and would spot that we no longer have them."
"Yeah, a 'braces removal party'!"
----
A group of fairy friends gathered in the park for a fairy picnic.
"Thank you all for coming along" said Lilly, "there is actually an important reason for getting you all together - apart from having a great time with friends.". Magic was recording all of this on her phone.
"You'll all remember that Sebby here, when she was not herself, but was our Dark Fairy, she gave me a nice set of braces. In fact, she also gave me some wired-in headgear, but we managed to get her to remove that already. But it's time for me to finally say goodbye to my metal-looking mouth." There were 'booos' and cries of 'shame' and other similar comments - we all know how much fairies like shiny things! "Elida has been working with Sebby, and they have finally worked out how to remove my braces - and I believe you're getting yours off too, Sparkle?"
"Yes, I am! Santa gave these to me a while ago, and it has been really fun having them, but like Lilly, I think it's time to say goodbye to them! Yes, I'll miss them, but it's the right thing to do!". Of course, many of the fairies there knew nothing about Sparkle's 6 weeks of torture at the hands of a certain pair of elves, which was the main driver behind her wanting her braces removing. After Lilly and Sparkle got their braces removed, they would be passed to FI5 for secure keeping.
"Ok, so who is going first then?" asked Elida, looking at both Lilly and Sparkle. "Lilly, you are the more senior, I think you need to show a good example...." added Elida, with a big smile.
"Oh, ok... so what do you want me to do?" asked Lilly.
Elida magicked up a suitable chair. "Take a seat....". Magic continued recording as Lilly sat down, then moved in closer to Lilly's mouth. "Ok, let me concentrate.....". For effect, she made her wand appear, then silently she cast the 7 spells, finally giving Lilly 3 gentle taps of her wand on her head for effect. "If I got it right, your braces should be loose....".
Lilly put her hand up to her mouth: indeed they were loose! She gently pulled the brackets, still on the archwires, from her mouth, then popped the 4 molar bands off her molars. Then she spent a moment running her tongue over her once more smooth teeth.
"Smile for the camera!" said Magic.
"All ok?" asked Elida.
"Yes, I'm feeling good". Lilly took a last look at her braces, her lovely sets of large shiny metal brackets attached to a couple of archwires, along with the equally shiny molar bands, then passed them to Tats for safe keeping.
"Whilst it was fun having them, it's going to be nice seeing my teeth again. Oh, and so much easier to brush and floss! Ok, Sparkle, your turn!".
Lilly stood up, and let Sparkle sit down in the chair. "You 100% certain you want to do this, Sparkle?" asked Magic.
"Yes, absolutely!" replied Sparkle, smiling wide so Magic could get a good view of her lovely white teeth covered in large shiny metal brackets. "It's been a while since I've seen my teeth too!". Unlike Lilly, Sparkle didn't have any molar bands, just brackets. Once more Elida loaded up the 7 spells, which she then cast, then tapped her wand on Sparkle's head for effect...
"No, they're still firmly attached!" said Sparkle.
Elida tried again, but again nothing happened.
"Elida, did you take into account the extra wish that we made for Sparkle, to allow her to keep the braces that Santa gave her?" suggested Magic.
"Ah, yes, you're right, I didn't....". Elida pulled out her tablet: she had been digitising a load of the stuff that she and Sebby had been looking at, and she hoped she'd be able to find what she needed. "Ok, I think I have something that should work..."
For a third time Elida loaded up the multiple spells - 8 this time - and tapped Sparkle gently on her head with her wand. "Any luck?" asked Elida.
Sparkle put her hand to her mouth, removed her braces and took a final look at them before passing them over to Tats for safe keeping. Then, like Lilly had, she ran her tongue over her once-more braces free teeth. Finally she stood up, and went to Elida, giving her a large hug.
"Thank you Elida, you know why this is so important to me!".
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And that is it! Ok, I have a feeling that we may get another fairy story at some point, but not got anything planned.
THE END!
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That was quite the journey.
Quite bittersweet thinking, that the fairy-stories complex might have come to a (temporary?) conclusion.
Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
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So, at the moment, apart from "Bracing Miss Daisy", I don't have any specific story ideas in mind for the fairies. There's many possibilities... follow Elida' s story.... how about Sebby? I'm sure I could invent some fun for Lilly and Tats. Then there's the possibility to go back and follow magic / sparkle / Emily / Wendy
So, for those of you who like my Fairy stories, who should I write about?
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I think you already know that I have a thing for Sparkle, Elida and Sebby. Sparkle still hasn't done anything with the video that she took of Sebby during 'The Cam-show'. ;) ;)
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I think you already know that I have a thing for Sparkle, Elida and Sebby. Sparkle still hasn't done anything with the video that she took of Sebby during 'The Cam-show'. ;) ;)
Yes, I guess that video needs mentioning in "Bracing Miss Daisy". So, it sounds like at some point I need to finish that off.... that story, time-wise, comes before and at the same time as the start of this story.
(I'm also trying to work out a story for Carol (one of the girls from CJDL)... I have some ideas, but still trying to "design the story"....)
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So, if you're wondering about my new Avatar, then please meet "Elida", drawn for me by "Protodawn", aka Core....