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Author Topic: Elida  (Read 8764 times)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #30 on: 28. May 2022, 17:44:11 PM »
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?"


Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #31 on: 28. May 2022, 18:02:50 PM »
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!)

Offline silver-moon-2000

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Re: Elida
« Reply #32 on: 28. May 2022, 22:18:33 PM »
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)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #33 on: 29. May 2022, 20:46:33 PM »
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...."

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #34 on: 29. May 2022, 20:57:49 PM »
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!

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #35 on: 30. May 2022, 19:55:36 PM »
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".


Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #36 on: 31. May 2022, 16:12:38 PM »
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...."

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #37 on: 01. June 2022, 17:31:30 PM »
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...."

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #38 on: 01. June 2022, 17:32:01 PM »
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.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #39 on: 03. June 2022, 01:00:48 AM »
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!".

=====================


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!


Offline silver-moon-2000

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Re: Elida
« Reply #40 on: 03. June 2022, 16:02:18 PM »
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.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #41 on: 03. June 2022, 16:27:00 PM »
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?

 

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: Elida
« Reply #42 on: 03. June 2022, 20:13:46 PM »
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'.  ;) ;)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #43 on: 03. June 2022, 22:50:48 PM »
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"....)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Elida
« Reply #44 on: 21. June 2022, 20:43:06 PM »
So, if you're wondering about my new Avatar, then please meet "Elida", drawn for me by "Protodawn", aka Core....