Once a week I write a little story about a young female elf and her duty to protect these faeries called Confuzzled Faeries. This idea came from the drawing of the faeries you see above in the heading and writing prompts from Writer's Digest.com.
The Four Seasons
During the day, I'm a faery wrangler. At night, I'm a waitress. Tonight I'm serving the Four Seasons.
No, I'm not at the Four Seasons hotel. I'm talking about the Four Seasons in body form. There is the baby Haru, the embodiment of Spring. Amyra, the fun loving clown that brings Summer. Ohshee, the magnificent dragon of Autumn. And Dante the skeleton, who's sometimes seen as everlasting death, or life if you choose. He brings on Winter.
It's not everyday you get to see the Seasons come together. In fact, you only have four chances a the year. I mostly stood in corner, waiting for drink or food requests. Pretty boring work if you ask me, even serving the greatest beings on Earth.
I hear Haru giggle and see him point. Apparently I'm a funny looking elf. Amyra - with her red nose, red hair and makeup-red smile - turns her head toward me and says, "Oh my, You have a tiny Angel on your shoulder."
I look to my shoulder and roll my eyes, sighing. Great, one of the faeries followed me.
On my shoulder is a bald faery, with only eyes and nose, no mouth. The faery is reading a book. Of course, since this type of faery is called a Confuzzled Fae, she's reading the book with her head.
Ohshee huffs and a little steam comes out his nose. "That's no angel. Angels are big, powerful spirits, and they dress in white. That is a Confuzzled Fae, known for it curious and playful nature. In groups, they can be very destructive."
Amyra motions for me to come forward with her oversize clown glove. "May I take a closer look at the little bubala."
I step forward between Amyra and Haru. Haru's eyes open wide and he reaches out with his chubby infant fingers. So I step back, protective of the little fae on my shoulder who doesn't seem to care if anyone's paying attention to it.
Amyra laughs at my movement. "We aren't going to hurt it. How did you ever find this little fae?"
I'm stunned. One of the Seasons is asking me a question. This is an unusual event. "I ... I ... am in charge of keeping them safe. One must have followed me without my knowledge."
The fae flies to the finger of baby Spring. I bite my lip worrying about the little bookworm's safety.
"Hmm ..." Dante mutters, stroking his bony chin."Interesting ... the young elf girl and this fae have very mundane auras."
"What makes that interesting?" Oshee scoffs.
"Because when they are together, their auras explode in a rainbow of colors. A very powerful team, if you ask me," says Dante.
Oshee looks at me out of the corner of his eye. "Young elf, what would you and your fae think of working for me? Sort of an internship?"
"You can't do that Oshee!" Dante exclaims.
"And why not?"
"... because that was my idea."
Amyra, the always smiling clown, starts laughing at her two brothers arguing over me and fae. I shift uncomfortably, wondering why me or this silly, little, bookish fae mean anything to these superior beings.
Their arguments grow more heated, and I watch in horror as the little fae, still balancing the book on it's head, flies over between the dark cloaked skeleton and scaly dragon. Quizzically, they stop fighting and look at the tiny winged creature. With a twinkle in her eye, the fae takes the book off her head and points to a quote in it. Oshee closes one eye to see the small print in the book. then reads it aloud: "'A brother is a friend given by Nature,' by Jean Baptiste Legouve."
Amyra grunts with agreement, "Not so confuzzled a fae after all." She smiles at me, and I can't help but smile back.
The arguing brothers come to a compromise (if I understand right, it comes from Haru, apparently only the seasons can understand him). If the fae and I choose, we can work for each season once during the seasons they bring.
How can I refuse the chance of a lifetime? I say I'd like to, but I don't know how the book fae feels.
She returns the book to her head and flutters back to my shoulder. She looks directly in my eyes, and I swear I can hear the words, "You better believe I will," along with a mischievous giggle.
Knowing what these curious faeries can do makes me feel nervous and excited. Although, honestly, more nervous. I'm not the adventurous type, but I have a feeling this fae was going to teach me a thing or two about adventure.
