A Magical Adventure

Daphne and Kurt were sitting on the beach, relaxing the time away before their parents return home and call for them. It was their daily routine. After an episode of rigorous play, both succumbed to the sand floor and breathed the salt in the air contently. They stared with amazement at the beautiful twilight scenery before them. The sight, they have seen a million times but its enchanting powers never failed to bewitch them. Kurt stared at the horizon, devouring the colour palate that the last rays of sun made with the gleaming water. The water rushed there and never came back. His eyes searched for any trail that might be there but his eyes caught a sparkle mid air. And it sparkled again. 

“Daph, look at that”, he shouted at his sister, “What is it?”

Daphne looked about curiously but saw nothing. 

“Where?”, she said, still in search. 

But the sparkle had disappeared. Kurt frowned with dismay. It had appeared somewhat magical to him. 

“There”, said Daphne, “I see it, now.”

Kurt looked up to where she was pointing. The sparkle was there, closer to the shore now. And it was moving. It was getting away from them. Kurt ran towards it, Daphne followed. They chased after it but the sparkling-orb-like-thing was fast. It was hard to catch it. Daphne and Kurt ran a long way before there finally came a curve where the sparkle-thing round and stopped. Kurt made a gesture of searching frantically with his head thrown to every direction. They were in the space between two block corners. 

“Look around”, Daphne said. They did, but without result. Eventually, they gave up their futile search and stood staring at each other. 

“Why do you think it’s running from us?”, Kurt asked Daphne.

“I…I don’t know. Maybe it’s afraid.”

By the time, both had attributed a living feature to it. Clearly, it flies. They retreated from the place with disappointment, eyes on the ground. Daphne spotted the sparkle behind a rock leaning on the block wall. She bent down and gently lifted the rock, revealing a winged fairy. 

“It’s a fairy! Aaaaahhhhh”, Daphne cried ecstatically. 

Kurt, who was walking in front of her, jumped back to take a look at it and danced around fanatically. Daphne clapped her hands together and then clapped hers with Kurt’s. They could not believe it! They had just found a magical creature. It was the greatest achievement in town. 

Will she grant them wishes? Make them a beautiful dress? Are there more fairies like her? Will she accept their friendship? The answer to these was unknown, and it was only after the first shock of exhilaration had passed, they did come to think about it. They stopped their celebrations and leaned against themselves to take a close look at the fairy. She was extremely pretty, wearing a purple dress and with big beautiful wings. But she was frozen at her place. Fear had encircled her. 

“Hello. We won’t hurt you”, said Kurt.

“Yeah. You don’t have to be afraid. We’ll be your friends”, Daphne added. 

But the fairy was still frozen at a spot. She did not move. 

“It’s alright. You can come out.”

The fairy twitched slightly. She was examining the humans. She had seen humans from distance before when she needed a flower petal or two but never been this close to any. She looked questioningly at them.

“Please don’t be afraid. My name is Daphne. What’s yours?”

She pushed the rock a little to its side for the fairy but she gave a sudden jerk. Daphne stopped touching it. The fairy stared at them. Slowly, she addressed the question, 

“Jill”, she said. 

“Hi, Jill. I’m Kurt”, he smiled at her and she smiled back. 

“Nice to meet you, Jill”, said Daphne. 

This produced another smile from the fairy, she was not afraid anymore more. She came closer and rose up to a certain height for Daphne and Kurt to look at her with ease. 

“Where are you from, Jill?”, questioned Daphne. 

“I am from the land of Lavelles.”

“Where is that?”

“It’s far off in the east”, she answered, looking at the direction. She continued looking in the direction, her eyes did not flutter as she kept staring at nothingness. 

“But, what are you doing here?”, asked an eager Kurt. 

Jill did not answer immediately. Her rueful eyes scanned both of them, then she turned around. 

“I came here to escape”, she said through tears. 

“A wrongful wizard has come to the land of Lavelles. The wizard captures fairies like us and cuts off their wings. I flew away from my land to escape being caught. I was searching for a place around here when you saw me.”

She said all this while looking around, her face was turned away to hide painful tears. Daphne and Kurt felt her pain. 

“It’s so wrong”, said Kurt, “I wanna punish that stupid wizard. Can’t we do something, Daph?”

Daphne, who wanted to help Jill just as much, asked her,

“Can you take us to the land of Lavelles? We want to help you and the other fairies. We don’t want that bad wizard take over your home.”

Hearing those words, Jill turned around, facing the siblings who really wanted to help her. A little smiled curved out on her thin lips. 

“I will take you there. But you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about about it. Please, you have to promise”, she pleaded. 

“Don’t worry, Jill. We won’t tell anyone”, said Daphne and Kurt together. 

Thereafter, Jill showed the way and the siblings followed her, eager and confident for the adventure beyond. Jill flew and turned, flew over and ducked, wandered right and left with the wings of expertise on her back. Daphne and Kurt had to pace up and even run to catch up with her. By the time Jill stopped in front of some vines hanging from high above, they were tired but nonetheless still excited. 

“This leads to the land of Lavelles”, she pointed towards the vines, “Come”.

She flew into the vines and seemed to disappear. Daphne and Kurt did the same, which lead them through a dark chamber that opened on the other end into the Land the Lavelles. The skies were violet, the trees were yellow and the wind smelled of marshmallows. The sun was nowhere in sight but the place was lit more than they had ever seen a place being lit. It was a place of magic and wonder. Daphne and Kurt stood spell bounded in awe as they put the first step into the Land of Lavelles. 

“This is my home.”

“It’s beautiful, Jill.”

“It is. But it’s empty now. No one sings here anymore. No skyflies dance around. They have all left.”

They looked at each other with a sigh as Jill was disheartened. To cheer her up, like they had learned before, they told her, “They’ll soon come back here. The wizard will be gone, you can live here happily again.”

At the moment, they heard a heavy voice that emerged ringing throughout the place. 

“No one will be happy here”, it said and came closer. 

As it came into view, Daphne and Kurt saw a face with a huge grin showing numerous pointed teeth and dark black eyes. They were so dark that they did not even reflect light, they consumed it all. But seeing the siblings, it stopped. Daphne and Kurt saw a well crafted 3-D mask standing in front of them. 

“Wait”, said Daphne, as she approached the mask and looked over it so as to see behind, “You’re… a fairy, too.”

A fairy, dressed in orange, was behind it. She was just as pretty as Jill. But when Daphne saw it, she was taken aback. The fairy had no wings, her back was open, disfigured without the jewels that decorated it. Upon seeing the humans, she was neither angry nor scared. There was simply nothing in her eyes. 

“What happened to your wings?”, asked Daphne. Hearing her, Kurt came to look at her as well, and he felt the same. 

“They are gone. They were plucked out when I was younger, I don’t know how, though”, she replied. Her voice was sweet and musical, unlike the heavy mechanical voice that they had heard earlier. 

Daphne and Kurt both felt sorry for her, for the resemblance she shared with the other fairies but only her wings that separated her from all of them. 

“What is your name?”

“Magda.”

“You’re a fairy, Magda”, Kurt said in amazement, “ But, why are you doing this?”

“Why are you cutting off wings of the other fairies?”

“Because they do not care about it. Years ago, for so long, I had asked each of them to tell me something about wings. To everyone I could find, I asked what it was like to have wings, to be able to fly, to master the winds. But, no one ever answered. They said it was not that major of a thing. None of them cared. They have taken their wings for granted”, she replied, “It was never my intention to cut off wings off fairies and drive them out of their homes. But, they are so careless about their wings, I think they don’t deserve them.”

Daphne, who had been listening to the fairy earnestly now turned to Jill. She was frozen with fear at her place, hiding behind Kurt. But Daphne turned her an assuring look. She asked, 

“Is it true, Jill?”

Jill was too shocked to answer her right away. She took her time to be able to form words and believe that the wizard was indeed only a fairy. Daphne turned her an assuring look and calmed her down to certain extent. 

“She’s not going to hurt you, Jill.”

Jill slowly glanced at the wingless fairy and then at Daphne and Kurt, both of whom gave her some reassurance. Magda was also looking at her. 

“It’s true, Jill. You’ve never cared about your wings. You don’t appreciate it”, Magda said to Jill, who calmed down now, started reflecting. It was true, they never did care about their wings. It was only after Magda started cutting them off, that they tried to save it for their lives. Now, Jill too felt bad for Magda. 

“I think it is true”, Jill told Daphne and Kurt.

Then, turning towards Magda, she added,

“I am sorry, Magda, about your wings. And you are right, we do not appreciate our wings enough. We do not take care of it. It is a marvellous gift, to be able to fly. We should be grateful for it and our gratitude should show itself in our actions, which it was not doing earlier. But I think I can say this on behalf of all my friend fairies that from now, we will care for our precious gift, if you don’t have cut them off anymore.”

Magda, who had worn the expressionless face for so long, now flashed a smile. 

“I won’t. I will no longer catch fairies and cut their wings.”

 

“Why don’t you two become friends and everyone here can live happily forever?”, said Kurt, suggestively to everyone present there. He noticed that two other fairies, who must have been hiding from the wizard near by, had gathered around them due to the commotion. 

“Will you be friends with me, Magda?”, Jill asked, flying closer to her. 

“Of course, Jill”, Magda replied, extending forward a hand of friendship. 

The other fairies who had appeared there also looked happy and relieved from fear, no doubt they had also realised that they need to appreciate their wings. They flew closer to Jill and Magda, all of them smiling as Daphne and Kurt watched them. They were happy, too. And with that, their magical adventure of a day came to a happy ending.