Chapter 1: Lavender

The first sentence hit me at the same time as my idea to write the story in the first place. This chapter is mostly exposition and introductions.

  I can think back to the first time I saw him. I didn’t think of the word beautiful as I do now, that came as we grew to know each other. However, I could not stop looking at the traveler that came to my father’s kingdom. It wasn’t simply because he was foreign. My eyes were just drawn to him, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say exactly why.

  I am Princess Lavender of the Luna fairies. The Luna tribe is almost the largest in the realm of Faerie, second only to the Sol tribe. If I had been born a boy, I would one day rule the Luna fairies. Instead, my cousin Braxon will rule, since I’ve no brothers. As for me? My father, King Almaden, promised me to the heir of the Sol Fairies, Prince Apollo, as a wife. A purely political move that promised to unite the two most powerful fairy tribes, as well as ruin my life.

  I was one of the first to see the stranger when he was brought to us. As the king’s eldest child, I was at his side for most of our festivals and events, along with my ever-silent stepmother and my cousin. It was the day of the pollen parade, when the spring’s harvest was marched underground into storage. It was a day long affair, with the entire army moving parcels in one long stream. That night, food for the fall and winter being assured, there would be a great feast, and celebration. Drinking, dancing, loving. For everyone but me, that is. For me, just the first. No one would dance with me. This I knew.

  I would stand around as I did at every celebration as if this would be the time a guy would ask me to be his consort for the evening. Being a princess didn’t make me off limits, nor did being betrothed. In fact, if it were any other girl in my position, that would make the men want them even more. Normally a man would love to say he’d been with a princess, or to have a fling with a girl before she became unavailable. I was just completely undesirable...

  My mother, the only fairy who I can honestly say ever loved me, named me Lavender because two things set my appearance apart from everybody else’s. My eyelids were very delicate, and so the blood vessels in them gave them a purplish hue. Some boys might have found that rather striking. Unfortunately, I had wings that literally only a mother could think were pretty. The veins in them were also purple. Not pink like most girls. Not red like the unattractive but still kissable girls. Of course not clear... Girls with clear wings were so pretty they were nearly unattainable.

  My mother said my wings were lovely. I believe she really thought so. She had purple wings as well, making us the only two to have them. But she’s been gone a long time, and I’m now a one of a kind freak.

  I sat on a raised dais near the underground entrance, watching the soldiers march by as I thought about the dance later that night. Even the soldiers would ignore me. I would get drunk, get sad, then wander off to stare at the moon, wishing for things to be different but not knowing what to wish for.

  These were the thoughts going through my mind when the parade was interrupted. General Bolton, head of my father’s guard, and his lackey Simon barged right through the parade route, forcing a prisoner onto the ground in front of my father’s throne.

  “What is this?” Father bellowed, for to interrupt any of the seasonal rituals was a dangerous taboo, thought to bring bad fortune. Nature must not be insulted.

  “Sire,” Bolton said, “we found him skulking around the raspberry patch. He was stealing! We caught him red-handed. And he will give no account of himself.”

  “I’ve told you everything,” the stranger said simply, his voice muffled from being held face first on the ground.

  “Silence!” Bolton struck him in the back with the butt of his sword, and after a whoosh of air forced from his lungs, the stranger was silent. My heart went out to him. Bolton was dimwitted and cruel, and I knew immediately deep down that this person had done nothing wrong.

  “Stand him up,” the king said. They did so keeping his arms locked in theirs, causing him to wince in pain. My father looked him in the face, regarding him as cooly as if he were just another part of the harvest, to be inspected and locked in storage. His face was subtly different than ours, in shape. What startled us was the patch of hair around his mouth. Such a thing we’d never seen. He looked at us, as well. When his eyes met mine, something happened. Something in his expression changed, softened perhaps. I could see fear in his eyes... “Who are you, and from what tribe?” Father demanded.

  “My name is Lumenovus,” the stranger said, “and I belong to no tribe.”

  “Every fairy belongs to a tribe, fool. And I do not enjoy being mocked. Hiding your roots will only make your punishment more severe.”

  “I am not a fairy, sir.”

  The king snorted. “What, then? Too small and thin to be a hobgoblin.” Yes, and his skin isn’t green and covered with slimy scales. This stranger did look odd, but he was certainly no hobgoblin.

  “I’m a human,” he said.

  All those in earshot either gasped or laughed riotously. A human, our size? The king only sneered. “We’ll see about that. Strip him.”

  The stranger offered no resistance as they removed his jacket and shirt, but Bolton and Simon beat him anyway. Stripped from the waist up, now everyone’s reaction was to gasp. His body was so similar to that of our men, but so different. He stood just a bit shorter than them, but seemed bigger. Fairies were very fine of frame, since we needed to fly. This person had, well, lumps of flesh on his arms, his back, his chest, everywhere. And hair! On his chest it was very evident, but also down his arms, and on his face...

  Of course he had no wings, which is probably what startled everyone the most. Our men had two elongated bumps about the width of a hand in length on their upper back, which unrolled and expanded slightly into dragonfly-like wings. Our women had similar ones, but twice as long since our wings were broader, shaped like a butterfly’s.

  This stranger had neither type, only a smooth blank-looking area. If it wasn’t the lack of wings that disturbed everybody, it was the bandage around his left arm, or more precisely, what the bandage concealed. From our lore I had heard that when a human is cut, they keep bleeding.

  “Well... No wings? And is that a... Wound?” the king asked.

  “Observe, sire,” Simon said.

  I brought my fingers to my lips in sympathy and shock when he struck the man’s arm directly on his injury, causing him to recoil and grunt in pain. Blood began to trickle from under the bandage. He knew that would happen, I realized angrily.

  “Have you ever seen a thing like it?” Simon asked with delight. He was even more cruel than Bolton, and more dangerous because he was crafty.

  “I have not, Simon, and it is somewhat interesting, but also very disgusting. This is not the time or place for this. Take him to the briars for now, and let the parade continue.”

  So they marched him off, holding his arms at angles that were clearly painful, and unnecessary. Still, he did not struggle or complain. And the parade went on...

----

  As always, I tried to join the party that night. As always, it didn’t matter. In all my years, I couldn’t even manage to get a drunk soldier as a consort for the night. I did end up drinking, of course. I tried flirting with some soldiers, some harvesters... The nicer ones politely found something else to do. Others snorted and shook their heads at me. It’s because they know I’m promised, I told myself. I knew that was a lie. But, if I wasn’t going to try to be nice to myself, who would? I drank some more dandelion wine, hoping to let that little lie sink in. Then the dancing began.

  I never lasted long after this point. I stood to the side with my wine and my nervous smile, watching the couples dance. I saw girls rest their heads on the tall, lean shoulders. The men held them tenderly. My heart ached, wondering what that must feel like. Not just physically, but on the inside. Emotionally. Did it make those girls feel relaxed, excited, safe? Beautiful...? I had only known the touch of one man... And it was anything but tender.

  It dawned on me that there were only a few festivals left before I was to be married, and unavailable. I would never find a consort at them, and then I would be trapped into a marriage to someone who loathed me. Meaning, I would never know what it felt like even to be held gently by a man, let alone anything past that.

  I saw the way couples looked at each other. I would never be admired in such a way, or have anyone to admire. I had so much love to give... There would never be any outlet. I would love any children I bore Apollo of course, but right then, looking at the dancers, what my heart craved was a man to cherish. Knowing that there was not one who would accept my freely given love made me feel worthless.

  Then the air dancing began, which was always the final straw. As a form of foreplay, couples who were nearly ready to go someplace private would fly in the air and nuzzle each other, caress each other, breathe compliments in each other’s ear... Of course I knew that would never be for me, even if someone did get drunk enough to be my consort. Were I to spread my wings here, the music would stop and everyone would stare at me in disgust, since I should know better.

Reviews

[Sarah]

This is a very interesting piece. Not something I would typically read, but it's always good to branch out. I think you crafted the exposition pretty well. I understood most of what was going on in this unknown land, although there are some questions I have. I'm confused on the size of these fairies? Are they as big as humans because that's what it seemed like to me. Also, just a thought. If the narrator is being forced into marriage, it sounds like older times, yet she has a step mother. Now I'm not trying to get ahead of myself but the only way that would be possible is if her mother had died. If not, the story wouldn't really match the time frame. Just a thought I was having while reading. Overall, I liked the descriptions, and I really like the ending. I felt more connected with the narrator actually understanding her thoughts and visions towards herself and the others around her. I see a lot of potential here, and I'll surely be reading more.

[Christopher Miller]

You are the first person to bring the question of their size up. All that's mentioned here is the king scoffing that there should be a human 'their size', which really doesn't say very much. There are clues to their size scattered throughout the book, and their actual size is mentioned closer to the end of it, but the first chapter could have used something more definitive. If I ever release a revision, I will certainly take this into account.
The question of her mother is answered very soon, and it fits your expectation.
Thanks for your attention, and for sharing the thoughts you had while reading! As you know, that's precious to a writer.

[Sarah]

Perfect! I'll be reading the next chapter very soon!

[Sira YR]

This is a really intriguing piece. I don't understand the girl. I mean does she have an ugly face or something. Just because her wings have purple veins running through them as well as her eyelids doesn't mean she's ugly. She actually sounds rather pretty to me...but anyway, I'm really enjoying it so far. i will try to leave constructive reviews as I go on. :)

[Christopher Miller]

If it might be more accurate to say you don't understand the men in her kingdom, that's close to what I was going for. Those purple veins are an allegory for any number of ultimately arbitrary things, physical or otherwise, that might make a girl "unattractive". Does it make any more sense than a girl being unattractive because she has the wrong build, the wrong color hair, or skin, or eyes?

[Sira YR]

Oh, I understand what you are saying :). This is a really good book and i wish you would post the entire thing on writer's cafe because as of now i don't really have any money to buy your book- though i really want to. And I cannot afford to wait until i do have the money bcuz i really really want to see the ending :)...anyway you really did a great job on it