Welcome back=)

This guest story from Leslie Rohman started on Tuesday, so if you’re just arriving, click here for the first post.

She’s got some great descriptions! Enjoy!

Sunshine’s Edge Part 2 of 3

When she got to the tree house Bluebird had mentioned, Sunshine was shocked. The place was a riot of color- any place where that many fairies gathered was- They all have green bodies and wings of any possible color under the sun. But she had never imagined that so many had defected! There might be more here than at the annual conclave.

Bluebird was ecstatic to see her, and he promptly and proudly showed her around. The main room looked like an ancient Roman gathering. A few of the more theatrical fairies sang or danced surrounded by others lounging on pillows nibbling food and sipping at drinks.

On the balcony, they had turned an old birdbath into a swimming pool. The mental shouts and splashes of water filled the air.

On the roof, games of all varieties were underway. The atmosphere up here was more subdued. And Sunshine noticed that some of the fairies had an inexplicable look of sadness and lethargy, loneliness and perhaps even anger on their faces. They seemed withdrawn and out of place.

One such group, gathered round a table of delicacies, seemed to have either lost the ability or the will to fly! They were fairly overweight and whenever they moved, they didn’t even try to use their wings! Even if a normal fairy was only going a few paces, he would flit and float there. To only walk was unheard of!

When Sunshine asked Bluebird about these two anomalies, he flippantly threw out something about them being the founders of the tree house, and “they always act like that”.

Sunshine had a fantastically fun filled day. She swam, played and ate her fill. At the end of the day as she lay out under the stars listening to the hoots, howls and chirps of the night she thought about all the fun she could have again tomorrow and the next day and the next. The thought wasn’t quite as appealing as she would have expected.

Bluebird floated over and landed next to her. “Whaddya think?” He questioned.

“Hmmm, it’s definitely fun, and I sure enjoy not having manure thrown at me!” She projected her thoughts back to him along with the memory from earlier with the farmhand. Only thoughts that they chose to project could be heard by each other.

He chuckled and jumped up as he got excited. “Never again will that happen to you! As you’ve seen, here you are free! You can do whatever you want! Sleep, eat, relax! No missions, no danger, no being misunderstood!” Bluebird’s hands flailed about with each exclamation. “Never again will you have to help those pathetic, unthankful humans! Never, Never, NEVER!”

He floated in the air just above where Sunshine lay with his hands raised waiting as if he expected his audience to applaud. But his speech had quite the opposite effect of what he expected. Sunshine was totally still and silent as she processed her feelings. At first she was just plain confused. Confused, because his words made her feel an immense emptiness and sadness.

Then she was angry for just a half-second. Couldn’t she just not have a conscience for two minutes and enjoy her freedom?

Then came the worst of all; fear. Fear that she had doomed all those people she was supposed to be helping.

She could see now how a fairy who gave up their purpose for this life of “freedom” might end up sad and angry like those she’d seen on the roof. Helping others was what gave her life meaning.

When she finally looked at Bluebird again, he was giving her the most comical look. And she realized that as she had been analyzing her feelings, her face had been showing her emotions perfectly. A scrunchie face to go with her confusion, bared teeth with her anger and a round lipped “oh” face to go with her fear. She always had been an open book.

“I must go, there might still be time!” Sunshine yelled over her shoulder as she zoomed out back the way she had come just hours earlier. Bluebird’s face was even more comical at this, but she never saw it.

Sunshine flew faster than she ever had before. She could already feel the beginnings of the earthquake that had the potential to flatten every house in the village of Piff and maybe even bring the mountain down on the unsuspecting dragon. Her mind started to form a plan as she flew.

She arrived at Piff just before dawn. And she knew she only had minutes to get the people out of their stick houses that would impale and squish them where they lay. She first went to the corn field that was farthest from the houses and mountain. Her hands were shaking terribly and made lighting the fire here difficult. She dropped her flint twice before she succeeded. As she backed away to examine her work, she realized that this one little flame was not big enough to draw all the people out here to the relative safety that the big empty field might provide. She needed to light more, fast.

With a sinking heart she felt the first little rumblings beginning. Her chest was tight and tears were starting to flow. How could she light more fires with shaky hands and tears blinding her eyes?

She pressed on though. She did manage to get three more blazes going before she knew she was out of time.  She raced towards the mountain. The ground was rolling more violently now.

“NO, NO, NO!” Sunshine kept screaming with all her might, projecting her thoughts and wishing with all her being that someone could hear her.

As she neared the gigantic gong that she hoped to somehow use to awaken the people, she saw the mighty black dragon wiz out from his cave near the top of the mountain…

…To be finished on Saturday, so check back to see what happens to Thonk, Sunshine, and the Piffians! It’s a lot of fun=)

Blessings,

Jennifer