Chapter Ten: The Story of Astrid

The three females froze on the spot. Then the fairy looked left and right and realised that her only means of escape was past the two humans. She retreated to the back of the doll's house, her wings pressed up against the wooden wall. Then the smaller of the two humans regained her senses and spoke softly.

"It's alright Shiraz, we won't hurt you. We freed you."

The fairy shook her head. "I don't trust little girls anymore" she said in a voice that shook with fear.

"Shiraz, You can trust us," whispered the older lady "We just want to talk to you. We've never seen a real live fairy before"

The fairy narrowed her eyes and looked at them suspiciously. "Then why do you keep cursing me?" she spat. The humans looked at one another. They did not appear to understand. "Shiraz is a curse," explained the fairy.

Suddenly both humans laughed out loud and the level of noise made the fairy press herself even harder against the back wall. Realising they were frightening her, the little girl stopped laughing and whispered into the doll's house, "We thought it was your name, it was written on your shoe."

Trying not to take her eyes off the huge faces, the tiny young lady checked both her slippers. When she found the word, she tore off the shoe and threw it as far from her as she could. Then she sighed again. "You really did break the curse," she whispered so softly it was barely heard. She seemed to reach a decision and took a step forward. "My name is Astrid," she said.

"I'm Elizabeth," said the little girl. "And this is my aunty Jenny. Please come out and we will talk."

Astrid looked about herself. Now that she was not so frightened she liked what she saw. Avoiding the cursed slipper, she walked around the room and eventually settled herself sitting on the edge of the bed. "I think I will stay here for now," she said. "But if you have anything to eat..? It has been a long time between meals."

Elizabeth jumped up and ran to the kitchen. When she got there she realised she didn't know what fairies ate. So she collected a few sweet things as she had a vague recollection of reading that fairies liked sugar. Astrid ate the food she was eaten hungrily. She relaxed a little when she was full and asked Elizabeth to remove the offending slipper from her sight.

Happily obliging, Elizabeth asked quietly "Who did that to you?"

Astrid looked at her audience, and being full and happy her tongue became loose and she recounted her story.

 

"It was the Fairy Council who cursed me. Though not all of them agreed to it, it is fairy law. I'm not saying what I did was right, but I had no choice...really.

You see, fairies are very interested in humans. Each one of us has a family that we seem to follow, watching what they do. Fairies don't grow old and watching a family grow is like playing with dolls. And it is because we can't seem to stay away from humans, that the council made the law. A fairy is forbidden to help a human. It causes too much harm to all fairies alike."

 

"And that is what you did wrong?" interrupted Elizabeth.

 

Astrid looked down and grew sad. Elizabeth feared she may have lost her chance at finding out what had happened. But then the fairy continued.

 

"I had a family that I liked to watch. They were so lovely together, a mother, a father and a little girl." Astrid looked up at Elizabeth before going on.

"The older the little girl became, the more I liked her. She was very happy and loved playing in the garden. Her name was Rebecca, and she was looking for fairies too.

One day she caught me drinking in her pond. I got away from her that day, but I could not stop from going back. She began to talk to me even though she couldn't see me. I was more careful at hiding myself after that first time.

When she talked to me, she would tell me things that she could tell no one else. And then one day she told me that she was very sick. After that day she stopped coming into the garden.

I peeked into her bedroom one evening and she was asleep in bed. Her window was open just a little bit and I crept in to get a better look at her. She was so pale and fragile looking compared to the last time I had seen her. Then all of a sudden she sat up, wide awake and ran to shut the window. She had trapped me again.

She was sick, very sick and she wanted me to be near her. I hid in a pot plant from that day. But as she got sicker, I became sick also. Rebecca was dying and her spirit was trying to pull me into the next world with her.

At last she was so frail she could not get out of bed to talk to me, and I was too ill to fly. I made a decision then and used some of my magic to heal us both. She recovered swiftly and was so grateful that she let me go. I almost wished that she hadn't. For the council knew instantly what I had done and to protect the other fairies, they need to find me fast. I ran and hid. I lived in an overgrown garden for three days before they caught me and brought me in front of the council.

The law was made to protect all fairies, and the punishment was clear. Although I pleaded with the council and explained why I had had to help the human girl, they had no choice but to carry out the curse of Shiraz. Shiraz was the fairy who put the law in place long ago. But she was not cruel, and the curse could be broken by a human. So the council gave me the secret chest before the curse spell was complete."

"And I opened the chest" whispered Elizabeth.

There was quiet in the room as each of the three was engaged in her own thoughts. Jenny broke the silence first.

"What will you do now?" she asked.

"I can't go back to my community," said Astrid sadly. "I shall have to become a drifter, or else find another community to join, not that they would have me."

"You can stay here!" exclaimed Elizabeth "The house is just the right size for you."

Astrid looked around herself once more. It was very cozy with everything fairy sized. But she was not used to being indoors all the time. Her cottage had been hidden on the verge between Rebecca's garden and the nature reserve. Elizabeth's bedroom was hardly a fairies glen. And could this little girl human and her aunty keep Astrid a secret? She looked at them both and shook her head.

"I don't know," she said. "A fairies place is not with humans. That is the law."

"And just look what fairy law did for you," piped up Jenny.

Astrid put her head in her hands. She was so glad to be free. But what was to happen to her now?