The Search for the Lucky One

“Your Highness.” I heard my title called through the great wooden door. I stared at the back of it, carved intricately with swirls and an Elvin scene. I had been awake for nearly an hour and was currently buttoning my traveling shirt along the side.

“You may enter.” I said, combing my fingers through my atrementous black hair. I checked to make sure my skin was without blemishes and that I was presentable. A small faerie with bouncing lavender hair pushed open my door and was soon followed in by another two faeries of nearly the same height with light blue and pink hair.

“You are up early.” The lavender haired girl spoke.

“I am traveling back to the Elf Circles today.” I announced, attempting to sound mature and less excited than I was. The faeries taught that sounding too excited for anything was something only reserved for younger children.

“Well we were going to come and surprise you by leaving gifts. But we can never surprise you.” The pink haired faerie spoke, her smile dimpling in her cheeks.

“Surprise me?” I asked, “Why?”

“It’s your birthday, silly!” they chorused.

“He’s so focused on his lessons that he doesn’t even realize when his birthday is.”

“You’re forty eight seasons aren’t you?”

We calculated age by every turning season. The seasons were grouped into fours. Ice, Growth, Fire and Deteriorating. Every fourth season seemed to be more important than the previous three. This was my twelfth set of four seasons. When an elf or faerie became quite old the seasons accumulated to be quite high and they would tell their age by how many sets of seasons they had gone through instead of the amount of seasons.

“I’m twelve sets old.” I corrected. I felt much too old to be referring to my age through seasons, though I knew many elves continued to tell their age all the way up until they were hundreds of seasons old. For some reason they laughed. I hadn’t meant to be funny.

“You act so grown up.” The blue haired faerie skipped around my room. The other two placed their gifts on my bed.

“He always acts too grown up. My mum said that he’s too smart for his own good.” The pink haired faerie jumped up on my bed and bounced about on it, lifting her wings and attempting to flap them. They weren’t strong enough to lift her yet I was sure.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.” I warned and walked over to my wardrobe. I had packed most of my belongings the night before except for one knife that my faerie sword master had given to me. It was a gift for exemplifying my technique and surpassing what he expected an elf of my age to accomplish.

“He’s so cute when he’s concerned.” The blue haired faerie said sarcastically, quickly changing her language from the Elvin dialect to the Faerie one as though trying to talk in code to the other two faeries.

Along with combat and sword fighting I had been educated in many different languages in the faerie castle including the old language of the human realm; English. The other two girls laughed in agreement.

It was important to learn the different languages through out the magic world especially for royalty. We were expected to hold conversations with many other creatures when making decisions and it was always considered more polite to use the language of the magical being you were talking to. I hadn’t come close to learning all of the languages yet, but I had attempted to study as many as I could while I was at the Faerie Castle. There was only one known language that could not be learned and that was the language of the Sidhe.

Sidhe were short weak creatures that the faeries kept around as pets. The Sidhe were surprisingly useful in the castle gardens. They used their arms for digging deep trenches and tunnels and their overly large noses could find even the tiniest herb kilometers away. Sidhe’s arms nearly dragged across the ground and their eyes were black and half the size of their heads. Their language consisted of clicking and making up words as they worked or communicated with each other. They had such a tremendous vocabulary and strange ability to understand made up words that the language was impossible to decipher. One day spoon might mean spade, and the next it would mean grass.

The faeries taught them to speak using the faerie dialect and communication between them became easier. The Sidhe kept mostly to themselves. They did not like living together but they would tolerate another’s presence. They enjoyed being alone, however the less Sidhe that were around the weaker they were. All Sidhe could use magic but it was incredibly weak magic unless they got together. Their energy flowed from one another making their magic stronger when there were more of them.

“Well aren’t you going to open your presents?” The pink haired faerie asked, breaking my thought process while I was running through all the things I had learned in the faerie castle in the last four seasons. When elves came of age they would travel from the Elvin Circles to the Faerie Castle where the Faeries would teach us in the ways of their defense, languages, and etiquette for the different kinds of magic and non magic creatures. We would stay for a certain amount of time. For most elves it was only a season to learn the basic languages, defense and etiquette, but I chose to stay for a full set of seasons because my status required a little more knowledge.

I never understood why I would need to learn the Human etiquette or language since no magic creature or being was allowed to enter the human realm. The same went for the humans. They were not allowed in the magic realm.

The Elves would then travel back to the Elvin Circles and be assigned to magic classes when they were able to learn magic. I would be assigned my own personal mage to teach me magic. I already knew who my mage was going to be. He had taught my father when he was fourteen sets old. I was the youngest elf of royalty so far to complete the Faerie lessons and be assigned a mage. Usually Elves didn’t start any serious training until they were at least fourteen sets. I had held council with my parents to allow me to begin my lessons early. I hadn’t realized why they laughed when I asked. I had been completely serious.

My father picked me up and told me I should wait until I had the ability to learn, but I showed him how serious I was and they both allowed me to start early. I don’t think my father believed I would make it as far as I did. The night before I left he said he would send a messenger to collect me if I needed to come home early. Indeed a fortnight after I had arrived at the Faerie Castle his messenger arrived. I had learned from the faeries how to politely decline anything and I sent him back to my father telling him that I hoped he would convey such a message that it was unnecessary to have any more messengers sent for and that my training would be complete in three season’s time.

I had learned that you don’t send a messenger back empty handed so I made sure his bags were filled and that he had a restful night. From then on I didn’t have any more messengers from my father and I believe he understood my seriousness. The faeries commended me for my use of knowledge that I had demonstrated and did not hold back any teachings from me from that point on.

“Well if you’re not going to choose then I’ll just give it to you.” The blue haired girl pretended to huff about and she brought me a white box. I could feel it vibrating with it’s contents.

“Thank you.” I said, remembering the Faerie manners.

“Well you have to open it!” She said and placed her hands on her hips.

“You’re really going to like it.” The pink haired faerie said, continuing to bounce about on the bed and flap her wings.

“Shh! Don’t give it away!”

I had to admit. I was interested. Faeries were known for their creations and use of magic. I unclasped the lid and peered inside. Three different sized balls were slightly humming as they bounced against each other. The smallest was silver, the next was gold and the last was brilliantly clear.

“Set them on the floor.” She said excitedly. I lowered the box to the ground and gently tipped it. The balls rolled towards me and began to circle around my feet in a lazy sort of manner. I took a step back from them and they moved towards me, circling once again.

“Aren’t they wonderful?” She asked and walked over to them. “My mum and I made them. They are magic detectors.” Her face lit up as she explained. “This little silver ball determines the type of magic, whether it is weak or strong. If it is weak it will sit there and just vibrate, but if there is strong magic it will move towards the stronger source. The gold ball determines how much magic is left. You know how some creatures run out of magic for a while and then it recharges after recuperation? It works the same as the silver ball. The Clear ball determines if the magic is good or bad. It is clear when the magic is gentle and not threatening but it turns black if the magic is more powerful than you and is more dangerous.”

She picked them up and placed them back in the box. “The gold one is my favourite to hold. It makes the best sound when you are worried or upset. The longer you are around them the more accustomed to your magic they will become. You will be able to tell if another person’s magic is stronger or more powerful than yours once the balls ‘know’ you.”

I had to admit that these were amazing. Faerie gifts never failed to impress. Their craftsmanship and imagination behind why they made the things they made was unparalleled. Most of what they made was one of a kind and they didn’t find it necessary to make any others. I had heard of magic balls before, but they were rare.

“I really appreciate these.” I said. For some reason her face flushed red and she went back over to my bed and placed the box with the other two gifts.

“My turn next.” The lavender haired girl said grabbing a small cloth bag that she had brought in and brought it over to me. The bag was dark maroon velvet with golden tasseled tie-strings. I thanked her before opening it. I pulled the bag open and the contents spilled into my hand. A heavy rock fell out. It didn’t seem to be any more than a rock and it had a crack down the center. I was sure there as a reason for it but I couldn’t see what it was.

“It’s a tracking stone.” She explained, probably seeing the confusion on my face. “Go ahead, try it out. You just pull it apart along the crack.”

I gripped the stone on either side and pulled slightly. As soon as I did the stone started shaking violently. The further apart I separated the halves the less violent it shook.

“You give one half to someone you want to follow. The closer you get to them the more it shakes. The further you get the less it shakes. I’ll show you.” She took one of the halves from my hand and ran to the other end of the room. Indeed the shaking calmed quite a bit but it still vibrated slightly. She ran back over to me and connected the pieces.

Once again the faerie’s gift didn’t disappoint. I almost felt foolish for being so amazed at these gifts. The pink haired faerie jumped high on the bed.

“I wanted my gift to be flying for you.” She said. I was more than surprised. Faeries trained for years to fly. Their wings could get easily broken if they didn’t fly correctly and if they landed wrong. Faerie flight was beautiful, but I didn’t want her to hurt herself just for my sake.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Sanguine?” The green haired faerie asked.

“I’ve been practicing.” She smiled. With two more great bounces she leapt off my bed and into the air. I winced for a moment hoping she wouldn’t crash to the floor. Instead she glided through the air. She stumbled a bit but she was flying. She circled around me once and flew across the room. The other two Faeries were in silent awe of their friend. I could see worry in their eyes but excitement in their smiles.

She flew towards me again when my door suddenly burst open. The flying Faerie couldn’t stop and crashed into it, losing her momentum and crashing to the floor. A Sidhe had stepped into the room and jumped out of the way of the falling faerie.

“Pardon me.” he said in the faerie dialect with a heavy Sidhe accent, “Your carriage is ready to take you home.” Just like that the Sidhe left, bowing to the faerie girl as an apology.

“Sanguine! Are you all right?!” both faeries ran over to her. She sat up and had a pained look on her face.

“I think my wing is broken.” She moaned and I saw two tears slide down her cheeks. She lifted both of them up and one wing was indeed broken and crinkled.

“Oh, Sanguine! I’m so sorry!” the lavender haired girl cooed and wrapped her arms around her.

“I’ll go find a healer.” The blue haired girl exclaimed and went to run out the door.

“I’ll get in trouble if they find out I’ve been flying.” She moaned into the lavender haired faerie’s embrace.

“I think I can help.” I said. Ever since I was little I always healed my own bumps and bruises. It was just something I found that I could do. Maybe I could make it work on her. I stepped behind her and looked at the wing. I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work, but I figured I might as well try. I placed both of my hands on either side of her wing. I let the healing power flow from my fingertips and palms into the wing. I smoothed it out as best as I could, removing the creases. I felt it become strong once more. The only side affect was that my skin began to change to the colour of the wing.

Whenever someone living touched me or I touched them I changed their colour. Most elves had the ability to change. It took quite a while to change back to my blue skin tone unless water was near. Water helped elves revert back to their own colours faster than letting it gradually go back to normal.

“My wing isn’t hurting any more.” The pink haired faerie exclaimed.

“You can’t even tell it was broken!” The blue one sounded amazed.

“I thought elf royalty was forbidden from doing healing.” The Lavender haired girl said, examining the wing. My stomach sank like sand had been poured into it. I was so used to healing my own wounds that healing another’s seemed to be a natural thing. I had forgotten about the rules amongst healers.

“We’ll keep this between us.” The blue haired faerie said.

“Agreed.” The other two answered in response.

“Thank you, Prince Asher.” The pink haired faerie said. “I’d hug you but I don’t want you to change colour. Oh look at your arms!”

Instead of blue they were a shimmery white. “We’ll go tell them you’re coming- you go get the water.”

I nodded my head. It was always polite to return to your home town in one colour. I had wanted everything to be perfect on my arrival home tonight, and I wanted to make a good impression when meeting my mage.

I went to the lavatory and ran the water across my arms. I waited patiently as it started to work. When my skin was mostly back to blue I rushed to my room and quickly pushed the gifts into my bag. I checked the room once more to make sure I hadn’t left anything. When I was satisfied I exited the room and closed the door gently behind me.