Swear Not By The Wings

When we arrive at the magical woodland, I am attacked with hugs!

"Arrietty! Where were you? I was so worried!" Cries Ellowyn.

"It was so boring without you, human," exaggerates Freya.

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you?" Worries Arden.

"I am okay! I was just at the castle, " I explain. You can hear a pin drop in the forest with how quiet it became.

"Adriel's palace?" They shout in unison. I scratch the back of my neck and nod. Elio explains to them the whole ordeal and the looks on their faces are not comforting.

"You've accepted an offer without knowing the catch?" Freya exasperates.

"That's what I said," Elio looks at me still with disbelief.

"That's dumb Arrietty, even for a human," Arden states frankly. And he's supposed to be the nice one!

It's no secret that no one believes I can actually win the fae tournament.

However, if there is a slight chance, even zero point two percent, I will do everything I can to make it back to my mother. After the discussion, the faeries and I try to come up with a plan to make my return home possible.

Unfortunately for me, we couldn't come up with anything useful. The fae tournament consists of a series of combats, a magical relay, and a dragon fight. Of course, these activities strike up several conflicts. One, I am a lover, not a fighter. Two, I don't know anything about magic or relays. And three, I'm petrified of dragons. All hopes of going home die away from me!

What am I going to do?

Elio puts a hand on my shoulder and nods his head in a direction. I seek his pointed look and cast my eyes upon three familiar faces. The troublemakers.

Malachi, Savvy, and Chance are nearby riding dragons through fire loops and other dangerous displays. I gulp upon the sight and suddenly realize what Elio is getting at.

In order to compete in such a cut-throat competition, I need the help of the troublemakers. In other words, Malachi, Savvy, and Chance would be ideal for training partners.

Of course, I am scared, these three faeries were the reason I was almost killed by the Ijiraq just days ago. But what choice do I have? Elio gives a signal to Freya who summons the reckless fairies over.

Malachi, Savvy, and Chance stand impatiently in front of us. Plainly, they do not appreciate being interrupted from doing their habits. Elio glares coldly at them and speaks,

"Arrietty is competing in the fae tournament. You will help her," the three fairies just glance at one another and begin to laugh hysterically. Freya takes a threatening step in their direction and the groups stop laughing immediately.

"Oh, it's not a joke," Chance concludes with wide eyes.

"How can we train a human?" Asks Savvy. Malachi sits silently, watching me with sorry eyes. He must still feel remorse from attempting to have me murdered. Reasonable. Before Savvy and Chance can complain further, Malachi speaks up,

"We'll do it. We'll train her, right guys?" He looks to his friends who stare at him as if he's just lost his mind. Even so, they agree to equip me.

Ellowyn and Chance will assist me with the magic relay portion of the competition. Arden and Savvy will aid me with the combat fraction. And finally, Freya, Elio, and Malachi will help me with the dragon fight.

Cue the anxiety!

First up is the magical relay!

"Okay Arrietty, your first lesson is to make the bud turn into a blossomed flower. This is simple magic and should be easy!" Chance explains while dangling a small flower bud in front of my face.

I watch as Ellowyn gracefully exhales and waves her finger around the sprout. Upon the motion of her fingers, the garden fairy is skilled to bloom a vibrant lotus.

"Now you try, " Chance places a flower bud in the palm on my hand. The fairies watch intently as I close my eyes in concentration. I open my sights again and glare at the undeveloped plant. It'll really be nice if the woodland would help me!

All of a sudden, a Phoenix flies down from the sky! The fiery creature coughs up a wrinkled, yet newly bloomed flower into my hand. After, it swipes up the flower bud and glides away. I grin up at my mentors who are having a hard time judging the situation.

"Does that even count?" Malachi laughs as I happily wave the flower around.

"Technically, she did replace the flower bud with a dandelion. There are no rules against how she did it," Elio explains, highly amused.

"Arrietty, you did it!" Freya shouts and all the fairies cheer.

This will be easier than I thought!

The next challenge is the series of combats. My legs wobble during Arden's rundown of the rules. To win a fae fight, the rules are simple. Sorta. You must pin your opponent down for three seconds from both shoulders.

I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish this. Arden is at least a foot taller than me and very strong. Then, an idea pops into my head that has me grinning evilly.

"Am I allowed to have a weapon?" I announce.

Fairies are magical beings, I should be allowed to fight one with some kind of weapon! Elio shrugs at my request. I think for a moment and hear my mom's words repeat in my head,

"If a fairy approaches you, throw salt on the ground. They have to count each and every grain,"

"I will like a packet of salt please," I state

confidently.

Elio pats Arden on the back, wishing him a stroke of "good luck".

"Nice one, redhead!" Malachi claps his hands. The match starts once I've received my salt. Arden carefully approaches me. His eyes keep wavering between me and the salt packet in my possession. Right when Arden gets close enough, I open the packet and sprinkle it on the ground.

"One, two, three, four," Arden gets on his knees and starts counting. I take this as my opportunity to kick the fairy on his back and throw myself across his shoulders. It works!

"That's three seconds!" Chance announces.

"Victory is mine!" I declare.

"Get off of me, I'm not done counting," cries Arden.

I feel my Spring-supreme kick in and I start dancing my victory dance. At first, the fairies watch me in horror. Elio, again, shakes his head at my silly dance.

Soon Malachi joins in, then Chance, then Savvy, and eventually everyone is Spring-supreming. Well, everyone except Elio.

The series of combat training, mission complete!

"I guess we've underestimated her after all," Savvy smiles while the others nod in agreement. I stand proudly, and strut around the creatures who watch me in entertainment.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, little human. You still have to get through our training," Elio says while Freya and Malachi smirk at me from behind him.

My next challenge is the dragon fight. Game on!