The Fourfold Key

Chapter Nine: Lemonjello

The duo had been traveling for about an hour when Tom stopped. Ruth reined in her horse as well.

    "Why are we stopping?" Ruth asked while Tom dug around in his sack.

    "We're almost to the Fairy Kingdom. You did look up information on fairies, correct?"

    Ruth admitted she didn't and Tom sighed. "Fairies are extremely vain. They spend half their day primping and the rest of it going to fancy balls and the like. They tend to look down on the poorly dressed as lesser beings, so it will be easier for us to travel through their kingdom if we freshen up."

    "Oh. Wait—does that mean I need to put that dress on again?" Ruth asked.

    "I'm afraid so. I'm changing as well." Tom gave her a consoling look and headed off into the bushes with his clothes.

    Once they were finished, Tom led them past a thick part of the wood. They passed into the Fairy Kingdom with no obstacles. After a while, they stopped at a stream. As Tom leaned down to drink, he heard a rustle in the thickets on the other side of the stream.

    "Who's there?" Tom demanded, scanning the trees. "Come out. Now."

    There came another rustle and out popped a fawn. "Sorry," it wheezed, out of breath. "There's someone after me. Gotta go!" The fawn bolted off into the bushes.

    Ruth's eyes grew wide. "You—you didn't tell me animals could talk here."

    "Not all of them can. Just the ones with blood originally from the Fairy Kingdom. They got tired of—" Tom was interrupted by yet another sound, the sound of crashing feet.

    "That's right, you better run!" a voice cried out. "If I catch you skulking around my property again, I'll, I'll—" The owner of the voice crashed into view. She caught sight of the two travelers and stopped her ranting.

    She was a fairy. Not as pretty as Ruth was expecting of a stuck-up, vain creature. She had thin, shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair, and had a gold circlet, like a crown, resting on her forehead. The fairy wore a brown leather tunic, fastened in the middle with a gold belt. The tunic's hem was stamped with depictions of forest animals prancing about a forest. She had on dark green leggings. Her legs were long, good for running, and her wings were light amber. Her skin was dark, and, at the moment, her face was full of anger, which soon melted into an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was chasing a prankster kid. Actually, it might have been a deer. Anyhoo, I'm Lemonjello. I know, I know, it's a weird name. Who are you?"

    Ruth and Tom introduced themselves. After a minute of conversation, Lemonjello invited them to dinner.

    "Oh, no, we couldn't intrude." Tom stammered.

    "Oh, no, to you, mister. I insist. I don't usually get visitors."

    "Well, if you insist," Ruth said, excited with the prospect of having dinner with a fairy. Then she paused. "Not to pry, but what do you mean you don't get many visitors? From what Tom told me, you fairies seem to be quite social."

    Lemonjello shrugged as she gestured for them to follow her. "I guess because they don't like me very much. I'm an incredibly talented fairy." There wasn't a hint of humility in the last statement. Ruth giggled, until she caught Tom glaring at her. She stopped giggling. "As you probably know, the kingdom gets passed down to the next most talented fairy. Our ruler—right now it's King Fredrick—is nearing the end of his reign. So the Monarch Seekers, the fairies who track down the Talented, have begun to look for possible candidates to claim the throne. I've been visited by them several times. None of the Monarch Seekers really like the job. They think it's too much work, which is silly because all they do is cast a spell to watch the fairies around the kingdom. They would much rather be dancing around in a ballroom. Anyhoo, I assume everyone else is just jealous. Ah, here we are." She frowned at her house, which would have been quaint, but was covered in mashed purple berries, and leaf-signs that said many rude things about their host. Ruth tried very hard not to look at them. Lemonjello sighed. "Oh well, I'll clean it up later. For now, I have guests!" She flashed a happy smile towards the two of them, then turned and motioned for them to follow her into the house.