Love, Distrust, and Fairy Dust

The scheme of things

Bracken Franons laughed as his wicked plan for power was about to come to fruition. He had finally resurrected the love potion of the old days. He marveled at the sight of the glowing vial in his hands, he would have to use all of it to affect a fairy in human form, but it would be worth it. All around his lab different shaped vials glowed with strange light, with bugs and small animals in cages lining one wall. In his Fairy form, they were comparable to a human working with cats and dogs. On the table in front of him was an old tome containing the formula for the potent love potion written in the original fairy language before the great fairy wars.

A small chest lay open next to the tome and Bracken set the vial of love potion inside of it, and locked it with a key that he kept around his neck. He gathered up his deciphered notes and the tome into a briefcase and locked it away in a wall safe behind a black board he had been using, the board itself was covered in all manner of formulas and notes. Once he was satisfied that it was locked away, he discarded his apron and work jacket onto a hook by the door, and donned his princely attire. His clothes were of the finest quality, and made out of nightshade and red velvet. Out of his back, red moth wings whipped the air as he stretched them, all of the male fairies had moth-patterned wings and the females were butterfly patterned.

He closed and locked the door to his lab behind him and climbed out the crevice in the tree that housed his laboratory. Once outside, the wind lashed his unfurled wings as he gazed out at the New York's Central park from a few blocks away, the crisp morning air seized his lungs and the rays of morning sunlight made the park glow a shade of green.

Three fairy clans resided in New York's central park: The Franons, The Hadrians, and The Sleighrains. The Franons ruled the north half of the park, and the Hadrians governed the southern half. The Sleighrains that stalked and protected the park at night, were a unique type of fairy designed for prowling the shadowy hours of the day

Bracken Franons was the second born prince of the Franons royalty, behind his brother Jaythor, who was training to be king. The opposing kingdoms of Franons and Hadrians had been at war over land since before construction of the park. After many war torn years, a tentative peace was created and enforced by the warrior race of the Sleighrains, who had grown tired of the petty squabbling between the Day Clans.

The land was officially divided among the Clans, and for the first time the Sleighrains claimed land among the day fairies. The Franons were north of the reservoir, and the Hadrians were south of Belvedere castle, while the Sleighrains occupied the land between Belvedere castle and the reservoir. The Sleighrains maintained Belvedere castle as a day post as well as the home of the Sylvan knights. Should either side be foolish enough to start a war it would be with the Sleighrains first, with the elite Sylvan knights at the vanguard under the order to exterminate not just the opposing army, but the entire clan.

At first, the peace seemed impossible to maintain, but the Sleighrains had bared their teeth by decimating the two converging armies on one of the largest scaled battles the day fairies had ever seen, causing everyone to fear the ruthless might of the Sylvan Knights, the elite of the Sleighrains. For a year, nobody approached the border out of fear. Unexpectedly, the Sleighrains did something completely out of character. They hosted a banquette on the great lawn at the center of their territory, and invited the Royal families to come in human form, unarmed.

When twilight came on that evening, tensions were high as the nobility crossed into their old battlefield as vulnerable humans. Seven of the Sleighrains highest-ranking members and three Sylvan knights all in human form met them. Among the noble families of the day fairies, only the immediate royalty had the ability to become human and maintain a human form. Regular humans, who had no knowledge of what was really going on, masterfully catered the banquette itself.

Banquettes were to be hosted once a year and create an opportunity to civilly discuss issues facing the park. At first, it seemed like a way for the Sleighrains to hold a knife to the throats of the royalty but as the years went on and the Sleighrains allowed discussions to take any turn the royalties wanted, short of raising a sword. The banquettes became less of a required event and more of a duty as they were finally able to work together. In time, even noble families where allowed to come to these events as fairy, and fairies from both day clan were commissioned to oversee the cultivation of the Sleighrain's territory, under strict supervision among other things. For thirty years, this had been the pattern and soon it would be over.

Bracken knew better, they were slaves to the might of the Sleighrains and only the combined strength of the day fairies could defeat the Sleighrains and their Sylvan Knights for good. He would make his move at the next banquette. No more would they squabble over land and no more would they be under the thumb of the Sleighrains and their Sylvan Knights. There would be one more war and no more fake peace.

He looked at the park, "soon, all this will be mine."