Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - PHI (Edited)

PHI'S POV

"If Phi is the king's daughter," said Halia. "That makes her a princess!" Her jaw dropped.

"This can't be true," I said.

The world was turning around me. This had to be a big, cruel joke.

"It is very true," Mrs. Merrow said. "Why do you think you can manipulate all elements? Didn't you know only those with royal powers were able to do that?"

"Phi controls earth, air, and fire, but not water," Halia corrected.

I thanked her for that. Please continue, continue to tell me this isn't happening.

"Not yet," Mr. Merrow said. "But she will in time. You Last-borns are only starting to learn of the arts. You have just received the powers of the ancients. It would have been very surprising if Phi had been able to manipulate all the elements on her first try."

"She could just be talented," Halia suggested. "We have been separated from nature for so long that the Mother probably thought it was best to gift us with more powers. Even I can control two elements."

This was why we were best friends. She was really trying hard to find reasons for me not to be a princess. I hung to her words, wishing them to be true.

But the Elders shook their heads. Their faces showed their regret. "You are royalty, Phi," they assured me.

I knew King Siegfried (should I call him Father now?) had been a powerful king once, during the golden days. He was known across lands, and even humans had heard stories about him. That's what enabled him to survive so long: if a human writes down the name of a fairy in one of their book, the fairy will never be forgotten; she will never die of disbelief.

Grannie had told us that he was the fairy who had slain Fafnir, the dragon who kept the magic ring of power. Siegfried then took the ring and gave it back to the three mermaids to whom it belonged.

To thank him, the mermaids had gifted him with part of the ring's powers. Only the powers of light, that goes without saying. The good powers. And they destroyed the rest of the ring, condemning the evil it contained to the abyss.

With that power, Siegfried had become a powerful fairy king. Almost as powerful as Wotan, or as powerful, according to some fairies and creatures.

Wotan was the one who had commanded for the ring to be taken from the mermaids in the first place. When he learned of Siegfried's newly acquired powers, it was no surprise that he wished his demise. And in the same way, the powers for himself.

No one had heard of Wotan since then, however. Only that he had vanished in the horizon, riding his eight-legged horse. Some say he even rode until the Under World.

"I will go fetch your grandmother," Mr. Merrow told me. "She will be happy to know you are . . . here."

I knew he'd been about to say "alive," but had changed his mind. I couldn't blame him. Who knew how much longer I'd stay that way?

*

It didn't take long before Grandmother arrived.

Her feathers were in a mess. She had been, by all appearances, worried sick about me and had ceased preening herself.

"My poor child!" she said upon seeing me. "Alas, what kind of life has destiny chosen for you?"

She hugged me so tightly I thought her bones would crack.

"Let's all sit down," Mrs. Merrow said. "We have to find a way to get her out of here as quickly as possible."

I was no longer paying attention. I was grieving. Grieving for a life I now knew I would never have. A life of freedom.

I wasn't free in the alley. I thought I could be free here. I was wrong. Even if I escaped the Evil King, I was still tied to the community. As a royal, they were my responsibility. I did not want to carry such a burden.

"Wait," I said. "There's something I don't understand." Their eyes all shifted towards me. "How long have you known Siegfried was my father? How come the Evil King knew who I was and I didn't?"

"Phi, dear," Grandmother said. "Try to understand. We were living in a time of stress and scarcity in the alley. The king could not afford to invest in his physical ties with you when the community needed him."

"So you knew," I hissed. "You all knew!"

Halia looked at me with her eyes wide and green. She was not used to seeing me so angry. But they had lied to me all my life!

Sure, the king had done exactly what society was expecting of him. Since there had always been more female fairies than males, our society did not take accountability for their children's upbringing. Children usually did not even know who their father was. They stayed with their mothers; and when the latter died, they went with their mother's family.

Now, more than ever, I did not agree with this practice.

"We never meant to harm you," Grandmother tried to explain. She hugged me again but I pulled away.

"So what is it?" I said. "Did my mother have an affair with the king? She wasn't a queen, was she? Or did you forget to tell me that too?

"No," Grandmother said, her voice still calm. "Your mother was not a queen. It is as I told you. She and I came from a faraway land. We met King Siegfried during our travels, and he welcomed us among his people. The only part you didn't know was that your mother and the king became romantically involved. Siegfried thought it was best you didn't know about it, so that you would grow up like any other child."

"Did they love each other?" I asked. My voice was a bit calmer now.

"They would have probably married if disbelief hadn't taken your mother away," she replied.

Tears formed in my eyes. "I would have liked to have known. All these years, I had a king, but never a father. He never hugged me, never held my hand in the darkest moments. Now, again, he is gone, and there is no one to tell me everything will be fine."

Halia pulled her chair closer to mine and put both her hands on my hands. "I won't let anything bad happen to you," she said. "We managed to come back to the settlement without being seen and we will leave it again."

That was the only way.