Wedding Fever

Chapter 2

In the early morning of London, a baby boy watched the birds that fluttered outside his window. He was portly with gentle brown eyes and red hair tucked under a bonnet. While his legs were constrained inside his sleeper gown, his arms wiggled about freely. His eyes meandered to the window on his left at the detection of movement and he cooed curiously as he watched two red robins flutter about in the early winter morning.

He watched them with gentle eyes and a curious smile as the small robins flew in circles around each other tweeting excitedly for the nearing of Spring. They were already setting up for a nest outside of the baby's window sill, hoping to get a start on the spring season despite it being about two weeks away.

Peculiarly, the birds sensed something watching them and stopped flying after realizing that it was the small human inside the building that was staring at them. They perched themselves on his window sill and listened to the baby's small rambles. Enjoying the sounds the other species made, the baby would coo to the birds and the birds would sing back. This continued for awhile, almost as if the little creatures really were holding a conversation with the small human. As the birds hopped along the sill to gain a better look of the boy, the boy would wiggle his body to try and sit up in vain.

Eventually, one of the robins left the window, disappearing out of the baby's sight only to return a moment later with a small twig in its beak. It ventured bravely into the room and set the twig down next to the small child's head. The curious baby tried reaching for it, turning their little head to the bird for a better look. The robin tweeted, seeing the baby's struggle, and hopped onto the baby's chest with the twig in its beak again. As it hopped closer to the baby's face, the baby couldn't help but let out a laugh as he felt the bird's feet tickle him. The bird flew away in surprise as it felt one of its feathers pluck loose. Both robins watched as the feather floated up and out of the room. The baby cooed in disappointment as the robins left him alone to fly after the feather.

They followed the feather as it began to gain speed. They followed it across the streets of London and over its harbor. They followed it even when it seemed like the feather would just sink into the ocean below.

Instead of sinking, however, it flew. It floated upwards to the fading starry sky. The robins followed after it, recognizing the destination it was heading. They flew toward the second star on the right and found themselves with the rogue feather in a new world. An island floated ahead with rainbows encompassing its lush green trees and waterfalls trickling down, its streams and rivers giving life to the island. Birds and feather made their way to the island's secret heart; the home of the fairies.

The robins flew ahead in search of a fast flying fairy to help guide the feather toward the Pixie Dust Tree and eventually they found a brunette clad in purple and with silver eyes. She had been flying over the Summer meadows attempting to start her day when the birds appeared in front of her and kept bothering her to follow. She waved them away but received a shrill shriek from one of the birds in return.

"Go away. Shoo. I got work to do," she reprimanded. The birds continued to peck at her.

Finally, she gave in to their demands and with a groan of frustration nodded to the robins. They led her back to the feather, which had gotten itself stuck in a branch while they were gone. She heard the faint echo of a baby's laugh escape from it and immediately understood what the birds had been bothering her for.

The fairy quickly summoned her winds and with it freed the feather and led it through Pixie Hollow to the tree. The feather continued to imitate the baby's echoing laughter, waking those who had not yet been up and gathering the attention of the few who were.

The fairy led a crowd to the tree as everyone rushed to meet the newcomer. As the crowd reached the tree's crown they watched in amusement as the feather playfully floated and rose out of the fast flier's reach. She gave an annoyed grunt as she chased after it, manipulating her winds to bring it back down to the crowd's center.

Fairies spoke to each other quietly and curiously, it was strange to see the vessel of a fairy's essence acting on its own accord without the effect of pixie dust. As always, with the presence of something new came the talk of "a special fairy".

At last, the fairy's winds managed to take a hold on the feather and gently helped pull it down to the arrival stage. With a satisfied huff and a victorious nod of the head, the fairy went to join her talent guild.

As soon as she left, a blond sparrow-man flew forward. He held a cup filled with pixie dust and spilled the dust over the feather. As he took his place with the other dust fairies, the feather had already begun to take form.

Laying on the ground where the feather used to be was another sparrow man. He sat up from the curled position he lay in and watched the crowd with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. He had dark hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin. He wore a red leaf suit and was barefoot. Freckles were splattered along his skin. As he looked around the tree, he finally took in just how many eyes were staring at him and he felt himself blushing. He raised a hand and stuttered a reserved but bold, "Hello!"

His brethren waved back at him and gave him a gentle smile or a kind word. He began to stand and as he did the fairies fell silent. They waited for the arrival of their queen to welcome the newest addition to the hollow.

She never came.