the girls were now able to enter the office, faye wiped her hands on her jeans as she felt them sweating.
"apologies for the delay, but, as you can imagine, we're quite busy at the moment." queen luna told the girls.
faye and bloom sat down, and stella stood at faye's side.
"thank you for your help, stella, but this is a closed tribunal." the queen said to her daughter.
"i'm acting as faye and bloom's advocate." she replied, power in her voice.
"admirable, but in a closed tribunal, advocates are not permitted."
faye and bloom's eyes widened.
"i realise that. however you did permit arthur to act as advocate when his companion found himself in a financial scandal, so..." she stepped forward handing a piece of paper to her mother. "i assume i'd be afforded the same privilege."
"faye and bloom, are you aware of how serious the charges are against you both?" queen luna asked them.
"i am." faye spoke and bloom repeated.
"and this is both of your choices to have my daughter as your advocate?"
"yes." bloom said proudly.
faye nodded. "yes."
"stella knows the system better than we do." bloom told the woman.
"i suppose she does." she replied, taking another glance at stella. "but then again, i assume neither of you know anything about the system, so... faint praise." she added on. "very well. here's what i know. rosalind, one of the most beloved and influential figures of the otherworld, is dead. last night, faye and bloom admitted to saul silva that they were the cause. so... what don't i know."
faye drew in a breath. "she murdered... farah dowling, your highness." her voice shook slightly.
"you're accusing rosalind of murdering headmistress dowling?" she asked.
the girls nodded.
"she risked our lives daily for training and experimentation. is it really that unimaginable?" stella asked, anger in her voice.
"imagination has no place here. and making unproven accusations such as that is damaging to only two people." she looked at faye and bloom. "you."
"and if it's proven?" stella asked.
"hearsay and speculation do not constitute proof."
"i felt her presence there." faye spoke quickly.
"excuse me?" the queen tilted her head at faye.
"when... when bloom and i did what we did, while i was there i felt miss dowling's presence there i could almost feel her. i'm sure you're now aware of my magic and it shouldn't be a surprise for me to have any sort of different magic." she explained.
queen luna simply hummed and wrote down some notes. "but again, words are not proof, i'm going to need physical evidence."
...
"and neither one of you have considered that sebastian may have lied?" queen luna asked after bloom explained he was the reason they knew.
"uh, yeah." bloom nodded. "he could have. but rosalind admitted it. to both of us."
"yes but nobody else was there except the three of you, alone and in private."
"terra and flora are in the graveyard getting the proof that we need." stella said to her mother. "i just need one more minute. please."
a moment had passed and stella looked at faye and bloom with sadness.
"ah well, what a waste of time." the queen spoke in annoyance.
"we aren't imagining this and we are not lying. rosalind admitted it." bloom spoke for the two of them.
"i think, perhaps, a character witness might help." stella walked over to the door and opened it, and aisha stepped into the room.
"your majesty." she greeted.
"aisha, my time is limited."
"i realise that. however, given how much my family have contributed to solaria over the years..."
there was a long wave of silence until the queen nodded her head.
"thank you. do you remember the first time you used magic? mine was not fun, but it was nothing compared to faye and bloom's. bloom set fire to her house. she got in a fight with her mum, and her magic went haywire. and faye, was in an abusive relationship her then dead mum brought her magic to her and most likely saved her life, i'd like to add that rosalind then brought faye's abuser back into the school and let him torment her." aisha took in a breath. "after my first time, i went home in tears. my mum got me a balloon. after bloom's first time she slept in a warehouse and faye had to hide away with her boyfriend so she could feel the slightest bit safe. they both didn't know what was happening to them but we take knowing who we already are for granted. that our fairy mothers will guide us. they have felt different their entire lives, they had no one to teach them."
"so bloom is an outsider with control issues and faye is a specialist turned fairy because her then-dead mother gave her magic to her?" the queen questioned.
"i'm still a specialist and my mum helped me when i was being abused." faye corrected the woman.
"given everything that has happened to them, they should be a mess, but they're not. i mean, faye died and came back to life, that alone would send anyone else into a spiral. bloom came to alfea with an open heart and open mind, and in spite of everything she's been through, she excelled. with her magic and with her friends. faye and bloom are true fairies a type we thought would never come back. faye and bloom lost control yesterday for one reason and one reason only." aisha stepped forward with the convergence crystal. "we were trying to help our friend musa get her magic back. these two girls are my best friends. they aren't dangerous, trust me. i am, if nothing else a very good judge of character." she finished, her voice always stood strong, faye hoped that the queen even listened to what she had to say.
"oh, are you dating grey owens?" queen luna asked, faye raised her eyebrows. "you say you're a good judge of character, but you spent the entire term dating a blood witch.
aisha scoffed in disbelief. "grey? no, that's a mistake."
queen luna looked at one of her guards.
"last night, grey had an odd run-in with a specialist. it caused enough concern that silva checked his records. they were forged." the guard told aisha.
"that's not possible."
"why because you know him?" luna asked. "like you know faye and bloom? or perhaps your judgment isn't as sound as you believe it to be? oh, and i wonder what your family might think of that. thank you, aisha." the queen dismissed the girl. "that will be all."
aisha stepped out of the room, faye's eyes were glued to the floor as she heard stella and bloom call out for her.
"you know, you can never truly know what's in someone's heart." queen luna said to the girls. "all you can do is judge them by their actions. so, any more special guests?" she asked. "long-winded speeches?"
faye pushed the bracelets into her skin, clenching her jaw tightly as she felt blood drip down her arms.
"please." stella quietly said to her mother. "please. faye and bloom are my friends."
"i realise that, and you have done an admirable job defending them, but... you were correct in your letter."
the three girls looked at each other in confusion.
"what letter?" faye asked.
"please don't." stella begged, anxiously looking at faye and bloom.
"what letter?" faye asked again, her voice growing concerned.
"stella wrote to me a few days ago asking to borrow the convergence crystal, and in her letter, she included a warning. about the both of you." queen luna picked up a piece of paper. "she is a ticking time bomb, but solaria is well positioned by my presence in her life. when they finally do explode, we should be able to use it to our advantage." she quoted from stella's letter. "you did write that?"
the light fairy looked at her friends briefly. "yes. yes, i did, but-"
"i think it's fair to say that they have exploded." the queen interrupted. "now, if there's nothing else-"
"may i say something?" bloom asked, streaks of tears down her face. the queen nodded. "stella is right in her assessment of what happened that night. it was self-defense. rosalind attacked us and we defended ourselves. she's also right in her letter. because of what happened next. during our standoff, personally, there was a moment when i could have let go and i didn't. something took over and i wanted to hurt her, i wanted to punish rosalind for killing miss dowling. and in that moment, i wanted her dead. the dragon flame just gave me the ability to make it happen." bloom finished, looking at faye.
"rosalind tormented me since the day she arrived. my father almost died, he acted in self-defense, just as bloom and i did. she let my abuser back into this school to hurt me, rosalind and i never got along, and i hated her. she killed the mother figure i had, dowling raised me along with my dad. while it happened i got my fairy wings, the power was basically pouring out of me and i could've stopped but... i didn't because all rosalind ever did to me was cause pain." faye told the queen as her and bloom stepped up to the desk
"we will accept the consequences of our actions." bloom said, her hand holding faye's tightly.
"and i appreciate your candor. however, it doesn't change the fact that you both are still a great threat to the realm." queen luna was silent for a moment. "my ruling to to place you both in stasis. to be re-evaluated after twenty years."
faye and bloom faltered.
"wait, what?" stella asked in shock.
"take them to the sanctum." queen luna asked the guards.
"no, mum. you cant." stella hit her hand on the desk.
"do not make this difficult."
"stell." faye managed to say. "tell my mum and dad i love them. tell riv i will always love him, please." she begged.
stella turned to the girls. "you don't have to."
"it's okay." bloom said softly.
"please tell them i love them." faye whispered.
faye and bloom followed the guards into a dark hallway.