Prologue – Leaving Pixie Hollow – Part 1

Prologue – Leaving Pixie Hollow

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Part 1: The Summons

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“How can they just kick a fairy out of Pixie Hollow?!?”

Marigold Sunjewel nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard shouting coming from her flower house’s doorway. It was late at night, and she had been lost in thought, slumped back against her petal couch, holding an official-looking leaf letter she had read and re-read at least a hundred times that day.

“I flew straight here as soon as I heard!” Sapphire Iceflame cried, flying over to Marigold and hugging her tightly. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you all week!”

Sapphire was an energetic water-talent fairy who arrived in Pixie Hollow just a few days after Marigold. Even though they had different talents and different mentors, they crossed paths frequently – as most new arrivals do – and quickly became friends after helping each other navigate Pixie Hollow to complete tasks to earn badges.

“How did you find out?” asked Marigold as Sapphire sat beside her. “I haven’t told anyone.”

“Oh! I…umm…,” Sapphire stammered, her cheeks flushed a bright, rosy pink.

Sapphire seemed to have a knack for always being in the right place at the right time for overhearing private conversations. Even with her long mane of red hair and bright blue clothes, pixies oddly never seemed to notice her fluttering nearby as they shared secrets with one another.

“My mentor Silvermist asked if I would help gather spider silk to decorate the Ballroom for the Spring Clover Celebration,” explained Sapphire. “And while I was decorating in the alcoves, two royal messengers flew into the Ballroom – one sparrow man and one fairy. I guess they didn’t see me, because they started talking in hushed voices right next to where I was decorating.

“I was gonna leave, but Silvermist and the others had left, so I was by myself finishing up. I didn’t know if I was technically allowed to be in there without Silvermist, especially with it being so late, and I didn’t want to get in trouble, so I hid myself the best I could and-”

“What did they say, S’phire?” Marigold interrupted.

“Right – sorry!” Sapphire blushed again. “I heard the fairy ask the sparrow man, ‘So what was so important that you had to deliver today?’

“Then the sparrow man said, ‘It was a summons – direct from the Queen.’

“Then the fairy asked, ‘A summons? Really? I’ve never delivered one of those! Was it the good kind or the bad kind?’

“And he said, ‘Definitely the bad kind. A fairy’s gettin’ the boot.’

“Then she whisper-yelled, ‘What?!? The Queen’s actually kicking a fairy out of Pixie Hollow? Oh, my – she must have done something awful! Who was it?’

“‘That’s the most shockin’ part,’ the sparrow man said. ‘It’s a garden-talent. Seemed real nice. Just arrived last month. Her name’s Marigold Sunjewel.’

“And, of course, I gasped when I heard your name,” Sapphire said, clearly irritated with herself for blowing her cover. “They flew out in a hurry, but I was afraid to leave too quickly in case they were waiting right outside the door, so I waited a few moments, then peeked out. Havendish was swarming with pixies hanging out and prepping for the celebration, so I was able to sneak out without anyone noticing, and then I flew straight here.”

Marigold then saw Sapphire’s evergreen-colored eyes shift to the leaf letter in her hand.

“Is that the summons?” Sapphire asked, pointing.

“Yep. Here, take a look,” Marigold said, handing it to Sapphire.

Sapphire gingerly took the letter from Marigold, as if it might be poisoned, and softly read it aloud.

Marigold Sunjewel, Garden-Talent, currently of 4014 Upper Crystal Glade:

Her royal majesty, Queen Clarion, has issued a summons for your presence at the Pixie Dust Tree Royal Conference Room at first light tomorrow. The Queen wishes to discuss your recent actions and what your future holds in Never Land.

Queen Clarion asks that you pack up any belongings you wish to keep and to bring them with you for assessment.

Sincerely,

Quilla Daisydust
Royal Transcriber
Never Council

p.s. Should you choose not to attend, royal guards will be sent to escort you to this mandatory meeting.

Sapphire suddenly became very serious and asked Marigold in a whisper, “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Marigold sighed and flopped back against her couch.

“I understand…you don’t want to talk about it…but I promise I won’t tell anyone if-”

“You don’t understand, S’phire,” Marigold interrupted. “I’ve done nothing! I got so angry about all the rules, the whole Member versus Community Fairy thing, my life in Pixie Hollow…I decided to do nothing and stay in my house so I didn’t have to answer to anyone anymore…”

“Oh, Marigold,” Sapphire said sadly, “I had no idea! Did you tell anyone how upset you were?”

“Yes – which is exactly why I got summoned.”

“What do you mean?” Sapphire seemed very confused. “I don’t understand why they would kick you out for just staying at home.”

“Well…I guess there’s a little more to the story,” Marigold said, as if suddenly remembering. “I was complaining a lot to my mentor Rosetta and other pixies I was around, and word was spreading that I thought certain rules of the Hollow were stupid and unfair.

“The thing is, several other pixies were agreeing with me! They started questioning the rules with their mentors, the Never Council was getting flooded with complaints, and I was labeled a troublemaker,” said Marigold, rolling her eyes. “I noticed I was suddenly being given tasks where I was by myself a lot, so word obviously had gotten to the rule-maker herself.”

“Queen Clarion,” whispered Sapphire.

“Exactly,” replied Marigold, sighing again.

“I’m so sorry, Marigold,” Sapphire said, tears filling her eyes. “Is there anything I can do? Maybe I could hide you somewhere! There are tons of hiding places in the Wilderness-”

“Only Members can enter the Wilderness, remember?!?” Marigold snapped, suddenly angry. “Strong magic keeps the community pixies like me from entering the Member-only locations, so unless you know how to break the spell, there’s nowhere for me to hide!”

Sapphire looked startled. She had never seen Marigold so upset.

“I don’t want to stay here anyway!” yelled Marigold, throwing her summons letter across the room. “I want to leave Pixie Hollow!”

“You can’t mean that!” Sapphire cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Marigold felt really bad for making her friend cry, but Sapphire just didn’t understand. She couldn’t. Sapphire had been a Member since day 1, so she had no idea what it was like being a community fairy.

“I’m so sorry for yelling at you, S’phire. Please don’t cry,” Marigold said, giving her a quick hug. “But I can’t change the way I feel. I want to stop pretending like I’m happy and like nothing is wrong.”

Sapphire nodded in understanding and took a few moments to calm herself down.

“Do you think you’ll ever come back to Pixie Hollow?” Sapphire asked, sniffing and wiping tear stains off her face.

“I don’t know…” replied Marigold, deep in thought. “I’d like to think that I’ll return one day…but I don’t know what Queen Clarion has in mind.”

“I don’t think she’ll banish you for life or anything,” said Sapphire, hopefully. “She seems too kind to do that.”

The friends then chatted for a while about their arrival days, how they first met, and their favorite lessons from their mentors when Sapphire suddenly gasped and became really excited.

“I just learned something totally insane from Silvermist this week!” Sapphire exclaimed. “Do you have any water handy?”

Marigold nodded and flew over to get her watering can.

Sapphire then pulled out her pouch of pixie dust and spider’s silk and said, “I think I have just enough!”

She poured water into the palm of her hand and flicked a little pixie dust on top. To Marigold’s amazement, Sapphire began to mold the water as if it were clay!

“This will be a one of a kind – to you from me,” Sapphire said after a few minutes of perfecting what she was creating and weaving a strand of spider’s silk through it. She then held it up for Marigold to see.

It was the most incredible necklace Marigold had ever seen. A single strand of spider’s silk held a water-created flower pendant with petals shaped like raindrops.

“It won’t last forever,” Sapphire warned, “but it should at least last through tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much, S’phire!” Marigold said, holding up her crazy-long dark blonde hair as Sapphire tied it around her neck. “It’s the most amazing gift ever!”

“Call it a good luck charm,” suggested Sapphire with a bright smile.

It was getting really late and they both knew that Sapphire needed to head home.

“Marigold, I know in my heart that you’ll come back to the Hollow,” Sapphire said as she was leaving. “Can you promise me something?”

“Sure, S’phire. What?”

“When you do return, I want you to come find me first,” smiled Sapphire. “I don’t want to get the news from someone else.”

Marigold laughed and said, “Okay, I’ll keep that promise if you’ll promise me something in return.”

“To stop eavesdropping?” Sapphire guessed with a smirk.

“No…well, maybe that too,” Marigold said with a wink. “Seriously, though, I want you to promise me that you’ll try to help the Community Pixies whenever you can – especially the New Arrivals.”

Sapphire replied, “I will, Marigold! I promise!”

The two hugged one last time and Sapphire flew away slowly, not wanting to leave but knowing she couldn’t stay.

Marigold started packing a small satchel of some of her favorite and essential items from around her home. She had no idea where she would be going, but she wanted to be prepared.

When she came across her leaf journal, Marigold took several minutes to look through it – to remember all the badges she had earned and items she had collected.

She thought about trying to get a few hours of sleep before needing to head off to the Pixie Dust Tree, but it was already into the wee hours of the morning, and she was too nervous to sleep anyway.

I’ll take one last flight around Pixie Hollow she thought as she tied her pouches and satchel to her rose-pink belt. Marigold wanted to remember Pixie Hollow as a beautiful, peaceful, and calm place.

She was just about to leave when she hesitated in her doorway and turned back to look at her home. She had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she would never see it again.

“Goodbye,” she whispered and then flew off into the night.

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Author’s Notes:

I decided to include a prologue before the Maritales so readers could have some background information on why I left Pixie Hollow. Part 2 will be published next, and Part 3 will follow before the Maritales are revealed  😀

Now you all know how I met my good friend Sapphire Iceflame! She used to be a guest author on my blog with a section called “Sapphire’s Secrets”  🙂

Here is a screenshot of what the Ballroom looked like in March 2010 when Sapphire was helping decorate for the Spring Clover Celebration:

Also, here are pictures of what Sapphire and I looked like back then:

So what do you think of the story so far? Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I’d love to hear from you  😀

Thanks for reading,
♥ Marigold