"Well I'm surprised that they finished the village," Cotton said as they emerged from the tunnel into what looked like a tree top village. "I thought they would still be arguing."
"There was quite a bit of arguing until I pointed out that we needed shelter from various animals that could eat us," a female fairy said coming up to them. She had silver monarch wings and her silver hair was done up in a bun. Her eyes were gold and there was a lot of kindness in them.
"Did you tell them that we won't die even if we are eaten?" Pip asked standing up from where he was crouching.
"They don't like the thought of being eaten even though we would just regenerate from whatever is expelled," the new fairy said. "After I got them organized they decided that I should be queen."
"Well congratulations Mary," Cotton said with a genuine smile and putting Silva down.
"Thank you," Mary said smiling. "I see you found another fairy and a child one at that. What's your name sweetie?"
"Cotton named me Silva," Silva said.
"What was your name before the Event?" Mary asked looking a little concerned.
"Rick," Silva said with a little shrug. "Why do you ask?"
"We found one who doesn't remember their life before the Event nor does he have any knowledge of being a fairy," Mary said looking sad.
"Oh that's terrible," Cotton said looking horrified at the idea of basically being a clean slate.
"Yes but he's able to learn which is good," Mary said. Turning to Silva she smiled and said, "So you're one of those that changed sex as well." After a nod from Silva she continued, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll adjust. Be glad that you'll grow into an adult female fairy. Daisy was a guy before the Event too and she's been in hysterics about it all day. Didn't help that she laid an egg an hour ago."
"We lay eggs?" Silva asked looking at Cotton.
Cotton smiled and said, "The females do once a month. They can lay between one to three eggs at a time. I should go see if there's anything I can do to help comfort her."
"I don't know if anything will help except for time," Mary said sighing. "Though if you want to try you're more than welcome to. Now did you want Silva to be your daughter?"
"I was thinking that since she has the same coloration as you that she would be your daughter," Cotton said nodding.
Mary looked at Silva with a thoughtful look and asked, "Would you like to be my daughter?"
Silva looked from Mary to Cotton with a questioning look. After a nod from Cotton Silva turned back to Mary and said, "I'd like that very much."
Mary smiled and hugged Silva saying, "Thank you for being my daughter. You don't know how happy that makes me especially since I don't know what happened to my daughter from before the Event."
"Maybe she was changed into a fairy too and you just have to find her," Silva said trying to sound positive.
"Perhaps," Mary said smiling.
A male fairy with green hair and green dragonfly wings came flying up to them at that point. Once he landed he bowed and said, "The palace is finished your majesty."
"Palace?" Cotton asked with raised eyebrows.
"They insisted that as queen I should have a palace," Mary said with a little sigh. "Anyway Vinnie please take Cotton to see Daisy and after that make sure she sees Taylor to get measured for clothes."
"Are you making us wear clothes?" Cotton asked looking uncomfortable at the thought.
"I'm just trying to think ahead a little bit," Mary said holding up a hand. "We don't know what the weather is here so we may need them to keep warm. I know you've said that if it gets cold we'll probably go into some sort of hibernation but if we don't I'd like to be prepared."
"Well that does make sense," Cotton said nodding. "Guess I should go see Daisy now." She waved and followed Vinnie as they flew off.
Mary went behind Silva and said, "You need to learn how to fly. You have new muscles for your wings." She touched Silva's back and put a little pressure near where the wing joined the body. This caused Silva to flex the muscles associated with her wings. "Now there's a group of muscles there that will change the angle of your wings so you can hover, fly sideways, backwards, and of course forward. Now why don't you try it. Pip and I will hold your hands so you don't run into anything and break a wing."
Silva was a bit nervous but with them holding her hands she decided to try flying. She was glad that they were holding her hands since the first few times she would have slammed into the platform or a tree branch. After a little bit she thought she had the coordination she needed to fly without anyone holding her hand. "I'll stay with you just in case," Pip said with a smile.
"Thank you," Silva said relieved, "I don't want anything broken."
"Then it's times for you to tour the village," Mary said putting a hand on Silva's shoulder. "Try to go slow for me. I can only fly about 4 miles an hour where you can fly about 35 miles an hour."
"How fast you go depends on the angle of your wings between hovering and going forward," Pip said placing a hand on Silva's shoulder. "Now let's see how well you fly."
They started the tour with where they were, the tunnel platform where those that could create the tunnel did so for those that couldn't and needed to go a long distance. Then it was on to the baths, the dining platform, the nursery which was empty, the school which was also empty, and finally the palace which had it's own baths. Mary sighed and said, "I told them that I could bath with everyone else."
It was then that they heard something down on the ground. Peering through the leaves and branches they saw a strange creature. It had the head of a doe, the upper body of a woman, the body of a spider where her lower body would have been, and two tails one a scorpion and the other a snake. "That's the weirdest one I've seen so far," Mary said shaking her head. "I wonder if the halflings will take it in."
"What are halflings?" Silva asked looking in wonder at the creature.
"They're half human half something else," Mary said. "I overheard a group of them call themselves that when I transformed. I'm not sure what to call that creature though."
"I think the best name to call her is a chimera," Silva said.
"I think that's an appropriate name," Mary said nodding. "Hopefully she'll find a safe place before someone comes along and kills her."
Silva knew that the majority of humans would simply kill her on sight out of fear without finding out if she was dangerous or not. "Should we follow her?" she asked looking at Mary.