After Tulipelle and you dressed in the more classy dresses she was able to find, you're both escorted to the Queen's palace by two fairy guards.
Their presence was making Tulipelle nervous. When you asked her about it, she said "Look at their uniforms. They're not your usual guards." Your only reaction being to raise an eyebrow, she added "They are members of the Queen's Personal Security!" After that, you too were nervous. (You were escorted by the queen's bodyguards! Who wouldn't be nervous?)
Strangely, you didn't enter the castle by the front door, and you didn't see anyfairy that wasn't either an armored guard or a palace servant in what you guessed was a maid uniform.
The throne-room luxurious double-doors opened, letting you in the most sacred place to all fairies. The Queen was there, sitting on her gold-looking flower-armchair. She looked terribly sick, on the verge of collapsing, even. Still, not wanting to look disrespectful, you bowed all the same. Tulipelle didn't. Instead, she ran to her ruler, crying "MY QUEEN!" before taking the royal fairy in her arms.
Visibly, hugging the queen was perfectly acceptable in fairy society. Otherwise, someone would have stopped your friend. Or maybe not, since the first words of the queen, still in Tulipelle's embrace, were "Calm down daughter, everything will be fine…"
"WHAT?!?" At first, it was all you were able to say, or even think. "Tulipelle, why… Why didn't you said you were the fairy princess?" You also wondered why she lived in a modest apartment and not in the palace with her mother. (Fairy custom, maybe?)
Your question made Tulipelle blush profusely, and the queen roared with laughter, making her looking a bit better for some times. "It's quite obvious you're not a fairy since long, miss MoonGlow. You don't know much about fairy cultures."
"S… Sorry my Queen!" You then blurted.
"Don't be." The Queen gently responded. "Your lack of knowledge isn't your fault, and nothing we can't correct."
Taking on a lecturing tone, she explained "Most queens aren't related to the previous one. In fact, in all our history, only one queen choose a successor in her family. This, and the fact all of us are females, resulted in our culture tying a different meaning than humans does, to the tittle of princess." You were starting to understand why Tulipelle become so red when you called her 'princess', but her mother still confirmed. "By calling Tulipelle SilverDust a princess, you accidentally claimed us to be concubines."
You were so ashamed by your misstep it was your turn to disguise your face as a tomato.
Taking advantage of your dumbstruck silence, the royal fairy whispered something to her child, before addressing you again. "I must say, you choose your time to fall on Gaïa very well, Irisette MoonGlow. The timing can't be better! We got a task of great importance, for you. And don't stay so faraway! Come here with us."
After you came, some of the Queen's personal guards place two chairs in front of their charge, before prompting you to sit on it.
"Now, before speaking about the mission itself, I need to explain our current circumstances. In case Tulipelle didn't said it, our two worlds, Earth and Gaïa, are linked. They are like a reflexion of each others, or the two side of a coin. But recently, the link is thinning. If nothing is done about that, the connection with Earth might break, taking both worlds with it. Our only way is to establish exchanges with humanity in a durable and, if possible, friendly way."
"So, you need me to become some sort of ambassador?" You asked.
"Not exactly. You must understand that fairies aren't the only inhabitants of Gaïa that want to save their world, and they aren't all ready to give humanity a second chance. Most are still resentful for your forefathers' cruelty against them. They will either forcefully convert them, enslave them, or exterminate all of them. No, I have something else in mind…You see, I'm dieing. And I want you to be my successor, to accept the duties and honors of the queen."
Tulipelle was speechless. You? Almost. "Bu… But your highness, I can't be the queen! I don't know anything about being a fairy! How can I hope to be a good queen?"
"That's the good part. Every queen, upon ascending to the throne, inherit the knowledge and memories of every previous queens. Don't worry, you will not loose any of your own knowledge or memories, and it's not going to alter your personality." The queen seemed to be impatient you accept, seemingly not envisaging you might decline.
"Can you promise he will stay himself, my Queen?" Fearfully asked Tulipelle, not realizing she used males pronouns about you.
But the queen seemed to take note of it. "Between switching to testosterone to estrogen, and the effect of her fairy physiology on her human mind, I doubt she still got much of 'himself' in her. I'm sorry to say it, miss MoonGlow, but your old self is technically dead. You're only a similarly minded fairy that got all of it's memory. The best for you is to think of them as memories from an other life."
At your surprise, what the queen said didn't sadden you that much. In fact, it even helped you understand how you felt about your current situation. You realized you weren't feeling like you were transformed. No, it was more like you were reborn as a fairy.
… And that made you feel happy.
"But before you give me your answer," added your queen "you must promise me you will always act in fairies best interests, even if that means going against humans ones."