You and Tulipelle flew quietly from the cave where the portal to Earth was and back toward her own home. Neither of you knew what was going on in the Queen's dungeon, but Tulipelle had assured you that no ability to use his magic anymore, Jovek's threat was practically non-existent. For the moment, it meant that you could get to learning the fairy magic that was now very much a part of you. You and Tulipelle also expected the delivery of your new wardrobe to her home. It included a few dresses that were fairly similar to what you wore now, some sleepwear, one of which looked rather similar to the practically see-through one that Tulipelle had let you borrow the previous night, one set of swimwear, one formal dress, and a couple of items that would be close to what you'd normally wear if you were still male and human. Some of that were things that Tulipelle and the seamstress were surprised by, but you were still adapting to being female... being a fairy. You could accepting that you'd have to change things in your life as a fairy, but that didn't mean you wanted to not be yourself.
"Well... that was all quite an adventure," you said to Tulipelle as the two of you came in for a landing outside her front door.
"Yes," Tulipelle nodded, "and now, we'll have time to let you learn your magic..."
"And fairy history..." you commented, "If this is to be my home now, I don't want to be totally ignorant..."
"You won't be," Tulipelle assured you, "but let's get some lunch first and wait for your clothes to arrive."
Tulipelle smiled as she finished her comment and opened her door, and you followed her in. You casually thought over all the drama that had gone through your life in the past twenty four hours. You'd moved to a new home to be closer to nature, and on a hike you fell in a cave and fell through a weakened barrier between two worlds. Tulipelle found you and healed you and promised to help you, first to get home, and then to adapt to being a fairy after mistakenly eating fairy food. Then you became involved in investigating the weaknesses in the barriers that lead to you falling into Gaia in the first place, which then lead to the brief reunion with Sandra and defeating Jovek. Getting some time to learn and adapt would be needed.
The two of you walked through Tulipelle's home until you arrived in her kitchen and eating area, the very area where you first became a fairy.
"So, what do you want for lunch?" Tulipelle asked.
"Can I have a sandwich?" you asked, "or do fairies not grow things like wheat?"
"We have bread," Tulipelle gave a giggle, "there are a lot of foods that are different from what you'd eat on Earth... but not that different... and key different is in the magic that is inherent to our food..."
You looked over your shoulder to the blue wings that were on your back.
"Like what gave me my wings," you finished.
Tulipelle nodded and the two of you were soon at it making sandwiches. Your sandwich amounted to a BLT, though you had to cut down the lettuce so that it would fit on the bread, which looked like any common slice of white bread but was scaled down to fairy size. Once the two of you had your sandwiches ready, you sat down and began to work out what you were going to do for the rest of the day.
"So, which would you want to start with first, Irisette?" Tulipelle asked, "I know a field here in Gaia that is calm and peaceful and you can get a start on your magic, or I can show you around and tell you what I know about fairy history... both for our race as a whole and the history of Queen Rafflesianna's queendom... or we could simply go out and find something to do that would allow you to relax and adapt..."
You finished chewing the bite of your sandwich that you had taken and swallowed before trying to speak. Though, the ringing of Tulipelle's bluebells soon interrupted you. Someone was at the door.
"Is that my clothes?" you wondered as you turned toward the ringing in your chair.
"It could be," Tulipelle commented, "but she'd be rather early..."
The two of you walked back to the front door and found that it was not the seamstress, but Captain CometDust. She looked frustrated to a degree, though about something that neither you nor Tulipelle could figure out.
"Captain CometDust..." Tulipelle gave gasp, "we didn't expect you... we were just having lunch."
"I'm sorry to intrude on your lunch, but something has happened, and the Queen has all the guards available to spread the news through the queedom," Captain CometDust spoke, "Do you remember the wizard you and your friend captured?"
"That crazy wizard?" you asked, "You all too him to the dungeon, didn't you?"
"We did," Captain CometDust answered, "but shortly after you two left to escort your witch friend back to the portal to Earth... one of my guards found him dead in his cell..."
"Dead!" both you and Tulipelle said in shock and surprise, Tulipelle accidentally hitting one of your shoulders when she flared her wings.
"Yes," Captain CometDust answered, "He had a jar with him that filled with a red liquid in it... magically enhanced Deadly Nightshade... making it even more deadly."
"Captain... I know that Jovek was a jerk and a threat to both worlds... but we had beaten him and Sandra made it impossible for him to use his magic," Tulipelle spoke, "I watched her cast her spell... it was a human spell, but one that is used to strip magic users of their powers... and only works when the target can't resist, which Jovek couldn't at the time... it left him pretty much helpless... who would go so far as to strike and kill someone who was no longer a real threat?"
"A part of me would like to say a human..." Captain CometDust spoke, "as you've even presented on your study of humans... both on Gaia and on Earth... that their concepts of justice are different from ours... but...the only human in the queendom was your witch friend and she was with you when the act occurred. So we really don't know who did this or why..."
"But, if a human didn't do this... wouldn't that mean...?" you began to ask.
"That a fairy killed him?" Captain CometDust asked, "Yes. That is our most likely culprit, and I wouldn't put it past Dark Fairies... to do so. But we've seen no one go in or out, so we can't really say who did it."
You traded glances to Tulipelle. Captain CometDust sighed and then continued.
"But what is the most frustrating in this is that it confirms some of our suspicions about Jovek," Captain CometDust continued, "He had partner that was helping him... and I'd bet it was his partner that killed him, in order to hide the partner's identity..."
"You mean Jovek wasn't the 'big bad'?" you asked.
Captain CometDust raised an eyebrow in confusion to you, "big bad?"
"Sorry... a human reference I may not ever get away from... big bad comes from an TV show following a group of teenagers slaying supernatural monsters out to eat people," you explained, "the main villain in each season was referred to as the 'big bad.' Sort of a plot device to make the final battle with that villain to be bigger and dramatic when it happened."
"Well... we can't really tell if Jovek was the 'big bad' in the partnership," Captain CometDust answered, "As he's dead and can't answer any questions... but the fact that he is dead demonstrates that he likely had a fairy partner that didn't want Jovek revealing her involvement..."
That actually reminded you of something Sandra said.
"Sandra said something of her coven tracking something on Earth as well..." you said slowly, "Maybe that was Jovek's partner..."
"Maybe," Captain CometDust answered, "for the moment, though, we urge you both to be careful and to be alert. If either of you see anything that doesn't fit... get a report to me and the guards will deal with it. The Queen will be most displeased if two of her future enchantresses are killed by some Dark Fairy."
"We'll be careful," Tulipelle promised.