The sun was setting on Gaia as you and Tulipelle flew from the training grounds back to her home. You were beginning to get hungry again and at the same time you felt a bit of weakness inside you, even as you flew along.
"I'm getting really hungry," you said to Tulipelle as you flew beside her.
"I'm sure," Tulipelle answered, "This has been your first day of casting spells. Casting spells will always consume the levels of magic within us. Our bodies can naturally rebuild these levels over time... but that takes time, and at times can be a lot of time..."
"Hence why fairy food is grown with magic in it?" you asked.
"Hence why magic is used to help grow it," Tulipelle corrected you, "it lets us rebuild our strength quicker."
You nodded and followed along. You now had the feeling that you needed to recharge your batteries, as it were, and were looking forward getting some fairy food to do so. It also gave you some to think over a good many things as you flew along. You thought about how much your life had changed in the space of twenty four hours, which included just how much you had changed as well. You had once been a man, and now it was quite obvious that you were female. You had been single, about a month removed from the breakup with Sandra, and now you had a new girlfriend. And she wasn't just anyone, she was the fairy who had rescued you and treated you kindly with little need to beyond her "word." You knew that Sandra wouldn't have done that. You had gone from wanting to get closer to nature to being a fairy, who many of the more modern takes on the fey folk were considered protectors of the nature. You had gone from living life rather simply and and wanting to stay out of trouble to catching an insane wizard who was now dead. Many things had changed indeed.
"So, what is for dinner?" you asked.
"I was thinking some goldfish fillets," Tulipelle answered, "well cooked they're quite good and the goldfish that fairies farm are very rich in magic."
"Okay," you said slowly. You never imagined eating goldfish, but then you were a fairy now and were much smaller than you were as a human. Unless fairies had somehow shrunk bass, trout, or salmon, smaller fish would have to do. And goldfish were smaller fish. You essentially made the mental comment of "when in Rome" and flew along with Tulipelle. As the two of you returned to her home you found several boxes laying on the ground outside Tulipelle's door. They were wrapped up in a tough looking set of packing type paper with the name "Hydrangela's Floral Seams" written in calligraphy on the top of the box.
"My clothes!" you spoke, noticing the boxes.
You moved over to the boxes and lifted them up. You gave a slight smile as you turned back to look to Tulipelle who gave you a slight smile.
"Why don't you set placing your clothes in the closet in the bedroom," Tulipelle smiled, "I'll work on dinner."
"But how will you know which clothes are mine and which are yours?" you asked.
"I have room in my closet, and if you keep all your stuff together we shouldn't have a problem," Tulipelle replied, "With some things we may need a new dresser... but that'll be a mission for another day."
You nodded and followed Tulipelle in. Once inside you headed straight for the bedroom with the boxes. Tulipelle went on into the kitchen. You arrived in the bedroom and set to work with what was needed to be done regarding setting your clothes. Tulipelle had a lone walk-in closet along wall that you found covered by a sheet that seemed to be made from various flower petals that had been put together as if they were a multicolored sheet. You then set about taking some spare hangers to hang your new attire in a section of the closet. It didn't take too long, but there were still some pieces that weren't clothing that could be hung up on hangers, and you checked Tulipelle's dresser, and found that it was pretty much full. You laid the clothing that you couldn't hang on a hanger in one of the boxes and then set the box by Tulipelle's dresser. You enjoyed the work, but your mind drifted to what Captain CometDust had told you to be wary of... some strange fairy that had murdered Jovek for reasons that couldn't be known.
I struck you very much as a sort of 007 type event, but you'd never figured that fairies had anything like that, which then made you nervous. There seemed to be a lot of promise when you'd first become a fairy and when the Queen accepted you and didn't punish Tulipelle for your mistake. But now you'd been involved in stopping a crazy wizard who had wanted use chaos magic to become the king of both worlds and then he was murdered by a fairy that no one seemed to know. Things seemed far more dangerous than you'd pictured. That made you nervous, and these thoughts were on your mind as you then made your way to the kitchen. There, the smells of food took your mind off of your worries for the moment.
"Something smells good," you commented.
"And I hope you'll like how it tastes," Tulipelle smiled, "How did sorting out your clothes go?"
"They look well," you answered, "though we will need to get a new dresser..."
Tulipelle nodded, "That's something we can do tomorrow."
Tulipelle then set to getting dinner ready, and in practically no time she was bringing two plates of fish fillets with rice. It all smelled wonderful.
"It's not much... but I hope you like it, Irisette," Tulipelle told you.
"We don't need to do anything fancy for dinner," you answered, "besides with some of the stuff going on... I'm not sure I'd be in the mood for anything big like that..."
"Jovek's death?" Tulipelle sighed, "Yes... that... that is a problem. The wizard may have been crazy, but we fairies don't believe in capital punishment. If we have to kill in battle with some bad force that's one thing... but once a prisoner is powerless... we don't kill people."
"What about these dark fairies that Captain CometDust mentioned?" you asked, "are they enemies?"
"They can be... dark fairies... and our squabbles with them... is part of our history, usually relating to how see magic's use," Tulipelle said with a sigh, "and it has shaped our history and culture."
"Do you think this dark fairy might come after us, for revenge or something?" you asked.
"I don't know," Tulipelle spoke and was then quick to assure you, "but don't worry. I'll help you come to grips with your magic... and you made good progress today... and once you're ready... we can take the next step..."
"Next step..." you said slowly.
"To become enchantresses," Tulipelle took your hand, "the Queen's most valued advisers on magic..."
"Oh..." you answered.
"As once that happens, whatever threat this dark fairy may pose will be lesser..." Tulipelle finished, "at least for you and me."