The Big Day - chapter 1

It was a quiet morning at the ice castle on the beach. There was the rustling of waves outside and the fresh sea breeze of course, but there was nothing that seemed to suggest that there was anything major about to happen that day. That is, until the young fairy Diana Winston woke up from her slumber. She stretched her arms and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before hopping out of bed in order to also give her legs and wings a good stretch. She walked up to the mirror in her room and looked at herself. She was a pretty young fae alright. She had blonde hair like her mother Rachael yet also she had blue streaks in her hair and it was straight like her other mother Livia. Her eyes were the same colour light blue and her wings shimmered in the sunlight creeping into her room from the window as if made of ice. She wasn’t especially big compared to other normal people, but she did almost rival Rachael in height. Also, much like her fairy mother, she emitted a constant yellow-ish dim light.
   She did her usual morning routine. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair… until she remembered what day it was today. Today was the big day! She widened her eyes and and immediately started fluttering, comb still stuck somewhere within her hairdo but she was simply too excited to care by now. As her excitement increased, so did the brightnes of her light. After all, the light of a fae represents her mood. Excited and happy fae shine brightly while sad or angry fae barely shine at all. She opened the door and fluttered into the hallway. She wanted to go and wake up her younger sister Gina, but then she remembered that no, that wasn’t possible. Gina was with Rachael and both weren’t here today. Not yet at least. Instead, the young fairy zipped speedily through the icy hallways towards the bedroom of her mother, the ice queen of this castle, Livia. She eagerly banged on the door to see if she was awake yet.
   “Mooooooom,” Diana cried excitedly.
   “Ugh… coming…” came a bit of a grumpy voice from inside. It was only a few minutes later before Livia finally opened the door a notch and poked her head outside. Apparently she had quickly put on her morning gown but her icy-blue hair was still showing the signs that she only just came out of bed. The ice queen squinted her eyes, trying to shield it from the bright light that came from her daughter. It might be strange to some: an ice queen mothering a fairy, but she and Rachael had found a way to make it work. Diana could see a mixture of emotions on her face. First of all, she was grumpy for having been woken up like that so suddenly, but this was quickly replaced by a mix of anxiousness and happiness. She bit her lip at her daughter. “Today’s… the big day, huh?” she said nervously.
   Diana nodded. “Yes! Today’s the day!” she yelled again and started fluttering in circles. “I can’t wait till you two…” she started to say but she was interrupted by Livia.
   “I know… I know…” she said with a chuckle. “Let me just… get ready for breakfast first, alright?”
   Diana halted her circling and looked at her mother with a broad smile. “Alright, mom. I’ll get the plates ready!” she said and before Livia could say anything, the young fae was off again.
   “She’s beginning to act like her sister more and more lately…” Livia muttered to herself. It was true, ever since Rachael and her decided that today was going to be the day of their wedding, Diana had been a lot more excitable where she was normally the more timid one. She turned around and closed her door again. She then started to properly wake up and do her own morning routine. It was strange, having slept on her own again after such a long time of sharing her room with her fae, but this was a special occasion after all. She took off her robe and went to her own special shower where she turned on the ice cold water and letting it trickle down her blue body. She had no idea whether today was going to turn into the best day ever or one big disaster. Only time would tell. With an anxious sigh, she washed herself and hoped for the best.

Contrary to the ice castle, the grove in the woods was never quiet or dull. It was a secret grove, hidden from all other creatures that inhabited the woods around Sunnyglade and only fairies knew of its whereabouts and how to enter. Within the grove, there was a constant fluttering of wings and an immensely bright light coming from the countless of fairies that lived here. Some were as small as mice while others were as big as human children. The fairies though weren’t the only beings living here as there were also what seemed like hundreds of flowers growing all over the place, each one seeming a bit different from the rest. On the ground, on the central tree, on its branches, blue ones, yellow ones, red ones... it seemed like there were almost as many flowers as there were fae fluttering around. That was, of course, because of how a fairy is born. They get birthed from flowers and each flower then becomes a home to the fae it gave birth to. Sometimes, a flower can give birth to two fairies even, and some fairies get born in different ways which involves the mother becoming a kind of flower, albeit temporarily.
   Among these flowers was a big purple one, high sitting rather high on one of the branches of the ancient central tree. It was the birthing flower and home to the great fairy Rachael. She had long, curly blonde hair that she liked to adorn with different kinds of flowers, depending on what she felt like (which usually were orchids). Her brown eyes always seemed to be filled with wonder and a hint of mischief. Fairies were known for their mischievous behaviour from time to time after all.
   “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Rachael said to no-one in particular. She had been fluttering back and forth through the house that was her flower and it was obvious that she was incredibly anxious. Her usual bright, yellow aura was now constantly shifting from a very faint light to a much brighter one and back again. After all, today was a big and exciting yet scary day. “I can’t believe… what am I gonna… this is gonna be so…” she kept talking to herself like that, pretty much being unable to sit still. The fae was so occupied with her own thoughts that she did not even notice her youngest daughter Gina waking up from her slumber. Unlike her mother and sister, Gina had an ice blue aura of light and rather than the normal fairy dust coming from her wings, hers was a lot more like snow. Her flowing hair was a light blue colour and she was currently still much shorter than her sister. The young fae yawned as she woke up.
   “Mom?” she said, momentarily still disoriented on where she was and what time it was.
   Rachael didn’t react at first, still occupied with her thoughts but when Gina repeated herself she finally looked up to see her daughter, who had been sleeping in a hammock made of leaves, slowly get up. “Oh my, Gina! Good morning!” she said as she fluttered towards her with a broad smile. “Slept well?”
   Gina rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over her mother’s face. She was clearly still super distressed and nervous. “I did… but did you?” she asked.
   Rachael opened her mouth to say that yes, of course she did! But no… that wasn’t exactly true, was it. She fluttered off to her petal chair, sat down in it, slumped back and looked at the floor. “I don’t know what to do… I’m a nervous wreck… This won’t do at all… maybe we should just cancel the wedding?” she said while placing her hands in her hair.
   Gina then decided to flutter towards her  and stand in front of her. “Mommy, you’ve wanted this for so long!” she said while putting her hands on her hips in defiance.
   Rachael looked back up again at her daughter. “But… well just look at me, darling. I’m way too nervous to be doing this right now,” she said as her aura slowly diminished to a barely visible light.
   Gina sighed then before turning around and spreading her wings. “I’ll… be right back, okay?” she said.
Rachael tilted her head and wanted to ask where her daughter was going but before she could even muster a single word, her daughter had already zipped off again. “That kid,” she muttered to herself. She was getting way too fast and way too stubborn in her opinion right about now.