“What about this one?” A voice as sweet as honey booms from behind the fairy’s glass prison. The familiar shadow of a human peering into her enclosure shrouds the plain white walls in darkness. A set of hazel eyes peek over their owner’s glasses to examine her curled up in her usual spot in the corner.
The pet store employee doesn’t bother looking up from her phone, too occupied with texting whichever boy she’s fallen for this week to feign enthusiasm for her minimum wage job. “Oh her? That’s just Peachy. Don’t let the name fool you, she’s a real downer.”
Harsh, but true. It had been many months since the fairy had been taken off the street and brought to the pet store, and she’s done little but sulk in the corner of her little enclosure. The human must have thought they were doing her a kindness. Sure, it was hard being a stray fairy out in the big city, especially considering the one unnaturally small wing she’d been born with, but she had her freedom dammit! In here she’s trapped, bored, miserable.
The staff only serve to make things worse. Most of them are either high-school or college students looking for a little pocket money so they can go to the movies, buy some new clothes, or whatever else humans need money for. It was the only job they could find, something they’re all so fond of complaining about, so none of them have any real passion when it comes to taking care of pets. They’re uncaring, cold, and never really want to touch the gross little deformed bug thing. The most attention they ever give her comes when they set down a new plate of berries for her every morning. The name she’d been given is similarly condescending. “Peachy?” Sure, it must have been because her wings are a light shade of pink like a peach, but… really? Most stray fairies already have a name. They couldn’t have asked? Or at least took five seconds to look up even a basic fairy name?
The store itself isn’t great either. The enclosure the fairy’s trapped in is just a plastic box with barren white walls and a glass panel separating her from potential customers. All she gets is a little blanket to swaddle herself in when it’s time to sleep, her aforementioned plate of berries, and one of water. That’s it, nothing for enrichment, save for the occasional snake in the enclosure on the opposite side of the aisle, and all it does is glare at the fairy with hunger in its eyes.
And finally, there’s the people who would come looking to adopt. They all have the ideal fairy in mind: pretty, chipper, perfect, all traits this fairy doesn’t hold. With her shrunken wing and her depressing demeanor, it’s no wonder she’s been passed over time and time again. She hasn’t so much as been taken outside of her box to one of the petting rooms to see if a human likes her. This woman would be no different. Nobody wants damaged goods….
“I’ll take her!”
A sentence so shocking the fairy had to do a double take to make sure she was really it’s subject. Even the pet store employee had to look up from her phone to make sure she heard her correctly. “Um… are you sure? You don’t want, like, a better one?”
“I’m positive.” The woman looks determined, and the fairy can hardly believe her eyes and ears aren’t playing tricks on her.
The employee shrugs her shoulders and stuffs her phone back down her pocket. “Alright, whatever.” She grabs the key to the fairy’s prison and slides open the glass panel separating her from the outside world. Any amount of touch after months without it would have been uncomfortable to the fairy, but the employee was so rough with her it made the experience much worse. She didn’t have it in her to struggle as she was carried to the front register though, she wasn’t fed enough to have such strength.
She’s rung up at the register, plopped into a cardboard box that is somehow more cramped than her enclosure was, and unceremoniously forked over to her new owner. “Thank you for shopping with us,” the employee says apathetically.
“Um… don’t you think she should get something to lay on?,” The woman protests, “Like her little blanket? It can’t be comfortable for her to-”
“Thank you for shopping with us!!” the employee repeats in a more impatient and irritated tone. The woman takes the hint, grabs the box containing her new pet, and leaves the store.
She walks over to a nearby bus stop and takes a seat. There, she lays the box down on her lap and looks inside at her new fairy who is finally able to take a good look at who is now their new owner. Her wrinkles suggest she’s an older woman, yet her hair looks as blonde as a teenager’s. She gives off the distinct scent of honey, a soothing aroma for fairies, and one the fairy has sorely missed since coming to the pet store. Her smile is kind, like a mother’s. The fairy’s heart flutters as they come to realize how dearly they’ve missed such a smile.
“I’m sorry she was so nasty to you in there.” The woman’s honeyed words work to soothe the fairy’s visibly nervous disposition. She reaches into the breast pocket of her coat and pulls out a miniature set of winter clothes: a jacket, a hat, gloves, everything really. “You must be cold. I know it’s rather chilly today, but this should keep you warm until we make it back home,” she turns away “though I wonder if I should have picked a warmer day to do this…” She snaps out of her worried expression and her attention turns back to the fairy. “Oh! Sorry, lost in thought. Ah, I have something else for you as well!” She reaches back into her pocket and pulls out a little floral-patterned blanket and gently places it next to the fairy. “I really wish they would have let you keep your blanket. I’m sure you’re more attached to that one then you are a completely new one...” Her concern seems genuine, though she was wrong, of course. The fairy took no joy in any part of that horrid place. She hesitantly grabs onto the blanket and notices that it too is laced with the scent of honey. How did this human know to do that? How does she know to do any of the nice things she’s done thus far? Already this is a nice change of pace for the little fairy, however….
She isn’t given much time to think before the bus rolls in. “Ah, we can talk more when we get home. Just try to stay low for a little bit. Too many people are so needlessly cruel to fairies…” The fairy doesn’t need to be told this, her experience in the pet store was more than enough to grasp that concept. She tries to slip on her new clothes in the midst of the rumbling created by the human walking onto the bus. The human closes the flaps of the box to keep her new pet hidden. The bus ride is comparatively less quakey once the human sits down, though rather quiet confined in the box…
The fairy is left alone with her thoughts: where is she being taken? What’s going to happen when they get there? What does the human want with her, really? Humans are never as altruistic as they may seem at first, even the one that took her off the street and brought her to the pet store was probably just sick of seeing something so disgusting awkwardly floating around their city. This woman would be no different…. Although… she has already surprised her with her willingness to adopt a disabled fairy and the effort she’s clearly gone through to make her feel at ease; the perfume, the clothes, the blanket. The fairy finally picks up the blanket after a few minutes of sorting through her thoughts. She used to have one like this when she was a kid, a gift from her mother before she…. well…. It’s not the same one of course, the colors and flowers are different, but clutching it close to her chest feels… nice… the kind of nice she hasn’t felt in over a decade.
The bus finally stops and the rumbling from the human’s walking resumes, snapping the fairy out of her stupor. She hugs her little blanket tight as her owner makes her way up the stairs to her apartment, jostling her further. She hears the familiar sound of jingling keys as the human opens her door. Once inside, she finally reopens the box and looks inside. “There, home at last!” The fairy feels her box being placed down somewhere. “You can come out now, dear.” If only it were so simple… It had been months since she’d last used her wings and she fears she’s forgotten how to, and it would be rather difficult regardless, given her disability. She makes a rather pitiful attempt to fly out, but ultimately bumps into the side of the box, knocking it over.
“Oh dear!” the human gasps and bends down to the fairy’s level, “Are you alright, hun?” The fairy gives a halfhearted nod to assure her new owner. She’s not been here a minute, and already the human is giving her pet names… at least it’s better than “Peachy.” The woman holds out her hand. “Here, climb on. I’m sorry, I should have guessed you aren’t used to using your wings much anymore…” The fairy was hesitant at first, but left with very little options she crawls out of the box and onto her owner’s hand, humiliated by how weak she is…
The human cups her hands together and walks over to what looks to be a glass case. The fairy scoots back into the human’s palm, shaking as she’s reminded of the glass enclosure at the pet store, though this one looks… different. For starters it’s much larger, maybe ten times the length and width of her old prison cell. There’s no roof to it, likely so she can fly in and out at will, though it won’t be seeing much use for a while… It’s also covered in greenery; various shrubs, a field of colorful flowers, and even little trees creating a canopy in the middle. There’s also what looks to be a hand-crafted wooden shack along the edge closest to the door. It’s painted white with some yellow flower petals adorning its sides. A second one is on the opposite side separated by a dirt path, yet to be painted.
The human slowly lowers the fairy into the glass terrarium, letting her step off her hand. “This will be your home for now,” the human says, “I hope it’s to your liking! It took a while to get to where it is now. Why don’t you take a look around?”
The fairy doesn’t have long before a bright yellow blur zips towards her, catching her off guard and knocking her down. When it stops, the blur takes the shape of another fairy, with short blonde hair like the human’s and bright yellow wings. “Oh-em-gee!!! Another fairy!!!” She energetically examines every angle of the new fairy, zipping around her body with the same vigor she arrived with. “Look at your wings!!,” she shouts, giving particular attention to the small one, “This one’s so tiny and cute!!! I’m sooooo jealous!!!” Cute? This fairy finds her disability to be cute?
“Hey, be nice to her, Ina,” the human coos. “I understand that you’re excited about your new friend, but you need to give her some space to adjust.”
Ina’s eyes widen and shoot up at who must be her owner. “Wait, really!? You really got another fairy for me!? Niki, you’re the best!!” So this is why she was purchased; her pet wanted a friend… It’s… not nearly as bad as she feared. It’s almost… heartwarming…
“Ooh ooh!! There’s something you should see in here!! Come on!! You’ll love it!!” Before she has time to protest, Ina grabs the new fairy’s arm tight and drags her along to the center of the terrarium shrouded by trees. There the energetic fairy drops her victim, stands her up, and faces her towards the middle still clutching her arms. “Look!! Isn’t it pretty!?”
Pretty was an understatement. It was beautiful, both as an object and a gesture from a human, it nearly brought the fairy to tears. It was a small, pale, leafless sapling with its branches reaching toward the top of the canopy. Such a sapling is a relatively well-known myth among fairies, one that was first told to her by her mother in fact. It’s said to mark a spot that’s protected from evil, a sanctuary of sorts, and fairies would find safety and community around its roots. It was fake of course, no such sapling truly exists, but the fact that Niki put this here to make fairies feel safe shows a level of dedication the fairy never thought she’d see from a human…
She suddenly feels some gentle rubbing on her head and looks up to see a giant finger poking through the canopy petting her. “There there, It’s alright,” Niki’s soothing voice breaks through the canopy straight into the fairy’s heart, “it’s as I said, you’re safe here. You can rest easy now. Nobody will hurt you anymore, I promise.”
Collapsing to the ground as her weary knees give way to a flood of emotion, the fairy breaks down into tears, wailing as her heart aches. Safety, shelter, love, family… all things she’s been routinely denied only to have thrust upon her so suddenly. It feels wrong, like she’s conned her way into blessings she doesn’t deserve, and yet she can’t help but find herself overwhelmed by the many kindnesses Niki and Ina have given her in such a short time.
Ina bends down and rubs the fairy’s back to console her. “I get it, believe me. It was quite an adjustment for me too at first. But Niki’s right! You’re safe with us!” She wraps her arms around her new friend, holding her tightly to let her words sink in.
Through a flood of tears, the fairy manages to croak out “th-thank you!” A simple phrase, yet a difficult one. It had been so long since she’d used her voice…
“You're welcome, dear!” She can’t be seen behind the canopy, but Niki’s smile can be heard in her voice. “Oh, that reminds me, what is your name?”
Her name? Surely she can’t be asking for her fairy name. “Oh… it’s… Peachy…” She looks down with a morose look on her face.
“No silly, she means your real name, not whatever crap the pet store gave you!” Ina speaks though she’s familiar with such practices. “They called me ‘Sunshine’ or something. Like, is Inathyria so hard? Jeez!” The new fairy can’t help but smile, admittedly “Sunshine” isn’t such a bad name for Ina given her attitude, but that smile quickly fades as she realizes something terrible.
“I… I…” she holds back tears as she struggles to tell her new family that she no longer remembers her own name anymore.
“It’s all right, darling,” Niki’s voice once again soothing the fairy’s broken heart, “I understand, truly. I’ve read that this happens to many strays.” She wraps her hand around the two fairies, gently carries them both up to her face, and plants a honey-scented kiss on both of their heads. “We’ll do what we can to help you remember, alright?”
“Yeah!” shouts Ina, unintentionally right in the fairy’s ear, “And if you don’t, I can always give you a cute one myself!!” The fairy cracks a smile, one that cannot be broken by her traumatic past for once.
That night, the second shack was painted white, with peach colored flower petals adorning its sides, and the fairy once named “Peachy” has her first restful sleep in years.