Page 39 of Chased By the Fairy

What brought the beauty was all the jewellery, gems, and coins that lay about. Some buildings even used coins as doors.

They seemed unafraid of fire as it dimly lit the way. An area had caved in, and they used a long green glass wine bottle as a bridge.

Cindy had introduced Sorrel to so many people that he had a difficult time remembering their names, but they had all been friendly and welcoming. Well, mostly. Some had come across as darker and more frightening, but they had been in the background, as if Cindy knew not to introduce him to them.

The rat sprite – with a black eyepatch, crinkled whiskers, and two broken yellow front teeth – had sneered and hissed with hostility. He had no doubt that under the sprite’s ripped trench coat, he’d been carrying some kind of weapon.

He also wasn’t a fan of the many armed rat sprites he’d seen, who acted as soldiers to keep out any non-burrowing sprites.

Sorrel figured everywhere had good and bad people.

Currently, he was helping Cindy and her sisters make a stew for a celebration that was happening within the city part of the burrow. The mayor was holding a celebration in the hope of being re-elected.

As far as Sorrel was aware, though, everyone was already in favour of her. The male mole sprite she was running against was apparently some old, narrow-minded fool that no one trusted.

Cindy had asked Sorrel to help make the stew and, of course, he’d leapt at the opportunity to return her kindness. They were planning to bring the large pot they’d made to the centre, and it would go to feeding anyone who presented a bowl. Everyone within the burrow network was bringing food for the celebration.

The short mouse sprites gossiped as they moved. Two were stirring along with him, trying to entice him into joining their conversations. He didn’t know the people they were speaking of, except for Miss Mole, so he kept his lips closed.

Another two, along with Cindy, were cutting up all the ingredients to go inside the bubbling liquid. Everyone chatted quickly, sometimes making it hard to follow even though they didn’t seem to have any issues following conversations they seemingly weren’t a part of.

They would gasp, giggle, and shout at each other.

Sorrel smiled to himself.It’s chaos in here.But it was filled with sisterly love. It didn’t matter to him that he wasn’t joining in. Just witnessing it soothed his soul.

A knock at the door made all their heads turn.

Cindy, with her brown dress and strange little round straw hat, rushed to the door to open it, her furless tail dragging along the ground.

Like he’d conjured her with his thoughts, Cindy gave a bright smile and said, “Miss Mole, what are you doing here?”

“Hello, Cindy.” She smiled before looking over her to see inside her little cottage-like home made of dirt and rugs. Cindy’s sisters giggled when Miss Mole’s eyes landed on him. He doubted she could see him, though; she was pretty near-sighted. “I just came to see how you were all doing. The celebration is about to start.”

Her pink tendril nose twitched in his direction.

Like most in the burrow, she was furry. However, since she was a sprite from a bigger animal, she was taller than most. Most called her beautiful, but he just wasn’t attracted to any of the sprites he’d ever met.

Sorrel wondered if that was because his heart already belonged to someone else, or if that was just the way he was.

They were strange and nice in their own way, but it was hard to see beauty in someone when his eyes were desperate to drink in the sight of someone else.

He’d once spoken to Cindy about his feelings, but she’d dismissed him straight away. She didn’t like talking of flower fairies. She blamed them for the shortage of food they were currently dealing with.

Miss Mole was trying her hardest to feed everyone so that no one went without, which was another reason she was apparently holding this celebration. Winter was coming to an end, and the food was low. She wanted to give morale to all.

“We were just about to bring it out!” Cindy exclaimed. “Give us a short while to finish up, and we’ll be there.”

“Of course. I didn’t mean to rush you.” Her squinted eyes, like she was trying to see with her terrible vision, lingered on Sorrel before she left. “I’ll see you all soon.”

“I think she likes you, Sorrel,” one of the sisters said with a laugh.

His face instantly reddened. He said nothing, as he was fearing the very possibility.

Miss Mole had spoken to him many times, and over the course of winter, had been stepping closer and closer to him. He just hoped she was being overly friendly, especially since she’d touched his face a few times, or twirled her clawed fingers through the length of his hair.

“I heard she is looking for a husband,” another said, waving her hand back and forth with excitement. “She’s the richest person in the burrow and she has so much power. Any man should be honoured to be by her side.”

“Sorrel, you would find nobody better than her.” One of the sisters cupped her hands to just underneath her jaw, the ladle she was using sticking up past her head as she sighed. “I can’twait to get married. I hope they are as confident and stable as her.”

---