Beyond the Firefly Field (8 page)

“There's fairy magic?” Paul asked as SeeLee rolled her eyes at Clayton.

“I'll ride a squirrel!” Penny said with enthusiasm, pushing Clayton's arm out of her way.

“There's no fairy magic, and we have other things to do first. I want you to meet some of my friends,” SeeLee said as she landed on the branch. She started walking along its length again, and as the others followed, she abruptly turned back. She leaned into the group as if to share a secret.

“Watch out for the helper fairies,” she whispered. “They'll ask if you need help with anything. They always want to help everybody do everything, but they're horrible fumblers. They do everything wrong, or exactly the opposite of what you want done. They break, drop, or trip over things, all the while they think they are happily helping.

“We usually send them to someone who might need help with something. Then
they
send them to someone else, who sends them to someone else. By the end of the day, the helper fairies are happily tired, as if they helped everybody with everything all day long. So, if they ask if you need help with something, just say no, or send them to me.” With that, she turned and resumed walking along the branch.

“Are you messing with us again?” Penny inquired, ready with another slap if necessary.

“Not this time.”

“How can we tell if you're kidding or not?” Clayton demanded.

“You can't, but as long as I can tell, you'll be okay,” SeeLee laughed.

As they followed SeeLee down the branch, it seemed to grow larger with every step they took toward the trunk. They were beginning to feel more secure with the extra room, and SeeLee's warning faded from their minds as they looked around.

Ahead of them, hundreds of fairies bustled about, their ages ranging from small children to middle-aged adults. They all looked like SeeLee, her father, and her brother. The fairies appeared busy with various tasks, and a happy sense of excitement spread among them. Some fairies were taking or giving things to beetles walking along the branches. Some fairies hung decorations on the tree, while others were just sitting or standing talking with friends. The younger fairies played chasing games, running under, over, or around the others. Even the air became crowded with fireflies, moths, fairies, and the ever-present sparkles falling from their wings.

Occasionally, fairies flew to other branches with their arms full of treasures, artfully dodging everything in their path. The kids watched the many fairy-wing fantasies until they were no longer able to safely walk along the branch. It was too much to take in all at once.

They came to a smaller branch protruding from the branch they were on. It curved over them at twice their height and supported a tiny swing. A split twig—with twine fastened to each end—secured the swing to the branch above and swayed gently in the soft breeze. Penny gave it a light, longing push on her way by.

As the branch widened to allow five or six to walk abreast, the group passed a rocking chair sitting on a raised, round lump in the branch. The rocking chair was also made of twigs twined together. A large leaf canopy was attached to the back of the chair. Acting like a sail, the leaf caught the gentle breeze and rocked the chair, which slowly circled on a track the chair's rockers had worn around the lump. No one was sitting in the chair, but it rocked happily anyway.

Soon they arrived at a spot where another branch joined theirs to become a much larger limb. Near this spot, a smaller branch jutted from the one they'd been exploring. There, a tiny door in a knothole boasted large, carved hinges, and a rose was etched into the center. Above the rose was a window from which a light shined.

As Penny was about to ask what was inside, they encountered a group of fairies. Three girls and one boy, all looking to be about SeeLee's age, happily greeted them. The quartet appeared to be the good friends SeeLee had wanted them to meet.

SeeLee introduced the humans to AnDrin, MarLan, LeeLan, and NarVan. The girl fairies were dressed in SeeLee's style, but with different color schemes and designs. NarVan's clothes were like ArEnTa's, featuring straight-line designs. They all had golden or bright-yellow hair as long as SeeLee's, and wings that folded and flowed far past their hair. All had thin bodies and young, innocent, but inquisitive faces.

Two of those faces were identical and seemed especially interested in Phil and Paul, whose faces looked “identically interested” right back at them. After an initial moment of silence on both sides, SeeLee's friends had many questions to ask the children.

They asked questions about their human clothes and wanted to know about colors, fabrics, and stitching. They were particularly interested in shoes, as fairies didn't wear them. They also asked about daily lives, what humans did, what they ate, and how they had fun. The adventurers discovered that many of the games fairy children played were copied from watching humans. They all talked about playing these games as if they had been playing them with each other.

The fairies had many questions to ask about television, as apparently some fairies had seen the flickering box through people's windows at night. The fairies were creatures whose days were filled with happiness, love, and a life of harmony with the creatures around them, and what they saw on television sometimes frightened them.

Even though the seven expected to be the ones asking questions, they were busy answering them instead and explaining things seen on television.

During all the talking, Penny had been edging closer to

SeeLee. Now seeming to be a few inches shorter than SeeLee, Penny quickly adopted the fairy as an older sister. Clasping SeeLee's hand for reassurance, Penny gazed in awe around her.

There were several tables where SeeLee's friends were busily making clothing. Patterns for shirts were spread out and looked almost finished. One shirt was heavily adorned with knife sheathes boasting intricate designs around each one. Penny assumed this garment belonged to NarVan. There were also piles of long, thin leaf strips of tan, brown, and green on the tables. Beside them, acorn caps were half filled with beads, stones, feather pieces, and tiny flowers. A dozen wooden knives were stacked beside NarVan's shirt.

“Oh, how pretty!” Penny exclaimed as she left SeeLee's side to examine the garments. The fairies started to pack up their day's work. They explained that the shirts were finished, and they chatted happily as they cleaned up.

“Cool knives!” Clayton said as NarVan handed him one to examine. The knife was about six fairy-inches long. The shiny, brown handle darkened to a black, polished point. “How do you get it so sharp? We make wooden knives, but we can never get them this sharp. They just break.”

“We soak them, shape them, and fire-harden them over and over. Then we polish and polish. If we had to fight a battle, we would put poison on the tips.”

“You have battles?” Karl asked while inspecting one of the knives.

“Oh!” Clayton practically shouted as he fished a Swiss Army pocket knife out of his pocket. It was red and had a white crest at one end. Satisfied at NarVan's bewildered expression, Clayton watched his face change to one of amazement as he pulled out the shiny knife blade. He placed his knife in NarVan's hand and watched the fairy study it.

NarVan pulled out another blade, then quickly found the tweezers and toothpick tucked into the end of Clayton's knife. He seemed the most fascinated with the scissors, and squeezed it shut against its spring. He folded everything, handed it back to Clayton, and said, “I can make one like this out of wood.”

“You can keep this one,” Clayton said.

NarVan shook his head. “When I make one like that, we can trade.”

“A wooden one would be awesome,” Clayton assured him as he put the knife back in his pocket.

Everything was finally cleared from the tables and loaded into woven leaf-strip baskets. Then the fairies began folding the furniture. The chair backs collapsed over the seats, and the legs folded underneath. The chairs were flipped under the tables, which folded into themselves and down over the chairs. A rough bark cover pivoted over the disguised furniture, making the whole thing look like a natural, raised blemish on the branch.

“That's really clever,” Clayton said. As their walk continued, he became lost in thought, wondering just how good the fairies were at making things out of wood.

A Different World

A
s the seven followed SeeLee, an entirely different world opened before them, making their own human world seem like a dream.

Laughter coming from the dead branch above caused them to look up. There they saw a fairy, her tiny hands reaching skyward, perched on the edge of a puffy knot crater. Bending her knees, she dove out of sight toward the center of the branch, causing a splash sound. The water-filled crater in the branch must be a fairy swimming pool, as happy voices were drowned by more splashing.

Walking further along the branch, they passed fairies busy with their activities. Hundreds of fairies poured from inside the tree to join their friends. Clayton was glad the fairies weren't all crowding around to gawk at them. Humans wouldn't be so polite if fairies suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He worried that the only way to protect this fragile fairy secret would be to stop coming to the fairy tree. Wanting to banish that unsettling thought, Clayton glanced around. He could see many knots with doors and windows embedded in them. Lights were shining from the knothole windows, and it looked like the tree contained an entire city of fairies.

Stretching to see further down the branch, he saw crowds of fairies sitting or standing behind booths displaying clothes, beads, shiny stones, food, drinks, and wooden gadgets of all kinds.

In some booths, pairs of fairies were busily setting up their shops. Other fairies walked slowly among the booths, trading for the goods they wanted. Each had a pack slung over a shoulder, which carried bartered goods.

Some booths had tables and chairs, which unfolded out of nowhere and looked to be picnic areas where fairy traders could enjoy food and drink. A festive mood filled the air as the exhaustion of a day well spent mixed with the satisfaction of good things accomplished. He was reminded of the Renaissance festival his parents had taken his family to the spring before. The scene had a carnival atmosphere, especially when lights started pulsating in a happy rhythm.

Moving along the branch, he saw fairies pulling a cart loaded with long L-shaped sticks. The fairies regularly stopped along the branch and stuck the long end of the stick into a hole seemingly made for it. The bend of the L extended almost twice his height, and it was big enough for five or six fireflies to perch on, which was exactly what happened as soon as each stick was in place. The flashing of the lightning bugs effectively became street lights to guide travelers along their way.

Now that it was brought to his attention, he noticed busy insect activity happening on and around the tree. Lines of beetles carried an assortment of berries to the drink vendors who unloaded them, and then sent the carrier back for more. The berries were squashed in a press to make a juice drink. A fairy was assigned to half-fill a little wooden mug with the juice, cork it, and place it on the back of a beetle sitting and waiting on the branch.

After carefully securing the mug, the beetle rapidly flapped its wings, beating the mug back and forth. With an extra hard flip of one wing, the mug flew back into the fairy's waiting hands. It was an overflowing, foamy, berry drink. The fairy licked the foam off his fingers and started the process all over again.

“Look!” Penny squealed as she came upon fairies sitting at a booth stroking furry, little caterpillars on their laps. Penny instinctively reached over and began petting one.

Paul and Phil stayed at the drink booth with MarLan and LeeLan. Already having drinks in their hands, they headed to a bench and table. Nearby, a fairy was pulling another bench out of the branch.

NarVan was showing Karl, Brian, and Ron something Clayton couldn't see. AnDrin joined Penny, and both sat with caterpillars lounging sleepily on their laps. SeeLee, although still near, stood searching the branches above her, but didn't seem to find what she was looking for.

Looking over to the nearest branch, Clayton saw a stick bug, measuring taller than a fairy, standing behind a little fairy creature, busily untangling twigs and bits of leaves from her long hair. On another branch, spiders spun webs, creating trampolines for the younger fairies. The webs were coated with a slippery substance, and the youngest toddlers could get neither footing nor hand hold, so they just kept bouncing around each other and giggling. Their little wings flopped around like capes, as if the strength to stretch them hadn't yet developed. Soft muted colors were just beginning to shade their wings, but the veins of gold barely glowed at all. The fairy supervising them kept a close eye on her little charges. Webs on other branches created a connected playground of trampolines.

Other beetles scurried around the branches on unknown missions. Clayton noticed one particular beetle carrying a berry. It was receiving the full attention from what could only be a helper fairy. The two were stumbling over each other and rolling around, grappling for the berry, which was being torn and shredded as it slowly progressed toward its destination. Soon the fairy and the beetle were covered in berry juice. With little of its prize left to harvest, the beetle gave up and turned back to get another berry.

The helper fairy picked up the remaining pieces of the shredded mess and took the mangled berry to a nearby booth where a shopkeeper fairy gladly relieved the helper fairy of his offering. With a job well done, the helper went after the beetle to help yet again.

Suddenly, a moth flew inches from his head. It was almost as big as he was, and he then noticed the large number of moths flying around the tree. Some flew dizzily around the fairies' lighted wings, while a few flying closer to the fairies used their legs to gently brush sparkles from their winged golden veins. The moths furiously beat their own wings so they could hover next to the fairies as the loosened sparkles fanned in all directions.

Some moths walked beside fairies on the branches. When the fairy stopped, the moth rubbed its furry head against the fairy's leg until the fairy stooped and scratched it. Then the moth happily flew off to chase whatever light beckoned.

There were even a few honey bees, seemingly out past their bedtime, depositing honey onto a rack of upright pine cones, which were overflowing with the sweet nectar. When one cone was full, a fairy turned it upside down to drain the honey into wooden containers. He placed half of the containers on the shelves of his booth, and the other containers were given to a fairy manning the adjoining booth. There, a fairy had fashioned a small stove of bent metal scraps, complete with upper and lower compartments. In the lower section, a small twig fire burned. Beetles constantly replenished the supply of twigs to keep it burning hot. A pipe ran from the back of the firebox behind the upper box to carry the smoke away. The upper box held trays of baking biscuits behind a wire-hinged oven door. The baker fairy frequently lifted the tiny door to inspect the treats. Clayton imagined how good the warm biscuits would taste when smothered with fresh honey.

The insects seemed to love the fairies and appeared eager to perform any task the fairies assigned them. He decided there must be some kind of mental communication going on between them. He frequently saw an insect approach a fairy, then suddenly rear up. The fairy would look intently at the insect for a moment, then the bug would drop back down and scurry off on some unknown task.

While the group walked along the branch, they occasionally had to step over assembly lines of insects earnestly performing various missions. Just then, two young male fairies drifted down from another branch and hovered near NarVan.

“Well, TorVak and RoNar! Is it time for another lesson?” NarVan taunted.

“The throwing starts. Will the great NarVan be defending yesterday's throws?”

“Yesterday's flukes,” RoNar corrected.

NarVan pulled out a knife hidden in a decoration on his shirt and gave it a short, spinning flip. It was spinning impossibly fast a foot above his hand, and after a quick grab, the knife was put back into its sheath.

“I'm better today than I was yesterday. Do you humans want to go with us to the throwing branch?” NarVan asked before standing to join his friends. Then he looked at SeeLee.

“Next time,” she said. “The humans shouldn't have too many shocks in one day. They are still adjusting to their size.”

“They certainly don't need the shock of seeing NarVan throw another knife into his leg,” TorVak said as he and RoNar drifted up toward the throwing branch, laughing as they rose.

NarVan rolled his eyes. “When I was young, I made a new knife that oozed sticky pine tar and it stuck to my hand. At the end of my follow-through, the knife came free and headed for my knee. Now, TorVak and RoNar can't throw as well as I can, so they never let me forget that one bad throw.”

NarVan was red-faced with embarrassment, and it spread as far as his wings. The colors that had been shimmering and resembling the Northern Lights were now hues of red, stopping mid-wing. Reddish-brown blades spun quickly, then separated from the shimmer and danced to the wing's edge.

“I look forward to seeing you all again, but I have to go teach those guys another lesson. Be happy and well.” Then NarVan joined the others.

“Nobody can throw better than NarVan, but no one will let him forget that one early throw,” SeeLee said with a laugh as Brian, Ron, and Karl joined the caterpillar table.

“Your cousin DarLan throws better than NarVan,” AnDrin reminded her.

“Yes, but she won't throw for fun anymore.”

Clayton wondered about the story behind those words, and then discovered he was absentmindedly stroking a caterpillar's fuzzy coat. Penny rubbed her cheek against the caterpillar and giggled.

The loud snapping noise of a nearby twig caught his attention, and he could hear the twins now joining them.

“No, MarLan, I'm Phil.”

“I'm LeeLan. MarLan is with Phil.”

“I'm Paul.”

The rustling of leaves behind the tree grew louder and closer. Suddenly, an alarmingly large deer head appeared from behind the tree. At Clayton's new size, the deer appeared sixty feet tall, and twenty feet of the monster deer appeared to be looming above him. As the rest of the deer came into sight, Clayton staggered into Penny's table. Paul and Phil lunged back, falling into LeeLan and MarLan, or MarLan and LeeLan as the case may be. Ron, Karl, and Brian toppled into Clayton and fell down in a mass of arms and legs.

The giant deer looked down at them as an even larger deer walked into the field and started eating grass. The antlers proclaimed him to be the mate of the smaller doe. The doe leaned her head toward the branch and sniffed. Then she snorted a wind strong enough for Clayton to feel.

She looked at the branches above and behind Clayton, then ducked under the branch they were sitting on. Her movements seemed to be in slow motion, as so much deer had to pass under the branch. When her back scratched against the branch's underside, it felt like an earthquake. As the branch wobbled, Clayton quickly joined Ron, Karl, and Brian who were crouching down in fear of falling. Phil and Paul were stretched flat against the branch next to the standing and confused twin fairies.

Once the deer passed where the group hunkered, she stood on her back legs with her front legs braced against the trunk. Her head peered over a higher branch. Several fairies started talking to the doe, pointing in various directions. The animal now seemed to be a hundred feet tall. Clayton looked around, careful not to make any sudden moves, which could cause a tumble. He first glanced at his friends, who were still crouching down and holding on for dear life. He then searched for Penny, who amazingly was still standing. All around him, the fairies were waiting as if there was nothing to be concerned about.

As Clayton started to get up, the deer apparently finished her visit and pivoted her body to stand on all four legs. He fell back as the deer came closer to him in her turn from the tree. When the doe finally took a few steps into the field and started munching grass with her mate, he felt much safer and stood up. He turned toward SeeLee, but quickly fell back down again. He was shocked to see a baby deer right behind SeeLee. Its head reached just above the branch and seemed larger than a car. SeeLee gently rubbed its nose, then pointed to the field.

The baby deer scrambled into the field to find its mother and scamper after fireflies.

The buck raised his head as a fairy flew in front of him. The fairy hovered by the deer, then pointed across the field before finding a perch on his antlers. The deer family then took off across the field, scattering fireflies along the way. Five more fairies raced after them, joining the fairy that was happily joyriding on the antlers.

“Is that–”

“Yes, Clayton, it's normal. You just missed their visit the last time you were here. We could still see you crossing the field when the deer showed up.”

“Why didn't they get smaller?”

“Because they are part of the tree's natural environment.”

Everyone was back on their feet now, acting like nothing had happened.