“You’re going too faaaaaaaast!”

Gripping the handlebars of Emily’s bike, I pedaled furiously, weaving through side streets as I rushed to my old house. Emily sat behind me, riding on the back of the bike, her hair and tail streaming out behind her in the wind. Zoey, back in her fairy form, hung on to Emily’s hoodie for dear life, screaming all the while as we weaved between cars.

This is great! Normally, I’d have to take it a bit easier, as I’d be out of breath by now. If it’s a side effect of the transformation, I’ll happily take being more fit!

“Slow down! I can barely hang-” Zoey’s voice was cut off as she began screaming, having lost her grip on Emily’s clothes.

“Woah, stop! We lost Zoey,” Emily said, shaking me slightly to get my attention. 

Gently pulling the brake lever, I drifted over to the side of the road, slowing to a halt.

“Did we leave her behind?” I asked, turning my head around to try and look behind us, but my view was blocked my Emily’s torso. I leaned sideways so that I could see past her, stretching a foot out to avoid falling over.

“We’re not too far ahead, I think,” Emily replied, peering towards where we had just come from. “She’s catching up… and very rapidly at that.”

Squinting slightly, I caught a glimpse of Zoey gliding towards us. She flailed her arms and legs around, trying to slow down. Her screams came into earshot as she gradually got closer.

“Heeeeeeeelp!”

Emily hopped off the bike, holding her hands out in front of her and bracing herself.

“I’ve got you.” As Zoey reached us, unable to stop in time, Emily caught her in her arms. She quickly took a few steps backwards, trying to soften the impact.

“Are… are you okay?” I asked, hesitantly approaching them.

“That was so scary!” Zoey wailed, burying her face into Emily’s clothes. “I thought I was gonna die!”

That… really wasn’t a good idea, huh?

“Should I go on ahead?” Emily glanced up at me, nodding as she stroked Zoey’s back, trying to calm her down.

“Yeah, we’ll catch up in a bit. Your… parent’s place isn’t too far from here, so we’ll just walk.” Her ears were folded back as she stared at Zoey, concern evident on her face.

“Slowly!” Zoey added, an indignant tone in her voice. “Seriously, I have no idea how you managed to convince me that this was a good idea…”

 

*****

 

“Right now?” Emily looked at me for a few moments, before rushing off towards the bathroom. “I just need to brush my teeth and grab a few things and then I’ll be ready to go!”

“Do you want to come with us?” I turned to Zoey, who was standing near the side of the kitchen, leaning against the bench. She was staring at the floor, seemingly deep in thought.

“...huh? Um, sure,” she replied, distractedly.

“What’s up?”

“Hmm?”

“You look like you’re thinking about something.”

Zoey reached her arms up, grunting slightly as she stretched. Her gaze settled on me as she moved her shoulders around, trying to get comfortable.

“You made your clothes with like, spirit energy or something, right?” She looked up and down at my shirt and shorts.

“Y-yeah.” A wave of self-consciousness immediately washed over me. Did I mess up my outfit somewhere?

“What’s your whole… process of making clothes?” She pushed herself up off the bench, slowly walking towards me.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how do you make them? What specifically do you do?"

“Umm…” How do I describe it?

I pulled a bit of energy out of my core, forming it into a ball in the palm of my hand.

“I have this kind of… spirit energy- I think was what Aeriel called it- flowing throughout my body. It’s what this thing is made of.”

I held the glowing ball out towards Zoey.

“If I try really hard, I can change the shape of it to whatever I want, but I need to know exactly what it looks like.”

That’s why I can only make t-shirts and shorts… and that skimpy Queen dress!

“If I shape it right, and position it well, as long as I’m picturing exactly what I want to wear, I can create clothes out of pure energy.”

Hmm… what’s a good example…

I closed my eyes and began picturing a small sweatband, shaping the ball of energy to match it as best I could.

“Here, try this out.” I held a small, sparkling white wrist sweatband out towards Zoey. Reaching out, she tried to grab it.

“...huh?” She stared, confused, watching her hand phase completely through the sweatband as it sat in my hand. “I can’t touch it.”

“Oh, oops. Am I…” Glancing around, I tried to see if I was floating, currently the only sign of whether I had ‘materialised’ or not. However, my feet were still firmly planted on the ground.

“You’re not glowing right now, so I don’t think you’ve gone into your spirit form, or whatever. Can we try something?”

“Oh?”

“I want to do an experiment.”

 

Zoey held her hands out in front of me, forming a small cup.

“Now just drop it into my hands.”

Lifting the sweatband up, I let it fall out of my hands. Zoey tried to catch it, but it fell completely through her hands as if she wasn’t even there.

“Hmm… so I can’t touch it just on its own.”

Reaching down, I picked it up off the floor.

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Try putting it on.”

I diligently slipped the sweatband onto my wrist, holding my arm out towards her.

“See if you can touch it now.”

Zoey hesitantly reached her hand out, lightly pressing her fingers against the sweatband.

“I can touch it, but…” Her eyes went wide, and she tried pushing against it with a little more force. “...that’s weird.”

“What?”

She curled her fingers around the end of the sweatband, trying to grab hold of it.

“It’s like I can’t even move it. That’s so strange!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s… okay, let me work this out.” She stepped back, taking a deep breath before continuing.

“If you create a piece of clothing using spirit magic, or energy or whatever it’s called, then unless it’s actively being worn by you, no one else can touch it.”

How does that work? Is it some quirk of the ‘Queen’s specific spirit energy’, or something?

“If you are wearing it, then I can touch it, but I cannot move it.”

“So what’s the conclusion?”

“Clothes that you create with your energy can only be worn by you.”

At that exact moment, Emily burst into the room, cutting in on our fact-finding discussion. She stared back and forth between us, looking slightly confused.

“What’s up? Did I interrupt something?”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied, waving my hand dismissively. “We were just experimenting.”

“I wanted to know how Flora made her clothes,” Zoey added. “If it was a similar process to fairy magic, then I might have been able to control it a little better.”

“Did you find out what you wanted?”

“No, unfortunately not.”

 

“How did you turn back to… this size?” I asked, hesitating as to how to refer to it. Do I call it normal size? Or human size?

“I don’t actually know, to be honest. I think…” Zoey leaned back, staring at the ceiling as she tried to remember. “I think I was trying to open the door when I was small, but I wasn’t strong enough to turn the doorknob, and it really annoyed me. I remember thinking ‘if I was big again, then I’d be able to open it fine’, and then I suddenly went back to this size.”

“Is it just an ‘I want to be big’ or ‘I want to be small’ kind of thing?” Emily proposed.

“Maybe. Hang on, let me…” Zoey closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, her body was engulfed in a flash of light, and she quickly shifted into her fairy form, wings fluttering as she hovered in midair.

“There we go,” she said, looking around at her body. “I think it is something like that. Just transforming through strong feelings, or desires. That’s why…”

She closed her eyes again, returning to her normal size with another flash of light.

“I think my whole method of magic is different to yours. Do you remember that dress I wore yesterday morning?”

Emily and I both nodded.

“I'd wager the only reason I could create that was that it’s similar to the dress I’m wearing when I’m small. I can’t custom-make my clothes like you do.”

All of us stood in silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say to progress the conversation.

 

“A-anyway, um, you said that we needed to head over to your place?”

Emily perked up at Zoey’s question, staring at me with a gleam in her eye.

“Yeah,” I responded. “My parents are out shopping currently, so Grace is the only one there. They’ve been away for a while, so they probably won’t come back until much later.”

“What do you need to do to get ready?” Emily asked, her tail wagging.

“Not sure. I think I’ve got everything I need? My toothbrush is still over there, so I need to go grab it first.”

“I’m ready to head out, too,” Zoey added.

“Hmm… if you’re coming with us…” Emily stared forward blankly for a moment, her ears twitching back and forth slightly as she thought deeply.

“Actually, how long will it take to walk to your house?” Zoey asked.

“It shouldn’t be too long. It only takes a few minutes to get here on a bike, so-”

“That’s it!” Emily exclaimed, interrupting me. She turned towards Zoey, grabbing her hands.

“W-what is it?” Zoey’s voice shook as she spoke, nervous about what was in store.

“Zoey, can you turn small again?”

“Yeah… what do you have in mind?”

Emily reached over to grab my wrist, pulling both of us towards the garage.

“If we're taking stuff in Grace's car, it's gonna be awkward if we take two bikes. How fast can either of you fly?”

“Not very,” Zoey responded, “and I can only fly while I’m small.”

“I still don’t know how to actually start flying on command, and it’s more a sort of ‘inching forward’, anyway.”

Emily’s face twitched slightly as I spoke. She’s remembering the first time I floated, isn’t she? That was kinda embarrassing, in hindsight!

“Okay, so neither of you can fly there. In that case… Flora.” Emily pulled me over towards her bike, leaning against the wall in the back of the garage. “It worked pretty well when you rode my bike, and I hung on the back, right?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. You ride the bike, I sit on the back of it, and Zoey– ” Emily turned to face Zoey, her eyes sparkling and tail wagging– “You turn small, and sit in my hood.”

“Your hood?”

“Yeah, it’ll be great. Lemme just go and put a hoodie on real quick.” She dashed back into the house, leaving Zoey and I to stand in the garage, confused and apprehensive.

“I-is that really a good idea?” Zoey’s face was pale, and her voice shook as she spoke.

“Honestly, I don’t think so. A hood… probably isn’t exactly the most secure place to sit.”

“I can’t think of any other options, though.”

“Can you fly up really high, and just follow us there?”

Zoey grabbed her left arm, trying to stop it from shaking as she looked at the floor dejectedly.

“I-it’s scary. What if I suddenly fall? Or what if a bird comes along and tries to eat me?”

“Do you want to stay here, then?” I asked. She looks really nervous.

“No, I’ll do it.” Zoey took a deep breath, and the colour gradually returned to her face. Her green hair waved from side to side as she roughly shook her head.

“...If you’re sure.”

“If we’re under a strict time limit, it’ll be useful to have an extra body to help out.” Zoey stood upright, stretching her shoulders around as if preparing to exercise.

“I still don’t know what I need to bring regarding toiletries, as well. That’s why I wanted either you or Emily to come along.”

Zoey faltered for a moment as she listened to me, before quickly regaining her vigor.

“I... don't know how much help I'll be, but I’ll do my best!”

 

At that point, Emily burst through the front door, wearing a thin, dark blue hoodie.

“Everyone ready?” She asked, walking over to her bike with a spring in her step.

“Ready!” I responded, following behind her. A bright light flashed behind me, and Zoey flew up to us in her fairy form.

“I’m ready too!” She exclaimed.

“Alright, let’s go.”

 

*****

 

I knew that was a bad idea… 

Worry permeated my mind as I rode along, turning onto the street where my destination was.

She had to curl up to fit in the hood, and there aren’t enough secure points to hang onto. She was probably getting thrown around like crazy, before falling out like that. I hope she’ll be okay… 

“...whoops.” Glancing up, I realised that I had rode completely past my house. I squeezed the brake lever, slowing to a stop, before hopping off the bike and walking it back down the street.

...Oh, right. This isn’t my house anymore, is it… 

That hurts a little to admit.

Reaching my… old house, I dragged the bike up the curb, wheeling it into the front yard and resting it against the wall of the house.

“Oh, Fel… Flora, you’re here.”

Looking up, I saw Grace peeking her head out through the door hesitantly.

“Emily and Zoey are just behind me, so they’ll arrive in a bit,” I called out.

“No spirits?”

“Nah, just us.” Was it alright to just… leave them behind? Aeriel followed me into the bathroom, but I didn’t see her after that. Although, Mira’s still sleeping there, so maybe she stayed behind to be with her.

“Cool. I think Mum and Dad are buying lunch somewhere, as well as going shopping, so they won’t be back for a while. We should have enough time to move everything, even if we need to make multiple trips.”

“That’s good. Um-” I hopped up the steps to the front door of the house, preparing to ask something important, but stopped as Emily and Zoey’s voices gradually came into earshot.

 

“See? This is a much better speed.”

“You ready?”

“Goooooo!”

Turning around, I watched Emily sprint towards our house, with Zoey hanging on to her hoodie like before. Suddenly, Emily ducked, and Zoey launched forward into a graceful glide. She looked around for a moment, before spotting Grace and I standing just out the front of the house.

“Flora!”

She twisted her body sideways in midair, angling her wings and making a smooth turn into our front yard, before pulling upright and gently stopping just in front of us.

“I… think I can fly a bit better now,” she said, her hair and fairy dress ruffled from the wind.

“What was that?!” She was so fast! I’m glad she’s feeling better now, though.

“Well, you know how birds glide with their wings? I’ve only been using my wings to hover, but after that terrifying experience, I figured that if I had enough speed, I could glide really fast just like a bird,” she replied, all in one breath.

“How’d it go?” Emily called out from the street.

“It went great! Thanks for being a really good launchpad!”

Grace and I glanced at each other, sharing a mutual look of confusion.

“W-well, on that note, come on inside, and we can start putting stuff together.”