I waited till the dead of night.
Now I’m certain that fairies only sleep to avoid the gloom and not because they get tired, since I didn’t feel the slightest bit drowsy as long as I wanted to stay awake.
While I laid in this flower, I spent the time imagining what my family may say once I return, and what I could tell them that might be believable.
I mean, aside from the rough similarity of my face, my current form doesn’t particularly resemble my original appearance.
Also, I made sure to keep the gloom out of my wings while I lay awake.
Now that I’ve absorbed other energy, it seems to ward away gloom almost on its own; however, the last thing I need is for my mix of essences to get disturbed before I leave.

Nibi is holding me again in her sleep, which became a little distracting as she began dimly glowing blue at some point, but I manage to slip off the pollen without waking her.
Then I jump through the opening above and fly as fast as I can safely manage towards home.
Yet, I run into a snag as soon as I exit the flower.
The pressure of the gloom outside is far greater than when I was lying down waiting.
As I fly though the air, it’s slowly forcing its way inside of my wings.

Quickly landing, I focus on my desire to keep the gloom at bay.
I certainly don’t want to fall into that magical despair right as I’m trying to return home.
After only a brief moment, an odd sensation of movement begins coming from inside of my wings.
It’s as if the energy inside of them has begun moving in multiple circles.
A quick glance behind me reveals nothing, as the various colors appear to be the same as usual.
However, there now seems to be a much greater force pushing against the gloom, keeping it from entering me.
While the constant sensation is slightly irritating, I much prefer it over the effects of that dark essence.
Anyways, since I’ve dealt with that issue, I take to the air once more and continue on my way.

Upon reaching the edge of the clearing, in the darkness I can see the branches of the trees forming a solid hedge around the glade, appearing ready to grab me.
Putting strength into my wings, I make my way higher and higher until I can see over the treetops.
Then I turn and take one last look at the moonlit glade.

The ground is so far away!
I’ve never been this high before!
*Gulp*
Focus on your flying, Akari!
Don’t panic.
My new wings don’t care if the ground is far or near, I can fly.
Yeah, sure!

Take a deep breath, then let it out…
I’m okay…
Alright, time to go.

After regaining my bearings, I head out of the glade.

“Oof”

And promptly bounce off an unseen wall!

“Aaaahh!”

*Crash*
At least I wasn’t very far above the trees.
I landed on one of the many leaves making up the canopy.
Gratefully, I seem to be okay, but what was that!?

With outstretched arms, I fly forward as slowly as possible, just above the leaves.
Soon, I run into the barrier once more.
When I attempt to land on another leaf just below me, my feet suddenly hit a surface and I stumble.

Something very odd is happening here!
While on my hands and knees, I’m just floating in midair!
I glance back in order to double check.
Nope, my wings aren’t moving.
What’s going on!?

After getting back to my feet, I test the invisible surface under me and find it immovable.
It appears to be the same thing as the hard, flat surface barring the way forward.
They seem to meet each other in a corner here.
Maybe there’s an obvious hole somewhere?
I mean, the fairies must have a way to leave.
Facing the wall, I look to the left and right.

A short distance away to my right, I can make out a soft violet glow, difficult to see at night.
Walking in that direction with my hand on the wall, I soon come to another fairy, sitting on a leaf.
This one has wings of the deepest violet with a bordering of silver.
Her wings are full of gloom!
This is a night fairy!

Earlier, that nature fairy did say some enjoyed the dark essence.
This one is just staring at me.
She probably watched me smack my face into the wall earlier.
They all seem to love watching my suffering.
But maybe she knows how to get past this wall?
Although, knowing the feeling of gloom, she might not want me here.
I’ll be polite, but I have to ask for help.
I need to get home!

“Excuse me.”

She continues to stare at me.

“Hello?”

A minute goes by.
Just more staring, and a blink.

“Um, could you help me?”

Another blink.

“Do you know what this invisible barrier is?”

“Moon.”

Finally, an answer!
Just a single word and she pointed toward the one moon currently in the sky, the other having set already.
But what does she mean?
How does the moon help me at all?
Just what would a fairy think of when they think of the moon?
Its essence perhaps?

I close my eyes and focus on drawing it in.
Careful…
Just the tiniest sip I can manage.
I refuse to repeat my mistake!
Alright, that should be enough.
I open my eyes.

To see a shimmering, silver dome stretching across the night sky, covering the entire glade and a small part of the surrounding forest!
It’s massive!
Where it meets the treetops, the barrier forms a corner and turns horizontally, forming a flat floor below me that flows along the top of the trees like water, closing any gaps between the branches and leaves, but allowing the plants through.
Once the floor reaches the edge of the trees where the glade begins, it stops, creating a huge circular opening, which is what allowed me to fly into the dome.
However, going back that way won’t get me closer to my destination.

Scanning the wall, I can see no way through from here.
No matter which way I look, there’s no way out.
Only a semi-transparent barrier of moonlight.
No holes, no doors, nothing that appears to be a passage.
How am I supposed to get home now!

So while being a magnificent sight, the ability to see this wall doesn’t mean I can get through it, forcing me to ask the fairy another question.

“Thank you for answering, but, um, how do I get past this?”

“Exit.”

She points back towards the glade.
I think she’s also getting annoyed with me.
However, I need to go into the woods, not the field of flowers.

“Please, I need to know how to get outside. If you tell me how, I’ll leave you alone.”

“Leave.”

This time, she points at my feet.
Looking down, I see my shadow rapidly expand under me and I find myself falling into it.
Before I’m even able to react, I also somehow fall out of it.
And collapse on my head as I apparently am now upside down!
Ugh, stupid fairies!

Looking around, it seems she somehow deposited me back in the clearing, in the shadow of a flower near the woods.
I have no idea how she did that, but I have a more important question.
What do I do now?
As I saw, the barrier encloses the entire glade from above, so I can’t fly over the trees, yet from here I can see that it doesn’t reach to the ground.
Can I somehow get through this wooden wall instead?

Flying closer to the trees, what I first thought was an impenetrable hedge actually has small openings, although the branches are covered in thorns of all sizes.
I think the moonlight did more than just let me see the barrier.
My strange eyes could see in the dark fairly well, but now I can see through what was the pitch black of these trees as if it were daytime.
This is my way out, if I can just avoid the thorns.
Even though some of them are larger than I am.
And extremely pointy.

I make my way to the largest opening I can find and gradually fly up to it.
Though once I draw near, something happens that I wasn’t expecting.
The thorns swiftly retract into the wood!
This branch is now as smooth as if it never had any spikes at all!
Timidly, I flutter through, wary of the thorns returning, but they continue to retract just ahead of me.
After a short while, the hedge opens up into a less dense part of the forest, and the thorns return to the branches behind me.
This must be something the nature fairies use to keep out unwanted visitors, but of course, it doesn’t harm fairies.
Which means I should be free to come and, more importantly, go as I please.

Thankfully, the forest ahead no longer appears as if it will try to grab me.
It seems I’ve passed into the woods I know.
The peaceful, calm forest I’m used to.
Under normal circumstances, navigating through this forest in the dark would be impossible, but my eyes are in no manner normal anymore.
I use my knowledge of these woods and steer a path that should lead me straight to my village.

Having flown this long, I can feel that the balanced energy in my wings is being used to keep me moving.
It’s draining incredibly slowly, but apparently, I’m naturally using whatever energy would keep me at my desired equilibrium.
Judging by feel, I should have plenty to get myself home.

Time passes as I slowly make my way around trees and over bushes.
While travelling, these wings become more familiar, and my speed gradually increases.
Finally, I can see the edge of the forest up ahead.
Dim sunlight filters through the trees as they become sparse.
Dawn must be near, but I’m almost home.
Nothing will stop me now!

“MIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEP!!!”

“Aaaahh! Oof.”

Except for this.
In the blink of an eye, something slammed into my side, and I crashed into the ground.
Before I can get up, it’s on me again.

“Miep! Miep, miiep, miiiiep, miiiiiiiiiep!”

Yeah, sure, I knew it was her from the battle cry when she ran into me.
Now Nibi is clinging to me as hard as she can, and there’s nothing I can do to peel her off.
When I finally manage to look at her face though, I see that she’s completely panicking and has tears pouring down her cheeks.
Now I kinda feel guilty.
Seeing a young girl, essentially a toddler, bawling because of me, is not a pleasant feeling.

“I wasn’t even gone for one night. Is it really that bad?”

“Miep.”
*Sob*

“I-it’s okay. Please stop crying.”

“Miiiiiep! Miiiiiiep!”
*Sob*

Ack, now she’s crying even more!
Maybe I’ll try what worked with my sister!
I manage to pull her in front of me for a hug and pat her head, and instantly her mood seems to lighten up.
But her grip on me is as tight as ever.

“How did you even find me?”

“Miep.”

No real answer of course, but one of her arms is shining with concentrated blue light.
When I point at it, she raises her arm and points at me.
The dense light moves to her fingertips.
Aimed at me.
So she can track me with magic?
Is this because of the magic she gave me so long ago?
How would it even still work?
Maybe this is an ability of blue fairies, allowing them to track the thing they decide to focus on?

No matter, it’s best not to dwell on this.