Chapter One: Living in a Tree

Adding a bowl of harrowfruit to the table, the plant elf made her finishing touches to her breakfast table. There were five spots; one for each member of her family. Each of them liked something a little different. Her husband, Tedee, was happy with just the harrowfruit. Bruin, her oldest child, hated the idea of fruit, and only ever wanted a slice of toasted bread. He had been this picky since childhood. Next was her first daughter, Loli. She loved a good smoothie in the morning. Most elves wouldn't do it without the proper tools, but as an elf with plant Lore, working with fruits was easy. Then it was her youngest daughter, Lynna. Lynna would eat almost anything, but she especially loved eggs with a bit of peppers. The plant elf would do anything to see her smile, and didn't mind the extra work it took to make the perfect breakfast.

"Alright, everyone, breakfast is served!" After those words, she could hear the thumps of foosteps down the wooden halls. Loli arrived first, as she most likely had been up for hours. She focused a lot on her outward appearance, and less on her mastery of Lore. She had inherited the plant Lore from her parents, but she was apathetic at the learning of it. Once Loli had made her way to the table, she kissed her mother, and sat down to eat.

The next to reach the kitchen was Tedee, and where most of the noisy footsteps came from. When he was younger, everyone assumed he was a stone elf. He was large, with a round middle. He was the reason all the doorways in the house were overly tall. He built them that way. He gave his wife a big kiss, as their daughter looked away in embarrassment.

Bruin sleepily walked in. He was a mimicry elf, and most people knew since birth. Mimicry elves are born with at least a streak of pink hair. Sometimes, it's the whole head. But in Bruin's case, it was his bangs that hung over his face. In the market when the other boys would bully him and call him 'Pinkie', he would often get vengeful, and he had been known to get into many fights over it. Recently though, he had taken to changing his appearance to his father's, or to someone else he knew. At least he wasn't bullied for that. He said good morning to his mother and father and sat down to eat his toast.

Lynna slept in a lot, and this morning was no different. Tedee had sat down, and said to his wife, "Staecy, please sit down. You know she won't come out for awhile."

Staecy shook her head. "No, dear. I will wait. But if she doesn't get up shortly, I will go and get her"

Tedee shrugged and began to eat with his children. After they had finished and started to leave for their day, Staecy resolved to wake her daughter. She walked down the hallway to the youngest's room. She knocked, hoping Lynna was awake and just getting ready. As she feared, she heard no voice. Staecy opened the door and looked at the bed that her daughter slept in. That's when she noticed, her daughter had not slept in it that night. Staecy searched the room trying to see if her daughter had used the room at all since Staecy had cleaned it. To her dismay but not surprise, Lynna hadn't used it last night.

Staecy focused her Lore. As intensely as she could, she reached out to Bruin, the only other member of the family to have telepathy Lore. Bruin, get your father. Lynna left last night and didn't come home again. I need help searching for her.

Within a minute, Bruin replied. Sure, Mom. We're on our way. Check the top of the tree, she likes to hang there a lot.

And just like that, the third search party for Lynna this month had begun.

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Sunlight streaming on her face, the sixteen year old woke up from her night of flight. She was the only fairy that lived in the neighborhood. Her parents told her to hid that fact away. They were worried that she would be taken away if the authorities found out. Lynna knew that they were probably right, but she never got a chance to practice flying.

Tedee and Staecy were great parents, even if they weren't blood. They had told their children that both Bruin and Lynna were adopted. Bruin's parents had died tragically, but no one knew about Lynna's, other than they had higher stations. When her parents found her, they tried to relay information to the proper authorities, but it seemed that the information didn't get far. Once they had gotten attached, they decided to raise the fairy as their own.

Lynna always wondered about her real parents. But at this point, she would always choose Tedee and Staecy over anyone else.

Lynna sat up on the high branch she had fallen asleep on. What time was it? She had been in the air all night, and when she sat down for a time, she must've dozed off. Her parents were probably searching for her at this very moment. Oh, how she wished she had telepathy Lore! That would make things easier.

It would be simple for Lynna to fly down, but since it was day, and in the forest, someone could see her. She'd have to climb down.

She stood up. She had amazing balance, partially due to the fact she was a fairy but also because she had done this so many times before. She walked down the branch toward the trunk. Once she made it to the trunk, she pulled out the knives from her pocket. She carried these for when the branches were further apart. The next few branches were close enough, so she jumped from branch to branch. When she couldn't jump any longer, she stabbed the trunk with her knives. She climbed down to the next branch, and started to jump again. She easily made her way back to the ground. Once she did, she put her knives back into her pocket.

"There you are. Mom and Dad are worried."

Lynna looked behind her to see Bruin, his bright pink hair hiding his face. She smiled when she saw him.

"Well now you can let Mom know that you've found me and can take me home. "

She started to walk in the direction of town and their home, but Bruin stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She turned back to see him holding up a jacket, and she knew what he meant. She had to hide her wings. If anyone knew she was anything more than a Loreless elf, she would be taken to be with other fairies and not her parents. She might not be able to see them again if she was found out.

She made her way to him and grabbed the jacket. She folded her wings and set them in the back of the jacket. It always made her wings so sore, but this was the best they had. As soon as she had it on, they began to walk toward home.

"There you go. Mom doesn't sound too happy. Dad and I missed out at the shop too, so there's business. But you don't care about that do you?"

"Bruin, you get a chance to practice your Lore all the time. Even Loli could practice if she wanted to, but I can't practice flying unless no one is around."

"I know. I just get tired of keeping your spot a secret. Mom and Dad still don't know where you go. I'm the only one, but I can't keep the secret forever."

"One of these days, Bruin, people will know what I am and won't try to take me away."

He sighed and put his arm around his sister.

"For your sake, Lyn, I hope so."

"And honestly, who cares that I'm a fairy? You remember the stories, right? Fairies didn't really get a choice on whether or not to rule the elves. The elves just put them in charge and 'supervised' using their Lore. That's unfair. It would be like you or Mom or Dad controlling me through your Lore. I wouldn't get the choice to love you. I would be forced to."

Bruin sighed. This was a conversation they spoke of often. But there was nothing they could do. Neither of them could change the system their ancestors created. At least not yet, and not with the resources that they had. But maybe one day. That day might come sooner than both of them realize.