The Faerie chorus lifted their clarion voices in song.

Illusen's spell, it lingers here,

A blessing to the glade.

She utters incantations and

A wind springs from the shade.

The autumn breeze slides through the trees.

Such slyness does become it,

For autumn steals the vibrant green

Of springtime come before it.

The autumn season's something fierce,

The harbinger of winter.

Beware the frosty, lingering chill

That makes the weather splinter.

The air is brisk, that's how she likes

Her solitary dwelling.

The twigs, they snap; the cold, it has

A chill that's quite compelling.

Illusen smiled sagely. Though most people thought of her Glade as being a place of eternal spring, it was actually host to a number of seasons. Spring, summer, autumn and winter all had a place in the Glade, and all were welcome. Illusen was a lover of nature, and that included the blistering summer rays as well as the fiercest snows of winter.

She stretched her wings and began to drift away from the group of Faeries. It was weather like this that reminded her of her past…a secret history that no one knew about…

Being a Faerie, and blessed with a celestial mind, she opened her mouth and sang a beautiful song of her own.

I wonder why the autumn tree

Does hide its summer grace.

Perhaps the summer dew has lost

Its lovely morning taste.

I have the lovely option to

Revert its leaves to green,

But nature must be cherished and

I will not intervene.

The autumn tree is tinged with red.

Some leaves are also brown.

I treasure Mother Nature and

Refuse to wear a frown.

And yet I mourn the brilliant green

That marked this special tree.

The summer dew no longer works

To make it blossomy.

Ah, sad indeed it is to know

That youth has come and gone.

But we should not bid adieu yet --

Our memories live on!

Illusen smiled sadly. She was ageless and wise, glorious and statuesque…yet she still remembered her youth, for all Faeries had youths, once upon a time. Faeries grow ever more beautiful with time, being immortal creatures of wisdom, while mortals are doomed to grow old and die.

Her forest, though blessed to be full and lush by her Faerie powers, still grew and died with each new season. Each dead tree filled her with gloom, though each new tree comforted her.

Illusen looked at the sky, the brilliant sun emanating red and yellow rays that shot through the blue sky. She always remembered, with bittersweet emotion, that she was immortal, and that everyone around her, besides her fellow Faeries, was doomed to die.

Her secret story begins centuries ago…

Illusen had heard many rumours throughout the years about how Faeries were born. Some speculated a new Faerie simply popped into existence when the first flower of spring bloomed. Others said a Faerie could only start life when a baby laughs.

Still, many thought they could purchase immortality. That one only needs to find the right recipe to brew in order to possess magic.

Illusen knew all the theories to be wrong. In truth, Faeries came about in many different ways, all more secret than the next. And each way required some form of sacrifice on the Faerie’s part. No sacrifice was the same, just like no two faeries were quite the same.

And I have made many sacrifices, Illusen thought. They had all been for the greater good of Neopia. But one moment of her past cast a dark shadow over her enchanting reputation.

The Earth Faerie watched her surrounding Glade of laughter and merriment. The Faeries all smiled so adoringly at her, completely unaware of her dark deed. Or were they?

Up to this moment in time, Illusen had assumed her secret was hers to keep for eternity. Apparently, her past would not lay still forever.

She reached into her satchel and pulled out a small wooden box, which had been left on her doorstep this morning. There was no note. The message was still clear by the contents within. Someone knew what she’d done all those years ago.

She lifted the lid once more to peer inside.

Illusen laid a hand on the staff. It was cold to the touch, and sent a chill down her spine. Immediately she shut the lid and placed the box back into her satchel as she walked back to her Glade, alone with her thoughts, brow furrowed in contemplation.

Perhaps, whoever knew her secret past had another clue for her.

Illusen didn't always appreciate the seasons. Spring brought with it the thrill of new blooms and burgeoning greenery. Summer was warm and lovely - but it meant autumn lurked just around the corner, when the leaves would change colour and the flowers wilt.

But while it was acceptable for faeries to manipulate the weather in certain circumstances, they could never truly alter the seasons. It was taboo to mess with the order of nature.

Many years ago, as a young faerie, Illusen had broken that taboo, desperate to see an everlasting spring that never strayed past the zenith of summer. The results were disastrous; autumn came too quickly, winters were too cold, flowers bloomed too slowly. To this day, no one knew just what had flung Neopia's seasons into chaos.

Or so Illusen thought.

She gasped as she felt a cold blast in her face. Her hand flew to her satchel instinctively, but it was shut, and a quick check told her the box was likewise closed and secure inside. The earth faerie looked up at the direction of the frigid air, already feeling the chill of dread in her heart.

Illusen's Glade was just up ahead, but unlike the rest of the woods, which were changing colour to reds, yellows, oranges and browns, the Glade was bare, and a wind rattled the branches and what were left of the dry leaves. She could feel an icy claw herself, gripping her heart.

Breaking into a sprint, she hurried to her home. The claw within her chest tightened. She looked around and felt the temperature drop several degrees as she got closer and closer. Finally, she made it to her doorstep.

As expected, there was another clue. But this time, it was a note etched on bark.

Illusen picked it up and read the verses written on the scroll. "You blessed this Glade

With your power strong,

But we remember

What you did wrong.

You blessed the land

With everlasting spring.

Such unprecedented disaster

Did your 'blessing' bring.

You made the sun stand still,

The leaves failed to fall,

'Till the seasons themselves

Rebelled from your thrall.

You sing of the harvest,

The seasons that come and go.

But we remember when you sang

And brought untold woe.

And we will not forget,

Those scars still stay.

And the time has come

For you to pay."

Whoever was behind this blackmailing scheme knew what she had done and wanted nothing more than to use it against her. But how would Illusen move on from here? She rattled her brain for an answer and, after a few moments of reflection, she stood resolute in her choice. She was going to share her secret herself before anyone else could.

“Ladies? May I tell you a story?“ the Earth Faerie stoically asked her faerie friends who had gathered at her Glade for the harvest.

Not knowing what she was about to divulge, they affirmed jovially with beautifully eternal smiles and wrinkle-less grinning eyes.

Illusen brought herself to a seated position at the head of the circle of faeries, swinging her legs to the left in a side-saddle position.

“The story I want to tell you is both true and personal. It’s about moments in my life that I am not proud of, but needed to share,” she began. “This day started like any other winter day. Snow was falling, lightly dusting the Glade. Nature had slowed and I, of course, was shivering. Admittedly, I had wished it was already spring.“ Illusen giggled lightly, and a fire faerie nodded her head in total agreement.

“This is the day that I forged my staff into existence...”

***

It was nearly dusk, and the fire was fading. Illusen looked at her stack of firewood and groaned as she realized she had to forage for more before nightfall. She wrapped herself up in her warmest winter gear and headed into the night.

With her lantern in hand and teeth chattering, she thought aloud to herself, “I really thought I had enough firewood for the night. I guess it’s colder than I anticipated today.”

After passing through a clearing and making tracks in the new snowfall, she began collecting fallen wood, using her powers to dry it before placing it in her satchel. Without realizing, she wandered deeper into the forest. For a moment, she paused.

Before her was the largest elm tree she had ever seen. It was knotted and twisting and loomed foreboding over her. At the base of the trunk, something caught her eye…

“How do you still have colour little one?” Illusen asked the leaf knowing very well it would not answer her back. “We better take care of you so you don’t lose your colour. It is too cool out here for you.”

Illusen carefully used her powers to pull the root and broke it at the base. As Illusen looked at the twig, a smile began to grow on her face. Even in the barren cold that was winter, there was this single beautiful orange leaf. She carefully placed the twig in her satchel.

With the cool winds growing colder and colder as time passed, she quickly began to gather more wood. As she gathered more wood, she began thinking about the other faeries. Many of them used wands or staffs to amplify their already existent abilities.

She was always quite happy with her own abilities. During the fall, she used her abilities to have the perfect combinations of oranges, reds, and yellows in her gardens. During the spring, she could help the flowers grow tall and shine with the most beautiful array of colours you had ever seen. During the summer she had found a way to maintain her luscious green grass even in the blistering heat. Winter was a different story.

Illusen had always hoped to help her beautiful plants in the winter, but her powers were never enough. Other faeries were capable of such great feats but not her.

***

The other faeries noticed tears running down Illusen’s face. They were so entranced with the story that several of them never thought that Illusen held in such emotion.

Illusen quickly noticed the attention and wiped her face and continued her tale.

***

As Illusen thought longer she realised that these faeries that were capable of such feats had one thing in common. They used a wand or staff. Maybe this was the missing piece.

She continued to ponder on this idea not realising her satchel began to glow in the exact spot where the twig with the single orange leaf was sitting. The more she thought about amplifying her powers, the brighter it got until her satchel burst into flames causing her to fling it from around her body and jump back.

The entire satchel was gone along with the wood. Only the twig was left. It was floating in the air with a bright orange glow around it…

***

Illusen awoke to the sound of the birds and looked out joyously to the leaf filled trees, but then gasped as she saw a crowd of faeries making the trees leafless with their glowing staffs and wands!

She clenched her hand around her wand as she stood up. It didn't matter their motive. Her trees were happier and healthier with the change; it was up to her to keep that happiness. Being a young faerie herself, she knew couldn't act directly against the faeries who had entered her land. But with the right conduit, perhaps she wouldn't need to...

She made her way back to the tall elm tree where she had acquired her staff. If a single branch from the root held such power, what more could she do if she channelled the magic potential within the entire tree?

If she was right, it would be more than enough to protect her glade. Even if she wasn’t, she had to try.

She stood at the base of the tree, tapped her staff to the bark, and began to sing.

My gorgeous elm who knows the earth

and stands above so grand,

I call your inner power forth

to bless this suff’ring land.

Cold robs from trees vitality,

and I will intervene.

Upon this land I call now for

an everlasting green.

May the trees be bright and verdant,

may warm air fill the sky.

May the sun rise high above and

act a constant ally.

May we act a constant haven

to give comfort and aid.

May those who seek to stop this green

be banished from this glade.

Great elm, help me grant this blessing;

help plant life take a stand.

Grant my blessing across the glade;

create this springtime land!

With a low and shuddering creaaak from the elm tree, the effects of the spell happened all at once. The sun rose higher in the sky and suddenly had a brighter shine. The snow glistened as it began to melt from the sudden heat that wafted over the land. The branches with stolen or wilted leaves suddenly bloomed anew. All around the glade was a brilliant gleaming green that was characteristic of the beauty of summer.

And most importantly, she heard distant yelps as the faeries who had invaded her glade were forcefully shunted away and indeed banished. Illusen couldn't help but grin and laugh at her grand accomplishment. She had returned summer to her land and protected it from those who would end it! Never again would she or the residents of this glade have to face the chill and perils of winter. She twirled and danced in place, humming with absolute joy in her newly created eternal paradise.

***

Illusen had stopped speaking, finding her throat too tight to continue. Her hands were clasped together tightly, and it took all of her composure to meet any of the other faeries in the eye. Silence had overtaken the group as they waited, either for the Earth Faerie to compose herself or for them to absorb the magnitude of what she had done.

After some time, Illusen took a breath to compose herself. But before she could continue, an air faerie stood up.

“Then it was you...” she said slowly. “You’re the one who caused the Plight of Meridell...”

Illusen swallowed and blinked back her tears. "Yes," she said solemnly. "The Plight of Meridell, when the seasons were thrown into disarray. But at that time, I didn't know that my eternal summer...had a price."

* * *

Illusen brandished her staff and watched as the elm tree swayed in the warm breeze, its green foliage so beautiful against a bright and sunny sky. It felt like she was dancing with a friend. Winter suddenly seemed so far away, and in fact, it grew farther and farther away as the grass sprouted outward from her paradise, bursting from the snow. Flowers started to grow back in bare bushes and patches of drab ground, the frost melted away...

And then suddenly, the temperature around her began to drop.

"What? What's going on?"

She could have sworn that the wind blowing past her had become cooler and spun leaves away into the air.

Leaves that were red and brown and orange and yellow, none of them green.

A pit formed in Illusen's stomach as she paused and looked around. The verdant elm's leaves were changing. The colours of autumn had begun to creep into her realm as nature tried to push back against the unnatural order.

Illusen had worked hard to protect her realm from the harshness of winter. She was not about to let it return there.

The earth faerie flicked her staff high and sang once more. Her tone rose with determination, and she even stamped her foot.

"You shall not enter,

O chill of winter,

You shall not touch this place,

Or turn it into a chilly waste.

Let spring always prevail,

Summer never fail,

The leaves remain green,

The flowers be seen!

There is no place for fall,

No place for the cold at all!

Only the seasons of plenty,

Of life and vitality.

Now, O great elm,

Help me protect my realm,

With your power so splendid,

Bless me, as you did!"

The unruly wind whipped around her, lifting her hair and rippling her skirt. But it did not become any warmer. Grey clouds appeared in the sky and began to move in front of the sun. More leaves were torn from the trees to whirl away in the wind, flowers wilted, and what leaves remained in the trees rapidly changed colour.

"Please...I just want to save you!"

Her staff flashed as she swung it about to the tune of her song, but to no avail. Snowflakes began to fall around her, pooling in snowdrifts. Even her ally, the venerable elm tree, was now a bare skeleton of its summer self.

"Tell me, who was it you wanted to save?"

Illusen paused. All around her was a mishmash of autumn and winter, with only a few rebellious patches of green grass left. She followed the source of the voice and saw one faerie standing in what was once her beautiful paradise, feeling dread wash over her like the frost forming on the bare bushes.

"Taelia..."

How will this story end?

Illusen squinted through the cold, wet, whirling, fast-falling flurries. "Who-- who are you?"

"To everything there is a season,

Warmth and life to cold and death

It's Nature's way of steadfast reason

Scorching words with icy breath.

And when that balance has been broken,

By some means of magic lesser,

Nature acts in deeds unspoken --

Rights Herself, ousts the aggressor.

You have disobeyed the laws of

Nature through your verdant Glade.

I, Her steward, come from above

To see you pay for your charade."

The Winter Faerie took a step forward. "Your opposite is not Jhurora, oh Illusen, fairest of the earth faeries of spring. Your opposite -- is me."

A shiver ran down Illusen's spine -- and not just from the cold. She wouldn't even become intimately involved with Jhudora for another century. And in Fyora's name, she couldn't remember ever meeting this Winter Faerie before. She wasn't part of Illusen's story. "What-- what is this?" the earth faerie gaped. "And who ARE you?" she reiterated, almost pleadingly.

"This is your vision. Your story. But you need to know the truth." She took another step closer. "Nature caused the Plight of Meridell. Your rebellious act may have set it in motion, but she was the one who brought the harshest winter in a millennium to the land." Another step. "I am not Nature... I am merely her steward. And you were just a youthful, innocent faerie. I believe that it was wrong -- I believed it was wrong even then -- but I am not Nature... Nature acted as She saw fit to restore order."

Illusen swallowed hard. "So I messed with the laws of nature, I made a mistake... How is bringing utter devastation on a land 'restoring order'?" She snarled. "That's absolutely twisted. Where is any sense of right in that?"

The Winter Faerie softly hummed. "Without Wrong, there is no Right. Without Death, there is no Life. Without Winter, there is no Spring. But Nature... She does not judge. There is no right and wrong to Her. Simply order, and the lack thereof." She paused. "Illusen, if Spring were everlasting -- if it could be Spring forever -- it would no longer be Spring. It would just... be."

Illusen frowned. She wasn't sure if that was incredibly deep or incredibly shallow. But at least on the surface it seemed profound.

"Tell me," the resplendent faerie repeated, "who is it you want to save?"

"I... I want to save the plants. The Neopets of Meridell. Myself..." she frowned and felt caught between the past and present. "Please tell me... what can I do to undo this mess?"

"This is merely a vision of things before, Illusen," the Winter Faerie continued. "But, like the seasons, the world operates in cycles. Your blackmailers were nothing less than The Three. They hoped to trap you in an illusion such as this and force you to redo what you did to create famine anew. So by you owning this, taking control of your story, you have saved the plants, yourself, and all of Meridell. You spared all of these from Nature's re-balancing."

Illusen just stared at her.

The faerie smiled and turned away. "Now you know the truth. Leave this vision and return to your world."

***

Illusen looked around to see herself surrounded by... no one. Not one faerie in her Glade was paying her any attention. They were all indulging in pumpkin pie, various bakes, and salads. It was a harvest festival after all.

"Hey," the earth faerie said as she sidled up beside the air faerie from earlier. "What did you think of the story?"

The air faerie shrugged and smiled. "It was real suspenseful and thrilling... at least until the end. That was a bit of a let-down."

Illusen frowned. "Well I thought the whole story was good."

The faerie opposite her giggled. "Anyway, your secret is out. You caused the Plight... except that you didn't do it directly. It was simply Nature. And now the Glade keeps all the seasons in balance so to ensure order and keep Her happy. It makes sense."

"So you don't harbour any resentments?" Illusen was almost dumbfounded at the relaxed tone of this conversation.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault. Not directly, at least. Honestly, I think we all have silly tales from our young days. And, in your tale, things worked out in the end," the air faerie finished as she walked away.

Illusen walked over to and sat down on her fine wooden chair. Her secret was out and no one seemed overtly upset. The Three had been thwarted once more. And Meridell had come, as the Winter Faerie stated, from Death into Life. She supposed things had worked out in the end.

She smiled. A weight truly had been lifted from her soul.

THE END