Young Jhudora and Queen Fyora: Part Seven

      Jhudora slowly stood up from the mattress. As there were no windows, she had no concept of what time it was. She slowly opened the door and looked out at the hall. There was no one, so she quickly made her way out of The Academy and into the garden she had admired so much before.

Once she was in the garden, she smiled softly. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her Fyora doll. She sat down among the flowers and held her doll close to her. She slowly began to sing the Dark Hymn to herself.

Her peace was soon disrupted by Illusen standing before her. Jhudora opened her eyes and scurried back slightly. Illusen was flanked by five other earth faeries. Jhudora was outnumbered, but she was hopeful that Illusen wouldn’t attack her on school grounds.

"Hey, dark faerie," Illusen sneered, "What’s your name?"

Jhudora’s eyes brightened. Maybe this was an olive branch. "I’m Jhudora."

"Hmm. . ." Illusen glanced back at her friends, "I think you’re Ugly Orphan Dora."

Jhudora held her doll close to her.

"Erdia," Illusen laughed, "Grab the doll!"

Erdia nodded and raced towards Jhudora, snatching the doll out of her hands. Jhudora stood, shrieking out, "No!"

"Ugly Orphan Dora loves her dolly?" Illusen mocked Jhudora, her voice saccharine, "Then we hate it!"

Erdia threw the doll to Illusen. Illusen grabbed a stick from the ground and stabbed it through the doll. Illusen smirked as Jhudora began to sob.

"Oh look, dolly wants to wave at you!" Illusen laughed, "Now she can’t!" She ripped off the doll’s arm and threw the doll to the ground. She stomped on it and twisted her foot so that she rubbed it into the dirt.

The earth faeries began to pick up clods of dirt. They began to throw them at her as they chanted in a sing-song tone, "Ugly Orphan Dora has no one who loves her!"

"Illusen!"

Jhudora turned to see where the voice was coming from. Her face blanched when she realized it was Fyora.

"What are you doing!? Scatter this instant! I will speak with your Elder!" Fyora cried out, "Leave!"

Illusen and her friends quickly scattered. Fyora knelt down and hugged Jhudora. Jhudora’s sobs wracked her body.

Fyora pulled away and looked down at her own dress. She bit her lip and whispered, "They threw dirt at you."

Jhudora nodded. She whispered in Dark Fae, her voice distorted through the tears, "They hurt my doll."

Fyora looked over at the doll, lying beaten on the ground. She covered her mouth as it hung open in shock. She slowly made her way to the doll and picked it up off the ground. She began to cry as she saw the damage Illusen had done. She slowly pulled the stick out of the doll’s chest and held it close to her for a moment before grabbing the doll and its separated arm in one hand and holding it out in front of Jhudora. Jhudora watched in awe as the doll started to glow pink. The tears and dirt from Illusen’s abuse slowly began to disappear. After a few minutes, the glow subsided and Fyora handed the doll to Jhudora. Jhudora held it close for a few seconds before starting to sob again.

"Jhudora . . . what is wrong?" Fyora knelt down so that she was at eye level with Jhudora. She gently wiped away the dark faerie’s tears as she waited for Jhudora to compose herself.

"This was . . ." Jhudora sniffled, "The Elder made it for me, because she said, after the bells, everything would change. And it smelled like her cottage, but now it smells like magic. And I’m eternally grateful you fixed my doll, but I miss her."

Fyora hugged Jhudora tightly. Fyora took a deep breath. She wanted to snap her fingers and bring all of the dark faeries back, but she knew she couldn’t. Even though she knew exactly where they had been taken away to, the Elders would never forgive her for the transgression.

"But how is school?" Fyora smiled softly, hoping with all of her heart that this was an isolated incident.

Jhudora looked down at the ground and whispered, "If you help me, they’ll hate you."

Fyora looked around the garden before yelling out, "You were rude and inconsiderate to the entire school, and I must punish you for that!"

Confused, Jhudora began sobbing violently as Fyora grabbed her wrist and dragged her into her castle.

Once they were inside the castle, Fyora hugged Jhudora close to her and began singing the Dark Hymn.

Jhudora was too emotionally drained to question it. She simply went limp as Fyora held her. After the song had finished, Fyora pulled away and sighed.

"I want your help," Jhudora looked down at the floor, "But I want to you be safe and happy. There was one faerie who was nice to me, but now she hates me because I accidentally injured a lot of little faerie toddlers."

"Oh . . ." Fyora blushed as she looked out of a window, "I really should have known that would happen if you took flying lessons."

"Everyone is mean, no one is willing to learn my name," Jhudora sniffled, "And they’re making me sleep in a supply closet."

Fyora took Jhudora’s wrist and began to make her way to a sitting room. Once they were in the room, Fyora gestured to a couch. As Jhudora sat down on it, her eyes widened. She kicked off her shoes for the first time since she put them on and curled up in a ball. Fyora began to ask her a question, but stopped when she realized that Jhudora was likely falling asleep on the softest surface she had ever felt. Fyora smiled softly as she pulled a set of blinds down over the sole window in the room and walked out, closing the door behind her.

    Jhudora slowly opened her eyes. She glanced around the unfamiliar room before noticing a plate of tea sandwiches on the coffee table in front of her. She quickly grabbed one and ate it in one bite. She took a deep breath and smiled softly. Faerieland food was magical. She picked up another and slowly ate it, savoring each bite.

Luma slowly entered the room, doing her best to not distract Jhudora from her food. Luma smiled softly watching the dark faerie covered in dirt eat delicate snacks.

Jhudora blushed as she realized she was being watched. She looked over at Luma and bowed her head.

"Oh, Jhudora," Luma laughed softly, sitting down on a couch across from her, "I’m glad to see that this is the horrible punishment Fyora has been telling all the Elders about."

Luma paused. She expected Jhudora to respond as any other faerie her age would. Most would make a snide comment about the poor quality of the sandwiches and how eating them was a horrible punishment. Instead, Jhudora blushed as if she truly had done something wrong.

"Jhudora, can you do magic?" Luma asked softly.

Jhudora looked up and shook her head. She cleared her throat and responded, "The Dark Elder knew that if I was caught casting spells, I might be locked away because I was too dangerous. I never learned how to."

"Surely, you can do small party tricks," Luma smiled softly, "Making little orbs of light, making things float, silly things."

Jhudora shook her head again, "It was too dangerous."

Luma reached into a bag on her hip. She pulled out a few scrolls. She handed one to Jhudora. Jhudora pulled it open and gasped. It was written in the Dark Elder’s handwriting. She quickly read over it and blushed harder. She looked up at Luma and bit her lip. She asked softly, afraid of upsetting Luma, "Can you read Dark Fae?"

"Oh," Luma laughed softly, "Of course not. I just brought all of the scrolls I knew your Elder had written. I have faith in you, try it out!"

Jhudora read over the scroll. She picked up one of the sandwiches and closed her eyes. She remembered when the Elder had shown her this spell when they were running low on ingredients. She sang the words to the spell exactly as her Elder had. In a blinding flash of green light, the sandwich became an apple.

Luma stared in complete shock. She stammered as her eyes adjusted back to the natural light of the room.

Jhudora took a bite out of the apple and smiled. It tasted just like the apples that the Elder had made out of clumps of dirt years ago.

Luma silently handed Jhudora another scroll. Jhudora took it and read over it. She took a deep breath before looking up at Luma and shaking her head.

"Why not?" Luma asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Jhudora sat down the apple and read over it again. She looked up at Luma and sighed, "These spells are nothing like the ones they do in class. This is a spell for combat. When read properly by a dark faerie, a fireball will engulf the faerie’s immediate surroundings. I’ve only seen it happen once by the Elder, and it was terrifying."

Luma’s jaw dropped as she realized why dark faeries were so feared. She had tried to find basic spells for Jhudora to practice, and instead she found insanely powerful weapons.

Luma handed over all of the scrolls. Jhudora opened each and glanced over the scrolls. Once she had looked over all of them, she looked up at Luma. "Dark faeries don’t really have party tricks."

"You know," Luma glanced around the room nervously, "I think there are books and scrolls hidden away somewhere. Fyora should know."

Luma stood and quickly scurried out of the room. Jhudora turned her attention back to the plate of sandwiches.

Luma ran until she was sure Jhudora wouldn’t hear her. She cried out, "Queen! Queen Fyora!"

Fyora appeared before Luma. She furrowed her brows slightly as Luma stammered, "She’s . . . I’m . . . She’s powerful . . . I’m . . . I’m scared."

Fyora sighed, "Why are you scared? She’s a child!"

"Have you ever seen a child turn a sandwich into an apple?" Luma whispered.

"No . . . She did that?" Fyora gasped, "That’s very difficult for someone who has practiced magic for decades."

"And then I gave her the rest of the scrolls I had, and she said," Luma gasped to catch her breath, "Dark faeries don’t have party tricks."

Fyora took a deep breath. She walked resolutely to the door to the sitting room. She put her hand on it and slowly opened it.

When she walked in, she gasped. The table was covered in fruit, when all she had left earlier were sandwiches.

Jhudora looked up from the bunch of grapes in her hands. She smiled softly and held out the bunch of purple fruit. "Want some?"

Fyora laughed softly, "Once you get going, it’s hard for you to stop, isn’t it?"

Jhudora nodded as she glanced down at a pineapple sitting on the middle of the table. She cleared her throat before asking softly, "Can I show you another spell I saw the Elder do?"

Fyora nodded softly. Jhudora cleared her throat and sang out another spell. She flicked her wrist, and from her nails grew four glowing sabres. Fyora gasped as Jhudora picked up the pineapple in one hand and sliced into it with the blades protruding from her fingertips. Jhudora flicked her wrist again and the blades dissipated into nothingness.

"I don’t know what this is," Jhudora laughed softly, "But I saw it in the dining hall and I wanted to try it. They just gave me oats, though."

She sat the fruit on the table where the slices separated and fell onto the polished wood. Jhudora took a slice and bit into the yellow flesh. She let out a joyous squeak as she savored the flavor.

Fyora’s eyes widened as she took a slice of the pineapple and took a bite. All she could think was, this is literally a pineapple. Most of the time, a faerie needed to have a clear and exact image of what they wanted to create while using transformation spells. For an average faerie, using a transformation spell to make a fruit they had never eaten would result in a strange, usually nasty version that only looked like the original. Jhudora was able to recreate it perfectly from one glance.

Fyora put down the pineapple and simply studied Jhudora. She finally understood the fear that the other faeries had. Fyora truly wished to meet the Dark Elder simply to ask her how dark faeries could live with such intense power.

"Jhudora," Fyora bit her lip, "I don’t know what to do. I see how powerful you are. If anyone else saw it, they would seek to destroy you. I don’t want you to waste time not mastering your powers, but I’m afraid what would happen if anyone saw you doing it."

Jhudora looked down at the floor and sighed. "If I came here to take lessons from you, then people would hate you for helping me."

Fyora’s eyes widened. She smiled brightly, "Unless I’m punishing you!" Fyora stood and slowly made her way towards Jhudora.

Jhudora tilted her head to the side. She flinched slightly as Fyora gently touched her finger below Jhudora’s right eye. As Fyora pulled her hand away, a giant bruise formed under Jhudora’s eye. Fyora grabbed the dark faerie’s wrist as gently squeezed it. As Fyora pulled her hand away, Jhudora’s wrist began to swell and bruise. Jhudora gasped. She felt a slight stinging, but it wasn’t painful.

Jhudora bit her lip and looked up at Fyora. "You’re ok with them thinking you hurt me?"

"I need them to think I did," Fyora sighed, "They need to think I think poorly of dark faeries."

Jhudora nodded and rubbed her wrist.

"I don’t know when it will be safe to ‘punish’ you again," Fyora sighed, "The moment an Elder complains about you, I’ll run in there screaming about how you’re going to regret whatever you were doing."

Jhudora nodded and slowly stood. She wiped her hand on her skirt before picking up her Fyora doll. She quickly hugged it before stashing it away in her backpack.

"It shocked me," Fyora sighed, "Jhudora, it shocked me. To hurt you, they sought to destroy and effigy of me. I know you’re struggling, but for me, be strong."

Jhudora smiled softly and nodded.

"Oh, and Jhudora," Fyora grabbed the scrolls and handed them to her, "Practice, but don’t let anyone see you."

Jhudora threw her arms around Fyora before running out of the room and towards The Academy, pinching herself so that she could sob about her ‘torture’.

To be continued…