Work Text:
Once upon a time, the queen of the fairies sought a spouse.
Barbara Lake was, to most, the most sought after maiden in Arcadia Valley. To Bagdwella, she was an old and true friend. Someone Bagdwella could depend upon, and had depended upon since they were very young.
For anything.
Bagdwella smoothed her skirt and knocked on Barbara’s door. The quaint, little cottage her friend lived in was situated at the edge of town. With its duck pond and space for a good-sized vegetable garden, it would be the perfect place to settle down with a handsome suitor and raise a family.
Yet, Barbara had accepted none of the offers almost every man (and even a few women) of the town had presented to her.
None of them were right, she’d told Bagdwella over and over again. They each lacked “something”. What this mystical “something” of hers was, she refused to specify to Bagdwella, even when prodded. The most she’d say was it was a feeling Barbara would get on occasion when she spent time with her suitors. A feeling that something wasn’t right.
On the one hand, Bagdwella recognized that her friend could decide whatever she wanted when it came to romance. On the other, she looked at Barbara’s cottage and all the suitors who never looked her way even though, as ‘best friend’, she was arguable next best, and sighed to herself.
Barbara’s door opened and a gentleman came out. He nearly ran into Bagdwella, but she sidestepped to avoid him. He didn’t even glance in her direction.
“So, I’ll see you next week?” The man turned to gaze (lovesick, Bagdwella noted) back in the house at Barbara, who’d followed him to the door.
“Errr…sure.” Barbara offered what Bagdwella recognized as her “I’ll humor him” smile.
The man took his leave unaware that he’d been quietly rejected.
Finally, Barbara turned to Bagdwella. “You ready to go? It’ll be so good to escape town for a while.” She closed and locked her door. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been eager for the county fair for ages.” Barbara turned to Bagdwella and winked. “Who knows, maybe we’ll even find you someone charming.”
Bagdwella smiled back. “Perhaps. If I’m lucky. I hardly imagine anyone there will look my way.” She brushed her hands over her skirt.
“Don’t put yourself down,” Barbara encouraged. “Who knows? Maybe tonight is your lucky night.”
“Maybe.”
They set off into the evening as the fireflies started to come out.
Once upon a time, the queen of the fairies sought a spouse.
To lure potential lovers, she planted paths of enchanted mushrooms leading to her realm in the secret corners of the forests of the world.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen mushrooms like these.” Barbara knelt down to examine one of the fungi, which softly glowed every color of the rainbow. She reached out to it.
“Don’t touch that!” Bagdwella shouted at her. Flustered, she added, “It could be poisonous.”
Barbara frowned, puzzled. It wasn’t like Bagdwella to shout. Perhaps, she is more in need of a night of frivolity than Barbara herself. Too much work did tend to fray the nerves. “I don’t think they are,” She told her friend off. Barbara took her hand away from the mushroom she was about to touch, but didn’t move away from it completely. Something about the way it swirled with colors mesmerized her.
“Come away from there.” Bagdwella stomped her foot impatiently. “We need to get going. And it isn’t wise to tempt fate.”
Barbara rolled her eyes. “I’m not tempting fate. It’s just a mushroom.”
“Yes, and you know what they say about people who pay attention to the peculiarities of the woods.”
“You don’t actually believe those old stories, do you?” Barbara teased her friend. Partially because she’s not one to shy away from a good tease and partially to get the focus off herself.
The truth is, she’s always been one to notice the peculiarities of the woods. Ever since she could remember. Odd things, things that everyone else was scared of, fascinated her. Called to her in ways she’d long since learned not to tell others about. Not even Bagdwella.
None of that mattered now, though. She’d invited Bagdwella out in hopes of finding her friend a significant someone at the county fair. Tonight was all about Bagdwella. Not herself. Even if there was a growing, strange prickle at the back of her mind the farther she walked away from the mushroom. Barbara ignored it. She quietly decided to ignore such oddities for the rest of the night.
Maybe if she had chosen differently, she would have realized the mushrooms were growing all along the path she and Bagdwella walked. They’d missed the right turn for the county fair some time ago. Now they were heading into another realm completely. One they would find was quite peculiar.
Once upon a time, the queen of the fairies sought a spouse.
To lure potential lovers, she planted paths of enchanted mushrooms leading to her realm in the secret corners of the forests of the world.
It is said those who follow the path of the mushrooms join her court, yet she takes none as her love.
Ever since her arrival, Nomura has desired the ability to leave. The fairy realm, with all its fancifulness and its glitter, suited her just as well as the world she fled all those years ago from to arrive here, which is to say, not at all.
But she can’t just walk out of this realm either. That’s not how it works. There are certain rules that must be followed. Balance must be maintained. For one to leave, someone must take their place.
It’s annoying.
The whispers pulled Nomura out of her musings. She sat up on the oversized flower she’d been reclining on and listened. It’s unwise to ignore the whispers of Morgana’s fairy court. One might miss out on something interesting, or important.
Like the arrival of newcomers.
There’s two of them, both women. One has long, bright red-brown hair, the other has short, brown spiky hair. They both wear dresses common in the outside world these days.
Nomura hurried to get up and approach them first. There is an opportunity to be had here. Also, the shorter of the two, the spiky-haired one, is quite lovely.
When she reached the two women, Nomura held out her hand to the spiky-haired one. “Care to dance?” She asked with a smile. There’s no party here at the moment, but there’s always music somewhere in the fairy realm.
“Don’t you mean my friend?” The spiky-haired one retorted, an accusation in her eyes.
Nomura frowned. She knew what that was like. To be the one always overlooked for someone better. It’s a wonder this woman and her friend have maintained their friendship. “No, I meant you.” She told the spiky-haired one firmly. “I will ask again, care to dance?”
“Go for it,” the other mortal woman encouraged. “Go on.” She shooed at her friend when she turned to glare at her.
“Come along.” Nomura took the spiky-haired one by the hand and led her to where musicians were setting up. It took her a moment to realize they weren’t doing so for her and her new dance partner, but for Queen Morgana herself, who had come down from her seat on her throne to approach the other newcomer. Nomura groaned. Of course. Everything here revolved around Morgana.
“Is everything all right?” The spiky-haired one asked Nomura.
“Of course.” Nomura clasped their hands in the proper position to begin dancing. “By the way, I don’t believe I caught your name.”
The spiky-haired one chuckled. “My mother always taught me that one should never give their name to a fairy.”
“Oh?” Nomura laughed herself. “Smart woman. In that case, perhaps give me a different name. Just something to call you while we share this evening without claiming power over you.”
“Ella,” The spiky-haired one said quickly. “You can call me Ella, then.”
They dance, and dance, and dance. At some point everything that is not each other becomes less important to them and fades away into the background.
Once upon a time, the queen of the fairies sought a spouse.
To lure potential lovers, she planted paths of enchanted mushrooms leading to her realm in the secret corners of the forests of the world.
It is said those who follow the path of the mushrooms join her court, yet she takes none as her love.
Though many wonder why, none have ever realized that the heart of the fairy queen was given away long ago.
“Would you like to hear a story?” Morgana ran her hand through Barbara’s hair to gently tug the tangles out.
“What? Oh, uh, sure.” Barbara quickly glanced at Morgana, and then back at where Nomura and Bagdwella are dancing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy before.”
Morgana chuckled. “You’re a good friend. Considerate. Tell me, has romance ever visited your heart and set it aflutter?”
Barbara blushed. “Oh. No, not really. I—it’s hard to explain. I never seem to…that is, people seem to like me more than I like them back.”
“Hmm. I see.” Morgana plucks a few nearby buttercups and fashions them into a woven crown, which she places atop Barbara’s head. “I used to know someone just like you.” Her fingers trail down Barbara’s jawline to cup her face. “Humor me with the answer to this question; I have been quite forward with you, yet you do not shy away?”
“I don’t know.” Barbara bit her lower lip. “I have this funny thought in the back of my head. I’ve never been here or seen you before, but this all feels familiar.”
Morgana smiled at her. “That being so, I’ll ask again. Would you like to hear a story, Nimue?”
“What did you just call me?” Barbara’s question is hushed by Morgana putting a finger over her lips.
“Hush,” Morgana whispered. “Once upon a time…”
Once upon a time, eons ago, when the Earth was but a babe, there were three immortal beings; the Golden Sorceress, who balanced the darkest shadows with the brightest of lights, the Emerald Wizard, who maintained all life on the planet, and the Lady of the Lake, who oversaw the fates and destinies of the mortals.
Together, the three ruled the Earth and guided it as eras rose and fell. It was thought their rule would last eternally.
Until the day love blossomed between the Sorceress and the Lady. Their romance did not upset the natural order of things. The Earth continued on regardless of this development. However, the Wizard looked upon them with jealousy, for he had long since desired the Lady’s heart. Though she refused to give it to him time and time again.
Consumed by his desires, one night the Wizard tricked the Lady into drinking enchanted wine that caused her to fall into a deep slumber. While she slept, the Wizard cut out the Lady’s heart, intent on hiding it away to keep for himself. He was found by the Sorceress before he could finish his plan.
In a rage, the Sorceress stripped the Wizard of his immortality and his magic and forced him to walk amongst the mortals until his body aged him into death.
The Sorceress tried everything she knew to save the Lady of the Lake, but none of it worked. In one last desperate attempt, she cast the Lady’s heart into the mortal world in the hopes she would be reborn there and return to the Sorceress one day.
Rather than maintain the rule of the Immortals, the Sorceress retreated from the Earth into a realm she fashioned for herself. She called her new world, the Fairy Realm, and planted paths of enchanted mushrooms as gateway passages to it with the hope that the reborn Lady of the Lake may find and use them to return to her.
She has waited centuries and built a court of those who stumble across the mushrooms, but never has the one she sought come.
“Oh…” Barbara trailed off when Morgana finished telling her tale. “That’s so sad. Is there another tale where the Sorceress and the Lady of the Lake are reunited?”
“Perhaps,” Morgana replied. “I’ve waited for her so long. I fear I will not recognize her when she does come.” She paused to run her thumb over Barbara’s lips. “But there is one way. One thing I can never forget.” She pulled Barbara in as close as possible.
“What’s that?”
“When we kissed, time stood still.” Morgana cups Barbara’s face in her hand and leans in to press her lips against her lady’s.
The morning after her adventure in the Fairy Realm, Bagdwella woke up in the embrace of someone who looked at her first with love before all others, and in a quaint, little cottage with a duck pond and space for a good-sized vegetable garden.
Nomura woke up to the smell of Bagdwella making them breakfast and the at-peace feeling that comes with finally escaping a place she spent so long aching to leave. After leading an enchanted life for so long, she’s more than ready to settle down in a quiet existence.
Barbara woke up to the realization that she’d finally returned to where she belongs and the shaky uncertainty that comes with being the reincarnation of an immortal being who can’t remember she ever was one. Regardless, she’s glad she never has to go back to the town where she never quite managed to fit.
Morgana never really slept the previous night. Having found the one she’d sought for so long, she no longer needed the mushroom paths. She traveled the Earth, breaking the magic in each and every one of them. Once she was satisfied the gateways were closed (and the Wizard, if he lived yet, could never find his way in), she returned to her realm where love awaited.
All in all, it was a fair trade that took place that night Bagdwella and Barbara went off seeking a pleasant evening.