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Glora peaked out of her bedroom, her eyes sparkling with joy and mischief. She waved down Jastian Silkheart, one of the older child fairies who lived in the house with her. While Glora was similar to a ten-year-old child in understanding and behaviour (now that she was almost as old as a grape seed charm lasted), Jastian (who was as old as the community's aged turtle shell paint) was similar to a fifteen-year-old.
"Jas, is Miss Alemer here?" she whispered, motioning for Jastian to be quiet too.
"I think so. She was tidying the kitchen with Miss Thalidh Lotusbell, the new caregiver who just started training last night," Jastian said. She smiled. "I think Miss Thalidh is really nice. She's promised to teach me how to play the rabbit fur harp - aren't I lucky?!"
Glora nodded impatiently. She did not really care all that much about rabbit fur harp. She just wanted Miss Alemer to be around so she could pull the little prank she had been planning. Jastian recognized the spark in her eyes.
"Glora, be good," she implored.
"I'm good," Glora replied, too quickly to have thought through her automatic response anytime someone questioned if she was about to be naughty.
"Don't do anything naughty while a new caregiver is just learning the house," Jastian told her. "It isn't fair to them to have to deal with mischief when they're just starting."
"I just have a surprise for Miss Alemer. It's not naughty at all," Glora assured her, before popping back into her room. She lifted the blueberry she had found on her flight this morning and tumbled down to her bottom, the weight of the berry too much for her to lift comfortably. She sat there, panting hard at the wasted exertion, then leaned over and took a couple bites of the fruit. Gulp! It weighed less now! She tried lifting it again and was pleased that, although it made her very top heavy and she had to beat her wings hard to manage to lift the berry, it was possible.
Miss Alemer loved blueberries, but she usually gave away any that she found to others, making sure everyone else in the community was cared for before herself. But Glora had found this, and it was up to her to choose who she wanted to share it with, and she wanted Miss Alemer to have it for herself. When she had found it, she had been struck by the realization that the berry looked a lot like the fluffy bluey-purple pillow that Miss Alemer had on her bed.
What if I replaced the pillow with a berry as a prank? the little fairy had thought, then, filled with determination and with the help of a sleepy firefly out of bed far too long, she had transported the berry to the house and sneaked it through her window until a moment would clear for her to get it into Alemer's room. That moment seemed to be now.
Glora made it to her doorway with the blueberry and tried to look both ways, although that was difficult with the giant berry blocking her vision. She quietly flew along the hallway, her wings beating a frantic hum. She managed to nudge Alemer's door open with her foot and flew in. She dropped the blueberry on Alemer's bed with relief, then rushed back to the door to close it behind herself. She giggled to herself as she flew back to the bed and snatched the pillow off, putting it beneath the bed to hide it from view. With it out of the way, hopefully Alemer would think the blueberry was her pillow, and then when she rested her head on it she would be in for a wonderfully fruity surprise!
Giggling to herself in delight, Glora went back to the door. Just as she put her hand on the knob, the door opened, pushing her back. The startled little fairy yelped in surprise.
"Glora! My stars, darling! You nearly made my wings stop!" Alemer gasped, picking Glora up from where she had stumbled backward and landed on the floor. "Are you all right?"
"Yes?" Glora said uncertainly, still trying to figure that out. She had landed on her bottom rather hard. It was a good thing her dust had not been gathered for a couple days or it would have stung rather badly!
"Good," Alemer said, gently tucking Glora's unruly curly strands of hair back behind her ears. Then she looked around the room and frowned a little, suspicious. "Glora, what are you doing in here?" she questioned. Glora's tummy flipped at the tone. Uh oh! She had not thought through the risk of being caught. She, as every other child fairy in the home, knew that they were not allowed in an adult's room without supervision or permission.
"Um ... I was ... looking for you," she crafted an excuse quickly.
"Really?" Alemer asked suspiciously.
"Maybe?" Glora said, nervous. Now that she was thinking about it, this seemed like a good way to end up getting a spanking for breaking a well-known rule in the home. She shifted anxiously, not wanting to get in trouble for a poorly-planned good deed. At least Alemer always heard her out. She had never even been spanked by the caring mentor, and she hoped that streak would continue.
Alemer's eyes were darting around the room, apparently searching for any signs of mischief due to Glora's unclear answers. She frowned a little as she noticed something odd about her bed.
"Glora, what did you do to my pillow?" she asked long-sufferingly as she flew over to check it.
Glora could not help the delighted smile that spread across her face as she watched Alemer check over the "pillow", her suspicion turning to astonished happiness as she realized the gift that Glora had sneaked there for her.
"Oh, Glora, you little darling!" she gasped. "You got me a blueberry!"
"It's just for you, as a present!" Glora explained excitedly, zipping over and spinning a loop in the air with giddy joy at having her gift be so appreciated.
"It's lovely! Did you find it all yourself?"
"All myself!" Glora crowed. "And I brought it here, and I only came in your room because I wanted to surprise you with it! And it's for you, and please don't give it away, 'cause I want you to be able to eat it all!"
"I see," Alemer said, holding her arms open. Glora flew to them and beamed with joy as Alemer gave her a tight hug. "But honey, I don't think I can eat it all on my own."
"But ... but it's for you!" Glora began to protest, until she looked up and registered the kindness in Alemer's gentle brown eyes.
"I was going to say, I think I'll need your help too," Alemer said.
"Oooh!" Glora had been so excited to share the blueberry, she had not even considered Alemer might want to share with her! Well, that could be an exception!
"Just you and me?" she asked, loving the invitation into a special moment with the motherly fairy.
"Just you and me," Alemer confirmed.
Glora dashed to the door. "I'll get the forks!"
It was rather lovely to get a surprise blueberry snack too!