Chapter Text
"I brought you something."
Kishiar stares in surprise at the small, round pit that his brother places in his palms. The shape is unusual for a seed, with odd whorls and a thin sheathe that encases it, almost like a sleeping fairy shielding itself with its wings. "Is this..?"
Keilusa nods, a small smile appearing on his face. "I thought of getting you a pet, but those aren't allowed in the hospital, so I got this instead. I found it in the old Riddle Forest and it reminded me of the fairy tale mother used to tell us. We can plant it together, so you have something to keep you company during the school year when I can't come to visit as often. Besides, fairy flowers are supposed to be lucky, and well... it never hurts to have a little more luck."
Luck. Something Kishiar saw precious little of. Diagnosed first with a rare muscle cancer at the tender age of one and a half, then leukaemia that likely stemmed from the treatments he'd received, most of Kishiar's first memories were of lying sick in a hospital bed. When he turned four and was declared cancer free, it seemed that he could finally live his life outside of the sterile hospital room he'd come to know so well. They had all thought that, right until he collapsed on the first day of grade school and they learned that the cancer had returned with a vengeance, spreading throughout his entire body. He knows that the doctors are working tirelessly to try to cure him, but every passing day seems to bring worse news, his body slowly fading away from a long and tedious fight.
"Thank you." There's no guarantee he'll live long enough to see the plant grow beyond a tiny sprout, if it grows at all, but it will give him something to do, now that the tumour in his brain has left his sight too blurry to be able to read.
Despite his expectations, the seed they plant grows quickly, a green sprout appearing the next morning, which thickens into a heavy stalk by the end of the week. Broad leaves begin to unfurl and by the next week, a large bud appears at the end of the stalk, turning from green, to yellow as it prepares to bloom. Kishiar peels open a Jello container and carefully places it beneath the swollen bud. When he had asked for the container, the nurse had looked so pleased that he wanted to eat something, that he felt a little guilty for accidently misleading the woman. But the old stories said that fairies liked sweets, and the Jello would serve as a perfect offering. He is old enough to know that such fairy tales are not real, but even the fantasy of seeing such a miracle is enough to try it. Initially, he hadn't thought his little plant would grow quick enough to support a flower before his body finally gave out, so what is one more miracle to hope for?
Satisfied with the placement, Kishiar closes his eye for the night, thoroughly exhausted though he had hardly done anything all day. In the morning, he plans to eat the entire thing before the nurse comes back, so as not to disappoint her, even if he feels slightly nauseous at the thought of it.
A pale light wakes Kishiar in the middle of the night, making him wonder if someone had forgotten to close the curtains, letting the moonlight shine through. But no, the curtains are closed, and the light comes from the flower's bloom. As he turns to watch, the petals slowly open, and a small figure drops through the gap, landing on the soft Jello. The figure is shaped just like a human baby, though small enough to fit inside Kishiar's palms, with paper thin wings that flop awkwardly, still wet and sticky with a sap that seems to come from the blooming flower. The baby fairy gazes at the strange ground he's landed on with puzzlement, giving it a tentative poke and sniff, before hesitantly tasting it. Although the baby's expression does not change, his eyes light up and the fairy begins digging into the Jello, consuming the jiggling solid in hearty fistfuls. Even though the Jello is at least twice the size of the fairy, the baby manages to consume it all in a few minutes. Only after he finishes, does he seem to notice Kishiar staring at him curiously, returning a curious glance of his own.
"So, you are real," Kishiar whispers. Tentatively, he reaches into the Jello container, and carefully scoops the little fairy out. The little creature makes a sound that sounds halfway between a trilling laugh and a coo, and Kishiar finds himself smiling for the first time in a while, "You're really cute."
The fairy flaps his wings, the movement a little easier, now that most of the sap has dripped off, and he paddles forward to place one hand against the base of Kishiar's thumb, each step feeling like the tiny patter of raindrops against Kishiar's palm. Kishiar sits back slowly against his pillows, so as not to startle the fairy. He murmurs softly to the creature, not quite sure of the words he says, until sleep finally returns and he drifts off, mid-sentence.
"Oh my, it's bloomed so prettily!"
The nurse's excited comment, wakes Kishiar and he blinks blearily, trying to figure out what she's talking about.
"Oh dear, did I wake you?" the nurse is immediately contrite, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I thought you were already awake."
"It's fine." Seeing how bright it is in the room, he understands her mistake; normally by now, he'd already have been awake for an hour or so. It must have been because he'd woken in the middle of the night because of the fairy... the fairy! He glances around, trying not to make it obvious he's looking for something, but the only signs of what happened last night are the blooming flower and the empty Jello container that the nurse had already collected, her expression pleased that he had finished the entire thing. Even when the nurse leaves after setting up his breakfast tray, the fairy still does not appear. Had he dreamt the entire thing?
Just as he is about to accept that the night before was nothing, but a lucid dream, a tiny figure pops out from behind the potted plant, and flies up onto the tray to join him, wings now fully functional. A feeling of joy and relief swells up inside the boy, and he finds himself eating breakfast with an appetite he thought to be long lost, enabling him to finish his scrambled eggs and toast for once. The fairy helps him finish the rest, munching through the home fries and a package of strawberry jelly that had originally been meant to accompany the toast's butter.
After they finish eating, Kishiar makes the little fairy a tiny robe, using a small piece of the cloth bandage he filches from the first aid kit his parents had left him. It takes a few tries to get it in a position that is comfortable for the fairy to move around in, but once he manages, the fairy seems pretty happy with it, twisting this way and that, to examine it from every angle.
"I should give you a name," Kishiar remarks, as the fairy finally settles down, landing back on Kishiar's knee. What was a good name for a fairy? Kishiar thinks long and hard about this, then finally suggests, "How about Yudrein? It means 'beginning' and 'end'. We started a new beginning together, and I hope you'll stay with me until my end."
The fairy gives this some serious consideration, then gives his wings a sharp flutter, sending sparkling dust to fall down on the sheets. The wings themselves change colour briefly, shifting from pale blue to a cheery gold, before returning to blue once more and the fairy himself, looks pleased.
"I take it that's a yes," Kishiar laughs. "Yudrein it is, then." His fingers brush the sparkling dust and perhaps it's his imagination, but touching the faint gold powder makes him feel a little better. He plays with it for a moment more, before he finally notices something odd. Even though it had been a few weeks since he first noticed the letters on the pages of his books starting to blur, he can see the fine powder quite clearly.
Have my eyes gotten better?
While he's pondering this, Yudrein flies closer to his face, the little fairy whistling a curious note, as if wondering what he's thinking so hard about. Kishiar laughs softly at the fairy's wordless inquiry, and remarks, "Well, let's give it a test."
He still has a couple of the books that his parents had brought him, bookmarks indicating the last pages he'd been able to read before the weakening of his eyesight. He flips one open at random and to his delight, realizes that the letters once again look sharp enough to read. Yudrein lands between the pages, curiously tracing the lettering with his fingers, then looking askance up at Kishiar.
"They're written words," Kishiar explains. "They're used to tell a story, so that others may read it." An idea occurs to him and he asks, "Would you like me to read to you?"
Yudrein thinks about this for a moment, then nods. Kishiar smiles.
"Alright. In that case, perhaps we should start at the beginning." Kishiar gently picks up the fairy so he can flip back to the beginning of the story. The fairy flies up to Kishiar's shoulder and settles there, watching the pages with rapt fascination as Kishiar begins to read out loud. Kishiar reads until the nurse arrives with lunch and Yudrein has to hide again. As soon as she leaves, the fairy is back to share Kishiar's lunch with him and the pair escape once more into the pages of Kishiar's book.