Bright side Part 2 of 2

And so I conclude this other “short” story, and I was surprised I was able to in the amount of time! I also have completed another short story, which is definitely shorter, and quite a different approach to this one, but with still a similar theme. Can you spot it? I’m sure you can, but by the end of the month, each story will have an overall theme connecting them. I was very happy with Part 1, and I was absolutely up-front that this would be Part 1 of 2, and so I give to you: Brightside Part 2 of 2 The Geranium Castle, made of flowering petals every season, donned in wilted plants in the Fall, was more a palace, giant enough to fit all of faerie-kind in its dog-eared gates, and still have elbow room for every pixie every to live and dew. Brightside was taken aback by the glorious hues. The Geranium Castle was named for the wondrous flowering shrubs, footed with some of the most beautiful perennials the world had to offer. It was a rich, vibrant shade of forest, and it shined ever so brightly, that it was heavenly to the faeries to make the pilgrimage. The Geranium Castle was the birthplace of the faerie empire. Wars against the faeries and pixies over the course of thousands of suns had torn the Forest of Wonder into a torrid disgrace of what it now has so majestically become. The pixies were able to procure the castle, and have controlled it ever since. To the pixies, it was a magnificent architectural feat from a world gone by, and for Brightside, it signified such a beautiful hope for peace and prosperity. Because of the solemn treaties; both pixie and faeries have endured in a quiet temperance for so many sunrises, the dew of those who fought had evaporated in the Holy Sky wheel, to shine forever. When Brightside and company came upon the ancient castle; the flourishing, glistening beauty of the whole pixie kingdom amazed her. Glimmer Beard just happily cried tears. It had been many moons since he had seen the castle, and it seemed to shine so brightly in favor of his homecoming. He had never been so proud to be Duke of the Glistening Providences. Glimmer Beard held on tightly to his wife, basking in the sparking glory that some had called: “The Diamond of Forrest”. The Prince, and residing King and Queen met them on the palace steps, which was a bit unorthodox, but seeing as they may be welcoming another child into their brood; it was only honorable to meet their son’s future wife right at the front of the gates. The meeting was very hush-hush, so few faeries and pixies were around to witness the memorable event, however, it would go down in history as one of the most important meetings in the entire history of the Forest of Wonder. The Prince welcomed his guests with a decorum that rivaled any pixie of privilege, treating the lowly Duke and Duchess like family and upper caste loyalty. It was impervious to the King and Queen that they marry off their first-born heir as soon as possible. They have seen nearly sixty cycles already, a total of 21,000 sunrises. With so many sunrises, it was time to pas on the flame to a worthy heir that would carry on the legacy of the family their eldest was the best option, and Brightside was considerably the most intriguing pixie to ever been born, her history alone was enough to make her a most illustrious queen. Brightside was always told her specialty was her to shine the brightest of the pixies, almost fiery piercing in splendid luster, but she even doubted her courtship with the Prince, and was already missing Elder. Elder, who has been like a secondary father figure to her, and the best friend a tree could be to a pixie. He was so bright, and so full of knowledge. He had seen the beginning of the forest, remembering the changing of the world as a sprout, and the end of the war against the faeries and pixies, when he was still a sapling. Brightside has learned so much from him, she was afraid she’d lose that bond forever. How often does a Queen get to leave the safety of the castle walls, and go off to explore. Has she skipped across her last pond? The families met in the spherical hall known as the Orbital, and conversed heavily over their children’s futures. Glimmer Beard was happy to josh with king, who he had not seen in what felt like forever, as they caught up on life from when the were sprites. The two had been good friends when attending a mage course in their prime. They had not seen each other in o long, and the Queen and new Duchess were conversing on the merits of living in the Forest of Wonder and the Glistening Providence. Both were disheartened by the sad news of the Mire Lands, which have gone through a rough season of no sunlight, and the faeries have isolated anyone from coming or going to reserve supplies. It was all politics for the elders, but Brightside found her rather shy to eve speak a word to the Prince, who also seemed to be standoffish as well. Both felt like childish sprites, cheeks growing rosier by the moment with embarrassment. “So” she began, nearly whispering the word, before completely silencing her breath. “Yeah…” muttered the Prince, almost as quick to shut his lips, so the word was squeezed out more like a whistle. He was very polite in his tone, as though he were the perfect gentleman behind a scouring face, and high-profile stance. Brightside found him t be very attractive psychically, and he was quite larger than most pixies she’d met, but that made her feel even more inferior with her size, as she tried to keep a smile over the jovial laughter. There was royal jelly, powder water, and ad salty, brined legumes. She had never seen such a feast of so many exotic drinks, foods, and sweets. Brightside was ecstatic by the music she heard coming from above. Faeries were happily playing from the minarets with their lyres and harps in hand. The King turned to e, and addressed her, although she wasn’t certain he was directly asking for her, or speaking to someone behind her. She was never used to being acknowledged much, when you look like nothing but a fly oat the table, it’s hard o to ever feel acknowledged. “I’m sorry, Your Royalty, what did you ask of me? I apologize that I had not heard you the first time, as the breath of a King is of the utmost important to hear.” “Do no fret child, with all this commotion, how could anyone hear even the caw of the crow? I simply asked if you were enjoying your meal, it seems you’ve barely touched it…are you too overwhelmed? If so, I can have you escorted to your room, so to retire early, it would not cause either myself or the Queen any offense, it would be a pleasure.” She smiled a clean-cut, nearly mirror-mouthed smile at Brightside. She was rather famished, but her stomach a somersaulting around, making her esophagus act like a tetherball. She caught a small lump I her throat and swallowed the disdainful taste down wit some nectar, and graciously curtsied, and was led off to her bed. She thanked the King and queen numerous times, and curtsied once to the Prince, only saying on lite breath “Your Grace.” She was led to her room by one of the pixies that worked in the castle. The room was immaculate. It had the most opalescent shimmer of spider-web, which covered a hole in the ceiling, but let I the staggering moonlight. It was amazing, and she couldn’t believe tat people lived like that as she thought back to her enclosed branches back in the forest. It was amazing to be I a room that she could fly around in, and still barely touch the ceiling. It was so large, that it gave a great deal of realism to just how large the castle was and she was beginning to see herself living in something this glorious. She felt herself narrowing her ambitions, and quickly regained her senses. She was not going to give in to overrated materials in an old castle built by the hands of pixie killers. She learned a great deal of what the faeries did to the pixies, and even if it were lifetimes ago, she still felt a mild discomfort around them. Even so, the faeries have never given her a legitimate reason to doubt their sincerity, they seemed quite peaceful in-comparison to the monsters that Elder painted up from when the wars bean. Tearing the hearts out from the poor pixies, ripping off the heads with their vile teeth, and tearing them to pieces until they were glittering paper. Et these creatures of habit seemed far from the tyrannical killers that Elder painted, some even seemed friendlier than most pixies she knew who had picked on her size. She general didn’t want to be labeled a freak, but also didn’t mind seeing things in a different perspective. Perhaps the were too big and she was the perfect size. What is really freakish in nature s decided sole by the majority, even if that majority is likened to being the abnormality. She was happy with being smaller, for she shined brighter than any other, and that made her feel content. After the twilight set in, she and the prince moved to the ballroom where the real faerie king Elfonzor and his queenly wife Meriwether held their wedding. It was considered by faerie lore to be the most beautiful wedding procession in the history o the kingdom. Nymphs from as far as the Southern tip of the world were preset for the undertaking of such a magnificent event. “This is where we are to be wed, Brightside. Can you feel the history? Can you feel he storied dew of the past built up in the shrubby walls of this room? It’s enough to light your heart aflame. I can’t tell you how much of a pleasure it’s been to meet the famous daughter of the Duke of the Glistening Providence. You are by far the most intelligent pixie I’ve come across. You seethe out such vibrancy for culture and history. Yet, our conversation skills are a bit lacking, as I feel like I’m talking to this greenery and be challenged are more by it’s photosynthetic creaking.” “My sincerest apologies, dear Prince. I was just lost in my own mind, contemplating all that has happened these past magnificent sunsets. I come from a far-back, sun-deficient, solace part of the forest. Just to be in the presence of all this light and culture, it has me at a shocked silence. Forgive me.” The prince smiled, and came closer his impeding figure was large, but solemn, as though a giant cloud of caressing calm flowed over her. She was enthralled with his girth; it seemed t fill out the room where tin lightning bugs lit the room o a proper ambience that gave it such resonating power and archaic beauty. His smile wrapped across his face like a crescent moon, and she could not believe that such a beautiful creature would be enthused over her impish figure. She had never had taken on any serious thought of a bridal garland, but never before has any courtship ever seemed so real. Yet, something felt amiss in spite of all the Prince’s timely charm. She felt alone in the castle, and shuddered veer suddenly, much in contrast of the bright, heated passion in the prince’s eyes, and his sunshine lips. Brightside knew that no matter the charm, she wanted to g home, ad no amount of princely aesthetics could keep her from fleeting pains towards her childhood forest. The Prince saw a deep concern, almost a fright come over Brightside. He cautioned to come up upon her with flighty missteps, and backed off to give her some space. “My dear, what seems to be the matter? At first we are both mesmerized by such a singular gaze, and the next you stare at me like I am a harrier! I did not meant not make you a fright with my staunch presence, I am a pixie of priority and respect, and do not want to demonize such a lovely evening. I hope I have not come off as unjust.” Brightside was back in her own mine for the moment, as the shining mysticisms of the Princes gleaming smile was now covered by muffled lips of concern. “No, I much rather was enjoying the subtle ambience around us, it’s as romantic as an young sprite could’ve dreamed of for their proposal, but I fear the loss of my childhood home, and my familiar things. I have friends, family, and companions that are dearest to me back home. Castle Leaf aside, the forest has been my home, through rain, or shine, and neither is unbecoming of my happiness. This, as gorgeous as it is, this does not feel like home. I’m sorry, but I fear this isn’t going to make me happy, no matter your charm, not hate you brightness. It just feel so alone all-the-sudden, and I miss Elder she was nearly weeping as the old life she was being forced away from, came back in such strong images to her mind, it was almost excruciatingly painful in tearing her mind apart. “Oh, but my dearest Brightside! I would never intend for you to ever feel upset over such a fate! Why do we not just go and live there? I grow tired of this appeasing place full of sprites screaming, and pixies clawing to get in the front door for a glimpse of my parents. Perhaps a subtle seclusion would do us both well. Whatever to make my future bride, and forever wife happy, I shall do what’s best for you and within all my power to do so! Might I ask who this Elder be> a lifelong friend? A cousin of mishap that makes you feel of nostalgia?” Brightside was shocked and smiling, brightest she ha been in so long over the news that the chances of moving back to Castle Leaf were possible. She wasted no time, and filled in the prince about Elder, her teacher, mentor, first best friend, and even-tempered discipliner. She told of how he ha lived for over a thousand years, perhaps even older, and had been one of the only trees she found could be communicated wit. Many did exist in the forest, but normally on the outskirts of the Forest of Wonder. In-fact, she only met one other tree that would even dare to communicate to a pixie. Most only spoke the faerie tongue, but others refused to converse with pixie-kind, as the saw them as a greater threat. The other tree was named Dendros, a far more ancient tree than even elder, but he had long fell to the moss of time, and sadly, he was not very much a friend to Brightside, but her big heart still pained for his loss. The Prince sat fascinated by Brightside’s energy. She was glowing with love and admiration for her home, and he saw that she looked ever so happy, and more so the beauty than he first saw at the departing of the carriage but a sunrise ago upon her arrival. She was masterful in dialogue, giving such beautiful allegories to redefine parts of the forest that he was only mires and shade. Still, it was beginning to sound far more magnificent than the city of Castle Geranium, and he waned an escape from father and mother’s clutches, because they were too over-enthralled with their firstborn child, that he needed some breathing room. Brightside continued, as the Prince listened intently with a relaxing joy of seeing his over enticed to tell away her wondrous life. She explained about skipping the pond, and discovering a fish, and that her tree canopy loft was enough cover to see the brightest of past pixies staring back from the sky, the ancients twinkled and sparkled so brightly it seemed from atop the highest branches, that the moon paled in assessment. The Prince seemed sold as she ran out of bated breath, and they were soon married in the grand coronation of making Brightside Princess of the providences, and the entire Pixie kingdom. They stayed a few more sunrises, but it was nearly one hundred and fifty sunrises before it was all taking into consideration: the Duke and Duchess would be given a loft in the palace of Castle Geranium, while Brightside and the Prince of pixies would move to Castle Leaf, and begin their new lives. The King and Queen didn’t mind having the Duke much closer to them, it would make giving over the politics much simpler than having to meet at some outlandish palace in the middle of nowhere. They would be given a new castle, which would be on the outside of the castle: it would be called Castle Dandy, as it would be by flights away from Geranium, and in the dandelion fields that were on the plains of the furthest reaches of the forest. The Due and Duchess couldn’t have been more pleased. While that was being built, they would stay in the palace, and the Castle Leaf would be considered a dowry for Brightside to present to the royal family. When Brightside and the Prince arrived at the inner forest, she exploded out of the carriage, and went straight off to see Elder. It had been the longest she’d ever been without seeing him, and the Prince smiled brightly, as she flew off, and he merely waved, and laughed with pride at his rambunctious wife. It made him feel even deeper in love to see her happy. She skipped exceedingly fast across the pond, this time nearly diving deep into the brisk, cold waters, but it didn’t burn out her fiery spirits. Then she saw him, nestled in the same spot that has been his own niche for thousands of years Elder turned lightly with the wind, and stood at attention to await the arrival of his star pupil. “Brightside! You’ve returned! I’ve grown weary without you; I felt you were gone forever. Perhaps a plot of your father's to keep you from my lesson-plan, rather fleeting as my thoughts have been, I felt a sudden urge that you were coming, like a sense deep in my roots. How have you been, my sprite?” She loved his pet name for her, even tough it was sometimes taken as an insult by other full-grown pixies, and she knew it was a term of endearment. F courses he was able to use that magnificent energy to catch Elder up on all that has been going on the past sunrises. He was not very surprised, being thousands of years old, it was rather difficult to surprise a creature of time such as Elder, but he felt bit of disdain over Glimmer Beard for giving his daughter up as nothing more than a pawn to overreach his poetical power. He would be the father of the future Queen, and for that he has cemented his legacy, even if it was through the suffering of his child. Elder knew Glimmer Beard was obsessed, and saw him as a piggish pixie. All that mattered was she was back, and hopefully for a long, long time. Hundreds of suns have rose and set on Castle Leaf, as the sunset upon the pixie empire for another day. Brightside cradled her first-born child, a boy pixie named Sunspot Regalia. It was a family name of the Prince’s lineage, and the sprite prince was born strong, and beamed nearly as brightly as her own mother had at such an infantile stage. She was happy. Her husband was proud of the youngling, and they had made a wonderfully warm, and inviting home out of the Castle Leaf’s very dampened hue. Even with the harsh job of being a princess to the kingdom, she was ale to still make one day out of the week to visit Elder, however, with Sunspot Regalia needing her life-nectar once every two hours, it was rather difficult to leave home without finding a proper nursing pixie to watch after the future of the kingdom. She was relatively happy, and her husband had been true to his word in allowing her to continue her quest to seek even more knowledge. He bought her a giant library of scrolls, and even built onto the roughened end of the castle for her to find solace. Elder of course could not be replaced with pixie lore, but she still went out of her way to learn the faerie language, and although the tongue was nearly impossible to speak, she could listen to conversation now between the staff, and make out a great deal of the banter. Young Sunspot Regalia suckled gently onto her bosom, as she held a short scroll I one arm, her adoring son in the other, and nursed him, gleefully tossing her eyes over the Treatise of the Wetlands. It was a historical article of faerie government prior to the rise of the pixie kingdom, all-the-while. The piece was created between two feuding autocratic families of faeries over dominance of the swamplands, which were nearly thirty sunrises away from the Glistening Providence. For years after they were in love, and had several more children, each as beautiful as the last. Yet, the prince had grown weary of the isolation, even with a castle full of young sprites running around to contend with, and the staff, both former, and later to share in the festivities. Still, Brightside was enthralled with her father’s first castle, and didn’t mind the isolationism, as she read, and read some more. She was now a master of history, and Elder, who had grown even older, was thankful for her weekly visits. The Prince, who had grown to have strong distaste for Elder, wanted to have his wife content, but also wanted her all to himself. He did not have the unrealistic notion that Elder somehow loved Brightside, or would steal her away, but hated the notions he put into her brain that she was destined to be more tan a queen on the throne. What else would a pixie want to be? Catered to the every whim? Deciding alongside the King on the most important issues that faced the kingdom, to the greatest facilities of pixie-kind: Castle Geranium, or even further West: The Waterfall Palace! What else could she desire than that He knew her to be a simple pixie, but she loved government enough to give her very educated opinion whenever a concern of state came to the table. Still, he yearned to see his mother and father again. Both have grown older, and more frail, their dew would cast upon the earlier sunrise, rather that he last sunset. He knew their era would come to pas, and he would need his living wife on is side when it did. The years have flown by, many moons have passed since he was but a mere young lad full f life, and his best years spent I a very tranquil, but dead-end art of the forest have now made him ask that if he sacrificed to much for his wife? Did he not need to have some give and take? Some compromise? With-that-being-said, he decided to make the point, and although he wanted the best for his family, and he wanted nothing but happiness to come from out his illuminated princess, he knew that it was time to go, and that Brightside must follow. He knew it would break her big hear, but he also knew her tiny frame was composed, and strong enough to handle the emotion toll it would take to move back. They’re new home; Castle Dandy was finished the week before, and being prepared for their arrival. It was a long ways away from the forest they now called home, but quite close to both Castle Geranium, an their respected families than the Forest of Wonder could ever be, and for that, the Prince knew he would be making his wife sad, but it was time to move on, and he felt is wife was obligated to rant him this wise So that dinner, when the children were put to bed, after the plates have been cleared away, he told Brightside of the plan to move the family to Castle Dandy. “But, what about all my things here? What about the life we’ve built? I thought we were going to renovate Castle Leaf come the first turning of the leaves! Why would we ever want to leave when we have so much here for the children to play, and the the adore Elder, he was teaching them about-“ “Oh enough with it! I know we over it here, and you’re making it difficult to say no to you, but my family has indebted themselves into creating the fine castle out on the plain lands and I miss the sun. You of all pixies must enjoy shining against the great sprite! It is essential that we move whenever possible! Don’t you want Sunspot Regalia, winkling Stone, and Rhone to see the sun for once? The haven’t been out of the forest, they think the world is so small! Shouldn’t we give them a choice to see more than what we love? Clearly we are both making sacrifices, it’s not like I’m asking to move us all into my parent’s castle! Come now!” “Oh, but I do not know how to say good-bye to Elder! I mean, he’s been like a true loving parent to me when I was in need of something more than being charted around like some prized possession. He was, and always will be the best teacher I’ve ever had, and he has no other pixie to talk to, nobody has time for the old ways anymore, don’t you understand? My dearest husband, I want to do what’s right for all of us, but surely we can stay a little while longer! Moving in seven sunsets, I can’t imagine we can do-so in time to get everything over there!” Brightside was understandably concerned, but she knew that the world around her was changing for the worse. She could see the determination, the nearest ting to animosity she’s ever seen I her kind-hearted husband’s eyes. He was demeaning of leaving the bird’s nest that made up Castle Leaf, and he was demanding her to come along. She saw the benefits of taking the kids to a new frontier, and yes, Castle Dandy was going to be seen as the modern marvel: the first castle built in thirty-six hundred moons. Yet, she felt as though this was happening all too fast for her to comprehend, but she finally accepted that her husband was not going t budge, and truly, he has sacrificed so many suns to be her with he in her childish need to stay home. Perhaps it was time to grow up a bit, and do what was best for he family, and not for Elder. The Prince agreed that it would only be fair if she was allowed to see Elder these next seven sunrises, and of course this brought back that lost smile to Brightside’s chiseled, perfect mouth, and she danced daintily like she had as a sprite across the waters towards her teacher tree. The Prince loved to watch her skip, but detested the reasons for her happiness. No matter how many children he gave her to love, no matter what gift, or what form of intellectual conversation he supplied, it seemed that accursed tree was all that mattered most in his darling wife’s life. Brightside whisked away towards Elder, excited, and terrified at the same time, because she was almost certain he wouldn’t be able to handle the news of her imminent departure. Although she wasn’t necessarily upset by leaving as much as she thought she would be, because she now had a bushel of children to keep company with, and to teach a great deal of her vicarious knowledge of the world to, in-hopes of brightening their futures. Nevertheless, she pummeled forward over chrysantamums growing haphazardly wild on the outskirts of the canopies, barely able to budge up fro the shadow depths below the might dendrites. The passing sun broke through with bright slices, as she made her way towards her own personal slice of luxury: her old home among the canopies. Elder, the vestal tree of such age it was unfounded in the world outside the Forest of Wonder, took to liking the company of pixies more often than n now after meeting the illustrious Brightside. However, he felt an aching pain deep down in his sap, that something was amiss, especially when he saw Brightside coming up over the canopy bridges of leaves and branches. “You’ve come to tell me of your departure, haven’t you, Brightside?” he asked in a tone that sounded more as a blunt statement before she could even break her tiny wings. “I’m afraid so, Elder. My husband wants to give the kids a chance to see more of the world. He and I both think that it could only benefit them. I know you want to continue to teach them, as our do I, but he has sacrificed so much for me these many suns, and I can’t find it in m conscience to say no.” “Bah! He never much cared for me dealing with the children, but what scholar neither pixie nor faerie will ever give them a truly royal upbringing? Which one of those imbecilic, self-promoting monstrosities could ever give them the sort of education I could? Admittedly, they will get the best of the best that either faerie or pixie have to offer, but with me, they’d develop character, and strength as well. They would not hide behind a callous crown, but be reared to sit upon a throne, owning it! I grow weary o these pixie games, but I know that I can leave them in the trustworthy hands of you, Brightside. My most apt pupil, able to recall from memory nearly everything we’ve learned as teacher and student. Do not let them be spoiled by the makings of unruly pixies, and ulterior motivated faeries. They will use your children to bide for a crown neither of them truly deserves. I speak controversially, but I also speak with a commanding truth!” Brightside knew this to be true, and nodded in agreement, she wanted to retort, but the breath of Elder’s speech knocked her words down to a pittance on the winds, and crashing towards the Earth. “Now go, fly my lovely princes, and became the regal queen you were destined to be! Do not fret over me, for I have lived here for yeas without company, without a ripe mind to plunge deep with hundred of thousands of sunrises of knowledge. I will miss you though, and I am proud to call you my friend. Forever, and until this day forward, Brightside; you will be known as an honorary tree, the highest bestowment I could ever give to another living organism. Now go!” Brightside fluttered off, crying heartily, but hap to know that she was respited so greatly by someone she found to be the perfect being she had ever come I contact with, Elder made it known that she was destined for great things, and would do him proud at raising her own children to be something greater than what is ever expected of them. She knew that feeling: she was always expected to become a princess, and hopefully, a queen, but it was all arbitrary, she always wanted to be expected of more than just some royal centerpiece. She had talents, she had a brain, and it worked very well because o Elder. She thirsted for knowledge, and starved for facts. She would make sure that her sprites would turn out to be ever more spectacular not because they were royalty, but because they were learned. The seven suns rose and set, and they were off to Castle Dandy. It was an especially dew-glistened day as the faeries were finished packing the snail shell carriage, which was big enough to fit two Castle Leaf-sized buildings inside, it, and it was full to the brim with ever single staff member, every single piece of furniture, and hat included the entire library, scroll shelves and all. Castle Dandy would still look sporadically full with most of the stuff that was laid out inside their home, but the Prince had made sure to have a great deal of work done in Castle Dandy beforehand. A solemn Brightside was not able to even gently smile as the children laughed and played inside the giant snail shell, which was pulled by a fleet of sparrows. Hey would be at Castle Dandy much sooner than if they went by dragonfly, and it was estimated to be a full sunrise and set before they could see the giant castle in their midst. With one last look at the castle, Brightside sighed, and began to flap her teeny pixie wings towards the top of the shell. Rodomico, the driver from when she was but a child, who had strewn her and her parents belongs into the carriage that took them to the fabricated city that surrounded Castle Geranium, met her with his gentlemanly gaze at the top. “Rodomico!” she exclaimed in her best faerie tongue. “Ah, my future queen, always was as lovely as ever. You pixies are lucky to not age like we faeries. Your flawless beauty will last forever.” Rodomico was a charmer, and it was hard for Brightside to hold the composure, and not blush at such a handsome faerie. Over the years she’s lessened her prejudice towards the faerie race, as she had known many of them to be of a prideful, and wondrous personality. Few have ever steered her wrong, and none more-so have treated her with a fondest of respect that Rodomico. “I am here to see you off. I am retiring from the guard, as the castle will be my. I just wanted to be the last to say farewell to you at Castle Leaf, and the first to wish you luck on your way to Castle Dandy.” “Oh! But why not come alone? You could join the staff at Castle Dandy I’d hate to be stuck in a giant cold castle without our enduring company!” she was not fully fluent in faerie, but she was able to car on long-winded sentences wit the best of them. “Ah, m dear princess, if only I could! Ye, my time has come and gone, and I feel it is best to find a place to rest until I sparkle out of this life, and measure my distance to the sky well, so opt to fall out into stardust. I shall sooner than later join my ancestors in the painted hues of blue and shades of black up there in the big empty space. Do not fret, m sprite, for I’ll always be with you in that massive heart that loves all too much, as you are known throughout this entire kingdom. Farewell Princess Brightside, you will always be the best part of my sunrise, and the perfect end to my sunsets.” “As also with you, dear Rodomico, as also with you!” Brightside cried dearly into her lot blouse, and flew up t join her loving children, and then tears of joy sounded out of her whimpering little figure. With the last of the goodbyes, the sparrows were off, and they flew like maters of the thermals throughout the trees, flying are above the canopies, as the sun blazoned across heir faces for the first time in so long, and for the children the first time in their lives. They screamed with exhilaration and a fear of the unknown, as he carriage on the back of a thousand wings flew unnaturally through the air, Castle Dandy awaited them in the future. The sparrows took flight, and were speeding off at speeds no pixie could ever experience on just two wings. The closed-in safety of the snail shell allowed for them to not feel sickness from traveling at speeds not even a billion faeries, or even trillion pixies could emulate. She sat b her husband her infant suckling still, not the least bit concerned with the new arrangements of being within a shell. They nestled closely as the cold chill of the mooring was still icing over within the carapace of their cargo, and the warmth helped to keep the sniffle at bay for Sunspot Regalia. “He’s very strong, the chill doesn’t not take away from his heat. We’ve created a powerful future King, Brightside.” The Prince stated with authority, a beaming pride coming from off his being. He was excited to see his child so full of joy and life, suckling with a hunger that meant he was to be one of the strongest kings of the Pixie Kingdom. He would bring great victories to the Glistening Providence. “I will teach him all I know, I want him to grow up to be independent of his chain of command, and of his royalty. We should prepare him for anything that can best his future. For all we know, a kingdom could fall, and he’d be on his own, he must learn to survive.” Brightside stated. Surely it was still small chance that Sunspot Regalia would ever be king, even if he was the first-born son, e could be overlooked by other siblings. Even cousins have been known to take over thrown in the Pixie Kingdom. It was always what’s best for the kingdom over genes. In-truth, that was the smart we to run a kingdom, but Brightside wasn’t concerned either way, Sunspot was destined to rule, she could feel it from the tug on her teat. The approached Castle Dandy within the rising morning, as the sparrows flew mostly through the night. When tethered they can get to distances beyond that of normal birds, and with the genius of the mages, were able t buff them to the point they could streamline whole countryside in just a few days. What Nature can provide, Nature can uphold, and the mages knew this all too well to work within her limitations, which were far more limitless than the imagination of a pixie. Brightside poked her head out of the shell, and it was a briskly frost that met her shiny skin it was a beautiful castle, perhaps more extravagant than even Castle Geranium, and though she never saw the Pixie Palace, she was certain that if it did live unto its beauty, she would still ignorantly believe that Castle Dandy was just that much more exquisite. They pulled p to the front of the Castle, the thousands of sparrows were released, as the shell dropped softly onto some set loam. Brightside was ushered out by a staff of what seemed like millions, and brought to an abrupt halt I front of her new castle. “Princess Brightside, may I be the first to formally welcome you to your new home: Castellum Dens Leonis! It will be your home for however long you choose, but we do hope that no matter where you live, that you will always cherish Castle Dandy as your personal favorite, at leas so I can say the beautiful young princess has loved my design. I am Archroot, I’ve designed this castle from the ample thoughts in my head, to the scrolls I’ve worked hours on, and perfected here. I even chose this location, not just because of the dandelions used in the build, but because I knew with a princess named Brightside, she must always bask in the glory of Solaris!” “This is my gift to you, Brightside, my beautiful wife. I have had this castle built in your honor, with statues of you throughout the buttresses. I don’t want you to feel as though this is a narcissistic place that reflects you, but rather commemorates your! When we are King and Queen, we will have so many statues erected in our liking, but here, this is for you, before all that hassle, because you are truly deserving, and beautiful to be placed in stone, with, or without titles.” Brightside stood in awe, and hugged her loving husband with authority. She felt so loved, so admired in that moment, that she nearly fell over into the same sod that caught the shell gently not but moments ago. She was amazed by what her husband has had built for her, and she felt very undeserving. She turned Sunspot Regalia towards the castle, and he let out a gleeful burp, and happily went back to sucking away. “This is incredible” she stated with immense disbelief. “Shall we g in, my darling princess?” asked her loving husband, his bright smile, and built figure flexing in strength to the awe of the surrounding staff. “Yes” she said with a coo as he led her gently with a tissue-thing touch to her tiny hands, into the immense castle. Castle Dandy was like a ball of yard of hardened dandelion stems. It was held with twig, brought in rom the forest, and a great deal of yellow garland made of silk on the outside, so it almost was camouflaged in the winding fields. Because it was so much more fragile than other castles, although not by much, but still would hold up from an attack of nearly any size, it still used this camouflage deception as another precautious layer of protection. It was a contemporary pixie design, unlike that of the more archaic faerie Castle Geranium, but it was very modern for the standards of pixies. The castle was the first built in so long, that it surprisingly drew a massive crowd. It sat on hump of grass in the middle of a deep puddle, and surrounded by a natural defense of simple blending I well with the rest of the field. The crowds were kept at bay, and from a distance, they had the luxury of seeing a great more detail than either Brightside or the rest of the castle’s staff. Looking over the castle, whites blended into the golden spires that reached to the top of the tallest grass. The crowds cheered for their new princess, and watch as she glistened equally as bright as Castle Dandy. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and no-other moment I pixie history could’ve prepared the pixie kingdom for what would happen next. Never in its history would something so dogmatic change in the course of events, but Brightside was a miracle-making change, as the old powers were slowly leering toward the retirement fit for dowagers and usurped rulers. Pixies wanted change, and the wanted the prince to excel. The couple settled in with Sunspot Regalia, who cooed, as he pulled away from his mother, and nestled into her bosom, falling asleep, as though all the excitement moments ago was all but a happy dream. The inner workings of the castle were as marvelous as the architectural wonder that made up the outside. The drive had left them famished, and lagging, so the couple had the staff make a quick lunch for themselves, and the rest of the castle, and they filled up, and took a nice long nap in their magnificent, golden accented bedroom. They snoozed for a while. The sun began to set again on their happy world, but Brightside still kept Elder in the back of her mind. Nine hundred suns rises ha passed since the time the family settled into Castle Dandy, it had already been refurnished twice, and had been built up even larger than it was with a major renovation. Sunspot Regalia had grown into a tall, young, handsome pixie toddling around, and playing imaginary games, slaying invisible dragonflies that only he can see. He was young and vibrant but Brightside felt old and heavy, having given birth nearly two years before to a bouncing daughter, Firefly Coronalis, and she was yet again pregnant with another sprite, she birthed but thirty-five moons from the day. She was haply with child, and her pixie heart swelled over the love and affection she had for all her sprites, and she admired all of them equally, but something was missing. She was already trying t gain Sunspot Regalia’s attention to study up on faerie lore, but he truly was his father’s son, and cared more about battling, and being regal. She missed Elder, who she as not often able to visit, and she had only seen her father once, but he had went to the dew but two hundred sunsets ago. She was disheartened, the loss f her father meant she was orphaned. The Duchess quickly remarried back into the royal family, and her new husband, the Duke of the Shimmering Providence, took her away to the far-east end of the kingdom. Brightside couldn’t say that she was upset to see her stepmother’s departure, the Duchess was always icy cold towards her, but Brightside never paid it any mind. She was always independent. Still, had the opportunity to visit Elder during the evaporation ceremony, where the dew drops were stored in the family sarcophagus, and left beneath the bark of Castle Leaf. Elder was glad to see his pupil yet again, but something was amidst with him: he looked frail, dry, not nearly as livid as he used to, it was terrifying to see such a proud tree look so dire. He explained to Brightside that his time was drawing near. He had been alive for so long, and now was any good a time to pass onto the rooted melancholy of the soil than any. He was losing life slowly, but for a tree it felt like dying quickly. He had about 1200 sunrises left in him, and said to Brightside not to cry. It was not luck, or lack thereof for him to be losing his life. It was the nature of things, few trees lived much longer, and the few who had were more like stolid giants with little emotion, out even the twigs could move in the breeze. It was a very upsetting meeting for Brightside, having just lost her father, and now told that in such a short amount of time, she too would be losing the most important being, the truly magnificent creature in her life, and there was nothing she could do to quell the pain that made her thumping heart pound like a raisin against a cheese cloth. This was the beginning of the revolution that Brightside would lead, but even se was not concerned by just how it would go. She knew it would’ve disappointed her father, but she also knew deep down inside what would make her happy. She sighs and heads back home to Castle Dandy, her husband called her back because she was needed at court, so she resisted the temptation to stay any longer, and went back to deal with the oncoming struggles that faced the pixie kingdom The prince’s mother had went to dew only three-hundred days after Glimmer Beard had been interred in the family sarcophagus. He was very upset and was only relieved with the birth of their third sprite: another male heir by the name Lunar Magistracy. The five of them lived happily in Castle Dandy, until the Prince’s father, the King finally succored, and drew dew, and after the evaporation ceremony, they all left to go to the Pixie Palace near the more civilized areas of the forest: it was named the Primrose Palace, but most called it Heavenbound. The pixies were very much drawn to the palace: Heavenbound was the name it took because of how hot the sun got around the palace, that it made the evaporation of dew happen instantaneously. Brightside loved the palace for its history, she had read so many scrolls, and studied alongside mages and romancers of every kind. She learned that it was predestined to be put in that spot, which was a cracked rock that had been seen as a terrible place to build the foundation f the Pixie Palace, but the prophet and architect Twinkling Spire knew that there was something of magic there. He was a pixie, but had from the wars with the faeries culturally diffused, and worshipped Solar, and he stated that this was the crack that began the breath of the world. Twinkling Spire built his maddening design of arches and waves of silver and golden tint, and the pace has stood there ever since. Brightside took the palace as well, but as the suns set, the das grew stale, she knew it was drawing to a close. She was frail, far too frail for such a young pixie, but something inside her was not letting her feel that enthusiastic youth. One night, only but two hundred sunset, there was a loud crash, it was only a mere wisp of a whimper on the winds of weariness, but Brightside knew that it was the last full breath of Elder, as he toppled to the Earth, in death, final able to, for but a brief second, move from a stationary place after thousands of years. Time passed again, the childish sprites grew up to take many places within power. Being the children of the King, it was easy for them to move up in ranks but Brightside instilled a severe amount of learning in them, punishing them if the would not do their work. She felt determined after Elder fell, and she knew it was mostly unnoticed in the pixie world, though the faeries felt some pity for the fallen tree that was the last link to their ancestral lineage. Castle Geranium, which was the original faerie palace, flew a rotted, red leaf from the past fall, over the castle in honor of the lost philosopher. Brightside couldn’t leave her palace bedroom or das, and the children were always around her, trying to comfort her. The children had moved out, and the castle was as empty and dead as before. Brightside did truly love the Prince for al that she was given, but the love grew stale, and though pixies are destined to bond for life, she decided to spark the revolution of something that was both terrible, and grand. She decided to leave the Prince behind, and move back to Castle Leaf. She felt terrible about this, and the Prince seemed not necessarily shocked not even solely disappointed, but indifferent towards his wife. Brightside was feeling dead from the years of lost dreams. Granted, being a Queen gave her some control, but she was always dealing with political nonsense between to factions of individuals that just couldn’t quite handle the differences they shared. She was upset by her role, and wished him all the luck in all of the Forest of Wonder. Castle Leaf welcomed her back with a coarse disdain. She decided to live out the rest of her years as a teacher for the area children. The Forest had grown quite large since the passing of Elder. Many faeries moved into the area. She had mastered the language years ago, and even set up private school dedicated to teaching pixie and faerie history and lore. She taught both languages and stirred a heaping spoonful of controversy through the forest. No body would ever question he Queen, even if she was no longer a queen, Brightside was still respected royalty. So she taught the sprites, and they admired her for it. She had her children back. Al she ever was good at being was a mother, branded, she was one of the best legislators the land has ever seen: more prosperity was under her reign than any time, but being a mother was her true magnus opus, her only cause of being. Being a teacher helped to carry that on, as she loved the children as much as she loved her own. In the end, she sparkled out of existence, dew that was more like a glistening puddle, and she shot through the sky like a firefight, and became the brightest star in the sky. The Queen Bright Star was worshipped like a demigoddess, and nicknamed the Teacher. She was held up as an honorable figure, and columns of scrolls were written about her, even more than her former husband, the King, or even what would be said about her children. Sunspot Regalia would later become the king, and his story has yet to be told, but it is as memorable, if not greater than even his defiant mother. His younger brother: Prince Lunar Magistracy ruled beside him, until he was married off the a faraway kingdom n the jungles to the far west. Brightside’s only daughter, Firefly Coranalis, was donned a princess, and married off as well t the eastern desert of the Troll kingdom, where the pixie empire had it’s furthest reach. Princess Firefly became a woman of great respect, ad admired not just because of her mother, but because of the example she exemplified of just why Brightside was one of the greatest queens of history. In the end, Brightside taught history, and inadvertently for doing so, made it. Her grandchildren learned of her through scrolls in the most exclusive of libraries, written by scholars and family that both knew and studied her, she was one of the most influential figures in all of Pixie lore, and became a goddess herself, lighting up the sky, and offering some solace to the worshippers who waited every sunset to catch a glimmer of Brightside. This concludes my short story Brightside. It was meant to be out earlier this week, but I promised it would be out, and it is out today. Finally! I hope you’ve enjoyed it, but I know that this may not necessarily be your cu of tea, s I will make up to all of you next week, what I failed to get done timely this week. Still, I hope you’ve enjoyed this story, I hope everything went well for you in this tale, because I’m a little concerned about how I ended it, and know that it is one of those stories that took me some time to finish, and it wrote itself literally as I typed. Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, I appreciate every reader I gain, and everyone who takes the time out of his or her busy day to read something I personally wrote, and slaved over. I don’t expect anything in return for you reading my story, and I know that you, the audience have much more important things to do, but I only do this to entertain, and inform you , and I don’t expect anything to come out of it. I hope you enjoy this story, and please feel free to leave a comment, I will duly respect any criticism.