Fairy Godmother

The more she thought about it, the more certain it seemed. Why, at any moment now she would awaken and discover herself on her pallet in the deserted, barren house, with the depressing prospect of no position and very few options in front of her.

Oh, surely this was a dream. When had anything this wonderful, this fantastic, ever happened to her? Never, of course. She stared out at the darkness. This was like something out of a tale; entirely like one of those dreams she used to have, stories she used to tell herself.

After all, how could a horse and cart be flying in the air like this? When had she ever heard of a flying cart?

But a little voice inside her, stubborn — or perhaps desperate — insisted that this was no stranger than things she already knew were true. Well, how can Witches fly about on broomsticks? Even Madame Fleur can do that; I saw her, once. Only once, and in the company of (she presumed) another Witch, but still —

'Madame Bella, what's keeping us in the air?' she asked, hesitantly.

The Godmother gestured at the little horse, who tossed his head. 'I prevailed upon my little friend Sergei,' she said, cheerfully. 'He's part of his own set of tales, but when he's not needed there, he often helps out the Godmothers and Wizards. His mother is the Mare of the East Wind, you know.'

'Oh,' Elena said, at a bit of a loss, for in fact, she didn't know. She hadn't even known there was such a thing as the Mare of the East Wind.

'Oh, silly of me, of course you don't know.' Madame Bella chuckled. 'And there you see why I need an Apprentice; I'm getting so muddle-headed, it is more than time that I stepped down, before I try to put a magical lamp into Cap'O'Rush's hands! Sergei and his mother are from another line of The Tradition, another set of Kingdoms and tales. Take it as read that Sergei is a sort of magical creature rather like one of the Faerie Folk and with equal powers.'

'A magic horse. Like a — ' She strained her memory, but could not think of another such. At least, not one with power enough to make himself and the cart he drew fly. 'Like a Wizard?' she hazarded.

'No, more like a dragon,' Bella told her. 'Or a Unicorn. His mother is truly powerful, much more so than he is; but then, she is more than half a spirit creature. She was mated to a mortal stallion once, for some reason that escapes me. He has two brothers who are really remarkable to behold; quite the most handsome horses I have ever seen. But sad to say, they have not a smidgen of magic in them; he got the lot. Didn't you, Sergei?'

The little horse tossed his head and whickered. It sounded rather like a snicker.

'Yes, I know, you got all the brains in the family, too,' Bella laughed. 'Which is probably why you are your mother's favorite child. It's quite true though,' Bella continued, turning back to Elena. 'Sergei is rather brilliant and terribly crafty, which makes him invaluable to us. For instance, had your stepmother unexpectedly returned, I am fairly certain that he would have found a way to get you away from her long before I did.'

The horse whickered again, and Bella clapped both hands to her mouth in feigned shock. 'Sergei, you would not have!'

From the bray that came out of the little horse's throat, whatever it was, Elena was entirely certain that, yes, Sergei would have.

She wished Bella would tell her, but the Godmother just shook her head. 'Just as well that nothing happened, then. Your town would never have gotten over it, and The Tradition would have been kinked for years. That sort of thing can have serious consequences, dear, and a grave flaw in The Tradition gives an evil one room to move in. I'm not saying that would have happened this time,' she hurriedly added, 'but just that you have to be very aware when you cross Tradition lines or break Tradition that you do it in a way that impacts the fewest people.'

'I thought that The Tradition was only important for — for the special people,' Elena said hesitantly.

'Oh, no — The Tradition rules everything in the Five Hundred Kingdoms.' At least Bella didn't sound at all impatient with Elena for asking so many questions. 'Why, for instance, do you think that everyone in Otraria loves King Colin and Queen Sophia? That no one would ever whisper a word of treason about them, even though the only army he has never does much except march in parades and the only guards he has are old men inclined to nod off at their posts?'

Elena shook her head. 'The Tradition?' she hazarded.

'Exactly. Goose-boy Colin brought a smile to the face of the Princess Who Could Not Laugh, and that brought joy back to Otraria, as well as won him her hand and Kingdom. Now, precisely because of this, The Tradition makes certain that everything in the Kingdom runs sweetly and smoothly, from the happiness of the King and Queen down to the weather.'

'Oh, surely not!' Elena objected. 'Surely the weather isn't affected!'

'You think not?' Bella laughed, but there was a sad sound to it. 'Then early in your training I should take you to a Kingdom that is laboring under an evil ruler, a despotic one. You'd see then that The Tradition guides everything down to the least and seemingly insignificant detail. Otraria is happy, Colin is a good King who rules well and wisely, and so — the land is fertile, the people are content, the weather is perfect in every season, because The Tradition creates a Kingdom to match the King and Queen. It would be very, very hard for an evil Witch or a dark Wizard to move into Otraria now; in fact, the only way that one could would be either by an invasion, which would take a very great force of arms, or by a combination of magic and treachery. Believe me, when it comes to the latter, that will not happen while I am Godmother here, nor as long as any Apprentice I train is overseeing things.'

There was a steely tone to Bella's words that made Elena sit up a little straighter and give the old woman a sideways glance. Not that she could see very much in the dark but — she had the feeling that if she could see Bella's face, she would discover that the slightly dotty old woman that had offered her a position had transformed for a moment into something very like the iron-spined general who commanded Otraria's tiny army. Both of them might be old — but they knew their duties, and they would drive themselves and everything and anyone under their authority to see to it that those duties were performed.

'But there — that's one of the things we do, you see,' Bella continued in a more normal tone. 'We see to it that the conditions are fulfilled to make things as pleasant as possible for everyone. The main problem is that there is quite a bit of work, and not very many of us; there are Kingdoms that don't have a Godmother or resident Wizard, Kingdoms where the assigned Godmother is overworked, or falls ill, or dies without an Apprentice in training. So