A rolling movement from the large pocket at the front of her dress distracted her. She grinned and patted the pocket as a tiny claw reached up and out, gripping the edge of the fabric, quickly followed by a tiny, round, furry face.
“Good morning, Pancake,” she whispered, reaching into the pocket and pulling the small, furry, round creature out. Pancake was a Quokka, a rare creature found only on a small island off Australia’s western coast. The Fae had saved him from criminals a few months ago. They had been smuggling rare creatures when her father caught them and rescued him. When Vidya had first seen him, he had been hiding at the bottom of his cage, trying hard not to be seen, flattening himself right at the bottom, just like a pancake. And so that had become his name. They had been fast friends ever since, so much so that as well as the long slits in her dress that all Fae had to let their wings out, Vidya had made the palace seamstress sew large pockets on all her dresses so that Pancake had a space to feel safe. When he wasn’t in her pocket, Pancake travelled around on Vidya’s shoulder, gripping onto her ear for support. That’s where he went now, climbing up onto her left shoulder and holding on tight, peering around at everyone with his little black eyes. Everyone loved Pancake with his little round ears, belly, and long tail, and most people kept a berry or two in their pockets just for him.
A whisper to her left caught her attention. Vidya looked around in the dim blue light and saw the confused face of little Daisy, her cousin. She caught the younger girl’s eye, and Daisy grimaced sleepily back, pulling at the sparkling net that kept her purple curls off her face. Her wings twitched tiredly.
“Vidya,” Daisy whispered, coming to stand next to her. “Can you remind me why we’re standing here at the crack of dawn? Mother told me to shush.”
Vidya smiled and bent a little to whisper into the little girl’s ear, one hand on Pancake’s round tummy, making sure he didn’t fall off. The quokka leaned in to kiss Daisy on the cheek, making her giggle.
“Every year, the Fae gather on the first dawn of spring. We bring our guardian plants with us because when the sun rises above the forest, it’s a magical dawn. Our guardian plants will light up and show us the power of nature. The power that’s in all of us. The plants will give us food, and we’ll go and eat in a grand feast. It’s so exciting, you’ll see!”
Daisy’s green eyes grew wide with excitement. “There’ll be a feast afterward?”
Vidya covered her mouth to smother a laugh. “Just you wait, Daisy, wait till you see the way the sun lights up the trees and the plants. It’s so beautiful, it’s like it fills the plants with all this power. And when the plants dance, we’ll dance too.”
The deep blue sky lightened with an orange glow, and the Fae playing the flutes and drums sped up the rhythm of their song. Adult Fae tucked the branches and cuttings of their guardian plants into pockets, and holding hands with one another, began a slow circular dance around the lawn. Gentle nudges pushed the children into the middle of the group, and Vidya tugged Daisy’s hand into her own. Taking the hand of another Fae child with her other hand, the children began their own dance within the circle of adults, and soon, as the orange glow of dawn became brighter, they danced to the beat of the music in a magnificent whirl of colour.
The sun peeked over the treetops, and Vidya turned to grin at Daisy. She couldn’t wait for her baby cousin to see how wonderful the dawn show was. Fae magic was so powerful, and it was beautiful when it was at its best, right at the start of spring. Her heart beat so fast with excitement in that moment, she didn’t even care that she didn’t have a guardian plant of her own, the way the plants would light up with magic would make up for it today.
The golden light of the sun spilled over the trees and onto the palace behind them, and the musicians played faster still, and the dancing Fae twirled and spun, laughing and grinning now. Here it came, their smiles said, the magic of spring!
As Vidya twirled to the music, Pancake holding onto her ear for dear life, she searched the crowd for her parents. Her mother was patting baby Mahiya to the beat at the edge of the group, smiling at the rest of them dancing. But Vidya caught sight of her father’s expression, and she missed her step, tripping a little. She quickly recovered and turned to look at him again. His face was serious, his mouth sat in a straight grim line, his powerful arms crossed firmly across his chest. Why did he look so worried? But his eyes were fixed on the crowd, as if they were searching for something. Waiting for something.
Vidya focused back on the dance, watching as the morning arrived and the sun’s light shone upon them all, revealing the true colours of the hair and wings of the dancing Fae. She waited excitedly, heart thumping as the sun lit up the flowers, branches, and leaves of the plants of the Fae, and she held her own
