"Do fairies really have tails?" asked Nat, as the initiates settled in the dormitory for a quiet time after lessons and before their physical training class. Yaddle placed herself unobtrusively in a chair near the door, to keep an eye on them. Juli flipped her hair back over her shoulder and regarded the younger boy with all the contempt that a seven-year-old could summon. "There's no such thing as fairies," she said scornfully. "Master Yaddle said she was gonna tell us 'bout fairy tails," Nat mumbled, looking down at his scuffed brown boots. "Then she didn't tell us anything 'bout faries at all." The kind little Master's ears perked up as she heard her name, but she did not move from her seat. "Tales, not tails," Xanatos whispered to the younger boy. "Stories." "Oh." Nat looked disappointed. "Why should fairies not have tails?" Barin queried, developing a faint, distant smile that his friends knew usually heralded a story. Juli snorted and walked off to join the other girls, but Xanatos and Nat settled down to listen. "'Cos there's no such things as fairies," said Kurtas as he bounded past the end of Barin's bed and hastily stopped when he spotted Yaddle's gentle glare. "Is too!" Nat protested. "How do you know?" Barin asked the newcomer with a slight tilt of his head. "Nobody's ever seen a fairy. They don't exist," Kurtas stated flatly. Barin was unperturbed. "Have you ever seen the smell of a flower?" "'Course not," Kurtas said scornfully, hopping onto the bed and worming his way in between Xanatos and Nat. "What's that got to do with it?" "Just because we are made of stuff we can see and touch..." Barin gently pinched Nat's nose to illustrate, and the younger boy giggled. "...does not mean that anything we cannot see does not exist. There might be people made of other stuff. Stuff we are not able to see." "So how would they see each other then?" Kurtas demanded. A fanciful light danced in Barin's eyes. "How do you use the Force?" "What's that got to do with-" Kurtas began. "'Cos Jedi can use the Force, but other people can't!" Nat piped up, pleased to have realised what Barin was thinking. "So we've got 'Force Fairies' now?" scoffed Kurtas. "Invisible people that nobody can see, even Jedi?" "Why should we think we know everything, just because we are Jedi? Just because we are Jedi does not mean we are special. There are lots of things in the Galaxy that are much more wonderful than... than a few people who can use the Force. How about the Force, even- that has to be pretty amazing to do all the things that all the Jedi in the Galaxy do. How about a star? Just one star can keep billions and billions of people alive and warm and fed, just by being there. Jedi are not important when you think about that. We are just tiny dots in a great big universe." "Jedi are special," Xanatos said, staring intently at Barin from beneath his dark fringe. "Jedi are the protectors of the Galaxy!" Kurtas said in a booming voice. "Yeah! Defenderers of Peace and Justice!" added Nat. "They can use the Force, to... to see into the future, and stop bad things from happening, and... and to stop wars," said Xanatos. "And get people to make friends, and to heal sick people," Nat nodded solemly. "And to see fairies." Kurtas grinned teasingly at Nat. "Like that one?" Nat pointed towards Yaddle. The others looked across. Barin squinted slightly, frowning in puzzlement. Then his brow cleared. "Why not?" he asked, smiling once more. "Does that one have a tail, Nat?" "Of course," the youngest boy confirmed. "And great big teeth. He hasn't got wings, 'though." "She," protested Kurtas. "Fairies are girls. Everyone knows that." "I thought you said fairies did not exist?" Barin pointed out. "If Nat wants his fairy to be male and have big teeth and a tail, then that is okay with me." He looked back towards Yaddle again, squinting as if he had forgotten something. Then he shrugged and changed the subject. Yaddle folded her hands into her lap and smiled thoughtfully to herself. Her eyes rolled up to meet the air beside her, one ear tilting towards the ghostly blue figure of an old Barabel lizard-man that she could see quite clearly, standing in his long Jedi robes. "The clearest sight to the youngest belongs," she murmured, then gave a mischeivous grin. "...agree would you not, Fairy Master K'Ting?" |
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| Fairy Tails By HaiGan |