A cold breeze runs through
the clearing, a bell chimes, and as the moon
peeks in, it catches glimpse
of a form that wasn't there a moment sooner.
The Faerie Queen has shown
herself, for there is business to attend to. A
soft glow exudes from her,
bathing her surroundings in a pallid blue light.
With gentle hand, she solemnly
plucks two of the feathers from her masque,
her face marked with distaste
at the act, but determined nonetheless...
She holds them gently, whispering
a few soft words into the air, the words of
the wind in a mortal's mind,
and with a short exhale, propels them into the
sky, only to be caught up
by the chilling breeze. She snaps her fingers, a
throne of hazel twisting
itself up from the now glowing mosaic beneath her.
The stage has been set and
she daintily takes a seat to watch the show unfold.
A sparkling crackle
announces the arrival of Zoe, as the lithe human steps out from a magical window. Laughter and a toast can be heard from within
and the scene of a ball in full swing can be briefly glanced upon. With a simple hand motion, the window quickly closes leaving
the clearing quiet once again. "I do apologize for my late arrival, my queen. The dinner with the ambassador took longer as
I expected." Zoe's curtsey is executed with the utmost respect and lasts longer than usual, to make up for her insolence.
With the feather in hand, she proceeds to glide to the right side of the throne. Like a marble statue, she takes her place
and mentally prepares for the upcoming ritual.
A few moments pass before
a void of swirling black appears at the right
side of the throne, a slim
booted leg appearing first, and ultimately revealing
a grim-faced Lulu, her hand
dismissively waving it away. She smooths out her
skirt and looks to the Queen,
offering a polite nod and brief curtsey.
Clasping her hands at her
waist, she waits patiently, her concentration broken
only by her attempt to stifle
a yawn.
The Queen sits up at the
latest arrival, giving a scant nod to both present.
She speaks gently, and though
not unkind, her voice holds something malevolent
in its depths. "I believe
it is high-time we finish what we have begun. An
orchid in bloom is most beautiful
when luminated by the moon." She stops
abruptly, pulling a long,
narrow gift box from thin air. She twirls it in her
fingers nonchalantly, paying
no heed when it vanishes and reappears above Zoe. "Good eve and farewell." She stands, comically tracing a large
circle in the air and girlishly
hopping through it, gone before she ever
reaches the other side.
Zoe fights hard against rolling
her smoky grey eyes skywards at the “exit” of Mab but her annoyance gets the best of her. With a deep sigh, she
reaches up and plucks the gift-box from mid air. Gingerly, she opens the little box and takes out a perfect white orchid.
The human woman holds the orchid toward the heaven, letting the moonlight cast shadows upon its delicate petals. "Here we
are again, Lulu," she says without taking her eyes away from the flower but finally moving her body by taking one spin about
herself. "The night is so gorgeous, isn't it?" she asks, her voice enchanting like a long lost melody. Composing herself,
she faces Lulu now and holds out her hand to expose the orchid in the moon bathed light. "Should
we begin?" A single raven ringlet touches her neck, as she tilts her head in question.
With an exaggerated sigh,
the human mage steps forward. "I don't suppose you
have any sort of clue where
we should begin looking...I don't see any flaming
bugs around here, just a
bunch of fairies." She crosses her arms unhappily,
looking toward Zoe as if
she'll take care of it.
Zoe shrugs her slender shoulders.
"I know as much as you do, so don't even think about letting me do all the work," she snarls. She was just as unhappy as Lulu
but that would not make things easier for either of them. "We could summon fireflies, it's an easy enough spell?" Zoe offers
and shrugs her shoulders again. Crinkling her nose, she walks about the clearing with hands clasped behind her back.
With a slender finger resting
on her chin, Lulu looks to the sky. "May as well
begin looking." She runs
the toe of her boot in an arc on the floor before her.
A small rift appears, its
contents black and depressing. She gives a look to
Zoe and begins to step into
it. Before she has had a chance to enter it
completely, however, , a
soft feather lands on her shoulder, a whisper reaching her ears. She stops, half-way into the rift and again looks to Zoe,
her mouth set in a grimacing frown. With an inaudible curse she steps fully into the rift and it evanesces behind her.
"Fine, work on your own,"
Zoe growls as she watches Lulu disappear into the rift. "I can do this by myself anyways," she mumbles under her breath and
mimics Lulu's movements, creating a window in the air. Instead of stepping through it, the human places her hand against it
and moves the appearing images around. Flashing pictures of various different areas pass by, the colors bleeding into each
other. Suddenly, Zoe pauses her movements and a beautiful garden scene reveals itself. "What do we have here," she whispers
and steps closer to inspect it more carefully. A single firefly rests upon a blossoming flower, slowly swaying in the wind.
"Perfect," Zoe says smiling and enlarges the window to step into the sun-filled garden. With a crackle the window closes behind
her, leaving the moon bathed clearing behind her.
