The Land of Stories: Rewriting the narrative

Chapter 7: From Page to Stage

In many ways, Aurelia was the perfect person for this plan. From her mother she had magic, smarts and determination. From her uncle she had creativity, recklessness and mischeviousness. From the fairies who raised her she had strong morals and courage. Plus, she had a sense of adventure and a feisty spirit that was entirely her own. Oh, and who could forget her trusty helpers?

"Everything ready to go, boss?" Trix asked, sitting on Aurelia's windowsill.
"I think so." Aurelia replied, then immediately cursed herself for sounding so uncertain. Come on, you're the captain. Act like it!
"Yes, I'm sure." She turned to Trix, much more confident. She didn't like to say what could possibly go wrong? As that was an invitation to disaster, but it was sort of tempting.
"Yay!" Aurelia smiled. Trix was an old friend of her mum's, and she'd known her since she was born, but she'd never seen her this excited before. Something about the possibility of danger seemed to give the little fairy an adrenaline rush. She'd taken to flitting around Aurelia's room like a bumblebee, landing on desk, bed, shelf, window, tree, desk again, bed again, until she got bored. One of her most endearing and simultaneously annoying qualities is that she never seemed to be bored.
"So, now we just wait till it gets dark." Trix hung upside down from the ledge like a trapeze artist.
"Safer that way." Aurelia confirmed. "Sounds counter-intuitive, but the Fairy Kingdom is probably the safest kingdom of all. Our biggest threat is probably Xanthous so..." She gave a little laugh. "We should be fine."

Part of her felt guilty for going behind the backs of the Fairy Council, but it was quite a small part. After all, they went behind her back all the time! Yeah, yeah, they were 'figures of authority' or whatever, but that was like saying royals could do whatever they wanted just because they had power and status and fancy crowns! And one think Alex had drilled in to her daughter from an early age, was that nothing, no amount of respect or power or money, meant you could do whatever you wanted.
"That's why we built the Happily Forever After Assembly." She had explained. "So there will always be people there to make sure others toe the line." Doing this sort of felt like going against that, but Aurelia was pretty sure her mum was talking about more large-scale things, like trying to invade someone else's territory, or suddenly kill everyone in Pinocchio Prison. So, yeah. It was fine. Plus this was for the good of the Fairy Kingdom! Her mum was always talking about the greater good, and the Fairy Kingdom was pretty great. Ok, Aurelia decided. Enough justifying my actions. Time for a nap before we start the next phase of my plan. She was sorely tempted to add an evil laugh, but felt it might attract unwanted attention.
"Mwah hah hah!" She whispered, but it didn't have the same effect. Ah, whatever.

☆

Alex smoothed down the pale blue ballgown she was wearing and sipped her sparkling water. Not carbonated, you understand, but actually sparkling. Tiny dots of light reflected on the edges of the elegant glass and shimmered under the chandeliers in a way that made them seem inadequate. Perks of being a fairy.
"So how have things been for you recently, Gregory?" Cinderella asked as she daintily stabbed her haddock with a silver knife.
"Very well, thank you, Your Majesty." Sir Lampton replied deferrentially.
"Please." Cinderella waved her knife. "No need for formalities."
"Sorry, Your- Cinderella." Sir Lampton shot her a smile. "Force of habit."
Alex discreetly watched Cinderella eat. She was the picture of grace and elegance, and Alex had to force herself to remember this was the same woman who had roundhouse-kicked a soldier some two decades ago in the First Literary War, or the Grand War.
"

I trust you had a safe journey here?" Cinderella was now looking at Alex, and she had to snap back to the present.
"Delightful, thank you." Alex smiled back, picking at her fish absentmindedly. "The countryside is so beautiful at this time of year."
Cinderella and her husband agreed, and the subject moved on to - bizarrely - environmentally friendly heating systems ("It's just that Snow said she had parts of her Palace heated by hot water in underground pipes, and I thought, isn't that a novel idea?"). Alex was largely innatentive, her mind focused on other things.

☆

Aurelia stamped her foot, and a charoal cloak that swirled like mist enveloped her. She wore practical clothes: dark, warm, plain, sensible; and a brown satchel was looped over one shoulder. In it lay a map of the kingdoms, a bottle of water, a muffin wrapped in cloth, a pouch of coins, a firestick and her shard of communicating mirror. Everything she could envisage herself needing. Well, nearly everything. Aurelia closed her eyes, and curled her fingers around the hilt of the dagger which had just formed in her hand. She slipped it into her pocket, and then, as an afterthought, added the mirror shard. If something happened to the bag, this was the one item she couldn't replace. Satisfied, she lifted her head and gave her best impression of a stirlingbird call. It was pretty good, if she did say so herself.

Anyone watching the Fairy Palace that night would have been surprised to see a hooded figure make their way silently down the staircase and out into the courtyard, followed by a glowing orb of green and one of yellowish orange. They would have been even more surprised to see the three fairies - for, surely, they must be fairies - giggling and whispering like they were Otherworld ten-year-olds at a sleepover. The three figures walked down an ornately paved road to the Fairy Arch, place a hand on a dark green stone, and disappear with a shower of tiny white-and-gold sparkles. But that was what happened, surprise or not, and as Aurelia, Trix and Noodle rematerialised on the border of the Dwarf Forests, they had to remind each other to keep quiet. Aurelia drew the firestick - a magical object that gave heat and light, but was harmless and did not burn away - from her satchel and held it aloft like a sceptre. She examined the poster pinned to a nearby tree.

INFORMATION WANTED!
We are seeking information about the vandalism of multiple statues in the Fairy Palace! Please do not hesitate to contact us with information if you have it! Genuine help only, please! Reward available!
Thank you,
The Fairy Council

Aurelia felt an undeniable surge of triumph.
"I knew they cared about it more than they let on! Otherwise, why the posters?" She took it down, rolled it up and put it in her satchel, muttering 'Nothing to worry about? Yeah right!' and 'About as under control as a grizzly bear.' Satisfied, she turned to go back to the Fairy Kingdom, but nobody had warned her that the Fairy Arch didn't do return journeys. She and her two friends were trapped.