The Land of Stories: Rewriting the narrative

Chapter 8: No Place Like Home

The darkness seemed to close in on Aurelia. The tall, ominous trees loomed over her, seeming to come closer with every passing second. A chilly wind whipped around and the cold settled over her, along with a sinking realisation.
"We're trapped." Aurelia said, fighting to remain calm. "How? How could I be so careless?"
"It's not your fault." Trix assured her. "Blame it on your mum for not properly teaching you about the Fairy Arch."
"No, no. I should have researched it properly. What a colossal oversight! How could I have..." She trailed off, feeling dejected.
"We didn't know either, if it's any consolation." Noodle said, perching on Aurelia's shoulder. "We just fly everywhere."
"Ooh, maybe you can magic yourself home!" Trix exclaimed. Aurelia gave a bitter laugh.
"Please. My magic is nowhere near strong enough for a spell as advanced as that." She sank onto a boulder.
"I'll fly back and get help." Noodle offered.
"No!" Aurelia jumped back up again. "If the Council hears about this, they'd never trust me again!" The other part hovered in the air unspoken: If the Council heard about this, they'd definitely tell her mum.

"OK, we have to do something." Aurelia pulled the map from her bag and Trix and Noodle looked at it from her shoulders. "We're somewhere along here..." She gestured to the border of the Dwarf Forest. "We could be by the Northern, Charming or Corner Kingdoms, or near the West Wall of the Centre Kingdom, or potentially by Elven territory. Can you two scout for landmarks?" Trix and Noodle saluted and flew upwards to try and get a look at the surroundings. Aurelia drank some water and paced, map in one hand and firestick in the other.
"We have to get home before sunrise." She muttered. "Before anyone realises." She felt so useless. Maybe the Council was right. Stage Two of her first ever quest and it had failed miserably. Come to think of it, so had Stage One. What was the point of research if you didn't research a way back home? After a few minutes, Noodle and Trix returned.
"I saw the Central Kingdom Wall just a few miles to north-east. And what I think might be the top of Rapunzel's tower on the horizon over there." Trix pointed.
"We're definitely on the Eastern edge of the Dwarf Forests." Noodle confirmed.
"OK, but where does all this information get us?" Asked Aurelia irritably. We still don't know how to get home. We probably can't reach the Centre Kingdom by sunrise, let alone the Fairy Kingdom!"

"Maybe I can help with that." A voice came from the shadows.
"What? Trjx, was that you?"
"No, my dear." Footsteps. Someone was coming closer. Aurelia held her firestick high and saw... a friendly looking middle aged woman in an apron and floral dress, holding a basket. "I'm terribly sorry but I couldn't help overhearing! I'm a practitioner of magic from the Centre Kingdom. Perhaps I could help with your predicament?"
Trix and Noodle hovered just in front of Aurelia protectively.
"Your call, boss." Noodle whispered out of the side of her mouth. "Do we trust her?"
"You've been watching too many Otherworld gangster movies." Aurelia whispered back, then cleared her throat. The woman was watching them expectantly.
"That would be very kind of you." Aurelia told her. "I don't want to be in a position."
"She means an imposition." Trix added helpfully. The woman laughed.
"Fancy a girl like you knowing that word. No, my dear, it's no trouble. Magic travel is my specialty."
"In that case, thank you!" Aurelia smiled. Something about this woman seemed slightly off, but she didn't want to seem rude, and she really wanted to get home. The woman smiled and waved her hand. A blue mist began to wrap around Aurelia, encompassing her in a warm embrace of sparkling light. Aurelia watched as the woman flicked her wrist and Aurelia had the sensation of being lifted off the ground.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she was in the Fairy Palace courtyard. The enchanted sundial told her she had three hours until sunrise. Given that she was safely home, she decided to make the most of it and spend at least two hours exploring further. Something was up with the statues, that much was for certain. And she had proof that the council was worried about them too. She'd read once that in a mystery, the best place to look was the scene of the crime. So she made her way around the meadows and mushrooms, searching for statues. Searching for clues.

She was ashamed to say it took her quite a long time to realise Trix and Noodle weren't with her. The woman must not have transported them, but why? Did she know they could fly home but Aurelia couldn't? Didn't she realise they were tired? Maybe she'd taken them to her house to give them strength for the journey back. But then why not just transport them home? Maybe she couldn't transport fairies like that? Maybe they were too small? Various theories whizzed through her head as she examined the statues. She made her way back to the Fairy Palace alone and worried. She'd been searching for nearly two hours (according to the sundial) and hadn't done anything except eat her muffin. That is to say, she hadn't done anything useful and was beginning to regret coming out. She was tired, She was guilty. She was cold.
She trudged up the staircase to her room, still trying to solve the mystery of
a) what happened to the statues and
b) what happened to Trix and Noodle. She reached the top and pushed open the purple curtain, careful to not wake anyone as she stole inside. She breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed someone sitting on her bed, stroking a fish with legs.
"Coral? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you, Aurelia."