Kigen took several minutes to compose himself. All the bottled-up emotions inside came rushing out from within, threatening to explode his heart. This kind of betrayal was hard to take.
For a moment, he did not know what to do. He just flew there, staring at this hateful woman. He wanted to take his revenge right there and then, but then she started talking.
"You can come out now," Mistress Kering said, as she looked around the tree. "Kigen, I know you can hear me, why don't you come out? Is this how I trained you to receive guests?"
As she continued rambling on, shock registered in Kigen's mind, alongside a million questions. Did she know he was there? Did she know what he was? Was she somehow responsible for it, or had she tracked him down somehow to finish the job?
None of these questions had any easy answers, and he was not prepared to trust the woman. However, his growing curiosity, and rage, wouldn't let him sit still.
Slowly, he came out of his hiding place and approached the woman. He made sure to remain a good distance away from her, just in case she tried anything. Last time she had caught him unawares, now he knew better.
Looking at her, he realized that he was the one who had grown small. Everything else that seemed to be giant-sized to him was just normal size. For one, Mistress Kering's face alone was longer than his entire body height.
At first, Mistress Kering gasped as she saw the little green fairy come out of the foliage of the massive tree. Even from her perspective, the tree before her was supremely big, towering over everything else in a rainforest.
However, it was not shock that filled her mind, but joy. She was quite happy to have taken the first steps of her grand plan, or rather, her master's grand plan.
Seeing Kigen the fairy, who was obviously responding to her provocations, she knew she had succeeded. Phase one was complete. She was so happy she almost reached out to Kigen to grab him, but she noticed how wary he was.
"Why so cautious, you think I would hurt you?" She asked. Up close, her voice was booming, but Kigen was too angry and insulted by this question to even register this.
"You killed me before," Kigen responded. Since he had been talking to himself all this time, Kigen did not see any problem at first.
"Speak up, I can't hear you," she shouted.
"Oh, right," Kigen muttered as he went to amplify his voice much farther.
"YOU KILLED ME BEFORE!" Since it was a forced scream, it did not have as much venom as he had hoped, but she got his point.
"You don't seem to be dead to me," she shot back.
"That is because ..." What was he going to say, some crazy coincidence happened, or something else, so all he could do was, "... This has nothing to do with you, you ended my human life!"
"Oh, but it does," Mistress Kering fired back hotly, "Do you think just anyone can transition from human to fairy? Do you know how many people in this world would love such an honor? Yet you are complaining about this amazing gift I gave you."
"Yeah, well you still killed my human body," much of the anger in Kigen's heart had dissipated after her statement. Perhaps she had not acted maliciously. However, he still lost his human life, and he wouldn't let her off that easily.
"A small price to pay," she said, "Tell me, how are you liking being a fairy? Being a master of the skies, able to fly about, is that not good?"
Kigen stared back at the woman. She knew him too well, after all, she was the one who raised him.
"It's not bad, but there's still plenty that I miss about my old life. You took that away from me." Kigen said honestly. Being a fairy, if that was what he was now, was not that bad. He was quite free, and he loved his new life.
However, there was much to being a human, being part of a community, that he still missed. A certain face of a pretty girl appeared in his mind. He had not mustered the courage to talk to her yet, but he intended to make her his wife.
Forgetting his stupid infatuation, he still had brothers, friends, and people who counted on him. Previously, he would have included the woman before him in that list, but after the past events, she was decidedly off that list.
"And you think you can't have these things, and so much more, now that you're a fairy?" she asked. To this, all Kigen could do was spread his hands, as though to indicate what he had.
"You clearly don't know just how good you have it," she said. "If I had a chance, I would also have loved to be a fairy, unfortunately, I never did get that chance." All this was said more to herself than to Kigen, so she turned around and said:
"I know a lot more to being a fairy. I even know where you can find other fairies."
"Other fairies?" Kigen was shocked. For a long time, he had been alone. While he loved flying about, his new life could also be quite boring sometimes. This was why he was overjoyed to see a new bud forming, and also the reason why he kept the baby eagle.
"A whole city full of them," seeing she had captured his attention, she added. "Not just one, several cities in fact. This is where I am from." This is where my master once ruled but was ultimately betrayed and usurped. She didn't say that last part.
Naturally, Kigen was intrigued, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
"Alright, take me there," Kigen instructed, eager to see what lay ahead, only to be met with a burst of laughter.
"The current you? Going to Faye city? Are you looking for an embarrassment?" she asked, looking amused. "You'd be laughed out of the gate."
"You'd be shocked," Kigen shot back, angered by her reaction. Was she looking down on him?
"What about the tree, will you carry it with you? What about your younger siblings? Do you even have any yet?" Mistress Kering continued questioning him. All these were good questions, and he did not have an answer to any.
"Alright, fine. What do I need to do to get there?" Kigen capitulated.
"So many things, but don't worry, I also intend to go back, and with a troop of fairies too," she said, as she eyed Kigen meaningfully.