One bright morning, Kigen woke up early as usual. The sun had just come up, brightening up his face. He slowly floated above the branches to bash in this early morning sun.
This was his routine. He was always among the first to wake up and arise from the mother tree. He would bask in the sun as he waited for the siblings to wake up. However, what seemed to be a beautiful morning was threatening to be turbulent.
Something had caught his eye. A burst of power, and a fairy was sent careening through the forest.
Seeing this, Kigen was enraged. What manner of foul energy was at work here. Acting fast, Kigen fluttered his hind wings as he shot forward, ready to take down anything and everything that would dare harm his precious sibling.
As he approached, he folded himself, ready to pierce through the enemy decisively. However, just as he was approaching, he suddenly came to a halt. It was her!
"Mistress Kering," Kigen said, shocked. She had finally showed up after disappearing. He could still remember her promise about taking him to Faye City.
"You're finally here," she replied, "I got into a little misunderstanding with your kin. Could you tell them who I am." Seeing her reaction, he could roughly understand what had happened.
The fairies were a curious bunch, and with his heroics, they had become more and more fearless. When the fairy detected a strange new being, she had immediately attacked.
"Nixa," Kigen called as he recognized the little fairy. Of all the others, she was the most curious. Always eager to find new things. For her, the hunt was secondary. She was in it for the exploration. It was little doubt as to why she was always the first to rise up in the morning.
"This is a guest, don't attack," he explained. However, he did notice that Mistress Kering kept a wide berth away from the mother tree. She seemed to be more afraid of it.
"A lot of changes have happened here," Mistress Kering said as she drew closer to them. "Hello, noble fairy, sorry for the intrusion."
Kigen was absolutely stunned. Was this the same proud overbearing mother figure that had raised him? She had suddenly become so humble, even calling the little fairy a noble fairy.
In the same light, and character, she turned around and slightly bent her body as she looked at Kigen. It took him a moment to realize she was bowing to him. "Greetings, Guardian Fairy, may I have a word in private?"
Kigen nodded, still stunned. Was she possessed? He wondered. However, he still obliged her.
Flying out of range, he appeared directly in front of the woman. His entire body flying at his height. As he did, Mistress Kering took out something out of her pocket and opened it.
A strange cloud of mist came out of it, enveloping the two. Once it had engulfed them, she finally relaxed. Seeing his quizzical look she said, "so that no one can eavesdrop on us."
Seeing this, Kigen knew she was getting serious.
"From now on, we have to be careful, and take our respective positions," Mistress Kering said, as she turned serious. "You are no longer the same boy I raised, but a noble and powerful Guardian, and I am just a servant."
Kigen did not know how to respond to this. A million questions ran through his mind at that moment, but he decided to go with the most pertinent one.
"What brought this on?" he asked.
"Soon, we will go to Faye City, where status quo really matters. You, as noble fairies, cannot be seen to be following a human, even if it's me. I am but a loyal servant, and I am willing to continue serving to the very end."
Hearing her reason, Kigen momentarily forgot all the other questions he had. She voluntarily brought this up. He was so excited he could barely breathe. However, he had to maintain his cool.
"When are we going?" He managed to ask.
"Slow your roll," She answered with a smirk, "We have a lot to prepare before anything actually happens."
"Right, preparations." Kigen said, unconvinced.
"We still need to decide when to go, how many are going, and other contingencies," Mistress Kering said.
"What are you talking about, we are all going," Kigen said matter-of-factly.
"Really, are you going to leave your mother unprotected, with no fairy around to hunt for her?" she asked. Kigen could not answer back.
"Also, we need to decide whether it's too soon. If it is, we can plan for later," she added.
"Absolutely not." Kigen was not even going to entertain that idea. "This is my order as a guardian."
"How many fairies do you have? How many are capable of fighting? How many can cast magic?" She fired her questions.
"Alright, fine, we do need your help," he said grudgingly.
"First things first, we need to get our stories straight," she said, "I can't just go stumbling into a fairies hive without proper introduction."
"Alright, what are your thoughts," Kigen asked. Since she brought it up, she must have thought it through.
"I am a lowly maiden who stumbled upon a fairy when I was in danger. You heroically managed to take down the serpent chasing me. This was when I offered my service to you, as a servant to the hive," she said. Kigen was surprised, shouldn't she have at least pretended to be thinking about it.
However, he did not find anything wrong with her words. The problem was, she was involving him in her deception to his own kin. This was not how he wanted things to happen. Hence, he decided that when the right time came, he would come clean to his family.
"One question, since you are a lowly servant, why should I call you Mistress?" He asked.
"That has always been my title," she said, then came to a realization. "You may be wondering, but major fairy families have human servants, the chief always goes by the name of mistress, or matron."
As she explained, she looked proud. Back then, this was what she aspired to be, but she never got there. Tragedy happened, and she had to flee, carrying the future of a proud and noble fay clan.
This time around, she was going to be that, and she would proudly wear the name "Mistress." Kigen realized she was not willing to back down, but since she had raised him, he owed her that. In fact, it sounded weird just calling her Kering, or something worse. Same way it would feel to call your father or mother by their real name.
"Alright, enough of this," Kigen said. "Let's go meet the family."
At first glance, Mistress Kering was blown away. The fairy numbers had grown extremely fast, faster than even she expected. Standing before her, there were no less than fifty fairies, looking amazing as they flew together.
They were staring at this newcomer. She seemed quite an interesting new toy. Despite her tall frame, the fairies seemed to have some sense of superiority even as they assessed her.
Unlike Tera, this new one could talk. She was also very respectful. Fairies were born with the ability to talk and communicate; hence they appreciated that from others as well. She could also perform magic.
Ever since Kigen's attack on the snake, more and more fairies had taken up using rods and bows to assist in hunting. They aspired to be like Kigen, capable of destroying a snake with two blows.
As they assessed her, she too was assessing them. Based on the shine on their wings, and the deep green, they seemed to be thriving in this environment. Why wouldn't they, considering they had such a huge collection of resources in the forest.
"Enough of this, time to go hunt," Kigen said, as he called the family together.
"You hunt every day?" Mistress Kering asked, shocked. Such luxury. Most fairies in the cities struggle to find suitable space and resources. These fairies had an entire rainforest at their back, such that they could afford to hunt daily.
"Yeah, have you ever hunted," Nixa was at the frontline, causing all kinds of trouble. She wanted to sit the new human down and interrogate her, fish every kind of information she could.
This time, they were going to a less green area of the forest. They had spotted a large collection of rabbits, or specifically, pikas. There were quite some holes in the place. Kigen and the rest usually came quell the numbers.
As they moved, Mistress Kering, who had been struggling to keep up, suddenly came to a halt. In front of her were a family of coyotes. Worse still, they had spotted her. In her haste, she had not done much to mask her presence.
The fairies did not seem to notice the danger, curiously observing the human, wondering why she was stopping. The lead coyote sprang into action, leading the other into encircling the human that had just served herself on a silver platter.
The situation had suddenly gotten critical, and her protectors looked indifferent.