Scout Fairies
They took off together and soared high above the tree tops. Daniel grabbed the sides of the leaf tightly. If he fell of from here, it would be a long, very long fall... He couldn't even see the ground any more. But then he looked up and it was a stunning view from here. The swaying leaves looked like an ocean and the fresh air breeze carried the scent of the forest and a hint of sweetness that reminded him of his girlfriends flower garden. Within the vast green sea a huge flower had grown above all other trees, crowned by a ring of massive, white petals.
“What on earth is that? A monster flower?”
Durin laughed.
“No, this flower isn't a monster though the name gerbera cultivaris monstera does imply it. It's a rare ancient flower type that took roots here millenniums ago. Today it serves as the Scout headquarter.”
They flew closer to it. Daniel could see a lot of fairy groups heading in and out of the flower head and holes in its stem. The place was crawling with busy fairies like bees in a beehive. Some of them carried stretchers with injured fairies, others transported griffin corpses away.
The largest flower petals were used as runways. Durin steered the leaf toward one of them and they landed safely. Daniel gladly got off, with shaking knees, but happy to have solid ground under his feet again.
“Oh, my goddess! Dury!! Are you alright??” An orange lightning passed by him and stopped abruptly before the alchemist. “I saw the griffin corpse on your doorstep! Did he attack you? I was so worried because I couldn't find you anywhere! I thought maybe you were eaten by one of these beasts!” A small, orange-haired fairy with pilot goggles grabbed Durin by his shoulders and shook him, almost violently.
“I'm fine, I'm fine! Calm down, Borck... I'm gonna get sick if you shake me too much...” He tried to get out of his tight grip in vain without being too impolite.
“Oh, oh! Sorry! Dury, I'm so sorry! I'm just glad you are alright! We really, really need your help with the spell books. We used up a lot of the healing spells after the griffin attack and now our supplies have almost run out! I'd say we'd be lost without you! Even doomed! I wish we had more magicians here...” The fairy threw his hands in the air and made some wild gestures while talking.
Then he noticed Daniel and turned around to him.
“And who are you? An elven visitor? Or a helping hand? Or... Oh! A prisoner of war?? Why wasn't I informed about that!” He flew closer to Daniel's face, then he paused.
“Ah, the glasses, I forgot to take off my glasses...” He removed his goggles, revealing big, golden eyes and freckled cheeks.
“Hi! I'm Borck. Nice to meet you, elf! What brings you here out of all places?” The illusion magic seemed to work perfectly on him, since he couldn't recognize Daniel as a human.
“Well, I'm Daniel and I'm actually-” Durin got between them. “He's indeed an elf, visiting us. Fay needs to collect a few special materials and this kind elf has offered his help because... he's an old acquaintance of mine. He just has a bit of a complicated history, so he doesn't know much about this world. Please, be considerate about that.”
Borck nodded. “Hm, alright. If you say so, Dury. I can show the newbie the ropes! I'm the royally acknowledged leader of the Scouts and I know everything there is to know about scouting. I also train new recruits and organize expeditions. Because I know almost every corner of this world, I can track down any material needed.” He grinned proudly, lifting himself up a bit without noticing. He then continued to ramble on about his various skills and adventures while Durin dusted off his shoulders where Borck shook him.
“I leave him in your care then. I still have to prepare a few things for this expedition, so show him around a bit 'till I'm back.”
“Sure thing, Dury! You can leave everything to me. I'm an expert in teaching stuff!”
“Good, I'm trusting you. See you!” Durin took off.
“So, you want to go on an expedition? Where to? Have you ever scouted before? What's your current experience? Which weapons do you use?”
Daniel shook his head. “One question after the other please. I just arrived here. To be honest, I don't even know which materials we're looking for.”
“I see, I see. That's not a problem. We have a pin board in the great hall where all expeditions and delivery dates are listed. I'll just look for Fays request. Follow me!”
He flew toward the middle of the flower and entered a golden dome through one of many tall portals. Inside everything was coloured in a soft, yellow light that came from the long entrances which lead to the runways. Big blue and red bell flowers were mounted on the ceiling. They signalled if the path was clear or occupied. In the middle of the dome, a large hive was hanging in mid-air. Fairies flew in and out, carrying letters and packages back and forth.
Brock went straight to a counter directly under the hive. A female fairy dressed in a lavender gown and half-transparent purplish wings greeted him. “Greetings, Borck! Are you going out? We're almost out of armour scales.”
“Hi, Vio! I'm kinda busy right now but I'll see what I can do. Team 31 should be coming back from Oceania soon. If you're lucky, they brought some along.” She dropped her wings slightly.
“Oh, well. It's not too urgent yet. I don't want to disturb you when you're busy... Does your current job have something to do with that elf behind you?” She curiously pointed at Daniel.
“Yes, partially. This is... Daniel, was it? And this is Violetta, our jewellry maker.” Borck nodded proudly. ”Dury entrusted me with his guidance. We'll go scouting together on Faylenn's request. We were just about to get the list of materials.”
He wandered toward a pin board while talking. Violetta followed him.
“For Faylenn? It must be very important then... But he always asks for such rare, strange and hard to get things. I know, he is the Court Magician but some things are really unreasonable.”
“You mean the deepwater mermaid tears he requested last winter?”
Borck scanned the request board.
“Yes. And that's just one example...”
“Yeah, they're impossible to get and we still don't have them. We couldn't even get normal mermaid tears as a substitute...”
Daniel listened uncomfortably, praying that the materials for the teleporter machine would be easier to get.
