Prologue: We Need A Wendy

In the night there was always a fire. A bonfire in the Star-sprout Clearing burned dim that night, but it had the strangest gathering of the age. Lorelei from Mermaid Lagoon had traded her tail to attend the meeting. Gnash the Gremlin came from the Devouring Swamps, Flora the gnome from the Bloom Fields, Raza of the Gem Golems from the Glittering East Towers, and Dorn Stonecutter came from the Labyrinth Mountain. The fairy queen had sent Blinker in her place. Tigerlily had come in place of her father, the chief. Mr. Smee represented for Pirate Cove. In a circle they crouched close and waited for Blinker to start.

Blinker was small even for a fairy. She glowed faint blue. She was visible out only when she floated above the yellow-gold of the flames in the path of the twirling grey smoke. Those with keen eyes could see her hair was cut short and her clothes were baggy—difficult to determine whether she was girl or boy or fat or thin. But her neck was slender as were her bare ankles and wrists. She carried with her a scroll with the seal of her queen.

The language of fairies was spoken with sounds of chimes, soft bells, and twinkling, so there were few who could understand it. Tigerlily had spent the most time in the company of fairies—including the traitor Tinker Bell—and she volunteered to translate.

Tigerlily wore her long black hair in one long braid over her shoulder. The band around her head was a woven braid of dark animal skin. She wore her tan hide summer clothes, which left her arms and legs bare. Any skin that showed, save her face, was decorated in tattoos. There were thick bands and the shapes of thorns, black and burgundy, with murders of crows and flowing rivers. Tigerlily's skin was dark, red in tone, but her eyes were bright lavender. Tonight was not the first time she'd spoken for her people and the peoples of Neverland.

Chimes sounded as Blinker read the scroll.

"The fairy queen is aware of what is happening to Neverland," Tigerlily translated. "The seasons are strange. The plants are tired from the long summers. The boy does not let them sleep. The queen does not have the power to oppose him. She is sick."

Blinker chimed angrily, her blue glow touched with rouge.

"She is poisoned," Tigerlily corrected.

The bonfire and the crowd stirred. They whispered their concerns. Tigerlily raised her hand and they quieted.

"Neverland cannot die," Tigerlily continued to translate. "But Neverland can be twisted and it can hurt the children that this place was born for. The fairy queen will do everything she can to help, but she needs us, the people of Neverland, to join hands to save our world."

Blinker rolled the scroll. She fluttered to the ground and rested her wings next to Tigerlily's feet.

"The seas have been strange," Mr. Smee added. A pale ragged cloth was tied around his hand. His fingers were calloused from centuries of labour. "Rough. Stormy. The fish aren't anywhere. We're starving. The Captain has docked for a week straight now. He hasn't done that before. Ever."

The sea folk are hiding, Lorelei signed with her hands. They are afraid of the surface. They know it was in the air that we lost our voices.

"The Bloom Fields are withering," Flora cried. Her tears were bigger than her body. She was larger than Blinker, but not taller than Tigerlily's hip. "It's so dry and hot. Three decades of summer."

Gnash growled through his hooked teeth. "The Swamps are drying up as well." His voice was deep and rough. His long limbs were folded uncomfortable in the small space between Flora crying on his left and Raza's hard gem skin on his right.

"The animals are wild," Tigerlily added solemnly. "They too have lost their voices. They wander and kill without thought. Food is scarcer by the day."

"He's gone too far," Raza said, her voice echoing from inside her body.

"What else could you expect from a child?" Mr. Smee asked. He spat on the ground by his feet.

"A child must always be the master of Neverland," Tigerlily warned, her eyes burning hot on the pirate who had once been her enemy. "Peter Pan was the right choice."

The crowd gasped at the mention of his name. Flora cried more. The ground around her was muddy.

"Does the fairy queen have a solution?" Raza demanded. Her skin was orange by the fire's glow. Only traces of the hints of green and pale pink showed at the corners of her skin.

Blinker nodded. She reached into a pouch at her side and pulled out a scroll twice the length of her body. She handed the scroll to Tigerlily.

Tigerlily unrolled the thin paper and read the enlarged fairy lettering. "She offers two impossible choices."

"Kill the boy," Mr. Smee guessed. "That would be the first impossible choice." He stood and scratched the graying hair under his red cap. "The Captain would be all too happy to do it—if the boy wasn't bloody immortal—but I know all of you, in your heart of hearts, still love the boy. You think he can be saved."

"He's Pan," Flora whimpered with wide eyes. Her comically large ears drooped. "He's always made the children happy and safe."

Gnash slammed a clawed hand down. "He is a coward. After all this time he doesn't know the truth of Neverland."

"What's our other choice?" Raza asked.

Tigerlily closed her eyes and sat with the flat of her feet touching. She rested her weary head on her hand, elbow pointed into her leg. "Neverland has rules," she said.

"We can't…" Raza's gem skin rattled.

"Impossible," Gnash growled.

"It's too dangerous!" Flora moaned.

"It is impossible," Smee agreed. "No one from Neverland can break even one rule. It can't be done."

"Not by us," Tigerlily agreed. "We need a Wendy."

AUTHOR: If you've read my other stories you know I tend to be long-winded. This story is going to have shorter chapters. Each chapter won't be much longer than this (1,000 words or so).

This prologue was inspired by the always amazing The Neverending Story.

Reviews are welcome.