I am a flower petal, floating on the breeze. A newborn baby's laughter rings in my entire being. I have no ears, so I do not hear it. I can feel the laughter in my soul, which resides in this rose petal. I fly along, over the sparkling city below. Sleeping people live in those houses. I float right into the sky, flying on to the second star to the right and beyond…

I opened my eyes. I had eyes. I had a body. It was clothed in a rose petal dress that reached almost to its knees. My knees.

I looked around. More people stared back at me. Something in me said they were fairies, just like I was. They were like humans, only with wings, and they were magical. My life as a flower told me what humans were.

Just then, a whisper went through the crowd, saying "Queen Clarion!"

I didn't know what a "queen clarion" was, but it sounded…nice. I liked it.

I saw one—two, no, three big sparkles floating towards me, and then they came together, and instead of an even bigger sparkle like I had expected, a beautiful, grown fairy woman stood before me. This must be, not 'a', but the Queen Clarion. I really liked her. She had something very motherly about her…something heart-warming.

"Hello, little one," she said. Even her voice was warm and loving. "Did you have any trouble finding your way?"

"N-no, at least…I, I…" I faltered, and then the words stopped coming.

I think Queen Clarion could tell I was nervous. "Now, now. Let's not be afraid. Shall we see to your wings?"

I nodded shyly. She flew gracefully around me until she was right behind me. I couldn't see what she was doing, but I suddenly felt a tingling sensation right between my shoulder blades. I heard a collective gasp from the crowd, including Queen Clarion. Then the whispers started. I heard only a few, but they were like this: "Her wings! What is wrong with them?" "I've never even seen wings like that!" and "There must be something wrong with her!"

"Hush, now," said Queen Clarion, gently, but in a way that everyone immediately was silent.

"It is time," she continued, "to find your talent."

She waved an arm, and a ring of toadstools appeared around me. I noticed that the fairies around me were all sitting in groups. One fairy came from each group. In some cases, it was a sparrow man, which the same something in me told me was what the boy fairies were called.

I looked around. Each fairy or sparrow man put something on each toadstool. Each thing began to glow. This drew another collective gasp from the crowd. Queen Clarion looked a little surprised, but not much.

Then, all the things—I could see a hammer, a paint brush, a little tornado, a water drop, a flower, a ball of light, a shimmering fountain of pixie dust, and many others—started floating off their toadstools and toward me.

I didn't know what to do. I stood there helplessly as the various items came and started spinning around me, glowing ever brighter. They became so bright that I had to close my eyes.

Suddenly, the light was gone. I looked up to see Queen Clarion standing before me, and the toadstools and talents were gone.

"What happened?" I asked.

She looked at me and said, "I think I know, but I have to be sure." Then, she turned to a sparrow man with blond hair and an acorn hat. "Terrence," she said to him, "Find her somewhere to stay for the night. I will clear all this up by morning."

The sparrow man fluttered over to me and held out a hand, which I took. "She must be worried," he told me. "She didn't even show you how to fly. Hmm…I guess I'll have to do that."

He started flying up, still holding my hand. I found out how to move my wings, so I fluttered them, and found myself rising. I laughed with delight.

"There!" Terrence exclaimed. "You've got it! Okay, now, come with me."

He didn't let go of my hand, but flew off, away from the high tree stump I saw we had been gathered on. When I stole a glance back, I saw Queen Clarion talking to who I guessed were her advisors or something, with a worried expression.

When we finally arrived at a nice little house, "My home," Terrence called it; he invited me inside and told me to make myself at home. I walked over to a table and perched on the edge of a chair. He came and sat across from me.

"So," he said, "You either have all the talents, or no talent. I've never seen what just happened happen before."

"What? Oh, you mean, me," I said, ashamed to be this freak of nature.

"No! no, not that you're like, weird or anything. Just…different. Unique! In a really good way. I mean, you have those wings, to start, and—"

"What's wrong with my wings?" I cried.

"Oh, I almost forgot—Queen Clarion forgot to show you a mirror in all the…commotion." He chose his words carefully, I could tell, so as not to offend me.

He got up and beckoned for me to follow. I got up and followed him to a mirror—well, more a piece of polished, reflective glass—and gasped. For rising between my shoulder blades were two very beautiful butterfly-shaped wings.

All the other fairies and sparrow men I had seen had split wings, where the top one was long and pointed, and the lower one was small and round, except for a few, whose lower wings were the same as the top.

Mine were large, and though they were still split, they were exactly the shape of a butterfly's wings. They looked like—

"Your wings," said Terrence, "Look like Queen Clarion's, only I think yours are prettier."

When I looked at him, he was blushing a little. I could tell from his voice he was telling the truth. I blushed a little, too.

"So, uh," Terrence went on, his blush fading, "I'm gonna introduce you to some friends of mine, 'kay?"

"O…okay."

So, there we were, surrounded by fairies and sparrow men that I didn't know.

"Hi!" said a pretty blond one, wearing a short green dress. "My name is Tinkerbell!"

"Hello," said another blond, this time wearing a long swirling blue dress. "I'm Rani."

"Hi," said one shyly, this one having orange-blond hair. She wore a leaf top and skirt, and a hat with a berry on it. "I'm Beck."

"Hey," said one with dark skin and wavy brown hair. She was wearing a top and skirt, both a light peach colour that looked nice with her skin tone. "I'm Fira."

"Hey there," said another, this one with red-brown hair. She wore a pink petal dress with a leaf apron over top. "My name is Prilla."

"Hello," said another, this one wearing a leaf top with tights underneath. She was wearing a flower hat, and her skin was as dark as Fira's. Her hair was curly and dark. "
My name is Lily."

"Well, hi!" said one cheerily, wearing a top and tights with a skirt over it. She had her long brown hair pulled into a side ponytail. "I'm Bess!"

Then two sparrow men came on, one thin and rather twig-like, the other rather large.

The twiggish one, who wore large glasses and had reddish hair, spoke with a thick Scottish accent, "Hello! My name is Bobble."

"And I'm Clank!" said the other, who had black hair.

"Well, hey there, sweet pea," said one who had brown hair and wore pink, "My name's Rosetta, but you can call me Rose."

"Hiya!" said one who had her hair in a long braid, and wore pants and a top. "I'm Fawn."

"Hi," said one who was dark-skinned as well, with her black hair pulled into a loose bun, and she wore a yellow skirt and top. "I'm Iridessa, but you call me Dessa, okay?"

I nodded.

"Hi there," said another, also wearing a blue long dress, this one slightly different, and she had long black hair. "I'm Silvermist. But you can call me Sil."

"Alright," said Terrence, "Now that you know everyone, let's just…"

"Rani!" I exclaimed, and then immediately regretted it. I had just noticed that she had no wings, but everyone was staring at me.

"Uh, well," I stammered, "You, uh…"

"Oh!" she laughed. "I have no wings. Yes, but that is just fine with me, because that means I can swim. See, the other fairies can't get their wings wet, or they can't fly."

I nodded. Swimming seemed a fair trade. Still, I preferred wings. It would be nice to swim, though.

"So, anyway," said Terrence, "You'll be staying with Fawn and Beck, who are both animal-talent fairies."

"What talents does everyone else have?" I asked.

"Bess is an art fairy, Lily and Rosetta are garden fairies, Rani and Sil are water fairies, Bobble, Clank and Tink are tinker fairies, Prilla is a special one…the one and only clapping fairy, and finally, Fira and Dessa are light fairies."

And that's how I ended up playing Truth or dare, Fairy style, with the girls at Fawn's house.