"I'm sorry!" Lee bowed his head as soon as he came out of the woods that he was hiding in.
"Hi, Lee. What's going on?" Alek reacted the first to the apology.
"I'm sorry!" He repeated in the same position. He didn't dare to look up and face them.
"What are you talking about?" Jin asked. "Lee, could you tell us why you are apologising? We don't understand."
"I'm the one who knocked you out..." Lee stopped bowing, but his eyes never met the girl in front of him with a confused look.
"Huh?"
"What did you say?" The twins asked because they didn't believe what they heard.
"I knocked you out." Lee fearfully looked at Alek and diverted within a second. Alek dropped her mouth hearing this. How can a small boy like him knock her out? Moreover, how was she knocked out by him? He was not even her waist yet and, he was able to do that?
"Why?" Castor finally understood what the boy said and asked.
"Because..." Lee didn't want to answer that question.
"Because?" Pollux asked but, the boy didn't speak.
"Because I saw her, right?" Alek asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. She saw his eyes widen. He immediately looked at the two big boys in front next to her with fear. "Don't worry. We will never say this to anyone. I promise." She kneeled in front of Lee and told him while she looked straight into his big eyes.
"Really?" Lee asked. Alek nodded.
"Now, you were saying you knocked me out because I saw her, isn't it? Was she your friend?" Alek spoke softly to the scared little boy. He nodded. "I get it. Sometimes you have a secret friend that you want to keep them to yourself." She then smiled. She was talking about her best friends. Sometimes she was glad that not many people noticed how they were the best people to have by her side while she felt guilty for thinking that way. They didn't belong to her but, she also didn't want to share them with other people calling them, their best friends.
"You do?" Lee asked ad Alek replied with a yeah with a chuckle. "She is my only friend in here ever since my friend started to live in Kan'nazuki's territory."
"What's her name?"
"Linett-Parisa." Lee answered.
"That's a beautiful name."
"I know." He smiled with bright eyes.
"Lee, stop it." A distinct, high-pitched voice echoed in the forest. "You are not supposed to tell them." When she spoke again, she was flying next to Lee's face with a red face.
Alek and the twins were surprised by this. First to the appearance of the fairy in front of them. Second, none of them was prepared for it. Thirdly, just fairy.
"But she has already seen you and, she told them about you." Lee replied to the fairy that was the size of his tiny face.
"It doesn't matter! They are not supposed to know of my exisistance!" the fairy's wings were dripping water as her wings were made of water.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know about that." The poor boy apologised to the tiny thing next to him. The fairy was seemed to be angry from the way she flapped her wings unnecessarily. She snapped her head towards the big humans and looked at them with disgust.
"Now, what do I do with you. Buried alive, drowned to death or slit the neck. Which one?" The fairy asked. She was threatening them but, it didn't suit her cute appearance.
"We don't plan on hurting or exposing your existence, Linett-Parisa. That's your name right?" Rin and the rest immediately put their hands up in the air. They didn't know what the fairy and the boy were capable of.
"It is." Linett-Parisa answered the question and crossed her arms. "And you are?"
"My name is Rin. The person next to me is Alek. And the person next to her is Jin. We are clan members of Mutsuki and Minazuki." Rin explained.
"You are from the leading clans? Prove it!" The fae spoke in her high voice.
"I am the next head of Mutsuki and, she is the next head of Minazuki but, if we want to prove it to you, we would need to shift. You only need to see our ancient forms, right?" Jin asked the fairy.
"I can show you." Alek spoke. Maybe her cousins' ancient forms were dangerous and could go out of control but, hers was at least under her control. "I am going to shift right now. Can I?"
"Partially is enough." Linett-Parisa told her.
"So could the eyes work?" She didn't know how the fairy would know if she was in leading clans but, that didn't matter. Alek could feel that the fairy's appearance was adorable but, that didn't mean, also on the inside. "Okay." She spoke when the fae gave her a go. She closed her eyes and called out for her beast. Apparently, Kiryuu was resting and, it took some time for her to come to take over.
"Hey." Kiryuu opened her eyes and greeted her human's cousins.
"Hey." Rin replied and, Jin supped in answer.
"What's going in on?" Kiryuu looked around herself when she saw the twins' hands were in the air. Also hers. She was resting and didn't bother to keep up with Alek so, she didn't know what had happened and why she needed to appear.
"The yellow dragon..." Linett-Parisa put her hands over her mouth. Kiryuu looked at the thing that was floating in front of her. When the fae saw the yellow eyes, she knew she wasn't wrong. The last time she saw a dragon-shifter was centuries ago. She didn't know there was another one apart from that white dragon.
"What do you want, fae?" Kiryuu asked. Her arms were getting tired and, she wanted to end it.
"Nothing. That's enough. You can shift back." The fairy replied instantly and, the Kiryuu gave the control back to Alek after rolling her eyes.
"Are we okay?" Alek asked as she slowly lowered her hands.
"Yes. We vowed ourselves to protect the leading clans." Linett-Parisa spoke and stopped flying. She lowered herself slowly before she kneeled on the ground to show submission.
"Could you stop that. It's making me uncomfortable." Alek told the little thing in front of her. She was not used to being shown respect by the supernatural creatures.
"Of course." The fairy lowered her head once before she began to fly again.
"How should we call you?" Jin asked. Calling her name was a bit mouthful.
"Anything you want." She answered. The three of them sighed because that wasn't helping. Instead, they turned to the boy behind the fairy. He must have a nickname for her long name, right?"
"I call her Pari." Lee answered when he understood the gazes.
"Then we will also call you Pari." Rin smiled. That was a short name that also sounded beautiful as her first name.
"Whatever you wish." Pari smiled.
"Umm. I have several questions for you, Pari. Would you mind answering us?" Alek asked. Since this was the first time a fairy was really in front of them, she wanted to ask many questions she couldn't ask the ones in the sunflower field.
"Sure thing." She replied. "But can we move the place? There isn't enough privacy here." Pari looked around cautiously. She didn't know when people could show up and didn't want to take the chance.
"Sure. But where?" Alek asked.
"I'm glad you asked." The three saw a smirk on the fairy's face. But before they could decipher the meaning, they were transported to a different place.
Alek, Castor and Pollux were not prepared for the transportation and fell on the ground as soon as they arrived. They looked at where they were standing and were confused. The ground was dark green. It was smooth and reflected the light from above. They stood up and looked around themselves. They were surrounded by strange walls. The walls were transparent and, it showed trees and bushes through it.
"Where are we?" Rin asked.
"You are in a place that I created." Pari replied from behind them with a smile. Lee was standing next to her. It looked like he was used to it.
"Which is?" Alek asked.
"In a droplet of water." The water fairy told them. They immediately stopped breathing before they realised there was air in the water. "I also brought air in here so you can breathe." Pari added and, they resumed breathing again.
"How are you able to create this kid of space?" Jin asked in fascination.
"This is one of the common things water fairies can do. Create their own space whenever they want to in whatever water body."
"How are we fitting in here? And what are we standing on?" Jin began to jump up and down on the green ground. It was bouncy.
"It's fae magic and, we are in a drop of water on a leaf." Pari answered. "Now should I begin to answer the questions you have for me?"
"Yeah." Jin stopped his childish behaviour and stopped jumping on the leaf. "Could you explain everything about faeries?"
"Of course." Pari smiled and began explaining from the top. She had heard stories and the history of her people from the elders in her species. Plus, she had been alive for more than two centuries.
It took her quite some time to explain everything and, when she was done, she saw the audience sitting on the leaf. They were staring at her keenly with serious but excited eyes.
"Do you know faeries that live in the territory of Minazuki? Specifically, where the current head lives?"