MELUSINE OPENED her eyes. Her now mortal body rested on the ground and she never felt so heavy before. Fairies were made of stardust and had no weight but now, even her eyelashes weighed her down.

She stared up at the cloudless summer sky. Gone was the heavy snowstorm that ravaged this part of the country last night. Or was it? How much time had passed? For all she knew, it could already be a month or a year since the Council Trial.

Varying shades of blue dance together, twisting and blending, forming an ocean of color. Melusine drank in the light and basked in the warmth. She had never experienced such sensations before and she felt giddy with pure joy. Her visits to the human realm were mostly during the night when most humans resigned themselves to the comforts of their homes.

Her bubble burst rather quickly. Melusine could sense there was an animal nearby, watching her. Lifting her body to have a look, she found that she couldn't move. Her body wasn't used to being this heavy. She tried and failed a couple more times and just gave up, preferring to stay still on the grass. It was strange, the notion of waking up. Her body felt stiff yet content. She felt sated but sleepy. It was almost like a drug, wooing her back to the deep ocean called sleep. A feeling she had never felt before but wanted to feel again. She let her eyes close and slowly drifted off to sleep. 

MELUSINE WOKE up with a start. Something cold and slick drenched her cheeks. She turned her head to find Robby's pink nose almost pressed to her face. The rabbit gave another lick to Melusine's nose and the forest fairy giggled.

She noticed her body didn't feel heavy anymore. She reached out a hand to ruffle Robby's snow-white coating to test.

"Yes, that's right. Keep doing that, Melusine," Robby urged as he angled his chin for Melusine to rub.

"You act like a cat," Melusine said with a teasing smile.

Robby sputtered, his eyes wide in horror. The rabbit slapped her hand with his tiny paw. "H-How dare you!"

The forest fairy broke into laughter as she sat, clutching her stomach. She wiped an invisible tear in her eye as her laughter subsided and her lips softened into a smile. "Forgive me?"

Robby crossed his forelegs over his chest and huffed. "Don't think you can get away this time."

"Don't you want to know what happened during the Council meeting?" Melusine sighed, feigning her frustration. She watched in the corner of her eye the slight twitch of Robby's ears and nose. Her friend needed only a little push. If there was anyone who could not resist a story and gossip, Melusine would bet a feather from her wings on Robby.

"Hmm, the Fairy Mother sent me on a special mission and I was actually thinking of asking you to come with me. Just so I could have another trusted set of eyes." Melusine stood and brushed off some dirt and leaves that clung to the skirt of her dress. She shrugged and sighed. "Guess I have to do this alone."

Melusine walked forward in a direction she wasn't certain where it led. She counted to five in her head and as expected, the soft padding of Robby's hopping followed her.

"Alright, alright. You win." Melusine fought back a smile as she faced her friend. Robby sat on his haunches and tilted his head to the side. "Now, tell me what this special mission is all about."

Melusine recounted what conspired in the Council. The fairy left no details unspoken, from the voices and concerns of the Theolians present in the trial to the Fairy Mother's judgment on the course of action she must take. And unless she managed to erase that man's memory of her that night, the doors to Theolia wouldn't open for her.

"That would surely be tough considering that—" Robby raked his eyes on her from head to toe "—the Fairy Mother had trapped you in a mortal body. Another form of punishment."

Melusine's eyebrows knitted, deep in confusion. "I am in no position to complain and bargain for my punishment. It is just fitting that I clean up the mess I made. After all, my rash actions have put my world in a tight position and I am not going to deny it." Then, she paused. Melusine stared at the orange-tinted sky once more. The sun was just peeking above the horizon. "Did it only happen the other night, I wonder?"

"Not the other night. A month ago," Robby drawled. "If my rabbit senses serve me right."

The fairy hummed in understanding. Time ran slower in Theolia than in the Human Realm. She might be asleep for quite a few days too, remembering how having a mortal body had literally sapped her strength that moving a finger or two had become a grueling task to make.

"Can you test some of your powers for me?" said Robby as he hopped around her. "The flow of energy around you has changed. Usually, I see yellow and green, but now it's... gray. Like the boring gray of humans."

"Just gray?" Melusine reached for her necklace and fiddled with its gold leaf pendant. Worry seeped into the pits of her stomach. It was one thing to possess a mortal body, but to lose her power spelled doom. Her power was a part of her. It made her who she was. A power born uniquely from a fairy was what would set her apart from the Circle.

"No, no, no." Robby fanned a paw in front of his face, dismissing the notion. "It is gray, but I can see tiny flecks of colors. Lots of them!"

"Then, there's only one way to find out."

Melusine unfolded her right hand, palm facing up, and let the energy humming in her body gather at that single point. A tiny spark ignited on her palm until a small flame, glowing and warm, came to life. A hum of satisfaction rose from her throat. With one snap of her fingers, the flame was snuffed out.

Closing her eyes, Melusine pictured the hemlock mere steps away from her. She imagined her body as light as air, drifting through the wind like a phantom. She felt her body getting pulled apart, but it was not the least bit painful. More like her essence was spreading and becoming one with the wind. As she opened her eyes, she found herself standing before the very same tree in her mind. Melusine looked over her shoulder and spotted Robby on the spot where once had been.

"I think I just worried for nothing," she said and Robby only shrugged.

Despite proving to Robby (and to herself) that she was not as powerless as she thought she had become, Melusine called on her other powers, gifts she inherited from her Dark Fae blood. She willed a colony of spring beauties to grow from the earth, transformed a small rock into an apple, hypnotized Robby to do a tap dance with his bunny feet, and read the minds of every animal that passed. However, she couldn't seem to heal the cut she induced on her skin, lift a fallen tree, and project energy.

"Some of my magic doesn't seem to work right." Melusine's lips curled into a frown.

Robby hopped towards her. "Probably an effect of having a mortal body. A body that weak couldn't possibly handle the greatness of your magic, Melusine."

"Perhaps, you're right."

"And that is better than nothing at all."

Melusine sighed, tucking a loose strand of her brown locks behind her ear. "And I couldn't argue with that. So... where do we go from here? I'm afraid the times I spent in my mortal slumber fuddled my sense of direction."

"What!" Melusine jumped at Robby's sudden outburst. The rabbit tugged on his ears in visible frustration. He nibbled his lower lip with his big front teeth. "Melusine," said Robby in an accusatory note, pointing at the shimmering fabric of her dress that changes color in every twirl, "don't tell me you'll be venturing the Human Real in search of the man in question wearing that. A fairy silk!"

Melusine frowned. "Well, the Fairy Mother did not allow me to bring any of my possessions with me. It never even crossed my mind to change."

"Then, worry not. I've got you, my most favorite fairy friend." Robby puffed out his chest and whistled. Birds twittered overhead—brown-headed nuthatch, brown creepers, red-breasted sapsucker, and wood thrushes. Robby's fellow rabbits emerged from their burrows. Chipmunks and squirrels skittered down the tree trunks, leaving their nests. And deers and raccoons bounded from the bushes.

All animals present gathered around Melusine, each eyeing the rabbit and the fairy in curiosity.

"Friends!" Robby stomped his feet on the ground, his front paws propped on his sides. Then he said in a singsong voice, "Make a dress, make a dress! The fairy needs a dress! Gather 'round your finest cotton and silkiest ribbons. Hide the fairy in the glamor of a true noble woman."

Then the animals sang in chorus, "Make a dress, make a dress! The fairy needs a dress! Gather 'round your finest cotton and silkiest ribbons. Hide the fairy in the glamor of a true noble woman."

At last, they took off. The birds skimmed the tree tops then dived out of sight. The chipmunks and squirrels scoured their nests and the rabbits hopped excitedly down their burrows. As the last of the animals disappeared, Melusine raised an eyebrow at Robby. Excitement bubbled in her chest. It did not take long for Robby's friends to reappear, bringing with them the finest cotton and silkiest ribbons that would make her dress.

The animals set to work. They hang the fabric on the deer's antlers. As the birds sewed and sewed—the colorful threads in their beaks—the others laid out careful instructions, Robby leading them. And to stop Melusine from ever reaching out to help, the rabbits kept her occupied as they asked her to play, and most of the time, give them belly scratches.

Melusine didn't notice how much time had passed when the animals presented the dress to her. The fairy clasped her hands, eyes twinkling in appreciation, "Lovely. I couldn't wait to put it on." She snapped her fingers and just like that, the dress disappeared and reappeared and swathed around her body. The full skirt swept the grass as she walked. Rosebuds were sewn into it along the hem and up one side as if the skirt itself were some sort of magical trellis. The fitted bodice had boning that made her nonexistent chest swell above the sweetheart neckline. It just barely covered the leaf pendant on her bosom.

"Look 'ere, look 'ere!" the squirrels sang behind her. Melusine twirled, loving the feeling of her skirt as it swayed and bounced, and faced her reflection in the mirror.

Melusine tilted her head as she studied herself. She changed her dress, but there was still no denying that her features were ethereal. Something... otherworldly. Her skin practically glowed like stars. Her hair shone from the floating golden glitters like fireflies in the night. The shade of her green eyes shifted from light forest green to deep emerald.

"Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for a few minor changes." Melusine snapped her fingers once more and her reflection in the mirror rippled.

A different Melusine stared right back at her. She had short black hair, an inch above her shoulders. The sight made her miss her long brown curls but this was only a small sacrifice to make. From the varying shades of green, her eyes became the color of the wood. And instead of the radiant pale complexion she had grown accustomed to, her skin was tanned as if she had spent most of her time basking in the sun. Indeed, she looked different compared to before, but not even the small changes could hide a fairy's allure.

"This would do," said Melusine. She beamed at herself and then at the band of animals who had gathered to give her aid. "And I can't express how thankful I am to you."

"There is nothing more we can ask for you, dear fairy, but your protection of the forest, our home. That alone is enough," said the squirrel, her head bowed slightly.

"Which I will keep on doing until the end of my fairy life," said Melusine.

Robby cleared his throat and hopped onto Melusine's shoulder. "Now that that's settled..." He narrowed his small beady eyes to the direction of the north. "To Cassen we go!"