Y'ethmelle is the name of this place.

A town where elves reside, those with a deep connection to the earth and plants and deep respect for nature. Their home becomes the source of their power, their magic, and it breathes and pulses together with the lives within.

And this place has become the perfect sanctuary for pixies like Eydan, who had once been through the kind of hardship just like what you have read in the books.

While sharing a bit of their past before entering Y'ethmelle, Eydan guides you through the trees, entering the woodlands until you finally get to see it—a town hidden in the forest, blending in with the trees, the boulders, the hills, before rising up the stone wall where water was cascading from the top to the banks below. There are structures built along the thickest giant trees, forming from the ground and up the thick branches were small houses made of timber and glass that look like crystals.

The same structures appear on the stone walls; small wooden houses floating on either side of the waterfall; hanging on top of the massive boulders framing the riverbanks; and some sinking into the foot of the cliff wall. Some houses were built extremely low and just enough for the pixies to reside in, as they blend into the small hills or hidden between the roots of the giant old trees that you saw during your stroll through the magic town.

Eydan points out their home—the one small opening hidden between the roots of a giant elm tree—before pointing to a house built with stone structures at the very end of the tree line. "That's where Master Trish lives. The pixies that work with her live in small houses like ours, all built close enough to her home, so she can often invite us for dinners and other celebrations when she's free."

"Where is your boss now, then?" you ask when you notice that the house is quiet.

Eydan hops from one branch to another, and that is when you realise that the pixie never truly stops moving. They are constantly jumping, hopping and swinging on the branches, rarely ever stepping foot on the ground unless when they are sitting atop a stone.

"At the city. Aeris. She mentioned having some business to take care of at the shop. The shop is closed today, that's why we're home," Eydan explains, "But Master Trish is always working. Even when she's not busy at the shop, she would be away on trips to gather some new things to sell."

"Is that why you have enough free time to guide a human across your homeland?"

Eydan grins. "Yes, but it was also an odd day for us."

"How come?"

Flopping onto a nearby boulder, Eydan stands on one leg, balancing themselves as they answer, "We weren't supposed to be off work today, but Master Trish suddenly said she had something important to do and people to see, so we were told to stay home. But then we had so much free time that we played all morning, dancing, and jumping around the river, but then we got bored. That's when you came."

The pixie flips to balance themselves on their hand when they continue, "Besides, it's nearly the full moon. Us pixies always grow restless when it is time to celebrate the memorial of our found freedom."

And that is when Eydan sits you down, sharing with you the tale behind the pixies' freedom and how they all got to this place.

"Once upon a time, a young pixie managed to escape from their master. Seeking freedom in the woodlands, the pixie hid between the trees, claiming the forest as their new home and shelter and away from dangerous people looking to exploit their magic for nefarious uses.

One night during their hiding, the pixie sensed a human walking through the trees. While staying in the shadows, the pixie cautiously watched the human, thinking that the human had come to harm them. But upon closer look, the pixie found out that the human was just a little girl. A princess who got lost in the woods and couldn't find her way back home. So the pixie revealed themselves, offering to use their pixie dust to guide the princess to find her way home. Once she was saved, the princess returned to favour by fighting for the freedom of all pixies."

You listen to their story with a fond smile. Among every single tale you've read about the pixies, you have never seen this part of their story written in the books, nor the old scriptures you found in the library which told about old, forgotten tales of The Land Far Far Away.

"That was how we finally got our freedom. All because one pixie escaped their master and became friends with a kind-hearted princess one night. The princess was the one who wrote the law to protect us, to free us from anyone who tried to keep us like pets and slaves."

Eydan's eyes glow with pride as they continue with their tale, while your heart feels warm, feeling privileged to be able to hear this story. "Each full moon, pixies gather around the waterfall or any revered places in each of their sanctuary and sing under the moon to pray for the princess. It's our way to send our gratitude to our saviour."

Once your new friend is done with their story, the tour around the sanctuary continues.

From the homes, the pixie guides you through the small town, passing some more houses that are intricately built to blend in with nature. They greet some of the elves that come peeking out their windows, introducing you as one of their friends, and then do the same with some other pixies that you come across during your mini tour.

The tour continues until you reach even deeper into the woodlands, past the heart of Y'ethmelle, and past the old structures that look like an old Keep, completed with a tower built in the same weathered stone as the structure of the bridge on the lake.

"This was where the warriors and guardians of the sanctuary used to live. We still have elves that take the role as guardians, but the elves no longer have warriors to guard the place ever since us pixies started living here," says Eydan, as they guide you to follow the river, going down the stream until you reach the part where it is quiet and peaceful and safe.

This place turns out to be the meeting spot where Eydan would hang out with their little friends, where Eydan had been earlier before meeting you by the bridge.

A few of Eydan's friends are in the middle of playing down the stream of the river when you arrive. A couple of pixies who look no different than Eydan, hop between boulders and branches while splashing water with their tiny feet, while two others have wings on their back, allowing them to float and soar in the air as they dance between the rosebushes.

At first, they seem cautious, as they probably didn't expect to have their wayward friend returning with a random human after missing for hours. But right after Eydan finishes introducing you to the little gang of mischievous pixies, they become more curious about you as they start throwing questions at Eydan while examining you closely.

"Where did you find her?"

"You didn't kidnap her from the human town, did you?"

Eydan huffs. "Of course, not. She came in by herself. Passed the bridge and the borders after the thing we felt earlier," they explain with their small hands waving around as if describing what they saw.

"Oh, the invisible magic ripple that came from the lake?" asks one of the pixies, surprising you once you realise that they are possibly talking about the ripple of magic coming from the portal when you came.

"You felt a magic ripple?"

Eydan nods. "Yep. It was rare for us to feel any magic of that kind. That's why we left the others here and went to the bridge to see what it was, and then we saw you walking across the lake."

The chattering and the line of questions continue right before you get the chance to ask them about what they felt. The other pixies who kept their distance at first soon begin to join in, asking you where you came from, how you managed to find this place, and why would a human like you need a spell book from their master. You barely manage to answer each one before they get distracted when a couple of butterflies come fluttering in between the bushes, and they soon lose any interest in your evasive, non-answering responses.

You join them for a while as they play around the stream. You even take off your heels to splash around in the water, feeling your body cooling down with it. It has been a while since you've felt such joy. The pixies are skilled in showing you just how to have fun and enjoy yourself the way they do, helping you forget all of your troubles without them realising it.

Exhausted, you choose to rest at the edge of the river, soaking your bare feet in the stream as you watch the pixies continue to play around, showing no sign of their energy draining. You enjoy the cool ripples of water pressing against your sore ankles, while the stream also washes away the soil tainting the hem of your dress that you had gotten after the long walk you had through the elven town.

Your heels, once covered in mud and slightly tainted from the twigs brushing against their sides, are now resting on the ground beside you after it was cleaned and mended using one of the pixies' magic dust.

The same pixie is the only one who chooses to stay with you, studying you closely with their curious eyes while ignoring the sound of giggles and cheers from the other pixies playing in the rosebushes.

"You smell like human," the pixie says as they flutter around you, sniffing at your hair, your back, and then pinching at the sleeve of your dress before going back to your front with a tilt of their head.

"You can—identify a person from their scent?"

Illyn, the pixie with fair skin and long golden hair nods, their delicate wings—which look like firefly wings, with silver dust sparkling from each —flutter behind them as they move around. They have their hair gathered to a braid, long enough to reach their ankles. You wonder if their hair ever gets tangled with the wings, yet the pixie has kept the braid hanging over one shoulder, keeping it away from the fluttering wings.

"Every living thing has a certain smell in them. For walking beings such as yourself, those scents come from blood, skin, soul, or even magic," Illyn explains with wide, curious eyes, while your eyes grow wide with intrigue.

"Can you smell—my magic?"

Illyn nods as they fly around you. "Yes, we can. It's faint. That's why it's confusing."

The way they speak draws a soft laughter from you. "Why does it confuse you?"

The pixie makes a humming sound. "You smell human, but also something else. Your magic isn't like what most humans have, and we've met many human mages in Aeris to know the difference."

You raise your brow. "Really? How odd," you hum softly, although you have no idea what that really means. You keep your eyes on the pixie as they continue to float around you, their eyes locked on parts of your face, as if searching for something. "So that's not normal?"

Instead of answering, Illyn inclines their head to ask with a whisper, "Are you sure you aren't a fairy?"

Hearing this, you begin to laugh. "A fairy? No, I'm pretty sure I would've known if I'm secretly a fairy. Why would you even think that?"

"The way you came," they say, still keeping their voice low as if sharing a secret, "you came with the ripple of magic that we felt from the end of the river. It's been long since we've felt something like that."

Creasing your brows, you recall the way they talked about the magic flow earlier, remembering how they seemed unsure about what they felt. "And you don't know what that magic was?"

Illyn fell silent for a moment. "Well, not really, but—" The pixie considers their answer for a moment, thinking deeply before continuing, "There were old folktales about magic portals hidden all over the land of the Far Far Away."

Their eyes blink rapidly as they add, "Fairy portals."

Your eyes grow wide. "Have you ever seen them?"

Illyn's hair nearly flips back when they quickly shake their head. "No, we haven't. But some naughty ones who went across the bridge claimed they had. We think they all lied to us and exaggerated things, because fairy tales are stories for children."

Your lips twist to a smile. It is adorable how the pixies believe that they are normal beings, when their existence seems more like a part of a myth. Characters told in children's bedtime stories and folktales shared by the people—humans—back in the mortal realm.

But then your mind begins to register through the information that Illyn had just shared with you about the magic they felt. You wonder if they had truly sensed the magic coming from the portal. You can still feel it on your skin, lingering like a delicate touch. And if the same magic portal you have been using to go through these various places had truly been the same as the portals known as what they believed as part of the myth among the fairies—

Just like always, when the wheels in your head are turning and you are thinking deeply about something, your hand reach up, taking hold of your necklace that has been humming with its own magic—it has been that way since the moment you stepped through the border, you realise.

Lowering your gaze, you carefully lift the ruby pendant so the pixie can have a look. "Could it be that the magic you are sensing from me actually comes from this?" you ask them, referring to how they claimed to have tried to sense and recognise the magic coming out of you.

Cocking their head, Illyn flies closer. They examine the necklace for a moment before shaking their head. "No, your magic is vibrating from inside you," they say, before they begin rambling rapidly, "I can sense your mana. It smells a little bit like Master Trish, with a little bit of the magic that felt similar to the one we felt from the woods"—they stop with a gasp—"do you perhaps have elves where you live?"

"I don't suppose—" You begin to answer, even if your mind can barely keep up with the quick flow of their words.

And then any chance for you to respond to their question is soon stolen when Illyn suddenly turns away, distracted by the sudden shout of their friend coming from a rosebush a few feet away. Soon, the thought of your magic and your smelling of humans is forgotten as they start fussing about a wild rose that seems to have bloomed at the heart of a dying brier. You can faintly hear them cheering at its peculiar size and colour, before they start fighting about how they should be saving it before it withers.

Seems like they have a short attention span, you wonder with a soft chuckle. Just like a child.

You continue to watch them play for a little while until Eydan returns to your side. After chasing off an innocent hummingbird that had appeared from the nearby meadow, the pixie flops down to rest on the boulder next to you, though still restless, their feet kicking out the white mist that is starting to form from the rushing water. The cold that comes as the sun begins descending beyond the trees only causes the mist to grow thicker.

"How come you don't have wings?" you ask Eydan, pointing at the two pixies who are floating and dancing in the air, laughing as they toss each other around between the rosebushes, having a blast in their wild dance.

Eydan blinks and begins to explain to you the differences between each pixie. "Us pixies gain different characteristics depending on which element our magic comes from. We"—Eydan points at themselves—"and Aela are earth pixies." You look over at Aela, the auburn-haired pixie who is dancing with the dark-haired pixie who has been mostly silent, and instantly start comparing the two.

While Eydan keeps their hair short, reaching only to their jaw, the other two have long hair—Aela keeps their hair in a thick, high bun which looks like a crown on top of their head, while their dance partner lets their hair down, swaying with them as they dance to some music that only they can hear.

"We live closer to the land, our homes built on the ground, while Illyn and Jolyn are air pixies. They live on trees, the ones that grow close to Master Trish's home," Eydan continues, pointing at the two pixies who are flying over the nearest rosebush, their wings fluttering wildly on their backs, picking up speed as they banter loudly with each other, debating about what colour the rose they are pointing is called—maroon red, according to Illyn, while Jolyn insists that it's the colour of blood.

Just like Illyn, Jolyn's hair is long, but in the shade of brunette. Unlike the other pixies, Jolyn is the only one with curly hair, and they have kept it untied, leaving it as a mess of wild curls fluttering with the wind as they float around with their little wings.

Eydan points at Aela's dancing partner next. "Emara is a water pixie. They live near the lake, while their family live by the riverbank. They are good swimmers, always playing with the fish in the summer."

"That's interesting," you muse as you watch them all play together. "I suppose the same can be said about the elves? About how they gain their magic from elements?"

Eydan considers it for a moment in silence, furrowing their brows as they answer, "For the elves that protect us, they do gain powers from elements, but mostly nature. But some types of elves gain power from the moon, giving them similar powers and traits to those of moon fairies."

"You know," you gently muse as a thought comes across your mind. "I've always assumed that fairies are small creatures just like you are."

"No, obviously, they're not," Eydan says with a scoff. "That's only true in children's bedtime stories. Perhaps they thought children wouldn't be interested in fairies if they all knew that fairies look like regular humans—sometimes they even look like ghouls, depending on where they live—so they took our looks instead when they started writing stories about fairies, all to make them presentable and cute for children to love." 

Once you feel rested enough, you cannot resist joining the pixies to play on the grass. Watching them play has been fun, and you want to join in while you still can.

You join them in their little hide-and-seek—mostly as the one seeking—and then let them teach you how to do tricks on the grass. They have you join them in their group dance, following the tune of their music that only they know about. And now you are joining them in a messy game of charades.

You are in the middle of trying to guess what Jolyn is trying to mimic—as the little pixie hides behind a small boulder at the edge of the river and acts as if they are singing in high tune while seducing you to come closer—when all of a sudden, everyone around you grows still.

A gasp comes from Jolyn, the only one facing the opposite way from the others, and the pixies turn to look at the woods behind you. Everyone seems tense and wary that you start feeling worried.

"What's wrong?" you ask, just as Eydan steps forward, standing right in front of everyone, while the rest gather closer around you.

"There's another stranger!" One pixie hisses as you try to look beyond the thickets.

You carefully trace the hilt of your dagger with the tip of your fingers. "Are you sensing danger?"

"We're not smelling danger, but this scent is not familiar to us," the silent one of the bunch—Emara—speaks. Their voice sounds more like a whisper. But their fear tramples their shyness as they slide closer to hide behind your dress.

For a brief moment, nothing happens.

The darkening sky is also making it hard for you to look beyond the line of trees. You can only faintly see the shadows moving in the forest, yet you are not certain whether you are looking at swaying branches or if it is an actual figure, that something else—or someone—has arrived in the woods and is now moving in the thickets.

The trees sway a little—or perhaps the low branches?—and there are rustling sounds coming together with the heavy sound of boots landing on hard ground, stepping over fallen leaves, as if someone is walking slowly towards you and your little friends. While the pixies remain alert, you can feel a warm hum rising in your chest. A sensation that is quite familiar that every tension in your body is immediately lifted. Your heart thuds, rising slowly with a different kind of feeling that has nothing to do with fear.

There is only one person who can incite such a feeling from you. The one person who has been occupying your thoughts and dreams, even on the days that you spent without him being present. Within moments, he finally emerges from the line of trees, like a piece of a dream emerging into the waking world.

Wearing a white tunic on top of dark trousers, his leather boots sturdy at the bottom, and his half sword hanging from his left hips, Min Yoongi looks just like a prince; a dreamy character plucked out of a fairy tale written in storybooks as he walks into the dim light.

The Prince Charming coming to life.

The length of his hair falls to frame his perfect face, fluttering with the gentle breeze as he slowly comes closer. The urge to pinch at your skin comes over you—because you cannot tell if you are simply dreaming—yet you make no move, too mesmerised by the sight of him.

Because every image of him which you tried to conjure in your thoughts and your dreams didn't do any justice to the real him.

As Yoongi stops, a smile slowly forms on his face. His eyes, upon finding you, seeing you completely left stunned, seem to glow brighter. A look of mirth dancing in his gaze when he gently greets you,

"There you are, little dove."

You briefly close your eyes, relishing the shudder that Yoongi's deep voice brings. This isn't an imagination and I am not dreaming, you muse to yourself as you open your eyes to see him still standing right before you instead of dispersing with the wind. The white mist forming around the stream close by and from the temperature drop curls around his boots, breaking away when he takes another step closer.

You listen to the sound of your heartbeat for a drop of a moment before finding your voice again.

"You're late." Too many long days, three different trips late. "I almost believed that I wouldn't be so lucky to see you today before I leave."

Your gaze flickers towards the darkening sky as you say this, noticing how close it is for dusk to come. With merely a short time left to spare, he would have made this the fourth time you would be missing him if he had come once the sunlight was gone.

A painful pinch shoots right through your heart when you take a sharp inhale of breath. You never realised how badly you have been hoping to see him. How you kept wishing that you would cross paths with him again.

You didn't realise until now, how often you kept looking over your shoulders during your previous excursions, or how you've kept your eyes open the entire time with the hope that you would see him again, that he would suddenly appear the way he had done it before. You were starting to lose hope, believing that fate may have decided not to give you another chance to see Yoongi.

As you look up to him again, you are surprised to see a hint of remorse in his eyes. As if he feels the same way as you do.

"I must admit that I was losing hope of seeing you as well," he gently says. You know you shouldn't, yet you find how pleasing it is to hear that he is feeling the same.

In your fascination and delight of meeting Yoongi, you fail to realise that your pixie friends—who have remained in their places and have been watching closely at your interaction—have begun to move out of their hiding. Except maybe Emara, who is still clutching at the skirt of your dress, too wary about the other human suddenly interrupting their playtime.

"You've made some friends," Yoongi muses, his gaze softening as he looks at the pixies that are watching him curiously.

You shrug. "I was getting lonely in my travels, since the only one I was expecting to accompany me has been absent," you tease him with a smile, and for a brief second, Yoongi's eyes widen at your playful tone, before his own smile grows just as wide.

"Do you know him?" you hear Aela asking you as she flutters by your head, cautiously flying closer. "Is he a friend?" asks Eydan, and you answer them without pulling your gaze away from Yoongi.

"Yes. A good friend."

Yoongi's lips quirk to a grin. His eyes move to find Eydan, who is standing right in front of you with their shoulders rising as if to make themselves look bigger. You aren't too sure if the tiny creature has been trying to protect you, or if they were just too curious to remain hidden, but it is still quite amusing to see them acting tough in front of the newcomer.

Yoongi elaborately bows in front of the curious pixie. "You mustn't worry about me. My name is Yoongi. I'm also a traveller like _____, and I meant no harm."

Neither of the pixies says a thing at first, until Emara slips out of your skirt to gingerly say—their voice sounds so gentle it almost fades with the wind, "Well, if _____ trusts you, perhaps we can trust you too."

Once again, Yoongi bows. The gesture looks perfectly elaborated to make him look like a royal. His gentle smile nearly melts your heart when he answers, "It's an honour that you would accept me just as much as you have welcomed her into your home."