As the weeks went by, Once-ler and Fiora became the most unlikely of  friends. She showed him the wonder and beauty of the Moors, carefully avoiding the Lorax's watchful eye. After each visit, Once-ler would reluctantly report back to the Mayor about his latest mission. The Mayor would pay him while carefully planning his next attack on the forest. It seemed there wasn't any weakness to the forest except for that pesky  guardian. Though the fairy could be a weakness. Perhaps if he got his hands on the winged elf, the Guardian would allow him to proceed with his plan.

The more Once-ler spent time with the fairy, he would get a sickly feeling in his stomach as he knew his betrayal towards the kind Fiora. It was wrong in every way he could imagine. But what was he  supposed to do?

As the time passed, the two children grew into youths. They had fallen in love with each other. When Once-ler had turned sixteen, he that he decided to give Fiora something magical...

"What's a kiss?" asked Fiora, tilting her head.

"I'll show you," he said.

The  brunette boy leaned forward to the green fairy, brushing his nose against hers. She twitched slightly, but relaxed as she began to realize how nice it was. His breath was nervous and his heart raced when he was about to have his first kiss. His lips touched hers, feeling the warmth and the scent of flowers and trees enveloped him.

It was perfect.

Fiora sighed into the kiss, feeling nothing but overwhelming feelings of joy. Her green wings fluttered in rhythm of her heart. It was even better  than sailing up into the heavens. She wanted more of this...kiss.

Unfortunately it was not to be.

Once-ler continued his ambition in the human lands, leaving Fiora to ponder where her human love was. She would spend time away from the animals,  sitting in the branches of Mother Tree, gazing out at the human lands, lonely and silent. She reminisced of the days she and Once-ler would  play in the Moors. The kiss he had given her. She wondered if Once-ler was thinking of her.

The Lorax had noticed his pupil distancing herself from her studies and the creatures, becoming quiet. He had a strong suspicion that something was going on. He had noticed she was sneaking away a lot from the Moors in her youth. He decided to confront this issue and put an end to this once and for all. Fiora needed to know the truth.

"Fiora?" the Guardian asked.

The green fairy glanced over at the orange Guardian with neutral expression before gazing back out at the human lands.

"What's going on? You haven't been yourself lately."

"Nothing," she said in an attempt to conceal her sadness.

"Nothing. It can't be just nothing. You've been very distant for a long time.  You've been distracted and missing your lessons. You've been disappearing a lot. What's really going on?"

She shook her head, playing with a flower in her hair. "Really. It's nothing."

The Lorax frowned. All these behaviors since the human thief came to the forest. It made sense.

"Were you spending time with the human?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Fiora looked over, her orange hair had turned a pink for a moment. "What are you talking about?" she said defensively.

"So it's true. You've been allowing the human to come here."

"Why would you say that?"

"Don't think I was born yesterday, Fiora," he said frowning. "I KNOW you've been bringing the human here."

"Well he's different from other humans."

"All humans are the same, Fiora. Why is this one so special?"

Fiora stammered a bit, her hair turned pink. She didn't want to tell her teacher what this was really about. The Lorax realized what was now going on between the fairy and the human.

"Nature's breath! You've fallen for him, haven't you?"

The fairy stubbornly refused to speak.

"Fiora, you need to understand-humans are never going to change their ways. You have no idea what they are capable of."

"Not all humans are like that!" she argued.

"Who told you this? The beanpole thief?"

Fiora's hair grew more dark red as her anger rose. "Maybe if you actually tried talking to them instead of driving them away..."

"Don't think I have tried talking for centuries, Fiora? Nothing has worked."

"But what if one wanted to talk, you'd listen, right?"

"Fiora..." The Lorax sighed exasperated by his pupil's stubbornness.

"Would you?"

The Lorax rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation with the  fairy's childish antics.

"Yes," he said. "But, like I said, there's no use talking to humans. And...falling in love with a human! How could you?"

"What does it matter? He loves me."

"Fiora, humans are very complex creatures. If you give your heart to one, they will find ways to exploit you. They will lie to you, betray you, even abandon you. I'm guessing you haven't seen the human in a long time."

"That's not true! Once-ler's just busy."

"Right," the orange Guardian said skeptically. "That's the point I'm trying to make. Falling in love with a human is not something you want to do. That  is why I've been teaching you all these years to be the next Guardian.  None of them care."

"And what if ONE human DID care?"

The Lorax frowned. There were times he could be wrong. There could be humans that did care about nature.

"Fine. If this HUMAN did care, then I suppose he'd be exceptional. I'm just  going to warn you: be careful who you give your heart to, Fiora. You may  not like what happens if your heart gets broken."

"Once-ler isn't like that," insisted Fiora. "We kissed. He said it was True Love's kiss. That he does love me."

The  Lorax was about to speak when he saw something in the distance; a thundering noise. He squinted his eyes and looked over the tops of the  trees. There were alarmed sounds from the creatures of the woods, fleeing towards the center. He knew something was wrong.

"It's the Mayor!" he said fearful. "Stay here."

Knowing the Lorax had done enough for centuries, she wanted to show her teacher that she was capable of defending her home. She felt old enough. Perhaps it was time for her to defend her home.

"No," said Fiora. "I should go. After all, you told me I would be the next Guardian someday and...I want to."

The Lorax looked at her with a proud expression. "You're ready, my pupil. Just...be careful."

With  a nod of her head, Fiora flapped her giant wings and took flight to the border of the Moors. Her heart pounding with nervousness. She was afraid this day would come. But it was her home. She had to protect it someday. She couldn't spend her days playing and hiding like a child anymore. She had to grow up. She recalled the lessons the Lorax had told  her when it came to being the Moors' protector.

Never have fear in your heart. The forces of Nature will always help when you ask  of them. Never use Nature's powers in malevolence.

The  Mayor stood at the outside of the borders with an army of bulldozers and construction machines, looking at the Moors. He was grateful for the  peasant who had provided the information about the Moors. He spoke on the walkie-talkie about proceeding with the plan to the manager of the  construction crew.

Fiora hovered over the Moors up in the clouds,  looking down in horror at the sight below. There were yellow beasts that the Lorax had warned her about: they had hard bodies, made loud noises, and spat smoke into the air. They would destroy whatever was in  their path; taking out trees and ripping up grass. She was scared, but she had to be brave and protect her home. She landed on a giant boulder just a few feet from the monsters, spreading her wings wide to make herself look bigger.

The men in the trucks stared at the strange winged creature that stood in their path, stopping their engines. One of  the men alerted the manager of the problem, prompting the mayor to ride up in a strange little white beast. He stared dumbstruck. So everything the boy had told him was all true. The kind fairy did exist. And yet where was the Lorax? And why was there a female guarding the forest  instead?

"GO NO FURTHER!" she warned loudly.

The Mayor then smiled, amused.

"A Mayor does not take orders from a winged elf," he said.

The men laughed. Fiora only stood calmly; her green eyes filled with bravery.

"You are no ruler to me!" she said defiant. "Begone from this place!"

With a scoff at the young lady's gall, he turned to his men.

"Proceed," he said with a megaphone.

The roar of the yellow beasts was loud and filled the air with cacophonous noise. Fiora's fear grew. The little man who had spoken to her so  dismissive. Like her word meant nothing.

Concentrating on the forces of Nature, she raised her hands up, she summoned vicious tendrils of roots. They sprang out of the ground, writhing like snakes and they  began to wrap around the machines. Though it held for just a moment, but the machine broke loose as they moved forward, snapping them. Fueled by the desire to protect the Moors, she pushed the forces of Nature through her, conjuring the roots to wrap themselves tighter and be  stronger. She could feel the energy flowing through her. It seemed the monsters wouldn't stop despite her magic to keep them rooted. She needed  more help. She thought of ways she could take out the machines.

"Arise and stand with me!" she called.

She  looked at some of the older trees-those that were strong. She shot a  bolt of green energy towards them, bringing the orange trees to life.  They grew arms and they pulled themselves out of the ground. The sentries that guarded the border heard their protector's call and came lumbering forth. The men almost stopped in their tracks when they saw trees that were walking towards them! They held sharp spears made of wood. Even a serpent made of roots and moss came bursting out of the ground, letting  out a bellowing roar.

"What...?" The Mayor exclaimed, nearly wetting his pants.

He had seen the walking trees, but this was a new one. Still, that was not going to stop his plans.

"GET THEM!" he bellowed, pointing towards the army of walking trees.

The machines roared more, sharp oval arms with rotating teeth came towards them. The fairy took flight to the sky, shooting green lights at the ground, conjuring thorny vines. The monsters with black feet deflated immediately. Others had spiked oval feet that ripped up the ground.  Angered, she directed the serpent at the more difficult beasts that crushed the machines.

Some men fled from their machines. There were men that had shiny weapons, firing at the trees with loud noises and bursts of fire. Some trees swiped at them with giant arms. Some trees had holes from these weapons. One of the trees burst into flames.  Fiora could feel the unnatural forces of Man. She had no idea how cruel they were. Angered, she flew towards this group of men and gave a mighty flap of her wings, knocking them over with a powerful pulse. She looked for the man that dared to invade her home.

The Mayor's go-kart was knocked over by the wind conjured by the green fairy. His men had  fled away, some were struggling to grab their weapons. The winged female landed, marching over towards him with angry green eyes flaring. She  looked much bigger with her wings. He struggled to grab his gun, hoping  the unnatural creature would back off.

"You SHALL NOT have the Moors!" she bellowed. "Not now! Not EVER!"

"Hey! Stay back!" he warned scared.

He held some kind of a small shiny weapon, shaking. It had a stubby nose with a black hole for a mouth. Fiora looked at it; she was scared, but she was beyond angry to care. She wanted this little man to get away from her forest.

"Then get out!" she said between her teeth. "Do NOT come back to the Moors EVER again!"

There was a loud explosion from the man's shiny weapon; something hot and painful bloomed in Fiora's shoulder. Much like when she touched Once-ler's iron ring, but it felt much worse. She cried in pain, seeing a bloody hole. Grey veins spread under the flesh, looking at the Mayor. She watched as the little man fled away along with the others. While the  battle was won today, she feared she wasn't sure what to expect next time. She looked at her army, seeing their gravely broken wounds. The sentry bowed to her, grateful for their protector keeping their home safe.

****

After the battle, the Lorax used his magic to remove the human object that hid injured his student. She whined in pain as it was removed.

"What is this?" she said. "And why does it hurt?"

"It's a bullet," he explained. "Humans use it in weapons to hurt or kill each other. It's made of metal-lead, mostly."

"I never realized the things humans do to hurt each other," she said wincing.

"That's just the way they are, Fiora. Do you see why I tell you that humans can't be trusted?"

The green fairy frowned more, but she had to admit her teacher was right. She looked saddened as questions began to bubble in her brain. Was Once-ler just like them? She was quick to deny it, but after today, it made her question her human love's intentions. He hadn't been spending a  lot of time at the Moors lately. Plus he had told her what his plans  were: to have a lot of money and have nice things that he never had.

"Fiora, I know you care about your human friend," said the Lorax. "But...I suggest you don't allow him to come here anymore."

"But he's..." she stammered. "But I do love him."

"Understandable. But now that you're the new protector of the Moors, I expect you to be more wary about humans."

"Once-ler isn't like other humans."

"That may be so, but I doubt it. Just...don't bring him here anymore. Promise?"

Reluctantly, Fiora nodded her head as the Lorax finished removing the bullet. The wound healed instantly, but it left a scar. She frowned, touching it. A permanent reminder of what happened today.