~Part One~

In a forest not far from Sunnydale, seven small fairies sat on a rock at the edge of a pond chanting, the tallest one rose suddenly and the others
quietened.

"As you all know, it is not long until the day we celebrate that our leader is still alive. Forty-nine years ago, when the forces of evil were gathering at the hellmouth and preparing to attack, we, the patrons of all that is good and true were weaker than ever. Even our very own queen was not at her full strength, our defences were thin and our food source had been steadily depleting over the past month. We were in need of assistance, we tried desperately to repel the constant attacks on the barriers we erected to seal the hellmouth, but it began to look as if darkness had won. We were about to give up and let ourselves be taken and the earth over-run with demons when we had an idea. We appeared to the one person we thought could help us, her name was Julia Rosenburg. She was the most powerful witch we had ever seen and together with her, we managed to send the evil minions of hell back to where they belonged. Unfortunately the effort killed her leaving her only son, Ira, without a mother. We helped him as much as we could but now he's older and he can look after himself, we must turn our attentions to his daughter, Willow. Willow has
followed in her grandmother's footsteps by practising magick and she too has shown signs of greatness. We will help her on this monumental day, but first we must see what Willow needs to make her happy and then we can do anything in our power to give it to her."

The fairies resumed their chanting over the pool and soon the water began to cloud. The forest was filled with an overwhelming scent of vanilla and the water at their feet began to bubble and boil before everything finally came to a standstill. The seven fairies stood and looked down into the pool.
 

~Part Two~

The mist cleared and a picture formed in the pool. What they saw made the faeries gasp in amazement, there in full game face stood one of the most vicious vampires to have ever walked the earth.

"William the Bloody, that's what would make her happy?" asked Zuleika.

"You question the wisdom of Myfanwy, child of the water?" replied  Watten, the fairy who had spoken first.

"No, Myfanwy knows all, I would not dare risk her fury by defying her wishes."

"All the same, we should consult the counsel before taking any further action," Ophelia spoke attempting to diffuse the situation that she knew would soon escalate into a battle of magick, and they were never good.

"Agreed," Watten turned to leave and the other six faeries followed.

The counsel consisted of the faerie king; Aubrey, the faerie queen and prophetess; Sibyl, their daughter; Cora and Sibyl's mother; Priscilla.

Priscilla was over three hundred years old and was the wisest and most just creature that ever lived, it was to her that they took their dilemma.

"So you see, we do not know what we should do. Giving William the Bloody to Willow Rosenburg would fulfil our pledge made to Julia Rosenburg, but would make him happy, thus breaking our promise to the forces of good, but if we keep them apart then we would be disrespecting one of our most loved goddesses." Watten explained.

"I do not think that we should dishonour Myfanwy or Julia Rosenburg, yet we must keep our vow to the good powers. I suggest you help the two to discover their real feelings towards each other, but do not take it any further, true love must run it's course by itself."

The faeries left the counsel and returned to the pool were Myfanwy lived.

"It is my suggestion that we travel to Sunnydale to see the situation in it's entirety before we act." Virginia said.

"Zillah and Avis will go as Zillah had the ability to become invisible and Avis can transform herself into a bird." Watten said.
 
Zillah and Avis nodded their heads and turned to walk away, vanishing as they did.
 

~Part Three~

A few seconds later both the faeries reappeared in front of Giles' apartment. They climbed up the trellis and sat on the outer sill of the window, looking in at the strange assortment of people, ex-demons and vampires that sat inside. They shifted so that they could get a better view, this was going to be fun....

<inside>

"I oughta stake you right now, you, you vampire," Riley yelled.

"Mmm, Riley, oooo, scary!" Spike shot back. "Without your commando buddies you're nothing, so fuck off and leave me alone. Bloody hell Buffy, I would've thought even you could see what a loser this guy is."

"Hey, Mr. Impotent, Riley happens to be my boyfriend and if you wanna get to him, you're gonna have to go through me." Buffy stood and readied herself in a fighting stance, then she relaxed. "Oh yeah, I forgot, you can't hurt anyone now. You're weak, you drink pigs blood and you live in a disgusting, old crypt."

"That's supposed to offend me! Oh, slayer. How I long for the days when your quips were as sharp as your stakes," he turned to Riley "and are you really going to let her act like she's better than you? You're a man... you can defend yourself."

Willow could see this was going to get worse so she stepped in, she'd just managed to get Spike to settle back down on the sofa with a cup of blood and so she turned her attention to Buffy and Riley, who were in the middle of a full-blown argument.

* Won't last. Soon they'll be back shagging again and Buffy will be ignoring everyone, again. God, sometimes I think Tara's the only one who really understands me. Even Xander spends more time with Anya now than he does with me and I'm supposed to be his best friend!....Wait, where the hell did those thoughts come from. Bloody hell Willow get a grip, so Buffy's happy, so what? Oh my God, now I'm beginning to sound like Spike! Spike, I haven't felt the same about him since he kidnapped me and Xander. he could've gone to any witch in South America, but he came to me. What am
I thinking? He probably only came to me so he could wind Buffy up. Buffy....Buffy.....Buffy and Riley.....shouldn't be that way, Should be
Willow.....Willow....Willow.*

Suddenly Willow realised someone was calling her.

"Hmmmm?"

"Geez Will, thought we'd lost you there. What were you thinking about?" Xander said.

*They're holding hands again, Buffy and Riley sitting in a tree. K..I..S..S..I..N..G*

"Probably thinking about shagging Tara. Best run home now Red, can't keep lover girl waiting." Spike chuckled to himself.

Buffy whirled ready to attack again, "just where do you get off talking to my friend like that,"she yelled.

*Buffy and Riley, Xander and Anya, Willow and Spike.....Spike! Oh Goddess.....what am I thinking? I must be delusional, yes, that's it delusion. I should probably go home now...home, sounds good*

Without saying a word *as if anyone would notice anyway* Willow picked up her coat and left the apartment. Avis and Zillah watched her and Zillah gave Avis a little shove. Avis wrapped her arms around herself and crouched down. Feathers began to sprout from her body and she spread her wings and soared into the air, she followed Willow.

*Riley and Buffy. Buffy my friend. Friend, hah!*
 

~Part Four~

Avis followed Willow back to her dorm room, Willow didn’t notice the little faerie trailing her, as the faerie was disguised as a bird, but if Avis had been six foot tall, green and an elephant, it was doubtful Willow would’ve noticed her. Willow was lost in her thoughts, and it wasn’t a very nice place to get lost in at that moment.

"Stupid Buffy," she mumbled as she walked, earning her a few stares from passers-by. She put on a high-pitched voice for her next part of the rant. "Oh, look at me, I’m Buffy and I’m perfect. So perfect in fact, that I don’t have any time for my former best friend, because she’s just a useless witch, what does she know?" Willow waved her arms wildly around in the air to emphasise her point, a motion which earned her more stares. Enough stares to make her run up to the room she shared with Buffy and slam the door closed behind her, before collapsing on the floor and sobbing. Ten minutes later, when she was all cried out, she got up and walked over to the stereo, turning onto some local station she heard one of her favourite bands, ‘Cibo Matto’ . The song made her smile and she wiped away the remaining tears from her cheek.

"I dunno what I’m getting so upset about." She said rationally, to an empty room. "It’s not as if my life’s as horrible as all those little kids and Africa and places like that. I’m just having a little trouble with one of my friends. And it’s not as if it hasn’t happened before, and we’ve always got through it before. And maybe I’m just making a big deal out of nothing. Nobody else seems to have noticed anything wrong, mind you, they’re all too busy having sex to notice if the world imploded." Willow got up and went over to the closet, singing to herself as she went. "I’m riding on a camel, that has big eyes. The buildings are changing into coconut trees, dum Ed Ed dum dum." She giggled and felt a little better, she never could figure out those words.

Outside the window Avis, now in her true form, watched and listened to the whole exchange. *This Willow really does need something to make her happy* she thought. She watched as Willow took some pyjamas from the top shelf and hid then hid round a corner as Willow came over to the window and closed the curtains. *I guess my spying her is done* Changing back into her bird form, she flew to Giles’ apartment to fetch Zillah and they both returned to the forest.
 

~Part Five~

vis and Zillah crept back into the clearing where they had performed their first spell to see what Willow desired most of all. They’d seen the situation but weren’t all that sure what to do next. Zillah had wanted to seek the advice of Priscilla, the eldest of all the faeries, again; but Avis had dissuaded her, telling her that it made more sense to consult their fellow counsel members and seers. The faeries were summoned by Zillah and one by one they all arrived. Each faerie had a different job to do in their community: Slyvia knew more than anyone about their surroundings and the woodland itself, Watten was a friend to all of them a sort of self-proclaimed leader with great magickal powers when it came to spells of defence, Wilfred had a strange ability to create an aura of resolute peace capable of putting anything to sleep and then viewing their innermost thoughts and influencing them, Avis could transform herself into the image of a bird; handy for spying on unsuspecting humans, Zillah could become invisible whenever she chose; when she was younger she had been known to abuse this gift and was subsequently not considered very trustworthy, Zuleika was a great beauty and fair too; all the faeries turned to her if they had a dispute that needed settling, Virginia wielded power over the seasons and weather, Ophelia was wise and the eldest of the counsel (not counting Priscilla). The royalty of the faerie kingdom had not attended; choosing to watch from afar and monitor the behaviour of their chosen few that they had wanted to be on the counsel.

"Silence," Watten said. It was a statement not an order, but it was obeyed nonetheless. "Avis and Zillah have told me what they saw with Miss. Rosenburg, and I have a suggestion. I think that we must attempt to influence her, perhaps through her dreams."

"But wouldn’t that be going against all that Priscilla had told us?" Ophelia spoke up.

"I have spoken to the Elder One," Watten replied. "She has informed me that our chosen course of action is alright." Ophelia smiled, bowing her head slightly. "I would suggest that Wilfred go due to his abilities, but I do not think he should travel alone. Would someone go with him?"

"I will go," said Zuleika, "I will be able to judge if this is the right course of action and stop anything that I deem too intrusive." She looked over to Wilfred who was now scowling at her, and hastily added "not that I am implying that Wilfred would not be able to judge for himself, I would just like to go along."

"Make it so," Watten spoke as he turned away, the rest of the faeries following him; he departed and Wilfred and Zuleika made their way to the valley of the sun.
 

next

back