Quay Lake

In the tranquil town of Quay Lake, where flowers changed colours everyday and the breeze sang sweet songs, lived Esmeralda. Everyone in town liked to call her Esme. With hair the colour of sunlit snow and eyes as green as fresh spring grass, Esme was a third-generation Nature fairy. This meant that she had the remarkable ability to command the elements.

Her grandmother and mother had previously led the Light Faction, too. The brightest Nature fairies in Quay Lake, they had set the bar high. Both of them had been exceptionally good at coaxing the sun’s rays to glow brighter or the clouds to hold more rain.

Esme had always known that when it would be time for her to lead, she’d have big shoes to fill. And since she’d come to head the faction three years ago, she’d worked hard to ensure that she wielded her powers with a knowing but gentle hand.

“Mama would be proud,” her sister, Elspeth, an Invisibility Fairy, often remarked.

Esme liked to think she would be. Esme and Elspeth had grown up under the watchful guidance of their mother, Vera and grandmother, Rosalina. Under their rule, the two fairy factions—Light and Dark—had co-existed rather harmoniously. But, just as Esme came into power, there had been whispers in Quay Lake. Whispers of discord. Whispers about a certain fairy from the Dark faction who was toying with the idea of leaving. And Esme knew that couldn’t happen.

Their town was a town of women, named after a magical lake that sat in the centre of the woods. Legend said that as long as the lake held its powers, the Light and Dark factions could co-exist in harmony. Without it, the two factions would probably be at each other’s throats.

This magical lake was also a life-giving force. During the annual Harvest Festival, ten new fairies were born from its depths in a magical ceremony. These newly birthed fairies were born with special powers that decided which faction and which division under that faction, they belonged to.

However, in Esme’s family, things were different. Rosalina had been the most powerful fairy of her time. Her powers, her supreme control over them and her daily ablutions to the lake had earned her a special reward—the blessing of having her own lineage of daughters. And so, after the 100th ablution of her fairy lifetime, the lake had blessed her with Vera. Upon the year of their choosing, each of Rosalina’s offspring could decide to mother a child and the lake would grant her that wish.

In any other world, this would have led to a massive row between factions and fairies. But, because the lake held such strong powers, peace reigned in Quay Lake. It truly was an astonishing body of water, holding the ability to heal wounds, grant wishes, influence moods, store memories, show visions and protect the land. It was also home to nymphs and water spirits with their own powers.

But now, the peace of Quay Lake seemed to be in danger. If any of the fairies left town, who knew what would happen to the lake’s magic? What if the two factions couldn’t co-exist anymore?

It was these disturbing thoughts that were swirling through Esme’s mind as she walked out of her blossom-covered cottage. The steep, winding path that led to the home of the Dark faction was not very long but today, it felt like it. Using her powers, Esme could have summoned a puffy white cloud to carry her there, but she needed this walk to clear her mind.

She finally arrived at the town centre that connected the Light faction to the Dark. Its cobbled streets were lined with charming litte shops. She passed the apothecary that sold the most effective salves, potions and balms. Its display window held tiny crystal jars filled with colourful concoctions. A delicious scent wafted out of the bakery next door, drawing to mind pictures of her favourite silver-cherry pie and moonbeam bread.

Esme smiled to herself. She loved the sights, sounds and colours of Quay Lake. On her way through the town centre, she spotted a group of Invisibility Fairies who were being trained by their division head. Smiling in greeting, Esme took one look at the gathering clouds above the fairies and used her powers to swiftly clear the sky. The clouds seemed to have been sent there by the Trickster Fairies from the Dark Faction, who often tried their hand at things they learned by experimenting on others.

Esme remembered when she was little, how the names of all the divisions would make her head spin.

“I can’t possibly remember them all, Mama!” She would wail.

But Vera, a font of patience, would smile and take her through it all again, until Esme had it down pat.

The Light and the Dark factions had five divisons each, where fairies honed the skills they were born with. Under the Light faction came the Nature Fairies, the Healer fairies, the Invisibility Fairies, the Domestic Fairies and the Wisdom Fairies. The Dark faction comprised the Temptation Fairies, the Trickster Fairies, the Stealth Fairies, the Curse Fairies and the Shapeshifter Fairies. Each division was capable of magic, including building things, conjuring things and casting spells.

The fairy who was rumoured to be planning an escape was from the Shapeshifter division, which made things more difficult. If she ran away as a bunny or a butterfly, no one would ever know.

But Esme knew that there was only person who could put an end to this fairy’s plans, and it was her she was on the way to meet—Ophelia. Leader of the Dark Faction, a Temptation Fairy and a real piece of work.