A Message for Queen Lovely Lilly - James Gerard (best books to read for teens TXT) 📗

Queen Lovely Lilly cried.

Hearing that once again, Solange would not allow her love and hope to go away.

“Oh my queen you have done no bad thing,” she whispered.  “We have failed you.  I still love you so very, very much my queen and dear friend.  Please come back to us.”

Solange now knew that the lack love that saved the kingdom from the creature after that horrible, horrible day was absent from the hearts of just about every child. She very well knew that hopelessness, loss of faith in the queen, and the loss of faith in each other was the harvest from seeds planted in week hearts.

The weak hearts came from voices over the past three seasons.  The voices, now and then, spoke very, very badly about the queen and others.

“Lovely Lilly had us all fooled,” a voice would say.

“She certainly did,” another voice responded.

“And just look at her friends pretending to be sad.”

“They are of the creature that is for sure.”

“Will we ever see the end to our suffering?”

“Not as long as Queen Lovely Lilly is still alive.”

Although such very, very bad judgements made Solange very, very mad, she would not respond.  After all, no matter how untrue such words were she knew that they could not speak the true feelings of the human and fairy children whom she loved.

“Lies.  All just lies,” Solange suddenly shouted.  “Where are you?  Show yourself now.”

It did not answer.

Solange looked to the fairies and humans surrounding the queen.

“Oh no,” she cried.  “Even I have been tricked.”

At that very moment, she realized love had been present all this time.  If not, she thought, they would not be here.  She then turned to her friends Foster, Leena, and Loxie but they were gone.  Even Cambria was not hovering behind and above her.

“Oh what I have done?” Queen Lovely Lilly cried.

“Oh my dear and precious friend, please stop.  You have done nothing wrong.  Please Lovely Lilly, please wake up.”

Solange looked at the suffering in her face, heard the moaning and groaning came from misery speaking from the heart.

Without warning, Solange flapped her wings furiously then buzzed about the chamber in a flying frenzy.

“Enough of this creature.  Release us from your wickedness.  Leave this kingdom now.”

“Shame on you,” a voice answered.

“Shame on me,” cried Solange.  “Am I not the only one who is here fighting for love, fighting for my queen and the kingdom?  Am I not the only one who knows the queen suffers needlessly, we all suffer needlessly because of the creature?”

“That may be certainly true, but yes, shame on you,” the voice answered.

“Who are you?” Solange demanded.

“Who am I?  Who are you?”

“I am Solange.  That is who I am.”

“Are you blind?  Do you hover there claiming to have love in your heart when so many are suffering?”

“I do have heart in my heart,” Solange angrily responded.

Solange flew circles about the chamber seeking out the face to the voice that dare question her love.

“You tell Queen Lovely Lilly to wake up but you will not wake up.  Open up your heart and see what I see, feel what I feel.  Or do you not remember your suffering?”

Solange continued to fly furiously around the chamber looking for the face to the voice.

“Face me creature and I will show you the love inside my heart.”

“No Solange,” the voice roared.  “Search out your heart now for that love.”

Like hitting a wall Loxie had cleverly built with solid stones, Solange stopped in mid-air.  Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Do you remember?” the voice calmly asked.  “Have you woken precious child?”

“I do.  I have,” she softly said.

“Then why are you still here?  You know where you must go.”

Thoughts of the loneliness and fear Solange faced in the prison that had been the hole in the oak tree brought back the suffering of a broken heart, her life that had perished.

Now Solange realized that she truly had been asleep, that she had forgotten how the creator sent Foster to the rescue.

“I am so sorry,” Solange cried.  “Please, I ask for forgiveness.”

“If you are looking for forgiveness do not look to me: For I am not the ones you have hurt.”

“But I cannot face them.”

“Solange, you are late for the harvest.  Come to the mellow meadows,” a voice announced.

She froze in fear just hearing about the mellow meadows.

“Remember, fear cannot come out of a loving heart,” a voice whispered.

“Where is our help?” yet a different voice cried.

“Solange, you are late for the harvest.”

Solange spun in the air.  She did not know the many voices.  Faster she spun not knowing what to do.  She spun even faster knowing one had to be the voice of the creature.  It was all too much.  She pressed the palms of her hands over her ears.  Tears gushed out of closed eyes. 

“Why did she do this to us?”

“Where is our hope?”

“Stop it,” Solange screamed.  “This is too much.  There are too many voices.  I am too afraid,”

“Solange, you are late for the harvest.  Come now.”

Without warning, hands grabbed her shoulders and the spinning stopped.  Eyes opened.  There was no one in front of her.  She looked around and could not see one trembling hand or sad face. She removed her hands from the ears. The sounds of sobbing, sniffling, moaning and groaning were gone.  The tears stopped.

Even more astonishing to Solange was the fear of knowing what she had to do and where she had to go had gone away.

With renewed strength, Solange flew out of the chamber.  With eyes fixed on the barrier of darkness far off into the distance, she smiled then took off to the mellow meadows.

Foster the Foe

Foster hovered before the barrier.  Whatever or whoever gave him the strength to obey the voice to come to the forest of the mighty oaks had gone away.  He simply could not stop shaking while he stared at the darkness on the other side.  The newfound fear grew worse as his finger could not poke its way through the shield.

"Hello.  I am here but cannot pass through to the forest of the mighty oaks."

Inching away backwards from the barrier, Foster wondered if being there was a good idea.  While he had stayed at the side of his best and dearest friend, he had asked many a fairy and human to go and test the shield's strength.  Always, to his disspointment, their reports were very, very sad.  No matter what, no one could pass through.  Worse, as all reported, even if anyone of them could shear fear would not let them pass.

"Foster," a voice called out.

"Yes, I am here."

As he inched away further from the darkness, his wings even began to tremble with fear.  Without warning something tapped his shoulder.

"Help," Foster shrieked.

In an instant, frantically flapping wings sent him crashing into the barrier.

"Its me," the voice shouted while grabbing a foot.

Foster, gasped for air then quickly turned.

“It’s me.  Leena.”

"Whew," Foster declared.  “You scared me.”

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard a voice telling me to come to the forest of the mighty oaks.  I wasn’t afraid at first but now I am."

"Me too.”

Foster watched Leena float to the barrier.  She too poked a finger at it without any success.  He then could see her wings shake as she inched away from the barrier.

“Oh Foster, it is very, very dark in there.  I think we should go."

"Yes.  I think we should go too.”

He could see Leena’s body shaking while she slowly turned around.   He did not have to ask her what was wrong since he again began to shake just as bad.   Just as he turned away from the barrier, a thought came to his mind.  

 “Leena, why would someone call us to the forest if we can’t pass the barrier?”

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to think it was the creature who called.”

Although he thought Leena might be right, he wondered how the fear went away after the voice called out to him.  After all, what good could the creature do since it is so very, very bad?

“Come on Foster,” begged Leena, “let’s get out of here.”

Foster did not budge.  He started to think about Solange.  From what he had found out, Leena had taken her to an oak tree in the forest of the mighty oaks on that very, very horrible day.   It is where Loxie came and built her a protective barrier to keep her safe from any harm.  As the one and only finder fairy, that oak tree was also the place where he found her lying lifeless in a pool of her own tears.

“Foster,” cried Leena, “please let’s go.”

Foster heard his friend’s plea but did not budge.

"Hey," a voice shouted out.

“Help,” both Foster and Leena shrieked.

"It's just me," said Loxie as he flew to the barrier.

“You scared me.”

“Me too,” said Leena.

"What are you doing here?" asked Foster.

"I heard a voice telling me to come here, but now I don’t think it was a good idea."

“You were not afraid?” asked Leena.

“Not at first, but now I am.  It is very, very dark in there.”

Foster looked at Loxie shaking just as much as Leena.  Now he was puzzled.  Why would someone call out to each of them to the forest of the mighty oaks if it were a scary place?  An idea popped into his head.

"Leena, Loxie, come closer.  Leena and I couldn't pass the barrier but maybe the three of us can do it together."

Foster pressed the tip of his finger into the barrier.  Leena and Loxie did as well.

"Push," Foster shouted.

The three grunted and pressed hard into the barrier but the barrier could not be broken.

“Why can’t we get through?” wondered Foster.

He figured the voice had to be that of the creator: For he obeyed without fear.  Further, considered Foster, who else would call out when the kingdom was near to breaking apart.  All the human childrens' lives were in peril and the fairies faced a very dark and lonely future.

Leena and Loxie lowered their heads.

Foster once again looked into the darkness.  Now a sense of hopelessness was taking hold of his thoughts too.

"Hello," a voice screamed.  "Oh my, finally I am saved."

Foster’s eyes popped open.  He looked through the barrier and saw a silouette of a figure running toward him.

"Hello, hello," the figure excitedly called out.

The figure crashed into the barrier and fell backwards.

In an instant Foster dropped onto the grimy ground.

“Are you hurt?”

“No,” the figure answered.

Foster noticed the wings of the fairy that stood just on the other side of the barrier.  He looked into her eyes but did not know who she was.

In an instant, her eyes welled up with tears.

Seeing Foster talking with a figure on the other side of the barrier, Loxie and Leena landed next to him.

"Who are you?" asked Leena.

"Don’t you remember?  I am Aine.  I am a wind fairy just like you?"

Foster looked and wondered if Leena was focusing in on anything that was familiar about Aine, but a nodding head indicated there was nothing.

"Aine?" Loxie spoke up.  "I do not remember you."

"Oh Loxie.  How could you and Leena have forgotten me?”

Foster watched as Loxie stepped closer to the barrier.  He could see that he was looking at her very, very closely yet a seemingly look of puzzlement came to his face.  Then he watched as Leena too came close to the