Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Have you ever wondered where a dandelion seed ends up on a summer day? Where the scraps of that broken kite went when you were a child and loved to play? Some end up strewn about. Some simply become worn out. Others however, when a child laughs, travel a very special route.
A laugh can attach itself to an item, and few children understand. The sheer wonder that comes simply from a birth in Neverland. Something like a simple laugh or belief can sustain so much. For the birth and life of a fairy occurs from that joy and such.
But our story is not about many, for it is only about one. An important figure that, sadly, is remembered by little to none.
But on that magical evening, on that snowy winters night. In 1795, a small family sits ‘round the firelight. The baby laughs, and wool from a craft takes flight and travels on. And so it goes, on through the thoes of the storm, ‘till she wakes up and yawns.

Chapter Text

When she was born, the new fairy would never forget the look the surrounding fairies faces gave her. There were a few ooos and aahhs as the pixie dust slowly formed her barely coming into consciousness. She remembered hearing a few whispers between the sound of the magic awakening her.
“Oh this one seems tall!”
“Do you think it’s another ruling fairy?”
“Nah it can’t be. The new fairies in power aren’t that old yet.”
She was slowly becoming able to move her hands and the pixie dust settled, her new form being revealed. She was a tall pale fairy, with short hair and a light grey sweater dress. She looked up from her hands to look at the crowd. She was curious to see the world, and excited to be given some answers. Instead, she was greeted by a crowd of horrified expressions and screams. She felt exposed, and scared.
“H-hi?” She gingerly said, trying to dispel the clear terror in the crowd.
“A winter fairy in summer? T-this can’t be possible.”
“Oh dust, this is bad.”
“Look at her wings, they..they look different. Like a block of ice.”
The fairy, unnamed and newly born, turned around her and looked at her wings. Sure enough they were thick and sturdy, like a block of ice. But they weren’t so thick that they should seem foreign to the delicate wings of the crowd. She nervously looked around and gave an awkward smile, then said “Are-are they supposed to be any different?”
A hush fell over the crowd. A fancy looking sparrow man in bright colors (whom she later learned was the Minister of Spring) chimed up, “Who cares if it’s not supposed to be possible, she’s here! We need to get her to winter as fast as possible before they melt. Plus, what if Queen Clarion arrives? We can’t let her see.”
The room erupted into a panic and she felt several fairies swarm her and grab her arms. Pulling her towards a direction as she was barely getting the energy to stand. She didn’t understand, and she was scared. Was this normal? It didn’t seem like it. Suddenly a bright yellow light filled the room, all the fairies stopped and someone cried “We’re too late.”
The newborn turned around to see a beautiful fairy appear from the light behind her, one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. She had a crown and dress made of gold, with chestnut brown hair tied into a bun behind her. She opened her eyes and said to the crowd blocking the view “what’s with this crowd and chaos? A new fairy is born! She deserves a warm welcome. Come on, let me see her.”
The fairies surrounding her gave each other a nervous glance before backing away shamefully. The curiosity and warmth that once filled Clarion’s face suddenly turned into a similar look of horror and fear as she covered her mouth. She quickly turned to the sparrow man in colors and some similarly dressed fairies and said “This has to be a mistake. We have to get her to the border, immediately!”
She was hoisted up and rushed away from her birth grounds. The warmth of Summer ran past her in a green blur, as did the gorgeous colors of fall, eventually stopping at winter. She was set down at the border. There was a coldness that sat as she looked at the edge. She stared back at the royalty surrounding her. Queen Clarion cleared her throat, less shaken now.
“You’re lucky no real damage was done to your wings.”
The newborn fairy looked behind her, she saw not much damage done at all. The outer rim looked a little bit softer now, but that was about it. She looked into the darkness of winter, and shuddered. Nothing about it seemed welcoming, it seemed…dry, cold, and devoid of life. She turned around, trying to be brave.
“Do I have to go?” she said weakly.
“If you want to live long and fly, then yes.” a sparrow man who’s clothes reflected that of Autumn gently said.
“…but I’ve never even been taught to fly or use my wings.” she responded, very softly.
Clarion responded “In winter there are two sparrow men that will teach you. Lord Milori and the bookkeeper. They will give you the welcome you deserve. This is your home, the one you truly belong in.”
The newborn winter fairy wanted to say more. She was scared and lonely. Even if she wasn’t welcome there, the place from earlier was where she was born. She didn’t want to leave it behind for this cold new world. But she knew there was nothing she could say to argue. Not with those in charge.
“Okay” she responded quietly. She took a deep breath and passed the border. It was cold, but it didn’t feel bad. Yet, it didn’t necessarily feel good either. She looked behind her as the small crowd urged her to walk further in. She kept walking further until the crowd started to fly away.
As the entourage left she fell onto her knees. Waiting for them all to leave before she started sobbing, violently. The events that just happened ran through her, similarly to that initialy chill that ran up her spine when she crossed. One word echoing through her mind again and again. A mistake. That’s all that she felt like she was.
She kept breathing in and out, but was unable to console herself. While this did feel like home in a way, and it beckoned to her, her mind still raced with unanswered questions. Did she feel this way because this was where she was meant to be? Or was it because everyone was saying this was the only place she could be? Even if she wasn’t welcomed in Summer, there were fairies there. And they were fairies who had seen her born, come to life. There didn’t seem to be anyone that could see her in that special light like that here. And from the sound of it, she’d never be able to return to her birthplace ever again. She stared up into the cloudy sky, grabbing her knees as tiny bits of snow fell onto her face. After a minute she started feel better here, in this new place called home. Even if she’d never feel warm again, maybe everyone was right, maybe this was for the best.
After a few deep inhales and exhales she wiped the tears from her eyes and took her final deep exhale out. She had returned to breathing normally. She stood up, her knees still shaky, and stared out into the sunset. She was given a mission by Queen Clarion. Find Lord Milori and the Bookkeeper…whoever and wherever they were. She trudged onwards through the snow, hoping to find answers.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Whoever they were

When the fairy finally saw a town in the distance she immediately started walking faster. She didn’t know how to use her wings yet so she was excited to see fairies in the winter land flitting about without a care. Maybe she would be able to soon if she could find…Minori? Mifori? Whatever his name was. As she entered town she was greeted by some stares and inquisitive looks. She glanced at her wings as she spread them apart, despite them being weak and still drooping, then looked over at theirs. They were similar but not the same. The patterns were less prominent on her wings and theirs were dainty and somewhat fragile. Did she really belong here? She was similar according to what she had seen of herself but…she felt like no matter where she was she was treated as foreign.

She folded her arms more closely to her chest. Why was it everywhere she was greeted it was with questioning or worrying stares? She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see a sparrow man “Excuse me, but I don’t know if I’ve seen you around here? What’s your name?” The sparrow man was about a head shorter than her, but was overall tall and skinny compared to the fairies around them. But he still clearly had muscle. His eyes were dark grey and his hair was grey as well, only a little darker, with messy hair. Despite his appearance that might have been a bit intimidating to some, he seemed pretty friendly. It was nice to actually receive some sort of welcome, it was unfortunate that she didn’t have an answer “I don’t have a name. I was just born.” “Just born? But we didn’t see you at our birthplace?” “I was born in summer.” A few gasps came from some onlookers and the sparrowman desperately started checking her wings. She was really tired of everyone doing that. “They don’t seem melted or broken…can you fly?” The new winter fairy was starting to get irritated, she couldn’t because no one would show or teach her. She took a deep breath and exhaled, letting out a weak smile. “It's a little hard to do that when no one’s taught you.” She said. The sparrow man turned red and said “Oh. Oh…right! Then we should take you to Lord Milori.” Milori. That was his name. 

“Can you carry me?” She asked. The sparrow man stared at her for a second, as if taking into account both of their sizes, then he gave a determined look and said “I certainly can try”. He hoisted her into his arms and took off. “I didn’t ask you for your name.” The fairy shouted as they flew through the storm. “It’s Quilo! Nice to meet you, miss!” He shouted back. 

When the two of them made it to the ice castle Quilo set her down and started wheezing heavily. “Y’know, I think your wings make you kinda heavy. They really are as unique as they appear and seem to be no joke.” The new winter fairy was starting to get quite embarrassed by the amount of people commenting on how thick and heavy her wings seemed to be. Did all fairies comment on each other's wings? Quilo seemed well intentioned though so she nervously laughed and said “Uhh… I guess I should say thanks?” “Oh..wait, I didn’t mean…that wasn’t…your wings are quite nice actually and…I’ll knock on the door now.” She chuckled a little bit, he was the first real fairy she met but she liked him. She loved how this sparrow man tripped over his words and anxiously moved about. The energy he exemplified seemed different somehow to the nervous energy of the summer fairies. He seemed to be concerned for her instead about what she was. Quilo knocked on the door “Hello! I need to talk to Lord Milori!” He shouted. One of the guards came to the door and offered Quilo a glare. He was a hulking guard who had white hair and deep brown eyes, and he didn’t seem happy. 

“Quilo, I swear to the tree if you caused another windstorm to go awry I’m officially banning you from flying for the next 6 months.” “No no no no, Aspen, I don’t need to see Lord Milori for that reason, we have a newborn fairy who hasn’t had her wings cared for!” The guard, Aspen, suddenly seemed to notice Snowflake. He was seemingly a little surprised he didn’t notice before, but that quickly changed. She flinched at his intense gaze. But she politely said “It’s true, I can’t fly yet and I was told to see Lord Milori and the Bookkeeper.” 

Aspen stared at the fairy and said “I don’t remember hearing about a newborn coming to the winter lands, where did you come from? Also, who told you to meet with Lord Milori?” The new fairy was a little startled by the interrogation but said “I was born in summer and Queen Clarion told me.” Quilo gasped and flittered up “You got to talk to her majesty? What’s she like?” Aspen grunted and Quilo drooped down “S-sorry.” “No winter fairy has ever been born in the other seasons, how do we know that you aren’t an illegal border crosser?” 

Illegal? That was new…was that why everyone freaked out when she arrived? The fairy tentatively said “Because Queen Clarion said this was my new home?” Aspen stared at her for a minute then gave an annoyed grunt and said “Fine. Come on in, I’ll see who’s up. But there’s no guarantee it’ll be Lord Milori.”

Quilo made a happy noise and the fairy brought her hands to her face in anticipation. Quilo flew and Snowflake walked into the huge palace and let out an awestruck gasp. The outside palace of ice did not compare to the inside, which had beautiful architecture with swirls and dripping water that had frozen all over the walls. The patterns had a perfect balance of being unrefined but also gorgeously patterned. It seemed well crafted but not in a sterile way. As the newborn fairy walked in she lost her balance and slipped on the floor. She slid in circles before landing on her butt. Quilo laughed at her. She moved the hair away from her face and started giggling too despite herself. There was an awkward silence between the two of them before she decided to talk.

“So, how long have you been around here in…?”

“Oh, this here is Pixie Hollow! Specifically where we live is the Winterlands. I believe 2 or 3 winters on the mainland at this point.”

“Mainland?”

“Oh that’s right, you don’t know, given you were born today. See, all us seasonal fairies have a job of flying away from our home, the North Star in Neverland, and traveling to a big world called Earth. We generally split into groups and were all busy year round, but I’m a part of the team that visits a huge piece of land called Canada. A team of winter fairies and I make sure that all the seasons can be perfected with each cycle of the earth rotating, so that no place gets too hot or too cold as we follow the sun. The mainlanders need perfect conditions to live and we need to try to always be on time so that the animals and clumsies…sorry I mean humans, can live.”

“Why do you call them clumsies?” The fairy inquired.

“Oh since they’re so big. Even a human who has just been born is about 20 of us tall. Full grown humans are very big and tend to not look where they’re going often, meaning they tend to trip on themselves or the things around them a lot.”

Whatever these humans were, they sounded extremely delicate despite their massive size. It was strange that it was up to creatures so much smaller than them to keep so many different things alive. But the newborn felt a strange pride in it.

“Will I get to visit the mainland?”

“I don’t see why not. Most winter fairies do, I can’t really think of a fairy that doesn’t. The Bookkeeper is maybe the only exception. He prefers to write and only really visits the mainland every once in a while to see what other fairies need to know and teach the knowledge to other fairies. That and Lord Milori’s visits have become more sparse over time. I’m not entirely sure why.”

Aspen’s voice echoed through the halls “She seems legit but something like this seems unprecedented. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard about a situation like this in Pixie Hollow’s history.”

“Neither have I.” said a deep commanding voice in response. “But we should at least examine what the case is. If she’s telling the truth then we need to have a visit with the bookkeeper. Not only to see if he’s ever heard of this but if he can help.”