Lilieflour

Still half-awake, Leonard rubbed his eyes, but his body weighed him down, unable to let go of the comfort of his sleep. A figure welcomed Leonard —It was the boy. With his messy crimson hair and freckles visible on his shabby face, he held an assortment of plants in his arms.

“Leon, [Look what I] vondo!” the boy said, sensing pride in his expression as he laid down his discovery.

“Hmph?” Leonard replied, propping his cheek on his hand while rubbing his eyes with the other. Glancing out the windows, he noticed, It’s still dark outside? Did he go alone?

“[Not] slerma, huh?” The boy put both his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, [Not] slerma,” copied Leonard with a yawn, still trying to keep himself together.

“LEON!” shouted the boy, shaking his body.

Leonard startled as he called out his name. Finally, came into his senses because of it. “Lentar [me your] zwardin.” His hand reached out to Leonard. Lentar what? Zwardin? What is it?

With a rather annoyed look, the boy pointed to the dagger on Leonard’s hip.

“Oh, zwardin! Zwardin it is!”

The boy took the dagger and Leonard observed him as the boy sorted the herbs and mushrooms. He reached out and picked the mushroom, taking a good look at it. The mushroom cap itself was almost the size of an adult palm. But, something bothered him more than its size. If this were Earth, he would never have considered picking out random mushrooms found in the forest. Especially ones with such bright colors as this blue mushroom.

His eyes widened as he caught something glimmering, hidden beneath the mushroom cap between its gills. A gasp escaped from his mouth as he couldn’t believe what he saw. A fairy-like creature slept underneath the mushroom cap.

The fairy's face was dainty and pale. Her hair was a bright yellow —almost golden— and adorned with floral ornaments, cascading down to her knees. Embellished in a white gown embroidered with golden laces, creating a delicate floral pattern. A pair of almost translucent wings strapped to her back.

“A fairy?” he whispered. So… this is a fantasy world, after all.

Leonard cupped his hand as he tried to scoop her carefully from the mushroom, afraid to awaken the sleeping fairy. As he held her, he glanced at the boy, still focused on cutting the herbs. Taking an advantage, Leonard slipped out his other hand to another mushroom. He checked each one for fairies hiding underneath. But, he was glad he found nothing.

A sigh of relief escaped from his mouth. There’s only one. He rose from the floor and walked toward the main door, but as he was about to open it, the boy interrupted him.

“Warde [are you] gada?” he asked. “[It’s] dokura apuiten.”

Leonard let go of his hand from the door and took a couple of steps back. Trying to circumvent the situation. “I-I…” crap I dunno how to say it. With no other choice, he crossed his legs and put a grimace face the best as he could to convince him.

“[You want to] pio?”

Leonard nodded hastily. “Alsie [you want to pee], [you] kod usruik [the] gamar.” he said, pointing to the room on the left side of Leonard.

Right, that could work, too. He followed the boy’s suggestion and opened the door to his left.

Leonard sighed, “Well, I guess you are safe now, little one.” He looked down at his hand while the fairy was still asleep soundly. He sat down by the door, bracing himself against it in case the boy tried to pry it open. One thing was certain; he didn’t want the boy to discover about the fairy's presence. Honestly, he had no idea what the relationship between humans and fairies looked like in this world. He wanted to minimize any potential hostility, in case there was already an established prejudice between humans and other races. To be fair to him, from watching a lot of movies or playing games a lot before, humans rarely got along with other races. So, he wondered if this world would be any different.

As he was about to think what to do with the fairy, he heard a whisper, the voice of a girl. He looked down at his hand. It was indeed the fairy who woke up from her slumber. She tried to regain her composure while her little hand rubbed her eyes.

“WHAAAAAAAA!” shrieked the fairy as Leonard's face appeared in her view. “Get off, you filthy human child!” She attempted to flap her wings but failed as Leonard held on to her legs.

Leonard, startled by her sudden outburst, and released his hand. “A-ah… I didn't mean it,” replied Leonard, not expecting her reaction. “I-I’m really sorry if I disturb your slumber.”

The fairy stood unblinking upon hearing Leonard as if she was not expecting the child to reply to her. She cleared her throat. “That is right, Lilieflour expects you humans to say sorry!” she scolded, flicking her hair with a rather disgusted face.

“I-I uh… apologized for my reckless actions, dear gentle fairy.” Leonard bowed her head to her as a sign of apology. Unsure if it was a norm for people in this world to bow, but he did it anyway.

The fairy remained unmoved, crossing her arms in a stern expression. “Your apology alone would not be sufficient to mend her hibernation!”

“Then, what should I do?”

“As a consequence of waking her up, Lilieflour demands you to protect her until spring comes!”

“Wha…?”

“Lilieflour takes that as a yes!”

What the heck?  Somehow it reminded him of dealing with his friend’s antic, Mirai, back on Earth rather than a noble creature like a fairy.

Leonard rolled his eyes. He couldn’t help but express his frustration. “Couldn’t you just go back to sleep again?” he added. “It would be easier that way.”

“Listen here, you snot-nosed kid,” she said with a raised tone. “To go back to my dormancy, it requires preparation, and it took me an entire season to prepare for my sleep! An entire season!”

Leonard's eyes widened as he noticed the sudden shift in her speech. “Heh… When a fairy is angry, they speak in the first person, huh?” he said, amused by the new insight about her.

“I-I…” She covered her mouth. “What she about to say—”

“I get it,” Leonard interrupted. “I’ll protect you until spring comes.” He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, questioning if it was a good idea to take her in. Her existence alone already became a headache. As if it wasn't already a nuance for him, added to his inability to communicate with the boy.

“Huh, now that I think about it—” Leonard said just as the fairy spoke. “Why one such child as you could see a fairy—” They both turned at each other with surprise. Their voices clashed with each other before a thud of knocking interrupted their conversation, followed by the voice of the boy calling Leonard’s name.

“A-ah [yes],” stammered Leonard, taken aback by the sudden knocking. “Lilieflour, would you hide behind my ears?” he whispered.

“Why would she hide? A normal human couldn’t see a fairy.”

“Oh?” Leonard narrowed his eyes. “What if he could see you like mine do?”

“Of course, Not!” Lilieflour stamped her feet out. “You, human child, are different and it is rare for a normal human to see a fairy.”

"So, I'm not normal huh?" Her statement struck him, a reminder of what she said was somewhat true for him. Did she know that I’m not from this world? But he brushed it over.

“Then, could you sit on my shoulder instead?” The fairy nodded and walked through his arm and climbed to his shoulder.

Leonard looked over the fairy, sitting on his shoulder while swinging her legs. “My name is Leonard,” he said before opening the door.

“You can call me Leon, ok?”