Fairy III: Paradise free porn video

Taking one for the team The argument was hot and heavy in the control room, but silent. Spearmint finally admitted afterward that her actions had caused a furor among her fellow monarchs. They understood why she had done it, but at the same time, the news that almost a hundred geriatrics and terminal patients had merely disappeared had made not only national but global headlines. Dandelion and Periwinkle had calmed them down, and they had decided to meet once a week for the next year hammering out rules on who could decide to bring another human over in an emergency, and banned all such mass disappearances in the future. There were fifteen women in the local realm in various stages of respiratory illness. Morgan could verify that at least five of them were tubercular. "What we need is a hitchhiker," Morgan said. "Someone off by himself, that no one will miss for a day or so." The hunters spread out, but the park was quiet at this time of year. In fact except for Morgan and Charles, no one had checked into the park in the last week. "All right then, we have to find someone," Charles said. "What about George?" Morgan asked. "No." The diminutive fairy was adamant. "I love Becky and I am not going to take one for the team." "Dear." "No." He turned, hands on his wife's face. "Damn it in almost sixty years I have never been with another woman." Tears ran down his face. "I won't." She hugged him wordlessly. "Whatever will I do with you?" She asked. "Love me, like always." "I do you big lug." A funny comment from someone who was two fingers taller than he was. "But you have to go back to normal at least for a time." "Why-" "George, we can't let the kids fight over the house. Samantha and Bobby will go at it hammer and tongs if you disappear. They might already be doing that with you missing for a day." He sighed. "All right. What do you want me to do?" "First, call them together, parcel out the furniture, and sell the house. You have accounts for the Faerie do you not?" She asked Charles. "Quite large ones actually. We had some luck at the start." "Then this can be added into it," Becky said firmly. "Once that is done, you can disappear and no one will notice." George sighed, nodding. "But what about you?" "George." She hugged him, kissing him deeply. "Make me a Fairy." ***** The hunters watched as the three men grew back to normal size. They got dressed, then walked to the van Morgan had driven them out in. "I'm worried about her," George said softly. "That isn't much of a home, when you come down to it." He motioned toward the hill where the septic tank had been buried. The house it had been part of had long since fallen into ruins, but the foundation still stood. "Then hurry up," Charles said with a shrug. "Then come back, and never leave." "But there's so much space they haven't used in there!" George said. "The tank is deep enough for three floors, but all they use is the old leech line and the base of it." "George, technically they are Neolithic tribes. Before we started what we're doing they though stone and wood tools were a good idea." "Hey, bro, that isn't completely true," Morgan demurred. "The New York and LA tribes had hand made metal weapons and ornaments. The others only needed access to them. This is just one of the more primitive outfits, but they are learning fast." "Maybe..." George thought about it. "I used to do construction when I was younger. Maybe I can fix it for them?" "At eighty?" Morgan asked with a smile. "Be real, George." He handed his cell phone to his brother. "Contact our construction crew." "Your construction crew?" "Yep. We have a crew out of South Carolina that can come in and do that for you. But we'll have to sneak them in. This is a national park after all." ***** "Charlie." "What, Morg?" "Have you seen this?" He passed over the paper. Morgan looked at the article Charles pointed at. MINOR LEAGUE FOOTBALL TEAM CHALLENGES MAJORS TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP Baytown Texas. Written by Sol Lang, Sports writer. The Baytown Tarpon have promised to put up whatever they can give to charities in the Houston area. 'We will give time, money or anything needed to those deserving of support.' Chief Coach Henderson stated to this reporter yesterday. 'We already have dozens of requests, a lot of them from survivors of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, but we're opening this to any people that need help in unique circumstances'. "So what? Big league teams do this all the time." "I know that." Charles replied. "But that name sounds familiar..." He picked up his Treo, and checked the database. "He and his wife are on our sponsor list. "Spearmint found what, fifteen girls from her own tribe that needed healing? How many more can there be in say the three outlying realms?" Morgan shrugged. "No idea. But we can find out." He pulled out his Treo, and began tapping in his question. The outlying realms had been contacted only recently, and they were slower on the answer. But it came back eventually. "Thirty all told. Seven in the adjacent Louisiana realm, eight from the closer Houston one." "Are you thinking what I think you are?" "We wanted a test. Do you think Henderson might be willing to help?" "Maybe. But the entire team?" "Isn't the wish of every high school girl?" Charles asked jokingly. "To do the entire junior varsity team? "So what do we do?" Morgan asked laughing. "First, we call the team, then we see about a party of sorts." ***** "You need what?" Henderson asked. "Two days of your time, along with the entire team roster," the voice replied. "Just like that." He'd known the challenge had been bravado, and the pleas for everything from housing to 'just give me money' had been overwhelming. "And what do you get out of this two days of our time?" "Coach, I can tell you over the phone, but you wouldn't believe me. If you will promise to come and listen to our proposal, and promise at that time that if you say yes the two days begins the moment you do. If you say no, it ends there with no recriminations." That was a surprise. A lot of the people they had turned down had been the kind that quite honestly would continue demanding until you filed a restraining order or gave them what they wanted. "So we drive out to see you in a bus?" "I'll even rent the bus and pay for all necessary refreshments aboard. You can tell whoever you want where you are going and when you will return, on the express condition that all of you will be out of communication for that time. And no women can accompany you." "You know, our cheerleaders think they should go where ever the team goes." There was a laugh. "If they go, they may never want to come back. Or they will interfere with what I am trying to do," the man commented dryly. "You won't explain over the phone." The man sighed. "You know about the make a wish foundation?" "Sure. At least five of our requests have been from them." "There are women dying who we hope can be saved if you will give of your time to them. I will not tell what is required beyond you presence. But it will not be harmful to you or the men you bring in any way. No one will be coerced into this. If they refuse, they will be unaffected beyond maybe having their horizons expanded." "And that's all you're going to tell me." "That is all." "Can I call you back?" "Of course." The caller gave his number. The coach hung up. He walked out of the den into his living room. Maria his wife looked up from trying to feed Michelle, their youngest. "Why the long face?" "You know about that challenge we issued last week." She snorted. A number of the more demanding had been calling his home for that week, demanding that she intercede for them. She had already called the phone company and the number was to be changed in the next day or so. He told her about the conversation. "Let me get this straight. Two days of the team's time." "Along with all of the coaching staff," he added. "Right in the middle of practice season." She threw up her hands. "What if it's another attempt by the Houston team to screw you up?" "Maybe it is. But if that's the case, where did they get women that were dying to make it true?" "Maybe they heisted those people from the hospital two weeks ago." He snorted. "If so, we'll have the police there before you can say kidnapping." She sighed. "As long as you feel satisfied with the deal, honey." He bent down, nibbling on her neck. "When I come back..." "Yeah, promises." She snorted, then bit his nose. "Go." Henderson went back to the office, punching in the number. "It's a deal. When do you want this to happen?" "Since your team doesn't practice during the weekend, how about next Friday night to Sunday morning?" "Sure." ***** The Coach looked around the open expanse of forest. It was already dark, but he knew they were in the Big Thicket National forest. The bus had been one of those reconditioned Greyhound express buses, and had parked beside a nondescript van. Two men stood beside the van, and walked up to the door as the bus stopped. "Coach Henderson? My name is Morgan Xavier. This is my brother Charles." The younger man took his hand. "I followed some of your season last year, coach. I hope you do better this next year," Charles told him. "A fan?" "More an interested observer. If I were ten years younger i would have been out there trying out." Henderson smiled. "Call me Dan." "Well Dan, if you can have the guys wait aboard the bus while we talk, we can get this show on the road." They walked out in front of the bus's headlights, and Charles handed him a card; CHARLES XAVIER THE INNER WORLD ASSOCIATES BROWNSVILLE TEXAS BRANCH OFFICE PHONE 956-555-4987 CONTACT; RHONA CUNNINGHAM; OFFICE MANAGER On the back were a series of e-mail addresses E-MAIL; NEW YORK; [email protected] LOS ANGELES: [email protected] [email protected] PHILADELPHIA: [email protected] ROVING AGENT/REGIONAL DIRECTOR: ROB@ INNERWORLD.NET ROVING AGENT/REGIONAL DIRECTOR CHARLES XAVIER: [email protected] ROVING AGENT/REGIONAL DIRECTOR: MORGAN XAVIER [email protected] "I remember. Maria and I had been drinking, and we found your website. We filled out the questionnaire, and sent it in along with our memberships." "Do you remember question fifteen?" Morgan asked him. "Wait... No I don't." "Have you ever really seen a fairy?" He snorted. "Yeah. I answered maybe when I was a kid." Charles nodded. "We looked at your questionnaire before my brother called you. Come with me, please." The brothers turned, walking toward the woods." "What are you going to do?" Henderson hadn't moved. "We're going to show you something. Then we can talk." He shrugged, then followed. They didn't walk far, just far enough to put a few trees between them and the bus. Henderson started to ask again when he heard a deep thrumming like a dragonfly. No, try thousands of dragonflies. A swarm of lights came toward him, and as they slowed, the lights faded. There a foot from his face, a regal woman looked back at him. "Can you see me, human?" she asked. "Holy shit." He flushed. "Pardon my language, Ma'am." "I take no offense, young man. When I was still human I heard and said much worse." She slid closer, hovering like a helicopter. "Do you believe in us, Daniel Henderson?" He reached out, and she alighted on his palm. "I always thought I had been crazy or on drugs," he whispered. "I saw one of you back when I did acid that one time." "Acid?" She looked toward the brothers. "A drug nicknamed acid. It causes hallucinations," Charles offered. "Ah. One of the younger members of my tribe did such chemicals when she was still human." She nodded. "Have they told you what we wished of you and yours?" "Not yet." "We have those sick with illness that might be cured. But we had never considered the ramifications of trying to use our own natural abilities to do so..." ***** Maria Henderson sighed when the phone rang. "Hello?" "Maria, can we get a sitter for a couple of days?" "Dan? Why would we-" "Darling, trust me. You have got to see this." "I don't understand, honey." "If you trust me, you will believe what I am saying. Come to the Big Thicket in the morning." ***** "I don't understand it," the doctor said. He looked at the young girl sleeping peacefully. She should have been plugged into a dozen different systems in this room, but she wasn't. Her parents had come, taken her from the hospital, then returned her two days later perfectly healthy. As an oncologist, he knew exactly how impossible that was. The little girl had bone marrow cancer. She should have died without special treatment for two days. Yet the parents had brought back a girl with no trace of her condition. In fact, she had even gained almost five pounds since she was back in the hospital. He shrugged. "Tell her parents I want to talk to her before they take her out tomorrow." He walked down the hall, looking in room after room. The Children's Oncology ward was almost packed. Whatever had cured that little girl might help so many.... If only he could convince her parents to explain what had been done. Luau Koki'o whistled, cutting below the foliage of the pineapple plantation. Ohia and Kukui whistled back. The damn rats had gotten into the field again, and her tribe had made an agreement with the humans that owned this land to protect the fruit. She looked at the bow she carried, grimacing in disgust. Like any human bowyer, she knew how difficult it was to make another. She would have to find just the right piece of wood, and painstakingly form it. This one would last a little longer. That was all she had to worry about. The people who owned this land, the Yamashita's had promised to find her some better wood, but she didn't know where they would look. The Islands had trees, but not a lot that were good for bow making even when you're only four inches tall. She paused. There was a rat just ahead, a few feet away from her. She rested on the wide leaf of the pineapple plant, drawing it back. It snapped, the noise carrying to the rat's ears. It turned, snarling. She threw the wrecked weapon aside, drawing her warclub, and dived toward it. She smashed it against the rat's shoulder, feeling the bones of it's shoulder shatter, but it spun, and she felt it rip her left wing her back. She slammed into the ground. A weight landed on her back, the beast slavering to rip her life out. There was as thud, and it fell aside. She looked at the dead rat in shock, then collapsed in a faint. ***** Cynthia sighed, walking down the ramp onto the pier. Their ship had stopped in Pearl Harbor Oahu, and behind her Rob was moving the case with the Faerie down the gangway. A young woman at the bottom of the gangway slid a lei around the girl's neck, kissing her softly on the cheek. Cynthia almost asked her why she bothered. The girl had the fixed look of someone who expected to be doing this for several hours. Rob accepted the lei and kiss calmly, then motioned to Cynthia. "The rest of the bags should be down in a few..." His voice petered out. Down on the end of the dock, a pair of small Japanese people were standing with a sign that said ROB AND CYNTHIA!!!! EMERGENCY. "Wait here," he said. He slid the case off his shoulder, and onto hers. Then he jogged down the dock. The man saw him coming, touching his wife's arm. Then he walked forward, bowing deeply. "What's the matter, sir?" "Please to come with us, sir. It is a matter of life and death." "Maybe you had better explain that." "We own many acres of pineapples. The Kami watch over them for us." "Kami. Japanese for spirit?" It suddenly clicked. "Faerie?" "Hai. Do not worry about where you will stay. We have already cleaned out our guest room." "We'll be with you as soon as our bags come down." ***** The drive from Pearl Harbor had been hectic. The Japanese couple had only an old WWII army six by six truck to use, and Rob had ridden stoically in the back. The vehicle smelled of manure and pineapples, and he flinched as one of the trunks smacked his leg. They turned onto a smaller gravel road, and if anything, the old man had sped up. gravel and coral spewed out behind them in a rooster tail as they breasted a hill, and suddenly there was a mile or more of pineapple plants surrounding them. The truck stopped with a squealing of brakes, and the doors slammed open. Cynthia climbed down as if she had been on a rather violent roller coaster ride, walking carefully toward the rear. Rob opened the case and the Faerie leaped into flight. Trillium lofted out, her daughter Hope held tightly. "I don't want to ride in such a manner again," she gasped. Blue Bell, the Faerie from New York was grinning from ear to ear. Of course as a human boy with hemophilia, riding a really wicked roller coaster was probably an old dream. The other two were new. Saffron from Chicago, and Orchid from San Francisco had been added, one before they had left, the other when they met the ship in San Francisco. Orchid's hair fit her name, red and yellow streaks running through it in a zigzag pattern. Her eyes were a wide almond that looked too large for her face. She had joined them because as a Japanese Naval lieutenant from WWII, she spoke both Japanese and Korean. She flew up, and swiftly asked the little Japanese couple where they had to go. Rob climbed down, and set the case on the porch of the little house. "They say it is on the beach. An old army gun emplacement," Orchid reported. "Fly ahead, tell them we're on our way," Rob told her. They walked down the road toward the beach. The Yamashita's had stayed at the house, even though the fear in the old woman's eyes told him they didn't expect it to be any good. The gun emplacement had been made for a 5 inch antiaircraft gun. There had been no roof for it, which would have defeated the purpose, but a stairway led into the ground behind it, an air raid shelter. Rob stood at the top, waiting. There was a thrum of wings, and Orchid came up, followed by a dozen Faerie. Unlike the ones he had seen up until now, these were dressed in tropical print clothing that looked like it had been run off on a sewing machine. The leader, a sleek Hawaiian native looking woman hovered before his face. "I am Ilima. Leader of the clan," she told him, bowing slightly. "You are this man called Rob?" "Yes, ma'am. I bring greeting from-" "Please, we must hurry. This one tells us that our own abilities might be able to heal our own?" "Last week every Faerie in three realms in Texas were cured in that way." He replied. " "Physical injuries or sickness?" "There is a girl doing the same work I am doing that started as a boy, and was injured when he was halfway through the process. When she came back to full human again, she was healed." He saw hope in their eyes. "One of our best hunters was injured yesterday. How well can this healing work?" "Don't know if we don't try. What are the injuries?" The queen moved closer. "I will let you see it for yourself." Rob put out his hand, and she bit him. ***** Koki'o whimpered. She wasn't sure what was worse. The fiery pain in her back, or the dead feeling from her pelvis down. She lay on her stomach, the only comfortable position with her injuries. A light came into the room, and she saw what looked like a man. Nonsense. It wasn't the time when the Yamashitas brought young men out to see them. The man stopped, motioning as three faerie brought in a huge metal and plastic box. "Hello, young lady. My name is Rob. We're going to try to help you, but I need an expert opinion." He showed them how to prop the box up, and switched it on. A flat screen glowed, and Koki'o stared entranced. She had heard of the television the Yamashitas had, but had never bothered to go to their house to see it. This thing was so small though! The man took a rod of plastic, and began touching the screen. A moment later, it cleared. A huge face looked out of it. "Charles here. Morgan will be with us in a moment." Another face moved into view. "All right, Rob, what do you have." "I hope that fiber optic camera you suggested we bring will work." The man reached down, connecting some wire to the box, then picked up a tube that took his whole hand to hold. "All right." He turned, pointing it at the wounded Faerie. "Can you see it?" "Oh Christ. What happened to her?" "Rat landed on her back. Clawed her and ripped her wings off," the man reported. "We can only hope, Rob." "Yeah." He set down the tub, then knelt beside her. Now I want you to listen to me, little girl." "I am Koki'o." She bit out. "A hunter of my tribe and have been for over two centuries. I am not a youngling." "Sorry. Me I'm in my late forties, and all of you girls look younger to me. Don't mean anything by it. Now what I want to explain is this. About a week ago, a realm in Houston Texas found out that the same thing that causes the sexual change when mating might also heal the Fairy involved. They cured about three dozen girls with lung ailments. We knew it might work before, but no one considered it. "Now, what I'm saying, is... If you have sex now, it might heal you. Then again I don't think anyone considered nerve damage like I think you have." "Nerve damage. What is this?" "I've had my hand on your leg for the last few seconds, and you didn't react or flinch. Can you feel this?" "Feel what?" "I think your back was broken at the same time it shattered your pelvis. I don't know if your body will react properly. Besides which, you're in a lot of pain, and I'll have to deal with that as well. The question is, do you want us to try?" She stared at the earnest face. "I may be healed?" "May. I hope it works, but I can't guarantee it." "If I can be healed, even if it is only a chance, I will try." "Okay." A girl came into the room carrying what looked like a small perfume vial. "Rob?" "We'll need some laudanum then," he told the newcomer. Find something the size of a teaspoon." Another Faerie came in, carrying a small spoon. "The Yamashita's made this for us years ago." The newcomer took it. "About tablespoon size. All right, just enough to cover the bottom." The man took the liquid. "Now we don't want to give you to much of this. It can kill you. Will you trust me?" The wounded girl nodded. "All right. Sip this, but hold it in your mouth." The concoction tasted vile, but she did as he said. "Now spit it back into the spoon except for just a taste. Obediently she spit most of it back into the spoon. "Now swallow that." She did. "Now this will take a few minutes to take effect. So let's talk." "What about?" the girl asked him. "I don't know. Maybe how you guys have clothes that look like they were run off on a sewing machine?" "Because they were," Koki'o told him jokingly. "Mrs. Yamashita sells little dolls to the Haolis through some of the shops down in the city even now. What you would call kewpie dolls. She made thousands of outfits for them, everything from muumuu dresses to grass skirts and kilts. She had been doing that since before the war." "War?" "Yes, when the Islands were bombed." "Oh, the forties." "Yes." She was starting to have trouble thinking. "When she and her husband were... Taken away. We saved all of her work from before. When they returned a few years later was when they first met us..." The world was becoming a hazy place. She had never felt this way and wasn't sure she liked it. "So she started making clothes for your people?" "Yes... Why do I feel like I am flying?" "It is the drug you took." He touched the girl's back. "What do you feel when I do this?" "A... pressure. Like you are poking me with your finger... But it doesn't hurt." He nodded. "Is it supposed to be like that?" "Yes. But it shouldn't be this strong this quickly." He turned back to the tube he had held before. "Charles, Morgan, I need some input." On the screen the two men looked out. "Normal variance." Morgan said. "She's probably a little smaller than the norm. We're lucky you had her only take a sip of it. We might have killed her with a full dose." "Your lips to God's ear," the man said. "How long will she be flying like this?" "If she were human sized I'd say about six to ten hours." "Is she going to finish the job? I don't want to have Martin's people turn out a female ID for me." "Shouldn't be a problem. If it heals her, she'll be stuck as a guy for a longer time than normal, but hopefully the return will save her mentality." "I am not sure I like having a drooling female vegetable here either." As he spoke, another fairy entered the room, carrying a baby. "Rob, I will take care of her of that comes to pass." She held the sleeping baby to her breast. "We owe her that much." "Trillium-" "Rob, better a woman without a mind than one crippled and soon to die." "What... are you talking...'bout?" "We're worried that you might stay a man too long," Rob told he gently. "Will I... be... a man with working legs?" she asked drowsily. "Yes." "If it's that choice... I have sisters that will raise my child... and give me mercy when it is born." She sighed. "Do it." Three of her sisters from the tribe came in, and they picked her up with Rob's help, rolling her on her back. She hissed, not in pain, but from the pressure of the ragged wound of her destroyed wings. Rob leaned over her, kissing her cheek. "Don't want a buzz from the laudanum," he told her. "I had problems kicking it back in the 80s when I was injured." "You have had this...'fore?" Koki'o asked him. "Long time ago. Didn't like it." He leaned over. "Hate being out of control." "This feels... good..." "If you say so." He looked at the camera. "Will she be able to so this, Morgan?" "When did her injuries occur?" "Yesterday morning," one of the local Faerie replied. "She should still be physically capable," Morgan replied. "If we can start the cycle, nature should take it's course." "I don't know." Rob shook his head. "She's drugged. It feels too much like rape to me." "My love." Trillium knelt beside him, turning his face to her. "If it were me there crippled, I would welcome the choice between being whole or being dead." He sighed. "All right." ***** It had been a surreal nightmare. A man's face over her, something pressing against her she couldn't feel. Then suddenly there had been pain, and she had screamed. She had seen the man change, become a statuesque black woman. Felt something she had never felt before as the woman had mounted her thighs. Then more pain, and darkness. Koki'o came awake, and the first thing she noticed as the pain was gone. Not abated, not subdued as the drug had made them. But completely gone. She felt bodies around her, enfolding her in warmth. Her eyes opened, and the woman she had seen in the nightmare lay there beside her. She held a baby to her bosom, and when the child whimpered, she hugged it closer. The woman's eyes came open, and a hand touched her face. "How do you feel?" "The pain is gone," Koki'o whispered. "The healing took more than we had anticipated," the woman told her. "Rob had to do all of the work." "Never tried that position," a voice said from behind Koki'o. "A lot of work in that position." Koki'o rolled over. The same woman or her twin smiled lazily at her. "Next time you get on top," she said. "But-" "I'm Rob," the twin said. "The one with my face behind you is my wife Trillium." "We're glad it worked," Trillium said. "Ilima wasn't sure you would want to live if did not." "I would have wanted to die," Koki'o replied. "To never fly again. To be taken care of as if I were a stupid male?" She shook her head. "Better death than that." Rob stood, stretching. "Well then I'm glad I did it. But next time you get together with a guy, don't make him feel like a rapist, okay?" He wandered out. "What does he mean?" "Rob is a good man," another woman commented. This one had her own face, but green hair. "I'm Cynthia by the way." "Why would he feel like this was rape?" "There's an old human saying 'after two drinks, the bottle is more responsive'. Let's just say that the drug you were flying on left you as much ability to say no as if you were tied down. Rob is going to have to deal with those feelings." Koki'o sat up. She felt the beat of not one pair of wings but two on her back. She touched the two women, then followed Rob. The woman he had become was standing on the edge of the concrete embrasure, hugging herself. "Rob?" "What?" His voice was harsh, angry. She came up and hugged him from behind. "I am sorry about what I put you through." "Nothing important," he said. She caught him, turning him to face her. He was almost a head taller than her in this form. She caught his chin in her hand, and gently kissed him. "You have never been with an unwilling woman have you." "No." He looked at the dark sea, and tears glistened on his face. "I had a girlfriend who was raped once. She sort of... went away in her mind afterward." She hugged him again, and felt his arms close hesitantly around him. "You gave me back my life, Rob. I cannot be angry at how it happened." "I just wish..." He held her as he cried for that long ago love. ***** "If it's all right with you, I'm going to hang here," Cynthia told Rob when they had returned to full size again. The four they had brought from the States lounged alongside the members of the local clan. It looked like a miniature beach party. "Sure. May I ask why?" "Because we haven't had a chance to really understand the people we're dealing with, beyond giving them the means to communicate with us," Cynthia said. "What do we know about their living conditions? Or their daily lives?" "Not a lot, I'll admit," Rob said. "So I go to the islands by myself, then come and pick you up?' "Not by yourself," Koki'o said. She leaned back in a manner he would have considered seductive, but it was just the way the small woman moved. "I will go with you." "Try leaving me here!" Trillium said. "Or me," Blue Belle said. "I never got out of Queens before I met you! Think I'm missing a Hawaiian vacation?" "All right already." Rob raised his hands in surrender. "The rest of you will be all right here?" Orchid sniffed. "I always wanted to come to Hawaii. But I thought it would be as a conqueror." "Me, I'm just glad it's warm!" Saffron replied. "I'd stay here if i could." "And you would be welcome," Ilima replied. "You have all done a great service for my people." Rob laid out his plans. He would first go to the big island as they called Hawaii. At 4028 square miles, it was larger than all of the other islands combined and would take perhaps two weeks to cover. Then to Maui, then Lanai Molokai and Kauai before returning to Oahu would take maybe a week each to cover. "You think two months will be enough time?" "To document an entire society?" Cynthia laughed. "We'd need an entire anthropology team and years!" She shook her head. "But if we can find a team, they'll have a solid ground to start with." "Then I'll leave you to it." Paradise Cynthia ducked beneath the waving branches of the palm, following the native Faerie on a flight to the house. The Yamashitas had met them originally in 1945, and had opened their home and hearts to the little people. In return, they patrolled the crops and assured that animals didn't eat them. She had never felt so free in her life. She was wearing what the local Faerie did on an average day, a simple loincloth, and nothing else. She grinned, thinking of Rob's reaction if he had seen her. The natives of the Pacific Islands had worn clothes when they felt like it. It wasn't until the advent of the missionaries that they had worn any more. Kaunaoa dove down above her, and tagged her between the wings. That caused an impromptu game of tag among the foliage, and Cynthia got into the game with the same elan they showed. She wished she had grown up the way they had. Never worrying about your next meal, because you live in a paradise that supplies food all year round. Never working, never studying. A world where life was a time to play games. The Faerie motioned, and they flew up into a palm, holding the sharp edged leaves, and basking in the sunlight. Kaunaoa held out a hand, drawing her up until all they could see was the canopy sky and mountains and ocean. Nothing of man intruded. "I have watched this for so long." She sighed, an arm sliding around Cynthia's waist. "Since before the great ships with their white sails came. Before the white men came to stay." "Tell me of your people here," Cynthia asked. "Why are we so important?" The woman leaned forward, laying a gentle kiss on her lips. "If you want to know so much, why not stay?" "I can't do that." Cynthia felt her heart race at the kiss. The one thing she had never realized was that when a woman kissed another, it was so much more gentle. Men tended to push too hard or maybe it just felt different. But even in passion, a woman's touch was more delicate. "There are many others we must find in the world." "We have never thought of those others," Kaunaoa said. She leaned back, but the hugging arm pulled the girl closer. "We know of the people inland, the ones to east and west. What else is there in any one's world?" "So we have ruined your society." "How?" Kaunaoa laughed. "When you leave, how many others are going to come? Will these Fairy of other lands come her like humans with guns and fire to take our homes?" "No. Fairy don't seem to war as men do." "Oh we know of war. Not just the kind the humans do either. Five centuries ago, we fought between us and those to our west." "You did!" Cynthia pulled back. "I thought Faerie never fought!" "In a land as large as you say they come from, it is not surprising. But we live on such a small place." "What was the war about?" "Lehua, the queen of their people fell in love with 'okika, the daughter of our queen. But 'okika did not return that love. She sent many gifts, hoping to sway the girl, but she refused. Finally, in a jealous rage, she struck down the girl. Our people attacked them. The war lasted several days, and many were hurt. Finally her people banished Lehua. Our people caught her and stripped her wings, trapping her on the ground where the beasts dealt with her." "How many people were killed?" "Killed?" Kaunaoa looked surprised. "Four, maybe five." "How many of them were killed?" "That was all of the dead from both sides." Cynthia shook her head. The silliest war she had ever heard of was in the 60s when Paraguay and Uruguay fought a war because one had lost to the other in a world cup soccer match. It had only lasted about eight or ten hours, but they had more casualties. To fight what you called a war... yet only half a dozen total died. To them it must have been horrific, but to humans it wasn't even a bad day in the ghetto! There was a trilling sound, and Kaunaoa's head cocked. "It is time to fish." "Fish?" "Yes." She took off, and Cynthia flew after. Dozens of Faerie had gathered in mid air in a swirling cloud, and Cynthia joined them. "What do we do?" "We do not know if you have our abilities. So why don't you merely fly high there, and watch? Ohia pointed. Cynthia flew higher. The others flew farther out to sea, then as one dived toward the surface. The women flew low and slow, high enough that they were safe from a fish trying to take them as a snack. Then Cynthia saw it. A rushing wave of fish beneath the surface following them. Somehow they were attracting them to the surface, and the boiling mass raced toward the beach. Now she could see that some of them were flying on their backs, reaching backward as if pulling in a net. Others flirted closer to the surface as if to entice an attack. Others merely flew straight ahead. But they all paced each other. And they were singing some song Cynthia could not understand. A wave began to curl, and she could see the fish racing to stay in the wave, stay with the Faerie. Then they flashed over the beach, flying up and back in a maneuver more akin to an aerobatics exhibition. They dropped to the beach where half a dozen fish had gone to far, and were stranded by the tide. Half a dozen landed on each wriggling form, and pulled them higher on the beach. Each fish was at least three times their size, but the women dealt with them as if they did this every day. Then they gathered, as the fish finally flopped and lay still. She flew down, and helped as the women slid poles and sticks below the fresh catch, hoisted them to their shoulders, and began walking toward their home. "How do you do that?" she asked gasping. The fish was almost a foot long, and heavy. "We sing them onto the shore," one of the others said. "Why? Don't humans fish?" "Yes, but we use hooks and lines and nets." The Faerie looked at her as if she'd said something insane. Then the Faerie nodded. "Ah, they are so much bigger than us. To them this would be something they held in their hands." They immediately set to work on their catch when they arrived. Four were reduced to strips that were hung to dry. Another, the largest was set aside to give to the Yamashitas. The last was skinned, and the delicate meat set over a stone grill. Cynthia knew they used magic to cook, but this was her first time actually witnessing it. The stones went from cool to red hot at the words of the woman cooking, and the tribe hunkered down, chatting as it broiled. It wasn't like any group of women Cynthia had ever been around. The discussion was teasing and light, but the subjects most women would discuss, clothes, movies, men, was absent. They spoke of a certain tree where you could get a better view of the beach. A warren of holes made by a ground squirrel where they might be able to hide if a hurricane hit. How funny a certain crab had acted when they had teased it. The meat was succulent, and Cynthia found herself tearing into it as if this were the high point of her day. She was licking her fingers when it struck her that all of her striving in the outside world paled in the sheer joy they had with every day of life. It didn't matter that she was a year from a degree in Psychology, or that she would have a doctorate in another three or four years. They loved life and live life as if there were no tomorrow. ***** On the 5th of May, Rob drove up to the house. The Yamashita's bowed deeply to them, and accepted his gift of diesel for their generator and some small personal items gravely. The fair of girls that flew around him flew ahead as he headed down the beach. The entire fair of the realm was flying above him, and he smiled at the sight. Then one of the girls flew closer, and he reached out. Cynthia landed on his hand, and he stared at her two pairs two pairs of wings. "Cynthia?" "I am 'Awapuhi now," she said softly. "I've come home, Rob."