Finley Cai Aies Hall May 19th,20XX

The tiny fairy, or pixie as Jake had named it, fluttered down into my outstretched palm and settled its dress around it as it sat. The fluff on its feathers floated up and tickled my nose, making me want to sneeze but I resisted the urge. Its face was a lot like mine, but a lot more feminine and a lot more innocent. Its large gold eyes connected with mine and it beamed a large smile at me like it remembered me.

“Cai-“

I didn’t hear the rest of what Mei wanted to say to me as I had already taken off in flight. I wasn’t even sure what I had created but it wasn’t something I wanted to figure out in front of others.

I didn’t know what I was going into and since Sparrow had used the summoning spell I knew where she was. I also knew that she may be in danger.

I hadn’t told Mei or she would have made us turn back and get some reinforcements, or maybe have a group dispatched. The thought of reneging on the Deal I’d made was enough to make me feel even worse than I already did.

Between the Wish and the Deal I’d made, I already felt like rubbish. Reneging on the deal may be enough to throw me over the edge altogether. If I could tell Mei the whole story then I would have, but I couldn’t have her realizing that I’d been awakened. On a level, I’m sure she knew, but since she was so determined to pretend that she didn’t, it was the least I could do to play along.

“Hey! Hey, Let me go!”

A high-pitched voice, like that of a child’s, floated out of my grip as I flew and reminded me that I had a companion. I halted and dropped to the ground, thinking this place was as good as any.

“Ah, my bad.”

The pixie flew out of my grasp and came up to eyesight, connecting our two similar eyes. The realization made me more uncomfortable than I’d thought it would. I’d already accepted that I took greatly after my father but seeing the pixie made me realize how much I shared with my mother as well.

“You aren’t my mother.”

It wasn’t a question.

Although I was the one that had cast the spell and made the wish, I wasn’t sure exactly what I had done. I did know though, that this thing, as much as it resembled her, was not my mother. Even before it verbalized a response its facial expression told me more than I needed to know.

It was a new experience to be looked down on by something no taller than one’s index finger, but it wasn’t one I was sure I could treasure.

“You moved the consciousness from the book into this vessel yourself didn’t you?”

Its snarky response made me remember the trancelike state I’d been in as I’d removed the bright white light and moved it into the beast’s mouth.

“How- Why do you look like my mother?”

A tiny hand flashed its nails at its familiar face and showed me an uninterested expression, like the question I’d asked, wasn’t even worth answering properly.

“Ohh, How could I look like the person who’s knowledge I was created from?.”

The book contained all my mother’s knowledge that she had taken the bother to write down. It didn’t not make sense but at the same time, it was hard to digest.

The pixie flipped off my palm and began to dance around me again, its wings and dress twirling around in the wind.

“I don’t have much of her personality; before you get any ideas of expecting me to be like her, but I do have all the knowledge that she put into my previous vessel.”

“Cai! Where are you?!”

Mei and Jake’s voices rang close to me as they approached me. Eventually, their figures popped out from the bushes and a relived expression graced both their faces at the same time. Mei put away her sword and her gait loosened as she strode towards me.

“What were you thinking running off like that Cai? Remember we're in enemy territory?”

Of course, I’d remembered. If I hadn’t then I wouldn’t have done something as bull-headed as trying to support both a deal and a wish at the same time.

Jake only looked me over once or twice before taking interest in the pixie that had flown to refuge in my hair.

“So that’s the pixie from earlier. I knew I wasn’t seeing things. What’s your name?”

He directed the last question to the pixie and I could feel its nervousness from its tightened grip on my scalp. My eyes flew upwards to the pixie, even though it would have been impossible to see it.

“Ahh, loosen up.”

I tried to grab it as gently as possible but in the short time it had been there it seemed to have made itself more familiar with my head than I was. Mei and Jake looked at me with amused expressions but the underlay of worry couldn’t be ignored. I knew that I looked worse for wear but as long as I didn’t acknowledge it or faint away then I hoped that they would ignore it as well.

The pixie finally responded to Jake after making a fool of me.

“The vessel I occupied in the past didn’t have a name and neither did this vessel… I don’t suppose I would be too opposed to receiving a name.”

Its voice grew tinier as it ended its sentence and its grip on a certain strand of hair tightened even more from embarrassment. Not that I could imagine any reason for it to be embarrassed.

“Aglaia, Risse, Nave?”

I started with a list of feminine fairy names, taking its long hair and frock as I came up with names. There was also the fact that It was named after my mother.

“Roraw, Lutbel, Narhspel”

Mei followed up with some more androgynous names, each taken from one militant myth or the other. They could hardly be considered original but I couldn’t hold it against her. I even felt that she was handling the whole- I gave consciousness to a bird creature and changed its form -thing pretty well.

“Feather, Goldie, Vert?”

Jake finished the list of suggestions with completely boring names that even the pixie, who hadn’t been alive enough to know what was and wasn’t tacky yet, knew enough to stomp its little feet into my scalp.

The pixie finally left the protection of my hair and flew out in front of me with a conflicted expression. Not quite angry but also not pleased.

“Those were lovely names and all, but this vessel is a male.”