#where i even hint to what happened to the Sanders family isnt it?

[ts-into-the-coinverse]

Fairies Love Curious Children

Am I writing something from the perspective of a fairy? Yes. Did I make it angsty? Also yes.

TW: Mentioned/assumed character deaths, implied house fire, a little bit of death talk

Hyacinth considered themself to be mean. It was rather obvious that they were -- they were a fairy. Fairies were mean. Not all of them, but most of them. And Hyacinth was one of the mean ones.

That’s what they thought, at least.

Then one day a little boy caught them in his chubby, tiny hands, and they found out they weren’t as mean as they thought they were.

Don’t get them wrong, when that happened, they were very upset. But instead of throwing out a curse and leaving, they listened. This little boy thought they were a bee. And that was just silly. They looked nothing like a bee -- had he ever seen one before? The most entertaining part was when his mother saw them and screamed. She knew a mean fairy when she saw one. Then the little boy took them back outside and let them go.

“Bye-bye, not-bee.”

Hyacinth liked to pretend those words weren’t what got them to go back, but that would be a lie. To other fairies, Hyacinth went back to show that little boy what a real bee looked like. In reality, they went back because of those few words. It was endearing -- how could they resist?

The next week, when they came back with a bee, they were greeted like an old friend.

“Hello, not-bee.” This little boy clearly didn’t have the best grasp on the human language, his pronunciation was different than what other humans said, but the attempt was there.

Hyacinth flew right up to the little boy and presented the bee. A regular honeybee. Nothing special about it (except, maybe, Hyacinth coerced her into being extra gentle). They knew he wouldn’t be able to understand their words, but they managed. Children always managed to communicate well with fairies despite the language barrier.

He understood what they wanted. With a bright smile (that Hyacinth pretended wasn’t the most precious thing they had ever seen), he held out his hand.

Hyacinth sent the bee to rest on top of it. They sort of expected him to panic at that point. A lot of tiny humans did that. Quite a few bigger humans did that, too. But that didn’t happen. Instead, this little boy’s eyes sparkled in fascination. His smile widened and he brought his hand closer to his face. His nose scrunched up when the bee started walking.

Then the back door opened.

“Hey, Thomas,” a tall person stepped out with a gentle smile. Right away Hyacinth could tell something was different about him. Two magic sources were coming from him, but... that shouldn’t be possible. “What’re you doin’ out here, bud?”

Thomas’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard the voice. “Ani! Ani!” He spun around to face the newcomer, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Look, look! Bee.” He held up his hand higher.

Ani blinked in surprise. “Yes... How did you --?” He spotted Hyacinth hovering nearby. A soft smirk twitched at his lips. “I see. Well, that’s a very nice bee you have there.” He crouched down to be of a closer height to Thomas. “Is she your friend?”

“Yes,” he stated confidently in as serious a voice as a tiny human could muster.

That got Ani to chuckle a bit. “Alright, you little honeybee. It’s time to come inside. Your mom’s been looking everywhere for you.”

As if the bee could tell she was no longer needed, she spread her wings and flew away. Thomas watched her go in surprise. Hyacinth figured he would be sad, but once again, they were proved wrong. They saw a tiny grin appear. He waved to her retreating speck and said, “Bye-bye, bee.”

Ani stood back up to his full height. He was very tall. Hyacinth didn’t think they’d ever seen a person this tall before. Something was up with him for sure. “Let’s get back inside now, okay?”

“Okay.” Thomas grabbed his hand, with his free hand he waved to Hyacinth. “Bye-bye, not-bee.” He gave them an even bigger grin before turning back to Ani. “Where is she going?”

“The bee? She might go back home.”

“Where is that?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Will she come back?’

“Maybe.”

He continued to ask questions even after they got inside.

At that point, Hyacinth had to admit they kept going back because of that. The curiosity. The utter fascination with everything. It was too pure to not come back. Again. Then again. And again. Until it became a habit. Once a week since that day, Hyacinth went back with a bee. Always with a bee. They couldn’t have anyone thinking they were going back because they had a soft spot on a child. They were mean. They didn’t have any soft spots.

But if they did, Thomas was the only one. The little honeybee, as he was starting to be called. And they liked that. They thought that was a better name than Thomas. Bumblebee would have been more accurate, however. He was very clumsy and gentle like one. Also, that tiny human chubbiness to him lent very well to the bumblebee image. But it wasn’t Hyacinth’s place to decide. They still liked it, though, so they started to call him Little Bee in their native tongue. It wasn’t possible for a fairy to speak a human language, such as it wasn’t possible for a human to speak a fairy language, but they found a suitable translation. They may have also decided on Little Bee since he called them not-bee.

Anywho, on those days that they visited, they got to see a varying array of people. As the months passed, they managed to learn who everyone was. According to Little Bee, anyway. Of course, there was Ani, the very tall Magus that Hyacinth had seen before. They rather liked him. He was very kind, yet seemed to exude a similar aura as the fae. They couldn’t figure it out. Not yet. But despite that, he was sweet and caring. He liked to encourage the other little boys to be curious.

Then there was Dad. He pretended to be in charge in order to get the little boys to listen, but Hyacinth could tell it was an act. He didn’t have any authority. Luckily for him, the little boys didn’t know that. He also didn’t seem to mind his lack of authority. He preferred to have fun.

Mama was the one in charge. She was the only woman in the house. Everyone listened to her. But even though she had the most power, she didn’t hold it over anybody. She encouraged safety more than she encouraged fun, though sometimes the little boys took the fun route rather than the safe one. Even so, she loved all of her boys. Big and small.

Drew and Caleb were partners in crime. Drew was the oldest of the boys and a bit of a ringleader. He was the main reason more fun happened than safety. He wasn’t as gentle as the other members of the family, but he wasn’t mean either. He always made sure his brothers were okay if something happened. Caleb was the second oldest. Even though he mostly stuck to Drew like glue, they were not that similar. Caleb was a lot timider -- perhaps the timidest of the bunch. He preferred quiet activities, though most of the time he didn’t get them. That didn’t seem to bother him, though. He liked to play with his brothers.

Then there was little Jonah. The baby. Hyacinth knew the least about him. He didn’t stick around outside much, and when he did, he mostly stayed with Mama. He didn’t speak well, either. One or two words at most. Despite that, he was a real chatterbox. He talked to anything and everyone about nothing. Hyacinth didn’t understand, but it seemed to make perfect sense to Jonah.

It was comforting to know that Little Bee would be in the presence of such wonderful people. Not that that mattered to Hyacinth. Because it didn’t. Whether or not this little boy grew up in a loving environment wasn’t their issue. So no, they did not care. At all. If anything, it meant less work for them. They didn’t have to try to snatch him up.

And no they didn’t think about snatching him up so they could keep him to themself. Don’t be ridiculous.

“Hi, not-bee!” Little Bee grinned from his spot on the porch. A year older and a little better at talking, but he wasn’t quite the master of it yet. He stuck out his hand automatically.

Hyacinth set the bee down on his palm while they fluttered up to sit on his shoulder. That had become their favorite spot as of late. From there they could see Dad and Ani working in the garden.

He brought the bee up to his face and smiled as she crawled around. “You’re a worker bee,” he stated with the only type of confidence a child who learned a new thing could have. “Drew learned that at school. He told me why you like plants. It’s ‘cause you pul -- pol -- poli-ate. Pol-nate.” He nodded. “Yeah! You pol-nate stuff.”

Hyacinth admired the attempt.

He slid off the porch and walked to a nearby plant. He held his hand up to it so the bee could walk on. Once she did, he gazed at her fondly. “Drew and Caleb found a book about you. They gave it to me, but I can’t really read it. I asked Ani for help, but he can’t really read it neither. So Mama helps me.” He smiled. “I’m gonna learn all about you.”

Apparently deciding that was enough interaction for one day, the bee flew off. 

Little Bee watched her go. “I wanna see her house -- or, um...” He seemed to rummage through his brain for the right word. “Hive! That’s where bees live.”

Hyacinth couldn’t help but chuckle at how proud he sounded.

“And then after, I’ll learn all about you, not-bee. I’ll find all the books and Mama will help me read them, and then I’ll know everything.”

Laughter bubbled up from within Hyacinth. This boy had such a thirst for knowledge. They flew up to his face and planted a kiss on his forehead. Hopefully, he never grew out of it.

The following year, Hyacinth was pleased to know that Little Bee had developed his language even further. He still messed up on a lot of words, but he could hold a conversation for longer. He continued to ask questions, or tell Hyacinth about things that he learned, which they continued to find amusing.

He still called them not-bee.

And it was still as endearing as the first time.

Then one week, on the day of Hyacinth’s visit, they didn’t hear the familiar greeting. Instead, they were greeted by a trampled garden and a hollowed-out house. Burned to ash. Not a single soul around.

They let the bee fly away. For the first time, they didn’t care about their pretend reason for being here. There was a little boy that lived here with his family.

They flew into the shell of what remained of a house. There was so much destruction. Right off the bat, they could feel the residual presence of magic. A lot of it. Not the same leftovers of day to day living; that was rarely ever enough to be detected. This was the result of multiple spells fired off at once. From more than one person. Something bad happened here. Something awful.

As Hyacinth flitted about, they got the same results. A bad feeling. Nothing living in sight. Magic on magic. Charred remains of forgotten objects. Something very, very bad happened here.

Little Bee wasn’t anywhere. Not a trace of him or his family.

Except for one thing.

Death.

The stench of death still stained the air, unperceivable by humans, of course, but still there. It was strong enough to feel, as well. There was something unnatural mixed with it. Wrong. People didn’t die this way. Not on accident.

Hyacinth searched for an answer. They searched for a trace of life. But they found nothing. No Mama or Dad or Ani. No Drew, Caleb, or Jonah. Not Little Bee. There was no one left -- nothing left.

Why would anyone bring such destruction on a family? In all the weeks Hyacinth had dropped by, never once did they find cruel intentions in the household. They were all kind. They all cared. They...

There were children in this house. Little boys. Boys meant to explore and be curious and learn.

Hyacinth stared overhead. Maybe they weren’t very mean after all.

#hmm #this is the first story #where i even hint to what happened to the Sanders family isnt it? #inch resting #thomas sanders #dr. picani #emile picani #ts emile #i still have no idea how to tag him #character death tw #death tw #extra fun #except maybe not this story #this story isn't very fun at all