The wind blew the branches in the tree and rustled the green leaves, the sound drowned out the nearby road noise.

She loved watching the leaves blowing, it was like they were dancing to a tune only known to them.

The sights and sounds of the wood on a spring day was a chirpy one, the birds sang in unison and the animals ferreted in the undergrowth. The sun shone brightly through the branches and cast shadows on to the uneven paths for the people to walk on.

The people, they were big creatures wearing lots of clothing and occasionally carrying a lot of bags, they would sit down and talk to others, occasionally lighting fires and leaving their rubbish, she hated that, why do people litter such a beautiful place with rotten plastic, If she were human she would put a stop to that.

Flora was a fairy, not to be mixed up with pixies or nymphs, nymphs were horrid things that snuck about grubby pools of water and sucked all the water out, so only the muddy patches were left, people had to walk round them and occasionally they crushed her beautiful flowers.

Pixies on the other hand lived in the trees, they could be quite abrasive and rude, but they always just admitted they were honest, too honest if you asked others. They mainly blended into the background and lived in hollow trees, but occasionally they came to the stream where she lived.

Fairies lived in the river bank, if you see the holes that’s them, and at night their little wings would light up when they flew, like stars zooming between the tall trees and lighting up the flowers and river bank.

This particular day Flora had been following a group people and found that they had children who were very bouncy and friendly, even though in her eyes they were ugly, but all people were ugly to her.

She watched them from a distance playing with their toys. Flora was curious so tried to get closer.

The little girl was unsteady on her feet and even more so on this uneven ground, she went to kick something and she toppled backwards landing on her bum, startled by the jolt she started to cry.

The sound filled the glen with a noise never experienced before or since, flora covered her ears from the screeching wailing noise coming from the little girl.

The mother thankfully picked her up and tried to soothe her and more or less at once the noise died down.

Flora relaxed and smiled at the contented baby in her mother’s arms.

Just behind them Flora noticed something else going on, somebody was carving initials into an old tree, she was shocked, never had she seen people actually do it before. Occasionally people would when there was no-one else around, one day they would just pop up and the pixies would be angry and frustrated, their beloved trees had been defiled, but alas they couldn’t undo it.

RB & ST forever, she wondered what it meant, all she knew is that the pixies were going to be annoyed and chatter all night about it, she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep now.

She heard the people talking and laughing about it, she actually found the whole thing quite funny, but she knew she shouldn’t, no-one should anger the gods.

The gods to the woodland realm were not physical beings but the elements, the weather. If you crossed mother nature you could evoke a storm, hail or big winds that would knock the pixies off their high branches. She didn’t like to see them battered and bruised, they could look so pitiful and miserable.

The group of people had obviously had their fill of sitting and talking and had decided to start packing up, the mother had also put the child back on the ground, Flora saw her chance to get much closer and had decided to make a beeline for the little girl, she glided over to a large stone and perched herself on the edge to get a better view, the little girl was wearing a pink dress with flowers on it, so Flora decided to pick a nearby flower and present it to the girl, the minute the girl saw Flora float over with a flower not dis-similar to the one on her dress, she smiled, giggled and took the flower from the fairy, Flora smiled and a look went between them that neither would ever forget.

Just then the mother picked her up and put her in backpack, the girl was still smiling and looking around for Flora as they left to go further into the woods.

Looking around Flora could now see the damage they had left behind, plastic bottles and the embers of a dying fire, what a shame, and a minute later the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down, it put out the fire. Serves them right, now they will get very wet she thought, the gods were clearly not happy.

Flora and the flower girl

By Ellie Burton