Lily flew out of her treehouse, so excited she almost ran into a tree in the thick forest. She and her best friend Rose were going on an evening walk through the Nature Fairy Forest. “Ready to go?” Rose asked her, staring at the leaves on Lily's emerald-colored dress. Lily looked down and quickly brushed them off. Rose's yellow dress was completely clean and looked surprisingly good with her red curls. “Yeah,” Lily replied. “We'd better hurry if we're going to get back before sunset. So, where do you want to go?” “I've been wanting to see the Flower Fairy Gardens,” Rose said. She pointed to the southeast. “Your sister said she could see them from the edge of the Forest. And you still have leaves in your hair.” “Vine was here and didn't tell me?” Lily complained while pulling the greenery from her long brown hair. Since her sister Vine had turned seventeen last year, she had joined their mother working in the Fairy Palace. Lily rarely got to see her. “Don't worry, she's here all day tomorrow.” Rose started walking, and Lily followed. “Do you really think she would come by my house and not yours? And she said to tell you she has a surprise for you later.” “What are you two up to?” a voice behind them asked. Lily and Rose turned to see a dark-skinned Portal Fairy place a bucket of water on the ground. Rose grinned. “Hey, Tina. Lily and I are going to see the Gardens. Want to come?” Tina sighed. “Normally I’d love to, but today I’ve got deliveries to make. This is the second week in a row the Sky Fairies are refusing to send rain, so I’m bringing fresh water from the Lake to whoever needs it right now. Have fun though!” Tina waved a hand and the air rippled, forming a doorway to the Water Fairy Lake. She smiled and stepped through. The next thing Lily knew, she was gone, along with her portal. Some time later, they passed Lily's rabbit, Hazelnut. Lily picked her up and petted her fur. Hazelnut jumped out of her arms, hopped slowly to Rose, sniffed her feet suspiciously, then hopped away. “Hazelnut doesn’t talk much.” Rose noticed. “She doesn't know you,” Lily explained. “She’s shy around people she doesn't know. What are you, a Flower Fairy?” she teased. The Flower Fairies came from the human world and were still learning about Milrale, the fairy world. They didn't know anything. “Nah. I could never live in a flower.” Rose smiled. “Too soft and fragile. Trees are better.” She walked a bit ahead, so Lily lifted off the ground and zipped to the front. She turned to her friend and flew backward. “I'd love to be inside a flower. Especially a sunflower. So many petals. Hey, look! There they are!” In the distance there were giant colorful flowers that were taller than Lily had ever seen. “Wow. How do the Flower Fairies make them so big? Even the Nature Fairies can’t grow plants that much.” Rose said. Lily was thinking the same thing as they sat down in the grass to watch for a few minutes. The walk home was silent. Not an awkward silence, just a peaceful quiet. The next morning, Lily was woken by a bird pecking at her. “Seed, stop it.” she mumbled. Seed was one of her animal friends, along with Hazelnut. Seed looked at her then flew out impatiently. Lily looked out the window and saw Seed hovering in front of it as if she wanted Lily to follow her. “Okay, I'll go with you. Where to?” “The blue fox den!” Seed twittered. All Nature Fairies could understand animals. Oh, right! Lily thought. Today I'll get my first Daily Assignment! “Lily!” her dad called. “Are you awake yet?” “Yeah,” Lily replied as she changed into her favorite pumpkin-orange dress with a pleated skirt. She flew outside. “It’s Saturday and we still have Daily Assignments?” “Lily, the key word is daily.” her dad reminded her. “Did you get Seed's message? From now on you'll get your assignment from Seed every day.” Seed chirped in confirmation, like she was proud of herself for agreeing to the task. For a hummingbird, she was a bit conceited. “Well, she didn't really say what the assignment was.” Feeding the foxes? Building a new home for them? Blue foxes needed many things. “Your first assignment is to take care of fox cubs.” “Oh, okay,” said Lily, although that didn’t explain it very well. “Why do we have to take care of the foxes? Why can't their mothers do it?” It seemed like a valid question to her. “Lily, we've gone over this a thousand times. As a Nature Fairy, it's your job.” Lily sighed. “Can't I do something more fun, like giving worms to baby chicks?’ She gestured a little ways away where a fairy was doing just that. Lily watched as he sifted through the dirt to find earthworms while the chicks in the tree above him screeched with wide mouths. Adorable. “Feeding baby birds isn't as fun as you think it is,” Lily's dad tried to explain. “That job is saved for the older fairies who are careful about not killing the worms before the chicks eat them. That way they don't banish themselves.”
When a fairy broke a rule (like “Don't Kill Any Animals”), they were banished to the northwest corner of Milrale. The Banished Lands were dry and hot, without any animals, and the only plants were tall savanna grasses. For a Nature Fairy, that was torture. But still, even if the job was a little risky, Lily didn't see why she couldn't feed the chicks just as well as the older fairies. “Please? I'll be careful!” Lily pleaded. “I know how to not kill worms.” All you did was cup them in your hand and dump them into the birds’ mouths. That seemed easy enough. “Hey, Lady Evergreen gives the Assignments, not me. And even if you did, who would take care of the foxes?” her dad countered. “Actually, I don't think Rose got her job for today yet. I told Seed to wake you up earlier than usual. Why don't you ask her to help you?” Lily's face lit up. “Okay!” She flew over to Rose's treehouse. It wasn't far, but Lily had to zigzag around many trees to get there. Why, why, why did Rose have to live in what seemed to be the thickest part of the Forest? “Hey Rose!” she yelled, waving her arms. “Wanna help me with my job today?” Rose flew out of her tree. She was wearing a simple seafoam-green dress, and looked like she'd been awake for a long time. “Sure, what is it?” “Caring for blue fox cubs.” Lily sighed, knowing it would be a long time before she could give the answer she wanted. “Oh cool! I love that job! Let's go!” Rose took off flying toward the blue fox den. Lily caught up with her. “Wait. You want to take care of foxes? I would much rather feed worms to baby birds like the older fairies.” “I like the ones that are sort of fun but not too risky,” Rose explained, “Remember Leaf? She was banished while doing that a few months ago.” Lily knew Leaf was banished because she was watching her feed the birds that day. Leaf was a family friend, and let Lily watch her daily assignments. Although Leaf was six years older, they were great friends. “It’s right here,” Lily said after a minute. They had arrived at a tree with a hole between the roots. “It's kind of small.” Rose pulled out a light blue fox cub. Lily did the same. Then she took out another. “How many are there?” Rose asked. Lily poked her head in. “There's two more, so five,” she said when she came out, “How do we take care of them?” A cub crawled out of the den onto Lily's lap. She laughed. “Entertain them?” “Probably just feed and protect them,” Rose replied. “Can you grab that tree branch over there?” she pointed to the right, where there was a very leafy tree branch on the ground. Lily put her two cubs down and went over to get it. “How does this help?” she wondered. Rose put the cubs back in the den. Then she put the tree branch in front of it. “It helps because they can eat the leaves and no predators can get in.” Lily noticed that when the foxes ate the leaves, there was a lot of open space through the branch. “Should we give them another one?” Lily asked, “If they eat the leaves, wouldn't that make it easier for the predators to get in?” “Good idea,” Rose agreed, “The inside branch is for food and the outside branch is to keep them safe. There doesn't seem to be any other large branches around here. Do you want to go find one?” “Okay,” Lily flew to the top of the tree and selected a branch. She waved her hand and used her Nature Fairy magic to cause the branch to grow thicker and sturdier. Breaking it off from the tree, she brought the enlarged branch back to the fox den and placed it at the front, like a door. “Alright, I think we're done!” Rose stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress. “Hi, Lils!” Lily turned to see her sister coming toward them. “Vine!” she squealed. Lily excitedly flew over to her and tackled her in a hug. “I haven't seen you in so long!” “I know, I'm sorry.” Vine apologized. “There was so much to do at the Palace lately, and I haven't been able to visit, but I'm here now!” Lily pulled away. “So, what's the surprise you told Rose to tell me about?” Vine smiled. “You'll have to wait for that. But for now, do you want to play a game? Maybe Rose could join us.” “Um, actually, I better go now.” Rose jumped in. “I still have my own job to do. See ya later!” She waved and flew off. Vine tagged Lily and ran away. “You're ‘it’!” Lily flew after her as fast as she could. In the game Vine had chosen, whoever was ‘it’ was the only one allowed to fly, but whoever was running away was the only one allowed to use magic. Lily caught up to her sister easily, but Vine caused a tree to grow its branches around Lily like a rope. She was stuck. “I win!” Vine laughed. Then she frowned. “She should be here by now.” Lily was about to ask who she meant when the air rippled in front of them. A blond fairy in a pink dress stepped through, followed by a recognizable fairy wearing a layered purple gown and a silver tiara. Vine immediately curtseyed. Lily gasped. “Princess Eden? What brings you to the Nature Fairy Forest?”
