Chapter 10: The King and the Festival of the Full Moon.
The full moon was still low in the eastern sky when Fern and her pixie siblings did an enchanting dance and showered me with pixie dust to change me into a pixie.
My whole-body tingled and I felt lighter, as if I were nearly weightless. The tops of my ears itched against the hairs on my head. I felt my hair grow a couple of inches to just above my shoulders. My shoulder blades itched as well, and for the first time I felt air currents moving back and forth as a gentle breeze wafted across my entire backside.
I was also erect and hornier than I had ever been.
The pixies all descended to the ground around me in a circle. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths were open.
"Wow!" "Oh my!" Holy shit!" "What the fuck?!" were gasped from the crowd around me.
"What happened? Did it work?" I asked.
The pixies all went down on one knee and bowed their heads before me. Their wings were folded reverently behind their backs.
"Fern, what's going on?" I asked, looking at her bowed head, "You guys are starting to freak me out."
Fern kept her head bowed, she may have been looking at my feet when she spoke up, "May I speak, Sire?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, "Of course you can speak. And for God's sake, get up off your knees, all of you."
One by one, the pixies rose with their heads bowed, first Fern and then the rest. None of them dared to look me in the eye.
"All this time," Fern said, with her head still bowed, "We've been waiting for you to appear. We had no idea you would be in disguise, testing us to see if we were worthy of your presence."
"May I speak, your Majesty?" Holly asked, also gazing down at my feet, "We are all grateful that you have found us to be worthy."
Murmurs of agreement reverberated around the circle of pixies.
"Okay, this has gone on long enough," I said, "What's with all the bowing, 'Sire' and "Majesty' stuff? Especially you, Fern. Were you or were you not able to turn me into a pixie?"
Fern lifted her head and looked me in the eye. She had a look of confusion on her face as she blinked a couple of times before answering.
"You mean you don't know?" she asked, "You really don't know?"
"Don't know what?" I asked, as I brushed my hair behind my ear. That's when I felt the pointy tip.
"It worked, didn't it?" I asked with a smile, "I'm a pixie, just like you!"
"Not like us, Your Majesty," Hawke said, looking up at my face, "Definitely not like us."
Fern turned to her siblings. "I don't think he's testing us. I think he doesn't know who he is," she said.
"Nonsense," I said, "I'm me, Skyler. Except I'm now a pixie, right?"
Fern stepped forward; her wings beating slowly.
"Sky, you are indeed a pixie," she said, "But you're more than that, you are our King, the King we've been waiting for since our father died twenty years ago."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, reaching out for her hands, "What makes you think that I'm some kind of king?"
"It's obvious that you're our King, your wings tell us that," Fern said, looking past my shoulders, "But I have no idea how that's possible, and I've known and worked with you for over two years."
"But Fern," Elfie said from behind me, "Aren't kings supposed to be healers? And isn't King Skyler a healer?"
"I'm a veterinarian, which is a healer of sorts," I agreed, "But that required years of studying to learn how to diagnose and treat animals. Becoming a veterinarian has nothing to do with pixies or magic and it certainly doesn't make me a king."
"Come with me," Fern said, flapping her wings faster and raising herself slightly off the ground, "I need to show you what we're talking about."
"You mean fly? You want me to fly?" I asked. It was impossible to hide the excitement in my voice.
"Those wings of yours aren't just for decoration," she said smiling, "You should try them out."
I turned my head to look at my wings, but because they were positioned directly behind me, I couldn't actually see them. I only caught a brief glimpse of them out of the corner of my eye.
Taking a look at the pixies around me, I noticed their wings were attached to their upper backs, on or near their shoulder blades. So, I focused my attention to my shoulder blades and the breeze on my back got stronger. That's when I realized that the breeze I felt on my back was from my own wings! I moved those muscles faster and the breeze got even stronger. I was also feeling lighter on my feet.
I must have smiled, because the faces of the pixies around me began smiling back at me. As I worked the muscles faster and faster, I felt the breeze get stronger and stronger and soon my feet left the ground. I was flying!
"I'm flying!" I said, giggling, "I'm really flying!"
I felt like a little kid with a new toy. I laughed with delight. It must have been infectious because the pixies laughed with me. As I rose higher and higher, I looked down at the circle of pixies and they cheered me.
"How does it feel to be flying for the first time?" Fern asked, smiling at me.
I looked across and there was Fern flying beside me. "This is amazing! I'm really doing this," I said delightedly.
"Come with me," she said, as she headed east, towards the rising moon.
It took me a bit to learn steering and direction, but soon I was able to follow her. My flight pattern was erratic as I struggled to master the intricacies of wing angle adjustments, body positioning, flap speed, and wind conditions. Fortunately, there was very little breeze on this bright, moonlit night.
I followed Fern for about 15 minutes for what I guessed was likely a 5 or 10-minute flight for her. She led me to a small pond and landed at its edge. I followed her down, but my landing wasn't as smooth, and I ended up falling down on all fours at the muddy edge of the pond.
Nearby, a horny bullfrog was calling out obscenities to a nearby would-be mate.
Fern helped me up. "Just ignore him," she said of the bullfrog.
"Why have you brought me here?" I asked.