She couldn’t.
She still did.
“You’ve been warned. Repeatedly. We really cannot have you continue to—” Aelfric started grandly, clearly about to make a statement, and by the look on his face, not a good one for Maurelle.
So what she was going to do next might buy her Woodlands Duty and an eternity of toadstools, four leaf clovers and gathering dew drops from the bells of lily of the valley (or whatever those Woodlands fairies did).
So what?
Her ambition had reason.
It had purpose.
It was important.
And even if this meant toadstools forever, she was going to have her say.
“And what is love?” Maurelle asked heatedly, interrupting him. “But risk?” she answered herself. “What is risk, without reward? Would you sentence that woman to dash out of every concert and every tavern and every celebration to cry alone, thinking she’ll never find love?”
“She would find love,” Meeric, the Gentle Elder, stated.
“Who? When? Where? How?” Maurelle demanded. She threw out both her arms. “Should she settle for someone she thinks she deserves, who might be less than what she should have, rather than take a risk on finding something that will make her deliriously happy?”
“Just because he’s handsome, you think he’ll make her happy?” Orla queried.
“No,” Maurelle answered firmly, but before she could go on, Suzette spoke up.
To scoff.
“And you can’t possibly know he’ll make her deliriously happy.”
“To answer both of you, he took his sister to a Spice Girls concert when he likes Green Day,” Maurelle reminded them. “I mean, seriously?”
The Elders shifted in their thrones and glanced at each other.
Spice Girls and Green Day did not compute for most males.
Unless they loved their sisters, their daughters . . .
Or their lovers.
“She went to a Spice Girls concert,” Maurelle whispered, her sudden shift in tone getting the full attention of the Elders again, and she felt the same from the gathering of fairies at her back. “She went there thinking she’d listen to an act she enjoys and have a good night with a friend. Then the night turned, she thought in a bad way. She saw a man she found beautiful. A man in a perfect world she’d want to meet. But at fourteen, she’d come to think any chance for a perfect world was stripped from her. She ran from that concert like she undoubtedly shied from hundreds of situations, thinking he was out of her league, taken by a pretty woman she thought was his match, but even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t want her. And she ended up with her hand held in his, about to be bought a drink and asked out on a date. Her perception of the world changed tonight. Her perception of herself changed tonight. He did that. I did that. But mostly, she let herself take the risk, believed in herself, agreed to a drink and took his hand. So she did that. But just to get this point home, it was me who made it so she had a risk to take.”
Suzette stared crossly at her knees. Orla bit her lip to hide her smile and glanced to her side. Meeric sighed.
Aelfric held Maurelle’s eyes.
“This is what I do,” Maurelle told Aelfric. “And frankly, Lord Elder, this is what we all should be doing. We shouldn’t just leave it to the most experienced, the most skilled. There aren’t enough of them and there’s millions of matches to be made. As fairies, we’re bearers of magic, but as students of match, it’s our job to be wielders of love for anyone and everyone, anywhere and everywhere. Or, at least, we should be.”
“Maurelle,” Nissa whispered urgently at her side as Suzette’s head snapped up and all the Elders gazed speculatively at Maurelle.
Maurelle just squared her shoulders and declared, “I don’t make matches. I foster courage. I don’t dispense love. I offer hope. I don’t hope for contentment. I’m a servant to joy. And you can’t have that without risk. I can put them in each other’s paths, but they have to take each other’s hands. And if a puppy is involved or not, it’s always a risk. But the higher the risk, the greater the reward, which in turn means the greater the joy. If they work, she will be forever grateful that he saw her for the beauty she truly is, and he will be forever grateful that she trusted him with that honor.”
“You can’t really argue that,” Orla said quietly.
Maurelle tossed her head and the loose curls around her face bounced. “No, you can’t.”
“Careful,” Nissa whispered at her side. “I think they’re listening to you. Don’t push it.”
She turned to Nissa. “He’s going to make her happy.”
“You really can’t know that,” Nissa replied gently.
“Yes, I can. Because even if he actually doesn’t, he was the catalyst where she let herself try. She talked to him. She put herself out there. She gave it a shot. So maybe if it isn’t him, and I still think it’ll be him, it’ll be someone because she’ll know next time it’s worth it to open yourself up and take a chance at happiness.”
“And you can’t really argue that,” Orla repeated, her voice holding a smile.
“I find you very vexing,” Aelfric stated irately.
Maurelle looked to him, thinking she’d made her point, but more, they’d caught it (finally), so she asked in horror, “Why?”
“Because you’re right.”
“Oh for goodness sake,” Suzette muttered.
Aelfric looked to his right at Suzette. “You can’t disagree.”
“I don’t. Maurelle is vexing.” She blew out a breath before finishing, “Precisely because she’s right,” She then flung an arm before her. “But now what are we telling the other fairies?”
Aelfric peered out over the Gathering.
“I suppose,” he started in a boom, “we’re telling them to take a chance on love.”
Nissa gave a little clap of her hands.
Suzette rolled her eyes.
Orla smiled.
Meeric nodded his head.
Aelfric continued to look severe, but his eyes were dancing.
Maurelle grinned and let out a fairy burst of twinkle dust for joy.
The End
PS: Maurelle had been right.
He made her happy.
And she returned that favor.
And both of them did the same for their children.
All four of them.
One of whom was named Ginger.
And another was named Billie Joe.
The End???
A short story from the Rock Chick Series
featuring Tod, Stevie and their posse
This short is dedicated to the memory of my beloved Rick Chew.
You are missed.
Extravagantly.
Yahtzee!
“SO WHICH ONE of you is it?” Tod asked as he strolled from the kitchen at the back where he’d entered the house, into Indy and Lee’s living room to see the array of Rock Chicks lounging all over their furniture (and there were so many of them, some of the Chicklets were on the floor).
“Sit down, Tod,” Indy bossed.
Considering the boss aimed his way, which was not acceptable, Tod put a hand on his hip, and for good measure, jutted it and his lip before he bossed right back, “You summoned me here so just lay it on me. Are we planning a kidnapping, a rescue, a robbery, a cover-up, a stealth mission, a makeover or other?”
“We’re planning a wedding,” Ally returned.
Tod’s eyebrows shot up, as did his blood pressure.