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I.B.F.Fs In: Pillow Fairies - Chapter 1: Beyond The Clouds

Once upon a time, there was a cosy world that existed just over the rainbow and beyond the clouds. It was so soft, you could almost touch it. People down below have claimed to see it time and time again, and some scholars believed fairies lived there. Do you think fairies live there? I think you’re right. In this magic land, a colony of fairies flittered around making their world soft and new. They brought cuddly comfort to the clouds, they made the rivers and streams feel and taste like pure milk and their flowers always brought fresh sap every day. Wearing nothing but bare, smooth skin, our little band of fairies flew here and there, making sure everything wasn’t out of place and just as snuggly as nature intended. The fairy children spend their time playing among the clouds and telling each other stories about the human world. However, four fairy children love to play better than any other…

That’s right, our names are Luke, Resus, Cleo and Sybil. We claim to be the best out of all the fairy children in Softopia, because we tend to have the most fun. Usually we’d sit around in a circle listening to one of the fairies tell stories about how the whale got its song or how the lion and the hyena became friends, but while all this was going on, we like to make our own soft fun. We’d snuggle up in the clouds and tickle each other, until our laughter was heard by other unsuspecting fairy children. We’d dive into the milk pool and splash each other and relax in a daily skin ritual. Best of all, we liked visiting the most tranquil place in Softopia - the flowers. Pillow flowers, you should call them. We love relaxing on the pillow flowers, because they proved to be the softest out of any of the flowers that grew in this kind, gentle world.

For many years, we were happy living there. So happy that nothing ever happened to our world. Not a single flood, or lightning storm, or earthquake, hit. Softopia was a safe world where fairies lived in perfect peace and harmony, hiding in the clouds, bathing in milk or sleeping in flowers. No fairy troop had ever experienced a softness such as this, especially us. We were fond of sunshine and soft, Summer breezes and fun, and we are inseparable. I often promised my friends we would never, ever part. Every day was safe and fine, as long as we played in the clouds. Sometimes, the peace will not be to last, and I’ll tell you of one particular time.

One sunny, warm day, Luke, Resus, Cleo and I decided to visit our old friend, Indy The Wise. Even though she was 6 years old, Indy was the wisest girl in all of Softopia. She was always there to tell the most interesting tales and give wisdom and advice for anyone struggling to be at one with these soft surroundings. She was often spotted doing yoga amidst burning, strawberry-scented candles, and when she’s not, she’s basically telling stories. We loved to visit her to hear a different story every day. The other week, she told us about a scarecrow who wished he could swim underwater. A dolphin fairy had to come and wave her magic wand, and then the scarecrow ran away from the farm, stripped off his raggedy old clothes and dived into the sea. That was it. Indy had learnt all these stories from her mentor Calypso, the head of all the fairies in Softopia, which is why she had gained so much knowledge.

We entered the hollow tree where Indy lived. She was searching through her big book of wisdom and tutting. “Oh no…oh no oh no. Oh no no no no no.” She was pondering to herself. “This doesn’t seem right at all.” “What’s the matter, oh Indy The Wise?” I asked. “This is definitely not happening, not at this moment.” “What’s not happening?” asked Luke. “The great storm.” Indy worried. We all gasped in shock. “The great storm?!” “But we never had a storm in Softopia, not in a million years!” I wailed. “I know, and the latest tale in my book isn’t a story, it’s a prophecy. Listen on and I will tell you.” Indy cleared his throat and began to read.

“In a day, Softopia will witness a great storm that will turn what was once soft, warm and comfortable to hard, cold stone. No milk, no sap and no pillows could ever be stored for safety in homes across the land, leaving all the fairies futureless. Legend has it that only four fairies with courageous hearts will be able to force their way into the human world and collect the legendary Golden Pillow that’ll have the power to bring the softness back to their world.”

For a few moments, we were all quiet. Then we just sighed and laughed, scoffing. “There’s no such thing as a storm anyway!” I laughed. “A storm? What makes you think that?” Resus giggled. “There’s no storm!” said Cleo, “It was something you made up when your mind told you to.” “I’m being serious, if the storm hits your land, then to the human world you must seek the Golden Pillow.” But before she could stop us, we left! Indy sighed and slammed the book shut. “What a bunch of non-believers. I hope that someday I could persuade them to believe. Oh well, I’d best make myself a nice cup of acorn cocoa and head off to bed. I think I should have to call it a day.” But as she went upstairs, outside the tree, a grey storm cloud was looming in the distance, thunder and lightning crashing like a thousand cymbals…

Luke, Resus, Cleo and I made our way home, laughing and joking. “Who cares about a storm?” I laughed, “Storms make no sense!” “Not to us fairies they don’t,” said Resus. “Fairies believe in softness and love, not storms and violence.” “Let’s ignore the fact that the storm might be upon us any minute and just get on with our lives. Never has there ever been-” Just then, our parents - Mike, Sue, Alston, Bella and Niles - fluttered in. “You look pale as death! Where have you been?” asked Mr Watson. “We’ve just been to visit Indy The Wise.” said Luke. “She told us that there’s going to be a storm, but we’re not falling for it.” “We have to keep our eyes open for what’ll happen to us when a storm does hit.” said Bella. “Anyway, look at the setting sun! It must be time for our little fairies to go to bed.” We sighed in relief. Bed. What a comfortable word. Our eyes were already getting heavier and our wings were getting tired too.

First, we had a little drink - the sap from the bluebells that grew in the meadow. The sap tasted remarkably sticky and a little like honey, but it still cleansed our pallets whenever it could. The taste was loved by anyone in our family, and usually sap was pollinated by bees, but bees can’t fly further than the rainbow anyway. Sap was our favourite thing to drink, and it exists in flowers too. Next, we had a bath to cleanse all the stickiness away. We bathed in pure, sweet milk. We were washed all over with a green leaf scrubbing brush, and Resus struggled when Alston, his father, used the sponge to clean his face, for cleaning was his least favourite thing. We were vigorously dried with a leaf towel, and then we flew over to the Pillow Flowers and snuggled on the soft petals, falling fast asleep. As soon as we did, I turned over and lay awake. “What if Indy was right about her story? What if Softopia really does turn to stone?”

My what ifs were true. That night, a big wind blew across the soft plains. It got heavier and more violent, and then it began to rain. The cloudy ground became all soggy, and the flowers and trees blew in the wind. Only the Pillow Flowers stood still in the heavy breeze. Then came the lightning. It crashed and flashed in the darkness. It struck every single plant and flower in this magical world, and a hard, cold stone coating built up around the ground, the grass, the clouds, the flowers and trees, until the wind subsided, and there was nothing but silence. The ground was hard as stone - literally. It was lucky the storm never struck the Pillow Flowers, because that was where the prophecy came full circle. However, it wouldn’t begin until the very next day…

I.B.F.Fs: Travel Sickness - Chapter 1: Take Off & Land

Ah, the outback. A magical place at the bottom of the world where the mystery of nature springs into life in unexpected places. This was where Luke, Resus, Cleo and I like to hang out. We live among the gumtrees in the rocky plains of the outback, and have a picnic outside every Tuesday. Every time we do, a pair of cheeky lorikeets all pink and white would come flying down and scoff one or two of our sandwiches. We don’t mind the lorikeets eating our sandwiches, we always invite them to share our tea anytime. Lorikeets are extremely fond of peanut butter sandwiches if you ask me, although they taste a bit rubbery in their mouths. Every day in our outback home, we’d bounce with kangaroos and see how high we can jump. We’d play with emus and learn how to stick our heads in the ground just in case of any danger. We’d run from frill-necked lizards when they ran across the plain screaming. We’d drink water from the watering hole with two sly-looking wildcats. Life was sweet in the outback, even though it was extremely hot.

One day, we went to a School Of The Air in Alice Springs. If you don’t know what a School Of The Air is, it’s a radio station that teaches children who live too far from school. “Today’s visitors are here to tell us all about the joys of Australia - Luke, Resus, Cleo and Sybil!” said the teacher. “Hi!” we all said. “So, Sybil, about your life here in Australia. Do you enjoy it as much as your siblings do?” asked the teacher. “Of course I do. Precisely speaking, I never thought of this myself, but Australia is a very hot country. This is probably why people go swimming on the beach all the time, and did I forget to mention there are kangaroos jumping about? Why of course, yes, because there are loads of them where we live, by the way as we sit on the front porch we could always see kangaroos bounce past every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…” I went on and on about Australia. So much in fact that the teacher, my siblings and the listeners listening fell fast asleep.

“...and did you taste all the vegemite there? I’m not particulary fond of vegemite, it gives me terrible diarrhoea, and sometimes it makes me vomit too, that’s why we don’t stock up on vegemite in the house, and…” “Okay, okay, slow down, you’re making it hard for the other passengers to concentrate.” I looked around. I was on a plane with my family to Australia. Luke, Resus, Cleo and their parents were all asleep, while other people were sitting quietly in rows and rows along the plane. “We must be very high up.” I said. “High up as in on a plane, you mean,” said Mum. “At least you didn’t scream that we’re going to crash this time. I think you must be very excited about our visit to Aunt Marie’s beach house in Queensland.” “Yes, Mum!” I smiled, “I’ve been thinking about that trip all year!” Aunt Marie lived in a lovely house on the coast of a beach in Queensland. She looked exactly like my mother - friendly and young, with dark blonde hair.

The effects of the flight was making my eyes feel heavy, and my ears pop like little balloons in my eardrums, but I had to stay awake. I’ve fallen asleep multiple times on car journeys to see relatives like Aunt F and Six. One time, I felt sick in the car and Cleo had to comfort me. Here’s hoping I didn’t get sick on the plane too. I looked out the window at the clouds that passed by. Then I looked down at the ocean far below. Some small grey dots were bouncing about in the water. I looked a bit closer, then realised something. They were dolphins! Actual, real live dolphins! “Mum! Mum! Look! I see dolphins!” I cried. “So I see,” said Mum, “Dolphins are very common here in Australia. There are even sightings of them on the Queensland beach. At least, that’s what Aunt Marie told me.” “I wish Luke, Resus and Cleo were able to see this,” I hoped, looking over at my sleeping siblings.

When the plane finally landed, I shook my siblings awake excitedly. “Wake up!” I shouted, “We’re here! Luke! Resus! Cleo! Get up! We’re here!” “Wha…what?” asked Luke. “We’re finally here, in Australia!” I said. Luke, Resus and Cleo gazed out the window. They were at an Australian airport. We were so excited we just had to high five each other. We’ve never been more excited. However, as we got off the plane we felt our legs shake and shiver, as if cold air had just been applied to the heat pressure on the plane. “Mum, my legs are all shaky,” I said. “Don’t worry, darling, it’s just the effects of an international flight.” “I think mine are too,” said Resus. “I feel like we’re going to fall off the plane any minute,” groaned Cleo. “Well, you’ll get your energy back when you see Aunt Marie.” laughed Mrs Watson, patting Luke on the back. “Hey! Not too hard,” moaned Luke.

As we went to the arrivals area, we saw Aunt Marie waiting for us amongst a crowd of people waiting for their relatives. “Sybil!” she screamed. “Aunt Marie!” we yelled back, as we ran to the woman who looked just like my mum. She grabbed us in a bear hug, but she had to let go when we started moaning and our legs started shaking. “Oh dear. You must be very creased after flying all the way over from the UK to see me,” she said. “They’ll get used to it. They are on holiday after all, and they’re very far away from the UK.” said Mr Watson. “Cleo felt it too, but I don’t think that happened to me,” said Niles, “I don’t have the guts.” Everyone laughed. “No puns please,” groaned Cleo. “We feel tired enough as it is.” I moaned. “You see, Marie, Sybil and her siblings are just tired because they’ve been excited about this trip, we had a hectic morning getting ready and taking off to fly around the world to Australia, and now they’re just…well, tired.” Aunt Marie chuckled. “Never mind, they can fall asleep as soon as we get in.”

We caught the Airport Express bus to Aunt Marie’s beach house. As we sat and looked out at the views, we tried hard not to fall asleep, but it was hard with the sounds of our parents laughing and joking. I felt something in my stomach churn around, like milk being mixed with butter to make cheese from the cows. In fact, we felt like cows, groaning and moaning as we felt our stomach acid bubble and fizz, pop and gurgle, twist and turn, almost like a milk machine. Imagine a cow’s stomach acid. It’s so thick and creamy, and sometimes a bit smelly from producing so much milk, that you might have a hard time learning in school about where your dairy products come from. Well, if they come from a cow’s smelly belly, you might be so grossed out you could get out a barf bag that you took to school for the lesson and vomited in sync with all your classmates. Oh my god, the agony!

We finally approached Aunt Marie’s house. The inside was neat and tidy, and the scent of vanilla and spiced apple filled the room. The walls were coloured brown, as if someone hammered wood into them. The carpet was deep red, and you should see our bedroom. It was cream coloured and spotless, there were velvet curtains letting the sun shine through, and our bed was patterned with pictures of roses and butterflies. A soft toy of a kangaroo lay on the bed for us to see. Above the bed was a really strange picture made using spots. “That’s my pride and joy,” said Aunt Marie, “My Aboriginal dot art dingo painting. I was given this painting by the Australian Museum as a thank you for donating my prized didgeridoo.” “Nice story, but we feel a little tired after travelling on a plane, then a bus, and now our eyes are really heavy,” said Resus. “You must be exhausted. I feel you should need a rest after travelling so much.”

So we unpacked our pyjamas and my favourite stuffed animals, Longears and Pink Teddy. We squeezed into our pyjamas, which were soft and comfortable - save for Cleo, she doesn’t wear pyjamas - and turned to gaze at the dingo picture.  The dingo was made of a million spots, but according to our vision, it got wobbly and the thousands of dots turned to hundred-thousands, then thousand hundreds. Our legs began to shake again, and our stomachs were still churning like those of cows’, and we felt like we really should go to bed. So we got under the covers and snuggled down under the soft, serene sheets, the sweet scent of pink roses filling our nostrils. “This dingo picture is so amazing,” I groaned. “Is it indeed,” said Resus, “I feel like it’s coming to life as we speak.” “Well, I feel like there’s an actual dingo on the beach right now as we speak,” said Cleo. We laughed weakly. “No dingo would set paw on the beach next to Aunt Marie’s. Why would we even bother to let it come in and steal our food? We do need a good, long…”

But we yawned and settled down to sleep under the covers. Everything was quiet, save for the wind blowing outside the sunny windows. We felt so sleepy, that instantly, we drifted into a wonderful dream…