[i] [color=7bcdc8]“Master Longarm, you can’t be serious!”[/color] the girl cried.[color=7bcdc8] “It’s the day before Kierie’s birthday and you’re sending me away NOW?!”[/color]

[color=007236][b]“I can be serious, and I am being serious. Child, when will you learn that your duty is first of all to your work and only second to your family?”[/b]
[/color]
[color=7bcdc8]“But… But it’s Kierie’s birthday…”[/color]
[color=007236]
[b]“If you hurry you can be back on the morning of the fifth. Surely Kierie will forgive you for being a day late. Especially if you bring something back with you.”[/b][/color]

The tiny fairy brightened considerably at the mention of returning so soon. [color=7bcdc8]“Of course. I’ll be back soon.”[/color]

[color=007236][b]“Remember, Lyriia, be careful. The Screamers are not folk to be trifled with.”[/b][/color]

[color=7bcdc8]“Okay! I will! I’ll be back by dawn on the fifth!”[/color] The fairy collected her backpack and zipped out the window.
[color=007236]
[b]“Oh, darling child. You’re too naïve. If you get into trouble, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”[/b][/color] Master Longarm muttered, before going back to his medicines.[/i]
[hr]
Lyriia quietly fumed as she flew along, skimming the ground, pausing periodically to pull leaves off of plants with little regard for the health of the plants themselves. Ordinarily she would be horrified at herself for doing such a thing but right now was too angry to care. How could Master Longarm have been so cruel as to send her away just the day before her sister’s birthday? He’d known it was coming; Lii had been talking about it for weeks and begging for the day off.

She flew along, lost in thought, and didn’t even notice she’d flown into a tiny cluster of trees, a random, miniature woods, until a thornbush snagged the edge of her tunic and tore it, and sent her sprawling on the ground. With a groan, the fairy righted herself and put all the herbs she’d collected back into her bag (for they’d gone spilling everywhere when she’d fallen) and went as if to take off. But something wasn’t right. There was a pressure on her wings and around her ankle. She made it all of two inches off the ground when she tried to take off, and then there was a sharp pain on the top of her wings and she was promptly slammed back into the earth. As she lay there, slightly dazed, she realized there was a net pressed tight over her back and wings, and a thin piece of twine looped around her ankle.

She rolled, trying to get it off of herself, with little success. All that happened was that she got even more tangled up, the twine wrapping her neatly so that she could barely move. At least she was on her back so that she could look at the sky and see if anything was coming for her.

There was only one thing left to do.

[color=7bcdc8][b]“Help!”[/b][/color] she squeaked. [color=7bcdc8][b]“Help me!”[/b][/color]