Prince Sky immediately took to Juniper's plan, and her eyes brightened at the young monarch taking her suggestion into actual consideration. In fact, he swiftly left to go set up preparations. Juniper nervously fluttered closer to Surge, half expecting to be scolded for throwing them into this mess. She was a little sad to be going back to Lumina, but this was an emergency. Maybe she could come back to the festival next year (or maybe she wouldn't want to after all of this...)

While Sky was gone, Juniper flew down to the many statues adorning the dance floor and looked into the glazed eyes of the Queen for a moment before feeling intimidated despite the petrification. She looked down and bowed respectfully. She'd never been able to use stone magic before, but... She gently reached out, and several pink flowers gently wove themselves around the queen's crown. “I – sorry,” Juniper squeaked softly, backing away. “I'll do my best to help you some other way, though...”

Sky came back shortly in a gold and pink carriage pulled by majestic winged beasts. “Awww!” Juniper flew over slowly as not to startle them. “Can I pet them?” She reached out to pat one on the nose, giggling in delight. Her joy was short-lived as Sky designated her as navigator. That seemed like a very adult responsibility, but he was right, maybe nobody else knew how to get there? She wasn't sure if her father could navigate very well from a moving vehicle. “Um... okay,” Juniper quietly agreed, with very little sense of confidence. “Dad... which way did we come from again?”

The ride there wasn't exactly smooth, but once Juniper caught sight of the forest's trees, she quickly took stock of other landmarks and was able to direct them through to Mrs. Greypetal's house – a hole close to the top of a massive tree. The carriage landed at the base, and Juniper hopped out, excited both to pet the unicorns again, and over the fact that they had somehow survived the trip.

Someone told Surge they doubted the food and drink were involved. Surge nodded softly, it had only been a passing thought anyways.

He turned his head to listen to the other fairies. The prince seemed to be capable of going between distress, blaming, and flirting in no time flat, and Surge wondered if he grasped the full seriousness of the situation or was trying to distract himself from it?

There was a rustle of wings. Someone offered to start making a magic identifier. The one that'd just spoken to him expressed further doubts the dark fairies' involvement, suggesting Earth fairies may know what to do. He heard his daughter reply, she sounded closer than before, explaining she'd never seen anything like this but knew an elderly fairy that might be able to help. An embarrassed smirk crossed his lips at how she described the old lady's age, but this didn't seem like the time or place to be scolding her about it. Surge nodded, he'd never seen or felt Greypetal's magic for himself, but Juniper had described her powers before, “It's a lead founded in fact at least.”

That seemed enough for the prince, who suggested if Greypetal could unstone everyone, his father would likely know what to do next, and he flew off to get a chariot. Juniper fluttered further away. Surge felt around the nearby electrical field to keep track of her. It didn't seem like any additional fairies were being turned to stone, but still. . . he didn't like it.

Upon returning the prince appointed Juniper navigator (a concerning thought for Surge), and they all climbed into the carriage. Juniper immediately asked to pet whatever was pulling the carriage then asked Surge what direction they came from. He really regretted not going over maps with her while he could still see. He thought a moment, recalling vague memories of maps and locations, “Uh, well June Bug, Lumina is east of Feydellia, and just a little south. (Well, unless GM says otherwise.)”

It was not a smooth ride. The prince's flirting quickly causing pedestrians to cry out and the prince to apologize. Surge gripped the side of the carriage quietly, hoping this was not how they died. Thankfully as they got closer to home, Juniper was able to give him more precise directions to keep him on task. Surge was grateful when the carriage came to a stop, immediately getting out.

---

Vyvien had never been in a carriage as nice as this one. Most of the time, the carriages didn’t even fly, but rolled along the ground. It was decorated so beautifully, and the unicorns were as lovely as ever. It looked like it would be such a luxurious ride. If Vyvien wasn’t flying on her own, she was using hot air balloons or ornithopters, so being able to ride in a roal carriage pulled by unicorns seemed like such a grand privilege, despite the circumstances.

However, despite how gorgeous the carriage was, the ride was anything but smooth. Several times as she was trying to put the finishing touches on her newly invented magic detector slash identifier, the carriage would jostle and she would lose a screw or push a crystal out of place. In the mean time, she asked the others if they could imbue the small marble sized crystals with some of their magic energy. With that the device would know what to compare the residue magic energy with. Of course she already had her own. Prince Sky and Juniper were up front, and her father was holding on for dear life. Her father. Vyvien wasn’t sure if she caught his name. At the same time she asked for the crystals to be imbued, she asked for his name, as well as the others she might have missed the introductions for.

Despite Sky trying his best to make the ride as uncomfortable as possible, Vyvien was able to finally finish the device, and all it needed now was a test run. But before that, it needed more calibration. And before that she needed more imbued crystals. Well, it will be done soon enough. The device was circular in shape with a small window exposing a wheel that was free to spin inside. Several socks on the wheel were just big enough to put the tiny crystals in. Vyvien placed a rune onto it and it began to glow blue before fading out of her hands and into her wheel of runes. All packed up, Vyvien exited the carriage, fixing her hair before she finally looked up at the tree before her. It was strange, the trees always looked so small from up in Feydale.

“So so. It was your teacher? Or was it your principal? Who lives up there.” she asked as she joined Sky and Juniper at the front of the carriage. “I hope she can help us. Oh, one thing. Can can I ask if you could imbue some of your magic into this crystal? And you as well, Prince Sky? I need it for the identifier. Please and thank you.”

@Randomness @Crimson Flame

Zircon tried not to wince as Sky said he'd have to drive the carriage. His assertion that it shouldn't be too difficult didn't fill her with confidence - it implied he'd never done this before. Reluctantly, she climbed into the carriage, grimacing when the navigator Juniper asked for directions. "This doesn't exactly bode well for the journey," she whispered to Vyvien.

She was right. She grasped the side of the carriage as it veered and swerved, nearly crashing several times. Not only did Sky clearly have zero driving experience, he treated flirting with the dark fairy as more important than watching where he was going, after having trash-talked the guy's entire people no less.

At least Vyvien had something to focus on, crafting her device despite the adverse conditions. When Vyvien asked everyone to imbue component crystals with magic energy, as well as for their names, Zircon nodded and took one of the marble-like gems. "I'm Zircon," she said simply, the crystal glowing pale blue and turning cold as she channeled magic into it. "Heads up, it's a little chilly." She handed it back, mindful of how easy it was to drop things on this ride, especially if Vyvien got startled at the temperature.

For all her fears of getting lost, by some miracle a green stretch of forest came into view. She sighed in relief as the carriage descended, only to flinch out of the way as the carriage swung dangerously close to the treetops, a branch nearly scratching her face. Leaning to the side, she kept her arms and wings folded close against her body. "Ah! Watch out!" Her heart thumped as Sky narrowly avoided colliding with a group of fairies upon landing.

Exhaling sharply, she climbed out at once. "Well, we made it, against all odds," she muttered, keeping her voice low enough that Sky wouldn't hear. The prince was preoccupied right now anyway, tending to the unicorns he'd well and truly spooked. Craning her neck, Zircon stared up at the giant tree, fists clenched as she hoped against hope Mrs Greypetal could cure the petrified fairies.

At the Feydellia Palace

Sonny was quite distracted and did not notice much as he when from dangling from the chandelier to preaching on a banister to in front of the food table again. There were only a couple of pastries left on him after his many sporadic movements around the ballroom. The fire fairy didn't find any clues not that he even knew what he should be looking for. The weird pink drink looked interesting... The redhead grabbed a cup and chugged it down... It had a very fruity and sugary taste. It was then he finally realize more fairies had arrived and dropped whatever remaining pastries on the ground in front of him as he approached the new group. There seem to be a discussion about something going on that he didn't pick up much of anything except the mention of going to Lumina. Filled with much-unbridled excitement about traveling to somewhere new, he failed to pick up the reason why they were going there. Sonny assumed it was a clue that was found about this whole petrification business, while he was searching for some himself.

As the fairy Sky left for a moment, the redhead fairy remember that Summa would still be looking for him. He needed to leave a message so she wouldn't worry too much. Not having anything to write with he used fire magic just outside the castle's door to singe the message: Going on an important quest Summa, catch up with ya later~ Sonny; onto the ground. After writing that thoughtful message without regard to the difficulty it would be to clean up the scorch marks later, he joined the other..... six fairies in a fairy unicorn-driven carriage.

---------

Lumina Forest

It was a pretty entertaining ride to the Lumina place, with the abrupt jolting and jerking the vehicle did. He spent much of the trip half hanging out of the carriage feeling the wind against his freckled cheeks and taking in the more colorful surroundings. It was great not having someone tell him, 'sit still in your seat' or 'you'll fall out of the carriage.' He did almost fall out a couple of times when there were some sharp turns but he didn't so point him. With a final hard bump to the ground in front of a giant tree, they arrived at their destination.

"Good job mateys," Sonny threw up a thumbs up to the Sky and the navigator who got them to Lumina. There were a few new scrapes and tousled hair from the rocky ride, but he seemed unconcerned about that. After expressing his gratitude, the fire fairy exited the carriage with much enthusiasm, there was a lot more vegetation to see than when he visited the Fey Topics. His yellow eyes scoped around the area for a moment before shooting up to attempt the take in the view of the tree. His fiery wings fluttered with excitement. "So we goin' ta scale this behemoth?"

Prince Sky’s flirting didn’t seem to have much of an effect on Dragon, although that may have something to do with the bumpy ride on the way over here… Regardless, they finally arrived in the forest. Mrs. Greypetal’s house, a hole at the top of a massive tree. Sky sighed. This Fairy couldn’t have put her house near the bottom of the tree? His wings were going to be tired from all this flying.

Vyvien had been working on a magical identifier, and Sky happily contributed some pink light magic to the cause. Hopefully his parents would be able to use this once they were cured.

Sonny asked if they were going to scale this massive tree, and the prince responded with. “Do we have a choice?” Sky flapped his wings and went up. This tree was huge! How did this old lady leave her house every day? They eventually found the hole that led to her home. Sky knocked. “Excuse me, Mrs. Greypetal? It’s Prince Sky of Feydellia. We need some assistance. May we come in?”

There was no answer.

Sky knocked again. “Mrs. Greypetal? Are you there?”

Again, no answer.

Sky grew impatient, and barged in. There was no Mrs. Greypetal to be seen. There was a note on the table. Which the prince read out loud for everyone.

To any visitors

I’ve gone into town to run errands. Be back soon.

Mrs. Greypetal

Sky was suspicious. “How polite of her to leave a note… But it’s a little strange that she would leave one as if she were expecting visitors… I have a feeling she’s not going to be back soon enough. Whoever is doing this could be turning more fairies to stone! Ugh, we flew all the way up here for nothing!” He started pacing around in circles. “Do you suppose we should go to Lumina and look for her? Or maybe Juniper knows where she keeps her potions?”

@Crimson Flame @Tangy

Zircon took to the air after Sky, towards the hole near the top of the huge tree. For her, the ascent wasn't too tough - living in the mountains meant she was used to scaling lofty heights. Landing just outside Mrs Greypetal's door, she bit the inside of her lip as Sky knocked, and waited for an answer. None came.

"What a perfect time for her to be out," Zircon muttered. It wasn't Mrs Greypetal's fault, she didn't know about any of this, but the timing still couldn't have been less convenient. After the second knock, Sky barged into the house, revealing it to indeed be empty. Picking up a note from the table, the prince read it out. A note addressed to visitors, supposedly explaining her absence.

Trepidation running through her anew, Zircon frowned. "Does she usually get visitors?" she asked Juniper. If Mrs Greypetal was a powerful, reputed fairy, it stood to reason that people would turn to her for advice and mentoring, and considering her age, she likely had multiple descendants. Even so, more sinister possibilities couldn't be ruled out. "Yeah. Probably best to look around, and ask if anyone's seen her."

Juniper turned as the ice fairy asked what her relationship with Mrs. Greypetal was. “She used to be the school principal,” Juniper chirped back, smiling. “She didn't teach me most of the time, but she was the most experienced earth fairy at school until she retired.” She poked her head curiously around the crystal a few times after being asked to imbue it. “Oh, yes, um, I can try, at least.” She obliged with some earth magic.

Juniper giggled at the hesitation of the others to fly up the tree. “It's not that high, come on!” she urged, following Sky to the top. Unfortunately, there was no answer – but there was a note, which Sky read out loud. Juniper frowned at the news that Mrs. Greypetal was out right now.

Sky thought it was odd Mrs. Greypetal would leave a note, and Zircon asked if Mrs. Greypetal usually got visitors. “Oh, I don't think it's that odd... my mother would always leave notes like that if she was going out...” Juniper got quiet for a moment, remembering the beautiful scrawl that she'd never quite been able to replicate. “But yes, Mrs. Greypetal would get a lot of visitors, she lives alone and is older so neighbours and family often check on her.” She smiled momentarily but faltered at Sky's irritation at the roadblock. “I-I don't think it would be okay for me to go through Mrs. Greypetal's things, but it'll be okay, Prince Sky,” Juniper assured him, “we can go into town and look for her – surely somebody would have seen her, most everyone knows who she is.”

---

“Thank you, thank you.” said Vyvien as she received the last of the crystals she needed. While there was still more elemental magics out there, she had at least enough for a preliminary machine. The wheel of runes appears once again, manifesting on of them as her identifier. She opened to face of the device and placed the newly magical marbles into the mechanism. With each crystal in place, she closed it. Now she could calibrate it. In her open palm she created a mini tornado, the air swirling around tickling the skin of her hand. The device she built was being held in the other. The machine started making a faint clicking sound as the wheel inside began to spin like a compass in a magnetic flux. After a second of spinning, it slowed down, and the faint sky blue crytal could be seen through the little window. Perfect. A few more tests like this and her device would be complete. For now though, it would have to wait. Juniper’s principal was only a tree climb away.

Despite the daunting size of the tree, it was a fairly easy to get to. Really, the flight up was not much different that flying horizontally anywhere else. The huge canopy expanded from just above the entrance to the house. The earthy smell of the trees and the playful chirping of the insects made the short flight wonderful. Unfortunately, Mrs. Greypetal was not home. And it didn’t look like there was a Mr. Greypetal available either.

“As much as I would love to check out her potions, I’d probably be a better idea to find Mrs. Greypetal instead. I don’t want to be around in case we mess up some how. Trust me, I’ve done it, and it never turns out as exciting as it initially appears.” said Vyvien. Despite agreeing with the others to leave and head to a more social gathering place within Lumina, Vyvien still wandered around the main room the note was found. She looked at the different trinkets and pictures hung on the wall. The only thing keeping her from wandering into other rooms was the watchful gaze of the other fairies present. As Vyvien turned back to follow the others out of the house, her face lit up with an idea.

"Oh oh. I have this." Vyvien retrieved another tool from her rune wheel. It was a wooden cone with a leather handle attached to a small glass box at the end. She handed the device to Sky. "If you speak into the back of the box, your voice will come out of the cone really loud. We can use this to call for Mrs. Greypetal."

During the ride Surge had been asked by Vyvien to imbue a crystal with his magic, as well as to introduce himself. “Surge Thunderbee. My daughter Juniper and I have been living in Lumina.” he commented taking the crystal. The fairy in question probably already knew that part though. He turned the small crystal over in hands, getting a feel for it, then closed his fingers around it producing a spark. Volatile electrical energy bounded around inside the crystal as he handed it back. “Careful, you've got a lot of power in a fairly small space.”

Later, while Surge was recovering from the disturbing experience of riding in a flying carriage with a inexperienced and distracted driver, said driver started to complain about how high up Mrs. Greypetal's house was. The fairy that talked like a pirate on the other hand voiced excitement to climb it. Surge shook his head and moved closer to the others, assuming (since he'd been to other treetop houses), “It's just a short flight.”

When they arrived the prince knocked, then apparently let himself in finding a note. The prince started to fret, and asked if Juniper knew where Greypetal kept her potions. Surge was about to voice concern about involving his daughter in theft even if the person asking her to do it was a prince, when Juniper rejected the idea herself. All the more reason to be proud of his daughter. Vyvien also echoed this stance saying it never turned out as well as you hoped, but she had a device to amplify Sky's voice so they could call for Greypetal.

Surge fluttered close his daughter, complimenting her in a whisper, “That was a very mature reaction. A lot of fairies would probably have trouble being the first one to tell him no,” then he turned his attention to Sky and Vyvien, speaking at regular volume, “We should probably be careful with that. There are things in these woods we don't want to get the attention of.”

It was generally agreed upon that they wouldn’t go through Mrs. Greypetal’s things. Instead, they would go into town to look for her. “Hmm, I suppose… But she could be anywhere… She might even be on her way back by the time we get there. Or something sinister might be at work here. Maybe the perpetrators suspected we would come here, and did something unpleasant…” Sky shook his head. “Ok, maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions. But given the circumstances. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of the possibility.”

They left the house, and made their way towards town. “Apologies for dragging you all into this. I’m just… really worried… With my parents indisposed, I’m next in line for the throne. If we don’t resolve this by the time the festival is over, I essentially become king. The loved ones of fairies that have been petrified will be coming to me for answers, and I don’t know what to tell them. I love being a prince, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be a ruler… My mother and father were very well respected. How will I ever follow in their wing beats?”

Vyvien handed him a device that would amplify his voice, and Sky’s hetereochromatic went wide with excitement. “Oh, this will make the process of searching much easier!” Surge expressed some concerns, but Sky ignored it, and practically shouted to the device.

“MRS GREYPETAL! IF YOU CAN HEAR US, WE NEED SOME HELP!” He then turned to Vyvien, and spoke at normal volume. “This is very useful. Can I keep this when all of this is over? There are plenty of occasions where a prince needs to make his voice heard.”

In the middle of this, Sky bumped into something. It appeared to be a mushroom, they were everywhere in this forest. Except, this mushroom was much bigger than the others. It also had arms, and legs, and a very angry looking face… “Oh dear…” This was probably one of the things in the woods Surge was talking about. “No matter, their are seven of us, and one of you.”

The Mushroom monster was not happy about being woken up. It grabbed Sky, and blew spores in his face, putting him to sleep straight away.

The older fairies seemed to agree with Juniper's sentiment that they should not be nosing around in Mrs. Greypetal's belongings. Juniper didn't think much of this as they left until her father pulled her to the side and commended her for her maturity in telling Prince Sky to do the right thing. Juniper blushed from the praise, quietly panicking a bit because she hadn't realized until that moment that she'd just told a prince what to do. Maybe she shouldn't have done that. "Um, thanks, Dad..." she muttered, looking curiously over at Sky, who was examining a device that Vyvien said would make his voice very loud. Juniper hesitated, but Surge warned Sky against it right away, which gave her confidence. "Yes, maybe if we just - "

Juniper flittered higher into the air in alarm and covered her ears as Sky screamed into the microphone at a volume louder than anything she'd ever heard before. Juniper looked around in panic as Sky went on about how wonderful the microphone was, and spotted the mushroom monster just before Sky walked into it. Oh gosh, that was a really big one. Even the little mushroom monsters could be mean and difficult to deal with, and this one seemed very agitated, probably from the loud noise. Sky still seemed confident - until the mushroom picked him up and put him straight to sleep.

Juniper hovered anxiously a safe distance away. She knew more about the creatures of the forest even than many of the local adults - her knowledge could be helpful here! "Okay," Juniper started, anxiety lacing her tone, "these are usually nocturnal; it's probably just scared because we woke it up. We - we have to distract it, somehow, and somebody needs to get Sky away from it. It won't chase us if we run from it, but it'll keep attacking us until we leave."

@Crimson Flame @Tangy

As Vyvien handed Sky the device, Zircon tensed. With a jolt of panic, she glanced around for anything that could easily be lurking in the woodland shadows. "Yeah, I wouldn't..." she began, backing up Surge, but it was too late. She backed away, hands pressed to her ears, wincing at the amplified yell that boomed through the forest.

Her eyes, darting this way and that, widened at the sight of a mushroom creature towering over the group. "Uh, your highness...?" Sky clearly hadn't noticed, stating with pride that there were plenty of occasions when a prince needed to make his voice heard, just before crashing into the monster. This wasn't one of those occasions.

Zircon darted forward, but the monster acted with surprising speed, grabbing Sky around the waist and blowing sleep spores into his face. "Leave him alone!" At a loss for what to do, Zircon rose up to Sky's level. This day was proving to be a neverending string of one crisis after another. "He may be careless, but he didn't mean any harm!"

Juniper, meanwhile, kept a level head, using her knowledge of forest creatures to suggest a course of action. Distract the monster, get Sky away, leave it well alone. With a nod in Juniper's direction, Zircon sped round to the other side of the creature and flew above its head. She raised her hands, several large spheres of water condensing from the air and freezing into hailstones, which rained down on the back edge of its giant cap. Not hard enough to harm the creature, but enough to hopefully divert its attention from Sky long enough for someone to rescue him.

---

Vyvien gave an awkward smile after covering her ears. The device did indeed increase the volume of Sky’s voice, but Vyvien only needed to speak normally into it for it to have the desired effects. Never had she thought of shouting through it. The loud noise that came out of the amplifying cone caught Vyvien by surprise, but she was glad that it could be helpful in finding Mrs. Greypetal. At least, she was until Sky was grabbed by a mushroom that towered over the fairies moments later.

Vyvien had never seen such a creature before and was stunned motionless as the monster blew spores into Sky’s face, causing his body to go limp as he went unconscious. She snapped out of it as the others started moving into action. Juniper started explaining the creature and how the group could deal with it. Vyvien started to look around for a way to distract the monster when the air got a slight chill. Hail stones pelted the soft cap of the monster. Zircon already sprung into action. Vyvien instead looked into rescuing the prince.

As the creature’s attention was drawn to the unorthodox change in weather Vyvien spun her hands around themselves as a small sphere of air currents formed between them. With a forward arm motion, the air currents turned into a cyclone shaped snake that originated from Vyvien and traveled up through the mushroom monster’s mycelia pulling Sky from its grasp. She guided the cyclone back towards the rest of the group not currently engaged with the monster, letting the air cushion Sky’s decent onto the ground.

Vyvien knelt down next to the prince, looking for any injury. She also tried to wake him up. With a small blast of air, she blew away the remaining spores that were stuck to his face, hoping the cool breeze could also help rile him.

“I got Prince Sky, but I don’t think the mushroom is too happy about it.” she said.

@Randomness @LuckyBlackCat@Tangy@LuckyLudor@InnerFlame

Sky started to stir, and his eyes fluttered open. “Huh, wha… what happened?” He looked up and saw the mushroom monster attacking Zircon, and that was when the brain fog went away. “Oh… right that…” He sighed. “Well, thanks for saving my life!” He gave Vyvien a hug, and then flew off to wherever the others were, and surrounded his fellow fairies with a bubble of pink light.

“Juniper, I hope this isn’t a pet of yours…” Sky laughed nervously, but he was sure this wasn’t being received well. “I know I know, I messed up. You can yell at me later. Right now, can we just get out of here with our wings in tact?”

Meanwhile, the mushroom monster was irritated by being pelted with hail. All it wanted was to sleep, and it was woken up by some obnoxious fairies. The monster roared and outstretched a vine towards Zircon.

Sky blatantly ignored Surge's advice, shouting through the amplifier at ungodly volumes. While he thanked it's creator multiple, warnings were dispensed about something. . . Things moved quickly from there. From the electrical fields Surge could tell there was something moving that didn't seem to be an animal. Not really wood or grass either. Sky told it it was out numbered, before going down with a thump. Surge muttered to himself, "We're being led around by a child."

Juniper dispensed advice on dealing with the creature. Surge noticed some electrical disturbances like severe weather caused, but localized. Magic weather. Then Vyvien announced she'd retrieved the prince. That was all Surge needed in order to attack or retreat.

Sky recovered quickly after that and suggested they leave. Though a swift shift in the electrical field told Surge that the creature wasn't going to accept that was the end of things. With no fairies between him and the creature Surge lifted and hand and unleashed a pulse of lighting. A crackling streak of almost white light streaked through the air, colliding with the mushroom vine reaching for Zircon. The vine sizzled, as sparks of electricity ran down it and fizzled off, leaving behind the scents of fried mushroom and ozone.

Surge backed away, still holding up his hand in the direction of the creature, though the lighting had temporarily overpowered his ability to sense where it was, and announced, "It's not animal, I'm pretty sure I can't stun it. So, I agree, We need to retreat."

@Crimson Flame @LuckyLudor

Watching Vyvien pull Sky from the mushroom's grasp with a cyclone, Zircon exhaled. Her plan had worked - a little too well, it turned out. Relief soured to terror as a vine lashed through the air, right towards her. She recoiled, wings pumping frantically, but before it could grab her, the forest lit up from a lightning bolt that struck the vine. The air filled with the creature's cries and the smell of burned mushroom as sparks danced up and down the charred limb.

"Thanks there," she called to Surge, blinking away afterimages, darting over to him and the others. "And yeah, sounds like a plan." Sky, thankfully, was awake and unhurt, surrounding the other fairies with a sphere of light. Zircon whirled round and swept her hand towards the monster's roots. Water condensed around them and froze, holding them fast to the ground. "Let's go, before it gets free!" Considering the mushroom's size and strength, the ice would only hold out so long.

Juniper hovered anxiously as the older fairies heeded her instruction and used their powers to rain hail onto the mushroom and guide a cyclone to rescue Prince Sky. She knew she should be relaying this information to her father, but all she could get out was a stunned "Wow..." Juniper hadn't seen much fae magic aside from Earth and Electric, and to see other elements used so gracefully was incredible.

After being rescued, Sky barely seemed concerned, even joking about how he hoped this wasn't one of Juniper's pets. "N-no, of – of course not, Prince Sky – " she stuttered, unsure how serious he was being. She would never set the forest's creatures on anybody, let alone somebody of such high rank!

But the monster wasn't done. It roared and outstretched a vine toward Zircon. And Juniper did something she'd never done before, and outstretched her hand toward the incoming vine, as if she were just as powerful as Vyvien and Zircon. The vine glowed a pale green, and came to an unsteady, trembling halt. No sooner had the vine paused before a great clap of electricity severed it. Juniper ducked away from the sudden light, blinking away stars. She didn't get to see Surge do such powerful magic that often either. This really was an adventure...! She smiled at the success as Zircon followed up by freezing the creature's roots. "Yes – everybody, fly up!" Juniper called, slowly rising to make sure Surge heard her first. The mushroom couldn't send vines too far, and it wouldn't be able to chase them upward.

The forest's various plantlife glowed many different shades, which illuminated the forest despite the thick trees blocking much of the sunlight. The forest's bed was covered in clover and wildflower, and the echoes of bird calls, frog croaks, and buzzing insects made this realm anything but silent. "Mrs. Greypetal said she went to town. The way to Lumina is marked with the tall red mushrooms – see?" Juniper pointed at several spindly red mushrooms, which winded into a straight line. "Try not to touch anything. I've learned how to grow some antidote plants in school, but I don't know all of them yet..." Conversely to her words, a large butterfly fluttered past, and Juniper reached a hand out to it with a giggle. It landed briefly before continuing on. Juniper smiled and gestured them onward, before falling back to fly with Surge.


Lumina was hidden inside several massive trees, which surrounded the kingdom like a stone wall. There were even more trees inside the kingdom, hollowed out and used as homes, libraries, or storefronts. The calls of animals were a little quieter here, but as a small feysquirrel scurried past them, it was clear that this was just as much a home for wildlife as it was for fairies.

Even with all this familiar landscape, Juniper noticed at once that something wasn't right. The usually bustling city was... quiet. Juniper frowned and looked anxiously in circles. "Where is everybody?"

Juniper cautiously led them around town, knocking on a few doors, but was met with silence. “Juniper! Surge!” a voice called out to them. A yellow and green earth fairy wearing a uniform with a tie flew over to them.

"Hello, Officer Sundew," Juniper greeted. "What's going on? We were looking for Mrs. Greypetal."

Officer Sundew frowned, and he looked sadly away at the mention of Mrs. Greypetal. ”I'm sorry to tell you this, but something terrible is happening. Fairies are turning to stone.” He gestured behind him. “I'm advising everybody to either stay inside with at least one other fairy, or gather in town square. We've gathered all the affected fairies and are trying to use our powers to reverse it, but we've had no luck so far... I wish Mrs. Greypetal could help us, but unfortunately, she's been turned to stone as well.” Juniper gasped and wilted at this news, tears immediately brimming in her eyes. ”You're welcome to see her if you'd like, but we've no luck reversing it... they are outside of the hospital, five trees to our left.”

@Tangy

Darting upwards along with everyone else, Zircon glanced down to see the mushroom flailing its vines, unable to reach them. "Whew... Well this has been quite the day so far," she muttered. They were all safe now, but considering how today was going, she wondered when the next disaster would strike. "Everyone alright?" Despite the close call, nobody seemed hurt.

She followed the others through the forest, keeping an eye out through the glow of the luminescent plants for any other dangers. Every time a shadow scurried past in the distance or a loud animal cry sounded, she tensed. This place was far livelier than the pine forests in the Minty Mountains, for better or for worse. How anyone could live here and remain as calm as Juniper, she didn't know. As Juniper casually pointed out the row of poisonous toadstools, Zircon veered to the side, well away from them. "Yeah... We've already had one mushroom related scare."

Reaching the city should have been a relief, but it wasn't. Frowning, Zircon looked up and down the empty streets. The uneasy feeling she'd gotten from Mrs Greypetal's house earlier returned tenfold. It was only after a fruitless search for residents, Juniper knocking on door after door, that a voice broke the silence. An officer, flying over to them, face solemn as he broke the news. More fairies had been turned to stone.

Zircon's wings drooped. "Here too?" She clenched her fists by her sides, fingers digging into the fabric of her skirt. Not only were they no closer to breaking the curse, it was spreading. Taking a deep breath to try and pull herself together, she straightened her back and faced Officer Sundew. "It happened earlier, in Feydellia," she told him. "Do you know what's causing it?"

Surge followed Juniper and the other fairies' voices as they all fluttered upward. Juniper explained to the others the visual path into town, reiterating that the forest was dangerous. It was kind of sad that the youngest among them needed to issue such warnings. He smiled softly. When he sensed her familiar presence, he commented softly, “You've been so brave today June Bug.”

Hearing his and his daughter's names called out as they reached town, Surge fluttered over. Officer Sundew explained the situation, fairies were turning to stone here as well. To Zircon's comment he added, “Right, did anyone see or hear anything when it happened? We came back here hoping to get Mrs. Greypetal's help.”