A crackle in the sky opened, and the rain came pouring down, as a small fairy screamed at the top of her lungs. The strength of her scream broke through the sky, unleashing yet another thunderstorm.
"But I don't want to!" the small fairy screamed at the top of her lungs, "Please, papa, I cannot go to the ice kingdom, I might freeze to death." She widened her eyes, trying to convince her father that this was a marvellously stupendous idea.
Her father blinked a couple of times, to the same beat as his wings flapped, "You won't freeze to death," he said with a sigh. "I am sure they have a heating system of some sort inside their homes as well."
The fairy gasped in overperformed outrage, "I hear they are made of ice! They might not even need to stay warm. I won't last a day!" She tried adding a few tears to her performance.
Her mother laughed a little, not kindly. "You don't seem to have high thoughts of yourself, darling. But that doesn't matter, you must do as your father commands – as our kingdom commands." Her mother lifted her eyebrows a little, as if challenging her daughter to disobey her.
"And what if I refuse?" the little fairy said, crossing her arms, the tears immediately disappearing.
"You will be dragged out by your ponytail," her father said with heavy words. "I have promised the ice-kingdom a good match for their next ruler. Mind you, I told them you would be a kind fiancée and in time an obedient wife." He tried smiling kindly to her, shifting his strategy back and forth, doing anything he thought might help persuade her.
"Even though we have never known you to be obedient," her mother added, "so you will have to put up a bit of a performance." Her mother flapped with her small wings rapidly to stay up. "Though of course I will have to admit you are quite talented in that area."
The small fairy frowned, her wings flapping a little slower, and she carefully descended to the ground. She nodded, "Alright." Her head fell down a little, "I give in. Though I will meet their heir apparent before deciding to agree to any marriage or betrothal, for that matter."
Her father nodded. "If that is as much as I can convince you. At least you will go." He paused. "Oh, and… you will go by another name when you arrive there," her father added as he joined her and planted his feet on the ground.
The young fairy lifted her eyebrows, forgetting for a moment about her distress. "Another name… why?"
Her father hesitated but a second, "for safety. And remember to keep your cards close to you - just like I taught you." He gave her a kind smile as he added that last part. And briefly, it almost looked like he was going to hug her. But in the end, he did not.
She nodded, her ponytail jumping a little from the movement, "I will, papa," she paused, "and what is my name to be then?"
He took a step back to inspect her. "Bubbles," he answered, "to match your personality and your skills. It seems only fitting."
"Bubbles…" she considered it for a moment, "alright, I think I like it."
"You better," her mother said with a laugh, "or you might find yourself being…"
"Or what exactly? You will send me to marry some stranger in a cruel, cold land?" Her daughter immediately snapped back into a hostile attitude. "Empty threats now, aren't they?"
Her mother's face shifted into a dark red colour in a matter of seconds. Her hair, which had been perfectly straight and black, rose into a flaming fire on top of her head. "Or I will send you to him with a tint of purple and blue on your face, we will see how pretty he finds you then," her mother snapped at her, showing her sharp, pixie-like teeth.
Bubbles had always suspected that her mother had a pixie ancestor hidden somewhere in her lineage.
"Calm down, my sweets," her father said to both of them, "I like to have peace in this house, even if I cannot yet achieve it for this kingdom."
"Hmpf!" Her mother made out a couple of other disgruntled noises before she stomped off towards her powder room.
Bubbles calmed down immediately, as she heard the sorrow in her father's voice. "What does the king say to this proposal?"
"To be honest," her father said, "he is just happy that we have not had to offer up his daughter to the ice-kingdom."
Bubbles felt her heart sink, "So you give me to them instead?"
"I am sorry, my darling," her father said, this time finding the courage to step forward and kiss his daughter on her forehead. "But the princess will travel with you. You will stay together in the ice-kingdom for a time, trying to establish better… connections with them."
"So," Bubbles paused, "you are sending the princess as a diplomat?"
Her father pondered the choice of words for a moment, "You could say that."
Bubbles nodded, "Alright, alright, it will be nice to have a familiar face at least."
"I hope so, please try to be friendly with her at least. She will also need a familiar face," her father said, his brows curling a little into a worried expression.
Bubbles paused, "I am friendly with her – or at least we will be when there are only enemies around us, I suspect."
"You should probably not call them enemies…" her father added with a smile.
She nodded, "Alright, Papa, I will go prepare for my journey. I suppose I will have to pack something warm." She smiled, trying to content herself with the thought of warm fireplaces instead of the icy cold mountains she had heard stories about.
"You will leave tomorrow morning," her father informed her.
She nodded again and went to her room, her mind running wild with thoughts about what she was going to do. One thing was going to the ice kingdom in some barbarous exchange; another thing entirely was going with the princess. What she had not told her father was that they had been sworn enemies ever since the first time they had laid eyes on each other. She felt a heat rise within her, the same heat as her mother possessed, but Bubbles had always been better at controlling it than her mother had. She would have to escape. She simply had to. She almost screamed out in frustration as she threw clothes into her travel trunk. Just the thought of having to share a carriage with the princess for how many days it would take to reach the ice-kingdom. They would be squished together in an incredibly small space for hours and days on end, having to breathe the same air, having nothing to look at but the landscape they passed and then each other. Having no one to talk to but each other. Bubbles was sure it would be torment, agony, like burning up in a pit of lava, or being on the torture bench in the dungeons hidden under the Kingtree.
The heat rising through her reached her head, forcing her humid hair to curl up around her face as she tried to lift her trunk, but it was too heavy and dropped back onto the wooden planks of her room. She sighed and let her magic bubble up and spread out through her hands, forming a bubble around the trunk. The bubble was pink and big, easily allowing her to lift up the trunk and guide it towards the window. She pushed the trunk out through the window and jumped out after it, placing her feet on top of the bubble as she slowly descended towards the ground. On her way down, she looked at all of the tree houses in the Kingtree as she passed them. In her mind, she said goodbye to all of the people she had known here. But she would have had to say goodbye either way, so she could not feel much sorrow, she reminded herself. At the roots of the tree, she guided her floating bubble slowly to avoid being seen by the guards that were stationed at the staircase entrance to the tree.
"Hey, Jared," one of the guards said to the other, "do you think the corruption will end us first or will it be the ice taking us?"
The guard that responded to the name Jared looked dumbfounded at him, "What kind of question is that?"
"I was just wondering what you considered the biggest threat. Sorry," the first guard mumbled.
"Morbid thing to occupy your mind with," Jared responded, "that kind of thinking is not worth your time. Let the king and his advisors make such considerations, and you simply focus on your post."
"Alright, alright, I get it, Jared," the first guard said and turned his head back to look out over the forest.
And as they talked, Bubbles snuck her way out into the forest, escaping her fate, her future, and her…
CRACK!
A loud noise stopped her as the bubble burst, and she and her trunk fell down into a pile of leaves and sticks, alerting everyone to her position.