Pixie's Honor by: Elsbeth Matthew learns even the littlest of fairies value honor above all

Chapter 9

Liz Summers opened the front door, excitedly greeting the babysitter. Since little Katelyn’s birth, she and her husband Dan had had little time to be alone. Something her husband had been complaining about quite a bit lately.

She knew he loved their daughter, but he also wanted to spend time with his wife. Moreover, the feelings were more than mutual. Remembering how close she came to losing Dan over the summer, Liz continued to value every minute spent with him although she did not always show it. Tonight would be fun at least, the annual Skogshaven Valentine’s Day Charity Ball.

“Mrs. Summers, you should have called me sooner. I would love to sit for Katelyn anytime.” Abigail Morris smiled at the little girl as she took off her coat and purse before picking the infant out of the crib.

“Please Abigail, as I have told you before, call me Liz.” Looking outside, she noticed that someone was missing. “I thought that Morgan was planning on helping you out tonight.”

Closing the door, she smiled at Morgan’s girlfriend. “Did she back out?”

Abigail rolled her eyes. “No…she just out playing with her new toy.”

Her Aunt had insisted on taking her to the Summer’s home tonight, and made sure the Deputy Sheriff would take her home. She didn’t know why. Travelling with Morgan no matter what the means of transportation was perfectly safe.

Suddenly a knock on the door revealed a smiling Morgan carrying what appeared to be a motorcycle helmet.

“Morgan, I didn’t even hear you drive up.”

“Hi Liz; Wow, don’t you look beautiful tonight.” Morgan stood back, admiring the little black dress, wondering not for the first time how it might look on her. Something that even a few months ago, she would not have even considered. When asked, Morgan would blame her girlfriend for being such a bad influence on her but the dress did look cute.

Liz smiled at the compliment while noticing Morgan’s outfit as well. Under the heavy leather jacket, she wore what appeared to be a vintage white lace blouse and skin tight black leather pants. Quite the change from the tomboy she and her husband first met over the summer.

Kissing the young woman on the cheek, Liz smiled. “Why Morgan, you’re wearing makeup.

The Aes Sidhe Princess blushed. “My mom says hi.”

“I’ll be seeing her soon enough.” Liz gave a knowing smile.

Abigail gave a confused look. “Wait, I thought Rebecca wasn’t going.”

“Well…”

“She has a date.” Liz said with a smile. The two women had spent half of last weekend driving around in the snow looking for the right dress for tonight’s festivities.

“With who?”

“Stephen Krieg.”

“Wait…Doctor Doris’s brother?”

“The one and the same.” Liz laughed. “What do you think, Morgan?”

“They make a cute couple. The two met when mom needed to speak with someone over legal details concerning my sister’s trust fund.”

“Working closely together, I bet.” Abigail giggled.

Morgan smiled, she was happy that her mother was dating again and Stephen seemed nice.

“I heard from her that you’re still planning on following in your mother’s footsteps as well.”

“My mother’s footsteps?” Morgan made a face, not sure, which mother Liz was talking about.

“On becoming a lawyer of course; you’re still going to be taking classes next semester?”

“Oh, yes, at least that’s the plan.”

Morgan had surprised herself when she started to take the classes online. At first, she didn’t think the topic would interest her but she had found most of it rather fascinating. Although Rebecca worked in entertainment law, the Princess planned on studying international law, it seemed oddly appropriate.

Giving her a slight pat on the arm, Liz looked at the ruby red motorcycle helmet. “Well you made a great head start winning the argument with your mom over the bike.”

Liz knew that the women of the Rynders family had been discussing the bike’s purchase since the holidays, eventually bringing her husband into the discussion. Apparently, whatever he said must have tilted the balance in Morgan’s favor.

“She knows I’m a safe driver, plus I have an excellent teacher.”

Abigail made a face; Lord Alexander seemed to be coming up in too many conversations lately. “Come Morgan, Katelyn needs to be changed; your first lesson of the evening.”

With the infant changed and placed back into her crib, all three women watched admiringly as Dan Summers strolled down the stairs. With a little help from Morgan and one last check up from Poppy, the Deputy Sheriff had recovered from injuries acquired while being a prisoner of the Winter Court.

Even with the powerful curse that almost took his life removed, his silver hair continued to be a constant reminder of that terrible episode. Since his wife found it rather dashing, Dan didn’t ask the Princess to change it back.

The two girls smiled at one another, as the husband and wife gave one another an appreciative glance then kissed.

“Thank you both for tonight.” Dan smiled at the two younger women.

Abigail slipped her arm through Morgan’s, excited that her girlfriend had joined her tonight. Between her duties as an Aes Sidhe Princess and Arbitrator, the two of them didn’t see a lot of one another, something that had begun to bother the young Witch quite a bit.]

As Liz and Abigail went over details such as phone numbers, meals and bedtimes, Dan leaned over to speak with the Princess of the Summer Court.

“So, you’re planning on taking up babysitting?”

Morgan sighed. “Well sort of, I have.....something like this in a couple of days; figured I should get in a little practice first.”

The Deputy Sheriff did not like the sound of that. Pursing his lips, he wondered if she would be willing to tell him the details later.

“Dan, leave her alone. It’s not that bad an idea, how do you think I saved up enough money for my first car.”

Liz smiled warmly as leaned over to kiss her half-asleep child on the forehead. “Plus, the experience will help you, Morgan when you have children of your own.”

“Right.....children of my own.” Morgan looked down embarrassed.

Getting close to midnight, with Abigail watching over the sleeping child, Morgan sat in the center of the living room among a score of Pixies. Although she did have similar plans in the next few days, Morgan real reason for being in Dan Summer’s home tonight had very little to do with babysitting.

She had been furious upon discovering that someone had ordered Spriggans into town to steal a child. The Troll wives were bad enough; she did not need another group to start.

At least after her meeting with Mab, the two agreed who might be the culprit although her mother didn’t necessarily agree with her daughter’s plans but would still respect and support those decisions. Morgan knew for good or for bad; however this all ended, it would be on her head.

While listening to finalization of the plans for tonight, she looked over at Poppy and smiled. The green haired Pixie’s first meeting with her mother the Queen had been quite memorable. Although pleased that it might give Morgan more of a chance to spend more time with Mab, she wasn’t exactly sure if she was ready for one of her best friends to be dating her mom. Still, she couldn’t begrudge either one of her mother’s, or even Poppy’s chance at finding happiness.

With a sigh, the Aes Sidhe Princess looked across the room at her girlfriend. She knew that she had been neglecting Abigail. She had almost convinced herself that being an Arbitrator and Princess; she no longer had time for a relationship. Morgan had even thought about breaking up with the young Witch before the holidays.

Upon becoming a Princess, she suddenly found herself tossed head first into the politics of the Aos Sidhe Courts. Even living in Skogshaven, the Princess had to accept the responsibility of sitting on the town’s Unseen council. Now there were more members of her troupe, their very lives often at times hanging on her very words. All of it had been an excuse not to get closer to Abigail, to keep her at arm’s length.

Still, she understood that the whole relationship thing really just frightened her. Before coming to Skogshaven, Morgan never had a girlfriend, much less any real friends. So why did she insist on blaming events.

Biting her lip, Morgan knew she had wronged Abigail; her own failings were not the fault of her friend. Starting tonight, she would actively go out of her way to be with her. Because after all was said and done, she loved Abigail dearly.

“Do you trust these Spriggans, Xera?” Morgan frowned, turning back to matters at hand. She knew that the Pixies had been planning this night for a week.

“Spriggans no, but I do trust Ilia.” Xera said.

“We were able to get enough eyes on the other children in the town, and some of the surrounding houses but from what Xera says, Katelyn appears to be their target.”

“I have others standing by in the Fey if you need more help, Poppy”

Morgan nodded to Bria. The Pixies insisted that this be their fight tonight but she was still going to make sure that all of the children of Skogshaven were safe.

Looking down at the table, Morgan spotted various bits of household objects used as a make shift sand table. Poppy had been surprised when asked to help with the plans but the others knew her experience as Matt would prove invaluable.

“This doesn’t look much like a Spriggan.” Lilly knocked on a saltshaker. “Want me to change it?”

“No thank you, dear.” Xera giggled noticing the other Pixies looking relieved.

“Battle of Cowpens?” Morgan sat back suddenly understanding what she was looking at.

Poppy smiled, knowing that the Princess had been studying American History in school. “I’m no Dan Morgan but I do hope it turns out as well.”

Before the Pixie clan chief could discuss who would be in charge, Poppy stepped forward. “I’ll take the center Brea; after all, these are my plans.”

“If that is your wish.” Brea understood why the Pixie wished to take the most dangerous place in line. The Clan Chieftain held her breath for a moment before announcing. “No quarter.”

All Pixies tuned to look at their Chief, then the Princess, who only nodded.

“We cannot let any of them escape tonight sisters. Too many lives depend on this.” Xera said sadly.

“How will we keep them from escaping into the Fae?” Another Pixie asked.

“That is my responsibility, Hepatica; I will place a ban on the property as soon as you start your attack.” The Pixie nodded, only someone of the blood would be powerful enough to do that.

Poppy looked at her friend, concerned. This very detail had been a very difficult decision. Mab had agreed but it would be Morgan issuing the commands tonight. She understood that the Princess of the Summer Court continued to be tested. The Pixie perceived that this test was not to see if Morgan would be happy to make such difficult decisions, but that she would make them if necessary.

Morgan sat in Abigail’s arms watching the events unfold. The Spriggans had arrived as expected, exiting the forest under the cover of darkness. Silently moving across an open field, the group expected the night to be their ally. Spriggan magic normally allowed them to go unseen however; they didn’t expect Morgan or Xera to be waiting for them.

At first contact, Abigail could feel her girlfriend tense up. Only Katelyn, who lay asleep in front of them, kept the Princess from rushing out to help her friends. No one thought that any Spriggan would escape the trap but if they did, they would never leave the house alive.

As the center of the Pixie line suddenly broke, the young Witch whispered. “It will be alright Morgan; the battle will turn out alright just wait and see.”

Morgan gave a grim smile. Bria, Eglantine and Poppy had planned it perfectly. As predicted, with their blood up, the Spriggans chased after the retreating Pixies. What they failed to see were the scores of Pixies appearing on their flanks, hidden by until that very moment by Xera and Lily’s powerful magic.

“A battle?” Morgan thought as she watched the Spriggans fall, remembering what the Confederates commented about the fighting on another cold night in Fredericksburg, Virginia. No, this was no battle, just murder.

Poppy walked among the dead, looking for wounded Pixies although she didn’t expect to find any. The former medic knew that the fairy dead wouldn’t remain long on the field, returning to the magic from which they came.

Surprisingly she didn’t need to heal many of her sisters other than those brave Pixies that stood with her in the center. The others, who attacked the flanks, had hardly a wound among them. Over all, casualties among the Pixies were exceedingly light, although each one of her sisters would be sorely missed. Among the Spriggans, none survived.

Looking up, she almost missed Laurel barrel into her. “Poppy!”

The two twirled each other around happily. Then unexpectedly, the red haired Pixie reached up and gave Poppy a lusty kiss.

“If you two want to be left alone.” Catching her breath, Poppy found Syringa standing off to the side, amusement but also relief written all over her face. “Come Poppy, look who we found.”

Moments later, the three stood over the remains of the Spriggan; who one owned the sword at Poppy’s side. For some reason, she wasn’t too surprised to see that the wounds inflicted had not been made by the thin straight swords of the Pixies but the thick curved blades that Spriggans carry. Whoever did this, no matter what happened during the battle, made sure that Menadue wouldn’t survive.

Authors Notes: A special thanks to djkauf for a little elvish editing. If you like the story please leave a Kudos, if you have the time I would love to hear from you. Thanks to all for reading!

-Elsbeth