The Grumpy Thistle Fairy Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedications

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Extra

  About the Author

  Previews

  Coming Soon

  Copyright

  © 2017 Delmire Hart. All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  This is a work of fiction. All resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  This ebook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers.

  Please don't read if you are under eighteen.

  For inquiries please contact: [email protected]

  Dedications

  To everyone how has believed in me and supported me so far! I really never thought this would ever be possible.

  Special mentions to Amelita Rae and SageSepis for actively reaching out and telling me I can actually BE an author.

  To my partner who supports me unquestionably even when I start ranting on about gay fairies and inappropriate use of fairy dust.

  And last, but certainly not least, to Mara who had the dubious pleasure of pointing out all the grammatical errors I made. I can never thank you enough!

  The Grumpy Thistle Fairy

  By Delmire Hart

  Chapter One

  Ellis wasn’t like the other fairies. They were flighty things, prone to bouts of whim and mercurial moods, just as likely to help you as they were to hinder. All in the name of fun, of course.

  Ellis was different.

  Stoic and rarely smiling, he was subdued for a fairy. He didn’t care for the pranks of the others or their ridiculous games. He didn’t have a pretty flower as his home nor a brilliantly coloured bird for his pet. He helped and cared for all woodland creature to come his way; he didn’t judge based on the prettiness of their plumage nor did he leave tasks unfinished just because his mood changed.

  When he was younger, other fairies would sometimes fly around his little thistle flower home, tittering away behind their hands. Laughing because his home, his flower, wasn’t a real flower, it was a weed.

  But he liked his flower. It was a pretty purple in colour, its many petals soft to the touch and comfortable to sleep on. So what if the base and stem had many sharp, pointy spikes on it? It was excellent protection from any who might decide that Ellis was the perfect little snack.

  It might not be as pretty as the rose or the carnation but it was far more practical. He didn’t get trapped in the soft confines of the petals when he went to sleep so he could roam all hours of the night and sleep whenever he chose. There was no way for him to get shut out either, for the thistle flower never fully closed up to the night.

  As such, it was pretty and practical and there was never a better combination.

  Over the many days he lived, Ellis earned himself a reputation as quite the oddball. Not that he cared. He was quite happy puttering about on his translucent purple wings doing his own thing. Which mostly consisted of caring for a number of sick or injured creatures and handling disputes between others.

  It had taken quite some time for him to earn the trust of all the woodland creatures. Fairies were fickle things and would often leave their charges on a whim or refuse to help if they didn’t like their appearance. Ellis was not prone to such whimsy. Often, only the prettiest of birds or the cutest of bunnies were able to win the care of the fairies but Ellis would help all for a favour.

  Snakes, spiders, rats, crows. All were welcome. Once, he had even helped to pull a thorn from a wolf’s foot. All they had to do was help him at some later time. Usually the favours were small things, a slight inconvenience, but occasionally he had to call on bigger favours. It became his currency.

  Animals, insects, and birds alike would come to him for help and he would use an owed favour to help them in return for another favour at a later date. Sometimes he even called in a favour to settle a dispute. Two crows bickering over who got the last of the wolves' leftovers of a choice bunny was settled by Ellis claiming his favour of setting a broken leg to one. He would let the other bird go first and then take his share. Next time, they would switch. There might be the odd grumble about the outcome but all agreed he was fair.

  Most importantly, he was always there when needed.

  He didn’t partake in any of the mushroom circle gatherings or fly off to another part of the forest on a whim, only to return days later. He didn’t waste his precious fairy dust just to turn a poor sparrow blue. Ellis stayed right in his little field of thistle flowers and used his fairy dust as he did favours. Creatures only needed to call out to him and he would appear, all now knew that if he wasn’t home, then he was out helping another and would happily wait until his return.

  He had discovered that the larger thistle prickles made for good splints for damaged limbs on smaller creatures and insects and many of the weeds had sturdy leaves for protecting cuts. He even learnt about several plants with healing properties and had the mice and the birds gather them as needed.

  All was going well until one day he returned from freeing one of the massive forest moths from a long unused spider web to discover all his pretty thistles wilting and brown. They were robust things, hard to remove and easy to spread so this had not occurred by chance. Ellis racked his brain to think of what could have caused the other fairies to go into such a destructive frenzy and could only assume that the large brown snake had eaten one of their prized birds again. He had warned them. It was the snake’s territory and he had to eat to live.

  That’s just how life worked.

  One thing the creatures had initially come to complain about had been who had eaten whose family member. Ellis had been clear right from the beginning, marking out territories and saying in no uncertain terms, if you were in one of their territories and got eaten, that was not his problem. Everyone must eat to live and those that are prey must be smart or quick to live. He would help to heal those there were injured if he could but held no remorse if he couldn’t. However, no one was to eat anyone in his thistle field. It was a neutral zone where any could gather without fear. All had agreed and so they had lived for some time in a semblance of harmony.

  But now his home lay dying.

  Ellis hovered sadly above his precious thistles, purple wings catching the last of the days light, as he contemplated his choices. A large blue eyed crow squawked at him as it landed on the ground below before turning to peer up at him.

  The crow knew of another place that also had a nice patch of large thistles that Ellis might be able to make his new home.

  The only problem was that it was outside a human’s house.

  The fairy considered this new information. He had always been warned to stay away from humans and what he had seen in person only reinforced how little he wanted to do with them. The other fairies loved to prank humans because they would always yell and curse and react loudly but such theatrics irked Ellis. They also had a horrible tendency to hurt or even kill the forest creatures for amusement and picked t
he fairies flower homes.

  The deciding factor ended up being the crow’s opinion of this particular human. He was odd as far as humans went; he lived by himself and seemed to be something of an outcast from the others as they never visited his remote house and would otherwise ignore him. He also had a beautiful garden with many different flowers, herbs, and vegetables and had never harmed the forest creatures beyond what he needed to eat to live. The human even left out an excellent bird feeder for the wild sparrows and the odd little dish of milk for the hedgehogs even though he didn’t seem to have much milk for himself.

  Something about this human being an oddball outcast much like Ellis himself struck a chord with him and he let the crow lead the way through the dim twilight.

  It wasn’t too far to the small cottage sitting by itself surrounded by a large garden. It was relatively well kept and the small thicket of thistles lay nestled in amongst the surrounding wooden fence. The crow agreed to spread the word of Ellis’s relocation and a small brown snake promised to keep a watch out for tonight in case someone tried to eat him now he was in unknown territory. Grateful for the help, Ellis picked the largest thistle and curled up in his new bed. It would be interesting to see what the morning brought.

  Chapter Two

  The morning was brought about far too early for Ellis’s liking. Or rather, he was rudely woken by the sound of a human singing very enthusiastically, very off-key, and far too early. The sun had barely risen.

  Ellis rose from his slumber groggily, too tired to even glare at the snickering crow who had come back to witness the fairy’s meeting with the human. He shook out his iridescent wings and took flight to observe the human and his garden in the light of day. The rather loud human was fairly small in stature with honey coloured hair and eyes as bright as blades of grass.

  The curious fairy tailed the human for the day, staying just out of sight while he continued his observation. The odd human was clumsy, loud, and had a terrible singing voice. But he also seemed genuinely excited over his feathered companions when they stopped by for the offered grain and he didn’t attack the brown snake when he spotted him trailing behind Ellis. Ellis himself had been hidden but the snake wasn’t fast enough and the fairy chided him and sent him on his way.

  The human was clearly terrified by the snake but made no move to harm him. The human also collected pretty stones and feathers much like a magpie with their treasures and had quite the collection strung about his little cottage.

  Satisfied with this peculiar human and the location of his new home, Ellis set about his usual tasks of helping the local wildlife and trading favours. Having spent most of the day observing the human, he was busy late into the night, and the moon had well and truly risen by the time Ellis slipped into his thistle flower bed.

  ***

  He was rudely awoken at the crack of dawn by the stupid human’s horrid singing voice. Again. Ellis tried desperately to go back to sleep but every time he was drifting off in the peaceful silence, the human’s shrill voice shattered his peace.

  Irritated and tired, Ellis set about his chores for the day and traded a favour with a beautiful snowy owl for one of their soft feathers. The odd human seemed to like collecting things, maybe Ellis could bribe them to stop singing at such a ridiculous time of the morning.

  ***

  This time when he was awoken, Ellis groggily grabbed the large feather tucked in amongst his thistles before flying over to the human causing the awful racket. He stopped right in front of his face and tried to use the feather to stop his mouth from moving. It seemed fairly effective as the human froze in place and stared at him with wide green eyes as he lectured him about the time.

  It was too early to be creating such noise, he informed the human. Save it until the sun was higher in the sky or Ellis would bring a different, less pleasant, type of gift next time. The fairy stopped and stared at the human expectantly. The human just continued to stare back, wordless. Until -

  “You’re a fairy!” he blurted out.

  Ellis blinked. Hadn’t he been listening to anything he had said?

  A hand came up and the human poked him gently with a finger. Ellis swatted it away, irritated, while he started his lecture again.

  “You seem pretty upset,” the human observed.

  It was Ellis’s turn to freeze and stare. He didn’t understand him. That was…inconvenient.

  The human opened his mouth again as though to speak and Ellis shushed him with the feather before pointing to the sun in irritation. He did it a few times before looking at the human in anticipation.

  “You…want me to stop talking?”

  Ellis ran a hand over his face. This wasn’t going to work. He pointed to the sun and then looked back to the human who wrinkled his nose in thought.

  “Something about the time of day?”

  Relieved, Ellis nodded then pointed back to the human but he still seemed confused. Stupid human. The fairy sighed, this was rather embarrassing but well worth the extra sleep if it got the human to stop singing. He opened his mouth and sang out a few notes before shutting his mouth in slight embarrassment as he made a cross sign with his arms then pointed at the sun again.

  “My singing…and the sun… Oh! Did I wake you up?”

  Ellis sagged slightly in relief as he nodded.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry!” He was mollified by the fact that the human seemed genuinely sorry. “I won’t sing so early, is that what you wanted to tell me?”

  Ellis nodded again and held out the feather. “Is this for me?” He nodded at the human’s question. “Is this…a gift? So that I stop singing?” Ellis nodded again as the human took the feather carefully between his thick fingers.

  “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I won’t sing so early anymore, is that okay? I’ll wait until I see you around or until it’s later in the day?”

  Ellis nodded one last time, satisfied, before he flew back off to his thistle bed. The human remained mercifully quiet for the rest of the morning and he finally caught up on sleep.

  ***

  It became routine. When Ellis first woke, he would gather a small gift and seek out the human to trade for his quiet mornings. He was gathering quite the collection of pretty stones and feathers so sometimes Ellis would sprinkle a little fairy dust over a plant that was having a little trouble instead.

  “You know, you don’t have to keep bringing me these things every day,” the human said one day as he accepted a particularly pretty daisy that Ellis had picked that morning. “I know you’re sleeping, I’m not going to sing in the morning anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I love these but you don’t have to keep doing this.”

  Ellis considered that for a moment before shrugging slightly. He quite liked how the human’s house was now decorated in Ellis’s gifts. There was something very satisfying watching the gentle smile overtake the human’s face when Ellis presented him with a gift.

  The fairy plucked the flower out from the human’s fingers and flew up to place it in his hair, tucked behind his ear. He flew backwards and nodded in appraisal. It looked good. There was a slight flush across the human’s cheeks as he laughed a little, he seemed oddly shy.

  “You know, you’re kind of odd for a fairy. I thought they were supposed to be tricksters and a bit flighty. You though… You’ve been here since that first day and if anything, you’re actually pretty grumpy.”

  Ellis gave him a flat look and the human hastily waved his hands in front of him as though to take back what he just said.

  “Ah! I didn’t mean that in a bad way! Just, I never see you laughing or dancing. Your expression is almost always a frown and you are super grumpy first thing in the mornings. Can I…can I know where your home is?”

  Ellis stared at the human in surprise. First he insulted him and now he wanted to know where his home was. What did it matter?

  “It’s just that I don’t want to accidentally harm your home.”

  Deciding that it wouldn’t hurt, Ellis nodded and
flew slowly in front of the human to lead him to the small thicket of thistles by his wooden fence. He sat on the soft purple petals of the thistle flower and looked up at the human.

  “You’re a thistle fairy?” Ellis nodded. “Well, that explains your prickly personality.” He giggled and Ellis scowled in affront. “Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s kinda shady here but there’s a clear spot in front of my house that’s pretty sunny, would you like me to move one of these closer? Seeing as we are already kind of living together, may as well make it comfortable for you too.” The human smiled wide at Ellis’s small nod of acceptance. “I’m Felix, by the way. I’m looking forward to living with you.”

  Felix was right about it being a nice spot. He transferred, with some cursing and pricked fingers that Ellis healed generously with fairy dust, three thistle plants with flowers to a pot he put just outside his window. It got the perfect amount of sun, nothing first thing in the morning so Ellis could sleep in but by lunch time it was the perfect sunny napping spot.

  Chapter Three

  Felix’s garden became the new safe haven for all the forest wildlife while Ellis continued to preside over their little forest and trade favours. If anything, it was easier now. Felix grew lots of healing herbs so there was always some on hand and he didn’t mind Ellis using them. The human was also happy to help with the larger animals, making tending wounds far easier, even if his large presence sometimes scared the smaller animals.

  It was almost like owning a pet, Ellis mused as he sat on Felix’s shoulder. He was cooking a kind of soup for his dinner while Ellis watched on in curiosity. Ellis cared for him and gave him little treats occasionally and Felix would light up in happiness. He would help Ellis when he could and would return the affectionate gestures eagerly.