How Spring Returned
Apr. 30th, 2017 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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twispiteficTitle: How Spring Returned
Author: Elisserion
Fandom: Feminist Fairy Tales
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,013
Inspiration: Chapter 23, "How Winter Came to the World." I didn't find "Dea Mater" very relatable, or a good ruler.
Summary: Zooz never went looking for power.
The elf Zooz lived in a cave by himself and thought things and made things, and the world left him mostly alone. Until the Fairy Queen's daughter was stolen. That day, the elf looked out of his cave and saw a trio of sprites coming up the path.
"Zooz," they said, "it is cold outside, and our plants are dying."
"Ask the Fairy Queen for help," said Zooz. She had always carried the key to the sky and ruled everything that the sun's light touched. Surely, he thought, there'd simply been a mistake.
But the Fairy Queen was in mourning.
"Then harvest what survives in your gardens and preserve them," said Zooz. "Use some common sense."
And he thought the whole matter done with, until a few days later, when he saw dozens of sprites and pixies and elves outside his door, and even a few small giants.
"Zooz," they said, "it is cold outside. The leaves are falling from the trees. Some of us are sick."
"Ask the Fairy Queen for help," said Zooz. Surely she could not be ignoring this situation.
But the Fairy Queen was in mourning.
So Zooz left his cave and brought them fire to warm themselves with, and taught them about medicine for those who were sick, and invented mittens and snowshoes. But just when he thought his work was done, flakes of snow began to fall from the sky, and a blizzard began. The snow began to fall and continued to do so for weeks, then months. Sometimes it paused, but only so that hail could fall instead. The sun never shone anymore. It seemed the world would end under the endless, limitless snow.
"All right!" shouted Zooz. "Somebody get me the key to the sky."
One of the Fairy Queen's servants got into the palace and fetched him the key, and he climbed to the top of the tallest tree and managed to make a jump onto the nearest cloud. Then he fiddled around until the snow finally stopped, and the sun shone. It was a small and weak sun, not very used to shining anymore after so much time, and he had to kick it a few times to get it going.
Then Zooz went to see the Fairy Queen. Her palace was covered in a dome of snow and he had to tunnel in. He found her lying on her bed, weeping softly. She hadn't even taken the flowers out of her hair and now they were all dead.
"So your daughter was stolen," he said. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," said the Fairy Queen. "An awful troll stole her."
"Haven't you looked for her?"
She had not, and she begged him to leave her alone with her grief.
"People are dying of this cold! You must get up!"
But she would not.
"If I can bring your daughter back to you, do you swear to end the winter?"
She swore an oath that if she had her daughter back, warmth would return to the world. Furious, Zooz stomped out and asked the fairies where the troll kingdom was. No one knew, but they pointed him towards the flower fairies that had seen the princess kidnapped, and those flower fairies told him where the entrance was. And down Zooz went into the kingdom of the trolls, tightening his belt, for he knew well that eating any of their food would forever indebt him to them and leave him trapped in their land. (This went for most fairy lands.)
The troll guards took him before the troll king, who bade him speak.
"The world above is freezing," said Zooz. "The Fairy Queen will only fix this if her daughter is returned to her. Now, I know that you hold Princess Corey captive. If you refuse to release her, I will lead an army of very angry fairies and giants into your kingdom. However, if you free her, then I will make sure you are richly rewarded."
The troll king nodded, but there was one price he asked.
"You are asking a favor," he said, "and favors must always be in balance. I love the princess dearly, and would gladly brave war for her sake. But I will agree to make a trade: something I love for something you love. The fairy princess for your right eye."
So Zooz, newly half-blind, led the princess out. And because he was missing an eye, he noticed too late that she was eating from a pomegranate. He grabbed it from her, but she had already swallowed several seeds. Now she would always be bound to the trolls' realm. But she was just a frightened child, and it was still getting colder, so he hurried her home through the snow to her mother.
The Fairy Queen rejoiced. The snow turned to slush and finally melted away, and flowers, warmth and light returned to the world.
But to her dismay, no one wanted to listen to her anymore. In fact, they insisted on calling Zooz the king now, and he refused to give back the key to the sky. How was she supposed to send rain if she didn't have the key to the sky?
"Just ask me for rain when you need it," Zooz said. "You've proven you can't be trusted with all this power. Things have changed. The world is different now."
She was bound by her oath to keep the earth warm while her daughter was with her, but every time Corey went back to the trolls' realm, winter returned. Zooz kept an eye on the Fairy Queen, however, and never again was there any winter as horrible as the first one.
The Fairy Queen told anyone who still listened to her how awful Zooz was, how abusive and selfish and prudish. She explained how he'd stolen her power, misled her followers and forced her underground. She even wrote a book on it. Zooz read it and sent it back with all the research errors marked out in red ink. He was annoying like that.
Author: Elisserion
Fandom: Feminist Fairy Tales
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,013
Inspiration: Chapter 23, "How Winter Came to the World." I didn't find "Dea Mater" very relatable, or a good ruler.
Summary: Zooz never went looking for power.
The elf Zooz lived in a cave by himself and thought things and made things, and the world left him mostly alone. Until the Fairy Queen's daughter was stolen. That day, the elf looked out of his cave and saw a trio of sprites coming up the path.
"Zooz," they said, "it is cold outside, and our plants are dying."
"Ask the Fairy Queen for help," said Zooz. She had always carried the key to the sky and ruled everything that the sun's light touched. Surely, he thought, there'd simply been a mistake.
But the Fairy Queen was in mourning.
"Then harvest what survives in your gardens and preserve them," said Zooz. "Use some common sense."
And he thought the whole matter done with, until a few days later, when he saw dozens of sprites and pixies and elves outside his door, and even a few small giants.
"Zooz," they said, "it is cold outside. The leaves are falling from the trees. Some of us are sick."
"Ask the Fairy Queen for help," said Zooz. Surely she could not be ignoring this situation.
But the Fairy Queen was in mourning.
So Zooz left his cave and brought them fire to warm themselves with, and taught them about medicine for those who were sick, and invented mittens and snowshoes. But just when he thought his work was done, flakes of snow began to fall from the sky, and a blizzard began. The snow began to fall and continued to do so for weeks, then months. Sometimes it paused, but only so that hail could fall instead. The sun never shone anymore. It seemed the world would end under the endless, limitless snow.
"All right!" shouted Zooz. "Somebody get me the key to the sky."
One of the Fairy Queen's servants got into the palace and fetched him the key, and he climbed to the top of the tallest tree and managed to make a jump onto the nearest cloud. Then he fiddled around until the snow finally stopped, and the sun shone. It was a small and weak sun, not very used to shining anymore after so much time, and he had to kick it a few times to get it going.
Then Zooz went to see the Fairy Queen. Her palace was covered in a dome of snow and he had to tunnel in. He found her lying on her bed, weeping softly. She hadn't even taken the flowers out of her hair and now they were all dead.
"So your daughter was stolen," he said. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," said the Fairy Queen. "An awful troll stole her."
"Haven't you looked for her?"
She had not, and she begged him to leave her alone with her grief.
"People are dying of this cold! You must get up!"
But she would not.
"If I can bring your daughter back to you, do you swear to end the winter?"
She swore an oath that if she had her daughter back, warmth would return to the world. Furious, Zooz stomped out and asked the fairies where the troll kingdom was. No one knew, but they pointed him towards the flower fairies that had seen the princess kidnapped, and those flower fairies told him where the entrance was. And down Zooz went into the kingdom of the trolls, tightening his belt, for he knew well that eating any of their food would forever indebt him to them and leave him trapped in their land. (This went for most fairy lands.)
The troll guards took him before the troll king, who bade him speak.
"The world above is freezing," said Zooz. "The Fairy Queen will only fix this if her daughter is returned to her. Now, I know that you hold Princess Corey captive. If you refuse to release her, I will lead an army of very angry fairies and giants into your kingdom. However, if you free her, then I will make sure you are richly rewarded."
The troll king nodded, but there was one price he asked.
"You are asking a favor," he said, "and favors must always be in balance. I love the princess dearly, and would gladly brave war for her sake. But I will agree to make a trade: something I love for something you love. The fairy princess for your right eye."
So Zooz, newly half-blind, led the princess out. And because he was missing an eye, he noticed too late that she was eating from a pomegranate. He grabbed it from her, but she had already swallowed several seeds. Now she would always be bound to the trolls' realm. But she was just a frightened child, and it was still getting colder, so he hurried her home through the snow to her mother.
The Fairy Queen rejoiced. The snow turned to slush and finally melted away, and flowers, warmth and light returned to the world.
But to her dismay, no one wanted to listen to her anymore. In fact, they insisted on calling Zooz the king now, and he refused to give back the key to the sky. How was she supposed to send rain if she didn't have the key to the sky?
"Just ask me for rain when you need it," Zooz said. "You've proven you can't be trusted with all this power. Things have changed. The world is different now."
She was bound by her oath to keep the earth warm while her daughter was with her, but every time Corey went back to the trolls' realm, winter returned. Zooz kept an eye on the Fairy Queen, however, and never again was there any winter as horrible as the first one.
The Fairy Queen told anyone who still listened to her how awful Zooz was, how abusive and selfish and prudish. She explained how he'd stolen her power, misled her followers and forced her underground. She even wrote a book on it. Zooz read it and sent it back with all the research errors marked out in red ink. He was annoying like that.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-30 07:32 pm (UTC)Also, good on you for finding an excellent in-story reason for Zooz not realizing that Corey had eaten some pomegranate seeds. His being blind on that side makes so much sense!
Thank you for writing this.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-01 10:58 am (UTC)