Nova

Sister Astrid rubbed her hands together. They ached from dipping long, thin wicks repeatedly into vats of melted wax in the warm room where a long line of her sister nuns stood doing the exact same task. Mother Superior had noticed an interesting pattern in her candles, as if they had been dropped once or twice, and suggested that she take over ordering supplies for the festivities. Astrid had just finished a lengthy phone conversation during which she had enjoyed getting to talk to someone outside of the convent, and was pleased to have ordered the helium. She hoped twelve tanks would be enough for all the balloons, and had been careful not to order too many as salesperson had made it clear that there were no refunds. He had seemed like such a nice man, and he had been enthused by her order.

As she walked down the long hallway to attend the evening prayers with the rest of the sisters, something caught her eye which made her stop. It was a door. Sister Astrid was relatively sure that she knew every door in the convent, though she sometimes opened the wrong ones. It was like a dream, where you notice something for the first time and realize it had always been there. It was a plain wooden door with a small black handle, just like most of the doors in convent. In a moment of curiosity, she stopped and opened it, just to check as to what exactly was on the other side.

Nova flapped her double set of translucent wings and spread out her arms, partly for balance and partly so that she could run her fingers through the soft clouds. Occasionally she tugged at the empty, pink bag that hung at her waist to ensure that it was still secure. Her heart felt a little torn as she retraced the path her teacher had shown her the year before on her way to the dwarf mines. All the way there, she had watched the twinkling lights below of the villages and towns, imagining herself appearing before an astonished person and saying, "I have heard your wish." The Blue Fairy, her teacher, told her that she was a dreamer. Now she watched the twinkling lights again, feeling no closer to granting wishes than she had been the year before.

The fairies had been the tiniest bit short on dust at the end of the year this year as if a a handful of dust had mysteriously been misplaced, and there had been a bit of rationing on which wishes to grant in the last week or so, but it had all come out all right in the end. Nova reminded herself to be extra careful to fill the bag all the way to the top this year. Stifling another sigh at the thought of granting of wishes, she wondered if she would ever be a fairy godmother at all.

Still, the task of picking up the year's supply of dust was important, Nova thought to herself. Fairy dust the most powerful substance in the world, and here she was carrying this year's supply! The world below moved at a tolerable pace bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. The villages that looked like toys, and the castles like enchanted doll houses. The mountains towered and oceans' dipping, crashing waves stirred a longing to explore within her heart. If she was not allowed to grant wishes, could she not at least talk to the people down there? The Blue Fairy was a great mentor, but Nova wished she could see something of the world.

Lost in thought Nova as she reminisced and tracked her progress along the path the Blue Fairy had shown her, she nearly flapped headlong through an enormous pillar of cloud. Spinning away resulted in a momentary plummeting tailspin. Her head reeling as she twisted and flapped. She caught an updraft before the situation became too dire, but then she felt the empty pink bag, the precious vessel for the dust, slip from where she had securely tied it five times around her waist except that she had checked it was still there so often that the knots had become loose. It was so very difficult to tie silken rope.

"Oh dear," she cried as she watched it fall. Before she could loose sight of it, she made a dive, reaching out her fingers for the little pink bit of cloth. She just missed it, and doubled back with a stomach flipping swoop, when she felt herself loose all momentum and start to plummet. Mentally kicking herself for not paying more attention, she flapped with all her might, but a little too hard, only driving herself on a speedier trajectory towards what looked like a stately forest gleaming gold the in the sunset. She managed to catch hold of the bag before her head connected to a tree with a resounding thunk, and everything went black.