The fairy in the forest

The little fairy was wandering in the woods. It was a young forest with thin tree, and it was kind of disappointing to her: the fairy looked young, but she was old. Her magic was fading away and taking care of a young tree would drain her, for nothing.

She was traveling, away from her colony, away from what she knew and where she grew. The sun was caressing her skin, the canopy was really thin around here. At least, there were a lot of flowers and butterflies. The birds were singing, and the young forest was teeming with life.

The fairy spent a lot of time watching, listening, and smelling the forest, but as much as it was beautiful, nothing felt appealing enough, so she left. Because she had no decided destination, she decided to use another path, and after a while, she found Him. The tree was tall, the canopy was thick, the roots were huge. At first, she was surprised and happy, and she started to fly around his trunk, and then… she felt sad. Even if the tree was huge and majestic, she couldn’t help but notice how damage it was. The tree was old, but not enough to die yet. After a while, the little fairy decided that this was going to be her last work, her last gift to the world. She herself was already fed up with life and she had already decided a long time ago to use her magic one last time before resting indefinitely.

She started her work. She healed every wound on the trunk, cleaned the roots, injected magic directly into the earth to feed the tree. A long time passed, the sun went up and down the sky for so long, she didn’t realize. She was too busy taking care of this majestic king of the forest.

One day, she realized that her work was done, her magic was drained. The canopy was thicker than ever, the leaves had grown bigger and greener, the trunk was larger than before, and the roots weren’t damaged anymore. There were insects and animals everywhere and overall, the forest looked happier. That’s the moment she realized that she gave everything she had. She had a glimpse of herself in a nearby pound, and reality crushed her. She looked old, ill, and sad. Her eyes were dark, and she was so skinny.

She looked again at her beloved tree and realized that despite everything she had done, despite being healed, the tree never bore any fruit. She couldn’t feed and was left alone to die.

The fairy started to cry, but she was so drained that no tears fell. She had no strength left to leave to find food or save herself. That’s when she remembered. She was already dying. She was already fed up with life. She had nothing left to give, and the tiny bit she had, she gave it all to that indifferent tree, to that tree she fell in love with. She fell in love with his growth, his healing, his visible happiness, and she forgot that she had to take care of her own, she forgot that she wanted to die. She had gained back her will and joy to live, but she was too weak and sad now.

Since she could not fly anymore, she walked, slowly and weakly. As much as she wanted to stay close to her tree, she was unable to watch him and die in front of him. She didn’t want to disrupt the peace and joy she created, and since he was indifferent to her very existence, things could just stay that way.

She went back to the young forest. The tree grew bigger, but not as much as she would have thought. There were still a lot of flowers and butterflies, so the fairy lied down on the floor, looking at the canopy and pieces of the night sky, and she let herself go, with a last thought for her beloved tree, and a final tear.