Why Cybil Believes in Faeries

Despite being a very precocious little girl full of Magick and having wonderful parents who had taught her that the things she saw and the things she could do were as natural as rain in the summertime, Cybil Kae had one major regret: despite all the Magick in her life, she had never once caught so much as a glimpse of a Faerie. She believed in them with all her heart, and wanted very much to see one, but here she was almost eight and a half years old and still hadn't seen one.

But Midsummer had come and she was determined. Her father had told her that Midsummer Night was a special night in which the Veil between worlds thinned and the Fae could be more easily seen.

"But why is that night so special?" Cybil wanted to know.

"Well, Little One," her father had explained with a warm smile, "Midsummer is the longest day and shortest night of the year–it's also called the Summer Solstice. The Solstice is the first day of summer; as the Sun begins His movement through the House of Cancer, a special nighttime energy is created that brings the Faerie Realm closer to ours."

"But Daddy, if the Summer Solstice is the first day of Summer, why is it called 'Mid-summer?'" That part didn't make any sense to Cybil.

"Because Midsummer sounds better." her father had answered with a wolfish grin.

Thus it was that on Midsummer morning, Cybil packed a small satchel with cookies her mother had baked for her. Then, when the sun was beginning to set, she took Jupiter, her faithful three-legged Great Dane, with her to a special place deep in the woods behind her house. It was a place she had always thought particularly Magickal. It was full of brightly coloured wildflowers and mushrooms and moss-covered stones. It reminded her of the enchanted forests she read about in stories. It was in this place that she knew she would finally see a Faerie.

She sat herself down beneath a large oak tree and took out her mother's cookies.

"It's going to be so wonderful, Jupiter," She said, giving the Great Dane a cookie. "They're going to be so pretty and I'm going to sing the flower songs Mommy taught me, and the Faeries are going to want to know how I know such pretty songs, and I'm to tell them Mommy taught me, and then I'm going to teach them the songs and then we'll be friends forever!" It was a great plan and Cybil was very excited.

For his part, Jupiter was much more interested in the cookies than Faeries.

The sun set. The waxing moon sailed through the tree branches. Fireflies came out and began their dance, flashing their butt-lights at one another. Cybil's father had told her that fireflies communicated with their lights, and he called them butt-lights, which was a very funny word, so Cybil called them butt-lights too.

After awhile, Jupiter got bored and began snuffling around, his big tail whipping back and forth like a big fan. He didn't know why Cybil had brought him out to the woods, but there were cookies to eat and interesting smells to investigate. That was good enough for him.

Cybil still hadn't seen any Faeries. She'd been there for over an hour–where were they?!

"Maybe they're just not here yet," she whispered to Jupiter. He lifted his head at the sound of her voice and looked at her with his ear perked. Then a firefly landed on his nose and made him sneeze.

"Maybe if I sing the flower song Mommy taught me, the Faeries will come; what do you think, Jupiter?"

Jupiter looked at her, then responded with a shuff sound that Cybil took to mean "Why certainly, Princess Cybil, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" so she began to sing. Her voice was small, but it was clear and strong like a starlight. The song had no words. Her mother had taught her that flower songs were sung with the heart, not with words; you sing how the flowers make you feel. So Cybil sang of beauty, and of hope; she sang of bright, vibrant colours and pleasant smells. The notes of her song floated across the enchanted glade in gossamer waves, filling the space with the Magick of her heart.

Cybil sang, and as she did, the fireflies that filled the glade seemed to dance in the air with their butt-lights twinkling in time to the song. The longer she sang, the more fireflies that arrived.

While she sang, Cybil's bright blue eyes never stopped searching for Faeries. They searched the bright wildflower blossoms, swept through the branches of the trees, probed the leaves under bushes. But all she saw were the dancing fireflies. Several of them had even landed on her and Jupiter while she sang and seemed to be enchanted by her flower song.

"You know," said a small voice next to her ear, "if you really want to see us, you really should pay more attention to what's right in front of you."

Cybil yelped, nearly jumping out of her skin. Turning her head she saw a firefly on her shoulder. It had spoken to her! Hadn't it?

Looking closer, the tiny insect wavered like bad television reception. Suddenly, the firefly was gone–in its place was a very tiny elfin man holding an even tinier lantern from which shone a pretty green light. His face was lit by a pleasant smile.

"Ah, that's better," he said. He spread his firefly-like wings and flitted down to her hand where he seated himself.

"You're a Faerie!" Cybil exclaimed.

The Faerie cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, yeah," he said, folding his wings down along his back. "What else would I be? Were you perhaps expecting something else?"

"No!" said Cybil. "I mean, yes, but I... that is, I mean... Um, why were you pretending to be a firefly?"

"I wasn't," the Faerie replied. "You mortals tend to see only what you expect to see, rather than what's right in front of you. We Fae are everywhere, but only a few of you ever have the openness to see us."

"Oh," said Cybil. That made a lot of sense. All around her, she saw that most of the fireflies were gone, revealed now as the Faeries they'd been the entire time. Most of them were dancing with the real fireflies. Some waved at her with cheerful smiles. Several were busying themselves with weaving flowers into Jupiter's collar.

"So now that you've seen us, would you sing to us some more?" asked the Faerie sitting on her hand. "Your flower songs are very pretty."

Cybil gladly sang for her new friends. She shared her cookies and they shared the Faerie cakes and taught her some of their songs. They used their Faerie Magick to enclose the enchanted glade in a bubble outside of time so Cybil's first Midsummer night lasted for almost two whole days.

Throughout it all, leaning unseen against a tree not very far away, Cybil's father watched his daughter with great pride. A firefly floated past him on its way to join the fun and winked its butt-light. He winked back.