Chapter 31

**Odette’s point of view: The new normal…**

*At first there were only silence, but then suddenly everything we knew had changed... *

A few weeks after Aurelia made her first appearance with Alex’s new letter, a messenger dressed in a royal uniform, showed up at the village one day. He was personally sent by the fairy king himself, to deliver an urgent letter addressed to my father; the head council member.

The letter read:

By royal decree from the Emperor.

With thorough investigation into the matter, we have uncovered a sudden rebellion uprising, forming in the werewolf kingdom.

After a successful mission into the werewolf kingdom, that was undertaken by both my trusted general and I, we uncovered a terrible truth and witnessed first-hand, the ruthlessness of the mastermind behind it all.
After, we had safely returned from the werewolf realm, we wasted no time and immediately leaped into action.

With the last war that had ended many centuries ago, most of our war veterans, has already retired and long since moved away from the larger communities, into the countryside. Under this difficult circumstance and with a feeling of great despair, it grieves me to ask this favour of my people. Unfortunately, I have no other choice, but to ask for new, willing recruits to join our great army. Any strong, willing young men and woman with some form of fighting experience, from both the fairy and vampire realms, will be welcomed and appreciated.

With much hope and appreciation, your brother in arms.

The Emperor

After my dad had read the letter out loud, most of the young fairies in the village was swept up in expressing their feelings of both excitement and horror. They also discussed the expectations of the unexpected announcement and of joining the army and later on taking part in a war that will ultimately take place in the near future. I silently stood there unable to move or speak, frozen in place and just listened to everyone’s conversation around me.

As time went on, capable young men and woman from all over the two realms, left home and signed up to become part of the Emperor’s great army. Young men and woman, that I have known for most of my life and grew up with, also packed up most of their possessions one day and convinced the council members, to let them join the army.

My dad and the other two council members had no choice but to agree to it. My dad knew it was always a great honour for young men and woman to go out and become part of something greater than themselves.

Not showing the sadness in our hearts, the rest of the village prepared a feast and held a departure ceremony for the young fairies and wished them safe travels on their new journey, that’s awaiting them on the other side. The next morning, we all stood on the edge of the village and waved the proud young men and woman goodbye, as they slowly turned around and disappeared down the mountain’s pathway…

Since the day, most of our capable young fairies had left the village to join the army, the rest of us, that stayed behind had to double our work load. Most of us had to undergo training, to be able to use our abilities, for new purposes. As daughter of the head council member, I felt it was my obligation to take on more responsibility. With my friend and co-leader from the other group, joined the army with the rest of the other fairies, I took it upon myself to take over the position as leader for both groups of fairies.

At first it was a little overwhelming for me and I didn’t think it was the right decision to have made at that time. But luckily my parents saw the struggle I underwent and quickly stepped in and helped me to find my feet again. Later on, with mom and dad’s support and guidance, I slowly got used to the new position, of taking care of both working groups of fairies.

Every day I take turns, dividing my time between the two groups. In the mornings, I spend some time with the girls, while they perform their duties near the lake. In the afternoons, I go deeper into the forest and make sure everyone is doing well and carrying out their duties as it was assigned to them. I also help out whenever someone needs an extra hand or whenever they are not sure about what to do in certain circumstances.

When everyone was finally settled in their new positions and was used to the new way of doing everything in and around the village, in an eyeblink time suddenly passed by quick and before I knew it, weeks had slowly turned into months and months had become a year later…

One afternoon, the groups had finished earlier with our duties, so I decided to give everyone the rest of the afternoon off, with high spirits we then quickly packed up our things and returned home. Not knowing what to do with myself, Aurelia and I went down to the orchard, to gather some delicious fruits to take home later.

After filling my basket with enough fruit for everyone at home, I took a break and picked out a beautiful spot underneath one of the larger fruit trees. This tree was situated a bit further away from most of the smaller trees in the orchard. While busy staring out over the setting sun and lost in thought, I suddenly came to the realization of how much time had actually passed, since that morning of our departure from the vampire realm.

It has already been a year since I last saw Alex, when we sweetly embraced and parted ways in the courtyard of his castle. We regularly communicate by frequently sending and receiving letters from each other, but it doesn’t completely full that gaping hole, I carry with me each and every day and it will never feel the same as being together with him in one place…

For now, that’s our only way of communication at the moment, since the news was released about the newly forming rebellion, taking place over in the werewolf realm. We all have our own obligations and duties to fill full, in this new reality that we find ourselves living in.

While still lost in my thoughts, Aurelia suddenly caught my attention when she started to make strange noises, that I have never heard until today and nodded her head up and down as a form of excitement, while she was staring at the spot behind the tree.

Now, filled with curiosity myself, I quickly stood up from my sitting position against the tree trunk and turned around to see what the commotion from Aurelia was all about. That’s when a warm and overwhelming feeling of joy suddenly struck me, when a pair of familiar, soft hazelnut eyes greeted me, from behind the tee trunk…