Aletia and Yenni looked at their newborn babies. They were fairies, hiding out in a Pelaynian forest with some others, forming a little fairy village called Lantri. Even though the joy of becoming parents was still hanging in the air, the two fairy parents were terrified. They had just given birth to twin girls, Leya and Lera.

They were identical in every aspect - two beautiful children. If this had been any other community or any other time, the parents would have been thrilled. But to fairies, twins were a horrible sign.

Twins were considered to be an omen of some sort. If a couple had twins, they would either kill the second-born twin or both of the twins. Out of fear and love for their children, they knew something had to be done.

Aletia hugged her children as she and her husband tried to think of someplace they could take their babies that would be safe. They couldn't leave the forest, for their species was hunted. Humans and other creatures were captured fairies by the dozens. They wanted their wings - a fashionable article for any rich woman to wear. They wanted their bones - which were known for their magical healing powers. They wanted their tears - sacred fairy's tears that could heal any disease from any person. If you could get any of those three things, you became a very wealthy person.

Unless you're a fairy. The fear of being captured and killed drove many fairies to the forests. They used to live in peace in the flowers of fields, and everyone liked having them around. Then some sick, twisted people began tearing their wings off to make hats and pins and other things.

One day, a man discovered a fairy. He didn't intend to hurt her, of course. He was an old man, dying of multiple diseases. In his garden, he discovered her sleeping under some flowers. Gently nudging her awake, he bent down and watched her. She started crying the minute she saw him. Trying to comfort her, he had wiped away her tears with his finger. Immediately he was healed.

Once word got around that fairies had such awesome healing powers, the hunt for them because doubly worse. By the time of these twin fairy's birth, there was barely any fairies left. The ones that were left were living in tiny villages deep within forests or in the hollows of trees. None dared to venture from the safety of their homes.

Yenni and Aletia both were fighting with their thoughts. Surely it would be better to let one child die than to have all four of them be killed. But think how heartless that is! They loved both of their children, and didn't want either one to be sacrificed for any reason.

The midwife looked over at the couple. Their wings were drooping and barely moving, burdened with a deep, deep sadness. She looked down at the message she was about to send to their records hall - "Born today - identical twin girls to Aletia and Yenni Wintertree". She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing she couldn't do this to them.

She cleared her throat, "I think I may know of someone who can help you."

The mother's wings brightened with hope, "Who?"

"Well," She wrang her hands and stared anywhere but at them. "There is a magic man who lives at the far west end of the forest. He specializes in..." Taking a step closer to them, her voice dropped down to a whisper. "In transformations."

They looked up at her with confusion and she stepped to them closer still. "If he can transform one of your daughters into a human, they both could live. Of course, it also means you might never see your daughter again."

Aletia's tears fell on her face as Yenni said, "No.. That can't be the only way."

The nurse sighed. "I'm afraid it is."

"No! We... uhm... there has to be another way! How about... how about adoption? We could find a family to adopt the second child!"

"What fairy couple would adopt a bad omen?" She said this as gently as she possibly could. "They aren't safe in the fairy world."

Yenni's eyes were becoming a well of tears. He stared into space, taking in the reality of the idea. "But we would never see her again. We just couldn't live with that-"

"No," said Aletia firmly, finally regaining the handle on her emotions. "I would rather have her alive in the care of someone else's house, then dead in the care of mine."

Her husband nodded at the wisdom of the comment, "So you think it's a good idea?"

"Of course not!" She snapped. "But we have no other choice."

The nurse gave them directions to the wizard's house and watched them discuss the idea again and again and again, as if they thuoght that by discussing it enough, they could come up with a better idea.

She smiled as she wrote another message. "Born today - one daughter to Aletia and Yenni Wintertree". She sent it to the house of records and looked back at the couple, her conscience satisfied that she had done all she could do.

---

"No, see, the nurse said to go past the brook and then turn west." Yenni shouted above the sound of rushing water. "We're going the right way."

"It just seems to be taking a long time to get there." Aletia rebundled her daughters closer to herself. "Maybe we should ask for directions."

Staring at his wife in disbelief, he threw up his hands. "And just who do you suppose we ask?" He gestured to the empty forest around them. "We're the only ones here!" Wings fluttering in exasperation, he threw a hand towards a stump in the distance. "Who do you want to ask? The stump!?"

"We could ask him." She pointed to the stump.

Slowly turning around, he looked for what she was pointing to. THere was indeed a man, sitting on the old stump and staring intently at the ground. He had flowing silver hair and shoulders that spoke of hard times.

"Go on, let's ask him." She managed to push her husband forward even with a baby in each arm.

They cautiously flew towards him, wings shaking and shining dimly out of fear and apprehension. The closer they got to him, the more his lack of colour coordination became evident. Bright oranges and greens, bue and purple stripes on a red background, two shades of yellow that obviously clashed...

They lowered themselves until they were level with his eyes. Yenni cleared his throat. "Excuse me... sir?"

The man didn't look up from the ground. He simply muttered to himself and ignored them.

"Do you know where we can find-"

He put a finger to his lips then slowly pointed to the ground. They both looked down to see a bunch of markings etched into the ground with a few objects scattered within them. There was an apple, a scroll, and a red leaf. Everything seemed to be centred around a single pair of shoes.

The man's eyes grew wider with intensity and he waved his hand over the spectacle, muttering something the fairies couldn't understand.

The air aroudn them seemed to tingle, then glow. The apple, scroll, and leaf rose a few inches in the air and the markings began to glow. They all held their breath, caught in the strange magical moment. Yenni put his arm around his wife and they all stared at the ground.

It grew more and more intense, the three objects rose higher, the air got thicker, the trees seemed to close in around them. There was a slight humming in the air. Even the breeze seemed to stop moving, as if it too were holding its breath and watching, waiting.

The shoes gave a little hop, the objects fell to the ground, and the old man shot to his feet in a fury. "CONFOUND IT!" He shouted with great force. Yenni covered his ears. "NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I DO THIS, YOU REMAIN ENCHANTED!" He screaemd in frustration and flung his hand at a tree. Yelling curse words in another language, the tree disentigrated into a pile of dust. He fell onto the stump and sighed. "I guess... we will try again... tomorrow." The shoes gave another hop and danced little circles around the old trunk. "It will work tomorrow. It has to work tomorrow... the seven billionth time is the charm, right? It must work..."

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Yenni tried again.

The brightly coloured man looked up in surprise, as if just noticing them for the first time. "Oh. Hello."

"Hello." The fairies tried to calm their racing hearts. "We were wnodering if you could help us out with some directions. We think we might be lost."

The man rose from the stump and smiled at them. "Sure, I'll do what I can. Where are you headed?" He clapped his hands once and a small map of the forest appeared between them.

"Um, we're looking for a wizard."

He chuckled. "Forrection. You have found a wizard. Although I prefer the term mage, but apparently that's never going to work. So yes. You have found a wizard." The shoes tripped over the man's feet on their thirtieth-or-so time around. "Quit it, you idiots." They seemed to droop sadly and settle against the stump.

"Are you the wizard that specializes in transformations?"

The wizard laughed loudly, "I don't specialize in anything but screwing up, but sure... I've been developing some techniques and theories concerning transformations, yes."

Any and all certainty now being defeated, Aletia struggled to keep her voice strong. "What sorts of transformations?" She clutched her sleeping babies close to her.

"Well, all kinds, really, especially..." He stopped, considering them carefully. "Why do you ask?"

They huddled closer together. Yenni's voice quivered a bit. "We need you to transform one of our daughters into a... well... a something else."

Turning from them, the wizard started walking to the north, his shoes following close behind. "Twins," he grunted. "Follow me."

They flew behind him in silence. He hurled insults at the shoes when they tripped him on occassion, but otherwise it was perfectly silent.

---

"So what do you want me to transform her into?" The wizard finally spoke to them as he pushed open the door to his small cottage.

"Well, we were thinking that you'd turn her into a human." Aletia looked around the dwelling place of this wizard. It wasn't very neat, but its messiness was the kind that made you respect a person. The kind of disorder that proved just how sophisticated and busy a person's life is. It was respectable clutter that dirtied the desks and cabinets and shelves. Most of it was made up of papers and books, with beakers and flasks of different coloured liquids. Objects with magical properties were lain about without much care, moved simply to make room for more important things.

"A human, eh?" The magic man drifted over to a bookshelf and ran his hand along the bindings. "Shoes, go make me an omlette, I'm hungry." He pulled a volume from the shelf and flipped through the pages.

Yenni blinked in wonder as the shoes ran to the kitchen and hopped on top of the counter. He watched curiously as they deftly balanced two eggs on their tops then knocked them against he counter before cracking them over a pan.

"Transforming anything into a human is difficult." The wizard brushed some papers off of a stool and sat upon it, the fairies before him. "But I can do it. Which child are you wanting this done to?"

Yenni blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Um.. which child... of the two... do you want transformed? There are two," he pointed to Aletia's arms. "Which one?"

"Oh." Aletia looked into the faces of her beautiful daughters. "Umm.. I never thought of that." She looked at Leya's face, her eyes closed and her mouth hanging open a little. Her lips were glistening with soft baby spit and her tiny fists were snuggling her arm. The mother smiled at her delicate, sleeping child.

"You have to make a decision, Mrs...."

"Wintertree." Yenni answered for his wife. "I'm Yenni, this is Aletia."

"I'm Arif." The wizard nodded roughly.

Aletia was ignorant to everything happening. Her eyes shifted away from her firstborn and settled on the second. Lera. This daughter's eyes were big, round, and bright. They stared back at her, not blinking. She didn't smile or frown or even open her mouth. Her hands were open and she rubbed her fingers against each other. She didn't reach out to her mother, nor did she reject her. She just stared, bravely, into the face of unconditional love.

"Madam?" Arif raised his eyebrows. "Which one?"

"Lera." She said quickly, with decision, as she stared into those questioning eyes. "She could handle it. She'd be okay."

The emotion in her voice made Arif sort of uncomfortable. He had never actually done a human transformation before, and this woman apparently really loved her child. Licking his lips and turning back to his book, he took a deep breath. "You do know, there's no guarantee. Transformations are hard, and tricky, and-"

"Arif, you're our only hope." Yenni took his younger daughter from his wife and looked into her face. "Goodbye, darling." He kissed her forehead and handed the tiny thing to the wizard.

She was no bigger than a peanut. Moving the blanket with his pinky finger, Arif looked at the sweet face. A pair of tiny light blue wings lay underneath her, moving with that awkward movement that only a baby can make.

"I'll do what I can." He whispered.

"Good." With an arm around his wife, Yenni led her away. Aletia's tears spilled onto her face as she slowly flew out of the hut-like home.

Letting go of the breath he'd been holding, Arif looked down at the baby in his hand. "I can't do this."