in winged sandals. Probably some fairy flying over the path had decided to play a prank. Flora stared up at the sky, but the fairy suddenly appeared beside her and laughed. She was translucent for a moment. Then she turned blue.
«How lucky I was to play a trick on you!» The unfamiliar fairy hovered in the air above the path and clapped her hands joyfully. Her nails, eyebrows, and eyelashes were silver, and her dress, hair, and wings were blue. Such beauty! Flora glared at the fairy, forgetting the danger. Somehow the fairy looked suspiciously like a blue rose from a bush.
«Are you a garden fairy?» Flora guessed.
«Uh-huh! I’ve been living in the hollow of an old elm tree for a couple of decades and I know all the secrets of the garden.»
«Are there any secrets in this garden?»
The fairy obviously did not want to answer. She flew forward along the avenue of poplars. Flora followed the fairy. It was strange that at this time of year the down was flying off the poplars. The fairy caught it and laughed. The poplar fluff turned blue in her hands.
When she reached the beech, the fairy tapped the trunk with her hand for some reason.
«What are you doing?»
«I want to call my friends. They live in the yew, ash and cypress trees.»
«Are they fairies like you?»
«Yes, they are.»
«No, you don’t need to call them.»
«Why is it not?» The fairy fluttered her silvery eyelashes in amazement.
«I don’t like noisy company.»
«I heard you and an elf agreeing to go to the fairy masquerade.»
«I didn’t like it.» Flora didn’t specify that it wasn’t the noise she didn’t like, but the claws of aggressive fairies.
«I don’t like it either, that’s why I haven’t attended masquerades for centuries,» admitted the garden fairy.
«How long have masquerades been held in the fairies’ residence?»
«I don’t remember exactly,» the Garden Fairy frowned. «I think since the Empress disappeared.»
«Which empress is it?»
«Does it really matter? Personally, I liked having fun in the company of the local marquise. She was such a fun person.»
«She’s gone,»» Flora said sadly.
«Is she?» The garden fairy was very surprised. «I saw her only yesterday.»
«You couldn’t have seen her yesterday.»
«It was definitely her.»
«You must be mistaken.»
Aren’t there many similar women all over the world? To the fairies, surely all mortals look pretty much alike. Then it’s strange why the fairy didn’t mistake Flora herself for her mother. After all, Flora was very similar in appearance to the late Marquise.
«Let’s dance in the air above the garden,» the fairy grabbed the hesitant Flora by both hands and tried to pull her into flight. «Let’s have a masquerade right here in the garden.»
«No!» Flora struggled to break free. «I’ll fall and get hurt.»
«It is really! You don’t have wings!» The garden fairy seemed to have just noticed this. She flew around Flora in surprise and even tried to unbuckle her corset to see if her wings were hidden underneath.
«I took you for a newcomer to the garden. Sometimes stray fairies come through here.»
Flora didn’t know what to say. The garden fairy must be out of her depth. Or she could be stealing her father’s port and drinking it in the hollow tree. The maids complained that one flask of port had disappeared.
How could the garden fairy otherwise claim to know all the secrets of the estate if she mistakes the master’s daughter for a stranger?
Between the footprints on the path something glittered. It seemed to be a coin. Flora bent down and picked it up. The coin was unusual. It had no crest or tails. There was a silhouette of a dragon embossed on both sides.
«Had the dragon dropped it?» Flora could only think of such an assumption. Although on the other hand, the unusual coin could have belonged to a garden fairy or the young wizard Edwin.
The coin was hot, as if it had been heated on fire. Flora almost dropped it from her fingers.
«Don’t throw it away!» The fairy warned. «The coin is magic. If you throw it, you will find the way to the dragon’s kingdom.»
«Is it to the dragon kingdom! Why would I go there? I’m afraid of dragons!»
«And they love you.»
«That’s not true! The dragon was just told to watch over me and pester me with advice.»
Another piece of advice was scorched on the bench. Why did the dragon ruin the bench! It was expensive, the Aluar’s craftsmen made it from yew and valuable copper. Flora didn’t even bother to read the inscription. She’d had enough of the dragon’s advice.
«Keep the coin! If you toss it, you can find a way out of any situation,» the fairy squinted slyly.
She flapped her wings and knocked over a statue of some garden goddess.
«Careful, it’s expensive!» Flora rushed to save the statue, but it was already shattered.
«I don’t like garden goddesses! But if it’s expensive, let it stay here. Just give me the coin.»
Flora was glad to part with the coin that burned her fingers.
With a flap of the fairy’s wings, the statue was whole.
«One coin is worth a whole gallery of such statues,» the fairy explained, but she didn’t give the coin back.
«Is it alive?» Flora recoiled from the statue, which began to make faces.
«No, it’s my magic. It only takes a pinch of magic to revive a statue.»
«You can put her back to sleep, or she’ll scare the guests away with her marble facial expressions.»
The garden fairy stared at Flora in discouragement.
«You’re impossible to understand!» She sighed.
Flora could have said the same thing about the fairy, but she delicately kept silent.
«Do you think that a magician who comes to visit you will be stunned at the sight of just one living statue?» The fairy was busy shaking off the debris from her skirts, which resembled the petals of a blue rose. The statue suddenly fell asleep. At least it didn’t make any more faces.
«Thank you!»
