After a couple of minutes of snapping photos with Muyurni moaning in the back, Leanne finally agreed to go to whatever leaders this village had, and to get Muyurni's wounds treated. The fairy was struggling to fly; clearly, she'd never flown much in her life, and Leanne could see the strain on her wings and her body. 

She'd never been unkind, but her friendliness had always been sort of... Dry. Not like Miranda. Leanne's best friend was the life and soul of the party, even if every other sentence had to be a unique fact about caterpillars.

Leanne rolled her eyes as the fairy struggled behind and finally gave in. "Come here," she said. "I'll carry you."

Muyurni's eyes widened in shock and she flinched away. "You can't - you can't possibly - you are?"

"Um - what?" Leanne asked.

"You... You want... To date me? But... You're human... I'm a fairy... And-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Leanne said, raising a hand to halt the spluttering woman. "I said I could carry you. I didn't ask to date you. Who would want to date you, anyway?" She regretted the sentence leaving her mouth as Muyurni's eyes darkened, but she didn't so much as utter a word, instead glancing everywhere but at Leanne.

Finally, she spoke. "You really didn't mean anything...?"

"You're hobbling around like you're carrying a ten ton weight and those wings look like they're going to break. So put aside whatever traditions prevent me from helping you and get your butt over here. I haven't got any romantic intentions - they aren't even friendly. I'm just tired of walking at, hm, ten meters per minute."

Muyurni flushed, but finally allowed Leanne to carry her. The fairy felt as light as a feather, and Leanne only had her body to show that someone was actually resting in her arms.

She set Muyurni down in front of the building to avoid any awkwardness. The building where the fairy king and queen lived - well, she supposed it was the palace - looked... Terrible. Slightly more decorated than the peasants' houses, but otherwise just as gray and boring.

It was smaller than any palace she'd ever seen. There was no reception area, no servants, just an immediate dining area and then the bedrooms. It honestly looked no bigger than Leanne's house.

"You're sure the king and queen live... Here?" she asked Muyurni.

"Of course," Muyurni said, surprised, as if she hadn't expected Leanne to doubt it.

Not to be rude, but... Leanne's own house was more well-decorated than this, and she didn't even care about cleanliness.

"The king and queen are coming!" Muyurni hissed.

Sure enough, they were. Now, they looked... Slightly rich? The king was wearing a uniform which looked new from a distance, but up close, it wasn't as white as it seemed. It was yellowed from age. And the queen's seemingly exquisite ballgown was old as well, fraying at the edges. 

Leanne moved to curtsey before she realized she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Her typical clothing, but most certainly not presentable in front of a king and queen. But at least her clothes weren't frayed and old; her mother had bought this top just three weeks ago, and the jeans... Well, she'd bought them from the thrift store, but they were in relatively good condition.

"Good evening, fair girl," the king said and bowed slightly. Leanne felt a shiver run down her spine. When had anyone ever bowed to her? "I am King Erici." King Erici - weirdest name she'd ever heard, but... Sure. "Muyurni, my daughter. What has happened to you?"

Muyurni was a princess? Well, that couldn't be good; she'd just broken two of the princess's limbs.

"You're a princess?" It came out of Leanne's lips before she could stop it.

Muyurni laughed. "No, I'm not. Things are... Strange, yeah. Queen Talani here is my father's second wife. His first wife was Queen Talani's sister, Mevari, but she died in war."

"You were born... Before he married her," Leanne said. Muyurni nodded, and then the king sent her off to the healers.

"I am Queen Talani," the queen introduced herself with a slight bow and a curtsey.

"I'm... Leanne," she mumbled.

"Are you not a fairy?" Talani's eyebrows went up high.

"No. I'm human."

How did they know by her name? Then again, all their names seemed to end in I; maybe she should change her name to Leanni. Nah - that sounded awful.

"A human! Then you are... The Chosen One! Of Queen Mitzi." Queen Talani looked in awe, and her fake smile widened as she looked Leanne up and down. "How old are you? Fifty?"

"Humans age differently," Leanne said. That much, she had deduced. "I'm sixteen."

The queen looked horrified. "So young!" she practically squawked in a manner unbefitting of a queen.

Leanne nodded. Surely, they knew some things about humans. "Just a question... Does time pass here? As compared to the human world?"

"Of course it does," Queen Talani said, amused.

"Ah - but," King Erici pointed out, "A hundred years here is a second in your world. Should you return, you will become the age you were when you left."

"Good," said Leanne. She didn't want to imagine her friends and family's horror when she turned up as an old woman in her nineties.

"We shall... Show you some... Accommodation, honored... Ah... Leanello, was it?"

Leanne winced. "No. Leanne."

"Well, we should give you a fairy name so you'll seem normal."

"Normal? I haven't got wings," Leanne said. Normal? Why would they want her to pass off for a fairy, anyway? She wasn't one, never would be. She was human. And though they stank up their world with pollution and caused global warming, she was still proud to call herself a part of the human race.

"Still. Your new name shall be Lareli," King Erici announced. Lareli? What kind of name was Lareli? 

But... Fine. It wasn't as bad as Erici at least.

"I shall assign you a guide. Talani?" King Erici looked over at his wife, and the fairy queen gave a dry laugh.

"We don't have so many to spare, but I suppose we could loan her Lunari, for now."

Didn't anyone have a regular name here? Leanne sighed. This was going to be weird. Why couldn't they all have normal names like Sophie or Mary or Jane??

Oops - not Mary Jane. That would've been... Weird. 

Lunari turned out to be a white fox with silver-tipped ears and a tail. Her tongue was a peachy pink, her claws pale pink as well.

"I am Lunari," she introduced herself, her voice soft and whispery.

"The fox speaks?" Leanne yelped, jumping backwards.

"No, it doesn't," said Talani.

"It - it just spoke! It told me its name was Lunari."

"Hallucinating, poor girl. You probably haven't adapted to our world yet." Queen Talani yawned. "Well, it's past bedtime."

"It's 5pm," Leanne couldn't resist pointing out.

Talani nodded. "I know. Why?"

"Why do you sleep so early? I sleep at 10, and that's early among my friends."

"Sometimes the Titans might attack during the wee hours," Talani explained. "You never know."

Leanne still couldn't figure out why they could survive Titan attacks without magic but hadn't even managed to repel the Titans with magic. Still, she wasn't about to question the way this world worked; then she might end up finding out more and more things she knew that didn't make sense anymore.

Lunari led Leanne to a humble cottage, refusing to speak again until they were out of earshot. The cottage was simple and small, with two floors. The first floor hosted a dining table and a tiny kitchen, and the second had a chair and a bed. It was really the smallest house Leanne had ever seen.

"You can hear me?" Lunari asked in the same whispery voice as before.

Leanne nodded. She didn't know how, exactly, but she could.

"Then you can call me Luna," the fox said, smiling.

Well, Luna was a normal name! Leanne smiled back at the fox. "I'm Leanne. But you can call me Lea."

"Lea," the fox whispered. "Do you understand what is going on in this world?" Lunari spoke softly but audibly.

"No, not really. And how come I can talk to you?"

"I do not know," Lunari whispered. "It means you have magic inside of you. Only magic enables you to talk to me. But how do you have magic?"

"I didn't even know what magic was until today. As in, I knew, but I didn't know it existed."

"That... Is new," Lunari stated calmly. She scanned Leanne with her eyes and they widened. "I have found your magic source."

"What is it?"

"You were bathed in magic essence. But... How is that possible?" Lunari looked confused. "Such powerful magic essence can only be found near the Copperstones! Did you... It was today. You were in contact with magic essence today. What did you touch?"

"The amulet?"

"No... The amulet did not have enough magic. That means... You destroyed something for its magic essence. What did you destroy today, Lea?"

"Ummmmmmmmmm........." Leanne thought for a very, very, very, very long time before finally remembering. "I crushed a caterpillar."

Lunari's eyes sparkled. "What did it look like?"

"Uh. It was purple? And... A little green? And-"

"Project your memory before us, Lea."

"Umm... How do I do that?" First of all... She had magic?? Second... Why did Lunari expect her to know how to use it??

"Think of it, imagine yourself projecting it onto the air."

"Uhhhhhh..." She did. It took three tries, but a projection of the squashed caterpillar appeared on the screen.

"For the love of Mistique... That is Queen Mitzi's missing shape shifting dragon!"