"Hurry your ladyship, we need your help dealing with the humans! There is a conflict arising because of the replica item," The golden bird said.

I sprinted down the street with the golden bird leading the way. I quickly made out a fairy child with a golden bag with a crown on it. The fairy child had jet black hair with feathery gold wings on their back. The fairy child wore a copper mask over their face with a beak on it. The shadows continued to bow down as I rush pass them. Inky jumped along as we go pass the many shops and houses. I ducked between the townspeople and guards. The messenger detoured from the exit of town towards the temple. I turned on my heel and move toward the town gate. I shouted out, "I WILL BE BACK! I SWEAR!"

The fairy child cried out, "Your ladyship! YOUR LADYSHIP! WE NEED YOU!"

I passed the guards with much haste as the golden bird madly followed behind me. I continued on without regarding the strange faces of the guards. Nor did I paid heed to the warnings of the shadow people try to block my way. Inky lead my way along the pathway back to the barn. I only had to pass through the woods and then... And then... And then? I took a deep breath with my bag jingling and rattling with my books and jars. As I come to the edge of the woods, I saw the silver threads of the webs. The spiders were climbing everywhere. I stopped as I caught up with Inky. He mewed at the edge of the woods. The shadow people stood thick at tree line. The fair folk were among the bushes. They were filled with fear. The deer form of Everblossom came to the path with webs. I raced into the webs, but found myself being bounced back. I dropped my mouth. I reached behind my hair and stared down at my hairpin. I shook it and yelled, "If you do something, I need you! I need you to clear the way! Or whatever you do! I need to save my brother!"

Everblossom pleaded, "Your ladyship, we have respected all you choices. You were free to become an herbalist. We would have been content to allow you to continue. Please hear us out."

"Everblossom! Everblossom! My brother is endanger I just know it! There are three spirits from the Light God! They are trying to claim my brother! Let me through! I have a bad feeling! I know something is going to happen! I have a feeling!" I yelled.

"We must protect you, Lady Serenity. We cannot risk you. The Spider has warned us. You might be at risk of death! Please let us help you!" Everblossom swallowed, "We have another problem within the woods. We can care for it..."

"What is it!? My brother is at the farm! My whole family is there!" I waved the hair pin. The webs glimmered silver with each pass of my hair pin. If I ... Hmm...

Everblossom merged to her elfish form. She wore light armor with a bow slung across her back, "The danger comes from another land. There is a spy on behalf of the Shinning Wizard King. It has enraged the local spirits that demons should be in the woods. Please, Ladyship, turn back to the town. Or let us escort you straight home. But don't chase your brother."

I held my hair pin with thought. At my current rate, I will be too late. He might accept the offer of Zephyr, Shark Bait, and Coal. I huffed, "Escort me home!? Send me to town!? Are you and Elmer working together?"

"Yes," Everblossom nodded, "We are working with Master Elmer to protect your family. The Elfish Kingdom will serve its Lady well. Please allow us to help you."

"EVERBLOSSOM! I NEED TO GET TO MY FAMILY! I NEED TO GET TO MY BROTHER!" I shouted as I slashed my arm down. The webs weakened and I raised my head.

"Your Ladyship!" Everblossom frowned.

"Y-You always tell me I am the Lady or Ladyship!! Then I will accept your help!! I am telling you to protect my brother! I want my brother away from danger! Can you do it!?" I yelled.

Everblossom swirled around to the hidden fairy folk, "You heard her Ladyship's order! Go find the boy and shield him from the Light God. He is under the protection of the Elfish Queen, Mother us all, and God of Life. Go tell that to those guardians!"

I nearly dropped my hair pin as I watched them leave. The shadow people continued to block my path along with the webs. They glimmered as Everblossom continued, "Ladyship, I was hoping we could talk about this in length on your thirteen birthday . . . You must understand you are very important to our people...It seems the God of Seasons and Stars is allied with you, too."

I stopped to point to the shadow people, "Not fairies?"

"They are his people. He has been watching over you since you were four. Now my Ladyship, I must join the fight. Have you decided? Will you watch over your family in the farm area? Or will you return to the town to watch over the people and your granny?"

"You are going to turn me around?"

"My Ladyship, there is many ways to go," Everblossom pulled her bow at the ready, "Hammer is in the town. He can handle it as best as he can. We will do what we can. Which way my Lady?"

"Granny can help the town with Hammer. They have the town after all! The town is trained to fight! My family is not! Let me through!" I shouted as the shadow people rustle around. They slowly vanished from sight as I lift up the hair pin and slice at the webs. The hair pin expanded out to a rod with a pale pink orb on top. I staggered in surprise as Inky blinks at me. The cat licked it claws and slashed away the remaining webs.

"Everblossom, lead us home," A silky voice escaped from my sweet cat. He looked into the forest, "Everyone clear a path my Lady seeks a way. Keep the Wizard's eyes busy elsewhere."

Soft mutters filled the wind. I stepped pass the broken webs with my rod and Inky. I nodded to Everblossom, "Let's go!"

Wind mutters to my ears: Make way the Fairy Queen comes.

I felt the crush of the dusty path beneath my feet. The forest was heavy with dread over the coming events. The trees and flowers seemed to lean low in bows at I come through my rod. The animals stopped in their tracks as we come along the path between the forest and Noble Wolf.

Hark now! The eye of the spying one!

Everblossom grabbed my hand and dragged me into the bushes nearby. The sensation of being watched surrounded us as we hidden in the bushes. Everblossom shielded us with silver glow and whispered in a foreign tongue. My dear Inky climbed into my laps as I watched a violet orb pass over head. The rod in my hand trembled within my grasp. The violet orb swiped pass us and drifted along in the forest. Everblossom dropped the spell and said, "Your Ladyship, the Wizard King will come to our lands soon. He will start with your human lands and then work with skill over all the realms."

Inky groaned, "How could he start so early this random? I thought Spider would buy us more time. But it would seem the players are ready to move earlier this time."

"Come again?" I shook my head.

"You have met the Spider. You have told me. The rod is proof enough. Spider moves the threads of fate because of the Dark and Light Gods. Your Ladyship gave us word and orders upon the day before you became mortal of these happenings," Inky jumped from my lap.

"Have we done this all before?"

"The last time came with a full invasion of the land. We begin afresh, but it seem things are much more subtle-"

"Save the chatter, if we are going to have to go carefully," Everblossom took the lead as we traveled in forest.

The rod flashed to power in my hand. The trees and brushes parted a way for us as we travel back on the path to my house. Everblossom held out her hand as the orb swirl further down in the forest. We ducked down low again as the forest thickened. The farmhouse rested in the clearing of the forest. The three guardians were nowhere in sight. But a slender and tall person slipped out of the woods. They carried a flaming arrow notched on their bow.

Everblossom commanded Inky and I, "Flee here once the battle begins. Cat lead her Ladyship to the meadow where the guardians wait for the boy. He comes back this way. Get their help. If we cannot meet again here, take her back to the tea shop. Hammer is in town dealing the other problem."

"I have come to defend my family! I have not come to be pushed away!"

"I have not the time, Ladyship, to argue. The Wizard King sends his witch to do his bidding here!" Everblossom took her arrow from her bow. She repeated, "Go!"

I opened my mouth as the hooded figure released the flaming arrow upon my home. My Grandmother Olga noticed nothing amiss as she came outside with Father. Everblossom frowned and released her arrow. The flames on the house sparked green on the roof. None of my family seemed to care. Grandpa Aaron lingered near the hen house with a pipe in his mouth. The flames spread just as Everblossom's arrow fly true to hit the slender one on her shoulder. The hooded figure pulled another arrow and started approaching us. A panicked voice of my mother as she scrambled outside with a rolling pin and brought it over her head. She saw the hooded figure!

Everblossom dashed away into the clearing to assist my mother. With the rod in hand, I went after the hooded finger. However Inky pulled on my leg. He declared, "We must go this way!"

"But I-" I saw the spider's webbing across the spaces around the trees. They shimmered red. I turned to follow Inky out to the meadow. The three guardians sat among the tall green right where I left them. I crept along with the tall grasses. Inky twitched his ears as we edged near. The three guardians were so close for me to speak with them. I made out the faint outline of my brother in the shadows of the trees. There were webs right in front of me. I lifted up the pink rod before me as we stumbled forward.

I fell forward to find myself in a violet parlor room. Several dozens of bobbins of thread were arranged along the walls. There were heavy curtains of silks and fine curtains covered over the windows; each one of the fabrics were a deep purple. A giant loom sat in the center of the room. The giant loom had an image on it. The upper parts of it were a vast sky of stars. It sparkled and shimmered with the stars. The middle portion was of a farm and mountains.

I stared at the imagery. The giant weave was incomplete just at the edges of the little farm. It was clear the maker intended to continue with making the top of a person; or at least I did. I blinked around and searched for the field, for Inky, and most importantly my brother. I walked forward when the spiderwoman appeared. She was not like how I remembered when I was younger. No, it was clear what she was. Her jet black hair was braided down her back with her fangs in a frown. She rested her eight arms at her side as she thought of something. Her silver tunic seemed to shimmer with its stars as she walked passed me. I saw her tunic had pocks for her scissors and other supplies. She found a stool in the large room. The spiderwoman sat down upon the stool and started to weave.

I blinked at the wide room as I shiver with the cough from the spiderwoman. She said, "Don't lurk about doorways. It is considered bad manners."

I jumped, "Sorry!"

"Please don't just lurk there. Come closer, if you must be in my workshop."

I shallowed, "H-Hii again!"

"Ah, indeed. . . Hi again. You have gone for a while now. How long has it been? No less than a few years. What brings you here now?"

"I am here because-"

"You don't really need to answer. I know the reason now," the spiderwoman said. She begun to move the loom and threads with her quick hands, "You are here to work against what has been put into motion. You will tell me how you think that the timing is off for the task. You will say this. I will say that. We will go about it in a long way. I will just skip it. I have gone thru this discussion with you too many times. Simply put, I will make it as I see fit."

"See fit?" I found a stool and sat down. I swore it was not there a moment ago.

"I know your day as been strange. It may have felt like the world was open to you. It was vast with fate open to your choosing. Oh, I gave you a moment to think of the choices. I do that sometimes. I may reflect on my own work as I do from time to time. Please... Please thank me for it. It is a limited honor I grant people like you. People like you never really see the small picture. I see you are at a lost. Please, just say thank you. Accept my gifts again. You have used the rod," She clicked away from the loom as she hummed quietly.

"I-I did?" I said mystified. The rod with the pink orb glimmered in my hand. I peered over at the spiderwoman.

"You can say it anytime. I do like working with you; it makes my life so much easier. Although, you are really trying to do something really vexing by trying to stop the guardians. Your brother is marked by fate. You are too. You must embrace your new role. No trying to retreat back or regret. You have chosen to come to me. You have chosen your way. Now, my pretty, we will fix it. No wrong turns. No doubt. Ah, my pretty, we grow so much now. I can see it coming together," the spiderwoman nodded.

Her fingers busily went about the threads and shuffling things here and there. I dropped my mouth in amazement at her inhuman speed of movement. The images of a head becomes a young man in an open field coming to the farm. He was running with the three guardians behind him. The threads shimmer were alive! I jumped to get out of my stool to watch her fast moving hands. She slowed down carefully and eyes me and said, "You of course need not thank me now. It is my pleasure this time to help you. I have to say I was nearly doubting your developing. Very good. Very good. I did have other plans. But we have an agreeable one this time."

I opened my mouth, "Excuse me, but are you Spider?"

"Slow on the up take today, huh? I suppose it would seem like it would be. It has been a long time. A very long time, indeed. Yes, my pretty, it is me Spider. I work the threads of Fate and I am the god of Fate, if you will," She smiled with her eight eyes shining with warmth.

"Umm, we meet before? I remembered."

"Yes, so many times. To tell the truth more times than I care to recollected. One way or the other, we find each other again and again. Heheh. I have done so many designs for mortals and immortals. But yours is my far one of the most complex and hard to fix. Never quite right, but we go on. We try again," She turned back to the loom and clicks the loom again. The rate was a steady and swift.

"I think I remember you from the festival from when I was little. You were much more ... More spider like. This place was really simple then..." I came closer to the loom and watched the imagery.

"With brilliant observations like that, it is no wonder you needed an extra tutor this time. Not to mention the lack of imagination caused so much more in you. Dull as dirt back then. But look you have a promise now. If we keep grooming you, you may be a fit goddess after all!"

"Hey!"

She snorted with a smirk, "You have a lot to learn, if you are to avoid your previous mistakes, become the mistress of peace, be a leader of the fairy folk, mage, and usher of the new age. Oh girl, you will have to grow and gain much rapidly."

I held up my rod, "You are in the way of me stopping the guardian from selecting my brother! Release me to him!"

"Yet she does not blink at the words I say. You listen not! Are you deaf? Did I miss something? Let me words sink in!"

I stepped forward, "Let me on my way. My brother needs me-"

"You are not a normal child! You are not a mere mortal. You are not just a sister to one human. You are so much more! You have been stolen! You have been chosen! Your soul is bond to the Mother Goddess, the goddess of peace. You make the spark! Don't you get it? You are part of her. She is part of you. You are the mother of the wild world! You are no tamed soul of a human!" Spider whipped around to me. She lowered all her arms and pulled out a mirror to my face.

I peered at the mirror and saw no more than me. Just me. There was an odd glimmer in my eyes as they grow greenish for a moment. I blink again. I have important things to answer to now. No time for nonsense about gods. My eyes turned straight to Spider and pointed to the loom, "Send me back, please!"

Spider raised from her stool and towered over me, "You are stumbling blindly in the situation. I have been summoned by you. I am here to help. I have put it nicely and neatly in order. The threads have all been arranged. The deals have been made. But heed me. Heed me now. The Empire will suffer as a deadly pawn is within the Emperor's company. She will bind him in into undo because her works are of the Dark One. She will then seek the crown prince's innocent ear. It happens now. Go quickly to it before it festers and spread!"

"Okay, I got it! Now let me go!"

"I will put you back on the path of which needs you most. And you are welcome!" "Thanks!" I said as blinked and yet find myself back in the forest. The tall grasses surrounded me with the tall waving trees. The world was quiet here with a grand stillness from the animals and plants.