Clarion was sitting at the dining table working on sewing a hole in one of her shirts when the Tree reached out to her.

Clarion.

"Yes?" she asked aloud. When she was alone in her home she preferred to speak aloud to the Tree.

You interfered last night.

"I did. They were going to take that fairy's food for no reason but for the fact that they could."

And you had to step in?

"To have watched and have done nothing would have been just as bad as taking it from him myself," Clarion pulled her thread a little too tight.

Well, she noticed.

"She? You mean the Queen?" Clarion knew full well who the Tree meant.

Yes, and this time you've pushed it too far. She's been at the edge of her patience for a while and this last stunt was the final push.

"What does that mean?"

She's challenging you. Right now, above the dust pool. She is proclaiming to the entire Hollow that if you don't come to meet her challenge she will start killing off fairies. One for every hour you don't make an appearance.

Clarion dropped the shirt she was working on. "You can't be serious."

Would I make a joke about this?

Clarion stood up and paced the small room. "I have to go, then."

I don't think you have much of a choice. But Clarion, I don't think you're ready to face her, yet. You're strong, but Rose has had years of practice and there is still so much you do not know.

"This was going to happen one day," Clarion went to get her sharpened thorn from where it was hanging on the wall. "I'll go down there and see if I can fix this without having to fight her, but if it comes to that I will have to be ready."

Clarion attached the thorn to a belt on her hip and then left her home, unsure of what to expect, but determined to do what she must.

When she arrived at the dust pool she landed on a hidden branch a little further up so that she could take in the scene before entering it herself.

The Queen was pacing on a branch above the dust pool. Her soldiers were there too and so were quite a few civilian fairies. Clarion did not know if they were there by force or by their own choice to see what happened next.

The Queen looked at a nearby fairy and ordered her soldiers to bring him near her.

Clarion heard the Queen's voice as she said, "It appears your precious Rogue does not care about you as much as you believed. Or maybe she just needs more motivation."

One of the soldiers drew their sword and held it against the fairy's neck.

"Wait!" Clarion called out as she dove from the branch. "I'm here."

She landed beside the fairy who was being threatened, just to be sure that she could step in if the solider decided to use his sword anyway.

The soldier looked to the Queen who motioned for him to sheath his sword. The solider did so and walked away from the fairy.

"Clarion," the Queen walked towards her. "So nice of you to finally come to see me. I wish you would have come earlier. You know, in some ways we're like sisters, you and I."

"We are nothing of the sort," Clarion said.

"If that's how you feel about it," the Queen shrugged. "It only makes it all the easier for me when I kill you."

Clarion ignored the Queen and turned toward the soldiers. She looked into each of their eyes and saw only the blank expressions of fairies used to taking orders.

She was going to try and reach out to them anyway, they were her only other option.

"You don't have to listen to her, you know," she said to them. "If you join me we could overpower her. We could all end this together."

As she had expected, though, she got no response. These fairies were conditioned to be loyal. While the Queen was in power they lived good lives. They were not willing to risk their lives to challenge her.

"It's just you and me, dear," the Queen said. "And if you refuse, your friend here dies."

You're not ready for this, the Tree reminded her.

I know, she said back. But I don't have a choice.