Clarion pushed herself off the bottom of the dust pool with her feet. She had a sudden sense of drowning. Her throat constricted as her heart began to pound, no longer bleeding out.

When she burst through the surface of the dust pool and into open-air she heard the gasps of exclamation around her. More than that, she felt them.

Each fairy was like a pulse of energy to her senses. She could feel the magic pumping through their veins. Air, water, light, animal, and all the other talents were individually dispersed around her. She could feel the unique personality of each magic. It was beautiful.

Then she felt the Queen. Rose.

Rose's presence was different than the others. She was a mixture of all the talents, but there was something else. A darkness that tinged the magic inside her. For the first time, Clarion's heart broke for Rose. For what had been lost. She was aware that this was how the Tree had felt all along and, now, it was how she felt, too.

But she knew what she had to do.

"How?" Rose drifted towards Clarion above the crowd. "You should be dead! How is this possible?"

Then Rose's face took on a look of horror. Understanding dawned in her eyes. "Where is the Tree? What did it do to you? Tell me!"

Clarion heard the fear in Rose's voice and she knew the other faires had, too. She did not have a chance to answer Rose's question. Rose summoned a branch of the tree again and directed it towards Clarion.

This time, however, Clarion did not even need to move a muscle. The branch froze just a hair's breadth from her chest, in submission to her will.

"No!" Rose screamed. "This is not right! This is not fair!"

Rose attempted to throw branch after branch at Clarion, she even tried to use the air to push Clarion back under the dust pool, but Clarion diverted each attack simply by willing the magic to stop.

The magic came from the dust, from the tree, and now Clarion was one with the tree. She was the dust. She was the magic.

"Rose," she said calmly, floating towards the desperate Queen. "Please, stop. It is pointless."

Clarion was aware of the new sensation of flying. She was no longer moved by her wings, but by her will and the magic inside her. She caught the sight of something glowing over her shoulder. It was huge and bright and she had the sudden realization that it was her left wing.

"No!" Rose said, continuing to try in vain to harm Clarion as she drew near.

Clarion felt sorry for Rose. For her brokenness. But she also felt reproach for the Queen who had caused Pixie Hollow so much pain. Clarion was prepared to do what had to do done.

She reached out to Rose with her magic, sensing Rose's own magic. It was a chaotic web within the Queen's veins. Clarion took hold of one of the strands and softly summoned it.

It took a moment for Rose to realize what was happening. Suddenly, a wail of horror and pain filled the air.

"No! No!" Rose fell to her knees. "Please, stop!"

But Clarion did not. She drew Rose's magic to herself as painlessly as she could, stripping the magic from within the Queen. She heard Rose begging for mercy beneath her, sobbing.

When it was over, Clarion landed on the branch beside the collapsed Rose. She put her hand on Rose's shoulder.

While Rose was older than Clarion and had only ever shown Clarion hatred, Clarion had inherited the Tree's maternal instinct for all the fairies in the Hollow. Including Rose. She could not help loving the Queen, despite the pain Rose had caused and the evils she had done.

"Don't touch me!" Rose said, getting up from the branch. "What have you done to me?"

"I have stripped you of your magic," Clarion said. "You have no talent, no powers."

"How could you?"

"To ensure the safety of the Hollow. Your reign of terror ends here."

"You can't," Rose stammered.

"Rose," Clarion looked at Rose with pity, but determination. "You know I already have."

Rose looked like she wanted to scream again, but did not. "What are you going to do with me, then?" she asked. "Feed me to the hawks?"

"No," Clarion was upset that Rose would even suggest such a thing. Though she knew Rose had ordered more than one fairy to such a fate. It would have been fair. "I am banishing you, and all your followers, out of Pixie Hollow. You may make a life anywhere else on the island, but if I see you in the Hollow again there will be consequences."

"But," Rose looked worried. "But, how am I supposed to get Pixie Dust? How will I fly?"

"You will not. You have forfeited that right. I will grant you enough dust to leave the Hollow, then you will have to learn to live without it."

"I can't!" Rose cried.

"You can and you will. Now, take some of the dust and leave," Clarion turned to the surrounding faires and soldiers. "If any of you want to go with her, leave now."

A few soldiers joined Rose's side, but not many.

Clarion watched with a sad heart as Rose cupped a handful of dust and showered herself in it before turning and flying away. This was a victory for the Hollow, but Clarion would always feel the Tree's sense of lose for Rose.

Her sense of loss.