11

Burning Bright

The black outlines of the ancient gum trees stood shadowed against the sky. Daisy held up her candle, but the light reached no further than their roots. A burning candle did not belong in a tree, but she couldn’t search for blossoms in the dark, either. Hoping that she still had some magic left, Daisy pulled out her wand.

‘Little flame burning bright, shower this tree with magic light.’

The candle’s flame flickered wildly and spat a new flame into the air. This flame also split into two – over and over, the magic flames flickered and split, shooting into the air like embers in a bushfire until the entire tree was illuminated with twinkling flames.

If they had been real flames, Daisy would never have done it. Every fairy knew that you didn’t take chances when it came to bushfires. But these flames were perfectly safe. Made from pure magic, they burned nothing but the air.

Daisy blew out the real flame before taking the rope from her locket. ‘Undo,’ she said as she tapped it with her wand. Wondering what she could collect the pollen in, she noticed a soft new gum leaf that had fallen before its time. Perfect! She stooped to pick it up and tucked it into her belt.

With the rope back to its normal size, Daisy pointed her wand at it and chanted, ‘Stretch, rise, tie to a tree. Create safe passage to the canopy.’

The rope shot upwards, growing and stretching as it went. Reaching a high point in the nearest gum tree, it knotted itself tightly around a branch and hung still, ready to be climbed.

‘Are you holding on, Vu?’ When the little beetle huffed a sleepy yes, Daisy gripped the dangling end of the rope and slowly began to climb.

Hand over hand she pulled herself up, not daring to look back down. The gum tree was enormous and by the time Daisy had reached the top of the rope, she was breathing heavily with exhaustion. Her arms ached and her hands were red and sore.

Mustering all the strength left in her, Daisy heaved herself onto a branch. In all her life, Daisy had never been this high. Her heart pounded, not just from exertion, but from exhilaration as well.

Daisy was in the canopy, the highest part of the forest. Standing up, she stretched her arms wide, imagining how her wings would ruffle as the cool summer breeze blew past.

A pure white blossom swayed with her, on a small offshoot of her branch. The last piece of the puzzle! All Daisy had to do was collect its pollen and her imaginary wings would be imaginary no more.

Easing herself onto the smaller branch, Daisy drew the leaf from her belt and gently shook the blossom over it. Golden flecks of pollen floated down to collect in the centre of the leaf. When no more pollen fell, Daisy gently curled the sides of the leaf upwards, twisting them tightly together so that the pollen was trapped inside.

A firefly flew past, startling Daisy, swooping and twisting to write a shimmering message in the air next to the branch.

The Fairy Queen’s Tea-Tree House

is where you’ll end this night.

Deliver the pollen by moonrise

to gain your heart’s delight.

The message seems simple enough, thought Daisy. Take the pollen to the Fairy Queen’s Tea-Tree House before moonrise and she would earn her wings. There was only one problem. Daisy had no idea where the Tea-Tree House was.