Welcome to Gaia! ::

The queen beamed with pride as she heard each of the precious young teenagers' statements about their place in the colony. She was confident that the next generation would be so successful! It warmed her heart to see their little group of survivors growing and thriving.

"Thank you!" Belwen rose to her hooves and clapped. "Such beautiful testimonies and dreams within our family." She began to ascend between the line of flutters, giving a small nod to Lisian and Mazarine. It was no mistake to skip the other three newcomer teenagers. Belwen did so tactfully so they wouldn't out themselves. She hoped they would appreciate that and not find it an offense. It was a fine line with teenagers.

At the end of the line, set atop a small log made of fallen Forn wood, was a delicately carved bowl adorned with a beautiful filigree pattern around the outer lip. A small matching cup at the end of a handle rested beside it. "Shaylee," the queen nodded towards her, which signaled that she was to pick the bowl up and join the queen at her side.

"This is the elixir of life," Belwen scooped a small cupful and let it drip down into the bowl to show the sparkling liquid. It was thicker than water, but thinner than honey. "We have all partaken of this life-giving elixir. It is given to us by the Sheedhiels and creates a spiritual link to the trees. It offers protection and provides for good health. It prepares us for the next phase of life by opening up our potential. It is a blessing and gift that will forever connect us to each other."

Belwen walked down the aisle, offering the cup to the lips of each teenager. They are allowed to refuse to drink, but they still must remain seated where they are. If they refuse, they will not be asked to participate in the final step of the ritual. If they do choose to drink, they will feel a warming sensation from within. In additional to a tidal wave of emotion, each teenager will feel their power spark ignite. Drinking of this dew is symbolic, like a baptism.

All current flutters are assumed to have drank this dew shortly after they became adults. It is essential to unlock the full potential of each flutter. They can now gain their power and start learning how to transform into a butterfly. Their wings will be stronger and flying will come easier.

Choose carefully because while the dew symbolizes a promise to the colony, it is a greater crime to leave and betray the colony after having drank, than it is to have skipped it. If any flutter skips this step, they will be required to tell Belwen why, but in another RP.

((This might seem familiar because it is similar to Faun rites. Especially their power giving ceremony. It is a practice Laisidhiel and her children provide in order to strengthen faun to the Trees, and to the earth element. It is their connection to the island and magic. There is a connection between Belwen, the Sheedhiels and Laisidhiel and Earthmother that will be further explained as the plot goes on.

Mazarine and Lisian can use the time where Belwen has everyone's attention describing the dew, to escort the lost seeds. Lisian will be requred for the third step, so he will need to make his way back. Mazarine can watch and interact with those teenagers. These three teenagers will be offered this dew if they choose to stay after they are told about the colony and the rules. ))

All the others had spoken, but still she hadn't stepped forward. Some may have been wondering if she would at all, considering her situation. Why was she here? Would the Queen allow her to speak? What would she say? Maybe she was just there for show, not to take part like the others. Any of those theories could have been valid.

It had been a very long night for the young Flutter, full of thoughts she'd never considered before. Options and decisions to make that lay far beyond the childish behavior she had only ever displayed before to the colony.

Xiulan's dark eyes were fixed on the ground in front of her hooves and she took a deep breath before taking a determined step forward. "I'm...not from here, as you all know. I didn't grow up here, so I can't tell you about how great it was to come from here...because I didn't. And it wasn't. So instead, I'll talk about where I did grow up."

She set her shoulders, feeling tense. At any point, the Queen or one of the Elders might stop her, thinking she was set on disturbing the ceremony.. Honestly, the new arrivals probably already did that more than she planned to. She was only planning to take this opportunity to speak her mind, to say what she wanted to say, to tell the truth, while someone had to listen.

"I grew up in the forest far away from here. With a Mom with beautiful wings and a glowing halo. And I had lots of brothers, with all kinds of wings and colors and personalities. And I had nieces and nephews and cousins. And there were always bedtime stories, and delicious meals, and new adventures to go on, every day!

And despite what you all may think, it was wonderful.

I'm not making any of it up, and whatever you may tell me, I know it was good. And I'm holding onto that."

She took a breath, then pushed forwards before she lost momentum or someone decided to interrupt her.

"Even if I didn't want to come here, you've all been otherwise very nice. Exceedingly nice. And I suppose that's what made it so frustrating, especially when I was a terror in return. It would have been easier to see you all as monsters if you'd been cruel in return. Instead, you kept reaching out, no matter how many times I slapped your hands away.

Honestly, I don't want to be here. But it seems, this is where I'm to be for now. So, I feel it best to make the most of my situation as it is, rather than focusing on making everyone's lives miserable. It's clear that I can't go home. That this is to be my new home. My energy would be better put to productive purposes than wasted on childish tantrums. It's exhausting, I'm sick of it...and honestly...it's not who I am.

So, my wish for the future...is to make myself stronger. Better. To make the most of what I have here and try to give something back. Because, I'm determined to prove that maybe not everything you believe about me and where I came from is correct. That there is good out there as well. And above all, I hold onto hope; hope that one day, I'll see my family again." With that, Xiulan bowed her head and quietly stepped back into line with the other young Flutters.

Lillian's ears fell and she let out a sigh. Delyth's question really hit home. "We...Would have about the same...If they hadn't been lost." Lillian replied back in a whisper, guilt spreading over her face. She still felt bad about loosing those seeds. If they had just gotten there a few seconds earlier...Her eyes glanced over to Xiulan. The poor dear...It still felt like they were arms length apart, no matter what they tried to do. It really did feel like they failed her. What did it mean for the other lost ones? They weren't really able to locate them after all. What became of them? What if they came 'home'? Could they really let them return now?

Well part of worry was answered as she spotted the two strange teenagers being brought in, their Queen speaking to a few of the others. Oh boy this wasn't good. It seemed that their Queen had the situation under control but...What did this mean? Once everyone caught onto what was happening ohhh....She put her attention back to ceremony, their Queen speaking about the elixir of life. She remember that. She watched carefully. Would the new teenagers stay with them?

Amaryllis sighed and yawned, it was exhausting listening to all these pae talk about themselves, especially when some of their heads were as big as their wings. Then there was whatever nonsense that started to happen with 'oh my trees, don't interrupt me'. It was the most exciting part of the whole thing, but it made Ryl roll his eyes all the same. Girls were so dramatic.

Amaryllis didn't have to think hard about whether to drink the liquid. A certain somebody may have teased him about being brainwashed, but the idea of becoming spiritually connected to the tree was as natural of an idea as flying. When it came to be his turn Ryl took the cup and drank, allowing its warmth to spread through his body. He had no idea that he would actually feel something when he drank, but the fact that he did made him feel so much more confident in his 'decision' even if there had never been a decision to make.

This was his family, this was his life.

"Thank you," he told the Queen with a bow of his head.

Elias looks over his shoulder at Siofra, with her calming voice of reason. His stance and the look on his face softened. He was ok with getting kicked out, he would gladly leave. Elias had to hope she was right, because it wasn't like he could actually take on two full grown males and all the rest of the pae that were gathered here.

He nodded his head, and followed this so called sentry or healer, he wasn't sure which one was which. The last bits of that final speech were still echoing in the back of his mind as he followed them. In his gut, he didn't think Siofra was right, but what else could he do? It wasn't as if he had a family he was dying to go back to like it sounded like that one girl was talking about, he could honestly be happy if he was wherever Siofra was. Still, this whole thing had him on edge.

The queen didn't seem to pay attention to the others on the end, so Marigold decided she wouldn't either. She refused to let anyone ruin this day for her.

Marigold eagerly watched her peers each take a sip in turn. She was rocking back and forth on her hooves as she waited for her turn. Finally when the moment came, she looked the queen in the eyes and felt such a rush of peace overcome her. When the dew touched her tongue, it warmed, and she felt it slide down and warm her from without. She could actually feel stronger. She had doubted she'd feel anything at all; that it would be nothing but a spiritual feeling, but no!

"Thank you, my Queen." She bowed her head and rocked back a step, and thought about the magic in that dew and the trees. She'd never felt so connected to the colony.

Lisian returned the nod to his Queen, slipping away as soon as he could. He stood off to the side as Mazarine interacted with the teens, not wanting to overwhelm them. He lifted an eye brow as the boy stood his grown in front of the young female. Yeah, they obviously felt like something wrong was going on here. His heart hurt a bit at the sight with knowing that wasn't what they were meaning by this at all. He couldn't wait for them to get out of earshot so perhaps they could let them in more on what was going on.

He followed a short distance away, watching their demeanor for any signs of fleeing. It wouldn't be hard to catch up to them, but he was more interested in figuring them out. Where had they come from? They'd been lost so long what brought them here now? It was a curious situation that Lisian was eager to find out more from his Queen later. She'd understand a bit more, wouldn't she? She always seemed to have another sort of sight given from the tree.

Lisian glanced over his shoulder to check the distance they had taken so far. When he felt comfortable he took a few steps forward to come beside them. He gave them a compassionate smile before speaking softly, “There's no need to be anxious. We noticed you all weren't from around here and didn't want to make a scene in front of the others. For the sake of protecting their special day and to not cause you all any embarrassment. Sadly, Ida got a bit too excited it seemed. So sorry the way this had to be handled. Oh, excuse me. I'm Lisian by the way. I am the protector of this tree here.” he nodded towards the one looming ever closer. “This is called Forn Sheedhiel. It's where we live.”

He paused a second to give them a chance to respond if they wanted, but didn't expect them to. He tried to speak as naturally as he could so he wouldn't alarm them, but there was a part of him that felt excited. He wanted to know their names and where they had come from. Who had taken them and been raising them? What sorta world had they experienced growing up? It was all fascinating to him, but he held it all at bay. There was no need to interrogate them.

He made it to the tree and stopped before it, pride showing on his face. He obviously loved his home and couldn't keep that hidden. When you got to looking at it you had to wonder how in the world all these Flutters fit. In a blink the tree was now stretching tall to the sky and blades of grass grew tall around them. Had they just shrunk?! There was no explanation for it, no worry or anything said, instead the male carried on like nothing had happened- as if this was a normal part of their lives. He motioned for them to follow him inside, letting Mazarine bring up the rear.

“I can't stay long. I have a duty to perform in the ceremony, but we thought you all would be more comfortable here rather than having all eyes on you. The Queen herself will be coming by shortly to check on you so make yourselves at home until then! You're honored guests to Forn.” he spoke as he led them through their tree, passing dwelling places and open spaces. Soon they came upon a nook with a particular flavor.

Lisian lifted the curtain of beads to the side so the pair could enter. The room was covered from floor to ceiling in bursts of vibrant colors, looking like they had been splattered against them. An array of big, fluffy pillows were scattered across the room for seating with hand woven rugs and tapestries decorating the room- made by the Queen herself. There was a table by a congregation of pillows with a bowl of ripened fruit waiting for hungry mouths. It was a beautiful and comfortable place to relax. It certainly said something beautiful about their Queen and her tastes.

“If you all need anything at all Mazarine here will be happy to help you. Any questions I can answer for you before I head back out?”

***

Nova hadn't taken her full attention off of Ida and the pair she was conspiring with. What was going on with them? Were they in this to sabotage it for all of them? Could the other tree really be that awful? She felt her cheeks flushing slightly with anger. That was totally unfair! They'd all worked so hard to get to this point, what made them think it would be funny to do this to their special day? Wait- were those kids being pulled away? She grinned slightly feeling like her friends had been avenged!

She turned her eyes back in front of her when it was her turn. Her big, blue eyes stared up at her Queen in wonder as she took the dew from the Queen's offering cup. As soon as it touched her lips she felt the warmth, and continued to feel it as it traveled its way down into her and spread through her body. Her wings shot out and shuddered excitedly as she did a little dance in place. It felt soooooo funny! “Oh wow!” she said, her giggles overflowing, “Thank you Queen Belwen!” She felt so good! Like she could run around the whole clearing a million times! Where had this strength come from?

She quickly tucked her wings back behind her when she noticed the outburst she had made. Whoops! Guess she should be use to embarrassing herself like that. Still, she was having a hard time not dancing from foot to foot in eagerness. What was this feeling? She wanted to hug every member there and sing songs about how amazing their lives with the trees were! How blessed they were all by their power and love! She gripped her hands into fists willing herself to stay calm. There was still others that had to drink the dew, singing could come later.

She looked at him, her face trying to express the sheer lack of ideas she had for their choices. While she was grateful for his protectiveness, Siofra was pretty sure she'd screwed this entire situation up. And these guys were better than the scary lady that had brought her out into this entire mess. Without much choice, they were escorted to an impossibly small tree. "Thank you." She chewed her lip, remembering what her parents had taught her about being polite. No matter how weird this entire situation was, Siofra at least knew these weird pae had been nice enough to get them out of there really quickly.

A thought on the size of the small tree passed through her head, wondering how so many pae could live in something so sm- oh that's not small at all. Her eyes widened in shock. If it weren't for the grown adults pretty well surrounding the three of them, Siofra would have frozen in place. As it were, she was only moving because Elias was there and she needed to keep thinking. Hoping they really were kicking the two of them out of this place. Elias had to be in just as much shock as she was.

"Wait a second.. Where is the gra- Oh. OH!" Siofra squeaked, blindly reaching out to grab Elias' hand. Something to steady her from the overwhelming realization. They'd gotten smaller! It was the only explanation for why the tiny tree they were walking towards was now super freaking tall and there was no grass around them. It wasn't no grass around them, they were super small! Just when they'd gotten hopes of possibly getting bigger! She took a deep breath in, forcing her legs to keep following where they were being led. Guardians, this was a lot to take in at once. Thank Them for Elias showing up at her side for all of it.

And all of a sudden they were dropped in a room. With a lot of pillows and fluffy stuff that looked like a dream to relax in. At least it would, if she wasn't overwhelmed by everything. The guy who'd introduced himself as Lisian asked if they had any questions. Her head snapped to look at him. "When can we leave?" She had a family to get home to. Elias had to come with her, he'd come all the way out here just to follow her! And there was Lelly. She'd die if she heard that Elias was out here and Siofra hadn't bothered to introduce them! The teen looked to either of the adults. She desperately wanted to know the answer to her question.