I was silent as we drove home from church, just like I had been silent all morning. This was probably the last time I would be allowed outside my room for some time, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t listened in church, and I wasn’t listening now to my aunt and uncle, discussing my future. There had been only one thing on my mind since I woke up. When we were back home, I ate my lunch (some bread and butter, and a glass of water) in silence, and afterwards I was summarily sent back to my room. Edward gave me a few nasty remarks, but I ignored him: to my delight, his eye had now swollen up quite grotesquely. I climbed the long stairs to my room with Aunt Ruth, and once I was inside my door was locked. I sat down on my bed and released Livia from her hiding place.

To describe her reaction when I told her I loved her, would be impossible. At first surprise, then a gradual realization that I was sincere, and finally a well of delight burst open within her. She had leapt onto my hand, and I had kissed her, with meaning this time. We had spent probably an hour laughing, crying, and kissing each other. She had asked how it happened that I changed my mind, but I had no answer. All I could tell her was that, perhaps, I had been in love with her for some time, unknowingly, not willing to admit it to myself. How it happened wasn’t important, and she agreed.

I took her out now and put her down beside my plate of food. Unlike me, she didn’t have any breakfast, so she wolfed down all the food she could, which was still only a small amount. I knelt down on the floor so that we could be closer together. When we had finished eating I bowed my head and gave her a kiss on top of her head. I wrapped her luscious hair around my fingertip and tugged it lightly.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Don’t do that! I combed it this morning!”

“Hmm, really? What did you comb it with?”

“My fingers.”

I chuckled softly. She pulled her hair loose from my grasp and began rearranging it.

“You should let me brush it for you,” I said. “I have a tiny little brush, for my dolls’ hair, you see. Oh, and I’d better fix your dress too. You can’t keep going about looking like you’ve been hit by a hurricane.”

“Thank you, Lucy, my love,” she said, hugging and kissing the tip of my finger. “And, once you’re finished, I shall…paint your fingernails, and your toenails, and wash your feet, and…”

“And,” I interrupted, laughing, “you shall tell me more tales of Fairyland, and of the wonderful people who dwell within it!”

“Of course! I can do that easily enough! Where would you like me to begin?”

As I mended her dress, she lay wrapped in my scarf, telling her tales. She apparently had no objection to me seeing her naked, but I told her I wasn’t ready, so I had turned away while she undressed herself. Soon my work was finished, and when she put it on again, it looked almost as good as new. For the rest of the afternoon, she and I enjoyed ourselves by telling each other stories and playing with each other. Occasionally I would stop whatever we were doing, pick her up, and hold her firmly against my chest.

“You’re so beautiful,” I said, as she looked up at me, squeezed against my breast. “Even at this size, you’re simply, amazingly beautiful. I can’t even imagine how gorgeous you’d look if you were my size.”

“If I ever find my way home, you’ll find out,” she said. “You’re still coming with me, right? There’s no way I’m going back if I have to leave you here. We belong together, and if that means I’ll have to live in a world of giants, then so be it.”

“You say such sweet things, my brave little fairy.”

“But I mean it! I’m not just saying it to impress you, or…”

“I know.” I laid my finger on her lips. She gazed at me with her bottomless eyes. It was as if the perfect moment had settled on us. Nothing needed to be said; we could each feel what the other was thinking.

Night had fallen. In the house below all were asleep, but Livia and I were too absorbed too sleep. She lay right by my face, where my lips could easily embrace her tiny body. She was singing a fairy song, softly, of course. I had asked for a lullaby, but she said she didn’t want to put me to sleep so soon. So she sang a love song, a cheerful one; I had been through enough harrowing events the past few days, and I didn’t think I’d be able to handle a melancholy tune. As I lay and listened, my eyes closed, I felt myself drifting off to a far-off land. A land without war, sickness or death, where love was universal and cherished above all else. Warm breezes blew through the trees and into the open windows, carrying happiness and contentment wherever they went.

When the song ended my mind was still in fairyland. I didn’t notice Livia pressing herself against my lips at first, and when I did, something didn’t seem right. I opened my eyes, and immediately let forth a sharp shriek. Livia was lying on the pillow, and from head to toe she was completely naked. My yelp of shock caused her to sit up straight and curl into a ball, her legs pressed tightly against her chest.

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed. “Livia, why…why did you…”

“I’m sorry!” she pleaded. “I wanted to touch you, and…feel your lips against me, and your skin against mine…please, I didn’t know you’d be upset! I’ll get dressed again, right now!”

She looked around for her dress, but didn’t see it. I saw it, though; it had fallen off the pillow, and I picked it up. Before I gave it to her, however, I apologized for yelling at her.

“Is this another fairy custom I’m unfamiliar with?” I asked, trying to make it up to her.

“Well, you see,” she replied, “between two people who love each other, there is often…intimate contact. You know, exploring each other’s bodies…perhaps we just do it differently than you do. I don’t know…” She seemed at a loss for words.

“But…what did you think would happen?” I asked. “Am I supposed to undress now as well?”

“No! Of course not! I would never ask you to do that! It’s your choice whether or not you want to do that! I just thought…I mean, I’d hoped…hoped you might like to see me like this, and touch me, and kiss me. It’s too sudden, I know. I should have waited, but I guess I was just being selfish.”

“But aren’t you shy about…exposing yourself to me like this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll hurt you?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Lucy, I trust you with all my heart. It’s just…well, I’m a fairy, and you’re a human. I suppose my wants and desires are different from yours. But it would have been nice…Can I have my dress now please?”

“Not so fast,” I replied. It took me some effort to say this, partly because I was uncomfortable and partly because I was afraid I was doing something that wasn’t right. But I worked up the courage to say it.

“Livia, I’ve been thinking – well, what I mean to say is, I’d like to give you what you want. Or, at least, as much as I am comfortable with. If it’s truly what you want, I wouldn’t mind looking at you naked, and even…even touching you, a little.”

Slowly, deliberately, she stood up and dropped her arms to her sides. I was looking at her entire nude body, and my first thought was that she was the most perfect being, the most perfect thing, in all the world. I ran my fingers across her skin: it was smooth and soft, almost like a liquid. I noticed that her entire body, from her neck down, was completely hairless. Even her private parts didn’t have any hair – not that I gazed at that area for long, in any case. I was still not completely comfortable doing that. Her breasts were rounder than mine, but since neither of us have matured completely yet, I wasn’t envious in any way. I stroked my fingertips all the way down her back, across her delightfully soft buttocks, and around the front to her belly-button. She giggled when I tickled her just above her legs and caught hold of my finger just as I slid it up between her breasts.

“Hold me,” she whispered. “Hold me tight and kiss me.”

“Anything for you, my love.”

I wrapped two fingers around her and lifted her to my mouth. After moistening my lips, I pressed her gently against them. Her body was warm and supple as I pushed my tongue against it. She made little pleasurable sounds as I slid my tongue in between her legs. I pressed down for one last kiss; there can be too much of a good thing, and tonight had had enough good things. I laid her carefully down on my scarf, which was lying on my bedside table, and wrapped it around her.

“Love you…forever,” she sighed, before drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Before putting her in the cupboard, I held her for a while and rubbed her.

“Hard to believe it’s only been four days,” I said to myself. “Can two people really fall in love this quickly? Because if what we share isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.”