Maeve never fit in.
She preferred it that way, of course. Fitting in meant being like the hundreds of other faery princesses who came before her, and that was very boring. Maeve couldn’t stand boring. She wanted to be fun, dazzling, and colorful, just like the rainbows that shimmered across her wings whenever light hit them.
At the same time, some part of Maeve wished she wasn’t so vibrant. To fit in would mean she wouldn’t have to be so alone. But that would require changing who she was, and if there was anything Maeve disliked more than boring, it was inauthenticity.
One of Maeve’s favorite activities was escaping to explore the human realm. She knew she’d never find someone who understood her in Faerie, but maybe – just maybe – she could find someone in the human realm. She knew her family would frown upon her escapades, but Maeve didn’t care. Besides, she had become very good at sneaking in and out of the palace. They never suspected a thing.
Then the day she was out exploring and her curiosity made her flutter too close to a spider’s web. Her wings got caught first. When she struggled, she only became more entangled. Maeve eventually just gave up and accepted her fate. No one would ever find a tiny faery in the middle of a giant forest in the human realm.
Suddenly, Maeve heard footsteps and saw a strange creature approaching.
A human.
She had never actually seen one in real life before, despite having traveled to their realm many times, but Maeve knew that was what this creature was.
The human scooped her up, sat down on a large rock, and began carefully freeing her from the web.
"Are you okay?" the human asked when she finished.
Maeve nodded, stretching out her wings. They were a little roughed up, but not broken. "You are most kind, human."
The human chuckled. "My name is Thalia."
A name was a very precious thing. Maeve was surprised the human had given hers away so quickly. It was a beautiful name, too – far too lovely to wear out with constant use in normal conversation. Maeve promised herself she would keep this name very safe.
It was only fair she let the human know her name as well.
"You may call me Maeve.”
The human smiled. She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of paper, bound together by a spiral of wire on one end. When Maeve asked, the human called it a "sketchbook".
Maeve couldn't care less what it was called once the human opened it. Flowers, trees, birds, midnight skies – almost every aspect of nature was represented on its colorful pages.
"What kind of sorcery do you practice to do that?" Maeve asked.
"Sorcery?" the human laughed. "There's no sorcery. I just like drawing all the things that catch my eye."
Maeve watched as the human pressed a thin wooden stick to the paper, and wherever she moved it, lines would appear. Eventually, the lines began to resemble Maeve's face.
The human could deny it all she wanted, but Maeve refused to believe sorcery wasn't somehow involved. There was no other explanation for how she transformed random lines into something so beautiful.
At the end of the day, Maeve returned to the palace, her family none the wiser. It was a feat she owed entirely to the human who rescued her, and Maeve was determined to never forget that. She returned to that spot deep in the forest many times, always hoping to watch the human do her sketching sorcery.
One day, Maeve arrived to find the human crying. "What is wrong, my darling?" she asked. "Who has hurt you?"
"My parents!" the human replied. "They don't think art is a 'real career', and they threatened to confiscate my supplies if I didn't give them away first!"
Maeve didn't understand every word the human said, but she understood the feeling. "My parents are not particularly approving of my life choices either."
"I didn't want to run away, but I had to!" The human clutched her sketchbook tightly. "My art is all I have! I can't give it up!" She looked at Maeve. "You're a faery. Can you use your magic to help me?"
The only solution Maeve could think of was something she knew her parents – and probably the rest of Faerie – would severely frown upon. But if it meant helping her friend, Maeve would have risked almost anything.
"Come back to Faerie with me," Maeve said. "There, you will be able to draw to your heart's content for the rest of your days."
The human's eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, Maeve, thank you! What can I do to repay you?"
"You were the one who saved my life the day we met. It is only fair that I be the one to save yours now."
Maeve fluttered above the human. Glitter drifted off her wings, landing on the human and shrinking her until she was the same size as a faery. Taking the human into her arms, Maeve opened a shimmering golden portal and carried her through.
"Whoa..." the human gasped as Maeve set her down on the other side.
Maeve waved her hands, making a cloak appear over the human. "Keep this on until we arrive at my place, okay? It would be best if the other faeries did not know you were human."
The human nodded and followed Maeve through the city, her eyes wide. She had never seen anything like it before. Clouds decorated the ground like bushes, and the sky was colored like a perpetual summer sunset. She even saw a river whose water was tinged with a lavender hue.
"Why would you ever leave this magical place just to visit me?" she asked.
Maeve sighed. "I do not think it is as wonderful as it seems." Then she smiled, thoughtful. "I am glad you enjoy it, though. I cannot wait to see your drawings of it."
At last, the two arrived at the royal palace. It was, by far, the most magical thing the human had seen in Faerie yet.
"You’re taking me to see royalty?” the human asked.
"I am royalty," Maeve answered with a laugh. With a clap of her hands, the castle doors swung open. "This is my home."
The human followed Maeve inside, though she was suddenly much more apprehensive. “You never said you were a princess.”
"All my title does is give others ridiculous ideas about who I should be. I wanted you to get to know me for who I was, without all those princess-y expectations."
Maeve stopped in front of an elaborately decorated set of double doors. "This is the throne room. My parents should be in here. If you want to stay, we will need to convince them. Come with me, but do not speak unless I tell you to."
"Well, that went better than I expected," Maeve said as she and the human walked out of the throne room. "They were only a little mad at me for sneaking out of the realm so many times, and they are letting you stay..."
Maeve's voice trailed off upon seeing the human with her head down and her sketchbook clutched tightly against her chest. "Is something wrong, my love? Do you not want to stay here after all?”
"No, I do. Your home is beautiful. I just... I don’t think your family likes me very much."
"Well, of course they do not like you!” Maeve laughed. "You are a human! You have no wings, no magic... no power. As far as a faery is concerned, you are nothing.”
The human gasped and her sketchbook fell to the floor. Tears formed in her eyes.
Maeve realized what she said. "Oh, no, no. You are upset. I did not mean to upset you!"
She moved over to comfort the human, but she was pushed away.
"You didn’t mean to upset me when you called me nothing?” the human asked, her voice breaking. "Do you even love me at all, Maeve?"
Faeries were incapable of feeling pain, but that was the only word Maeve could find to describe the sharp sting in her chest at that moment.
"Thalia, Thalia..." Maeve said gently. She was willing to break her own rule of never saying her love’s name. This was important. "I love you. Truly. My family... They just do not understand. They think you are nothing, but that could not be further from how I feel about you. I promise. To me, you are everything. I apologize I made you feel like anything but that."
Maeve picked up the sketchbook and held it out to the human. Her human. She wanted to smile, too, but assumed showing her pointy teeth would have ruined the softness of the moment she was attempting to create.
"I... I still think I should go," her human said, cautiously taking back her sketchbook. "I can't go back to my parents, but I'll find somewhere. I just know I don’t belong here.”
“Except you do. You belong with me. Isn't that enough?”
Her human’s lip quivered, then she turned and ran out of the palace.
Maeve wanted to follow her human, but forced herself to give her space. Instead, she retreated to the palace garden – her second favorite location to sneak off to. Alone was probably the safest thing for her to be now.
All Maeve ever wanted was to protect her human. She couldn't believe she let herself do the opposite.
At least she meant well and was trying to help. That had to have made Maeve better than her parents, who she knew did not care about her human and only agreed to let her stay in Faerie because she was so insistent on it. And it certainly made her better than the parents her human wanted to escape from.
Maeve decided that it did, and she promised herself she would never make the mistake of speaking before she thought her words through again.
She wandered through the garden, letting the floral scents soothe her. She paused when she noticed her human sitting in front of a flower, drawing something in her sketchbook.
"I thought I had upset you," Maeve said.
"You did."
"Then why are you drawing?"
"It's how I process my pain. There are so many awful things out there, and I could let myself get consumed by them... or I could focus on finding beautiful things to appreciate." Her human brushed the flower's petals. "Even if they're small."
"Huh..." An idea popped into Maeve's mind. "Wait here." She fluttered away, but soon returned with a basket of brilliant blooms.
Her human cocked her head. "What are those for?"
Maeve knelt down behind her. "You will find out. Just continue your drawing."
Her human did as she was told.
Humming softly, Maeve sectioned her human's hair. She crossed the sections over one another, slipping flowers in between them as she went. Before long, all of the human's hair was tied into an intricate braid and decorated by the flowers Maeve picked. She finished by placing a delicate flower crown on top of her human's head.
Maeve guided her human to the garden's pond. "You may look now."
Her human peered at her reflection on the pond's surface. She reached up to touch the flower crown. "I love it!"
Maeve beamed, delighted she made her human smile again. "You said you heal yourself by creating art of the things you find beautiful. I wanted to try that myself, starting with the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"Oh, my," her human whispered. "What do you think of mine?" She turned around her sketchbook to show Maeve the drawing she made: the flower she had been admiring before, but with her and Maeve sitting behind it.
“It is beautiful, Thalia,” Maeve says. She fluttered up to kiss her human's forehead. “And that is the only thing that matters.”