Shupikayi and the Aurelia Forest: Part 1

Sunlight flooded into Shupikayi’s greenhouse as she planted a tiny, red seed in a large blue flower pot that sat atop a wooden table. “There.” She turned to her friend, Oluchi, and wiped her hands together to get some of the soil off her hands. “That’s done. Now, all we have to do is wait.”

Oluchi’s hare-like ears twitched. “My mom said that the flower should bloom overnight. You’re going to love it.” She thumped her foot against the ground in excitement.

Shupikayi smiled. “I know I will.” Oluchi was a Sungura, which meant she was like a fawn, except she had the ears and feet of a hare, was fairly tall, and very fast. Oluchi was a very joyful person, and was good company to keep. It was nice to talk to a fellow human being instead of the plants in her secret greenhouse for a change. Her secret greenhouse was now the new base for her and Oluchi’s new secret club; The Herbalist Garden Club.

Shupikayi walked over to the table that was in the center of the greenhouse. On the table was a teapot filled with mint tea, a plate of mandazi (donut-like treats), two teacups, and two saucers. “Shall we have a tea break?”

Oluchi shrugged. “Sure, why not?” She skipped to the table and plopped into one of the wooden chairs.

Shupikayi poured her a cup of herbal tea, put a mandazi on one of the saucers, and passed them to her.

“Thanks,” Oluchi said. She was about to sip her tea but then sat it down instead. “Oh, I just remembered something! Remember when I told you that my family and I wanted to visit Fadzai Falls with you?”

Shupikayi took a seat and poured herself some tea. “Yes, I remember. I don’t blame you for wanting to go. It truly is a magnificent place.”

“Yes, but you said your mother, the Queen, would have a fit if you went anywhere near the borders of the fairy land, Aurelia, after what happened. So, my question is, what exactly happened?”

Shupikayi took a sip of tea and shook her head. “I keep forgetting that you and your family haven’t been here that long, so you haven’t heard the story.” She sighed. “The event that I was referring to happened many years ago, and what happened was, I was kidnapped by the fairies of Aurelia Forest when I was six.”

“What?!” Oluchi said. “No way, you’re pulling my leg.”

“It’s true.”

“Why on earth would they do that?”

Shupikayi finished her cup of tea. “The fairies kidnapped me for their friend’s sake because–Actually, let me start at the beginning. The story is more interesting that way.” She poured herself another cup of tea and took a sip. “Now, it all began on my sixth birthday. All our relatives had been invited, but, as usual, they weren’t extremely nice to me. The cousins had called me a burnt cockroach, again, and they had also ruined my tea party. Again. I ran off. Again. Nobody noticed for a while…Again.”

Oluchi’s ears drooped halfway. “No one noticed you were gone on your own birthday?”

“Not until about a half-hour or so later.”

Oluchi looked at her in disbelief. “How did you manage to run away without anyone noticing?”

Shupikayi smirked. “There was a secret passageway beneath one of our gardening sheds, so it wasn’t that hard. At least not until Baba found out about it, but that’s a whole other story. Anyway, I left the palace and went to the  vent in private. That was where my little adventure began…”

***

Shupikayi stomped through the forest kicking pebbles and twigs. She normally wouldn’t act like this in front of her family, but no one was around. The only one watching her kick pebbles and sticks was a lone raven flying from tree to tree, but she didn’t care.

She hated her cousins, she hated her aunts–she hated everyone! She didn’t like being teased. Her parents didn’t seem to understand just how annoying her family was, because even when she had asked them not to, they had invited her aunts, uncles, and cousins to her birthday party anyway.

All she wanted was to have a nice, relaxing tea party with her sister, Anatsa, her stuffed animals, and her potted plants. But the boys, including her annoying little brother, Ropafadzo, kept knocking her toys and potted plants off their seats with their slingshots and stones. To make matters worse, Anatsa was too busy playing with their older cousin, Tendai, and her parents were too busy talking to her aunts and uncles to care about what the boys were doing.

“Well, if they want to be jerks, fine!” she said, as she went up a hill. “I’ll have my own birthday party by myself! And no one’s invited!” She kicked another pebble and it skipped across the dirt and then rolled back down the hill. “I’ll make my own cake!” She kicked another pebble and it went farther, it went over the top of the hill and disappeared.

“Caw! Caw!” The raven cried. “Caw, caw!”

She rushed over to kick another pebble that was atop the hill. “I’ll–” as she kicked the pebble down the hill, she lost her footing, and fell.

Down, down, down the hill she rolled. When she made it down to the base of the hill and stopped rolling, her arms and legs hurt. There were leaves and tiny twigs in her afro, scratches on her arms and legs, and dirt all over her violet dress.

Shupikayi blinked. She wanted to cry, but she was still in a state of shock. She didn’t expect to fall down a hill, and she didn’t expect to get so bruised from it. Even if she could cry, she didn’t see the point in it. No one would hear her, and she didn’t think anyone would care anyway. At least no one except the raven, who had flown over to a nearby tree and was cawing even louder than before, as if he was worried.

She had heard that ravens caw when danger is present. Maybe he had tried to warn her about the hill? But in that case, why was he still cawing? She had already fallen.

There was a big gust of wind. It ruffled her dress, and blew the leaves that were around her away.

Suddenly, two women with big wings flew down from the sky and landed beside her.

Shupikayi gawked at them. They were fairies! One was in a blue dress and wore a blue bonnet, and the other was in a red dress and bonnet. Both had skin the color of dark coneflowers, but the one in the blue dress was shorter than the one in the red. Also, the fairy in red had light amber wings, while the one in blue had sky blue wings.

“Are you okay?” the fairy in the red dress asked. She knelt beside Shupikayi. “The poor thing fell so far! And she’s all by herself, Dumo. Where are your parents, child?”

Shupikayi didn’t say a word. She had spoken to fairies before, and she wasn’t too shy. She usually loved to talk to other people when she was in the mood for it. But after falling down the hill and hurting herself, and after seeing the fairies come down from the sky so quickly…well, she wasn’t sure what to say.

The fairy in the blue dress, Dumo, shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. She’s probably hit her head too hard, Kiyah. And as for her parents…who knows what happened to them. Why don’t we take her home?”

“I don’t know,” Kiyah said. “We should probably look for her parents.”

“We could…” Dumo looked around. “Hello! Anyone here?! You lost a toddler!” When no one responded, Dumo shrugged. “Welp, guess they’re not here!” She almost sounded happy that no one had responded. “Better take her to Adali. She’s always wanted a child. She’ll be happy with this one. She’s adorable!”

A faint memory resurfaced in Shupikayi’s mind. Hadn’t her mother said something about fairies kidnapping human children? Before Shupikayi could protest, the fairy scooped her up in her arms. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s take her to Adali.” She took off into the air, and her friend followed close behind.

Shupikayi gaped at the ground below. The fairy, Kiyah, had flown her up so high, that everything below looked like miniature toys! The trees, elephants, zebras they flew over looked like figurines, and the rivers looked like ribbons. She looked up at the clouds, which now seemed much larger close up than before.

She was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by it all, and wanted to get down immediately. She would have squirmed in discomfort, but she was so high up, she feared Kiyah would drop her if she did. Eventually, she closed her eyes and prayed to God that the flight would be over soon.

After what felt like an eternity, the fairy dipped down, making Shupikayi’s stomach lurch. She could hear the sound of roaring water, like–

She opened her eyes. They were flying right over Fadzai Falls, the most beautiful waterfall in the world. The water roared as it went into a deep gorge, down into a river. Two beautiful rainbows shimmered in the sparkling mist. Beyond the falls was a forest of golden and auburn leafed trees.

The fairies flying became level again as they swooped into the forest. This forest had the tallest trees Shupikayi had ever seen! The bright-leaved trees also had ebony trunks and twisted branches.

Further into the forest were fairy houses, which sat in the trees’ boughs. Each fairy house had a porch where fairies young and old were sitting in their chairs enjoying their day. They looked at Shupikayi with curiosity, but they didn’t seem at all surprised to see a human child being carried by a fellow fairy. Other fairies were on the ground tending to gardens they had planted or foraging for berries and herbs. Most of the fairies had different colored wings, and some had bigger wings than others. Shupikayi had never seen so many fairies in one place before.

“Ah, here we are!” Kiyah said, as they approached one treehouse with a red roof. Her and her friend, Dumo, landed onto the porch of the red-roofed house.

Shupikayi looked at the door. It was as black as the tree trunks of the forest and it had a golden colored knob. Where are we, she wondered

Dumo knocked on the door. “Adali! It’s me and Kiyah. We have a surprise for you. May we come in?”

There was a long moment of silence. Shupikayi was starting to think no one was home.

“Come in,” a voice from inside the house said solemnly.

Dumo opened the door, and they all went inside.

Now, at this point, Shupikayi knew she should have been scared. She was being carried into a stranger’s house, which was far away from home, without her Mama and Baba around. But despite this fact, she was not scared at all. 

She was too enamored with the beauty of the house, for inside were potted plants with blue and golden flowers hanging from the ceiling. The walls were decorated with some beautiful oil paintings of fairies dancing in the air. In the dining area beside the kitchen was a black wooden table with a velvet table runner. Resting on the table was a beautiful tea set with butterflies and birds painted on them. Steam came out of the big teapot’s spout, and judging by the smell of the room, it was a herbal tea Shupikayi had never had before.

But sitting at that same table was a fairy who had her head in her hands. Her drooping wings were sunset-orange, tipped with black. Her skin was the color of hazelnuts. She wore a black dress, and she had very short hair. In fact, it looked like she had just shaved it recently. She had a cup of tea in front of her, but it looked untouched. Without even looking at her friends, the fairy said, “What brings you two here?”

“Guess what we found on our morning flight!” Dumo said. “Look!”

Adali looked up and stared at Shupikayi. Her eyes widened. “What is that?”

Dumo giggled. “It’s a baby, silly!”

Kiyah fluttered over to Adali and sat Shupikayi on her lap. “Well, a toddler technically, but still.”

“Isn’t she adorable?” Dumo said.

Shupikayi looked up and stared at Adali. She was a very beautiful fairy, with brown eyes. But her eyes were red as if she had been crying. She had a tired look on her face that reminded her of her mama.

Had the fairy been in mourning? Why?

“We found her in the woods on her own,” Kiyah said. “She had a nasty fall down a hill.”

“She was rolling like a ball!” Dumo said. “Her parents must not care for her. She’s been out and about for who knows how long. Look at the state she’s in.”

Adali looked at Shupikayi as if she had been sent from above. “She’s so pretty. Look at her!” She gently touched Shupikayi’s hair. “Her hair is so soft, and her skin is so…”

Shupikayi frowned. Was she going to say she was burnt like a burnt cockroach?

“It’s so beautiful,” Adali said. 

Shupikayi perked up. She thought she was beautiful.

“What’s your name, little one?” Adali asked.

Shupikayi simply stared at her. Everything that was happening felt a little strange. She had been taken to a fairy forest by complete strangers. Though they were treating her nicely, and she did like the attention she was getting, it all felt like a weird dream.

Adali looked concerned. “She’s still in shock, it seems.” She gently put her hand on Shupikayi’s forehead, and Shupikayi flinched. “A knot is forming. And she’s bruised all over.” She picked up her cup of tea and put it to Shupikayi’s lips. “Drink this, little one. It will make you feel better.”

Shupikayi sipped the tea. It tasted amazing! It tasted like honeysuckles. She took the teacup in her hands and gulped down the rest of the tea. She felt much better. “May I have more, please?”

Adali smiled. “Of course you can.” She gave her another cup of tea. “And look, your bruises are going away.”

Shupikayi looked at her arms. Funny enough, her scratches and bruises were healing, as if they had never been there. She could feel the knot on her head leaving as well. “What kind of tea is this?”

“It’s Golden Leaf tea, made from the leaves of our Aurelia trees. Do you like it?”

Shupikayi sipped her tea and nodded. “I want this for all my tea parties forever.”

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Shupikayi.”

“Shupikayi?” Dumo said. “Why on earth would someone name you that?.”

Shupikayi finished her tea and looked up at Dumo, annoyed. “I don’t know.” Actually, she did know, but she was tired of explaining her name to everyone. Whenever she told people her name, they thought it was ridiculous, surprising, or funny. Although her love for her name had waned when her mother told her its meaning, and her reasoning behind giving the name to her, she never hated her name. However, the more people reacted negatively to it, the more frustrated she became with it.

“But what of your parents?” Adali asked Shupikayi.

“They’re at home having my birthday party,” Shupikayi said.

Adeli looked a little confused. “Without you?”

“I guess.”

Kiyah shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Humans. They let the birthday girl wander off all alone and didn’t even notice. You may as well give her another name, Adali.”

“Yes! A much nicer name, a name from our own people,” Dumo said.

“She’s a very gentle child, and very beautiful,” Adali said to herself. “I’ll name you…” Adali’s wings perked up. “Amani. What do you think of that, little one?”

Shupikayi wasn’t sure what to say about that. On one hand, why did she want to change her name? Was Adali considering keeping her? Was that even allowed? On the other hand, if her name wasn’t so great, then maybe she did need a new one. The name Adeli had suggested didn’t sound too bad. And if there was one thing she learned about adults, is that disagreeing with them was mostly pointless. She wasn’t going to argue over a name with a total stranger. She shrugged. “That’s alright, I guess.”

“Hmm. You don’t like it, do you?”

Shupikayi hesitated. “No.” She wasn’t expecting Adali to ask her that.

“What about Buhle?”

Shupikayi thought about it for a moment. “Yes, I like that one better.”

Adali laughed. “Then that will be your name. I must show you to Bwana when he gets back home.” She picked up Shupikayi and rose from her seat. “But first, I need to get all these leaves out of your hair, and get you some new clothes.”

Dumo fluttered her wings excitedly. “I’ll hurry to the dress shop and get some for you.” She quickly flew out of the house through the front door.

Kiyah nodded. “And I shall go to my garden and bring back flowers so you can make a wreath for her. She can have her own flower crown for the ceremony!” 

Adali gave her a nod. “Thank you. While you’re out, can you fetch Bwana for me?”

“Of course!” Kiyah flew out of the house and closed the door behind her.

Adali looked at Shupikayi fondly. “Come now, you’re going to need a bath.”

Shupikayi frowned. “Do I have to? Can’t I have mandazi first?”

“You can have all the mandazi you like, after your bath. And you can wear a pretty dress too. Once you’re all clean, we’ll do whatever you like, okay? What would you like to do?”

Shupikayi furrowed her brow. She was in a fairy house, in a fairy forest, with beautiful fairies. So, she was going to have to make her first request count. “Can I do anything I want?”

“As long as it isn’t dangerous, then yes.” 

Shupikayi thought for a moment. What did she want most of all? She smiled and lifted her chin up high. “I want to have a tea party with a unicorn.”