Budha by the inlet.

A feel of the forest.

Merrionwen's Adventure

Sat in the middle of the classroom surrounded by her peers, Merrionwen could feel the bead of sweat as it built on her brow. She swiped a hand swiftly across her face, removing it. The knot in her stomach was getting tighter, and threatening to reproduce her lunch. All eyes were on Bronwyn, at the front of the classroom, as she performed her recital. Merrionwen knew that she would be called next.

She couldn't hear a word Bronwyn was saying. It felt as though her friend had faded into the distance. More sweat was beading across her brow. She clenched her recital papers so tightly that they were at risk of being torn. Her ears starting ringing. She felt dizzy. She didn't want to do her recital. She was so afraid of humiliating herself.

Unable to take the pressure any longer, she suddenly flung her chair aside and ran from the classroom. The corridor echoed behind her as she fluttered to the ground and ran into the forest. Ran and ran, until she was in a part of the forest she didn't recognise.

She stood, feeling dazed. The enormity of what she had done started to dawn on her. She had run from the classroom because of the fear of humiliation, yet surely the humiliation of facing everyone after such an act would be as severe. Her parents would be so ashamed of her. As tear tears started trickling down her face she crawled into the canopy of a large toadstool.

Blinking, she awoke. She didn't even remember falling asleep. It was dark. She was lost in the forest, in the dark, it was probably hours after she should have been home from school .. and she was in a toadstool. She sighed. Why was she always screwing everything up?

There was a snap of a twig from somewhere in the darkness. She froze. Suddenly that tight feeling was in her stomach again, and the hair on the back of her neck had shot up.

"If I can smell you, so will an owl," said a voice from the darkness, "or a fox. Or a stoat. Or badger." The owner of the voice stepped forward, looking up at in the canopy from the ground beneath the toadstool. "What on earth are you doing up there?"

She gazed down, taking in what was in front of her. "He's a rat!" she thought, and tried to remember how likely it was that a rat would eat a fairy. He looked friendly enough.

He reached a paw up to her, taking her hand to help her down from her lofty spot. He introduced himself to her as Wanderlei, and she explained to him what had happened, how nervous she'd been at school, and how foolish and embarrassed she was to have got lost in the forest. She didn't know where she was, and didn't know what to do. Tears started rolling down her face again as she gulped in air, trying not to cry.

"It's ok little lady," he soothed "I know where the fairies live, and I know how to avoid getting eaten. I'm quite good at not getting eaten actually. Never been eaten in my life yet!" he smiled at her.

So, they set off across the forest, running surreptitiously from one thicket to another. The sounds of the forest at night were so different to the day time. Merrionwen was scared, very scared. She'd heard the stories about the night creatures, but never seen any. And she'd only ever seen the stars from her bedroom window at the top of the tree. She was amazed at how they didn't look any further away, even though she was all the way down on the ground.

As they neared the fairy dell she was alarmed to see so many lights shining in the tree tops. Seeing how nervous she was, Wanderlie took her paw once again. As they got closer they could hear her name being called from all directions. She looked at Wanderlei. Her lip waddled. He gave her hand a squeeze.

Then suddenly she was spotted. Her mother came careening from above, shouting and screaming at her, then gathering her into her arms. As people gathered around, Wanderlei slipped away into the forest once again.