Writing to Fairies: Magical Pen Pals of the Pandemic is a collection of all of the letters, photos, and mementos left under the Norfolk, Virginia Fairy Tree (which has escalated into an entire village now with little concrete and stone houses) by children and adults of every age.
When children write to the Fae they get answers based on an ever-expanding backstory about how fairies came to our world during the pandemic when reality and stress all became a bit too much for humans and the door to the realm of magical creatures reopened during the Summer of 2020.
Lysandra and all of her kind are very fond of writing letters to children and becoming Pen Pals. The letters give children proof of magic and deepen the bond with the Fae so they can offer comfort while passing on their unique knowledge of plants, animals and nature in general.
The Faerie Queen, Lysandra, was out exploring the City of Norfolk, Virginia on a hot and windy summer’s morning. She was looking for a book. Fairies had taken to hiding their own books (which they enchanted to be invisible to human eyes) and then placing them inside the Wee Free Libraries that humans had placed all around the city.
These little libraries were fashioned to look like small houses and human folk placed books inside to share.
This became especially important during this summer of the great sickness that forced all the big human libraries to close down in order to spot the plague from spreading.
The sickness also kept the children away from schools and each other.
When the humans were all locked down in their houses and the Human world became as quiet as it had once been in olden times the Queen had heard the door between the worlds groan, creak and open for the first time in a century.
After her scouts came back to report that the pandemic had swept the planet she chose to personally investigate. Stepping through the door the Queen immediately felt wave after wave of sadness, fear, worry and loneliness coming from humanity. She also felt a powerful need for magic and belief to return to the land.
Lysandra gave the command for scouts to find a hidden glen, park or forest that was near enough to humans to investigate. That is how the fairies entered out world through the Weyanoke Bird Sanctuary in Norfolk, Virginia along the Elizabeth River Trail.
It was there that she observed a woman telling a little girl named Clara who was bored with the daily walks she took with her father to the little park, "This place is much more exciting that you think. Do know there are fairies in the bird sanctuary now? You should bring them some little bits of cake and make a house for them to move into, Make them welcome."
The Queen was very surprised that a human had sensed them. Lysandra realized she had found a human who has Fairy blood which allows her to see and speak with magical creatures.
This woman had taken many a walk in the sanctuary over the years. The day the fairies came through the door the trees became greener, the flowers all opened at once and the brids sang with joy.
Lysandra waited and listened as the woman taught the little girl the ancient lore of the Fae.
After the child left the sanctuary the woman had astonished Lysandra by addressing her directly.
“So sorry to have disturbed your realm Your Majesty,” she said. “But there is terrible sickness in the human world and my hope is that you have come to help.”
Lysandra, who was wearing a dragonfly glamor at the time, popped into her true form.
Faeries, you see, have the ability to shapeshift and trick the eye in a way very similar to merfolk who can shift from tails to legs and from solid to liquid.
Glamour can make people see what the faeries want them to see, or not see. It can also hide the true whereabouts of a fairy, so one could say it's a survival skill in addition to being magical.
“You are not entirely human,” she said to the woman. “If you were you would not have had the knowing of our ways and the seeing of my form.”
Lysandra fluttered her fairy wings and made a few circles around the woman. She sniffed her hair and looked closely at her gray-green eyes.
“Mermaid,” Lysandra concluded. “In the woods? You must not be fully Mer if you love the wood.”
The woman smiled. “Half-human on my father’s side.”
Of course, thought Lysandra, it’s always on the father’s side.
“I have made a lovely place for you, call it a Summer home, in a pink Crepe Myrtle tree within sight of the river,” the woman explained. “There is a flower garden with trolls standing guard. There are many bees, Moonflowers galore with Lunar moths to ride nightly.”
The Fairy Queen was looking more and more interested.
“And there is a Wee Free Library,” the woman said and tried to hid the smile of satisfaction when she heard Lysandra gasp. “Fully stocked with medicinal texts and fully invisible.”
The Queen played it coy saying, “Well, is there also freshwater, little towels and cream?”
“Oh of course,” the woman answered thinking how she herself preferred her water lightly salted. “Also, there are hundreds of children eager to greet you with gifts, songs and a very powerful belief.”
Without a Hundred Acre wood and only a small bird sanctuary in which to dwell some might think Lysandra’s kingdom was as wee as herself. That would be quite wrong, for a thousand years Queen Lysandra had taken dominion over the hearts of children. Therein lies the greatest of realms.
Lysandra and all of her kind are very fond of writing letters to children and becoming Pen Pals. The letters give children proof of magic and deepen the bond with the Fae so they can pass on their unique knowledge of plants, animals and nature in general.
This year had been especially hard on children, since the great sickness swept the whole of the world, shutting everyone indoors and away from friends, teachers and family.
The Queen agreed and followed the woman far across the field, all along the human roadways and to the Crepe Myrtle tree which was just as promised. The little door was shut tight against all but the Fae. To be honest, the Fae don't need a door at all. They only ask that humans place them on trees as a way of attracting children and believers. Placing a door on a tree is a signal that this is a Fairy Safe Space.
Then the Queen turned her attention to the promised library and could not help but sigh for it was quite magnificent. Without hesitation, she flew straight through the wall as if it wasn’t there.
Inside it smelled of paper, ink, binding glue, and fine wood oil. It also smelled sharply of fairy magic since between each and every human book stood a magical text that only the Fae could see.
The Queen popped out of the library and with a nod of approval cast her fairy spell upon the old Crepe Myrtle.
‘Tis a fairy house true and no mistake.
Think of fairies when you wake.
When children seek out a Fairy door
The world shall have worries no more.
“Please make sure you teach the children to leave us good and proper notes in that letterbox you have there beneath the tree,” The Queen said. “They must have their names on. That’s only polite. Make sure they know they can sit and tell their troubles to the tree. We’ll be listening.”
And so began the bond between the Fae, merfolk and human kinds as they banded together to bring light and wellness back to the world.
To be continued…