Chapter 9

Eden paced the entire length of her living room, waiting for the carriage from the West Council. It had been decided that they would all stay in a camp on the outskirts of West Village for two days before getting started on their first mission and Eden was very nervous.

No matter how much Poppy tried to convince her, she couldn't help feeling that way because all of the Heroes had manifested their abilities a long time before she did and no doubt knew how to use it better and were pretty strong too.

"Eden, sit still or even better, use your wings, before you walk a hole into my floor." Her mother noted, flying into the room with a small vase holding a flower seedling.

Eden just plopped on a cushion, disliking the thought of flying, although the cottage had a very high ceiling with plentiful windows to give an air of openness, she always felt trapped flying indoors so she did as little of that as possible.

"Here I was thinking you'd miss your father and I or even Xavier." Her mother was saying, flying high to keep the vase on a side shelf.

Eden just gave her a nervous laugh, she wasn't sure if her mother would take it lightly if she knew that Poppy had turned her pet plant into a seed and that Xavier was technically sitting in her suitcase.

"But I know you've always wanted to leave the house." Magnolia said softly, floating, her back to her daughter. "I knew you would leave eventually, Pine District was never going to be enough for you."

Eden felt sad at her mother's words but she also knew they were true, she would have left home in search of strength, sooner or later. Finding out she had powers had just quickened it, her parents hadn't even known she was a Hero but it didn't come as a surprise to them, only Poppy had known.

Again Eden found herself disagreeing with the Head of West Village, Lady Snowdrop Sill but there was nothing she could do about it.

Poppy lived in Fir District so it meant that the carriage would pick up Poppy first before coming over to her house, the other Heroes would also be arriving as well.

She had already said goodbye to her dad before he went out that morning, she wasn't particularly close to him so it wasn't that hard but…

She stood up and flew up to her mother, trying to arrange her words which were bouncing up and down in her head but she didn't get that far because as soon as she got close to her mother, Magnolia turned around quickly and threw herself at her only daughter who was now easily taller than her.

Eden supported her mother's sobbing form, a frown on her face when she noticed how frail her mother was becoming. It was because she was making three times more Fairy dust that she needed to, Eden grinded her teeth.

"I promise I'll be safe Mama." She said softly, even though a dangerous anger was boiling underneath her skin. "And I promise I'll come back, I'll come back and help out at the flower shop and I'll help make Fairy dust." She whispered brokenly, holding her mother tight.

Magnolia was too exhausted to formulate a reply so she just held on to her daughter until the tell tale tinkling of the carriage arrived.

"It's time to go Eden." Her mother held her face as if she was studying the hard and beautiful features for the last time.

Eden wrapped her mother in a fierce hug one last time before letting go to pick up her suitcase and start out the front door.

Poppy waved at her from inside the fancy looking dark green carriage that was drawn by four wasps and a coach driver in front.

A Chamberlain took her suitcase and she had to fly up to get into the carriage.

She looked back down when she settled down to see her mother outside the house clutching her heart.

"Come back to me Eden!" She called up to her daughter.

"I promise with all my heart Mama!" Eden screamed back, leaning out an open window so far that Poppy had to grab on to her so she wouldn't fall out.

"Careful Eden!" The blue haired Fairy squealed, pulling hard.

"Thanks." She replied sheepishly when the carriage took off, soon her house became a dot in the distance and she couldn't see her mom again.

"You were surprisingly patient, I expected to find you pacing outside." Poppy teased, toying with the hair clip Eden had made for her by manipulating a flower.

"I was, not just outside." Eden smirked, throwing her dislodged braid over one shoulder.

Poppy just shook her head. "Why am I not surprised?" She muttered to herself.

"What do you think the other Heroes would be like?" She asked after a while of sightseeing, which wasn't much as the most they could see were the blue skies and the tips of trees.

"Stronger than I am, that's for sure." Eden said bitterly.

Poppy sighed, resting her head on Eden's shoulder. "I keep on telling you, no one expects you to be strong because that's what the missions are for." She brushed stray hairs behind her best friend's ear. "We still have lots and lots of missions to finish before we can even get started on our Quest."

Eden just sighed, too heavy hearted to come up with a reply. Soon the wasps were swerving to a stop in front of the imposing building of the West Council and they saw a pink carriage fly towards the North, no doubt it had already deposited it's Hero.

They were ushered out of the carriage and were told that their luggages would be transported to the camp. They flew straight to the door where Lady Sill's assistant was already waiting, a frail, green haired Fairy that had way too much load on her chest in Eden's opinion.

"You're a little late but the meeting has just begun so there's no issue." The assistant said, already hurrying through hallways, her wings fluttering rapidly.

Eden wanted to spit out that it was their late carriage arrival that made them late but Poppy's hand on hers stopped her words and instead they quietly followed behind the Fairy that was really fast for her tiny size.

"The rest of the Village Heads are in attendance too." The assistant was saying, peering through a clipboard on her hand. "The High Council at the center of the Town would have been the best venue to hold this meeting but it's way too far from the Hero Camp so it had to be done in the West Council." The Assistant rambled off as they passed through high and airy hallways.

"Here we are, I'm Cherry Clark by the way." Cherry stopped in front of an imposing door, she pushed the door open and motioned them in with a hand.

Eden couldn't help but feel nervous when everyone in the room turned to look at them, Poppy had already hidden behind her.

"Come on in Forest Heroes." Lady Sill invited, she was standing at the head of the table, unsurprisingly. "We were just about to start."

The meeting was very unnecessary, in Eden's opinion and she told this to Poppy as they solemnly made their way out for Shutter Insects to take pictures of them.

"It was simply for show." Poppy muttered back, waving gently and smiling. "Smile a little Eden, the people of Flora need to be reassured."

"And I showing my teeth reassures them how?" She asked cynically, impatient to get into the carriages brought for them.

She hadn't really been able to study Heroes as much as she'd liked, all she knew was that there was another girl, the person that had sat opposite her at the table.

She was obviously a Hero with a boy's haircut and hooded, red eyes, Eden might have even mistaken her for a boy if not for other obvious reasons.

The Heroes were separated again on their journey to Hero Camp and Eden wasn't complaining, putting all the Heroes together wouldn't have been a smart thing to do at all, no one could tell who would get ticked off and unleash their power in the midst of adoring fans.

"Did you see the other girl?" Eden couldn't help asking when the wasps took off into the sky again.

"Lily? Are you talking about Lily?" Poppy asked in interest, neglecting to answer Eden's question.

"I don't know if her name is Lily but did you see her?" Eden asked again. "She has dark hair, cut short like a boy's and red eyes."

"Um, no." Poppy frowned, "The girl I'm talking about has short, fluffy, white hair which was cut just under her ears and pretty, dark pink eyes."

Eden shrugged, there was no need playing guess work in the carriage, soon they would get to their destination and then it would be just the Heroes for two days and more when they went on their mission, so Eden wasn't worried about getting to know her fellow Heroes, there would be time enough for that.