Daisy Takes Charge (5 page)

‘D
aisy!' A small fairy girl with stripy socks and a guileless grin ran over to greet them. Daisy's heart lurched as the girl tripped over a bump in the ground. She stumbled awkwardly but remained upright by throwing her arms around Daisy.

Daisy grinned as she helped her friend back to her feet. ‘Oh, Pea.'

Pea was not daunted by her ungraceful entrance. ‘What are you doing here, Daisy? Are you performing, too?'

‘Definitely not,' Daisy laughed. ‘My sister Maggie is.'

‘Great to meet you,' said Pea, reaching out to shake Maggie's hand and almost knocking her over. ‘Sorry, I'm so nervous today I can hardly stay on my feet.'

‘That's all right. I'm pretty nervous myself,' said Maggie.

‘I didn't know you were a musician,' Daisy said to Pea as they headed towards the others.

‘I didn't know myself until recently,' said Pea.

Daisy shook her head in wonderment. Pea had found her Calling. Surely it wouldn't be much longer until Daisy found hers, too.

‘Dad! This is Daisy. The one I told you about,' called Pea.

A short, roundish fairy, all dressed in brown, came towards them. He walked with a rolling gait and from the front, Daisy couldn't see his wings at all.

‘So you're Pea's new friend. I'm Pod, her overprotective dad.' He laughed, a deep rumbling laugh. Daisy liked him immediately.

‘Since you seem to be acquainted, Pea can fill you in while I see if the band is ready,' said Cyan, heading to where a group of fairies had begun setting up their instruments.

‘So,' said Pea, leaning in conspiratorially. ‘Shall I start with the other musicians?'

She pointed out a dainty fairy in a pale-pink dress who stood apart from the group.

‘That one's Boronia.' Boronia was accompanied by an older fairy who looked to be talking sternly to her. ‘The grumpy curmudgeon is her mum, Grevillea.'

Daisy giggled. Pod shot his daughter a reproachful look as Grevillea glanced in their direction. Pea paid no attention.

‘The two boys with the wavy brown hair are Grebe and Lark. Grebe, the shorter one without wings, is the one competing.'

‘Is Lark his brother?' asked Maggie. Her voice was casual but her eyes sparkled.

Daisy poked her sister. ‘You like him, don't you?'

‘I don't even know him,' said Maggie, her face flushing red.

‘Yes, but you want to,' whispered Daisy.

‘He is handsome,' said Maggie.

‘Rose and Ella certainly think so.' Pea nodded in the direction of two identical fairies with matching rainbow dresses and rosella wings. They were giggling and shooting covert looks in Lark's direction.

‘They're twin sisters who perform together. They seemed friendly enough when I talked to them, although it was a bit hard to join in with them finishing each other's sentences.'

‘And what about the other boy?' asked Daisy. ‘The one standing by himself.'

‘That's Ash. He doesn't say much.'

‘Contestants, over here please!' Cyan clapped her hands and gestured for the contestants to move closer.

Daisy gave Maggie a hug, whispered ‘Good luck', then watched with Pod as Pea and Maggie joined the others with Cyan.

When Pod turned to stand beside her, Daisy caught a glimpse of shiny, bronze, Christmas-beetle wings lying against his back.

‘Isn't this exciting?!' Pod said. ‘I just hope Pea doesn't knock someone off the stage.'

Daisy wondered if he was kidding but then, watching Pea stumble over her feet, she realised it was a real possibility.
Please
, thought Daisy.
Don't let it be Maggie.
Then she crossed her fingers for both of them.

I
ntrigued to know what Cyan was explaining, Daisy and Pod moved closer to listen.

‘There will be three rounds,' said Cyan. ‘In the first round you will play your instrument. In the second, you will perform your original song. The songbird duets will be the finale.' She pointed to a row of chairs at the base of the log. ‘That's where you'll sit when it isn't your turn.'

‘Who'll be going first?' Grevillea interrupted, pushing past the contestants to stand beside Boronia.

Cyan shot her an impatient look. ‘I don't know yet.'

‘Boronia should be first or last,' Grevillea continued. ‘The strongest performers always have those positions.' Boronia cringed at her mother's second interruption.

‘I will make that decision later,' said Cyan through gritted teeth. She turned back to the contestants. ‘Those of you with wings may fly to and from the stage. Grebe will take the stairs.'

Grebe had been watching the band setting up. He looked back to Cyan upon hearing his name. ‘Sorry,' he apologised. ‘What did you say?'

‘That's my brother, always looking ahead to the exciting part instead of concentrating on right now.' Daisy turned to see Lark standing behind her, shaking his head. ‘Who are you here with?' he asked.

‘My sister, Maggie. The one in the purple dress.'

Lark's eyes widened when he saw Maggie. ‘I didn't see you two arrive.'

‘We were a little late,' Daisy answered, trying not to giggle as Lark stared at her sister.

‘She's done it now,' Pod interjected. Grevillea was being escorted back to them by a very angry Cyan.

‘I am a patient fairy,' Cyan explained. ‘But if you interrupt this rehearsal one more time I'll banish you from the Festival.'

Grevillea looked as if she were about to protest, but the look on Cyan's face made her stop. She assumed a haughty expression but did not speak.

‘Wonderful,' said Cyan. ‘We understand each other.'

She called to a young male fairy who was arranging chairs around one of the closer tables. ‘Moss! These are the contestants' family members. I think they might be more comfortable on the verandah.' The fairy nodded in agreement. ‘We'll send for you if we need you,' said Cyan, dismissing them all.

Grevillea opened her mouth, but when Cyan raised an eyebrow she closed it again.

‘It's difficult being a parent,' said Pod, taking Grevillea by the arm as they followed after Moss. ‘We just want the best for our children.'

‘Or for their children to be the best,' Lark whispered to Daisy.

‘Grevillea might be like that,' said Daisy as Grevillea told Pod how talented Boronia was. ‘But I don't think Pod is.'

As if on cue, Pod glanced back at them, rolling his eyes. Holding in their laughter, Daisy and Lark followed them.

Daisy, Lark, Pod and Boronia spent the rest of the morning on a verandah of Queen Jasmine's Tea-Tree House, watching through the branches as fairies flew to and fro, setting up for the Songbird Festival.

It would have been pleasant if not for Grevillea's loud and incessant questions. Pod became Daisy's hero, swooping in to start a conversation with Grevillea whenever her questioning became too intense. Daisy couldn't always escape though.

‘What type of bird is your sister singing her duet with?' Grevillea asked when Pod went in search of a bathroom.

‘A magpie,' Daisy replied.

‘A magpie!' said Grevillea. ‘Why a magpie?'

‘Magpies are wonderful singers,' said Daisy, defending her sister's choice. ‘Maggie sings with them all the time. Two of them, Stormy and Melody, were so good that Maggie couldn't choose between them so she just asked the first one she saw. They're all friends, so I'm sure Stormy wasn't too upset not to be singing with Maggie.'

‘How interesting,' said Grevillea, a sly look on her face.

Worried that she may have said too much, Daisy felt a rush of relief when Grevillea left to bother Lark for a while.

The trapped expression on Lark's face turned Daisy's relief to impatience.
Why must Grevillea make everyone miserable?

Careful not to let Grevillea see, Daisy took out her wand and whispered, ‘While contained within this tree, calm and carefree you will be.'

Grevillea stopped mid-sentence. Without another word, she strolled over to a thickly cushioned chair, snuggled into it and closed her eyes, a contented smile on her face.

To everyone's delight, Grevillea remained that way until Moss arrived to collect them for lunch.

Back in the clearing, the morning's volunteers sat at the tables while a new set of fairies flew into the clearing, bringing food for everyone.

Daisy, Lark and Pod found a table together. Grevillea chose to sit alone.

When Maggie, Pea and Grebe came to eat lunch with them, Lark stood up and gestured for Maggie to take his seat beside Daisy.

‘Lark's got a girlfriend,' Grebe sang teasingly.

Lark grabbed his brother in a headlock, playfully rubbing his knuckles across the top of Grebe's head. ‘Don't pay attention to him,' he grinned. ‘He hasn't yet learned about manners.'

Maggie smiled. ‘It's fine, really.'

Daisy shot a knowing smile at her sister as Lark ushered Grebe to another table.

Maggie blushed and tried to divert Daisy's attention. ‘The rehearsals are going well. The only thing left to practise is the duet,' Maggie said, grabbing a slice of appleberry from the bowl on the table.

‘Look!' said Pea, pointing upwards as she bit into a slice of damper with lilli pilli jam.

Up in the sky, a ragtag group of birds was descending. Too big to fit into the clearing, the birds landed in the branches of the surrounding trees.

Melody was there, accompanied by a pied butcherbird, a kookaburra, an eastern rosella and a very sleepy-looking boobook owl.

‘There are only five,' Daisy noticed. ‘One's missing.'

‘No it's not,' said Maggie. She pointed to where a lyrebird stood in the leaf litter. Beside it was Boronia, a huge smile on her face.

‘All right, lunch break's over,' Cyan announced, coming to stand behind Maggie. ‘Last chance to impress me before tonight.'

‘Do you think they'll let us stay this time?' Daisy whispered to Pod.

‘Be inconspicuous,' he answered.