Nuala had come to live in the village with her best friend Laura a few months before. They had rented a small cottage together and now lived near to the forest on the edge of the village. Before they had come to live in the human village, they had lived in the forrest in their natural form and had watched, year upon year, as land was gradually subsumed for human housing. Eventually it seemed only natural, to Nuala, to integrate herself into the local population and become one of the locals. With a little magic, Nuala and Laura moved into the village and no-one knew the two were not simply beautiful young girls.
Having set her mind to production, Nuala threw herself into her craft, blending the herbs, spices and little of herself, to create her potions; so much so that she completely forgot about the time. The next thing she realised is the sun was setting and her friend, Laura was home from work and pouring a glass of wine. Laura moved around and pulled the blind in the kitchen low and released a deep sigh and allowed her true nature to blossom. She still retained her human size but the wings which had been hidden beneath a concealment spell shimmered into existence behind her. As she sighed, she complained "It's so hard keeping up the pretence of being like them. Why can't we move back to deep in the forrest, Nuala?"
Nuala herself, sighed allowing her true nature to shimmer into existence also "You know why, Laura, we've gone over this so many times. Its just as hard living in the forrest. So much has gone now, its only a matter of time before there is no forrest for us to go back to. I don't want to live in fear of being found out in the forrest. I don't want to keep hiding from everyone. Its such a solitary life and it makes me so lonely. At least this way we can socialise with the humans."
"These are the same humans who are destroying our home lands. And I find it so hard to keep these things hidden." She gestured over her shoulder as she spoke, "And sometimes I just want to rip my clothes off and fly into the blue above."
Nuala, leaned forward and, tipping the bottle, poured more wine into Laura's glass, "Here, have some more wine. I'm almost finished production and then we can go into the sitting room. Later, we can fly into the forrest and, if you like, we can make a little mischief with the wisps." Soothed Nuala.
"Eeeeeep" Squealed Laura, "Really, we can go buzz the wisps!?! Common, I'll help you finish off. What can I do?"
"You can put the cork into the bottles." replied Nuala
Laura had always had a flighty personality and could never settle to the art of using her fairy dust. Nuala on the other hand was a more stable character with a calming influence on her friend. But despite this, Corking the bottles was about all she trusted her friend to do. So as the girls finished the production of the potions and tonics, they chatted and gossiped about their days.
"Ooo, I saw the strangest thing today" Said Nuala
"Oh?"
"Yes, a man riding, no trotting, into town on horse back. It looked like he'd been galloping, his horse was all sweaty and foaming at the bit."
"That's not so strange," replied Laura, "seeing a man on horseback."
"No not on its own, but he had something about him. His clothes looked wrong. And he seemed in such a hurry. It seemed very important. I wonder where he was going?" Nuala mused.
"How were his clothes wrong?"
"I don't know, they looked kind of old fashioned, although they were clearly new. Sort of like a costume, it was very strange." Said Nuala
"Hmmm, old fashioned how?"
"I don't know. Like the sort of thing you would see in a Robin Hood movie. Something the villain might wear."
"Oooo, sounds exciting, was he handsome? How old do you think he was?" Enquired Laura, clearly getting excited by the thought of a strange man coming to town.
"I don't know, I guess he was handsome in a dashing kind of way. Aaaand I would put him in his late thirties or early forties. You know, mature, but not old"
"Well, I'm gonna tap into the gossip trees tomorrow and see what I can find out. There's bound to be someone who knows something in a village this small. It all sounds very exciting. Now, can we go out?" Asked Laura practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Nuala peered at the window blind and said, "I think it's dark enough." Then giggled, "You've not drunk too much to fly straight have you?"
"I'll be fine. Its been so long since I've had fun in the forrest, it'll feel so good to really stretch my wings and chase the wisps around in the trees."

The girls left the kitchen and clicking the lock on the front door, made their way up the stairs into the back bedroom, the one that looked out into the forrest. Nuala lifted the sash of the window a few inches before letting go the magical bonds that held her true nature in check. Laura seeing her friend begin to change shape, let her control snap away and changed even before Nuala had finished her transformation.

"You shouldn't do it so fast," Nuala scolded, "you'll get stuck. What if you need to change back quickly?"
"I'm just too excited." replied Laura
"I know you are, but you need to think, Laura."
The two woman flitted around the bedroom before streaking out of the open window and into the tree canopy of the forrest to chase the wisps.