Ellie hesitantly stuck her head around the edge of the door. "Excuse me... but... is this the Fairy Godmothers Anonymous meeting?"
The group of ladies looked up from sipping their tea. One, a tall gaunt woman, peered at her. "Child, if it isn't, you've just revealed what you do for a living, correct? Hardly anonymous, do you think?"
"Oh, Esme, don't torture the poor thing," a tiny elderly woman on her right twittered. "Come in, come in, child. Are you a fairy godmother?" She turned to the other women. "Aren't they starting them early now a-days? In my day, you had to have at least two grey hairs before you could become a fairy godmother...."
A younger-looking godmother rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Oh, here we go again. Bertha wanders down memory lane more times than I've had pumpkin pies." She pulled up an empty chair to the table. "Sit down, dear. How do you like your tea?"
Ellie took her seat and placed her hands in her lap. "Two sugars please." She looked at the women seated around the table. "My name is Ellie." A chorus of hellos greeted her. "Excuse me for asking, but what do you do here exactly?" I've..." She bowed her head. "I've had some problems. And I was told to come here."
"Well," replied the younger godmother while she poured Ellie's tea into a dainty cup. "I'm Gamma. This is Fairy Godmothers Anonymous. The first step to help is to admit you have a problem."
"Clients!" most of the women at the table shouted. The younger members giggled while the older alternatively frowned or simply reached for a cookie or cucumber sandwich from the silver trays on the table.
Esmerelda snorted. "Ungrateful retches. Do you know that one of my girls actually abandoned her castle? She left me a note: 'Hate the kitchen. Hate the prince. Took the shoes. Ella' How crass!"
Gamma rolled her eyes again. "You were lucky. One of mine wanted a dozen pairs of those shoes, in different colors of course, once she became Queen. The kingdom is _still_ in debt to the dwarves I contract out to. Thank goodness that it didn't have to come out of _my_ pocket!"
Ellie sipped at her tea and placed the cup back in its saucer. "But what do you _do_ here?"
One of the younger godmothers nibbled a bit on her cookie. "Trade horror stories. Network. Unwind. We take turns bringing tea or cookies or such. Sometimes we play bridge or poker. Watch out for Bertha though, I swear she's a card shark!" Back in tune with the conversation, Bertha beamed. "It's more of a support group," the young one continued. "There's not a lot of help out there for 'people in the wish-fulfillment industry.'"
Esmerelda frowned fiercely. "Most of what we hear is wants and complaints." She whined in a high-pitched voice, " 'I want this!' "
"And then later, we always hear, 'But that wasn't what I _wanted_!'" Gamma returned. "Always asking for what they want and not what they need. Asking for princes when they've been peasants all their lives? Oh, there's one for the nobles to snicker about."
Bertha dunked a cookie in her tea. "But it does make it easier to be paid if they are royalty," she pondered. "I don't really like pumpkin... gives me wind." She munched thoughtfully.
"So Ellie, what is the problem?" Esmerelda asked.
Ellie twisted her napkin in her hands. "Well, I haven't been a fairy godmother for long. Only a few clients so far but they've all been happy except for the last one."
"Like who?" asked one of the quiet tiny women spaced around the table.
Ellie named some of her clients. The other women oohed and awed encouragingly. Murmurings of "A fantastic job, I heard" and "Our Susan wanted roses just like that for her wedding..." were heard around the room.
Gamma hmmed. "I've heard that all of them were very well done. What's the problem?"
Ellie tore her napkin into tiny pieces and dropped them into her lap. "You know the castle in Lisle County?"
Bertha piped up, "Oh, _yes_, one of my grandmother's girls was Queen there once. Nice towers, especially the main one. One big room at the top, _huge_ windows going down to about a half of a foot above the floor." She made a face. "Dreadfully drafty. Don't know how the girls stood it."
Ellie sniffled, a single tear tracking down her face. "Well, I thought it would be a nice place for my new client's daughter. Sleeping spell, rescue from the prince, standard sweet-sixteen present. My clients brought her there for a big birthday celebration while I prepared the spell and the room. The cue hit, the spell dropped, and they brought her up to the room. We put her in the bed... she looked so pretty and peaceful there." She sniffled some more, a few extra tears starting their way down her face. "We left the room then. Her nurse and a few of the footmen were going to stay behind to wait for the prince. I stayed the next couple of days just to make sure the spell was secure and the roses were growing nicely. And then..." She gulped and went silent.
"And then what?" shouted Esmerelda as many of the women sat on the edge of their seats.
Dropping her head into her hands and starting a new flood of tears, Ellie wailed, "How was I to know that she sleepwalked?!?!?"
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