“So, remind me how this works again?” Penelope asked, trying to keep up with the fairy that hovered beside her. The forest path was becoming thicker with undergrowth, and Penelope had to take extra care to move aside incoming branches without accidentally flicking one into her friend. She didn’t want to be responsible for sending her friend catapulting into a nearby tree.
“It works exactly the same as the human process for buying a new house,” Ferry replied. He balanced a tiny hand on her ear for her to hear him better. “Same worries about renovation potential, resale value or how creaky the floorboards are. Although, everything’s a little bit… smaller.”
She doubted the buying parameters for a fairy house were exactly the same, but decided it would be best to not argue with her friend. She had been more than happy to accompany him in the inspection. He had, however, failed to mention it would be in the middle of the woods. “Do you need help finding a buyer’s advocate? Hampton was a great suburb for me to move to, but I never could have gotten the price I did without help.”
Ferry shrugged – a movement Penelope would have entirely missed if she wasn’t attuned to it. He whizzed around to her other ear, clearly uncomfortable with the slow pace her human feet restricted her to, and finally decided to sit on her shoulder.
He had been there for her during her move, even going so far as to inspect the hard-to-reach places in the architecture that she couldn’t. She had to make sure to hide him and his trailing fairy dust from her buyer’s agent (Melbourne wasn’t exactly an informed city on the existence of magic yet), but he hadn’t raised a single complaint about it. It was heartwarming at the time. But, as she found herself biting her tongue as they started to squeeze through the wilderness further, she wished he had so she could complain about the hike.
“Are you sure I can’t just build you a new home?” She sighed as she ducked under another branch. “We could renovate an old shoe box. Easy.”
Ferry gave her a sharp look,and she laughed the suggestion away sheepishly. The pair continued in silence until the forest opened up to a clearing, and Penelope got her first look at a fairy house.