“Come on Lily!” my tribe leader, Gertude, yells. I had stopped because something fell through the sky the last time my group captured a rainbow.

“One sec!” I yell back, knowing that there is no way I’ll be allowed to find the thing that fell if I don’t find it now. I make my way through the tall grass, and soon come across a spot where all the grass is flatten, but I don’t see anything. That is, until I look down.
“Ahhhhhhh!” I scream, jumping back at the sight of the small, broken body lying in the grass.
“Ugh,” the body moans and starts to sit up.
“What’s wrong?” my mom calls.
“Nothing, something just startled me!” I respond, and bend down to get a closer look at the little creature in the grass.
“You’re a fairy,” I realized, barely able to believe it.
“And?” The little fairy says, a defiant tone in their voice.
“And what?” I ask, confused.
“Well what are you going to do with me?!” The little fairy yells, throwing their arms everywhere looking very mad.
“What am I supposed to do with you?”
“I don’t know! No one who’s ever been captured by the hunters has ever been seen again!”
“We don’t hunt! We’re all scavengers!”
“Go tell that to the rainbows, you monster!”
“We don’t hunt rainbows! We capture them so that they’re safe and so that no one can ever find the ends of the rainbow!” “You really believe that?! Fairies were the first protectors of the rainbows and we made our home on them. Then a band of humans came and started to steal our rainbows!”
“Really?”
“Yes!” I open my mouth to respond, but feel a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s time to go, Lily!” Gertude orders. I know the injured fairy can’t survive on their own, so I quickly scoop them up in my hand and walk with Gertude back to the tribe.
When we made camp later that night I made sure to pitch my tent on the grassy spot I could find. I set the fairy on the ground and they instantly start to run around.
“Sorry,” they apologize, “But I was going crazy stuck on your hand.”
“It’s fine. Is there anything I can get you?”
“Three things actually. Morning dew, a flower petal and your name.”
“My name is Lily. What’s yours?”
“Eleanor.”
“Bye Eleanor,” I walk off to go get her some dew and a petal. It being late evening, there is no morning dew but I do manage to get some petals for Eleanor. She gives me a nod of thanks and continues to build a little contraption out of grass. The rest of the night is uneventful, but I wake up around two o’clock in the morning.
“Come on! Get up!” Eleanor is whispering in my ear.
“Why?” I groan.
“Because my brethren are here to get me, but they can’t when I’m stuck in this tent!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” I drag myself out of my sleeping bag and unzip the tent. Outside the tent is a miniature rainbow of fairies flying all around. Eleanor walks out of the tent, stretching and pulling her contraption behind her. She grabs some of the dew on the grass and adds it to the contraption. Instantly, it comes to life and she puts it on her back like a backpack. It lifts her up into the air, so that she is by the rest of the fairies.
“Goodbye Lily!” she calls as she and the other fairies turn around and fly off.
Five years later
I still haven’t found another fairy. I carefully search after every rainbow, but I never find one. I’m nervous. Eleanor made it sound like a common occurrence, but that would mean one of the other tribe members found the fallen fairies.
“Lily!” Gertude calls, summoning me to the front of the tribe, “Today you will learn how to catch a rainbow.” She gives me a rainbow suction device and shows me how to use it, but I’m too busy staring at the tank to listen. The tank, even though it doesn’t hold a rainbow, is a swirl of color with a black shape moving around inside. Gertude stops talking, snapping me out of my daze. I take a deep breath and aim the machine at the rainbow. I turn it on and the rainbow is pulled into the tank. People start to congratulate me, but I run away. I saw a dark shape fall, similarly to what Eleanor looked like. I quickly scoop up the shape and run back to the tribe, not wanting them to know I have a fairy.
“Hey, can I keep this tank with me tonight? I want to look at my captured rainbow a bit longer?” I ask.
“Sure,” Gertude agrees.
Later that night, when I’m alone in my tent, I punch the tank holding the rainbow, and the glass shatters. An exhausted fairy tumbles out. I also take the fairy I caught today out of my pocket and place them side by side. To my delight, the exhausted fairy is Eleanor. Unfortunately, her wings are still broken.
“What happened?” I ask Eleanor.
“I was caught again soon after you released me because it was at night and I had taken my contraption off when my rainbow was taken. Someone else found me and shoved me into that tank where I’ve been for the past several years. My wings haven’t been able to heal because they haven’t been set properly.”
“Let me guess, you needed morning dew, a flower petal, and some grass.”
“Yep.”
“Who are you? Where am I, Eleanor?” the other fairy asks.
“Relax,” Eleanor tells her, “This is Lily and she is one of the kind humans, Nina.”
“Okay,” Nina says, though she still seems afraid.
“Wait a minute. My tribe captures fairies and steals rainbows?” I ask.
“Pretty much,” Eleanor confirms.
“Oh my,” I say, putting a hand to my forehand. I can barely believe this. My tribe is evil.
“Fairies magic is connected to…” Eleanor begins, but Nina stops her. Eleanor glares at Nina, and she relents, “…our wings, so if you can fix my wings I can make you a fairy.”
“Really?” I say, bewildered.
“Really,” Eleanor nods.
“This is so epic. I get you your stuff and keep you safe ‘till morning,” I promise.
True to my word, I bring Eleanor and Nina all the supplies they need, but before they make me a fairy, I have some work to do. I sneak over to Gertude’s tent where the canisters full of rainbows are kept. I carefully smash each one of them and grab the fairies inside. There are about one hundred of them, some of them looking like they could die tomorrow. I only keep one canister intact as I slink back to my tent, fairies and canister in hand.
“Let’s get out of here!” Eleanor whispers impatiently to me. I nod at her, and she and Nina rise into the air and follow me as we leave camp.
“We have to get as far away as possible!” one of the older, more ragged looking, fairies states.
“I know!” I hiss back.
“Mom?” Eleanor says, staring slack-jawed at the fairy.
“Eleanor?” the fairy perks up. All of a sudden the two of them are hugging and sobbing. I roll my eyes and keep moving.
We walk until the sun is at its highest. At that point, we have to stop, the heat is too much for some of the fairies to bear. I find a nice open clearing, and break open the last canister, releasing the rainbow into the sky instead of the ground. Nina beams at me, grabs one of the fairy who can’t fly, and shoots up towards the rainbow. Eleanor does the same until all the fairies are safely on the rainbow.
“And now for the finishing touch!” Eleanor announces as she does some magic. I feel myself shrinking, and things are popping out of my back. Poof! Just like that, I’m a fairy. Eleanor flies up to the rainbow, and I try to follow, but I fail miserably and Eleanor has to drag me up to the top of the rainbow, where the rest of the fairies and I live for the rest of our days.