"The Lavender Realm"

 

Elowen always sensed she did not fit in in the actual world.

Whilst the rest were hurrying through traffic, frantically scrolling through their phones, and ticking off lists, Elowen strolled through antique bookshops, whispered at flowers, and fantasized about cities without clocks.

One night spent lying awake with a blanket wrapped around her and a novel in her hands, she whispered to the night skies, "Take me somewhere I belong."

The stars obeyed

The next day, she awoke not in her small flat but in a velvet cloud bed. The atmosphere was scented with sugared roses and honey wind. As she emerged outdoors, she gasped.

Lavender painted the sky above. Silver and pink leaves glimmered on the trees. Waistcoats adorned rabbits. Butterflies sang lullabies. The sun yawned and blinked like a sleepy cat.

She landed in the Lavender Realm.

People painted rainbows for a living here, danced on weekends with dragons, and made cupcakes that sang you a compliment as you ate them. Elowen did not feel peculiar here—she was home.

She came upon a charming little cottage on the edge of the Dream wood Forest, where her curtains greeted her good morning and the mirror admired her mismatched socks. She started working at the Wish Post Office, where she bottled dreams into letters and shipped them off to the clouds.

But her greatest love was the garden at the back of her cottage—where the flowers not only blossomed, but they told stories. A daisy said she used to be a star.

One afternoon, when Elowen was planting moon lilies, a youth came through the hedge. He had inky black hair and glasses rather larger than his face and a bag full of scrunched-up wish letters. "Sorry," he apologized, sweeping petals off his shirt. "I made a wrong turn at the Rainbow Library."

Elowen smiled. "Or perhaps a right one."

He was called Eli, and as she did, he used to softly speak to the stars.

They wandered dream markets for days on end, netted stardust fish, and exchanged tales under the tree which bore books rather than leaves.

One night, Eli presented her with a creased parchment. On it was written:

"This is your dream life, Elowen. And I’m dreaming it with you."

Her eyes softened as she gazed at him.

She did not require a castle, a crown, or a magic wand.

Lavender skies and story-blooming gardens and a person who believed in her dreams.

And that, she understood, was the true fairy tale.