Day 21:

7:15: the alarm went off. After spending most of the day yesterday with Puck, just relaxing, Elida felt a LOT calmer. She gently pressed the button on the clock to turn off the buzzing. Yes, definitely much calmer!

She put on some clothes, and went to the shop, to buy some of her favourite cereals. In the shop's fridge, she found some expensive Jersey Full Cream Milk to go with the cereals. And it also seemed so impolite to leave those two chocolate and cream eclairs there, all alone.


When Elida had visited FI5 yesterday, to see Puck, she'd got a pleasant surprise: her security clearance was stupidly high. Which meant that Zia must have spoken with Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte about her. Which she hoped meant that (a) they would both be willing to talk with her, and (b) they would take what she said seriously and (c) they might know, and be able to tell her, where Zia was. The university kept fobbing her off: it didn't matter if she phoned or turned up in person, was polite or rude, they basically ignored her.

She flew over to FI5. Today, she didn't mess around. She handed her pass over to the gentleman fairy on reception, and simply said "I'm here to see Sir Donald, can you get me a guide to take me up to him please". As soon as he saw her pass, he called someone on the phone. Elida decided she could grow to like being treated like this!

"Someone will be here in just a moment to take you up, miss". A few moments later, the same fairy who had guided her to see Puck 'yesterday' arrived, and took her up to Sir Donald's office. Like yesterday, she took mental notes on where she was being taken, so next time she probably wouldn't need a guide.

Yes, 'mental notes': she was getting a lot better at those. Normally, you could just write something down, or enter it into your tablet, and just read it later on... but that just didn't work in a time loop. Been there, tried that and failed. Anything she did one day would be 'blanked out' when she woke up the next day. The only thing that survived the daily reboot was her. In fact, just her mind and memories. She'd even tried writing stuff on her body, as Puck had suggested, that didn't work either! 

Elida dismissed her guide, saying "thank you!", then knocked on Sir Donald's door: she REALLY hoped he was there.

"Come in" said a voice from inside. Elida opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her. "Elida?"

"Good morning, Sir Donald, I'm sorry for coming to see you unannounced, but there's something very important I need to speak with you about..."

Relaxing with Puck yesterday, then having another talk with him had helped to concentrate her mind. She only had so much time available each day, and really needed to get the most she could out of the time she had.

"Take a seat... now, how can I help?"

"I'm assuming both from the fact that you haven't instantly thrown me out, plus the fact that my security level seems to have recently had quite a boost, that you are aware that I met with Zia a few..... days ago". Elida almost said 'weeks', and to her it WAS weeks, but to anyone else it was just a few days ago.

"Yes, I am aware, and yes indeed, that's why your security level has been increased"

"I desperately need to speak to Zia, but try as I can, no one can, or is willing to, tell me where she is."

"I'm afraid that Zia is actually out of the country for a couple of days. Can your problem wait?"

"Not really, no it can't. Is there any way you can get a message to her?"

"I can try, but I know she's quite tied up in a lot of meetings"

"I really do need to speak to her today, it IS important"

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything". He opened his drawer, took out a pad and pen, and wrote a short note. She looked at the pen he held: it wasn't a cheap one.

"Nice pen..." she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yes, I was given it for my 50th birthday!". Elida filed this information away: she had already discovered that remembering things like this could be useful.

A door on the other side of Sir Donald's office opened, and a fairy started to walk in, but then realised that Sir Donald was busy, so went straight out again.

"So, your problem, is it maybe something I can help you with?". Just then his phone rang. "Hello Julie.... can I call you back in a few minutes? I'm in a meeting right now." Once again, Elida tried to remember this, and glanced up at the clock on the wall to take a note of the time.

Eliza thought a bit: whilst she COULD waste time trying to persuade him about being in a time loop, she thought it might take time.... No, she would wait until tomorrow, when she could make her point a LOT quicker. In the meantime, she could continue her research.

"Erm, probably not, if I could only speak to Zia, I would be ok...."

Elida said goodbye, and left.

--------------

Day 22:

Same place, 23 hours and 59 minutes later:

.......she's quite tied up in a lot of meetings"

"I need to speak to her today, it really IS important"

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything".

"Ok, stop: you are about to open your desk drawer, and take out a pad and a pen to write a note. The pen is red, and it's a present you got for your 50th birthday."

Sir Donald did indeed open his desk, and took out the pad and pen. "You're quite right, it was a birthday present for my 50th birthday, how did you know?"

"That’s not important right now.... Your secretary - well I assume that's who she is, is about to walk through that door...". Sir Donald turned his head. As he did so, the door on the other side of his office opened, and a fairy started to walk in, then went straight out again.

Elida checked the clock. "And finally... your phone is about to ring: it will be Julie....". Donald looked at her, goodness knows what he was thinking. Just then his phone rang. "Hello Julie.... can I call you back in a few minutes, I'm in a meeting right now?"

"Ok, Elida, you definitely have my attention now: how DID you know about all those things?"

"Because it's exactly what you told me yesterday, and what happened yesterday"

"But you weren't here yesterday"

"Strange though it might seem, I actually was. Well, in MY yesterday, your today. You see, I seem to be stuck in a time loop. That's why I need to speak with Zia. Urgently!"

"A time-loop?"

"Yes, I keep repeating today, and I'm rather hoping Zia will be able to help, so I need to speak to her"

"Ok, I'll see what I can do for you. Can I help with anything?"

"Not at the moment, I don't think so, unless you happen to know about time loops?"

"Not really - so how long have you been in this time-loop?"

"About 3 weeks so far. And something tells me it's gonna be a bit longer, till I work out what's happening. Is it possible that Lady Charlotte knows something about time-loops?"

"I have no idea, let me call her. In any case, it might be useful for you to meet her." Sir Donald called Lady Charlotte, and asked if she could come to his office for a few minutes.

3 minutes later a lady walked in. Slightly taller than average. A great figure, and still looked reasonably athletic for her age. "Ah, Charlotte, I don't think you've actually met Elida, have you?"

"No, I haven't. Elida, so nice to actually meet you, I've heard good things about you! So, what brings you here today?"

"Well, I have a problem. I seem to be stuck in a time-loop, and am having a lot of difficulty working out how to get out of it". Charlotte looked slightly perplexed, and a bit unsure whether to actually believe Elida.

"Umm, I think she's telling the truth...." and he explained about the pen and the phone call.

"Time loops: no, whilst I've seen them in films, I've never heard about one for real." replied Lady Charlotte. "Did you look down in the.... errr.... you know about the Dark Archive, don't you? Of course you do!"

"Oh, I know the Archive well, the books have been trying to help me the best they can, but they don't seem to have anything relevant. That's why I'm trying to contact Zia, see if SHE knows anything!"

"Good idea, maybe she does, but... I hate to say it... I think you might be sort-of on your own with this... But if there's anything specific you'd like us to help with, then do ask."

"Thank you, I will. Hey.... I don't suppose you have a codeword that you two use, maybe with Zia, to flag something is important? I have a feeling that I'll be needing to ask your advice a few more times in the future, and I'd like to 'get your attention' somehow, without needing to 'jump through hoops' so to speak". Elida realised that it was no use inventing a NEW codeword, as it would be forgotten by the next iteration of today, she needed one that already existed.

"Yes, we do: 'Saint Petersburg'" said Sir Donald.

"'Saint Petersburg'? As in the Russian city?"

"Yes, that's the one"

"Ok, that's great. Well, thank you BOTH very much for your time today, nice to actually meet you, Lady Charlotte. And Sir Donald, sorry for just barging in on you. Look, if I need to come back again today - on another 'today' that is - will you both be available most of the day?"

"I'm free pretty much all day - Charlotte, what about you?"

"Unless something comes up, I'm around too"

"Thank you: I'm sure I'll be speaking with you again soon, although unfortunately you won't realise it".

Wow. Not that this story wasn't already interesting, but things just got more interesting. Keep up the great writing.

Days 26 - 33:

For the next week, Elida would go straight over to see Sparkle as soon as she woke up, untying her and sorting out her teeth. Then she spent a lot of time searching in the archive, helped by Sebby, and regularly calling Zia for advice. The books themselves had actually been VERY helpful, even making a couple of helpful and relevant suggestions. Whilst there was nothing that stood out to say 'you need this spell to be able to teleport' there were things in other spells that, once you saw them, became relevant.

For example, in many spells you have to 'define the extent of the spell'.... so, two people holding hands, you want to turn one of them to wood (yeah, not nice, I know, but it WAS one of the spells!), then you need to define what that 'person' was... does it include their clothes? Other things they are touching? Like that second person? Similarly, if you are wanting to teleport something, you need to define it. If you're going to teleport a fairy, then you probably want to take their clothes with them! (yes, I suppose you COULD teleport naked, then have yet another 'give me clothes' spell the moment you arrive... but it all has to be thought about!)

Sparkle had offered to go to the Dark Archive with Elida, but she had explained that, whilst, technically she could do so, it would be hard to explain to the boss how she - Elida that is - suddenly had a rather high security clearance. "Besides," said Elida, "how would you explain your lack of braces to everyone?" However, Elida did try and share some of her research with Sparkle, and occasionally Sparkle was able to make a few useful suggestions.

Elida had thought about who else could help her: it really needed to be someone that she could take into the Dark Archive without needing a lot of explanations, which is why she had got Sebby to help so much. Yes, she could ask Lilly or Tats to help, but Zia had asked (before the time loop started) that she not tell them anything about being a protector. Yes, she could also ask Magic to help, but like with Sparkle, that would need her to explain too much every time.

So, she usually asked Sebby to come over and help: she was actually pretty good, and very willing to do - with few questions - what Elida asked her.

And, unlike in the first 3 weeks she had been in the loop, she now had something VERY specific to research and learn about, which made it a bit more interesting.

--------------

Day 34:

The problem is that the research work was pretty intense, and Sparkle could see that Elida was getting rather stressed, so 9 days into working on the teleporting spell, just after Elida had flown over to Sparkle's, and released her from the magic-preventing rope, and then fixed her teeth, Sparkle stopped Elida.

"Elida: you're completely stressed out, you need a day off! So, the last few days I've been doing some searching, and boy are we going to have a fun day today!"

"You sure you want me to just take the day off?"

"Hell yes! Another day in our loop will be worth it if you can work out how to teleport, and then hopefully get us out of this goddamn loop. But without a break you won't do that any time soon! Look, Elida, those first 3 and a bit weeks were... well, 'hell' doesn't do it justice, but I'm coping ok with you coming over each morning first thing. Yes, it's maybe ten to fifteen minutes of pain and discomfort, but I KNOW you'll be over to be with me, so I'm coping."

"Ok then... and yes, you are right, it's about time I had another day off, it's just that...." Elida took a deep breath, deciding not to finish that sentence. "If you're ok with things, then so am I! So, what we doing?"

"Well, I thought we could start the day with with a bit of flying..."

"Flying? I just did that, to get here..."

"No, I mean FLYING..... you'll see.... let me go get washed and dressed...".

It took the two of them about 15 minutes to get there: they were apparently at a small airfield, with several human airplanes parked up. Above one of the buildings was a sign: 'Accelerated Freefall - Learn to SkyDive!'.

"I'm sure they won't mind if we go along with them" explained Sparkle. "Ok, yes, I know we can fly, but how high have you managed to actually GO?". Elida had the most enormous smile on her face! "So, from what I could see on their website, they tie two humans together, then jump out of the plane at about 10,000 feet! You up for it?"

"Try and stop me!" said Elida. This was EXACTLY what she needed to get rid of the stress from the last few weeks!

They went inside, where the humans were being trained. They looked at the pictures on the wall, showing pairs of people flying through the air. "I reckon if we magic up some harnesses, and a rope, then we can just clip ourselves onto them..." suggested Sparkle

"I'm thinking two ropes, one connected to each of those shoulder clips, then stand on their shoulders, ride them down like we're riding a chariot! We'll need to keep our wings in though!". Elida was definitely enthused.

So, an hour or two later, they are at 10,000 feet. They have both got themselves clipped on to the shoulders of a couple of the instructors (who also had a second human attached to the front of them)... and moments later, the noise of the aircraft was gone, replaced by the wooshing of them falling through the air. They were both 'surfing' through the air on the back of a human.... well, two humans each, I guess. They were plummeting through the air FAR faster than if they had 'fallen out the sky'. Elida was screaming out loudly "Amazing!!!!". Yes, she had flown up high before, but never THIS high!

They were in freefall for about 30 seconds: then the parachutes came out, and they spent the next four or five minutes drifting back to the ground. Both fairies were having the time of their lives.

"I've got to do it again!" said Elida.

"Maybe another day, I've got something else lined up now... something similar, but different...." said Sparkle. After relaxing for a bit, to get over the sheer thrill of what they had just done, Sparkle led them to the middle of a field, several miles away. They stood at the base of a large TV mast.

"Ever heard of BASE jumping?" asked Sparkle.

"No... do explain..."

"Well, BASE stands for 'Buildings, Antennae, Spans, and Earth'.... spans are things like bridges, and the last one is stuff like tall cliffs. This is an antenna. We're gonna jump off the top of it, with our wings IN!"

"Wings in? Ok, that definitely sounds stupid.... but a lot of fun! I guess we're gonna need to fly up there first?"

"No, this place is big enough that there's a small lift most the way up! With great views too! We just need to break in first...."

For a pair of fairies, adept at magic, they could open the door locks with no problems. Another bit of magic, and they were going up in the small lift, which was little more than a wire cage attached to the side of the large mast, giving great views of the surrounding countryside.

Yes, Elida had flown as high as this before (for example, when she rode the up-draughts with Puck, a couple of weeks before), but this was pleasantly different: she was able to just relax, and enjoy the views. Once at the top, they got out the lift, sending it back down again.

"I'm thinking we should go all the way up" said Sparkle: they were currently on an open platform, full of wires and big aerials, but still a short way from the actual top of the mast, where there were many more - mainly smaller - aerials. It was a little breezy, so they were both holding on carefully. "Come on, climb up the ladder....". A few minutes later they were right at the top, with just the flashing red lights and the lightning rods above them. They moved over to the down-wind side, and sat there - legs dangling over the side - for a few minutes, just taking in the peacefulness of where they were, and the views. Yes, they could easily fly this high, but normally they never would, there was no real need to. And usually when you're flying, you're doing it for a reason, and don't bother 'looking at the sights'.

"So, humans use a parachute to do this" explained Sparkle. "But we'll free-fall a lot slower than humans would, so I'm thinking we just throw ourselves off the top here, wings in, free-falling for most of the way... you up for it? The wind will probably take us over towards the trees over there". Throwing themselves through the air with their wings IN was not something that fairies normally did, so this was FUN for them to try!

The adrenaline was pumping through Elida like it had never done before: when they did the free-fall earlier, they were 'safely' on top of a human, who actually know what they were doing. This time it was just the two of them! "Yeah, let's do it!". They took each-others hands, and jumped...... and fell.... and fell....

The good news for Elida and Sparkle is that the terminal velocity of a fairy is indeed a lot lower than that of a falling human, so as they approached the ground, they slowly unfurled their wings, both landing gently on the grass some way from the trees. Both of the girls had big smiles on their faces.

"Excellent! Just a different sort of fun from before!" said Elida. It was clear that Elida's earlier stress was starting to wane.

"Ok, so let's go find some lunch, then I'll give you a choice for what we do next, depends on how extreme you'd like to go!"

They managed to find a small place in the country, run by a lady fairy and her daughter, where they were able to have a rather nice lunch.

"So, you said I had a choice for this afternoon."

"Yes, a choice for the first thing this afternoon... we can either do a bungee jump, or mountain-bike down a pretty steep hill - the latter definitely looks quite scary.

"In that case, sounds like we need to go mountain biking"

"I never realised that you were such an adrenaline junkie, Elida!"

"Neither did I, but you got me going this morning. I'm already feeling pretty good, but I think I need a bit more, to straighten my brain out! So... mountain biking... do you have some fairy-sized bikes we'll be using then?"

"No, there's a small group of guys who will be going downhill on mountain bikes. We just need to hold on tight, and enjoy the ride!". Sparkle and Elida flew for 20 minutes, which ended up with them flying up to the top of a pretty rough looking hill. At the top, a small group of mountain bikers were unloading their bikes from a couple of 4x4s.

"You've got a choice: that guy in the blue top with the braces is ok-ish, but he's gonna fall off halfway down. The guy in red is pretty good, but we'll need to hold on VERY tightly with him, he doesn't hang around. All the others are a lot slower, and much less adventurous, but 100% safe!"

"Mr Red, please! Mr Red!! So, how do we hold on?"

"I'm thinking we start by sitting on the handlebars, one of us each side. Then we rope ourselves on to the handlebars very tightly, with a safety rope between us, just in case....."

"Ah, right, ok...."

While the guy in red got himself ready, Elida and Sparkle tied themselves very firmly to the handlebars of his bike, with another rope tied between them. "Not too late to change your mind...". To be honest, Elida did feel a little apprehensive - what she didn't realise was that Sparkle was feeling just as bad!

As Sparkle had said, Mr Red was a good cyclist, but didn't hang around, and was very happy taking large jumps though the air, landing with quite a thump. Overall, the ride was a bit like a roller-coaster, just a bit longer, and a lot bumpier! It's just as well that Mr Red couldn't hear our two fairies: they were screaming pretty much all the way down.

"Phew.... that was amazing!" said Sparkle. "A bit bumpier that I expected, but wow, that was good. How you feeling Elida?"

"Oh, I'm good, but I think I'm gonna need to change my pants before we do anything else!"

Again, you manage to make me laugh. Imagining two elves fairies strapped to a handlebar holding on for dear life and screaming their souls out while their human chauffeur is totally oblivious to that...
You really have a special way, evoking pictures in our minds. Love it!

Oh, if you liked that, then I suspect you'll enjoy tomorrow's episode too!

PS: they are FAIRIES, not ELVES!!!! The fairies are the good guys, the elves are the bad guys   

The excitement for our two elves fairies has not yet finished: Sparkle has one more bit of fun lined up for Elida - she's trying very hard to clear all that stress from Elida's mind. And who would have guessed that Elida would be such an adrenaline junkie?

==============================================

Day 34 (continued)

A while later....

Sparkle waved her wand, and two fairy-sized deck chairs appeared, along with a small table. Another wave of the wand, and there was a pitcher and 2 glasses on the table. They were in yet another small field. At one end was a row of 4 archery targets, at the other end were tables and so on, for the archers.

"Take a seat, and pour yourself a glass..."

"Ok, what is it?"

"Fairy Pimm's of course! Now, if I got my timings right, we'll be getting a bit of sunshine in a moment...". Sparkle sat in the second deckchair, and grabbed the other glass, which Elida had filled for her.

"Well, this is very nice, I must say, but I'm not seeing that this is any form of 'extreme sport', in fact, it's pretty much the opposite...."

"The extreme bit comes shortly, but we actually get to do three things here. Relaxing and having a drink in the sun is just the first of the three." And that's when the sun came out.

"Oh, yes, nice, I can live with that!"

There were currently 2 people practicing their archery, but it wasn't long before another couple came out, and started preparing themselves.

"From what I can make out, these two are brother and sister. And they are BOTH pretty good at shooting arrows...."

"Oh, ok..." They were sat just a short distance from them, so Elida looked at them: it was hard to be exact about their ages, but late teens, maybe into very early 20's would seem about right. After a couple of minutes getting things sorted out, they both put their quivers over their shoulders and picked up their bows. The first couple of shots at the targets were 'ok' at best, but between shots they were making adjustments to the sighting systems on their bows. Over the next two or three shots, they got closer and closer to the centre of the targets.

Sparkle finished her glass of Fairy Pimm's. "Ok, ready for the second bit? Follow me...". Sparkle led the two of them to in front of the male human. His sister said something, and he smiled, revealing a shiny wire across his front teeth, top and bottom.

"Oooh, nice, Hawley retainers......" said Elida. Yes, it was actually nice to see a good looking human with some form of shiny metal over their teeth. And his teeth looked really nice - just made ten times nicer by that silver wire. Definitely a lot nicer than those rather boring clear plastic things that so many people got nowadays.

"Now go look at his sister!" said Sparkle. Elida flew over to the girl. She was also good looking (for a human), and had an even nicer smile... not because her teeth were straight, but probably more to do with the fact that HER teeth were covered in metal brackets. Clearly NOT the large NHS ones, they were substantially smaller, but they suited her. The red ligs looked nice too. A tiny shiver of pleasure went down Elida's back as she looked at her mouth. The girl then smiled wider, revealing that she also wore a Herbst appliance.

"Oh, yes, very nice! I mean, her brackets could do with being a couple of sizes bigger, but no, these look nice on her!"

They returned to their seats, and poured a second glass of Fairy Pimm's.

"Well, very nice so far, but I'm still not seeing anything particularly extreme here..."

Sparkle smiled. "While you've been working hard trying to figure out how to teleport, I spent a bit of time doing some physics research"

"Physics research?"

"Yeah, stuff to do with mass, amd momentum, and velocity. You know, I discovered something VERY interesting".

Elida was interested to hear more. "Go on" she said.

"Well, did you realised that the 'stuff' in our Fairy world is quite different from the 'stuff' in the human world. I mean, when we interact with the human world, it's either with magic, or it's quite minimal. This morning, for example: we roped ourselves onto that sky-diver, but he had no idea we were actually there, and we didn't upset his balance or anything. Same on the bike. It seems that we have close to no effect on the human world, certainly as far as momentum goes..."

Elida's jaw was wide open, as she realised what Sparkle was saying. Then her brain connected that to where they were, and what was going on.... and her open jaw became a massive smile.

"Are you about to tell me what I THINK you're about to tell me?"

"Most probably. You up for it? It IS pretty extreme..."

"Hell, yeah, DEFINITELY extreme!! So have you worked out exactly HOW we can do it?"

"I'm thinking we'll need a brief bit of 'Fairytime' (ed's note: stops time for the humans for a while), and I think we'll need to rope ourselves on VERY tightly - just holding on probably ain't gonna be enough!"

Once again, they put their drinks down, and flew over to where the brother and sister had started to do a few 'synchronised' shots. They both reached behind themselves, pulling another arrow each from their quivers, then loading them onto their bows. At the same time as each other, they pulled back on their bows, almost ready to fire.

"And we're in Fairytime..." said Sparkle. "I don't know about you, but I'm a bit nervous"

"Nah, I mean, what could ever go wrong?"

"We're too fat??? I mis-calculated??? The universe thinks we're not worthy???". Both Sparkle and Elida carefully and gently flew down and sat astride the front of the arrows, then leaned down, hugging the arrow with their arms, and wrapping their legs around it too. They each ran a 'rope spell', making sure they were both very tightly bound to the arrow.

"Ready when you are!" called out Elida. Sparkle released the Fairtytime spell.

Twang!

A LOT of acceleration, as the arrows left the bows.

Whoosh...

They silently flew through the air at over a hundred MPH. Then, less than two seconds later...

THUD!

And a massive deceleration, as the arrows hit the target, about an inch or two below the centre of the 'bull'.

Neither of the two said anything for several seconds, I think they were both in a bit of shock. Sparkle looked over at Elida, and Elida looked over at Sparkle: they were both smiling stupidly.

"That extreme enough for you?" shouted Sparkle from the adjacent target.

"Yeah, definitely!... fancy doing it again?" suggested Elida, as she cast a spell to remove the ropes. She was just starting to get up when 'whoosh, thud!' and another arrow came screaming in. Sparkle looked on in horror as the arrow went straight through Elida, and into the target (luckily for Sparkle, she had't yet undone her ropes yet, and the arrow that came into her target just missed her). The arrow had gone into Elida's b*m, and came out of her right shoulder!

"Elida!!! Elida!!! are you ok?" screamed Sparkle, sounding very worried.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I be" replied Elida.

"Well, you look a bit like a fairy kebab right now. Doesn't it hurt?"

Elida looked down, and could see that she had been indeed 'skewered' by the arrow. "It's odd, whilst I can't actually move, I can hardly feel it, and I'm not seeing any blood either. Must be that fairy versus human physics of yours. I guess I'll just have to wait for Mr Archer there to come and pull the arrow out of the target, so I can 'slip off' the arrow!"

Whoosh! Thud! And another pair of arrows struck the target, both missing the two fairies by a hairs breadth. "They are good shots though, aren't they?" commented Elida.

Sparkle, seeing that the brother and sister were now walking towards the targets - she guessed to retrieve their arrows - finally undid her ropes, and went over to Elida, and looked at her carefully. "It's odd, it looks like its both inside you and not inside you, all at the same time!"

Five minutes later, they were back at the other end of the field. Once Mr Archer had pulled the arrow from the target, a little bit of magic helped Elida slip off the arrow, with no apparent injuries.

"You REALLY want to do this again?" asked Sparkle.

"Yeah... but no ropes this time...."

---

Back at Sparkle's place, the doorbell rang: they had decide to get a 'Deliverah' takeaway. The day had been a LOT of fun for both of them, but I think they had both finally had enough excitement for one day.

"How you feeling, Elida?" asked Sparkle.

"Physically quite exhausted.... but mentally, I feel so refreshed! Thank you Sparkle, you were absolutely right, we needed that today. I think I can cope with things for another week or two now."

"I never realised you were such an extreme sports junkie! So, you think it's gonna be as long as that?"

"It's so hard to say. I've made a lot of progress, but I still seem to be missing one or two important bits."

"Sounds like you need a bit of extra help.."

"Well, Sebby has been really great, sometimes her just being there keeps me going, but she's not actually all that experienced"

"Sounds like you should ask Lilly or Tats for help"

"But Zia said I shouldn't involve them, not let them know for the moment about my skills"

"That's easy for her to say, but she's not the one stuck in the time loop! Even if you DO involve them, they probably won't remember anything - well as long as you don't tell them anything on the last day we're in this damn loop. And you don't actually need to TELL Zia."

"Yeah, I'd never really thought about it like that. But, to be honest, I know Lilly is good at doing magic, I've never felt she had the ability to create new stuff..."

"So ask Tats then, she knows you, know's that you're quite able..."

day 36:

Buzz buzz buzz. Click.

Coffee

Shower / hair wash

Dress

Get some takeaway breakfast on the way to work.

Call Tats again. For the first time in a while, Elida felt enthused and amazingly positive: yesterday with Tats she'd made so much progress.

Explain everything to Tats again, including how helpful she'd been 'yesterday'.

It was just after lunch: Tats had made a suggestion which it turned out was a VERY significant one.

"Oh my god, I think I actually have enough here to try a simple teleport!"

"Of you?"

"No, no, something small and inanimate. Come on, let's go to a training room!". Elida didn't even need to check whether training room 2 would be free: she just remembered! Lock the door. Plus a locking spell on top: you can't be too careful you know!

"So how many spells are you going to need to use?"

"Eight, I think....."

"And all at the same time?"

"Well, yes and no. Some you just start off, and they keep going. Others are... how would I describe it?... 'momentary'?... sort of a 'checking something out' spell, then the rest of them together".

Elida's first attempts were close, but didn't quite work. The object she chose (a simple pencil) disappeared for a moment, but then just reappeared in the same place.

"I have an idea" said Tats, "There was something in that really old book...". Back in the Archive, they found the book that Tats meant. "Here, read this...". It seemed that one of the spells that Elida was (ab)using needed a second 'supporting' spell in certain circumstances, to make it work properly.

Back to the training room. Elida loaded up the nine spells she needed. Nine spells at once was more than she'd ever done before, but she had a feeling that, after a few tries, it would become a lot easier for her.

As she waved her hand to cast the spells, the pencil disappeared from where it was on the table, and re-appeared on the table again, a couple of feet away.

"Well done, Elida!! Well done! That is pretty spectacular! Time for a celebration: I'll treat you to a cup of coffee from upstairs!". (the last bit was actually just a joke: the coffee upstairs was free!).

Elida was over-joyed. "Thank you Tats, you probably don't realise quite how helpful you have been!". Elida also felt VERY relieved: she had proven that the CONCEPT of teleportation was valid: it was now 'relatively simple' to scale it up, and make it work with a living thing, such as a fairy.

(Where 'relatively simple' means just another three or four days of work!)

------------------------

Days 37 - 40:

By the 12th day (after she had first found Sparkle, that is), Elida was managing to combine a total of 9 spells without too much effort, and could teleport small objects over small distances - she would go up into the practice room with Sebby, then double lock the door before trying out the ideas. If you're wondering why she was working with Sebby, rather than with Tats, it was simply that, whilst Tats had been really helpful, Elida just never felt fully relaxed working with her. By comparison, Elida felt quite relaxed when working with Sebby. If she got stuck, she could always have another day with Tats.

By the 15th day she had combined 12 spells, and managed to safely send a large plant - so something living - over to Sparkle's place. The following day, using 14 spells all carefully combined, she sent a small rabbit, which arrived pretty unharmed (ok, it seems like it was a bit disorientated for a couple of minutes when it got there).

"Ok, this is it, Sebby,” said Elida. She was about to try and teleport herself across the room.

"Are you sure, Elida, I mean, what happens if...."

"If I kill myself? I think I'd just wake up again this morning, and be able to try it once again!". To be honest, Elida WAS worried. She COULD actually die if she screwed up. But she wasn't planning to do so... and even so, it seemed likely that the time loop would just resurrect her.

Elida concentrated VERY hard: she was now up to 15 spells, and combining 15 spells at the same time was NOT easy (well, not the first few times you do it, it isn't!), and she knew that, before she could do what she REALLY had to do, she'd need to add in a couple more spells, which she would be wanting to invoke on landing. After a deep breath, she summoned up those 15 different spells, each responsible for a small part of moving her from one place to the other - heaven only knows what would happen if they didn't quite synchronise properly!

With a wave of her hand, she disappeared, re-appearing instantly on the far side of the room. She felt slightly dis-orientated, but she felt that partly because it was the first time she had done it, and it felt a bit weird seeing something one moment, and something different a moment later. But after just a few seconds, she felt ok.

"Oh, wow, you did it, Elida! Do you feel ok?"
 
"Surprisingly yes....". Over the next hour, Elida repeated the teleportation spell within the room several more times: she felt that she needed to be both familiar with the spell, and improve her accuracy. Landing was a bit like when you're flying, and need to land: initially the landings aren't particularly good nor accurate, nor elegant for that matter, but you quickly get a lot better at it. Also, the more she repeated the spell, the easier she was finding it to actually combine all of the 15 spells. 

After taking yet another coffee break, she announced "Ok, next jump I'm going over to Sparkle's". When she had teleported the other objects, the difference between a short and a longer teleport - from the magic perspective, that is - was pretty minimal. She just needed to visualise where the object should land (and make sure Sparkle wasn't in the way!), and it just worked.

"Ok, Sparkle, I'm going to aim for your bedroom, near the bed" she said on the phone that Sebby was holding. Once again, she concentrated, and invoked the many spells...........

"Oh my god! She did it!" screamed Sparkle down the phone, so that Sebby knew she had landed ok.

"I feel a bit like.... I hit some turbulence on the way" said Elida taking some deep breaths, "but that was pretty much where I was hoping to land!"

Sparkle passed her phone to Elida. "Hey, Sebby, want to head over to my place?". They planned to continue with a few jumps between Elida's and Sebby's: she needed to land in just the right place at Sparkle's tomorrow morning, to be able to hit the two elves hard.


Over the last 2 weeks or so, the first thing Elida had done every morning was to fly over to Sparkle's to release her, and fix her teeth. Then she debriefed Sparkle regarding EXACTLY what the elven thugs did, and where they walked. Over those 2 weeks, Sparkle paid more and more attention, and her descriptions became more and more detailed, which helped Elida, as her landing place needed to be somewhere they never walked (as she wasn't yet 100% sure of her timing relative to theirs), but somewhere she could quickly see where they were, and launch her defensive magic against them. The great thing was that, from what they could tell, the elves were NOT part of the time loop: they did *exactly* the same thing every day, so if Elida failed tomorrow, they could always try again the next day!

Elida teleported back to her place, where Sebby was waiting - she was expecting the 'side effects' this time, so didn't feel at all bad when she landed. The more she teleported, the easier it came. Each time she teleported, she loaded up an extra couple of 'retaliation spells', practising for the next morning.

"Ok" said Elida to Sebby, "once you know I'm there ok, fly over and join us, Sparkle has made us all some dinner!". For this last jump, they had lined up a couple of plants (ones that Elida had teleported earlier in the week!) where they thought the two elves would be, as targets. As Elida landed, she launched off the couple of small fireball spells that she'd loaded up, turning both plants instantly to dust.

"Well, I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" said Elida.

Sparkle went and hugged her, holding her tightly. "Elida, thank you SO much for everything you've been doing for me these last couple of weeks! I finally have some hope back again..."

Elida, Sparkle and Sebby spent the evening together at Sparkle's place, and in fact they all fell asleep there. Yes, an amount of alcohol WAS involved... but being in a time loop did have a couple of advantages: you never got a hangover, and you never needed to go shopping - apart from the Honey and Nut Cornflakes, that is! The only downside was Elida would never get paid for all the extra overtime she was putting in!

Day 42:

Elida's alarm went off. She shook her head a couple of times to get her brain working. Yes, she needed to go and sort out two elves.... yet again! Still in her pyjamas, she turned off the alarm (hopefully for the last time in a while), then loaded up the 15 spells she would need to teleport over to Sparkle's place, plus two more, similar to yesterdays, yet slightly different. At least today Elida pretty much knew what to expect when arriving at Sparkle's place.
 
Elida ran the 15 simultaneous spells (every time she did so, she found it easier to do), and once again she was instantly in Sparkle's bedroom. The two elves were walking out of the bedroom door, but today she was a second or two earlier, which made them even easier targets.

"Hey, punks!!" she screamed. They turned around, and were rather surprised to see a second young fairy in the room, still in her pyjamas. "Prepare to die, punks!!!" she added, just as loudly. She paused for another couple of seconds: she knew they couldn't do anything to either Sparkle or her in that time, but it was so worth it, just to watch the reactions on their faces. She launched the two spells on them, and moments later, they were dangling upside down, hanging from ropes that were held in the air by magic, their hands also tied together, and gaffer tape over their mouths - all purely 'protective magic' mind you!

Once again, the elves had no idea what had just hit them! Sparkle had turned around to see what Elida had managed to do. "Oh yeah, nice one Elida!". Elida rushed over and removed the anti-magic rope from Sparkle, then gave her a hug - she could only imagine what had been happening inside Sparkle's head when these two had, once more, broken into her flat and dragged her out of bed.

"And as for you two, hopefully this will be the LAST time you try and attack my friend! The good news for you two is that I suspect that she's not feeling QUITE as stressed out as yesterday. But Sparkle, they are yours to play with, I need to call Sir Donald!". Sparkle and Elida dragged the two (currently floating) elves into her living room, then - as she did the day before - Elida walked into the bedroom, and called Sir Donald, leaving Sparkle alone with the two elves: again, it was 7:22, and she knew that Sir Donald would be at home, but this WAS important. She started with a text: "Constantinople - I will call you in a moment, Elida". Next, she called Sir Donald, who answered immediately.

"Hello, Elida?"

"Good morning, Sir Donald, once again, I'm so very sorry for calling so early. First can I repeat the 'Constantinople' and also add in the 'feather duster' too. Don't worry, Zia explained to me what they mean, and I'm deadly serious in using them"

"Ok, Elida, you have my complete attention, how can I help?"

"It's a bit of a story, and hopefully it's the last time I'll need to tell you, but here goes: about 6 weeks ago, I got stuck in a time loop, repeating every day. I've spoken with you, Charlotte and Zia several times in those 6 weeks, including yesterday morning, and you've all been very helpful to me. Around 3 weeks ago, I discovered that Sparkle was in the time loop too. Every morning, just before she awoke, two eleven thugs broke in to her apartment, tied her up with anti-magic rope, and pulled out her braces - along with a few teeth - leaving her tied to a chair in her kitchen, until the end of the day. Then it all happened again the next day. She had been suffering like that for over three weeks, till I found her".

"Oh no, not nice.... but do please continue".

Elida explained how she'd taught herself to teleport, and how she had actually captured the two elves yesterday, and how Sir Donald had organised some FAS guys to elves take them away, and do some 'persuading' on them. "Of course, you're not in our time loop, so you won't remember any of that. But you managed to get an address off these two, which you gave me"... she gave Sir Donald the address. "I'm hoping that if you can get a couple of your guys over there straight away, you should be able to catch them. In the meantime, once again we've got the two elves here, incapacitated....". There was a loud scream in the background. "Sorry, that's just Sparkle, she's probably doing some torture on them again... now where was I? Ah yes, maybe you can also send a couple of FAS guys to Sparkle's to collect these two?"

"Well, Elida, what you have just told me sounds far too amazing to be a prank, so you can be sure I'll get things sorted straight away. I think maybe I should come over there too, if that's ok?"

"You are very welcome to visit, Sir Donald....". Once again, she made sure he had the address.

"Umm... are your two 'captives' going to be ok with Sparkle...?"

"Oh, she's actually a very pleasant torturer!" replied Elida. They ended the call.



"So, Sparkle, what HAVE you been doing to them, to make then scream like that?" asked Elida.

"Did you know that elves hate having their earlobes crushed?", Sparkle went to one of the elves, and pressed his earlobe tightly between her thumb and forefinger, making him scream in pain. "It's very cathartic you know, you should give it a try...."

"Well, it's NOT magic, and they aren't fairies either.... so why not!" Elida went and squeezed the other elf's earlobes - both at once, making him scream loudly. "Ooooh, yes, that DOES feel good, doesn't it!". I don't need to tell you what the two fairies were doing to the two elves for the next couple of minutes!