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She's a four-year-old girl, and people (especially her Dad) insist she's a boy.
Not that she isn't sometimes. She is. But not today! Today she's a girl. And Dad keeps saying that's not true, that God made her body perfect and she shouldn't second-guess God's plan for her. God made her a boy, so she's supposed to be a boy. And on the one hand that kinda makes sense. God doesn't make mistakes, right? So if she were really a girl sometimes, then she'd... what? Her body would change, she guesses. But on the other hand, she knows she's a girl. She's a girl with a peepee, that's obvious. She'd prefer not having a peepee when she's a girl, but it's not the worst thing ever. And if God doesn't make mistakes, God also didn't make her feel like a girl sometimes on accident, right? It must be part of His (because God is always a He, even though God made everyone, boys and girls, in His image, he's always a He, Dad says) plan.
She tells Dad that, today, and Dad gets angry, and yells at her, and she doesn't know why he's yelling. It makes sense to her! But he won't explain why she's wrong, he's just yelling, Dad's so mean, she hates him, and she's not crying, shut up, you're crying!
And now Mum's coming and she's talking to Dad, and that usually makes Dad stop yelling and go away but he won't stop now and Sadde's angry and afraid and hurt and she's running away. A part of her thinks that it doesn't make much sense to run away, the park is pretty open and she can't really hide anywhere, and she'll have to go back because she'll get hungry (not now, though, she just ate a sandwich).
So she runs until she finds some bushes where she can hide, and she hides there, and she doesn't cry, and she spends a long time not crying. Mum and Dad don't come after her, though, and after she's done not crying she doesn't wipe her eyes and her nose, and she comes out the other way of the bushes she was hiding in.
And she's pretty sure that's not the park.
"Oh."
"Could you?"
"Okay."
"Daaaad!" she calls, running back towards the playground.
Tobias is, indeed, nowhere in sight.
"I was in fairyland! I met a small blue fairy who didn't tell me his name because he didn't want to become my vassal and I didn't know what that was and he said that a vassal has to do everything the other person says and that would be bad so I didn't tell him my name and he said his nickname was Briar and I said I didn't have a nickname and he said I have to have over and I said I didn't and he asked where babies came from and I explained and does that mean some fairies don't have babies? And he asked if God made fairyland and I said I didn't know and I'd ask Dad."
"Fairyland doesn't exist," he says, coldly, "and inventing lies to evade blame does not become you, Sadde."
"Tobias—" Laura starts.
"Don't."
"It does too exist! And there was a fairy with blue skin and pointy ears and eight wings! I counted them!"
"But Dad! Briar is waiting for me! I promised him I'd come back and tell him!"
"You're grounded," he says.
"No buts, we're going home."
Two weeks later, when Tobias isn't angry about it anymore, Sadde asks to go to the park again, and this time she brings a book—an illustrated version of Sleeping Beauty. She asks for paper and pencil and promises their parents she'll be right back. She brings them all to fairyland, and goes to the spot where she talked to the fairy.
"Briar?" she calls. "Briiiiaaaar!"
Silence. Not even birds.
She leaves the book on the ground, and writes a note on the paper, saying the book is for him and that a nasty curse will befall (she loves that word) anyone who isn't he that touches the book.
She puts a rock on the note so it won't fly away, and then goes back to the mortal world.
And a few days later, Briar passes by and notices the book and the note. He hmms, then returns home, where he finds a book (sadly lacking in pictures), and he leaves said book on the same spot Sadde left hers.
"Briar?" the boy tries.
Silence still.
He returns to the mortal world with his new book, sits down, and starts reading it.
