Viginette #19

Laughter and the flit of fairy wings filled the air as a group of fairies arrived in the large clearing overlooking the plains--the perfect spot for playing sproutball out of the gaze of human or elven eyes.

"Marfil, you remembered the sprout?" a fairy clad in blue asked as she began fashoning a goal net from some twigs and cobwebs.

"Of course, Susura." a fairy clad in white replied as she set a small brown seed with two small leaves peeking from it on the ground. "We can't play Sproutball without the sprout!" The seed suddenly glowed a faint green to illustrate its bearer's point.

"I'll be happy to make the other goal net." a brown haired fairy in green replied before flitting up to gather some twigs.

"Arune, be on my team!" a fairy in purple begged.

"No, be on mine!" a fairy in yellow protested.

Arune sighed. "Farfalla, Amberlyn, I'll be happy to be on either of your teams if you just say so." she assured both fairies before winding some cobwebs across the twigs to make a goal net.

Once the field was set up, the fairies met at the midpoint of their makeshift field to choose up sides. Amberlyn and Susura were named captains of the two teams, which meant they had to choose five others to complete the lineup.

Amberlyn was first. "I choose Farfalla for my team!"

"And I'll choose Gora for mine." Susura replied. This went on for a while:

"Then I'll pick Serenity for my team!"

"And I choose Arune for mine."

"I choose Vista for my team!"

"I choose Piora for mine."

Once the teams had been decided, Susura asked Arune "Which position do you want to play this time?"

"Goalkeeper." Arune replied as she flitted over to the right goal net and watched the two captains meet at midfield. The sprout then started to fly upward, but Susura whacked it away, beginning the match.

Arune watched as Susura passed the sprout to Piora, but Farfalla stole the sprout and made a mighty heave for the right goal! Arune intercepted it in the right corner and tossed it back to Marfil. Marfil passed it to Susura, but the sprout suddenly turned to ice, making her drop it and allowing Farfalla to steal it as it returned to normal.

"No fair!" Susura complained.

"Cardinal rule of sproutball: the sprout will do anything to ruin the best laid strategy." Arune assured her teammate as she intercepted the sprout again.