The wooden boat almost rocked Melanie to sleep. She jolted awake before gasping with delight for she had reached her destination.

It was everything she had imagined and more.

The lights emitted from the homely windows danced with the purple flowers on the sea’s reflection, illuminating the green, bushy forest. The wind whistled through the oak trees that stood so very tall and the sunlight crept in through its leaves, lolling lazily on the forest bed.

“Hi Melanie! I have waited so long for this moment!” a chirpy voice sang from the lilies.

Melanie blinks and searches for the voice, in utter confusion for she could not see anyone or anything.

“Hello?” she curiously spoke in the direction of the green floating lilies.

Then, out of nowhere, a minuscule, dainty fairy appears in front of her face. It had long, wavy blonde hair and was dressed in a baby blue pinafore with matching dark blue boots. Melanie could have sworn that she was also wearing sparkly blue eyeshadow and had tiny gold bangles on her wrists. She exclaims with excitement and claps her hands together “My first ever tavern fairy!”.

The little creature happily replies “Yes, indeed! I’m very excited to get to know you. Come on! Come on!”.

She places her hand on Melanie’s shoulder and leads her the way. Melanie ducks her head as she walks through the doorframe and into the tiny tavern. She was met with a glorious smell of sweat mead, honeyed steak and buttery potatoes which heavily contrasted with the smell of bitter beer. There was a bustling crowd, full of peals of laughter and chit-chatter. She smiled at the scenery, the simplicity of just being.

“It’s great, isn’t it?” the fairy giggles.

“I can’t believe I’m here.”

“Yes, about that..”

Melanie jerks her head to the little fairy, her interest piqued. The fairy gulps before saying “Well, this isn’t just A tavern. It’s THE tavern.”

“What do you mean? Do they not have drinks or food here?”

“That’s not what I mean. What you choose from the buffet will change your whole life. In each thing that you see on this table has magic powers in them. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what is in there, but only fate can help you.” the fairy concludes, cheeks flushed.

Melanie blinks and swallows before replying with “Ok.”

“Ok?”

“Let’s do it!”

There was so much variety of food and drinks, how could she ever decide? As her eyes wandered over the buttered chicken wings, deliciously cheesy pasta and juicy steak, the fairy piped “I should also add that you will get one good and one ‘bad’ magic power. So choose wisely!” Melanie sighs, already stressed out. She finally decided on spicy chicken thighs and a cocktail.

She sat down at one end of the big, wooden table and very gingerly picked up a fork and a knife, and began preparing her first bite. She maintained eye contact with her fairy as she began to eat. Heart thumping, hands clammy and her tummy churning, she quickly took a sip of her drink. Oh no. It seemed to make it all worse. Her head began to spin and her vision went blurry as she attempted to hold on to the edge of the table, before hitting her head on the cold floor.