Two young boys were playing in the woods one day, when they came across something strange: a circle of mushrooms. When they pretended that it was a teleporter to a new level, in their game, they literally did find themselves transported to another "level."

    Both shocked and awed, they began to explore the fantasy world they found themselves in. The colors of everyday things, like the dirt on the ground, or the leaves on a tree, were vibrant in a surreal kind of way. They also noticed flowers that they had never seen before, and glowing mushrooms that were as big as a house.

    Then a group of faeries found them, and urged them to join their party. A party? What young boy wouldn't want to have a party in a magical world? So they happily accompanied the faeries to their revelry, where they played and danced to their hearts' content. The boys had thought that faeries were a girly thing, but they were actually pretty fun and cool.

    Of course, since the boys didn't have the same stamina as the faeries, they had to bail out long before the partying was due to be over. And since they had ate and drank their fill in the meantime, drowsiness had accompanied their exhaustion. The faeries found them a moss-covered nook between the roots of a tree, and that's where they slept.

    When they woke up, they looked around and saw that the faeries were nowhere to be seen. It seemed that, outside of their memories, what had taken place had never happened. They didn't dwell on it, so they got up and looked for that circle of fungi that had transported them there. However, when they did find it, nothing happened.

    The boys began to panic, and talked in a frenzy about what they were supposed to do, who would be worrying about them, and/or be angry with them. However, just before they devolved into tears, a voice drew their attention to the trees, where, from within the forest, an enchanting figure drew near.

    It was a faery, but not as small as the others; rather, she was as tall as an adult human, if not taller than the norm. Her hair was long, an aquamarine color, and her ruby-colored eyes had a warm and inviting nature to them. She wore a flowing gown of white, which made it hard to tell if she were walking or floating.

    When she reached them, she smiled and asked them what troubled them so. The boys, being as young as they were, didn't realize that the faery before them knew more than she was letting on. But she looked like an adult human to them, despite some discrepancies in appearance, and she gave a motherly impression, to boot. So they opened themselves up to her.

    When they explained their situation, she told them that they carried pieces of her world inside of them, which acted as an anchor to those from the world on the other side. When they didn't understand what she meant, she pointed out the food and drink that they had no doubt ingested.

    When the boys began to worry about that, she assured them that they had made a wise decision. If they hadn't partaken anything at the party, then they would have been able to return... but not when they had wanted to, and they would have aged accordingly, perhaps to die. In essence, a high price to pay for one day in faerieland, to be sure.

    She mentioned something about a time-space rift that separated the two realities, and how that dictated the travel between them, but the boys didn't really understand. In the end she said that someone from their side could save them, since they weren't a "bastardization" of the two realities. However, since no one was likely to know where they were, that wasn't going to be the case.

    Before the boys could get disheartened, she said that there was still a way back: they just had to leave the same way that they had come in. That meant that at least one of them had to become a pure denizen of faerieland. Both boys exchanged looks, neither exactly keen on becoming a faery, but nonetheless with a strong desire to go home.

    When asked which one would like to be adopted by her, neither boy answered immediately. But, after a moment, one of them shyly volunteered to be adopted, to the relief of the other. With a smile, and an intricate gesticulation of her hands, the faery lady cast a series of spells and charms over the boy that she was to adopt. His form wavered and rippled, shifted and altered, until, when all was settled, he took the form of a girl his own age.

    More than a bit surprised and scared, the boy-turned-girl complained about her new form. Her new mother assured her that that was only an illusion, and that her true form lie behind it. No one would be able to see her faery identity, and there was a charm that made it so no one would see anything strange about her being a girl.

    When the young girl continued to lament, her new mother took on an authoritative tone and told her that it was necessary, considering her new nature, and that it would help her accept it. Then she changed the subject by instructing her newly-adopted daughter to come and visit her from time to time, and to tell her about her world, so she could learn how it had changed over the course of the last few centuries. Finally, she told her that she would be able to see her true nature within nature, and she would know how to reach her, if she were to encounter any trouble.

    With a somber nod of her head, the new girl took her friend's hand and led him into the circle of mushrooms. They soon found themselves back in their own world and, not knowing what to say, or how to say it, they navigated their way out of the woods without a word to each other. Instead they kept to their own thoughts, and reflected upon what had happened to them.

    Then, as they were walking down a street that was covered by a layer of rain water, the boy, shocked, pointed at the ground. The girl looked down and was shocked by her reflection. There she saw her true nature, behind the illusion, and she now understood the reason for why she had to take the form of a female human: because she was a female faery, now!

    And it did not escape her how much she resembled her adoptive mother; nor did it escape her friend, who expressed that observation vocally. The resemblance was simply uncanny.