On the subject of fairies and c̶u̶r̶s̶e̶s̶ blessings.

Chapter 1
Harold complains

Chapter Description: Crotchety old Harold has it good but wants more.

Harold woke up, parts of his body would wake up later as his circulation started to build up pressure. He was 70 years old and feeling every one of his years and then some. After breakfast, he picked up his ax and headed to the woods to gather wood and hunt for nuts and berries to supplement his meager stores.

His wife of 67 years bided him well and wished him luck in his foraging and as she went to tend to the garden where they grew their meager crops to last them through the mild winter.

As Harold was looking for berries, he ran across Daisy, one of the forest folk that he peacefully coexisted with. They had a small conversation as he gathered his supplies and a twinge in his leg led to him complaining about getting older and why it’s just wrong that a person has to grow weaker as their body ages.

Complaining to someone about something that can’t be fixed was one of Harold’s ways of dealing with whatever it was. After a particularly long ramble, he then felt better about his predicament and accepted it. “Well,” he said, “thank you for listening, Daisy. I feel a lot better and apologize if it was a too long ramble”.

Daisy then went her way and sat on a dandelion thinking about how she might ease his burden a little bit. He was one of the good humans and they were hard to find, a shame that they only lived for less than a century, unlike the forest folk, who could live for an eon or more.

It can’t be said that Daisy was the brightest fairy in the woods, but she had a good heart and meant well, looking out for her neighbors and helping when she could. She came up with an idea and found Harold sitting on a rotted log, taking a break and enjoying his lunch.

“Harold, I have an idea that might help your aches and pains as you don’t like growing older.” She said and closed her eyes, bowed her head, and put her hands together to say an incantation under her breath.

A blue glow surrounded Harold’s body and gave off an electric charge very much like static electricity making the visible fine white hairs on his arms, chest, and back stand up.

“What’s going on?” Asked Harold “What are you doing?” as she ended her chant and the blue glow ended in a bright flash giving Harold a mild shock and made a crackling sound before dissipating.

“There! Now you won’t get any older. Instead, your body will get younger.” She said “But don’t worry, I put a limiter on how young you'll get, and set it for 16 years. I figure you’ll be sick of it by then so your body is set to start aging again upon your sixteenth birthday!” she said helpfully.

“I appreciate the efforts, my dear, but complaining about things is one of the ways that we old folk get things off our chest. Would it be possible to remove your blessing?” asked Harold.

“Oh, no Harold! A blessing or a curse must run its course. Nothing can stop it. I’m very sorry for not understanding that it’s human to complain about things” replied Daisy with regret.

“Well, drat it! What about my wife, Laura? This means she’ll be gone from this world and I’ll be left by myself to live a lonely existence within a few decades or so!” worried Harold.

Daisy then did another incantation, this time shorter, and said not to worry, his problems were solved!

Upon reaching home, Harold was greeted by a lovely vision of what his wife used to look like: A woman in her mid-twenties with fair features and a lovely body is confused by what happened to her today. She explains that it felt as if she were struck by lightning and it left her body young and healthy again. On the bright side, she did all the gardening and even managed to increase the number of late summer vegetables planted on their garden plot.

Harold explained what had happened and vowed at that moment to be careful of what he said around the fair folk. The two continue their life together as Harold’s body became stronger and healthier.

Several decades pass, Harold is now 40 while his wife is 50. He has had many conversations with the fair folk of the woods and one of them centered around the fact that by the time his blessing would start to turn around, his wife would be an old woman. Daisy, on the hook for the first blessing, assured him that when the time comes, she’ll do another blessing.

When Harold turned 16, he sighed with relief that he wouldn’t be getting any younger. In the woods, he found Daisy and reminded her of the promise that she’d made.

“Already?” Said Daisy “It seems like just yesterday when I gave you that blessing,” and performed her chant once again.

With an older wife in her early twenties, young Harold and she got up to all kinds of adult mischief in their bed-chamber. He couldn't help it as his hormones were now raging in his young, muscular body. Unfortunately, the child they tried to conceive never came as his wife has always been barren.

They ignored that and have a few role-plays in the hay about the young visiting medicinal doctor peddling his wares being greeted by the young wife tending their home while the husband is out on business.

After a few years, Harold realizes that his muscular body is losing mass. His wife worries that he’s getting too young and Daisy comes to visit to see how the young couple was doing.

“I can’t be much more than a youth of 12!” complained a worried Harold “The fine hairs on my privates have all but left with the remaining few but a few fine wisps of hair over a smooth bald patch. Why hasn’t the blessing stopped?”

Daisy stopped to think about it and reviews her incantation. “Oops!” She exclaimed “It would seem that I misplaced a decimal. The process won’t reverse until 16 days, not years! I’m very sorry, Harold.”

Harold is concerned that he’ll soon be unable to take care of his wife and their home. “We’ll manage, Harold” his wife assured him as she hugged him, got a whiff of his body, and then pulled out the scrubbing tub to wash away the funk rising from him.

As a boy, Harold was lively and full of energy. He doesn’t walk to places that he likes to play his games, he runs at full throttle. His energy is quickly exhausted and he often has to take naps to recharge himself.

Soon, he was confined to a playpen wearing cloth nappies and amused himself while watching his wife as she cooked and cleaned, afterward, he's taken to the fields to another playpen where he can watch her maintain the garden.

Eventually, Harold had trouble maintaining balance. His stubby legs often give way and he often fell on his padded behind. It soon becomes too much trouble to walk, so he scooted everywhere on all fours.

A little later, Harold was unable to sit up or even roll over. He laid upon his back as his arms and legs involuntarily moved in rhythmic circular motions. He felt wet and sticky down below prompting him to cry for attention from his wife, Laura.

“You poor dear! Let’s change that messy diaper, shall we?” Laura is enjoyed having a baby to care for and feed. The fairy spell that filled up her breasts with milk came in handy at feeding time. Little Harold drinks greedily from her breasts as his tiny hands lightly tapped the sides of her breasts to stimulate milk production.

And so Harold learned the hard way that we are only given one life for a reason. We shouldn’t lament growing older and we should make every day count for something as we only have a short time on this planet.

Life’s regrets are for the deceased.