Fairies aren’t born in the same way humans are, and thank goodness for that, because most fairies would find the whole idea deeply alarming.
Instead, fairy children come from bearing glades: small, sacred places where the forest’s magic gathers so thickly it settles into the soil, roots, dew, and petals like sunlight caught in nectar. Over time, that magic can take shape. Then one day, a flower blooms unlike any ordinary blossom, and when it opens, there’s a baby fairy inside—sleepy, warm, petal-soft, and usually at least a little offended by the sudden light.
To fairies, this is perfectly ordinary. Babies come from flowers. Of course they do. That is simply how the forest has always chosen to be generous.
Every region in Lunaeria has its own bearing glades, shaped by their climate, local magic, and the plants that thrive there. Some bloom from still ponds, some from mossy clearings, some from flowering brambles, and some climb high into the canopy on old, winding vines. Because of that, the flowers are not all the same, and neither are the fairies born from them.
A fairy from a lotus bloom in Leuimaara may carry a different softness than one born high in the vine-flowers of the canopy, and everyone grows up knowing, more or less, which blooms belong to which places. In that way, bearing glades are part of why different regions of Lunaeria often have such distinct looks, lineages, and little inherited traits. The land shapes the bloom, and the bloom shapes the child, at least a little.
They are sacred places too, though not always in a stiff or solemn way. People are simply gentler there. They lower their voices, brush dead leaves aside, leave offerings, and mind where they step.
When two fairies decide they want a child, they may ask the grove to bless them with one through a seeding ritual.
There are regional variations, of course, because fairies love tradition and also love insisting their own version is the correct one, but the heart of the ritual is usually the same. The pair mix their pixie dust together into a small vessel filled with pure dew that has been left to soak in the first sunlight. In some places, pollen, petals, nectar, or a blessing from a bloomkeeper is added too. The mixture is then sprinkled into a chosen patch of sacred ground within the bearing glade, and the wish for a child is entrusted to the forest.
After that, it becomes a matter of waiting. Sometimes a sprout appears within days. Sometimes it takes a full season, or longer. During that time, the prospective parents often visit regularly to tend the soil, sing to the bud, leave tiny gifts, or simply sit beside it and talk as though it can already hear them. Most fairies will tell you it can. Whether that is literally true is debatable, but nobody really wants to test it by being rude near a baby’s bloom.
When the bloom finally opens, there’s a child inside. Not a seed or some strange little root-creature. Just a baby fairy, wrapped in petals and dew, smelling faintly of nectar, rain, and softly growing things.
Not every fairy child comes from a ritual. Sometimes, a flower simply blooms on its own. These children are called the Bloomborn, and they appear without any known parents, seemingly gifted directly from Lunaeria itself. No one knows exactly how, or why, it happens. Some say old magic gathers in the earth until it has nowhere else to go, and flowers into new life. Others believe bloomborn children are blessings from the ancestors, or the land itself. Whatever the reason may be, they are very real, and not nearly rare enough to be dismissed as myth.
In most villages, a bloomborn child is raised collectively, by trusted nurserykeepers, or by families who volunteer to adopt. More often than not though, the whole community ends up involved anyways, which means bloomborn children tend to grow up belonging at least a little bit to everyone.
That said, not everyone is completely normal about it. Some more traditional or lineage-obsessed fairies sometimes whisper that bloomborn children are somehow “incomplete,” “unrooted,” or lacking in proper lineage. Most decent fairies think this is both rude and deeply stupid. Bloomborn children are no less real, no less magical, and no less part of their communities than anyone else. If anything, many fairies see them as especially blessed, as they were wanted by the forest itself. Still, prejudice has a way of lingering in certain corners, especially among the sort of people who think bloodlines make them interesting.
Because bearing glades are shaped by their regions, the flowers fairies are born from often differ depending on where in Lunaeria they come from.
lotus, water lilies, blue iris
wild rose, gardenias, canterbury bells
strawberry flowers, azaleas, buttercups
peonies, blue delphinium, ranunculus, tulips
crocus, chrysanthemums, colorado columbine
morning glory, clematis, bougainvillea
marigold, primrose, poppies, freesias, snapdragons
camelias, geranium, anemone, paintbrush flower
queen of the night (fairies of the opulance have their own flower)
Some fairies believe a person’s birthflower, or “floret” as they are more commonly called, may loosely correlate with certain parts of their personality, temperament, or even their little habits in much the same way humans treat things like zodiac signs. A lotus-born fairy might be called dreamy or gentle, a marigold-born one passionate or proud, a clematis-born one restless or curious, and so on. None of this is actually proven, of course, and plenty of fairies don’t match their supposed “floret traits” at all, but that’s never stopped people from making little assumptions, comparing notes, or saying things like, “well, obviously he’s dramatic, he was born from a peony.”
ok so right off the bat, I'm gonna answer the question a lot of people are probably asking: yes, fairies can still have sex. its just not at all linked to reproduction, and is instead just a pleasure and intimacy thing. So as a result, accidental pregnancies aren't ever a thing, people can have kids without sex (meaning asexual and same sex couples can easily have kids without issue if they want them).
also this means pregnancy as a whole isn't a thing bc idk about you but both lian and I are kinda terrified of it bc it sounds painful af. this ALSO means periods aren't a thing bc no need for a uterus. so many problems are solved lol.
idk I think the idea of being born from a flower, and just a flower's petals unfolding and revealing a baby is just so cute!!!! which speaking of, fairies (and fairy domesticated creatures) don't shit or piss bc uhhhhh magic, magical diet, and they're just really tiny. so children wouldn't be an actual nightmare!!!!
but anywaysssss... what flower do you think you'd be born out of? I know lian picked a lotus, and I'm leaning towards a clematis!!! also, these aren't the only flowers that can birth a fairy, they're just the most common and recognizable ones.
@lalalian @reyaint @wyldeshifts @mindscapeofthedivine @notoriouslyshifting
