Manic Pixies

Ilaria left her village to make a name for herself in the big city, forging magical weapons. When her father dies, she returns to her village to decide what to do with the family business. Returning home forces her to admit that she isn’t a great success: she lost her apprenticeship after only six months has been working in a tavern for the last five years. But she doesn’t really care, about that – or anything – anymore.

Back in her village, Ilaria meets Clover: a pixie who is too big to fly, so left her family behind to make her own way in the world. Unlike Ilaria, Clover is full of optimism, and had a tendency towards kleptomania. Though she is currently labouring for the local apothecary, Clover dreams of having her own shop one day. Ilaria finds her jarring, kind of odd, but also super cute.

Ilaria’s childhood friend Olier is now a mage, and claims he can help Ilaria obtain magic-forging skills if they retrieve a special artifact from a dragon. Ilaria reluctantly agrees, for lack of something better to do, and invites Clover along for the journey.

Together they encounter an untalented musical troupe, a sleepy troll, and an adorable but unhelpful dragon in their quest for the artifact. The more Ilaria learns about Clover, the more enamored she becomes. Olier manages to get a smile, occasional laugh, and frequent cry of frustration out of the once apathetic Ilaria, before it is revealed the object they’ve been seeking is the first knife Ilaria ever forged. She’d gifted it to Olier and it had made it’s way through many hands before being bought by Clover’s family. The pixie had stolen it when she movedaway, and has been carrying it all along.

In the end, Ilaria decides to gift her father’s business assets to Clover so that the pixie can quit her job and open her own shop. And that brings Ilaria more happiness than being a big-city weapons forger ever would.

“Follow your dreams but before you begin,
Remembers true happiness starts from within.”