The mating system

This is a story that I've had for years that I was just thinking about and had to share the first little bit:)

Dcyee is a world full of life, color and magic. It has a striking blue sky and hundreds upon thousands of winding rivers, streams and ponds filled with varieties of fish. Big fishes and small, in all matter of colors and numbers. From stunning full grown mermaids to tiny golden guppies. While we don’t have many hills or mountains, we are well known for making the biggest and most beautiful gardens and landscape in the entire universe. We produce sweet, juicy fruits and colorful delicious vegetables. We have trillions of different flowers and plants and trees. And when you look up from the luscious bright green grass, the sky is like a daydream of flamboyant blues and purples mixed in with fluffy white clouds. This is my world. My home. My Kingdom. It’s always warm and sunny.
My planet is fairly close to Earth and while we know about humans and even other creatures on other planets, me, and my people are another species. We are the fairies. We control every living thing upon Dcyee’s surface. Without us and our healing magic, our planet would crumble and die. In exchange for keeping the soil replenished and sustaining, it provides us a means to live as well.
Us, fairies are complicated creatures. Most of the time we, ourselves, don’t even know what we want. Unless of course it comes to the mating system, then more than 99 percent of us know exactly what we want. Obviously, I am not one of them. I’m not even in the one percent that is defected. I’m the point one percent that’s fighting my own fate. Fighting for freedom of the main curse of being a fairy. My parents would say I’m rebelling against being the next Queen and maybe I am. Yes, being Queen has its scary notions but since I was a little girl I’d been dying to break free. I am the beautiful butterfly stuck in a glass bottle. And it’s all because of the mating system.
Our whole existence revolves around the mating system. It’s a means of life for us. Two fairies who are literally destined to be together. Conceived, born and die at the same exact time. And once the paired fairies see each other, BAM! They are instantly bound to each other for eternity—or for however long they live. They are in love. They are star crossed lovers. They are drawn to a magnetic pull of fate. Cheesy, hu? And those who are afraid of being alone feel blessed with the reassurance that no matter what they have another fairy who is destined to be with them and them alone.
Everyone I know has accepted this. It’s been the way of life since the beginning of our race. When my mother told me and my sisters about the mating system, she spoke highly of it. In fact her and my two sisters were giddy with excitement. They found it romantic and I felt like I suddenly had a ball and chains around my wrists and ankles. To be bound to someone for that long without a say, without a thought, without knowing if you genuinely love your mate or if it’s just fate screwing with your emotions.
In the early summer of 7016 young Prince Lione LeaDea, with his stark white blond braided hair and neon turquoise eyes, attended a ball with his best friend: Prince Eitri. Lione and Prince had gone to school together since they were five, and when Lione found that there was a boy named Prince in his class he knew that he had to make the coincidental joke. Ever since they’d been best friends. Prince was handsome just like Lione. He was shorter than Lione and had cropped blond hair. If you didn’t know them they would look like brothers. Lione and Prince had little differences. Prince’s face was thinner and carried more freckles while Lione’s face was fuller and smooth like marble.
At this ball Lione and Prince spotted two remarkably gorgeous fairies who were identical to them. Both girls were best friends from childhood and came together in linked arms. The fiery red headed woman was Cassandra and the snowy white blond was Rose which also made for an ironic friendship. All it took was one dance and both men where captivated with the maidens—star crossed; mated. In the mid-summer of that same year both Lione and Prince were married. Lione took Rose as his bride while Prince took Cassandra for his bride. They were married the same day. Lione in the morning and Prince in the evening. Lione took his place as King of Dycee and let Prince and his new wife stay in the castle with them. They had a very good time together. Lione and Rose got pregnant earlier in their marriage and had my older sister: Ebble. Meanwhile Cassandra and Prince were struggling to have children. It took them a few years but finally conceived a child—but so did Lione and Rose. They celebrated together for the entire nine months saying how their children were going to be best friends.
In late spring of 7019 both Rose and Cassandra went into labor on the same hour in the same hospital room inside the castle. Both delivered at the same exact time. The men were filled with absolute joy as they announced in unison the gender of their child, “It’s a girl!” “It’s a boy!”
Everything and everyone went silent for they knew what that meant.
“You don’t think…” my father had said without a trace of humor in his voice.
But Prince tried to lighten the mood by laughing nervously and saying, “Naw! That’s close to impossible. It’s too soon. I mean, we’re talking about our children being mated. That’s crazy, right? It can’t be.”
My father tried laughing but couldn’t. He knew that it was no coincident that both their wives got pregnant on the same day and gave birth the same night. Prince didn’t dwell on it but father did. He looked at his baby girl and suddenly felt like she wasn’t his and she was just born! The women held their babies in awkward silence. My mother cried for I wasn’t hers either. I belonged to the child in Cassandra’s arms. My parents never really understood why the Eitri’s acted so cool and collected about the entire thing, I guess we’ll never know.
In the end, I was named after my grandmother and my mother: Mixera Rose LiaDea and my future mate was named Elvin Prince Eitri.