It was the morning that Once-ler's family would be coming to the Truffula forest, he blinked his eyes as soon as the first break of daylight peered into his window. He yawned and stretched, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, still in his bunny pajamas. Goosebumps formed on his skin as the cool air kissed his exposed skin as he got dressed his usual grey attire, his black hair tousled from the night before. He gathered up the laundry in his hamper and went to the wash basin to fill it up, cleaning his clothes and hung it on the line. After a delicious pancake breakfast, he went right to cleaning his cottage.
Fiora happened to be walking past his cottage, hearing Once-ler's ever so cheerful humming from inside. She peeked inside and saw he was cleaning...he often did that.
"Good morning, Oncie," said a silvery voice from the window.
The young man turned to find the forest sprite looking in. He lit up when he saw her green face smiling.
"Oh, good morning, Fiora!" he said cheerfully. "Just cleaning my house...you know, my family is coming today."
"Can I help?" she asks.
Once-ler was absolutely delighted and nodded.
While helping him clean his cottage, Fiora wondered what his life was like before he came to the Truffula forest. About his family. She had seen pictures of them and he mentioned them in passing, but he was reluctant to talk about them OR he was a bit dismissive about a few things he mentioned in his past, claiming it was normal. Fiora didn't see anything normal with that: why would humans be so cruel to their own kind?
Yet the question always remained: why did he never talk about his family?
She saw hidden pain behind Once-ler's eyes, how lonely and desperate the young man was...desperate to be loved and appreciated. He always felt very uncomfortable with himself, whether it was knitting or cooking mostly...even when he wore his frilly pink apron. Fiora didn't see anything wrong with him. She wondered why humans would think such things about each other. Once-ler told her that humans believed that there were things that were socially acceptable; anything that was not was considered strange and unusual.
Of course, even though Fiora had no exposure to humans, she understood that there were things that made Once-ler uncomfortable. She felt it would be best to let it go and not bring it up again. After all, Fiora wasn't too fond of unpleasant things. She liked happy things the best. She liked it when he was happy: his entire person would light up, his face would stretch into a wide natural smile, and his eyes would sparkle, becoming bluer than ever. When he spent his days in the Truffula forest, the young man became more comfortable around her.
Though he was glad his family was coming to help him, there was still that lingering feeling of his memories from the past. So many things he didn't want to tell Fiora about...too painful to share with her...anyone...
AN: If you don't know who Fiora is, please refer to "Nature Girl". Please pardon construction there. Heavy editing going on.