Sometimes she would braid daises in her hair, and tell her faerie-tales, beautiful, flowing faerie-tales in her light, flowing voice that moved rhythmically with her fingers, back and forth through her hair, weave and plait, pause and speak. And Lily would sit dutifully to get her hair plaited, just to hear the stories of the pretty princesses that always got the dark, handsome prince in the end, the stories that were only nice in the light, smooth voice that so contrasted with her own husky tones. But only sometimes.
Sometimes Tuney would jump off the swing-set with her, jump and try to fly, but fall and pretend to have meant to do it in the first place instead. And Lily would fly and land on two feet and clap and laugh. But only sometimes.
Sometimes Lily told Tuney about the dark, handsome prince, the one from real life, the one that would tease her and poke her and laugh with his handsome friends. And Tuney would tell her, That means he likes you. But only sometimes.
Sometimes Lily would sit by the lake, underneath the tree where the prince sat with his friends, and try to tell herself the faerie tales, just to remember the sunny days where Tuney would plait and she would listen, and sometimes she thought she could hear herself laughing as Tuney made the Troll's voice or the wicked, wicked step-mother's. But only sometimes.
Sometimes she would tell the prince about the sister that had gone missing inside herself. She would tell him about the sun and the daisies and the swing-set and how they used to laugh together. And he would hold her close and Lily would remember Tuney saying That means he likes you. But only sometimes.
Once she told her baby the faerie-tales. She told him about the pretty princesses who always got the dark, handsome prince and about how Good always won over Evil. And she could hear the laughter and the swing-set and smell the daisies and see the sun and feel the rhythmic fingers. She told him once and tried to tell them as well as Tuney did, so he could remember because remembering is the best part of faerie-tales. But only once.