"Do you suppose she's here for the party?"
"Well, now, I simply don't see how that's possible. Our guest list was just three: Briar Rose, Flora, and Merryweather."
"And yourself, Fauna dear. Merryweather, do stop poking the poor girl with that stick."
The three peasant women evaluated the sleeping girl in front of them. If they didn't know any better, they would have assumed Maleficent's curse had taken effect one day ahead of schedule, though there was none of the fairy's evil stench about the forest to suggest foul play. The girl looked as though she had stumbled through a hundred briar patches to reach the clearing, bits of leaves decorating her jet-black curls and a ragged red ribbon resting on one pale cheek.
"Oh, I do hope Briar Rose will hurry back with those berries," Merryweather grumbled, tossing the stick into the clearing where it caught a stray rabbit rather off-guard. "I don't like the look of this one bit."
Flora raised an eyebrow as she slipped a wand from the pocket of her apron. "Stand aside, if you please, Merryweather. Fauna, you keep watch."
"You were not supposed to take those wands out of storage," Merryweather huffed.
A glimmer of light sputtered and started from the tip of the wand, covering the princess until she sparkled from head to toe. With Flora leading the way, Snow White floated gently beside the strange women until they reached the old woodcutter's cottage.
"Now do be careful bringing her inside," Flora announced. "Watch her head, you ninny. And her feet! We still have a birthday to prepare."
