As the seasons changed from summer to fall, a mother cradled her baby boy. She whispered to him stories of creatures coming to bring cooler weather and beautiful shades of amber to the leaves. She spoke of how these creatures would gather food for the animals, bring the wind to blow the leaves down, and the boy loved the stories. He smiled a wide, toothless grin, and let out a giggle. His first laugh. His mother smiled.
"I believe another of these creatures may have just been born."
The boy's laugh drifted outside and broke apart in the wind. Each piece drifted off to the ground. Each peace, save one. This one piece drifted with the wind and followed what felt like a call.
The journey was long. Not all make it and stay on the mainland, but this one needed to make the trip. It passed the second star, and drifted to the place it would call home. Its arrival caught the attention of those who lived there, and they all gathered at the Tree as a Fast Flier guided the new one there. It passed through a trickle of golden Dust and landed on the platform everyone gathered around. A large Dust Keeper in a kilt flew overhead and poured a cup of Dust over the new arrival who then drew his first real breath as he awoke.
He heard whispers around him, but he stayed knelt on the ground with his head down. "He's so lanky." He heard some say. "Definitely a Fast Flier" said others "At his size, he'd be a shoe in."
He finally raised his head as the whispers grew louder, announcing the arrival of the queen. He blinked a few times as the bright golden glow drew closer.
"Where am I?" he asked quietly.
"You're in Pixie Hollow, young Sparrowman. The joy of new life has brought you here. Welcome." The glow said sweetly. There was a pause as the new arrival stared at the glow. "Hold out your hand" she said in an understanding voice.
He raised his hand and the glow reached out and took it, helping the young fairy to his feet. "I hope your journey wasn't too hard." She said. "Let's see about your wings."
As she raised her hands over his wing, he felt them come to life in a wave of warmth. He hovered off the ground and flew a bit to test them out, then came back down to the platform, stumbling as he landed.
"A bit of a bumpy landing," The queen laughed, "but you'll be just fine." Then the Dust began to swirl on the platform as mushroom pedestals sprouted in a circle. He noticed fairies place objects on the closest pedestals, and he turned to the queen with a look of curiosity.
"Step forward," she said "And find your talent."
He nodded and went to the closest object, a small egg. He reached for it, and the glow disappeared as it dropped to the now dim pedestal. Frowning, he moved to the next object, holding onto the now dim mushroom as he moved on. He went in a circle, examining each object very closely. All five objects he passed did not choose him. He kept his hands on each spot he passed until he reached the sixth object. It was a hammer. He tilted his head to the side, looking at it. He grinned as he reached for it, and it began to glow and float toward him, shining brighter and brighter until it landed in his hands. This had to be it, he thought as he grasped it. The hammer shined brightly and he could hear the awe of the spectators.
He grinned and turned back to the queen. She came to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Tinker fairies, step forward and greet the newest member of your Talent Guild. Phineas."
That wasn't his full name, but he wondered how the queen knew it at all. It occurred to him that he in fact did not know his own name until the hammer chose him. Maybe his name went with his talent? Maybe it was part of the queen's job to know every fairy by name the moment they had one.
"Hello dear!" came a sweet, motherly voice behind him. He turned to see a plump green blur. "I'm Fairy Mary, and I'm just pleast as poppies you're here. Come on now, I've sent the other Tinkers to get your home ready. Now let's show you around. There's so much to see! Come on now." She hovered off the ground and began to fly away, expecting him to follow.
"Fairy Mary!" Phineas called after her. "Wait!"
"What's the matter dear?" she flittered back close to him.
"I…" he hesitated "I can't see that well. I need to hold on to you."
There was a sudden quiet among the surrounding fairies "Oh." Fairy Mary said, "Well alright, dear. Let's get going." She took him by the hand and led him off, leaving the whispers and murmurs behind them. She brought him above the Tree and began to introduce him to the seasons of Pixie Hollow.
They were over Summer Glade and Fairy Mary asked "Just how well can you see, Phineas?"
"Not well." He replied. "Everything's just a blur. It all looks like a bunch of color to me."
"That's basically all the seasons are." Fairy Mary joked "Are things clearer up close?"
"Aye!" he replied. "That's why I was looking so close at all the talents." He held his free hand in front of his face. "This is where it looks clear." He said, and took his other hand from Fairy Mary and put it between his face and first hand. It fit neatly between his nose and hand. "So about the width of my hand." He said "That's how far away I can see."
"Hmm." Fairy Mary pondered. "Well then we'll have to do something about that." She took his hand again and pulled him along. "Until then, I suppose you'll just have to do close up work."
Fairy Mary showed him the four seasons to the best of her ability, allowing him to stop and get a closer look when he wanted. He was particularly fond of Spring time, but it would be a while yet before it was time to prepare for Spring, since the fairies had just returned from bringing Autumn to the mainland.
They landed in a busy area with more fairies clad in green running about. With her hand on his shoulder, Fairy Mary guided him through the busy work area. "Welcome to Tinker's Nook, Phineas" she said. Many fairies said hello and waved to him. He squinted, smiled, and waved back. Fairy Mary led him up to the roots of a large tree where a door was fitted.
"Here we are." She said, opening the door for him. "You'll have everything you need here. You're a bit thinner than most Tinker Fairies, so I'm afraid we don't have any work clothes your size."
Phineas looked closely at everything. "This is perfect." He said "What should I do now?"
"Go ahead and get dressed for work." Fairy Mary replied. "Then come meet me in the workshop." With that, she left and Phineas began to explore his new living quarters. IT was pretty roomy for him. He wondered if the other houses were the same size. He had been smaller than the other Tinkers he'd gotten a good look at. Maybe this house just felt big because he was so small.
He began sifting through the drawers, which held all sorts of different tools. He grabbed out a small hammer and some scissors, then made his way to the closet. He tried on some of the clothes hanging inside, and as Fairy Mary said: they didn't fit. They were too large for his skinny body. He grabbed the scissors and got to work.
Soon he had crafted himself an outfit. It was a little patchy, but it would do for now. He tied a rope around his waist and slipped some tools under it and headed down to the work shop.
It was harder for him to get around without Fairy Mary. Each fuzzy shape he saw, he had a hard time determining if it was moving closer, moving away or if it was stationary. He bumped into a number of fairies, but managed to get to Fairy Mary's workshop.
"Phineas!" he heard her call and turned toward her voice. "Come here. You'll be working with Lucinda today." She said, gesturing to the lady Tinker standing by her.
"Pleased to meet you." Phineas said, Lucinda shook his hand.
"Alright, Lucinda, get Phineas acquainted with the workshop. I'll be back to check on you later. No goofing off." She said sternly, then left and started ordering other Tinkers around.
"So you're the new guy." Lucinda said with a smile. "Lets get to work." She showed him how to make acorn tea kettles and more than once told him to step back, because he would get hurt by being so close. When he explained he couldn't see well enough at a distance she switched him to weaving baskets. 'less parts flying about' she'd claimed. And Phineas was left to weave baskets.