Remembrance of Days Past

Part 2 of 3: Race to Greece

Okay, yes, I'm sorry. I know I promised two parts, but there was too much so I split the last section in half. Part 3 will be up soon.

"You're highness!" Viola cried out through the bedchamber door. "Your highness, wake up!"

The door opened and there stood Queen Clarion, ruler of the never fairies of Pixie Hollow. She was still dressed in her nightgown, her crown sat atop her unruly brown hair. It was very early in the morning. Pixies were just beginning to wake for the day. Clarion had just risen when Viola, her personal summoner, started calling to her through the door.

"Yes, what is it, Viola, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Fairy Gary reports a large quantity of pixie dust was stolen from the depot last night," the summoner told the regent. "Scouts also reported seeing a balloon carrier leaving Pixie Hollow; they believe Vidia was piloting it."

"Assemble the ministers, Viola," Clarion said. "As soon as I'm dressed I will meet with them to discuss the situation."

"Right away, your highness," Viola said with a bow.

Stealing pixie dust was a crime in Pixie Hollow. When it was in small amounts most looked the other way if there was a justifiable reason for it, such as when Terence followed Tinker Bell when she went in search of the Enchanted Mirror of Incanta. However, in large amounts, no one could simply excuse the action. Even though the Pixie Dust tree provided a seemingly endless supply, it was not limitless. The dust was the unique sap of the tree and it provided enough every day for all the residents of Pixie Hollow, plus a little bit more. The members of the Dust Keeper Talent Guild equally portioned the dust out every day to every fairy and sparrow man. Stealing it in large quantities as Vidia had was like stealing the dust from other fairies that needed it to perform their daily tasks.

While the queen and her advisors were talking about what had happened, Tinker Bell with her friends in tow arrived yelling, "Someone stole my balloon carrier!"

"The queen is in a private meeting with her advisors," Viola said, blocking the tinker fairy's path.

"Let her in," the queen told Viola. The summoner obeyed and led Tink and the others into the chamber.

Each of the fairies bowed to their queen before speaking. "Your highness," Tink started. "Someone stole my balloon carrier. When I left for work today I could see that it was missing from its moorings."

"Yes, dear, we know," Clarion replied.

"You do?"

"Yes, dear, we are well aware of the situation," Clarion told her. "But if you find out anything new please inform me at once."

"Yes, Queen Clarion," Tink responded. She and the others bowed before turning to leave.

"Tinker Bell?" the queen called out to her. "Why don't you start building another balloon carrier? Please begin right away."

"Yes, your highness," the tinker fairy replied before leaving.

~O~

Leaving in the middle of the night allowed Vidia to reach the French coastline by morning. She was making decent time. However, she could not shake the images of her boys slumped on the ground, pierced by their father's arrows. Each one dead by his hand. Each one lying in growing pools of their own blood. She had to get to her destination as soon as possible.

Vidia made a rash decision; she took a small quantity of the dust from one of the bags and sprinkled it on her wings. She then tied a rope to herself and to the balloon carrier. She took flight and beating her wings as hard as possible pulled the balloon carrier along behind her. Vidia had to get to her eight children as soon as possible. "I'm coming, little ones!" she kept saying. "Run! Hide from your father! He is not well! Mommy will be there soon!"

~O~

"You wanted to see me, Lord Milori?" Queen Clarion asked. She was at the border between the Spring and Winter Seasons. Since his missive to her was of an official nature, she was using his title rather than referring to him the familiar.

"Yes, Dewey has something to tell you," Lord Milori said introducing the Keeper of All Fairy Knowledge.

"Oh, this isn't good," he stammered. "You see, ah…, yesterday Vidia came to my library to ask about some strange dreams she had been having lately."

"What kind of dreams?" Queen Clarion asked.

The Keeper told the queen about the odd dreams where Vidia thought she was a human woman, married to a super powerful human and bearing him eight children. He described everything she told him, including the different language, the dress and that the oldest boys were play fighting with wooden swords.

"Why does that sound familiar?" Clarion said.

"Oooh…, I should have put it together earlier, but I didn't," Dewey said. "That's the human story of Hercules from their mythology. It didn't come together for me until I heard she left last night with Pixie Dust."

"I don't understand?" Lord Milori asked. The queen had the same confused look on her face.

"Those dreams were driving her batty," Dewey told them. "Really seemed like she was gettin' pretty upset about them. You see, the next part of the story is that Hercules goes mad and kills his boys and his wife. At least in some tellings."

"Why is this important?" Clarion asked.

"Well, because…, Vidia's been dreaming she's Hercules' wife. The one who gets killed."

Clarion and Milori immediately became concerned. The question that Dewey could not answer was why she left. Did she feel unsafe here in Pixie Hollow? Or was she going somewhere to do the second star knew what? Now Clarion felt better about ordering Tinker Bell to build that new balloon carrier.

The queen immediately summoned Tinker Bell and Fairy Mary, the guild master for the tinkers. She ordered them to stop everything else and complete construction of the balloon carrier as quickly as possible. She told them what had been happening to Vidia.

"Tinker Bell, I want you find her and bring her back. If she is going insane, Vidia must be brought to our hospital for treatment," the queen demanded.

"Can I bring some friends to help?" the little blonde tinker asked.

"Yes, but only those absolutely necessary for the task," the queen answered. "Our supplies of Pixie Dust are already short today and Fairy Gary will have a fit if we take too much more."

Fairy Gary, the guild master for the dust keepers had to take decisive action this morning when it was discovered that Vidia had taken so much pixie dust overnight. Rather than deny anyone their much-needed rations and get complaints from others, he cut the rations of his own guild members in half. Then he put the word out that no deliveries would be made today except for those who absolutely needed it, such as the scouts on the farthest reaches of Never Land. Everyone else had to come to the Pixie Dust Depot to receive his or her rations.

~O~

Because Vidia already had more than a half-day start on them, Tinker Bell added a few extra elements to help narrow the gap. First, she added what was essentially a pair of collapsible sails to either side of the basket to capture the wind when it was behind them and pull them forward. She also added a mechanism to introduce a stretchy thingy under stress and a single rotating wheel made of walnut shells to provide bursts of speed. Tinker Bell also designed in a brake and gearbox for the rotating wheel and a simple pedal system to re-twist the stretchy thingy when all the tension had been exhausted. These new additions meant more weight, but it would be negated by the extra speed it would give them in reaching their destination. No additional pixie dust would be required.

With the help of the other tinkers, the new design didn't take long to come together. As Lizzy and her father often said, "Many hands make light work." Today was no exception and she was most grateful for the very many hands of the entire tinker guild. By late afternoon, the newly redesigned balloon carrier was ready to go. The queen had to deal with Fairy Gary when she asked for more pixie dust for Tinker Bell so she could track down Vidia. He wasn't as belligerent as she thought he would be, but only because it was the queen who was asking and Tinker Bell who was doing the rescuing. The queen managed to secure another twenty bags of pixie dust for the journey. Hopefully, if Tinker Bell could find Vidia and bring her back sooner than later, the fairy wouldn't have to use it all and return the supply.

"Have you chosen a partner to go with you?" the queen asked Tinker Bell.

"Yes, I have," she replied. First, she chose Blaze, the little firefly who would be useful as both a distance spotter and a light source. Second, Tinker Bell wanted to bring all of her girl friends because she wanted their support and companionship on what she knew would be a long trip, but it wouldn't work out. So instead, she selected Terence. Since no deliveries were going to be made any time soon, Fairy Gary agreed and the young dust keeper accompanied them. The small group was supplied with food and water, but they were told they would, in all likelihood, have to stop and resupply on the way. Especially if Greece was Vidia's intended destination.

With everything ready, the trio departed and turned south to find their missing friend. Once high above the canopy and with a favorable tailwind, Tinker Bell deployed the sails. Two booms made from bamboo were swung out from either side and locked into position. Then, on her order, the sails were dropped from their folded up position. The sails had been woven from dry spider silk and were very effective at capturing the wind. The small craft lurched forward and nearly left its occupants behind. Once Tinker Bell and Terence regained their balance they settled in for a long flight. At least they were making excellent time. The waters below were passing by swiftly and by nightfall, they had already begun to cross into the Netherlands.

Tinker Bell remembered that Greece was not due south of England, but more southeast and she took a direct route, which bypassed France entirely. Tink didn't know what route Vidia was taking exactly, the only thing she knew from the scouts was that she was headed due south when she left Never Land. Of course, Vidia never studied the human maps as well as Tinker Bell had, and may have made an assumption about Greece's location. This left her with a predicament. Go due south as well or go southeast? Tinker Bell decided on southeast reasoning that if Vidia learned where she needed to go she would change course. If Vidia took a direct route, Tink had to follow close behind. If Vidia went straight south without changing course, she would end up in Africa and at least Tink and her crew would be in position to go after her. This left every option open to her without putting the efforts behind schedule.

~O~

Vidia had solved a major problem. Flying at top speed, she had exhausted herself very quickly and had burned through the entire pinch of pixie dust with which she had dusted herself. She needed another solution and found it when she passed over the city of Marseille the next morning. Sailing out from the French city, she spied a vessel leaving port and heading south. It bore the flag of Greece. Vidia carefully descended to the ship and moored her balloon carrier to the vessel just atop the bridge. She positioned herself to avoid detection by any of the human crew. When the ship reached cruising speed, it was moving faster than the balloon carrier was when Vidia was pulling it. She was going to get to her babies in time after all.

~O~

Having learned from her problems with the Pixie Dust Express, Tinker Bell had designed a series of gears to modulate the amount of power that was transmitted from a stretchy thingy under tension to the spinning walnut wheel. Dr. Griffiths referred to the human invention on a horseless carriage as a "gearbox." Tinker Bell had incorporated the gearbox to the new balloon carrier. When she and her crew lost the favorable tailwind, it came in handy. She and Terence pulled in the sails and secured them properly. Then she released the tension on the stretchy thingy and adjusted the gearbox so the walnut propellers would spin fast, but not so fast as to push the carriage long uncontrollably.

Once again, the vessel was underway at good speeds, easily crossing Germany in less than a day and half. Terence did have to reapply tension to the stretchy thingy from time to time using the pedals and bike assembly Tink had added to the ship, but once done the carrier sailed along for a good long time before needing more tension again. At least it wasn't going to be too hard on the two of them when they needed it.

During the night, Blaze acted as a nightlight and a headlight. Tinker Bell even went so far as to wrap up his light producing abdomen in a leaf to project all the light forward when they needed it. Once, she even added a drop of water to magnify the beam of light. It worked! At least until Blaze got thirsty and drank it.

~O~

At night, Vidia feel asleep and had that same nightmare again. Her children were screaming and running from their father and calling out to their mother. She tried to stop him, but nothing could dissuade him. He thought that his own sons were someone else, enemies intending to hurt his family. He had gone mad. She survived when his madness passed, but she was clasping her dead sons in her arms, blood staining her linen clothes and crying with great sadness and grief.

When she woke up the next morning, once again she was drenched in own perspiration. He clothes were soaked. She was very thirsty and drank considerable amounts of water to rehydrate, but it left her with barely half of her supply of water.

She ventured into the captain's cabin. Since he was on the bridge, Vidia made liberal use of what was available to her. First, she found a pitcher and bowl of water that human's used to wash their faces. She disrobed and took a quick bath to remove the sticky perspiration from her body. She left her clothes hanging so they would dry out. Vidia toweled off and dressed again. She found some partially eaten food on the table and dined on the untouched parts of some vegetables, fruit and bread. Then she filled her empty water skins, which were made from leaves tightly woven and sealed with quick dry maple sap. She poured fresh water from a pitcher on the dining table. Then she checked the maps that were on the wall. This ship captain, like most, was very detailed about tracking his progress. According to the map on the wall, the vessel was nearing the boot of Italy. Vidia estimated that she would arrive late in the evening or early the next morning.

"I'm coming, my darlings," she said, feeling reinvigorated by the good news. "Momma's almost there."

~O~

"I don't get it?" Terence asked. "Why is Vidia heading to Greece? It doesn't make any sense."

"I know it doesn't, Terence, but we have to believe that is where she is going," Tinker Bell replied.

"But where would she get the idea?"

Tinker Bell told him about the stories of ancient Greek mythology that Dr. Griffiths had read to them while she and Vidia were visiting the mainland.

"Somehow that must have gotten into her head," Tink said. "But don't ask me why it did. I couldn't tell you any more than that."

Suddenly she saw something that made her smile. "LOOK!" she said pointing towards the ground below.

Terence looked down, but only saw a city with lots of water in the streets. "Whoa, what happened here? Did it flood?"

"No, silly, this Venice, Italy," she explained. "The streets are all canals, there is always water in them, but that's not what I'm interested in. Look over there."

She pointed out to sea. Venice was a coastal city and she saw a boat leaving. Since the Adriatic Sea was bounded on three sides and its only outlet was by the boot of Italy it didn't matter what the ship's ultimate destination was, it had to pass near Greece. Without realizing it, Tinker Bell had come to the same solution Vidia had to reduce travel time and save on pixie dust. The balloon carrier descended. When it got close to the ship, she noticed that it was flying the American flag. Terence took note of the large guns on its deck.

"Tink, this is a warship," he told her.

"They're not at war, I think," she said. "Anyway, who are they going to shoot at here?"

"Oka-ay." He didn't sound very confident about this decision, but went along with it. Tinker Bell navigated the balloon carrier close enough to find a nice spot to hide just in front of the smoke stack. Once moored, Tink felt very good about their chances of catching Vidia now that they were aboard a vessel. Terence decided to scout for supplies, Blaze had eaten most of their foodstuffs and he was looking hungry again. In short order Terence, after making several trips, loaded their carrier with red grapes, chunks of bread, a pieces of cheese and he filled their water skins.

Tinker Bell gave him a big hug. "You are my hero," she told him. "I don't care what anyone says."

"Thanks, Tink."

Tinker Bell was glad to have Terence aboard ship. Now the race was on to catch Vidia. Would they be able to bring her home? What would happen to her once they did? These kinds of unknowns left knots in Tinker Bell's stomach, it was a feeling she hated.

Thanks to I Luv Milarion, CommonSwift, Lilly and Rosie0522 for your reviews. I am very grateful for them.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading. I hope you will stick around for the shocking conclusion in Chapter 3.

Oh and one more thing: I want to offer blanket apologies to the entire nation of Greece and its people for mucking around with your history and culture.
Please understand that I am an American and everything I know about Greek mythology I learned from Kevin Sorbo and the Walt Disney Company.

Please don't hate me.