Phineas didn't have a chance to speak to Fairy Mary over the next few days either. The other workers seemed to be giving him more space than usual, and he heard less of the mumbling he'd gotten so used to over the last two months.
Winter preparations were completed by the time Phineas got to speak to Fairy Mary. It was a slower day for him, and he'd gotten his crafting done early. Normally now he would go find Silvermist for fresh water to put in his lens, but he could work with what he had for a few more days.
He found Fairy Mary in the open workspace, checking on some of the larger Spring time items. "Fairy Mary," he greeted.
She turned around. "Hm? Oh hello, Phineas. What can I do for you?"
"Well if you have a minute, I'd like to ask you about something."
"Yes, go on dear."
"Well, it seems to me that everyone is avoiding me for some reason," he explained. "They've all been flying circles further from me since I went on that supply run last month."
Fairy Mary considered for a moment like she was trying to decide if she should tell him what was on her mind. "I heard about the incident between you and Dozer. I sent you off with Lucinda to have a word with him. I also told the other workers if any of them were to mistreat you, they'd be answering directly to me."
"You didn't need to do that." Phineas said, a little shocked. "It wasn't that big a deal."
"I know, dear." She sighed "I just want all my workers to be treated fairly. If anyone is having an attitude problem towards someone else, I take it upon myself to fix it and bring peace."
"I don't have a problem with Dozer." Phineas defended.
"I know you don't, Phineas, but…"
"And I don't think he has a problem with me." He interrupted.
"Yes, but,"
"What if I went with him on his next delivery to the Nature Fairies?" he asked quickly.
"Oh… Phineas, I don't know."
"It'll be fine, Fairy Mary. You'll see! Can I go with him? Please?" Phineas clasped his hands in front of his chest "There won't be any trouble."
Fairy Mary sighed. "Oh alright, you can go. But if he does or says anything,"
"He won't."
Fairy Mary smiled faintly "Well if you're sure."
Dozer's next delivery was the next afternoon. He and Phineas rode through Needlepoint Meadow toward the field where the Everblossom grew. All the Nature Talent fairies would be working on their preparations there.
Dozer was quiet the entire ride to the field, despite Phineas' best efforts. He tried several times to start a conversation, weather about Spring time prep, or about the other talents he had seen, though blurry, that had astounded him. But Dozer wasn't interested it seemed. He just steered the mouse to the field.
When they arrived, Dozer tried to get the attention of the Nature Fairies, but they all flittered around, not hearing him. He groaned "Sure would be nice if they would listen."
Phineas glanced towards Dozer, then up in the air where colorfully dressed fairies flittered about. He took a deep breath and stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, shrill whistle.
The flittering all stopped, and Dozer looked at Phineas with shock, but Phineas didn't notice. He started calling out to those around. "Gather 'round Nature Talent Fairies! The newest supplies from Tinker's Nook are now available!"
They were soon being crowded by fairies of every talent. "Wow, Phineas. Way to take charge." A familiar southern accent.
"Hello, Miss Rosetta." He greeted with a smile.
"We have your sproutling baskets ready to go." Dozer said, unloading them from the wagon.
"Well thank you kindly, Dozer." Rosetta said, waving over more garden fairies to help carry the baskets.
"Hey Phineas!" Silvermist flew up with a yellow clad fairy next to her.
"Hello, Miss Silvermist. We've got acorn buckets for you and the water fairies." He turned to the cart to get one for her.
"Not those ones." Dozer said, pushing Phineas back. "That's ladybug paint for the Animal Fairies."
"Are you sure? I thought…" he shrunk back a little.
"I know what I'm doing. Just… go talk to your friends." Dozer shooed him off. "And you need Rainbow Tubes, right Sol?"
Phineas stepped back and rubbed his arm, feeling a bit useless. Rosetta looked at him and handed her basket off to someone else.
"You alright, sugar?" she asked.
"I don't know." Phineas sighed. "I keep trying to help, but I keep making mistakes apparently. That, and Dozer won't let me touch the supplies."
Rosetta smirked and gave a small chuckle. "Let me tell you a secret, hon. Dozer's always been a bit of a sour grape. I had a hard time getting used to him when I first got here. We Garden Fairies tend to ignore him. If it weren't for you getting all our attention, he'd still be fuming that he couldn't get anyone to stop and probably would have left the supplies for us to sort out. And as for your mistakes? You've only been here three months, silly! You've got plenty of time to get better and learn from them. You'll be just fine."
"Yeah!" Silvermist chimed in, startling Phineas. He hadn't noticed her come their way. "Besides, in the time you've been here, look what you've accomplished! I've never seen a Tinker as meticulous and determined as you besides Fairy Mary. You work hard despite having eye problems. And you made that seeing thingy! And you should know, we Nature Fairies, well Rosetta and me anyway, think you're Fairy Mary's favorite."
"That's right, sweetie. So don't worry about Dozer. You've got plenty of others who recognize your genius." Rosetta said, giving him a small hug.
Phineas chuckled, feeling a lot better. "Thank you both. I'll keep that in mind."
"No problem." Silvermist replied. "We'd better get going. Lots to do before we go to the mainland."
"Mainland?" Phineas said "What's the Mainland?"
"That's where we go and bring the seasons," Rosetta explained. "Didn't anyone tell you that when we changed to Winter?"
"Well, no." he shrugged "I just made snowflake baskets. No one said anything about the Mainland. What's it like?"
"Everything's huge!" Silvermist spread her arms wide "The seasons change all the time there. It's always so amazing every time I've been. The houses are gigantic. But I guess they have to be. That's where the humans live."
"Humans?" Phineas said "So then is that where we start out as well?"
"That's right." Rosetta chimed in. "All the little babies that our laughs came from are born on the mainland. So we go back there every season and bring our talents and beauty to their world"
"Amazing…" Phineas sighed. He was about to ask more, but Dozer called him back to the wagon. "I'll see you ladies later." They wished him goodbye as he flew back to Dozer and they made their way back to Tinker's Nook.
Phineas held his tongue on the return trip. He wanted to ask more about the mainland, but figured Dozer didn't want to talk to him at all. At least the delivery went well. Sure, Dozer still wasn't the kindest Tinker, but it's not like he yelled at Phineas for anything. Fairy Mary would be pleased to hear that.
As Phineas thought about all this, he heard a slight rustling in the grass. "What was that?"
"What?" Dozer asked. For once he didn't sound coarse. He actually sounded concerned. "What did you hear?"
"A rustling… in the grass" Phineas said "Is something in there?"
Dozer looked around, then flicked the reins. "Maybe." He finally replied. "Keep your guard up. And if I tell you to fly, then fly."
They kept going for a few feet, when suddenly something large cut across the path, startling the mouse. Dozer shouted "FLY!" and both Tinkers leapt from the wagon and flew up above the grass.
Phineas looked down to the wagon, seeing more of those strange things darting around as the poor mouse they'd abandoned squealed. Without thinking, Phineas shot back down to the carriage, Dozer yelling after him to come back. He landed on the back of the mouse and tugged at his harness. One of the scurrying things bumped the wagon and scraped against Phineas' shoulder, but it caused the hitch to break, freeing the mouse.
Phineas flew around it twice and grabbed the scruff of the mouse's neck. He pulled the mouse up with him. By now, there were fairies clad in purple helping him bring the mouse safely above the grass. He let out a sigh and scratched the mouse's ear, then Dozer grabbed his shoulder, making him wince.
"What were you thinking?" he demanded.
"I couldn't just leave him down there! Look what those things did to me!" he defended, gesturing at his hurt shoulder. "Imagine what they could have done to him!"
"That's why the Fast Fliers are here. They were going to save the mouse!" Dozer shouted. "You just got in the way again!"
"I wasn't in the way!" Phineas argued. "I was trying to help! What were you doing?"
"I was keeping out of the way and letting the Fast Fliers do their job!"
"Enough!" one of the Fast Fliers cut in. "Look, Sprinting Thistles can be tricky. We're glad he was able to help, and it looks like your mouse is pretty happy too."
The mouse nuzzled against Phineas, who scratched his head. The Fast Flier turned to him "Keep in mind though, that those weeds are dangerous. Okay?"
"Okay…" Phineas sighed.
"You'd better get back to Tinker's Nook. We'll try and clear things up here."