Disclaimer: I acknowledge that Disney Fairies & associated content are owned by Walt Disney Company. I am not interested in profiting from this document. It is for the enjoyment of fans only.

.


The Garden of France - Chapter 9 - Prilla's Recovery

Prilla woke in a strange bed, in a strange room. Her legs hurt. Her arms hurt. Her face and hair hurt. Even her wings hurt. She drifted back to sleep.


Prilla tore at the sticks blocking the entrance to the Pixie Dust Tree, and flung them behind her.

"Look at the mess you've made!" she cried to the missing fairies of Pixie Hollow. "How is anyone supposed to get pixie dust?" She could see the golden dust pool & falls through the gaps in the sticks, but the more she removed, the more of them cluttered the entrance-way.

"No pixie dust for you, Prilla." came a familiar voice. She turned to see Tinker Bell and the gang, covered in red dust, gliding toward her with nets. Prilla backed away from the gang, but bumped into someone behind her. She turned around, and was face-to-face with a red-dust Vidia.

"Come on, guys." Vidia gave a sinister leer, "We can find some dust for Prilla, can't we?" Several nets dropped over Prilla, and Vidia pushed her to the ground.

Terence, covered in red dust, floated up with a huge chalis. "Here's your pixie dust, Prilla." he grinned. Red dust showered from the cup, through the nets, and onto Prilla.

"No!" Prilla struggled with all her might. "No!"

Prilla woke from the nightmare. Somehow, she had managed to get her bed-sheet bound about her. She continued to struggle and wriggle until her upper body was free. She tried to stay awake, but the efforts had exhausted her. Her eyelids became heavy and she soon drifted into sleep.


Prilla woke, curled into a ball, shivering and moaning. Someone slid a huge, mattress-sized hot water bottle under her bed. The glow from the rubber bottle quickly warmed Prilla, and she floated back to sleep.


Prilla woke up with a raging thirst. Beside her bed was a glass bucket almost big enough for a fairy to bathe in. It was full of water, and had several cut grass stems rising from it - drinking straws for fairies. Prilla seized one and drank & drank until her stomach hurt. She gave an unladylike belch, and flopped back onto her pillow.

She studied the ceiling and walls. The place was decorated, but shabbily, as if by giants. Prilla turned her head and got a surprise; one entire wall was missing! Beyond the missing wall was another, much larger giant's room. She pondered this for a while, and was asleep again.


"Good morning, Prilla."

Prilla opened her eyes. An 8-year-old human girl's face floated nearby. "Katie!" she thought, "I'm in Katie's room!"

"How are you feeling?"

Prilla smiled weakly, closed her eyes momentarily, and shook her head "no".

"Oh, poor dear. Can I get you some milk & honey?"

Prilla thought for a bit, then shook her head "yes".

Prilla dozed until Katie returned with a small glass of milk and a fairy straw. She propped herself up and tried the concoction. Hmm. Cow milk. Watery, and she could taste the grass. Not as rich as Neverland mouse milk, but the honey was good. Prilla drank enough to satisfy herself, then said "Thank you." to Katie.

Prilla hand-signed for writing paper. Katie retrieved a scrap of paper and a tiny pencil. Prilla wrote "How long?"

"How long have you been here?" Katie asked. Prilla nodded. "This is the fourth day."

"Four days!" thought Prilla, "They could be missing me." She reached for her communication pendant, but it was gone. She leaned back into her pillow and considered her situation. She really was cut-off, but at least safe, and with a friend to nurse her.

"I'll let you get some more rest." Katie decided. Prilla smiled wearily at her and closed her eyes.


Prilla woke some time later feeling more rested and even a bit hungry. The thought of laying in bed made her itchy, so she got up to walk around. "This must be Katie's doll-house." she thought. "I've seen it from outside, but never been in it." She explored the rooms of the dollhouse for a while, imagining the changes she would make if it were her house.

"Prilla!" Katie walked up and smiled, "You're feeling better?" Prilla nodded. "Would you like a pear or peach for breakfast?" Prilla thought that would be fine, so Katie disappeared for a short time.

When Katie returned, she had a pear, a peach, and a small knife on a dinner plate. Prilla walked to the dollhouse dining room and sat at the table while Katie quickly cut some pear & peach into bite-size slices for Prilla.

"I found you laying on my play table 5 days ago." Katie indicated the table at which she & Prilla had spent many visits. "I thought the worst." Katie looked distressed as she served Prilla the fruit slices on a doll-sized plate. "But then I saw you were breathing, so I shifted you to the doll-house bed." She nibbled on the surplus fruit. "I tried my best to nurse you."

"You did great." Prilla smiled at her. She enjoyed the fruit. This was just the sort of soft, safe food her stomach needed. When she had enough, she signed to Katie for the writing paper. "I should be getting home. Can you take me to your local park?" Prilla wrote.

"Of course. Your friends must be missing you." Katie put on a light jacket with breast pockets, and carefully transferred Prilla into one of the pockets. She let her mother know where she was going, and that she'd be back in a little while.

It was only a 10-minute walk to the nearby park. As Katie entered, she asked "Are there really fairies is this park?" Prilla giggled and nodded "yes". Prilla directed Katie to a remote area of the park, with no flower beds and more undergrowth. When they reached a wooded area near a brook, Prilla pointed to one of the tallest trees. Katie stopped before the tree, and Prilla signed she would like to stand on Katie's open palms.

Prilla held onto one of Katie's thumbs for support. They both looked up into the tree, and Prilla yelled "Hello up there! Anybody home?" They waited for most of a minute. "Knock, knock. Anybody home?" she added.

"Prilla?" came a voice from the tree trunk near them, where a sparrow-man scout peeked around.

"It's me." Prilla confirmed. The scout cautiously approached, eyes flicking between Prilla and the human girl. Prilla signed to Katie she'd like to be set down, which Katie did, then kneeled in the leaves and watched.

"Everyone's been looking for you." He looked up the tree and beckoned. A group of fairies slowly descended.

"Katie took care of me, and I'm back."

"Uhm... Prilla, do you mind?" he asked shyly, while unclipping his net from his belt.

"Mind what?" The scout gently tossed his net over Prilla's head. "What's this?" both Prilla and Katie looked confused.

The scout bashfully revealed "My friends bet me that I couldn't catch you with my net."

Prilla burst into laughter as the scout carefully pulled his net from her. "You win. I give up." chuckled Prilla, "You're just too wily for me."

"Let's have a look at you, now." a healing-talent approached Prilla, pulling on thin gloves. She checked Prilla's nose, armpits, ears and hair. "Well, you appear to be free of red dust. How do you feel?"

"Hungry. As soon as I get some pixie dust, I'm heading for Dulsie's." The scout and healer reached to give her a lift up the tree, but Prilla said "Wait.", and turned to Katie with open arms. Katie understood, and picked her up. Prilla gave Katie's cheek a hug, and the biggest fairy kiss she could. "Thank you for everything, Katie. You can win at draughts (checkers) from now on." When Katie set Prilla down, the scout and healer each grabbed an arm and lifted Prilla into the air, as Katie waved goodbye.


Prilla stood in front of the fairy station's pixie dust concession, staring at her poster. "What's this?"

"Oh, Vidia put that up, days ago." the dustkeeper declared. "She's been flying all over England, looking for you."

"Really." a smile slowly grew on Prilla's face.


It was difficult for Prilla to talk & eat at the same time, but she couldn't complain. She was home, eating fairy food, and surrounded by friends. Tinker Bell and Rosetta sat across from her, and Silvermist, Iridessa, and Fawn sat next to her.

"I just want to say: Sorry if I was grouchy to anyone." Prilla glanced around at them.

"Nothing to apologize for." said Iridessa, "I don't think any of us has had distemper." She looked questioningly at the others.

"Except maybe Tink." Rosetta grinned. "She turns red and yells." Everyone chuckled at that.

"What are you doing with one of those?" Prilla eyed the communication pendant Tinker Bell was wearing.

"Oh, uh..." Tink reached for the pendant and glanced down at it, "Fixing problems in Armorica. I'm still on-call." She kept her answer deliberately cryptic, as most Neverland fairies were not supposed to know about other colonies.

"What's Armorica?" asked Rosetta.

"How are they doing?" Prilla ignored the question.

"Last report, the red dust was cleaned up, and they're slowly grinding through their solid pixie dust."

"That's good to hear." Prilla gave a sly smile, "Did you get to meet Mélissa?"

"Oh, yeah." Tink mirrored Prilla's smile.

"What did you think?"

"Quite ...uh... physical, but definitely worthwhile."

"Who's Mélissa?" asked Rosetta.

Prilla leaned across the table to Tinker Bell. "We can NOT tell Dulsie." Tink nodded in solemn agreement.

"Tell her what?" asked Rosetta. A purple blur and gust of breeze disturbed the tearoom's quiet atmosphere.

"Where have you been?!" Vidia stood next to Tinker Bell, hands on her hips and glaring at Prilla.

"I'm glad to see you too, Vidia." Prilla smiled innocently at her.

"Well, is that the time?" Tink jumped to her feet, quickly followed by Silvermist, then Fawn. "We'd better get going." Tink grabbed Rosetta's arm and pulled her out of her seat.

"Tink!" Rosetta protested, "What are you doing?"

"Time to go. Help me, Sil." Tink towed Rosetta toward the exit, as Silvermist lifted Iridessa up and guided her on the same path. "There's work to be done."

"No, I want to hear this!" Rosetta complained.

"Don't make me drag you by your wings." was the last Prilla heard of Tinker Bell, as Iridessa, Silvermist and Fawn scuttled out. Vidia relaxed and sat down facing Prilla.

"I heard you tore the country apart, looking for me." Prilla smiled warmly.

"Don't flatter yourself, darling. I was merely trying to recover a valuable Pixie Hollow asset." Vidia's usual coolness wasn't working on Prilla.

"It almost seems like you care about me."

"Never mind that. There's something else we need to discuss:" Vidia paused as Prilla smiled benignly. "...Bossy purple windbag?"

Prilla cringed and blushed. She knew she'd never hear the end of that.


.