25.

A lick of sunlight broke through the windows of the large, aft cabin. It crept through the room as the sun rose over the eastern horizon behind the ship. The warmth of the ray of sunlight touched Zarina's hammock. It felt good. Good enough to rouse her from her deep sleep. She sat up, yawned and stretched. After a quick wash and the donning of fresh clothes the captain of the frigate that flies went up to the quarterdeck to check on her crew. She found Iridessa at the wheel.

Or rather, on the wheel. Curled up around one of its handles where the king spoke protruded through the quadrant or rim. She woke the young light fairy and took over for her. Zarina looked out across the bow to get her bearings. "Are we floating lower than normal?" she asked Dessa.

"Uh…"

"Go wake up Spike," Captain Zarina told her. Sure enough the ship was floating much lower than usual. The problem? With so little light in the night sky it was hard to gauge altitude or even the correct angle of the ship which was slightly off. During the overnight hours the ship had taken a slightly downward course. It was a problem which had to be corrected.

Silvermist had the solution: A glass of water. A tall, clear glass with straight sides with a circle around the middle perfectly parallel to both the top and bottom. "Fill the glass up to that line. As long as the water stays even with the circle you'll know the ship is flying straight."

Tinker Bell brought up some tar to adhere the glass atop the quarterdeck railing directly in front of the helm. Vidia took over the helm when she woke and brought the vessel back to its proper altitude. The ship was still progressing a bit slowly but Tinker Bell offered her own suggestion. Given permission she had Vidia take the ship higher up into the sky where the winds picked up a bit.

"Won't you tear up the mainmast?" Vidia asked.

"Not if we get this right."

Tinker Bell slowly and deliberately had Vidia take the ship up to new altitudes. "Okay, level it off." She then fluttered about the ship inspecting the vessels most vulnerable spots including the mainmast, sections of the hull, the rudder and above all the keel. Once satisfied that the ship was in no danger she took the ship higher.

This occurred several times before Tinker Bell observed the mainmast beginning to suffer fatigue from the high winds. "Okay, take us back. Bring the bow down 5 degrees." When the mainmast was out of danger she levelled off the ship and declared that they had found the sweet spot. Well, at least for now. Winds were not predictable up here, even with a fast flyer aboard. While it meant additional observations and minor adjustments she had successfully found a means by which the winds pushed the ship along at just over half speed now. It was enough to shave nearly a full day off their journey according to Iridessa's calculations.

Gliss was especially excited when she was informed. "Now the extra stores we brought will be enough to take us all the way there and back."

"Extra stores?"

Overnight Gliss, Periwinkle and Spike took the ship's dingy, the only small boat not in use, into Paris and picked up extra food. With the ship no longer able to sustain full sail the foodstuffs aboard wouldn't be enough for the entire trip. The trio snatched up what they could bring aboard without being seen by the humans. "We brought a few wheels of cheese. One of them is real stinky. Pew. There are loaves of bread that taste so delicious. Crunchy crust with a soft, chewy center. Mmm. Lots of fresh & dried fruit and several casks of water, too"

"Scratch that," Periwinkle groaned. "Two of those casks hold wine, not water."

"Wine? What are we going to do with that?" Iridessa asked.

Zarina paced a moment before speaking. "As pirates, we often sold goods we couldn't use to merchants in exchange for foodstuffs and materials we did. Maybe we can do the same."

"That's great, but where?" Vidia asked.

"Don't worry. We'll find something."

~O~

Captain Zarina took note of the higher elevation. When it was explained what was done the captain was pleasantly surprised. Tinker Bell proved to be quite correct. They were able to use the information gleaned from their disaster at the higher elevations to their advantage. The ship was now cruising along nicely and the rest of the trip was without incident. Almost.

It was discovered that Lord Milori's owl had stowed away on the ship. She had hidden in the Orlop deck among the casks of extra pixie dust the ship was carrying. The dust had been collected from the tree on Skull Rock prior to departure. Apparently the owl had been moving about in the shadows, picking up food and stretching its wings when most of the crew was asleep.

"Oh no! Lord Milori is going to be so angry when he finds out," Periwinkle cried.

Fawn, though, was more perplexed. "Why would she stow away in the first place? She knows Lord Milori relies on her to get around." No one, though, could provide a satisfactory answer.

"Well, we have another mouth to feed," Gliss sighed jokingly.

Unable to deduce why the owl chose to accompany them on their quest the fairies made good use of her presence flying her down near the surface regularly to search for additional repair materials; confirm navigational calculations; locate roads, landmarks and townships; and sometimes just to let the poor thing off the ship for a while. The owl never got in the way nor did it cause trouble or raise a fuss. It seemed content to just sit at the point where the bowsprit was once mounted and look out across the vast scenery that passed around them.

"Maybe it likes to pretend its flying," Silvermist offered.

Vidia, who always had the worst time suffering Sil's off the wall comments, just groaned. "It's a bird, it can already fly."

"At this altitude?"

Vidia had to stop and think about that one. "Huh. I don't know. We'll have to ask Sled when we get back."

"And you thought I was saying something dumb."

"Uh, you forgot that you could fly, remember?"

The water fairy stopped in her tracks. "Oh, right. I did forget."

"And then you tried to drink your way out of a glass of wine," Vidia grumbled. "A water fairy who felt trapped… in wine. A liquid."

"I was still a little disoriented, that's all," Silvermist replied in her own defense. "That's why I couldn't recall my wings or my talent."

"Yeah, well, you seemed to be enjoying yourself too much in that glass. You aren't drinking from the casks we have aboard ship, are you?"

"Of course not, Vidia," Silvermist replied sharply. "After the weird dreams I had the last time, I'm never touching the stuff ever again."

"Weird dreams?"

"Yeah, I dreamt I was a private investigator living in New York City working with some famous detective."

Vidia laughed. "You? An investigator? That is weird."

"No, the weird part is when he woke me up every morning with a parade of pink elephants that danced on the ceiling."

Vidia shook her head in defeat. "Okay, that's it. I'm never talking to you again until we get home."

"But, Vidia! It was just..."

"No. Never! Not until we get back home."

"You just talked to me right now."

"Aaah! Stop!"

"And you did it again."

"Quiet!"

"And again."

"AAURGH!"

Suddenly the Snowy Owl began to flap its wings and raise such a racket. Fawn rushed to its side to try and calm it down. "Don't be frightened. You're okay. Now what is it?"

"I see mountains!" Spike yelled from the crow's nest. "Mountains ho!"

Iridessa consulted her maps. "That's where we want to be. The Pyrenees Mountains. And we're right on course."

"How long?" Zarina asked of the light fairy.

"Two hours, tops."

"Okay, everyone," Zarina barked, "get to your posts and make ready. Navigating those mountains is going to be a real challenge for us. I want everyone to look alive. No mistakes. We are going to finish what we started and get home in one piece."

Actually, moving The Pirate Fairy between those tops would be far more difficult than she was letting on. The damage to the ship, including the loss of the foremast and bowsprit, would hamper their efforts. But she had to deliver the gold shipment to the wizard and claim the spell which would set Pixie Hollow right again. Soon her quest was going to come to a successful and joyous end.

If she only knew.

If she only knew what? Stay tuned to find out.

Note: Silvermist's odd "dream" is actually a reference to Elementary, a U.S. television series centered around Sherlock Holmes and set in modern day New York City. Lucy Lui, who voices Silvermist, plays Dr. Joan Watson who first acts as Holmes' sobriety companion and then becomes a full fledged investigator in her own right, working alongside Sherlock to solve crimes.

The pink elephants are an obvious reference to the movie Dumbo and the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence.