The hidden truth

Just after waking up, the pain in his right arm made him remember all of the last day's events. And remembering that made him want to close himself in his house and not come out until the winter flowers had bloomed. What had he done? He had admitted to Zarina that he was jealous of Claude -something that not even him had noticed until that same evening- so he had admitted that he felt something for her. Well, coldly analysing the situation, it hadn't been such a bad move, because this way he got to make her feel uneasy, but still, it was so embarrassing!

He stood up and started walking around the room. It really wasn't so bad. If Zarina had bought it, he could use it to get closer to her. But if she was clever enough to take advantage too, he had a problem. Some nocks on the door made him freeze in the middle of the room. Now that he was working at the Factory, it was more than probable that Zarina would be the one to pic him up. How would she act? How would he act? The key turned in the door knob, and the door opened.

"James, time to go to work." But the fairy who was standing there holding his breakfast was none other than Burrell.

"Where's Zarina?" asked the pirate, a bit confused.

"She said she had work to do and sent me instead. As if I didn't have work myself." James listened to her and took the food quietly. He hadn't expected this reaction, although now that he thought about it, it was the most obvious one. Zarina was avoiding him. Maybe he had been too direct, and now she was baking off. "Hurry up James, I don't want to be late for work." Burrell seemed in a pretty bad mood, and he didn't want to try his luck anymore, so he finished eating as fast as he could and followed the tinker to the Factory.

Once they reached the entrance, James had expected Burrell to go in, but she insisted that she had work and left to the settlement. The pirate entered the main hall on his own, and as soon as he had crossed the door, Glowen came to him.

"Hey James, morning." said the sparrow man.

"Morning." replied he. Glowen was the only alchemist who almost never, not to say never, had talked to him. Could it be that Zarina had sent him?

"Didn't Burrell come with you?" asked the alchemist, looking past him to try locating the fairy.

"She brought me here, but then she left."

"What's wrong Glowen?" asked Mina, who had been observing them from afar. "Already regretting what you told her?"

"Wh… what? No, of course not! I'm a free spirit, I'm not made for long relationships. It's just that she… she left something at my house and I wanted to return it, just that."

"Yeah, sure." replied the fairy, mockingly. "Oh, James, Lonny and Ria are waiting for you at their desks, they wanted to start working immediately."

"Roger that." said he, and he was about to go to the library to climb the stairs, when suddenly all the alchemists around them became quiet and looked at the entrance. He also turned around, to see his recently acquired archenemy walk through the door. They stared at each other, clearly thinking that their quarrel the day before hadn't been enough.

"Keep walking you two, I won't allow any sword fighting inside the Factory." They looked above and saw Zarina, standing in midair with an intimidating pose. "And besides" she added. "I think you are both wounded enough for now." Mina giggled a bit beside her. It was true that they offered a funny view. James had a big bruise on his right arm and some scratches here and there, but he hadn't been the only one to get wounded. Claude had a patch on his left cheek where James's sword had cut him, and even though the medic fairies had tried curing it perfectly, the pirate knew that it was going to leave a beautiful scar.

But what interested James wasn't Claude anymore, but the fact that Zarina seemed to be acting normally. More than normally, she was acting very high and mighty, which meant that not only had she noticed that James was on a disadvantage here, but that she was planning on using that opportunity. And for some reason, that made James happy. It was certainly better than having her avoid him all day.

"James, good morning!" the pirate looked up and saw Lonny waiving a hand to him, with Ria standing beside the sparrow man, smiling cheerfully. He hadn't lost the battle with Claude so he wasn't going to become their guinea pig, but they didn't seem to care.

"Well, I think we should obey Zarina, it seems like you have a lot of work to do." said Claude with mockery.

"Be careful not to pass below the balcony, someone might throw some dangerous pixie dust over you." replied James before heading to the stairs. Claude started at him until he was gone, and then he turned to Zarina. The fairy sighted when she saw his radiant smile.

"Having fun?" she said.

"Are you kidding? I get to live a man on man combat with a pirate every day, and I might even get a scar as a souvenir. You couldn't have given me a better present." he replied, and then he went away, whistling. "Jeez, when it comes to pirates he's like a little kid." thought Zarina, although she found it very sweet. There was no way she was going to tell him that James was jealous, unless she wanted to have Claude attached to her all day to provoke the pirate.

"Zarina, are you alright?" she turned around and saw Glowen staring at her. "You are as red as a tomato.

"Ah! I was… I just remembered something. How about you, have you found Burrell?"

"No… she left before I could talk to her."

"Why don't you go to the settlement then?" asked the head alchemist, teasing him.

"I have work to do!" exclaimed the sparrow man. "It's not like I had anything important to tell her." and then he left.

"What a jerk." said Mina, approaching her friend from behind.

"Yes, but it's the first time I've seen him that concerned about a girl he liked."

"Remember when he tried flirting with us?" asked Mina, and they both laughed at the memory.

…

Since becoming a captain in his own ship, James hadn't had to do any rough work. Some helping to his man in special conditions, but his job had basically been to order around, plan the routes… captain stuff. And now that he had to work hard again, he was beginning to think that it wasn't that bad. Not the hard labours he had done with the tinkers, that was just mechanical, but working with Lonny and Ria was totally different.

The two heads of the research department were researching on dark powders. Thanks to Zarina's studies, they now knew that pixie dust could also be classified in levels of power, from weak powders to the most powerful ones. Their theory was that the white and black pixie dusts were the most dangerous ones, putting them on the first level, and what they had recently discovered was that on the second level there was only space for six dusts, three almost-white and three almost-black. The illusion powder they had used on the pirate, for example, was one of the three darkest powders, the yellow one. James didn't understand all the complicated equations they had used to discover this, what he knew was that the black-haired siblings were trying to find this level 2 pixie dusts, and they were starting with the dark ones.

"Are you sure you should let me see this so dangerous dusts?" asked James, giving them his mischievous smile.

"You can try taking some home." replied Lonny, and then he whispered in his ear. "But good luck not getting noticed." James followed his gaze to Ria's table. She was taking some notes from a book, but behind her black mane something sparkled in purple light. He quickly looked away -definitely not a chance.

Receiving orders was still what he hated the most, but his new bosses treated him more like a coworker than a subordinate -except for when they needed someone to bring them those heavy books from the library. Ria was the one to do the research, while Lonny taught him the different ways of obtaining pixie dust. Grinding different plants into normal pixie dust and adding a blue speck wasn't the only way. Sometimes they could use different lights to filtrate special powers into the dusts, like the moon beams Zarina had used to create the shrinking powder. Sometimes making an infusion with an herb and then boiling it with the pixie dust and a blue speck before straining it was a more effective process than just grinding. James was learning how to master this techniques, and, whenever possible, he tried to memorise some recipes from the Pixie Dust Rainbow book.

He was now checking one of the light blue powders. There was a note at the start of the chapter that said that since blue pixie dust could be related to the water magic, and water was the closest element to the soul, most of the powders that affected the mood or the emotions could be found in that section. To James, all that talk was a corny waste of time, so he continued to flip the pages until he found it: a light blue pixie dust that the alchemists had names love dust. He had to learn that recipe.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Ria from her desk. She left her notebook and looked at him. "Do you really think she would trust you more if she loved you?" She had a point. After what he had done to Zarina two years back, she wouldn't trust her heart that easily.

"Tsk. Don't know what you are talking about." replied the pirate, flipping the pages of the book and ignoring Lonny's muffled laugh. Ria seemed satisfied. She stood up from her chair and flew to where they were.

"I think I found something." she said, giving Lonny her notes.

"The truth dust. I see, a plant that makes people tell the truth, or makes them incapable of lying. It could work." Ria smiled happily and waited for her friend to finish reading her research. "Yes, I think the best way to do this would be boiling the plant. James, get the instruments we need please." The pirate did what he was told grudgingly, frustrated because he didn't understand a think of what Ria had wrote. They filled a pot with water and started to boil the mysterious plant, which Ria had chosen out of a bunch of pots where she kept the plants they had brought from the troll's island. When the water was already coloured, they measured and threw the pixie dust. It turned blue, but not as dark as they were expecting.

"Maybe we should add more of the herb." said James. Ria shake her head.

"We calculated how much we needed." said Lonny.

"But it isn't as dark as the illusion dust." replied the pirate.

"Maybe this is not one of the six level 2 powders, just another blue pixie dust. From the recipes Leech have to Ria, only one of them has turned into a blackish dust out of the twenty-six that we've tried." replied Lonny. "It's still a great discovery if it works." But then Ria pointed at the bowling water, and they saw the pixie dust return to it's original colour. It hadn't worked.

"Guess it's not the correct process then." said Lonny. It was normal to get the first try wrong, they were experimenting after all. But James had the feeling he was right, so when the two alchemists turned around to revise their notes, he took a handful of the herb and threw it into the pot.

"What are you doing? That pot contains a blue moon speck, it could be dangerous!" But Ria, who had seen the pirate's intentions, stopped his friend. She flew past James, who had frozen at Lonny's shouting, and she took a spoon and started stirring the mixture. A small whirlpool appeared in the water, and it kept growing and growing until all the pixie dust was swirling and shining strongly. Lonny took the fairy from the shoulders and moved her in the precise moment that the pot exploded, sending the three of them to the other side of the balcony.

"Ria, are you okay?" asked a worried Lonny. But she seemed fine. "Don't scare me like that." The fairy smiled apologetically and then she kissed him in one cheek. James came out from behind a table, coughing and touching his bruised arm with a wince.

"What happened?" asked Eily, another alchemist who had heard the explosion.

"Nothing, don't worry. The usual routine." replied Lonny, who was already standing up.

"At least you found what you were searching for." replied Eily. James and Lonny looked at her with incredulity. The three blown-up alchemists approached the pot that the fairy was pointing at -the water was now crystal clear, and the pixie dust had absorbed all the colour. James had never seen such a dark blue, not even in the most stormy seas. He noticed he had been staring at the dust mesmerised, so he looked up, and when he saw Lonny's and Ria's faces, he gulped just like Eily had done a few seconds ago. You didn't need to be Ria to know what they were thinking: it was time to try the new dust.

…

Zarina and Claude were working on the project of the snow machines, which was now almost finished, when they saw James run to hide himself behind one of the machines in the main hall. They looked at each other with curiosity and then they flew to where he was.

"James." whispered Zarina. The pirate jumped in fright but when he saw it was them he relaxed.

"Any danger in sight, sailor?" said Claude half in mockery and half enjoying the moment. James didn't need to answer. They heard ruckus at the bottom of the room, and then Glowen flew away in the middle of everyone's laugh.

"We discovered a new dust." said the pirate. "Truth dust. And they decided to prove it on Glowen to know what he really felt for Burrell. Not that I care, but if they can experiment with their friend, what won't they do to me?" Claude took a glance at Zarina. Man, the black haired pair were in trouble.

"Lonny and Ria!" shouted the head alchemist, coming out from behind the machine. Everyone quieted down, and all the pixies returned to their jobs. "I thought we agreed not to experiment with other fairies."

"Come on Zarina." said Mina, who had probably helped them trick Glowen. "You know he deserved it." Zarina raised an eyebrow at her, although she knew she was right.

"Don't be bad, kids." said Claude as he joined them. "You are scaring the pirate." he added, pointing at James.

"Try the powder yourself if you're so brave." replied James, and all the alchemists laughed. Somehow, it seemed more like they were laughing with him than at him. It felt strangely good.

"You did it then." said Zarina, leaving aside Glowen's matter. "You have the three black dusts.

"Yes!" exclaimed Lonny.

"Does that mean that we get to eat lunch?" asked James, who had started to feel hungry about an hour ago. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, but all of them had been so distracted that hey hadn't even noticed it.

"I'm going to be late!" exclaimed Claude, who at that hour was usually already with the garden fairies.

"Wait." said Zarina. "I was thinking, how about we all have lunch with the garden fairies? It's been a while since we last had lunch together." Claude seemed surprised at the proposal, but he had no inconvenient at having lunch with Zarina, so he agreed. All the alchemists loved the idea, except Glowen, who still hadn't returned, and James, who hated Zarina's interest in being with Claude all day.

In the end, Zarina and James, together with Lonny and Ria, went with Claude to the sunflower field, not before they had sworn to Mina that there would be no sword fighting and that they would be back in two hours. The group left the Factory and started to walk. The Dust Mill wasn't far from where they were going, and Claude had gotten used to walking after meeting Zarina, so no one found it strange except for James, who had been hoping to get some pixie dust to fly.

On the way there, Zarina and Claude didn't stop talking to each other, leaving James with the black haired pair.

"Don't they make an excellent couple?" asked Lonny, referring to the two alchemists walking in front of them. James tried to ignore him.

"Almost as if they were destined to be together." replied Ria, breaking her almost eternal silence, which pissed the pirate even more.

"I don't know what she finds in that nitwit." replied James, not being able to hold his tongue anymore.

"Let's see…" said Lonny. "He's handsome, attentive, good at listening, funny, he likes her pirate side, he has never betrayed her…"

"Okay, okay, I got it." He really had it difficult with Claude in his way if he wanted to regain Zarina's trust for his escape plan -because he wasn't thinking of the sparrow man as a rival in love, definitely not. He could easily fake to be all the things Lonny had said, but his biggest problem was that he couldn't change the past, and he was still the one who had betrayed her.

Soon, the air around them was filled with fairies and sparrow man wearing pink outfits. Everyone greeted Claude, they had gotten used to seeing him every afternoon, but they seemed a bit surprised to see the other alchemists, and the pirate.

"Hey Claude!" shouted a familiar voice, and Rosetta joined them. "Oh, you guys are here too?" asked the garden fairy with enthusiasm.

"Yes, we came to have lunch with you, can we?" asked Zarina.

"Sure, there's plenty of food for everyone!"

As James had already noticed, fairies loved to enjoy all kind of sweet foods, and their cooks worked hard to give them all the variety they could. But out of all the fairies in Pixie Hollow, the garden fairies were famous for making the best picnics ever. That's why, not a fairy would have refused an invitation to eat with them. Still, James was starting to wonder why did Claude visit them every day. He hadn't thought about it the days before, but it seemed unusual. His answer came sooner than he expected.

When they reached the place where some of Rosetta's friends had started setting the table to eat, the sparrow man left the group and went to talk to some fairies. At first James thought he was greeting some friends, but then he noticed that Claude had all his attention on a particular fairy with short blond hair and a pink dress. They seemed friendlier than usual, and she was touching the patch on his left chick with a worried expression. And suddenly, they kissed. James was so shocked that he didn't see that Rosetta had stopped walking and clashed against her.

"Hey, sweetheart, what are you looking at." exclaimed the fairy, a bit irritated.

"They are… they are kissing." replied the pirate, pointing at the couple.

"And I thought pirates were anything but innocent! Of course they would kiss, they are going out."

"What?" Lonny and Ria started to laugh behind him, tears falling from their eyes. He turned around and stared hatefully at them, which only made them laugh harder.

"What's wrong with this two?" asked Rosetta, although she could perfectly imagine what was going on. "They make such a sweet couple, Gleam and Claude. I wish my Sled would come every day to see me like this."

James wasn't listening at her anymore. He looked at Zarina, trying to guess what she was thinking. Had she brought him here for this? Was this her answer? The head alchemist noticed he was observing her, and they stared at each other for a few seconds, as if the world around them had stopped. What was she trying to tell him with that? That she was free? That he had no reason to be jealous? Zarina seemed to realise what he was thinking because she blushed and then she looked away.

"Let's sit over there." said Lonny as they dragged him to the table. They weren't laughing anymore, but they seemed happy with the result of the visit. It was then that James realised that they probably knew about him telling Zarina that he was jealous, that red haired fairy must have heard it all. He sat beside Lonny, Zarina was a few places to his left, and then Claude sat on his right. The sparrow man was talking animately with the other garden fairies, but he used a moment when everyone was distracted to lean closer to the pirate and whisper a few threatening words to his ear.

"Don't think this means I'll let you have her." James kept looking at his food and smirked at the challenge.

"We'll see about that."