The Butterfly Trainer – Chapter Two
Worried about the murmurings she heard coming from the Queen's council chambers, Posibelle hugged her journal to her chest as she heard the door open to see Nora peeking out at her.
"Is everything ok, Posi?" she asked, softly shutting the door behind her, so smoothly that Queen Clarion's and the Minister of Summer's voices grew ever so fainter.
"Yes, just a little worried I guess," she said, allowing her wings to droop behind her.
Heeding that something was on her mind, Nora sighed as she sat to her knees next to Posi, where the dust warbled past their feet. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's just … Why wasn't Mari's talent revealed right away at the ceremony?" Posy asked Nora in wonder. "I mean, it doesn't often happen like that, does it?"
"Not always, but take it from me when I say that some fairies' talents reveal themselves in different ways, some more personal than show," Nora said with a small knowing smile.
"What do you mean?" Posi asked, sitting down her journal in her lap.
"Well, take it like this," Nora said as she thought for a minute. "What makes your talent special for you?"
Posi, pausing for a moment, pinned a lock of her blonde hair back as she flipped open her journal and flicked it open to where a shining collection of light strips dyed in rainbow light rested to meet her eyes as she rubbed a gentle hand past them in memory. "Well …"
"These were my very first pages of my spectrum collections, but as my skills led me to explore much more, playing with light just merely became a quick fancy to me. Given a week's time, I had filled this journal with my personal thoughts and observations, but I found it wasn't the knowledge that I learnt in that time alone, it was what I took from it in return," Posy found herself saying as tears streamed down her quiet cheeks.
"In other words, you found your passion within your own interests, thus finding you're own personal talents, right?" Nora prompted her with a grin.
"Exactly," Posy said with a nod, tearing a bit with the memory.
Passing her friend a leafkerchief from one of her pockets, Nora said, "It's not just what you are given or taught, it's about discovering yourself. And, take it from me, Marisol is going to find her talent, in her own way and in her own style, one way or another …"
Hearing the door open behind them, both fairies stood to her feet as Posi stood to see Queen Clarion flitting out behind Mari, who was still holding and babying the small cocoon close to her chest.
"Hey Mari," greeted Posy as she flew over to hug her sister.
However, smiling up into her sister's eyes, Mari just grinned as said, "Hey sis. Do you want to hold Papillion?"
"You named him already?" Posy asked her sister curiously as Mari gently laid the cocoon wrapped in a leaf blanket in her hands.
"Of course, after all … this little guy will be hatching pretty soon any day now," Mari said, rubbing the top of the cocoon with a soft finger.
"How do you know that for sure?" Posy heard a voice say as she turned to see River come surfing up the Tree on a makeshift spray of drops that she immediately bestilled in a hover as she landed. As she held her seashell surfboard under her arm, she sent the water back away in a separate direction, away from the Tree, safely back to Havendish Stream with but a quick gesture of her hand. "And, who exactly is Papillion?"
"This little guy right here," Mari said, holding the cocoon out for River to see. "Isn't he cute?"
"Isn't who cute? I don't see anything," River said, looking up for help as Queen Clarion and Nora came flying over to her side. "Listen, I …"
"Haven't you ever seen a cocoon before?" Mari asked before River could get a word in defense.
Noting River's silence, Mari looked up with a puzzled look as she asked, "What's wrong?"
Taking the moment to gesture River aside, Queen Clarion turned towards Mari as she told her, "Your sister will show you to your house near Sunflower Meadow. When you get your little friend and yourself settled, we'll start your lessons to see where your individual talents may lie."
As Queen Clarion gently led River inside, Mari looked to meet Nora's and her sister's eyes as she said, "Was it something I said?"
"No," Nora said gently, looking back towards the door. "River's just protective about anyone knowing about her …"
Putting a hand on Nora's shoulder, Posy spoke up to say, "Annora, I'll tell her. You go check on River, ok?"
"Alright, thanks," Nora said, flying in after Queen Clarion as she shut the door.
"That's why she doesn't like a lot of people to know," Posy told her sister as they flew over Summer Glade, where the summer blooms spread from one corner to the other and rainbows cascaded down over rivers.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't notice right away. I wouldn't have …" Mari started to say before she saw a sea of sunflowers and marigolds blended in and around her in rapturous shades of gold, orange, and apricot.
"So, what did the Queen have to say about ..." Posy started to ask her sister, wanting to know what went on and what was said about her sister's lack for show of talent.
"What is this place?" Mari then interjected excitedly as she flew down to stroke a flower bud.
"Well, over there is Sunflower Meadow, where the sunflowers often grow, but over here, this particular field is what we called Marigold Grove …" she started to say as she saw her sister dive headfirst into a flower as it closed up over her.
"Mari!" she exclaimed, flying over in alarm as she tried to bend the bud open to release her.
Not even hearing her sister's efforts, Marisol didn't make a peep as she pulled her bare feet in as the petals closed up behind her.
"Marisol, come out of there," Posy called again, worried more now than ever.
"It's ok, I'm fine," came her muted sister's reply as the flower bud simply nodded in reply. "Just give me a minute."
"What's going on?" Iridessa called as she and Rosetta flew over, hearing Posy's protests.
"I don't know what's gotten into her head, but before I knew what she was doing, she dove headfirst straight into that flowering bud," Posy said, turning to see a transparent pair of glass-scaled wings sticking out, flickering out of the bud.
"Oh, my gardenias, I've never heard of such a thing," Rosetta exclaimed, placing her hands alongside the flower. "Hang on, sugar, we'll get you out of there."
Thinking that a butterfly was in the way, Rosetta gently shooed the wings as a wavy mahogany head answered her as the flower unfurled its petals to reveal an unexpected sight. As Posy, Dess, and Ro each gasped in turn, Mari merely sat up on her knees, drenched in nectar as it dripped down her hair and clothes, with her brown-bordered slightly scaled wings unfurled behind her and her hands entwined some of the nectarines of the bloom.
Absolutely stunned, Posy just pulled her sister out of the flower as she asked, "Marisol, what were you thinking? What were you doing?"
Immediately picking up an umbrella leaf to cover and dry off Mari, Iridessa just stared as she asked, "And, what's up with your wings? They're huge!"
Shrugging as if it was nothing, Mari just answered back, "They just do that sometimes, I guess."
Turning to Posy in awe, Rosetta said, "Sweetie, if I wasn't so sure, I would say that your sister is part-butterfly."
While Posy sorted through some clothes in an armoire by Mari's golden marigold sheets, a stream of milkweed water was heard as Rosetta poured a pitcher over Mari's head as a wing-washer fairy, summoned by Rosetta, named Hanna gently rinsed out Mari's extended wings as they laid out over the acorn tub.
Laying out a fresh red flower top, some tough leaf leggings, and a new adorned marigold skirt across her bed, Posy called from the room, "How did this even happen to you?"
"I don't know, I've had them ever since I arrived, ok?" Mari called from the room as Hanna came flying out to collect Mari's clothes Posy had laid out on the bed. Without a word, Hanna gathered them up in her hands and flew back into the other room as Rosetta flew out to find a brush for Mari.
"Easy Sweetpea, Posibelle's just trying to help," Rosetta called as she sat waiting near the door in one of Mari's flower chairs.
Clean and dressed, Mari stepped out into the main room as Rosetta flew over to hand her the comb, to which Mari immediately grabbed a stray petal from her chest and tied up half of her hair in a ponytail, leaving the other half of it waving down past her shoulder.
"I know, I'm sorry," Mari said, turning to stare at her reflection. "I'm just as puzzled as you are."
"What happened, do you remember?" Posy asked her sister.
"Not exactly," Mari sort of answered as she gazed back to where Posy had laid Papillion's cocoon. "It's all sort of a blur."
Noticing where her sister was peering, Mari asked, "Where did Papillion come from?"
"Now that, I do remember," Mari said, sitting down. "In a quiet spot in the Never Land Woods, right before I was blown into Pixie Hollow, a breeze knocked his leaf into me as we both got swept up to the Pixie Dust Tree. Studying the green cocoon, I guess I just sort of knew what he was going to be later on."
"And, do you know what kind of butterfly he's going to be?"
With a smile, Mari said positively, "A Blue Morpho, if I am correct."
Hearing Rosetta gasp, Mari just grinned as Ro said, "Sugar, if you're right, then the Hollow is going to see its first Blue Morpho in years."
"Well, speaking of which, I think we should see Queen Clarion as soon as possible about this. She'll want to know, and maybe she'll help us figure out what's going on," Posy said, sitting down for a moment in one of her sister's daisy stool chairs.
Holding up a few pair of dainty fairy shoes, Rosetta immediately went to showering Mari with fashion sense as she held up one pair of shoes after another, having her try on several others before Mari found a sensible pair she liked. Posi, concerned about her sister, found herself sketching a picture of Mari's clear detailed wings as she thought of what could have caused her sister's butterfly mannerisms.
Well, hopefully this follows around the events of chapter 1 pretty accurately.
Wherever this story leads me to write, I hope you guys will enjoy it. :)
Please read and review, if you have anything you might want me to add in or any ideas you might have for the sisters' journey. Fly with you all later. :D