The Butterfly Trainer – Chapter 5

Almost 2 weeks ago, near a little summer cottage outside of London …

"Father, Father!" a sweet young girl cried as she opened the door and hurried down the steps, holding a precious little house to her chest. Sitting it down under a big oak tree, she hurried off into the garden where she knew her Father was working.

"Just a moment, Lizzy," her father said, clicking the lens of a camera as the shutter clicked, depositing an instant picture of a beautiful speckled yellow butterfly in his hands. "Ah, a fine example of a pair of ovum …" he murmured, turning to his research journal. Mentally taking note of the butterfly's length and his wings, he made a quick sketch of the butterfly as it unnoticeably took off.

"Father, what a beautiful day," Lizzy started to say as she skipped to a stop as she witnessed a jar right next to her father's foot where he rose up to meet his daughter's gaze. "What are you doing, Father? More research?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so, my dear," he said, rubbing his daughter's hand. "The trustees want to see my latest report, and I must finish this up today before the week's end. I'm due back in London for my exhibition in just three days."

"Three days?" Lizzy cried. "But we just got here, and summer's just begun … Oh Father, I wish we didn't have to leave so soon …"

Taking his daughter in his arms, Dr. Griffins gave his daughter a hug before he said, "That's why you're staying here."

"What?" Lizzy asked, confused.

"I've arranged Mrs. Perkins to stay with you, just until I return," he explained, seeing his daughter's gentle ever watchful eyes. "I know I promised I'd be here with you all summer, and I will. However, this was just a scientific-out-of-the-blue opportunity and they wanted my answer right away, but I didn't think how it would affect you if I took the offer without consulting you first. That's why I'm telling you now, but … in consideration of you, what do you think we should do?"

Knowing how much his words meant, her mind going back to the events that played out that one summer when she had first met Tinker Bell and her friends and how it then affected him, Lizzy thought for a second before she said, "This is a wonderful opportunity for you, and you shouldn't miss it because of me. I'll be fine here with Ms. Perkins." Smiling at him, she helped her father collect up his research as she asked, "Exactly how long will you be gone?"

"About a week at most, but the voyage back may be a little bit," he replied as they made their way back to the house. "However, I think Ms. Perkins told me that she was bringing along someone to help keep you company while I'm away."

"Who is it?" Lizzy asked her father as he sat his stuff in just inside the door, where Mr. Twitches came lazily prancing out the door.

"Why, little Niabi, her niece …" Dr. Griffins said before a sudden shriek made its up the path as their heads turned to see a little blonde girl in a tea-green dyed dress run off the drive and through their gate.

"Lizzy!" she screamed in glee as she ran into Lizzy's arms.

"Nia, it's wonderful to see you," Lizzy told her, holding her tight.

"It has been a while since either of you got to see one another, so I brought her along so you two could reconcile," Lizzy and her Father heard Ms. Perkins say as she came walking next to the gate. Pausing at the gate, she called for someone behind her to hurry up, "Thomas! Thomas, would you come on, you're going to have a marvelous time here …"

As Nia ran to meet her brother, Lizzy turned to see her Father's knowing expression as she whispered, "Tommy? Did she really have to bring Tommy, too?"

"Now Lizzy …" her Father started to say.

"You know how he's always picked on me …"

"It's just for a while," he reassured her. "I honestly didn't know that she was bringing him at first, but Ms. Perkins said her brother called in sick at the airport and asked if she would take the kids …"

Tightening her nephew's blue jacket, Ms. Perkins fussed over Tommy as his darted brown eyes frowned up to see the cottage.

"I'm afraid you'll just have to make the best of it for now," Mr. Griffins said to Lizzy as he stood to meet Ms. Perkins as she came towards the door.

Meeting Lizzy's guarded expression, Tommy huffed silently to himself as Mrs. Perkins ushered them all inside the cottage for some tea.

Back in Pixie Hollow, Present Time

"What do you mean the departure time got delayed?" Nora asked her friend as they both sat down for lunch in the Tearoom. Stirring her Daisy Petal Tea, Nora said, "Weren't the water fairies supposed to leave this morning with this week's rain supply?"

Taking a bite of her acorn pancakes, River wiped her mouth with a leaferchief as she replied, "Yes, but due to the natural rain showers across the Never Sea, it's put us behind schedule. And, everybody knows that you can't fly through the rain. So, we should all be ready to go by tonight if nothing goes wrong."

"What happened?" River heard Winter say as he joined their table with a frozen tray of cherry icicles and side of blueberry truffles.

Squinting her eyes, River lowered her head as she said, "As if you didn't know." Turning to where she felt Nora's curious eyes directed towards her, she replied, "One or two of our crystal shell chalices shattered and spilled over a week's worth of water that we needed to start the rain up with at the Mainland. Someone here couldn't resist touching one of the buckets …"

Winter hid one of his hands under the table as some frost coated his spoon as Teal came flying over with two pitchers in her hands as she asked, "Hold up, what exactly happened?"

"Frosty over here bumped into a row of ready-to-go water containers, and before we could do anything, everything froze solid and shattered into pieces. We gathered up what we could of the excess water, but we need at least another container or two to take with us. Tink has been working on the repairs together with Silvermist."

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you needed any help with your preparations …" Winter started to say.

"Well, I didn't," River said stubbornly.

Sensing the tension, Teal sat down a pitcher of ice water in front of them as she wiped her hands on her apron as she said, "Calm down you two. It was just an accident. Besides, couldn't you and the other water talents make more rain when you get over there?"

"You didn't hear about the drought?" River asked her as Winter chewed on a mint leaf. "There's a shortage."

"It's just a slight one, though," Winter corrected her. "It's just been so warm up there."

"That's going to change when I get up there. I've been working on my water techniques for weeks," River said proudly. "Everyone is going to have water."

"And, I'm going along, too," Winter said as he sipped his ice water. "I'm going to help chart the humidity levels and make sure no one gets overheated during the day. During the night, it's not so bad."

"I think we can take care of ourselves, thank you" River said rather suddenly. Nora and Teal wearily shared a look as River lashed out again saying, "Just what business does a frost talent have to do on the Mainland in the Summer?"

Completely amused, Winter said nothing as he just looked up with a chuckle in his eye. "Haven't you heard that ice can be a handy thing to have in warm weather?"

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for you?" she asked him with plain seriousness.

Chuckling, Winter smiled at the clip River wore in her hair that he had given her. "You're forgetting that I used to be a water talent sparrow man," he said genially. "If you're worried, don't be. I can take care of myself, just like how I know you can."

"I'm not worried," River said, hiding a gale of concern in her eyes.

"Are you sure? You sure do look like it …" a young fairy said as she came flitting over to join the conversation. Emma was her name, and she was Winter's artistic sister. Pulling aside her short brown ponytail, she gave her brother a quick hug as she caught whiff of River's anxiety.

"Em," Winter quieted his sister as both he and she got up to flit out the door.

"Winter, what was that for? What did you do?" Emma asked her brother as he explained in a whisper as they flew past the Pixie Dust Well. Giggling, Emma just said, "You love getting River riled up, don't you?"

"I don't mean to, it just happened," Winter said, looking over his shoulder as he saw River and Nora fly out of the Tearoom and back into the meadows. "I really was just seeing if I could help, but River's the kind of fairy she prefers to do things herself and not have anything done for her."

"Yeah, but wouldn't anyone else?" Emma asked him with a clever, knowing smile.

"I know, it's just …" he started to say.

"You don't want to see her get hurt," Emma replied.

"Yeah, and …"

"And …?" Emma urged him to say. With a keen smile, she asked, "You like her, don't you?"

Stopping mid-flutter, Winter touched down on a big leaf as he felt frost form at his landing. Brushing off some of the excess dust off his arms, he slid down the leaf as he said, "Is it that obvious?"

With a chuckle, Emma flew down to match her brother's steps as they neared an enormous dogwood tree near the edge of Spring Valley, where a touch of winter snow was forming near the end of the quiet meadow. "Hey, if I can discern what an animal thinks, then I definitely can with you. I know you too well, don't forget that."

"I know," Winter said as he began to walk up the staircase he had constructed around the tree, so he could easily climb up to his treehouse rather than fly up.

"You know, that's one thing I never could get with you," Emma said, indicating at her brother's knack for walking. "Everybody else pretty much around here flies, but with you it's walking. What gives?"

"Let's just say I prefer to keep my feet on the ground," he said simply, stopping at the top of his balcony. "Flying is convenient I'll agree, but sometimes you have to be quick on your feet and not just at ease." Pointing to his brain, he clicked a switch that made a funny noise as a small firefly light illuminated the inside of his house.

Pausing at his door as he saw Emma suddenly jump up in realization. "Forget something?"

"Oh no, I forgot, I was supposed to be helping Mari prep the butterflies for transportsation," Emma said, flying up.

"Aren't there already …" Winter started to say before Emma read his mind.

"Of course there are, but some of the butterflies we raise here in Pixie Hollow are native to the Mainland. And, the new arrivals … well, they're almost ready to hatch. Mari and I are working on training the butterflies to respond to different notes or phrases, which will play key in guiding the butterflies to them to the Mainland, where they will eventually learn to adapt to life themselves," Emma told him, pulling out a small whistle out of her skirt pocket.

"You sound like Mari," Winter told her with a chuckle.

"Turns out she knows her stuff about them, almost naturally I guess. I'm not kidding," she said wistfully. "If that fairy wasn't a herder, she would be an animal fairy like me." Then, she thought to herself for a minute. "Then again, you could probably count her as one since she's …"

"Emma," Winter called, reminding her where she was going. "Isn't she expecting you?"

"Oh yeah, thanks," Emma muttered with a thankful grin. Blowing on her whistle, she trilled in the brush as a swift tiger butterfly came flying out of the green as Emma caught a ride back towards Summer Vale, where the summer preparations were well at hand and ready to go.

Next up, To the Mainland. This one is a little more of a filter chapter, but I wanted to introduce a little about what's going to happen and what leads up to the next sequence of events.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because there is more to come. :)
R&R, fly with you soon!