The Butterfly Fairy – Chapter 13
"Come on, can't you go any faster?" River called over the feathers that occasionally batted at her face as she held on for dear life to the bird's scruff and soft neck feathers, wishing that they were back on the ground. "I'll have you know that I've never even ridden a dove before!"
"You're doing great, River!" River heard her friend call from behind her own just ahead, staying close enough to spot her. "Just hold on tight."
"Easy for you to say, I am!" River called, feeling the wind's coarse breeze start to pick up around her wings as she shut her eyes and allowed the others to guide their way.
"Not much farther now, girls!" Emma called, her hair gently dripping with tiny drops as the rain diminished to a drizzle. "I'm sorry I dragged us off in the rain, but this was all I could find available. And, it's on their way, so the doves said they wouldn't mind giving us a lift. We're almost there!"
"Sharp turn ahead!" Emma warned as the birds angled a quick left, avoiding a small swarm of dragonflies as they dived down and their reflections caught the wavery reflection of the water as the travelers found themselves over the river, which flowed two miles downstream the rest of the way past Lizzy's garden.
"Why did you even come?" River tried to call out to Posy, whose clenched grip never left Emma's shoulders.
"I wasn't letting you guys leave without me!" She called out, feeling Emma's pat as the dove's flight turned a bit more slower.
Looking up, Winter, riding on his own dove, took note of the unwavering and puzzled frown on Posy's face as she held onto the fragile edges of the ride she shared, her wings glowing an increasing and new shimmer in her refreshed pixie glow, ever so glittering more than usual. "What's up, Posibelle? Feeling bad, good?"
Pausing in her bush of thought, Posy looked over to say, "Honestly, I feel fine, but … I can't shake this one feeling that … Something else is wrong."
"What do you mean?" Annora was curious to know, suddenly pausing to consider why Posy was so sure.
"It's Marisol," was all she said, shutting her eyes in concern. "Something is happening to her, and I can't tell what. It started with her arrival, then all this, too. I can't make any sense of it, but all I can discern from her act is that she is becoming something … more."
"You mean, not a fairy?" River asked, fishing for a clearer answer. "Is that what you mean?"
"I'll just say this," Posy said, turning to lock eyes with Nora as their doves stopped on a tipping, yet firm, branch. "It's like you said before, right? Mari has already proven she has a very special trait, but I don't believe it's just her talent anymore. I'm worried, ok?"
Her friends all peered at her in concern as Emma took Posy's trembling hands in return as Posy looked back at her new shimmering wings as they sparked, a new effect from Mari's sacrifice.
"If you're waiting for me to spit it out, here it is," she said, sliding off to look towards the house as they rested in the canopy. "I'm scared that without her glow, I may never see my sister as a fairy, again."
"You don't know that," Winter tried to say before he felt a punch from Em, who shushed him with a look that said, Not helping! "I mean … She could change back, couldn't she? I mean, she's still Marisol inside. You could see that …"
"No!" Posibelle screamed, the tree leaves shaking from the echo, together with the final stray dewdrops slipping past them all as Nora looked up from where she was helping River off of her dove, as they both listened for a second to the sounds of the air.
Quieting herself, realizing what she had done, Posy watched as Nora cautiously pulled some leaves back to make sure nothing had noticed them. "It's clear," she assured everybody. "Nothing heard us, as far as I can tell. However, we still have to be careful. We're in hawk … No, was it crow … Well, bird territory."
"Nora's right," River spoke up, now aware of their situation as she sidled up against the side, feeling for a firm hold to rest against, still wavering from the bumpy bird ride. "I know we're going after Marisol, who as far as we know whose probably already at Lizzy's by now, but we can't just go out there without a plan. I mean, why did you even come along, Posy? You shouldn't overwhelm yourself, I mean … Shouldn't you be saving your strength?"
"You don't understand," Posy said, staring down at the tiny little flute in her hands that Marisol had left behind (or dropped) via her transformation. "I had to come. Mari saved my life, but who's saving hers?"
"She gave up her glow," Posy whimpered, clutching the tiny flute close as her friends looked to her with compassion, not sure what to say in response. So, they just listened. "What if something happens to her, just like it almost did to … Well, me? What if I possibly lose her, too?"
"You're asking yourself a lot of 'what-ifs', you know?" Annora's words seemed to echo as she bent down in front of Posibelle, lifting her chin a bit. "Are they even true, or will they be? Nobody ever knows. Marisol did what she did because she did not want anything to happen to you, either. She must have made contact with the boy, I don't know, but something else definitely did happen, and I feel like it wasn't just Mari who helped. Posy, I have to blunt … But you were dying. And now, you're fine. Whatever Marisol accomplished or did, it worked a miracle."
"I know," Posy said, pulling away. "But what about my sister? Is she going to be alright … I mean, without her glow?"
"Posy, you're forgetting one thing," Emma reminded her. "Go back to your journey story, just for a moment. If what Marisol told me is true, the gift of love that Thasly gave to her was probably enough to allow her to do what she did for you and probably changed her into something else that is keeping her safe as well. She had something else that a lot of fairies were not given in Pixie Hollow right from the beginning, something special that she shared with another friend I know of."
"Can they help change her back?" Posy wanted to know, confused by Emma's words.
Before Emma had a chance to answer her back directly, all three friends bulked up to turn around and saw River standing precariously close to the edge of the thinnest part of the canopy branch, where a single leaf was dripping with water.
"River, watch out!" Winter screamed, spooking her as she tottered, trying to keep her balance until she felt a splash of water land on the back of both her wings and fell.
Trying to flap her wings, River panicked when she couldn't fly and screamed, following her fast and blind descent.
"Hurry!" Nora cried, leading the small group as Winter saw a trail of vine and stopped just for a second to sit his hands on a length of it and quickly tied it around his waist.
"River, no!" Nora cried, not fast enough to take her best friend's hand as she landed in the river, which swept her downstream a small ways, her head barely above water as she tried to keep herself afloat. "Emma, follow it downstream! We'll stay in pace with her. Posy, quick, find something we can use to fish her out or she can ahold of …"
"Already done!" Winter said, tossing the end of the vine into the Nora's and the rest of the length of it into Posy's has they both wandered what on earth he was going to do. "Just get ready to pull us out!"
"Winter, what are you doing?" River managed to sputter, as she started to sink. "Help!"
"Coming in, river princess. Get ready, you'll need Emma, too," Winter said, his bare feet already in the water as he tossed away something in his right hand, which looked like an icy shard crystal as it landed on the bank. "Give me ten seconds, then wait for my tug. Then, start pulling!" One thing Annora noticed as he dove was that the river never seemed to turn to frost or even freeze as she had seen him do when he went surfing across the surface of the water, spreading frost in his wake. In fact, an instant change came over him as well as he disappeared under the waves.
Letting his wings drag him down, he scissor-kicked his legs to allow him to float a bit enough to look to his left, then to his right, then again to his left, where he finally spotted her, starring at him with near shut eyes as she held her breath.
Blushing a bit, he quickly cradled River in one arm underneath her back as he saw her faint. Tightly he pulled on the vine and, sure enough, was relieved to feel their hurried ascent as he tightened his hold on her and caught under her knees, too, to keep her from slipping out of his arms as they were pulled up.
"Pull harder!" Emma coached the others as all three of them used every pixie bit of their strength to drag them both back to the edge of the shore. "There they are, I see them! Hurry, he's got her!"
"Just a little more," Posy found herself wishing as she muttered the words off of the edge of her lips as she felt a sudden burst of power as her wings beat faster and faster as she felt her grip tighten and flew back, pulling the rest of the vine she was in charge of. Surprised of her sudden strength, she then heard Emma's shouts of cheer and Annora letting go to help Emma grab ahold of them both as they were both pulled to safety, back on the shore. We did it!
"River, are you ok?" Annora was the first to check as Winter started to cough, but River stayed silent as she laid on Winter's chest. Or, was he Winter?
The mop of black dripping and sodden hair answered as he released her into both the girls' arms as they rested her against the side as he answered, "She's fine, just got the wind knocked out of her I'd say. Forgot how it felt, being underwater. Not the easiest trick in the book. Thanks a lot, Sis, Posy, Nora. I owe you three one."
"It was your idea that saved River," Annora said, smiling as she saw her friend start to come to. "It's you, Aquan, that we should thank. How did you know what to do?"
"It was how someone once saved … Ah, it doesn't matter," he said, chuckling as he saw River's eyes slowly blink open. "So, how about it, Riv? Want to thank me for saving your life?"
"I would, but it was truly a team effort, wasn't it?" River sensed as everyone allowed her to slowly sit up as she turned to what sounded like Winter's voice, only reaching out she didn't feel the familiar icy tingle she got when feeling Winter's hand. "Is that you, Winter?"
"My real name is Aquan, River," he told her gently, to which she only listened intently. "I'm only dubbed Winter with this."
Picking up the carved icy crystal, he pushed into both their palms, and he watched as River smiled at the familiar touch of icy palm and tingle across her fingers as she looked up to stare blindly at the spot she heard him explain his quick story, "It's kind of impossible to explain how I got this, but I'll just say that a certain Lord of Winter gave this to me after he saved my life. It's the only way I live in both climates, but Pixie Hollow is my home."
For an answer, River threw her arms around his neck and kissed him right on the lips for a quick instant as she stood up and left him there, leaving him speechless and searchingly content.
"Now, I say we sit up camp for the rest of the night," Annora said, seeing everyone agree as they all sat on the ground. Guiding the group under the upcaved roots of a nearby tree, they waited in there as the moon took its place in the night sky.
For a while, Posibelle excused herself as she flew out and over the roots when she saw that Emma was dozing near the door of the trunk, while Nora had someway made her a little nest in the dark shade of the shadowed shelter, as River relaxed in her little corner turned around as she felt Aquan take gentle fingers and pulled free lace by lace the rest of the water from her wings. Landing on the highest root, Posy crossed her legs in thought as she found herself smiling at the warm glow of her wings, which in light reminded her of her sister.
"I know you're alright, Marisol," she whispered the words, hoping in her heart that her sister heard them and would know she was fine. "Just so you know, as your sister, it's my job to worry about my little 'Sis. Try staying out of trouble until we get there, please … I mean, if you can. See you soon."
Sorry for the late update, but here you go. If were wondering who 'Winter' was in story, I think you'll recognize him now if you have been following since my first TinkerBell story, The Fairy Without a Talent. A little Easter Egg for you, and a little more advice: Stay tuned and also, thanks everyone for having patience for this story and truly being a valued reader. Thanks!