The Fairy Without a Talent – Chapter Four
"Alright, sweet pea, just frolic across the blooms like this," Nora heard Rosetta say as she watched the dainty tips of Rosetta's shoes lower to touch the closed up buds of her closed up shrinking violets.
Nora looked over her shoulder to where River sat waiting for her on a leaf. Holding her head up to not let any fairy know she was blind, she gently tilted her head in the direction Nora told her she'd be and flashed Nora a hopeful smile.
"Alright, sugar, your turn," Rosetta said, flying over to where Nora stood hovering just near the edge of the garden.
Letting out a sigh, Nora took a small breath as she gently landed on the top of a closed violet. However, the violet still remained closed as Nora continued to stand there. Taking the tips of her fingers, Nora bent down to tickle the outer petals, but it still didn't make so much as a quiver to her touch.
"Hey, what's Nora up to?" a familiar voice was heard as a tall fairy settled down next to River.
"Blooming flowers, I think, or trying too," River said with a smile up towards Teal as the teacup fairy shook out her apron. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, I just got done with my shift although teatime had ended about an hour ago. They had me play the part of a chef for a while because one of their cooks was out with the fairy flu," Nora said, tying her apron back around her waist.
"Oh dear," River said as the two friends watched Nora flutter near the lower bloom as a faint trail of pixie dust followed her as she hovered down close to the bloom.
"Yeah, tell me about it. But, I don't complain much, I like it."
"Don't worry, sugar, that's one of the most stubborn pansies I have in my garden thus far …" Rosetta started to say, seeing that Nora was having little to no success with the bloom.
"Maybe it's in distress? Do you hear anything?" Nora said, turning her face towards a confused Rosetta.
Rosetta listened for a moment in silence as she laid a hand to the struggling violet. "Why, land sakes, I do believe you're right. I just wonder what it is."
Hearing a faint rustle in the leaves below, Rosetta and Nora both decked their heads down below the stem to see a tiny little stray brown field mouse starting to tug on the leaves.
Rosetta shrieked as she saw a leave disappear into his mouth, but Nora only smiled as the little critter began to tug on yet another leaf.
"Get out of here, shoo-shoo," Rosetta gently tried to shoo him as she wrung her hands in distress. "Where is that animal fairy, Fawn, when you need her?"
"Maybe he's just hungry, Rosetta," Nora said, flying down slowly towards the startled little mouse, who shook with a whimper as he curiously peered up after Rosetta's outburst.
"Nora, how could you possibly know that, you aren't an animal fairy," Rosetta said, watching as Nora sat a calming and soothing hand atop of the little mouse's head as it cuddled up against her.
"Nor am I a garden fairy, Ro," Nora said, already picking up on the name Rosetta was commonly known by all her friends. "But, you can see it in his eyes. He's just lost and hungry, no doubt. Teal!"
Hearing her friend calling over to her, Teal immediately rose off the leaf she was perched on beside River as she flew over, calling, "What is it, Nora?"
"Do you happen to have some cheese in your pockets?"
"Yeah, I do. In fact, you're lucky I grab some little treats every time I leave the Tearoom. I can't resist. Here you go," she said, handling some bits of cheese from a tiny stitched hole by her apron.
"He must have a name, poor little fellow," Teal said, bending down next to Nora as the little mouse calmly ate from her hand.
"Cocoa," River said, her head popping in between the two as she smiled. "At least, that's what it smells like."
"You're right there," another voice said as a fair tanned fairy dressed in an outfit of an orange earthen top over brown knickers. Her soft padded shoes kicked up dirt as she came riding on a bigger mouse that looked just like little Cocoa. "He likes the scent of cocoa beans, especially if they're near blue violets."
"Fawn," Rosetta cried, flitting about her blooms. "Where were you?"
Fawn grinned impishly as she chuckled, "I was helping the dairy talents, why?"
"He nearly ate one of my precious violets to start with …" Rosetta started to say as little Cocoa lowered her head under Nora's arms.
Whimpering sorrowfully, Cocoa squeaked up at her with a tear as Rosetta continued to rant.
"Rosetta," Nora called out, stroking little Cocoa's head.
Watching as the garden fairy and animal fairy looked down at her, Nora smiled as she said, "Rosetta, Cocoa wants you to know he's sorry. You see, blue violets are his favorite snacks, and he only wanted a small taste because he had heard that you grow one of the finest in Pixie Hollow."
Rosetta's hand found its way to her mouth as Fawn's eyes grew wide. "Well, I …"
Nora smiled as Fawn found her way to the ground. Pinning back her braid, she asked, "You understood all that?"
"Well, no, not exactly," Nora said with a fond look down at little Cocoa. "I only heard parts, but I kind of guessed at the rest. He was saying he was sorry, though. It made him happy," she said with a smile.
Cocoa squeaked, his little whiskers twitching with joy as he chattered to his feet as he squeaked up to the edge of Rosetta's hands. Laughing, Rosetta rested her hands around his little head as Cocoa chattered excitably near her shoulder.
Fawn laughed, purely enjoying the scene as she said, "I think he likes you, Rosetta."
Flicking a few specks of dirt off of her dress, Rosetta smiled a bit of a smile that hid a grimace as she ended up sighing, "I suppose so. Would you tell him I appreciate the gesture?"
"I think he knows, Ro," Fawn said, chattering away to both little Cocoa and his mother as he ran over to his mother, who had a little bell around her neck.
"Nora, you say you weren't an animal fairy, but you talked like you knew what little Cocoa was saying," Teal said, catching Nora's attention as both she and River walked over to her.
"I only heard parts … really," Nora assured her friends. "If I were a complete animal fairy, wouldn't I be able to speak every animal language or understand?"
"You understand well, alright, but I haven't heard you utter a single word in any animal tongue. Here, I know just the test," Fawn said, flying up into the air as she cupped her hands over her mouth.
Chattering in high pitched call that the girls never heard before, Nora and Teal watched as a red bushy long tailed squirrel came running down into the garden holding a small acorn in his mouth.
As the chipmunk settled up against close to her flowers, Rosetta proved to not breathe a word as she simply held her mouth shut with her wings fluttering anxiously.
"Watch this," Fawn said, turning over to them for a second as she chattered something to him in squirrel.
Dropping the nut to the ground, the squirrel simply chattered as Fawn directed his attention to Nora's eyelevel.
"Now, tell him to pick it up in your way."
River's chin pointed out as her ears perked up as she heard Nora try to speak squirrel.
"Uh … I don't know … Crek-creek-eee?" Nora said, pointing to the acorn.
The squirrel patiently swished his tail as his gaze looked down to the nut at his feet and then back up to her.
"He didn't understand you," Fawn said softly, one of her shoes rubbing the dirt below her with a shuffle.
"I told you I wasn't an animal fairy," Nora said, looking at each of her friends.
"Sweet Pea, it's alright, believe me. You would have known, but one thing is for sure, I believe your talent is going to come to light," Rosetta said with a smile.
"Same here," Fawn said in agreement.
Nora smiled at the encouragement, but a small glance towards Fawn's hand made her curious as Fawn held it out to her. "What is it?"
"It's a message from another one of our friends that wants to meet you," Fawn said, watching as Nora read the leaf inscribed message.
"It's from Tinker Bell. Isn't she a tinker fairy?"
"Yep, the finest in Pixie Hollow," Fawn said rather proudly as Rosetta playfully nudged her shoulder, knowing that she was right.
"Tink found her talent right away, but for a while she didn't want to a tinker fairy," Rosetta said, looking back on a memory.
"Why is that?" Nora heard River ask as she tilted her head curiously.
"Tinkers couldn't go to the mainland for one thing, only the seasonal fairies could because they could change the seasons. Ask Tink, and she'll tell you exactly the same thing I'm telling you now," Rosetta said as Nora continued to hold the note in her hands.
Soon, following Rosetta and Fawn's directions to Tinker's Nook, a small crevice hidden from view in an evergreen field, Nora and her friends heard it before they saw it.
"I've only been here a hand full of times, but it's quite homely if I remember right. Chipper is one of my closest friends here," Teal told the girls as they neared the crevice, hearing the ramping of tinker hammers growing steadily as the sound of pulleys filled their ears as well.
"Welcome to Tinker's Nook," Teal said fondly as Nora and River listened to the sounds in their path.
"Hold it! Steady Clankie, now lower it slowly …" a pitched and subtle voice called out from under river drop goggles.
"Sure thing, Bobble," a robust sparrow man lifting a side of a delivery cart said as he came down kind of fast with it.
"Clankie no, that's too fast. Ouch … ow," Bobble ended up groaning as Clank looked down at their completed cart as the cart wall fell into place.
"How's that, Bobble?"
"Get off."
"Huh, what's that, Bobble?" Clank asked, taking what looked like soft wax out of his ears.
"You're standing on my foot …"
"Oops, sorry Bobble."
Teal, shaking her head with a blush, murmured, "Oh, that Bobble."
River's eyes seemed to glint as she turned to Nora's direction as she said, "Someone's got a crush …"
"River," Teal whispered, having heard the soft hum from River's coy expression.
"Oh, hey there, Teal and friends," Bobble said, seeing them as they flew by. "You looking for Tinker Bell?"
"Obviously they were told to expect you," River said, whispering in Nora's direction.
"Yeah, do you know where she is?" Nora asked.
"She's at the workshop, but if she's not there, try her house just up there," Clank said, lifting a smile to them as he returned to his work. "We have to have this done for Fairy Mary by the end of the day, or we'll never get our deliveries done."
"Good luck with that," Nora said as Teal directed them up to Tink's front door.
"We might as well try here first," Teal said, knocking on the door.
Almost immediately, a pretty yet annoyed face answered the door as a hand turned the brass knob while the other rested at the end, tugging on the edge of her bangs. Blue eyes met blue eyes as Tink recognized Nora from her arrival.
"You got my message?" she asked, coming out of her door to see River and Teal, too. "Fly with you all. I assume that you both have been trying to help Nora find her talent?"
Both of her friends nodded as Tink smiled at them all as she said, "That's very noble of you both, but it's known that every fairy must her talent for herself, but you can't go wrong with friends."
"No, you cannot," River said with a smile.
Tink's eyes casually narrowed in concentration as she noticed River's never-moving direction not change as Tink slowly moved to the side.
Seeing Nora's eyes widen in seeing what she was doing, Tink alleviated the silence by asking, "Well, would you like to give tinkering a try?"
Well, here's Chapter Four. Sorry for the wait, but I just had to think on how to construct the chapter. Thank you for your suggestions thus far, and I hope you enjoy what I have planned for Nora. If you have any other scenes you would like to see, please let me know and I will see about how it might fit in Nora's story. :)
Please enjoy. Fly with you later until next chapter.