Sandman could be seen floating in his hot air balloon, a golden light hanging in the sky. The travel was slow going but the address on Nicholas's list wasn't far from Burgess. As he was flying by, he would send out ribbons of sand to the widows where the children slept. Guardian or not, he still had a job to do.
The sand trails swirled and flowed like fog would over a river. Instead of wisps out of place the trails would spill out different creatures. Dolphins leaped out and weaved back in twos and threes, deer pranced on top then hide away in sand, mythical creatures like fairies or pixies flew out of line before coming back in unison. Each creature would split from the main trail to each house, dissolving and reforming into the child's desired thought.
Sandy smiled when he could feel his sand cover the child's eyes and ease them into a deeper sleep. A few of his grains would stay in the crevices of their eyes but he left them be. The farther he went the more and more sand he dispersed, but he would still take an occasional glance to make sure he was heading in the right direction.
Now exiting Burgess, the sand traveled to catch up with the kids dozing in the cars. The town where Rapunzel is at is in the nearby town of Bridgeport. A smaller town compared to their neighbors and the home of the girl he was looking for.
The little man in the sky let the sand balloon disperse and form into a cloud for him to travel on. Here he hovered over the main square to double check the address. Allowing the sand to travel on its own, he split the cloud to float across the streets. Building after building he checked the streets and numbers to make sure he was going in the right direction. He only stopped when he was by a humble structure with vines wrapping snugly with the bricks.
"Paradise Orphanage" was engraved into the old stone, cracked and worn from the years it has been placed upon the wall.
This was the place.
The little golden man peeked through the windows, spreading sand as he went. He was looking for a blonde-headed child with abnormally long hair. From what one could gather from the shadow silhouettes that MiM gave him, then the future guardian's hair had to be passed the knees at least. The problem was, one couldn't paint an accurate picture only using shadows. Sandy didn't fully know if the guardian is alive or not, it was all very confusing.
If the girl was a spirit, then she would emit a low glow. Something about spirits, they have this certain aura about them that seem to illuminate their surroundings. But then, why would a spirit choose to stay at an orphanage? Could she be a spirit who doesn't have to work daily like he does? Or is she a child's spiritual caretaker? Those were very rare, but not unheard of.
Sandy gave out a silent chuckle as he shook his head. Daydreaming, once more! Though it is rather early, would it still count as a "day" dream? A ponder for later…
Inside the rooms were rather bare, but still humble. The beds weren't fancy and the off-white walls and rugs didn't help much. There were few beds empty, both of a child and anything else about them. But, oh, the walls over the ones asleep had papers depicting pictures of the child's mind. A whole fantasy painted by clumsy fingers and waxy crayons. A knight in a round table, a horse and his cowboy, a girl in a tower, to Sandy they looked as memorizing as his dream sand. They even mimicked his sand by floating above their sleeping heads!
As much as the mute admired the image in the window, there was no sign of a golden lock. Widow to window, he didn't see any golden strands peeking from the little heads. He was on the second floor, then the third floor and still couldn't find Rapunzel. He would have given up there if he didn't hear singing.
A bell sung the notes, hitting the notes with delicacy if that was possible. Sandy followed the noise to the back of the building, where the song was coming from. He drifted down, wanting to hear as much as the song before he interrupted.
It truly was a song to remember, Sandy closed his eyes as he listened to the lyrics.
…Bring back what once was mine.
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fate's design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine…
There was a garden in the plot of land behind the building, a small thing that had only a few buds of flowers and a small pumpkin. But sitting on the bench among the plants was a girl. Her eyes were a light green, brighter than any emerald. Her hair flowed pasted her shoulders, her waist, her ankles and across the rest of the two acres.
Sandy's eyes opened wide, mouth gaping as he took in the true length of the hair.
What once was mine.
The girl's voice ceased she looked up to see Sandy with is mouth open. A childish chuckle mimicked a chime, but how does cold, hollow metal be copied by something that has such warmth? Then again, why is this child outside when the others are asleep? Surely there is someone who makes sure every one is tucked in right?
Both worried and curious, Sandy floated to the ground where he could communicate better. Rapunzel only giggled more at the little golden man coming towards her. She bounced on the spot in excitement.
Sandy hovered just a few inches off the ground in front of the maybe-guardian and waved in greeting.
"Why, hello good sir! Isn't it a fine night to be outside?"
Sandy nodded his head, but made a question mark concerning his feelings. As soon as the sand appeared the girl's eyes brightened ever brighter.
"Oooo!"
Rapunzel leaned forward and slowly reached her fingertips to the sand, as one would do to a butterfly's wing. Before she could touch it however, Sandy made the form burst like a firework and disappear. If possible, Rapunzel's eyes grew wider.
"How did you do that?"
The Sandman smiled. There was something about how she said that, the pure awestruck wonder that practically glowed from her being. It was like a child was talking to him instead of a teenager, so pure, so innocent, how could he refuse to show her more?
Beckoning the blonde closer, he twisted his wrists to form a whirling ball of his golden sand. The ball hovered and sparkled in midair until Sandy's finger poked the sphere. The sand then blossomed and bloomed out long strands of sand, the petals growing in size. The wisps of rivers coming from this flower had butterflies and honeybees hovering in the air around them. The sand gave these creatures a light they normally don't have and made them shine like fireflies in the night.
Throughout it all, Rapunzel could only watch the spectacle in a trance. She 'oooh-ed' and 'aaaahh-ed' at the transformations and giggled when a sand creature danced through her hair. There was a particular butterfly that made her jump up and chase it around the little garden. Sandy, having fun as well, focused on teasing the girl. He let the insect fly slow for her to catch up and then flutter the wings just out of reach from grabby fingers.
Eventually, the girl stopped and dropped to the ground, chuckling lightly from her fun.
"So you're the one who brings those yellow creatures every night!"
She twirled onto her stomach so she wouldn't have to talk to Sandy upside-down.
"You're the one who brings in those yellow animals to play above the heads in there!" Rapunzel kicked as she talked.
"But why do you visit here now? Why didn't you visit all the other times?"
The simple, curious question snapped Sandy into shock. The innocent girl and her play distracted him from what he came here for. Standing silent for a moment, Sandy then tried to mime the Moon's request. Rapunzel looked at the little man and the sand popping out above his head. Putting two and two together, she figured out that he wanted to say something to her.
"Is this a game? A guessing game? Like charades?!"
Rapunzel got up to sit on her knees, hopping in place in merriment.
"I love games! I saw a crescent above your head, is it about the moon? Space! Is it about space? A spaceman, are you pretending to be a spaceman!? No, wait… ALIENS!"
As the girl kept rambling on, the moving sand died as Sandy's question halted. He watched as the girl slowly waited for the imaginary game to continue before losing interest and humming her song.
Sandy, remained silent.
He watched as the girl's humming turned into a song, the same lyrics pouring from her lips as before. Her hair, Sandy realized, started to glow like a sunbeam. The new golden light lit the strands from her scalp to tip, making his sand and personal glow seem dim in comparison.
Sandy remained silent.
He only watched as he was the little girl continue her song, lying down on her back to see the stars, probably imagining the space adventure she was thinking of.
Sandy remained silent as he watched the child.
No matter that the girl was a juvenile; the Guardian of Dreams was looking at a little girl. A little girl who has been wandering for who knows how long with other children to play with. That is the life she has been living, just a never-ending play day. She has no direction that she needs to be going, she is just following her own childish intuition. She's on Nicholas's list as well, so childlike in mind and matter that the magic thought she was one.
A child, the Man in the Moon wanted a child to assist in fighting off Pitch. Sandy looked at the white orb, a cloud masking the face.
Why would Manny ever want to put a child in a battlefield?
How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians belongs to Dreamworks,
Brave and Tangled belongs to Disney.