Before he knew it allergies had arrived and weeds were growing, in other words, spring was upon Storybrooke. The pollen from blooming flowers was brutal on his health causing him to sneeze excessively and his eyes water if he didn't take his medication. "You always seem so sickly these days." Eirys says sipping her tea, her face void of all emotions, even though Mr. Gold knew she meant nothing offense by her comment.
Mr. Gold takes a sip of his own tea, choosing to ignore her last comment. The sharpness of the lemon in the tea opens his nasal cavities allowing him to actually smell something for the first time since spring came. "Did you hear?"
Eirys raises an eyebrow. "Hear what?" She usually got plenty of gossip from her customers who came out to buy armloads of potted flowers for their front lawns and gardens.
"I heard that Henry has run off somewhere." Mr. Gold says taking his time drink his tea; it was one that Eirys always made him during the spring time. It was mainly boiling water, lemon wedges, about a quarter of a ginger, and hearty spoonfuls of honey. "Just took off by himself, Regina is heartbroken."
The way he said it made it seem like it wasn't a big deal. Eirys lets his words sink in, her eyes widening. "I don't recall anyone ever leaving Storybrooke before." She taps her chin, weaving through her memory to think of a moment. "How strange, what's Regina doing now?"
"Calling contacts, probably." Mr. Gold replies, slightly curious as to why she wasn't freaking out for the poor boy who was out in the world all by himself. "You don't seem too worried about him."
She shrugs picking up her reading, a fantasy romance novel. "Henry is a smart kid; he knows what he's doing. Besides, sooner or later he'll come back, probably." So she was worried about him, even though she wasn't showing it. Her blue eyes glances down the page of the book, however, Mr. Gold being the weird person he was actually timed the speed she read books. She was taking too long to read a page.
"I have the feeling he'll come back." Mr. Gold says settling back to relax before the whirlwind of a storm Henry was going to bring back. Of course, it would all depend on whether or not he was correct about what Henry was doing.
Eirys nods. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, though I'm worried about him being alone out there. It's supposed to get chilly in the evening." The grandfather clock in the corner chimes the hour; she slips a white carnation into the book. "You want me to pack you some for the rest of the day?"
"That would be nice." Mr. Gold replies, dreading walking outside where the pollen would clog his sinus and his eyes would start watering. He couldn't even go into the flower shop on days when flowers were being delivered because most of those flowers carried pollen on them which would be later removed by hand.
She hands him a green plastic water bottle. "It's a strong brew so you can keep adding hot water to it." She also hands him one of the white carnations sitting in a vase next to the cashier. "Non-potted plants aren't as popular during the spring and summer. Even the hospital wants potted plants these days."
Bae rubs his nose again, glaring at the budding flowers around him. Apparently the Fairy Grounds did follow the seasons despite being sunny and warm all year-round. The current season was littered with budding flowers, warm yet cool weather, and lots of rain. "Bae, are you sure you're ok out here?" Ivy asks for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. It had rained the night before and she was worried about Bae catching a cold.
Bae taps her gently on the forehead. "I'm fine." He replies resting his head against the tree trunk. A small cool hand presses against his burning forehead. Bae immediately tries to swat it away.
"Bae, you are not ok, you have a fever." Ivy says stubbornly secretly scolding herself for not noticing the feverish flush on Bae's face and the fact that he had only eaten a few of the cookies she had brought him.
He shakes his head. "It's these dreadful flowers, they give me a headache." He says dramatically throwing himself onto her lap. The coolness of her sundress felt nice under his burning cheek.
She gently pets his unruly hair which had started to curl from the rain. "Poor Bae, don't worry, I'll get you something to make you feel better." She scoots out from under his head and rushes out of the clearing.
He could smell her coming before he could hear her coming. It was the smell of lemons and honey. "What is that?" he demands staring at the goopy liquid that she had placed in front of him. The steam gave off a smell of medical herbs and vegetables.
"It's soup." She replies as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She pours a different steaming liquid in a clay mug. "And here's some tea." Bae sets the soup aside in favor of the tea, the hot drink running through his chilled body. Ivy picks up the bowl and pushes a spoonful to his mouth. "It's good for you."
Bae stares at her unbelieving but swallows the spoonful anyways. "So tell me, dearie, why do you care so much?"
She stares back at him with her big innocent blue eyes. "Because I like you, silly." She gently flicks him in the forehead. "For someone so smart, you sure ask stupid questions."
Bae returns to his tea, missing the small blush that had painted itself on Ivy's pale cheeks. She pushes the bowl of soup into his hands; it had cooled to a lukewarm temperature causing it to have an even more goopy texture. "You're not honestly going to make a sick man drink this are you?"
Ivy gives him a look that told him that he should know better and just kept his mouth shut. "I'll force it down your throat if I have to." She had a very forceful personality when such an attitude was needed. Bae had a theory that she created such a personality as a way to cope with her bossy friend Saphira.
Bae surrenders and raises the bowl to his mouth. He could feel the thick liquid flow slowly down his throat as if it was doing everything in its power to prolong the experience. "I am not going to drink this if it rains again." The soup, even if it was disgusting to drink, had made the fogginess in his head disappear.
"You can always stay at my cottage." Ivy didn't seem to register the meaning of her words, they just flew out of her mouth. Bae wipes his head towards her, his face covered in shock. "I mean, if you really want to." Ivy could feel the heat of a blush rising up her neck and into her cheeks.
"Perhaps." He replies turning back to his half empty mug. The clouds above them were starting to clump together into a dark gray storm cloud. "It seems like it's going to rain tonight."
"I heard that Archie saw Henry with his real mother last night." Eirys says trying to pry some gossip from her tight-lipped friend. He, apparently, didn't have a care in the world about this newcomer and was contempt with eating his toast covered with a thick layer of blackberry jam. She places a nice clear glass tea cup in front of him. "Here, lemon, ginger, and honey."
"Right, thank you very much." He nods towards her cup with a much darker liquid that wafted a scent of berries. "And what are you having?"
Eirys takes a small sip; the mixture of tastes had been blended perfectly. "Ceylon black tea infused with blackberry flavor and leaves. It's quite good if you want some." She carefully spreads some jam on a piece of toast, waiting for Mr. Gold to finish chewing his own slice before going into her questions again. "Do you think we could go and visit her?"
At that very moment, Mr. Gold was unfortunately in the middle of taking a sip of his hot drink and the suddenness of the question had caused him to choke and cough up a storm. "Now why would you want to go do that?" He asks struggling to catch his breath.
"I just do." Eirys replies, pouring more of his special mixture for him to clear his throat. "Besides, you have money to collect, therefore, we could just happen to run into her."
Mr. Gold smirks slightly. "So, you want to stalk her?"
"Oh no I wouldn't call it stalking." She replies simply, looking horrified as if he suggested they kill and skin children to make the wallpaper of his store. "It's more like curiously following."
A stalker, he was friends with a stalker who was deep in denial. "Very well then, we leave whenever you're ready. I'm sure the townsfolk will be delighted." She had taken the trouble in asking him to collect money later in the day since the residence didn't like waking up early nor did they like the fact that they could have paid their entire due if he had come later in the day.
Eirys claps. "I'll make sandwiches and we can have lunch with Mary Margaret by the school. Oh, and I can see how the patients are doing at the hospital." Somehow, the simple collecting day had turned into a full holiday in which Eirys would visit all her local friends and catch up on the latest happenings.
And for some reason Mr. Gold found himself hating the entire day. Most people flocked to her glowing personality which was dulled by his rather somber outlook on life. "I don't understand what's so amusing about all of this frolicking." The word sounded off when he spoke, the only time he actually heard it in context was when she described openly happy couples who couldn't keep their hands off each other.
"You need to relax more, no wonder everyone's afraid of you." She passes out nicely made cheese and cucumber sandwiches while Mary Margaret went to make coffee in the principal's reception area. "And save some of those for Mary Margaret."
"Here you go." Mary Margaret came in, arms loaded with the three cups of coffee. "Careful, it's hot." She settles in the seat next to Eirys, seemingly trying to keep as far away from Mr. Gold as physically possible.
"So, Mary, what do you know about this business with the Mayor and this newcomer lady?" Eirys asks stirring three spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee and mixing it like a madwoman. "What's she like? Is she pretty? Does she look like Henry?"
Mary Margaret nods along, her mouth currently full of cucumber sandwich. "Well, she's blond, tall, very young, surprisingly so." She taps her figure against her chin, trying to recall some of the smaller details. "I'm sure you'll meet her before she leaves, Regina doesn't seem to like her very much."
Eirys sighs running a hand through her hair frustrated. "I want to see her, even if it's just a little peak I want to see her. Perhaps she'll decide to stay a while?"
"Always a possibility." Mr. Gold says wolfing down the last of the sandwiches and downing the rest of his black coffee in one gulp. For someone as skinny as he was, he sure had quite the appetite. "Shall we get going then?"
"Well, it was nice to see you again, come by to pick up the flowers for the hospital patients?" Eirys asks walking towards the door. The clock down the hall was nearing the end of the school lunch time.
Mary Margaret nods before Mr. Gold practically drags Eirys out of the school. "We're going to be lucky if we can finish this before nightfall." Mr. Gold grumbles under his breath. With all her talking, they were sorely behind schedule.
"Oh come on, Mr. Gold." She throws her arms up into the air, like a tree reaching towards the sunlight after a cold harsh winter, her picnic basket dangling around her wrist. "It's beautiful outside; you really should relax and enjoy yourself sometimes. You never know, it could all end in a flash."
Mr. Gold sighs trying very hard to put a damper on her joyous mood. At every stop they made, and it would always happen, some customer or worker or owner would suddenly remember that they have to tell Eirys something "important" and it would lead into a full blown conversation lasting over ten minutes. Then, Mr. Gold would tap his cane impatiently and literally push and drag her out of the store and towards their next destination. All the while, Eirys would be enjoying herself which was very suspicious. It almost seemed as if she planned to make him late.
"This is the last place." Mr. Gold pushes through the overgrown weeds and bushes around the old inn. "And look what we have here." Eirys almost pushes him over to get a better look through the window of the old inn. He stumbles, glaring lightly at the giddy short girl.
"Do you think that's her?" Eirys looks at the back of the blonde's head. "Do you think she'll be pretty?"
Mr. Gold gently pushes her towards the door. "Why don't you just go in and talk to her?" He was growing impatient and he was hungry again, all the walking and standing digested the food quickly leaving an empty stomach a quarter to three.
"I'll treat you to dinner sometime." Eirys says as if she knew what was going through his head at that exact moment. She opens the door, the rusty old bell chimes at their entrance but the blonde woman seems to be more engaged with the innkeeper.
"And you're name?" The short Granny asks.
"Emma, Emma Swan." The blonde replies.
"Emma," Mr. Gold says, making their presence known, even though Granny's face pales considerably at the sight of the pawn-shop owner. "What a pretty name."
"Thanks."
Granny quickly pulls out a roll of bills from a shelf under the reception desk. "Here's all of it."
Mr. Gold nods his thanks, taking the money. "Enjoy your stay, Emma."
"Ruby, I didn't see you back there." Eirys exclaims when a pale hand lands on her shoulder. "I got some nice flowers you can put up at the café if you want. Did the customers like the ones we got last month?"
Ruby nods. "Of course, I'll stop by and pick them up soon when I'm not busy." She was known to be a bit of a wild child with her short skirts, open tops, heavy make-up, and dyed hair.
"Right then, I do believe you owe me a dinner." Mr. Gold says ushering her out the door in a shooing fashion. He counters all her protests by opening the door and walking her out. "Now, I think I'd like some nice stew."
Eirys glares at him. "I just wanted to meet her, what's the harm in that?"
"So, let me get this straight." Bae says through a mouthful of pie. "You want me to help you meet the crazy queen who rules this land, is that right?"
Ivy rolls her eyes, she just came from the exact same conversation with her only other friend. "I just want to see her again, there was something really off about her? Maybe, she's not as bad as she seems."
"Or," Bae says waving his fork in her face. "She's exactly as she seems and she wants to use your amazing earthy powers to enact a certain revenge on a certain pretty girl."
The beauty of his current situation was the fact that even if he were to say the truth, it was highly unlikely that she would believe him. Ivy glances at him over her slice of pie. "You say the most awfully outworldish things, Bae."
He shrugs, whether she actually believed him or not was not his problem. He would have other customers who would pay dearly for the knowledge he possessed and the objects he could get. "Say, do you know of a thing called fairy dust?"
"Of course, everyone knows of fairy dust." She replies, apparently, trusting him without a second thought. "When we transform magic dust falls from our wings, there are stories where humans catch fairies and harvest their fairy dust." She shivers at the thought of it. "Why the sudden curiosity?"
He shrugs storing the information for a much later use. "Perhaps, I'm just a bit curious." He rolls the 'r' like a cat's purr and closes his eyes, pretending to sleep. He could hear her shifting around, gathering up the rest of the uneaten pie and leaving for her duties in the Grounds. "Very curious, indeed." He glances to make sure she left before scurrying off in the opposite direction, away from the Fairy Grounds and towards the rest of the world.
"Hey there friend, care to spare some change?" It was another one of those beggar types who hung around well traveled roads hoping to bump along a kind soul who would be willing to support them. "Hey, frie-" he cuts off short at the sight of Bae's face.
"I'm sorry." Bae says leaning over the old beggar. "I didn't quite heart you, friend."
The beggar shakes his head and rushes off, probably to tell the nearest town about the sudden return of a certain deal maker. It added to the adventure and suspense of the whole ordeal he was going through. "Now, I suppose I should make sure no one's gotten into my castle."
"Did you just come out of the Fairy Grounds?" The voice wasn't voice awe and horror and wonder. Rather it was the voice of a person who knew exactly who he was and what he could do. "You did, didn't you?"
Bae turns around to come face to face with his worst nightmare. Blonde hair, dull colored eyes that he would find boring on any person, and a smile that said 'I'm the best in the world'. "And you must be the ominous Blue Fairy, honor to meet you."
She snorts. "Don't play dumb with me. I know who you are, you're Rumplestiltskin, the deal making guy." She fixes her hair over her shoulders and readjusts her blue cloak. "Now, what I want to know is, what you're doing in the Fairy Grounds?"
"I don't think so." He never liked the blonde, even when he was just watching her. Something about her flitting around and lack of actual understanding of the world made him want to hit her over the head a few times. He pivots on his heel and tries to walk away from her.
"I'm sure the queen will like to know that you're back." She calls out to him trying to act as if she wasn't sitting on something big. "Isn't she the reason why you suddenly disappeared from the world? I heard your castle is still pretty empty at the moment."
Her extensive knowledge about him was very troubling. He glares at her over his shoulder. "How much do you know?" The little nosy prick of a girl was getting on his nerves.
"I could tell you for a, what do you call it?" She tapes her chin sarcastically as if to mock his very being. "Oh yes, a price. You tell me why you're here, and I'll tell you what I know, deal?"
He suddenly appears in front of her face. "Let's get one thing straight, dearie, I make the deals here." It was hard to see how the this girl was the same person as Ivy's only fairy friend. "Here are my terms, you will tell me what you know about me and the queen, and in return, I won't tell your dear little friend about your late night visits to a certain mayor."
Her face visibly pales. She gulps as if all her former confidence had been blown away. "Alright, deal." However, she seems very hesitant at making the deal, as if she didn't know whether or not to actually make it.
"Right, now you just have to sign on the dotted line, and you've got yourself a deal." He creates a long scroll stating the details of the deal. "That is, if you really want to."
She snatches the quill out of his other hand and quickly scrawls out her full name.
"I can't believe it." Eirys says staring out of the back room window. "That old clock just happens to start working after a stranger comes to town, how mysterious. Wouldn't you agree?"
Mr. Gold merely shrugs seeming to not be too surprised by the clock sudden decision to start working again. He takes a sip of his tea. "I brought back your Tupperware." He points to the plastic bag. "The stew was very delicious." The said dinner that she promised him, was more along the lines of her rushing to make a stew, and making him take it home with him because it interfered with her nightly rituals.
Eirys takes the Tupperware out and drops it in the sink to wash later. She picks up her pale green tea cup. "You always come over and drink whatever tea I put in front of you. Don't you have any preferences?"
"I really don't mind." He replies sitting back in his chair, listening to the rhythmic chimes of the clock tower. "Well, I see there's a widespread of news about Emma this morning."
The main story in the newspaper is dedicated to the gritty life of Emma Swan. "I know, isn't it sad." Eirys picks up her own copy of the article. "You would think that Regina would find a better way to exercise her power than ruining the image of a young girl."
Mr. Gold agrees noticing a familiar truck driving up to the store. "I don't suppose you're waiting for a delivery, are you?" She turns to look out the window, shaking her head angrily as she stomps towards the door.
From the inside, Mr. Gold could see the angry flush that exploded on Eirys's pale cheeks and the cocky smile the truck driver gave her. The driver with his cocky smile on opened up the back and unloaded her flowers. "You better listen next time." She yells at him after he unloaded her flowers in her shop. She slams her store door shut in his face, the bell above the door banging against the door.
"I suppose you're going to be busy today." He could feel his nose getting itchy. The boxes had pollen residue on them from being among other flowers and weeds on their travel to the flower shop. "And I should probably go."
"Oh, well, bye then." Eirys waves awkwardly as he leaves the store. She glances down at the boxes of flowers. "Well, I suppose I should get started with delivery day." She quickly washes up the used tea set and puts it back in its proper place in her tea set collection. "First stop, the Diner."
"Eirys, welcome!" Ruby greets from the counter. "Are those the flowers?" she rushes to open the box. Her ruby red high heels making it hard to do any rushing and her short skirt didn't help either. "They're beautiful." She picks the small potted flowers. They were small simple white and pink buds; some had a few petals opening up.
Eirys crosses the diner off her list of deliveries. "You know where to find me if you want to order more. They need to be watered everyday, but don't try to drown them."
"You're not going to stay?" Ruby pouts childishly, the morning rush was starting to end as the workday began for most people. This meant that Ruby would be utterly bored until the lunchtime rush. "You just got here."
"Yeah, and I have tons of places to be." Eirys indicates the other boxes in her parked car by the sidewalk. "I'll stop by around lunch time and we can chat while I complain about my back pains."
The second place just so happened to be down the opposite side of the street near the elementary school. Eirys was just on the sidewalk when something bopped her on the head, as it turned out, the object was a bright crispy red apple. "Oh, sorry about that."
"Oh, Henry, isn't it a bit early to be tossing apples?" She asks recognizing the little ten year-old. She glances back at the apple which now had a wonderful dent in its side. "Any reason to be tossing your mother's apples?"
He shrugs obviously hiding something. "Nothing really, I was just telling Emma about the fairy tale characters."
"Oh right." Eirys mumbles remembering Mary Margaret mentioning something about a story book and Henry a while back. "So, you think everyone's a fairy tale character?"
He nods enthusiastically, obviously happy that another person believes in his wild theories. "Yeah, and right now we have the advantage, my mom doesn't know this but I took out the last pages, the ones about you." Henry says to Emma, taking a few pieces of ripped paper out of his backpack. He turns towards Eirys. "You're not going to tell anyone are you?"
She shakes her head. "Of course not, you have fun with your mom." She heads towards the next store on her list. After making sure all the flowers were safely delivered, she went back to her car and sat in the driver's seat for a good five minutes. "Right, next are the home deliveries." Most people, when given the option between picking up deliveries and having deliveries being sent to their door often choose the latter, which resulted in Eirys driving around town delivering wilting flowers.
And upon arriving at the most dreaded place in Storybrooke, Eirys came upon a not too unusual sight. She had seen the mayor and the sheriff together many times, but then again, Regina did have her hands in practically every part of the town. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"
"No not at all," Regina says walking around the sheriff. Their conversation was obviously finished. "Now, as you can see, my poor tree is missing a limb." And indeed her tree was missing a limb, or rather; it was missing the entire right side of itself.
"Yes of course," Eirys says going into her concerned flower child mode. She brushes off some of the wood dust that had been created with the chainsaw. "Well, as you probably already know, it's a strong tree, there seems to be no permanent damage done, a new branch will eventually grow."
The mayor seems satisfied with the answer. "Very well then, carry on with your job, if you'll excuse me, sheriff." She nods at the both of them and retreats back into her mansion of a house.
Eirys trades a look with the sheriff. "This doesn't have anything to do with Henry and Emma, does it?" It was quite obvious that Emma Swan did not receive the warmest welcome from the mayor, which led to Emma wanting to stay in Storybrooke, and leaving a very distraught mayor.
Sheriff Graham sighs. "Afraid so."
The sheriff left her to her plant tending which involved inspecting all the plants around the mayor's mansion like house. "You're so healthy and beautiful this year." Eirys mumbles to a small shrub, its little branches sticking up on a perfectly trimmed circle. "Now, if only she'd let you grow a bit longer."
"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity."
Eirys jumps almost tripping over the round shrug. "Oh, Emma, you scared me. I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest or something." She rests a hand against her rapidly beating heart. "You here to see the mayor, again?"
"Yeah, and don't worry, I'm not going to cut down the rest of her apple tree." Emma replies walking up the rest of the way to the house where Regina conducted most of her work as the mayor of Storybrooke.
"Ivy, correct?" The smooth mature evil voice asks. The widowed queen smiles at the young girl's obvious discomfort. The dark walls and monotonous accessories of the room added to the queen aura of death and despair. "I was hoping that we'd meet again soon."
"What do you want from me?" Ivy secretly applauds herself for not letting her voice show any signs of her nervousness. "And what did you do to Saphira?"
The queen takes her time walking around the room, a glass of wine in her hand. "Oh, that wish granting fairy? I merely just gave her some interesting information that I thought she might find useful. She had no part of getting you here." She offers a second come of wine to Ivy. "A drink, perhaps?"
"No thank you." Ivy replies swallowing nervously, which was to be expected of course. One moment she was in the forest walking with Saphira to the babbling lake for a relaxing swim and the next moment she was standing in the middle of the queen's private room.
The queen shrugs, downing both of the glasses easily. "Now, down to business, I hear that certain Earth fairies can hear the voices and control the minds of trees, is that true?"
"Well, I suppose that would depend on who you listen to." Ivy replies trying to find the best way out of her current situation what wouldn't result in her dying or being seriously injured in any way. "There are certain legends that speak of such powers."
The queen stops in front of Ivy. "Do you have these powers?" Ivy remains silent, dodging the piercing gazes of the queen. "You do, don't you."
Ivy locks gazes with the queen. "What do you want from me?"
"You may have heard of a certain girl whose head holds a price." The queen turns to continue walking around the fairy like a wolf stalking its prey. "I just want you to send out a message to your little tree friends, and if they know where she is or what she's doing, I want you to tell me."
"And what if I don't?" The question slips out of her mouth before she could even process it in her mind.
The queen smiles at the sudden show of confidence. "If you don't do as I ask, then let's just say that this jar will become all you will ever know." She held up a small jar that a child would put captured fireflies in. "But I'm sure things won't come to that." The queen puts the jar down, but it did little to reassure Ivy.
"Then I suppose I should get going." Ivy replies walking towards the door. "How would I contact you when I get a reply?"
"Just open this scroll and it'll teleport you here." The queen says handing Ivy a magical scroll. "It can only be used once so make sure you have something before you open it."
Ivy takes the scroll, the dark and evil magic of the queen pulsing through the scroll and her fingers. "I will let you know if something comes up."
She walks through the doors of the queen's room, "And you better not think of double crossing me, or else there will be dire consequences." The queen calls after her. "I will be watching."
"What to do, what to do?" Ivy asks to herself, pacing around the forest. The fact that the queen could have eyes on her inside of the Fairy Ground would mean that the queen had a fairy spy or she could sustain magic for long periods of time. Ivy was willing to put her money on the first choice. "What should I do?"
"It looks like someone's a bit busy." The familiar cheerful singsong voice could only belong to one person. "What is the little green fairy doing all the way out here?"
"Oh Bae I'm so glad you're here." Ivy says turning to see the face that she had gotten used to seeing on a daily basis. "The queen wants me to help her find Snow White and if I don't she's going to lock me up in a jar and keep me as a pet forever!"
His abnormally large eyes widen even larger, if that was even possible. "I didn't think the queen would do something like this. I suppose you should be working and I shall be working to make sure that you work and that she does not lock you the jar forever."
Ivy blinks at him, catching only bits and pieces of what he had said. "Very well then, I'll go send out a message." She presses a hand against an old tree, its natural essence was weak, and the tree was dying.
Communicating with plants and trees, for Ivy, was almost as natural as breathing the air around her. The prickling minds of the trees around her were constantly chattering, it was sometimes hard to block them out, especially in a dense forest. "What are they talking about?" Bae asks whispering into her ear.
"They think you're funny looking." Ivy replies smiling at the comments the old tree was making despite its old age. The trees groan in response to Bae's attempts at kicking and hurting the tree. "They think humans are weird." She mentally told the trees to watch out for Snow White.
"Never fear, dearie." Bae says ruffling her hair. "No one's going to hurt you."