The part of the garden outside the music room was one of Mokey's favorite parts of the castle. There were stone tiles on the ground in the shape of flowers, and a greenhouse where Mokey kept Lanford whenever she brought him to Fraggledonia. Mokey had told her friends that he had made friends with several plants that could talk, but none of them really believed her.
"This is where Wembley and I were in my dream," Lou said. "We were here playing with Wiggly before Lilith appeared.
"At least we know we're going in the right direction," Gobo said.
When the two Fraggles walked into the garden, the entire path disappeared, colored tiles and all. The only thing left was dirt.
"Here we go again," Gobo sighed.
"Fraggles!" Marjory's voice called out. "You must enter the greenhouse next!"
Lou ran to the greenhouse, and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
"Of course," she groaned. "How are we going to get in there now?"
"Don't worry, little princess," Marjory said. "You have to put the stone tiles back the way they were. I can not do it for you, unfortunately. The best I can do is restore one tile, and then bring back the others. Better watch your heads."
Gobo and Lou stood back, and the ground began shaking. A circular yellow tile appeared in it's proper place, but the rest of the stone tiles fell from the sky, and landed in various places around the garden.
"Ooh, sorry about that," Marjory said. "My aim was a little off."
"That's okay, Madam Heap!" Gobo shouted. "Thanks! Wherever you are!"
"We'd better gather up the tiles and figure out where they go," Lou said.
"Lilith was smart with this spell," Gobo said. "She didn't leave us any clue to where the rest of the tiles are supposed to go."
Gobo picked up a red flower tile, and walked across the yellow tile the Trash Heap had returned. The minute he stepped on it, a faint image of the path appeared, showing the missing tiles, and then disappeared almost immediately. Gobo stepped off the circle, and then stood on it again. The path image appeared, and then disappeared.
"I think I've got it!" he shouted. "Once we gather up the tiles, Lou, start jumping on this yellow stone, and I'll put the tiles back in place!"
"Okay, I guess," Lou said, shrugging, and she and Gobo got to work gathering all the tiles. Once they gathered all the tiles, Lou ran to the yellow circle and began jumping up and down on it, allowing the path to appear and disappear enough times for Gobo to replace the tiles. Once they were back in place, the path returned to normal, and the green house unlocked.
"Whew!" Lou shouted, feeling a little out of breath. "That's a relief!"
"Come on, we'd better keep going," Gobo said.
Lou nodded, and followed the orange Fraggle into the greenhouse. Plants were scattered all over the place. While Gobo was wondering what to do next, Lou leaned against one of the counters. All that jumping made her a little tired, and she wanted to rest. But the minute she leaned on the counter, she jumped back up.
"Gobo!" she shouted. "This spot is vibrating!"
"Something special must go there," Gobo said. "But what?"
The two Fraggles looked around the greenhouse, and Gobo spied what looked like a carnivorous plant by the door, and it was snoring. When he got close to it, he could feel it vibrating. He picked it up, handed it to Lou, and she put it on the vibrating spot on the counter. Once they did, the plant woke up and yawned. He stared at Gobo and Lou, oddly.
"You're not my usual gardener!" he shouted. "And you're not Miss Mokey, either! Who are you?"
"Yikes, a talking plant!" Lou shouted, jumping backwards.
"We were told to come here by our oracle," Gobo said. "She's a trash heap."
"I see," the plant said. "But that doesn't explain what you are going to achieve in here."
"We're really not sure ourselves," Lou said. "Gobo and I both had a strange dream about our friend, Wembley. Yesterday, we found him asleep in one of the tunnels in Fraggle Rock, and nobody could wake him up. And the Trash Heap said he was under a sleeping spell. She said someone named Lilith cast it over him, and she said we had to come here to Fraggledonia to find the answers, and when we got here, my Goblin Guards were all fast asleep, under the same sleeping spell, and . . . ."
"Your Goblin Guards?" the plant repeated. "Wait a minute. Are you Louise Fraggle?"
"Yes, but my friends call me Lou," Lou said. The plant then bowed his head as low as he possibly could.
"Forgive me for my rudeness, princess," he said. "I did not realize who you were."
"Well, I don't come in here when I'm in town," Lou said, shrugging.
"Yeah, I think only Mokey does," Gobo said. "My name's Gobo, by the way."
"Yes, Miss Mokey has told me all about you and her other friends, Mr. Gobo," the plant said. "And any friend of Miss Mokey and Lanford are friends of mine. My name is Herbert. Would you and Mr. Gobo do me a favor, princess? I will help you in any way I can if you do."
"Sure," Lou said. "What can we do for you?"
"My friends are scattered all over the place," Herbert said. "Some are where they belong, and the others aren't. Would you be so kind as to put them in their proper places? The plants in the red pots go on the counter directly across from me, plants in the gold pots go below them, and the plants in the blue pots go below my counter."
Immediately, Gobo and Lou collected the pots, and placed them as Herbert indicated.
"Thank you," Herbert said. "Now, I have something to tell you, and don't forget it. The moon is always first."
"Thank you," Lou said. "But what does that mean?"
"You'll find out when the time is right," Herbert said. "Incidentally, did Miss Mokey come with you?"
"No, she's back in Fraggle Rock," Gobo said. "She had to stay with Wembley and look after him."
"Oh dear," Herbert sighed. "If she's not here, and all of the goblins are under a sleeping spell, then it might take who knows how long before my regular gardener gets here, and I don't think my friends can wait that long without being watered!"
"I see what you mean," Lou said, looking at some of the plants. "Some of them are beginning to dry out and wilt. Would you like us to water them, Herbert?"
"Would you, please?" Herbert asked. "I'd be eternally grateful to you, princess. I'll open the door for you when you're done."
Lou picked up a watering can, and began watering the plants. The ones that looked like they were on their last legs sprang to life, and their leaves changed from dull brown to bright green.
"Thank you, princess," Herbert said, as he opened the door. "Good luck to you and Mr. Gobo. Please say hello to Lanford and Miss Mokey for me when you return to Fraggle Rock."
"Don't worry, we will," Gobo said. "Thanks, Herbert! Bye!"
Gobo and Lou waved to Herbert, as they left the greenhouse. The door led to the castle courtyard, where a statue of a Fraggle stood. It bore a bit of a likeness to Lou, except the statue was wearing an ankle-length dress, her hair was in a bun, there was a tiara at the top of her head, and she was holding a round object in one hand. Underneath the statue, there was a stone that read "Princess Louise Fraggle: Our Founder and Savior."
"Where did this come from?" Gobo asked. "It wasn't here the last time I was here!"
"The Fraggledonian Fraggles commissioned it," Lou said. "It wasn't my idea, but they wanted to do something to thank me for freeing them from Narcissa. I gotta tell ya, it was such a pain in the neck posing for that thing!"
"What's that you're holding?"
"The Rainbow Amulet. Come on, Gobo, let's go! I can explain about the statue later!"
Gobo nodded, and followed Lou to the wrought iron gate that would lead them into town. Once they touched the gate, they heard a strange noise, and the statue disappeared. The gate slammed shut, and locked.
"Now what?" Gobo asked.
"I guess we find the pieces of the statue and put it together," Lou said. "That'll probably unlock the gate."
Gobo nodded, and he and Lou began to look for the pieces of the statue. They found nine pieces all together: two feet, a skirt, a torso, two arms, a head, a tiara, and the amulet.
"I'm just glad the pieces aren't broken into millions of smaller pieces," Gobo said, setting the two feet in place, followed by the skirt. "Then we'd really be in trouble!"
Gobo worked his way up, until he finally put the tiara on the statue. Once it was in place, the gate opened. Gobo jumped off the statue, and followed Lou through it. He was curious to see the town. He and the others usually stayed at the castle whenever they visited. Not one of them had seen the actual town. Since Lou had been to Fraggledonia more often than he had, he let her take the lead, since she knew where she was going. Before they could reach the town, they had to go through another gate, which was locked.
"Of course," Gobo groaned. Then he saw a large red and gold wooden structure in the yard.
"Hey, what's this thing?" he asked, knocking on the door.
"A puppet theater," Lou said. "The Fraggledonians usually close the gate when they hold the puppet shows so the audience doesn't block the main street. And wouldn't you know it, the gate's locked!"
"How come this theater won't open?" Gobo asked, trying to open the theater.
"Because the masks are missing," Lou said, pointing to the bottom of the theater, where there were two triangular shaped indents. "Lilith is probably behind this."
"You think?" Gobo said, sarcastically. "Come on, we'd better look for the masks. Maybe if we fix this theater, the gate will unlock."
Gobo and Lou began digging through the plants and looking underneath the stone structures looking for the theater masks. They found them pretty quickly, as well as some rope. Lou put the masks in place, and the door to the theater opened, revealing a curtain, and a lever. Gobo tried to pull the lever, but it was stuck.
"Maybe it needs oiling," Lou said. "We'd better tie the curtains back ourselves."
Gobo nodded, and took one of the ropes he and Lou found, while Lou took the other, and they tied back the curtains, revealing the puppets. Gobo looked at them, oddly.
"This is weird," he said. "What's this supposed to be, anyway, Lou?"
"It's a story about two Silly Creatures who are soldiers," Lou said. "They're brought before the king and queen, because they were going to desert this war or something, and the court jester tells the king and queen one of the soldiers is a female Silly Creature who disguised herself as a male Silly Creature because she loved the male Silly Creature soldier."
"Weird looking puppets," Gobo said. "Looks like the king's wearing a dress, and the queen's wearing a suit of armor, and one of the soldiers is wearing a jester's hat."
"The heads must've gotten mixed up somehow. We'd better fix it. And I see why the lever wouldn't work. Two of the gears are missing."
Gobo nodded, and he and Lou got right to work searching. Gobo found the gears, and put them in their place. Then he and Lou began switching the heads on the puppets to put them in their proper place. Gobo then took the crank, and pulled it. The gate immediately opened.
"I knew that would do it," Lou said.
"Right," Gobo said. "Now, onward!"
Gobo and Lou walked onto the main street of Fraggledonia, but it was empty, which Lou found odd for that time of day. There were usually Fraggles all over the place. They looked in the shop windows, and found the Fraggle shopkeepers inside fast asleep.
"They must be under the same sleeping spell," Lou said.
"Hey, Lou, what are these gates at the end of the path?" Gobo asked.
"I think those are the gates to the Fairy Realm. The ones the Trash Heap told us about. I don't think the Fraggledonians or the goblins know where this leads. They told me the gate isn't opened often."
Gobo walked over to the gate, and pulled on the doors, but nothing happened. Then he pushed on the doors, but they wouldn't budge.
"Locked, naturally," he groaned. "Lou, how do you open these gates?"
"Well, some of the shopkeepers told me there's a mechanism that opens them," Lou said. "The owners of the toy shop, the fruit stand, and the book store have the exact items that unlocks them. They told me they place these items on these columns in front of the gates here, and that opens them."
"What are they, weights?"
"No, they told me that they use books, toys, and fruits to open them."
"What?! Lou, you've got to be kidding me!"
"I'm serious, Gobo, that's what they told me."
"No offense, Lou, but the Fraggles here sound like they've flipped."
"Yeah, I know, but they live here, and we don't, so let's just go with it, okay?"
Gobo shrugged, and he and Lou began gathering up books, toys, and fruits, and starting putting them on the pillars. Finally, they found the right combination, and the pillars sank into the ground, which opened the gates. Gobo and Lou looked out at what was ahead of them. There was a forest at the end of what looked like a huge field.
"I think that's where we go," Lou said. "Into that forest out there."
"Looks like we've got quite a hike ahead of us, eh?" Gobo said. He went back to the fruit stand, and began gathering up some of the fruit.
"What are you doing?" Lou asked.
"If we're gonna cross that field, we're gonna need some strength," Gobo said, handing Lou a pear, and a bunch of grapes. Then he took a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket, and wrote a note to the proprietor. "I'll pay him for the fruit when we get back, I promise."
"Don't worry about it," Lou said. "I'll have the goblins take care of it. We've got more important things to worry about now."
"Right. Well, let's go."
Lou drew in her breath, and stepped through the gates. Gobo gulped, and followed her. Neither of them knew what was waiting ahead of them, but they knew they had to move forward.