Chapter 23

By the time Artemis walked out of her house with her coat and gloves, Dash already had his winter attire. It only took her a moment to register him using his talent to get ready on such short notice and for once she envied his ability, but only just a tad.

"Ready?" Dash questioned and with a nod, the two were off to the Winter woods.

It was rather nice to have someone who knew her secret and was willing to help in any way possible. Even if he was rather afraid of her hawk. Artemis wasn't quite sure how long she would be able to keep up the charade of keeping Strider hidden, but if it meant to keep everyone safe, she would do it until she mastered her abilities as a Hawk Rider. Which she still wasn't sure what it all would entail or if she would be able to find someone who could help her figure it out.

As always, the animal fairy was so wrapped up in her silent thought, she didn't register how much time had passed until they reached the border. Artemis stared at the Winter Woods in curiosity, and then stopped when she saw Dash smirking at her. The two put on their winter clothes and walked into the snowy weather. They had to stop at a stand where a winter fairy was waiting to freeze their wings. The strange sensation surprised Artemis, but she couldn't help liking it.

"So what do we do?" Dash asked, fidgeting due to the cold.

"I don't know, I guess we ask around?" Artemis answered, not sure what they should really do.

With a sigh from Dash, they began walking forward. Even though their wings were protected by frost, they didn't want to risk flying in case they damaged them. They spent most of the day talking to different fairies, including Rosetta's boyfriend Sled. However, each of them said 'no' and moved on with their day. After a while of walking and shivering, suddenly a large pile of snow fell on top of them.

"Sorry!" A voice yelled from above.

A pair of hands, which belonged to a female fairy, began wiping them down. As the snow got removed, Artemis was able to get a good look at the fairy and was shocked to see Tinkerbell's face staring at her. Then she remembered one important detail.

"You're Periwinkle right?"

"Yes I am and how did you know my name?" Periwinkle questions, a little surprised at the animal fairies question.

"I'm Artemis and this is Dash, I'm a friend of your sister Tinkerbell." Artemis answers simply.

The winter fairy's face lit up at the mention of her sister and she couldn't help but excitedly ask "Oh really, how is Tink?"

"She's good." The animal fairy began, then remembered the reason why she was there. "Hey Periwinkle, Dash and I came here hoping to see if anyone here had ever heard of a Hawk Rider before or if anyone knows if there are any around in these woods."

Periwinkle thought for a moment, "No I've never heard of them before." she answers and upon seeing the look of defeat slowly coming on Artemis's face, she then went on. "But I think Dewey might!"

"Dewey?"

"He's the Keeper of all fairy knowledge." Dash answers.

"Yep there is nobody else who knows more about our history than Dewey." The snow fairy states.

Hope crept back onto the animal fairies face as she asked "Can you take us to him?"

"Sure, oh you guys know you can fly right?"

Dash and Artemis glanced at each other, both feeling embarrassed at the fact they were too afraid to use their now frosted wings. Perwinkle ended up being right as they flew to meet the keeper of fairy lore. Dewey's library was made of ice which was beautifully sculpted to look like an actual building. Upon walking in, they had to wait a minute or two as the Keeper was having a silent conversation with another fairy. When he saw them, the other fairy prepared to leave with a somewhat agitated look on his face.

"Ah, hello Periwinkle! I see you have some new friends, now what can I do for you all today?" Dewey came to them with a warm smile on his face.

"Hi Dewey, this is Artemis and Dash and they came here hoping you could help answer a question for them." Periwinkle says.

"I'd be happy to answer any question you have." The Keeper replies, giving the two warm fairies his full attention.

Artemis took a deep breath as she asked her question, hoping to get a proper answer for once. "I was wondering if you would know anything about Hawk Riders, their history or if there's any that I could talk to?"

Dewey's face went from warm, to discomfort as he replies "No I know nothing about them, I'm sorry I cannot help you." then he suddenly went away.

"Hey-!" Artemis began to follow him, but was stopped by Dash.

"Artemis no, forcing an answer out of him won't help us." Dash comments.

"Then what are we supposed to do, give up?!" Artemis's voice was raised as she asked the question, receiving a few looks from other fairies.

"No, we keep pressing the question, but not now. It's starting to get dark out and we need to get back across the border."

"He's right, if you two stay here you could lose your wings." Periwinkle supports Dash's claims.

With a frustrated, but determined look, Artemis evenly says "You go back, I'm going to stay here and ask more questions even if the one person who can answer them won't do it." and with this she took off into the sky, ignoring the protests of the other two.

Author's Note: I'm baaaaaaaaack! Woo this chapter was a doozy. Well life does get in the way of my writing so there's that reason. Anyways this isn't my best chapter, but I hope you guys like it as I prepare for the next one. Would like to hear your thoughts on what you all think will be happening next, that is if you want to share them :). Thanks again my lovely readers for taking time to read this story and I shall continue it as soon as I can as I plan to at least get it done before the years out. Wish me luck!