3 Days After Freeze
"It all makes sense now," Spike spoke distractedly, reaching up to trace ice down a leaf.
"Why we never saw him fly," Sled rested his chin on his hand, watching a pair of white foxes chase each other through the brush.
"Why he rode that owl," Gliss sighed.
"Why he couldn't escape the avalanche," Peri added.
"Why he would often stumble and list to the side when walking," Sled added and the girls looked up at him, confused.
"I never noticed that," Peri frowned.
"Really? He was always stumbling. It's the missing weight of one wing, it would really unbalance any fairy.
"No one's seen him since the freeze, everyone seeing his wing must have made him really uncomfortable." Peri dug a stick into the snow distractedly.
"Oh," Gliss perked up slightly, "Why don't we throw him a party!?"
"What?" Sled looked at her like she was insane."
"Yeah! It would show him that we don't care about his wing amd we really care about him and couldn't ask for a better ruler!"
"That... that's actually a good idea." Spike's face was shocked.
"Good thinking Gliss!" Peri grinned, "Let's go!"
"Go were?"
"To get Tink to help, duh."
Milori paced back and forth in his room, thinking of all that had transpired. I can't believe she kissed me. He smiled to himself. The smile quickly went away when he turned quickly and stumbled from his uneven balance.
"Stupid wing," He swore quietly, thinking of the way Periwinkle and Sled had tried to protect him from the wind during the freeze. Biting his lip, he turned to look at his reflection in the mirror. They think I am weak. How will my fairies respect me as leader when they think I am too weak to even handle a wind? Sighing he turned away. The aweful part was, I WAS too weak. I may have been blown away without them.
A quiet knock at the door made Milori spin around, "Come in," he called.
"Lord Milori?" Dewy poked his head in. "We haven't seen you on almost three days, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
Taking one look at his friend, Dewy shook his head. "No, you aren't. Won't you tell me what's wrong?"
Sighing, Milori sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. "It's just... I'm weak Dewy."
"Weak? Who was it again who held back an avalanche?"
"That's not what I meant."
"I know." Dewy tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You know, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. You are the most powerful of all the fairies, yet you cannot fly. Strength and weakness, right there. Your fairies don't think any differently about you now that they know about your wing. If anything, they think MORE of you."
"Thank's for trying to cheer me up Dewy, but that's just not true."
"I think it is. Either way, you can't hide up here forever. The snowflake delivery is just about done and you need to inspect it before we go to the mainland. One weak until takeoff!"
"I guess I have to face my shame eventually," Milori sighed again as he stood up and swung his owl feather cape around his shoulders. "Let's go." Walking outside, Milori let out a piercing whistle and Avalanche swooped down to him.
Whooo-ing happily, Avalanche wrapped his wing around the Lord of Winter.
"Ach! Get your feathers out of my mouth!" Milori shoved the bird's wing aside and glared at him.
Whooo-ing happily, Avalanche held still long enough for Milori and Dewy (who was too old to fly long distances) to swing onto his back. The fairies barely had time to sit down before the bird took off into the air, beating his great wings powerfully.
Icy wind buffetting Milori on the face and he spread his arms wide, momentarily forgetting that Dewy was still there. Forgetting everything except the feeling of flying. It wasn't him flying, but in that moment, he didn't care.
"Down there," Dewy tapped Milori and pointed towards the boarder.
"Why so near the boarder? The warmth isn't good for the snowflakes."
"Oh, no. The snowflakes are were they usually are. We just have a package to pick up."
"A... What?"
Rolling his eyes, Dewy sighed gustilly, "Just land."
As soon as Avalanche's talons touched down, Milori caught sight of a flash of gold on the other side of the boarder.
"I can't believe it," Milori whispered, rushing towards the the boarder.
"Hi," Clarion whispered, pressing her hand against the invisible wall that is the boarder.
"Clarion... What are you doing here?"
"Tinkerbell and Periwinkle found out a secret ability of frost."
"Oh," Milori was disappointed that this was only a buisness meeting. "What is it?"
"If a warm fairy wing is frosted, it won't break in the cold."
Eyes lighting up with hope, Milori gasped, "Really?!"
"Yes," She laughed and stepped over the boarder, into the bitter cold of winter.
Slightly nervous, Milori reached out one hand and carefully traced frost down her golden wings. As soon as her her wings were coated, she gripped his hand and grinned at him, "Come on Milori. We have a couple centuries of lost time to make up."
Climbing onto Avalanche, the two fairies took to the sky, soaring through the freezing sky. As they flew over the Pixie Dust run-off, Milori noticed something unusual. There were four times more fairies than usual gathered near the run-off.
"Sorry love, we need to check this out." Milori frowned as he urged Avalanche to land.
Leaping off of the bird, Milori was shocked to find not only winter fairies, but also a great number of warm fairies surounding him. "What is all of this?" He asked Spike
"We wanted to surprise you Lord Milori," She bowed slightly, grinning all the while. "You are the greatest, kindest leader we could ever ask for. We all love you very much, and wanted to honor you."
Eyes wide, Milori looked around at the fairy's faces which did not shine with pity, or disrespect, but with honor and thankfulness and love.
"You have been a wonderful leader for your people," Clarion whispered in his ear and gripped his hand gently.
Turning to her, his eyes shone with joy. "All this time, I thought they would hate me for my wing. I thought they would not want a leader who could not even fly. How wrong I have been!"
"Indeed," Clarion laughed and stood on her toes to kiss him. At that moment, owl flew overhead and released loads of snowflakes and periwinkle flowers on those gathered below.
Laughing, Milori kissed Clarion again. As he did so, he failed to notice the Minister of Spring who was staring at him with a deep and bottomless hatred.