"Sire...sire, can you hear me? Sire...are you there?"
The sky was littered with stars; big stars so close he felt as though he could reach out and touch them, small stars so distant he could barely make out their existence by the flickering of dying candlelight. There were no clouds this late for the storms had passed early on and were long blown out to sea, far beyond the skull-headed rock (still a ghastly thing that he could not understand its purpose). It was only him and his work.
Everything was as it should be.
Until the frantic cries of his student flooded the night and he turned to see the green-clad fairy come rushing through his front door (really, he needed to remember to start locking it more often to prevent this sort of behavior. It was something he would expect from a fairy).
With a loud sigh, he looked up from his studies to meet the panicked expression of the female as she danced back and forth, shifting her weight from leg to leg and looking positively ready to burst. "Yes, what is it now, Char? Can't you see I'm busy?" He waved a hand to the books.
He was so close.
The spell was nearly perfected.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness!" Char exclaimed, bowing once, twice, three times apologetically. "But we come with news from the fairy kingdom!"
"Starlight?" he scoffed. "What does she want this time?"
"It's something about one of her subjects," Char went on, sounding almost as disbelieving as him. "Apparently one of them has...the gift?" She trailed off here, but he didn't let her stop, rocketing from his chair almost as if he had been electrocuted.
"One of them...can do it?" he exclaimed. "They can actually control the fire?"
Char nodded. "That's what her report says. Now, I know that pixies and fairies haven't really gotten along well in the past but-"
He waved her off, already rushing to the door to grab his things. "No time for that now! We must go to Fairy's Hollow right away! This fire-wielder may just have the answers that we need! Tell me more! What does Starlight say about them?"
"Uh, well," Char said, running after him and ducking under the tethered crow's wings as her king already began his mount. "Her name is Scarab and apparently this isn't the only force of nature she can control."
The sun poured down all across Tinker's Nook, pushing through the cracks and shadows and cascading into the workshop where the tinker guild could be found dutifully sewing and stitching the last required items for the summer trip to the mainland arriving very soon. Everyone was fluttering about, anxious and excited for the upcoming season, and no one more so than the spazzing, prone-to-panic head of the Guild herself.
"Hurry up! Get those bags filled up all the way!" Fairy Mary instructed, waving wide gestures to the mound of tools and equipment for the nature talents, and Angus and Lucinda scrambled to obey. "We've got a lot of work yet to do, everyone, so there's no time for dilly-dallying!"
"Hungh!" Tinker Bell grunted, heaving an armload of acorn caps onto the table and flopping herself down on a toadstool to stare as Fairy Mary rushed past and on to bark orders to the fairies on delivery. "Is it just me or is Fairy Mary a little more high-strung than usual today?"
Her guildmates glanced up from their projects at the next table over; Clank looking to follow his guildhead's nervous mutterings and Bobble lunging to grab a fleeing acorn as he did.
"Aye, she gets like this every year," the Scottish tinker answered, tossing the acorn back to Clank who easily caught it and went back to work with a grin. "Ye think she would know by now that everythin' is goin' to run as smoothly as it ever does."
"But no," Clank interrupted. "She just keeps on worrying every time! Like we can't handle a little bit 'o summer, right, Bobble?"
"Aye," came the reply, and Tink laughed, happy to see them both there to work with her. From where she stood, it was almost impossible for her to see that anything was different-that this wasn't just some normal day in the Hollow preparing all of the seasonal fairies for their flight to the mainland to bring summer to the humans.
Once again, the three tinkers had gained permission to travel with the other talents, though of course, Tink's main goal was to spend as much time as she could with Lizzie. Besides, the boys could handle the repairs around the campsite without her. They were there more to explore and come up with ideas to use later in the Hollow than to work with the seasons anyway.
And what better way to explore the human's world than with a human?
The sparrowmen had already asked to come with her and she knew they were just as curious to see what had changed in the past year as she was. The girls would be coming too, just as soon as they finished their assignments. Unfortunately, Terrence wouldn't be able to make it this time; as he would be delivering dust to the rest of the fairy camps-at least for the first week.
Oh, how she couldn't wait to fly over to see the little girl and tell her all about their adventures since they had last seen each other. The Pirates and Zarina and Gruff and-
Fly.
Her bubbling excitement faded out then and her joy simmered away as she looked once again to her friends as they set back to work, humming the little song they'd created as they worked. It wasn't obvious at first, but then again, she'd never paid that much attention to him before. If she hadn't known better, she could have missed the jacket or the way he tended to lean away from projects that involved heights or moving things into the air. She wouldn't have known about the scorched and withered appendages hidden behind the leafy coat or the horrible, treacherous deceit he had been subjected to before he had sacrificed his flight to save the Hollow. She wouldn't have known how he still wore the braces underneath everything, praying that, by some miracle, his wings would miraculously heal or the struggles he felt not being able to do what he'd once been able to.
But she did know. She knew everything. And so did everyone else.
It had been the Queen's idea, actually, after the fires had been put out and the balance to nature restored, when fairies had begun to gather, noticing the source of the power welling near the heart of the Hollow; that it was finally time for everyone to know the truth; to know about the world of Protectors.
And it was about time too.
No fairy should have been forced to carry such a heavy burden alone. Especially not with the oath and warning of danger should he ever tell anyone the truth. And yes, she understood. She had always understood, but to have so much power...it was too great for anyone to do alone. That was the reason Scarab had turned in the first place. She had been alone. No one had understood what she was going through. No one had cared. Rejection could weigh terribly on a fairy's soul and with that much power... having experienced it for herself, she understood that now more than ever.
And when he finally did come out and tell us the truth, she mused, watching as Clank dropped yet another acorn and Bobble yelped, scrambling off to another table to grab it. It was too late to do anything about it.
He had been afraid; afraid of being as dangerous and as feared as those who had gone before him; the other Protectors. He had heard the stories (stories that Tink and the others would soon come to learn) of the threats of being a multi-talented, of greed and selfishness pushing a fairy to their limit. He'd known the risk of keeping it hidden away, but he'd done it in the hopes of protecting them. His friends.
"He's a courageous fairy," Nyx had remarked once she knew the truth and had had her chance to yell at them for not telling her what had been going on from the start. (She was a SCOUT fairy, she had firmly reminded him. Who's JOB it was to KEEP THE HOLLOW SAFE and how hard that was to DO when there were fairies running amuck with talents THEY DEFINITELY were NOT supposed to have). "To carry so much magic inside for so long and never once have the urge to use it for himself. That takes real bravery and guts and I don't care what anyone else says."
And Tink agreed with her. She knew he was a hero. That doubt had never crossed her mind.
She only wished she had known more in time-that they could have done more.
That they could have saved him.
"It's okay, Miss Bell," he'd assured her, pulling her aside after Clarion and Spurn had taken Scarab and Shade to the healer's wing. The rest of their friends had stared on, but neither had paid them any mind. He'd pulled the leafy jacket on instantly as the crowds began to gather. He didn't want them to see and know what had happened, not yet.
"Bobble, your wings," Tink breathed, unable to stop staring at them in horror. "Why?"
He only smiled, blinking back tears, and moved to embrace her in a tight hug, strong and emotional. She could feel the panic leave him as she returned the squeeze. "Because I needed to protect ye," he whispered in her ear. "And it was the only way I could do that."
"You're a cotton-brain," she remarked, not going to be the first one to let go. He smiled faintly and she did as well; both thinking of how that insult was typically used teasingly against Clank when he was being particularly clumsy or trying to bluff his way out of their weekly card games. "But thank you," she added and then the tears came as the rest of their friends swooped in to join in the embrace.
"I promise," she'd heard him whisper just before he was tackled by the others. "I'll always protect ye, Tink."
I know, she answered silently, watching the two sparrowman mess around and shaking her head at their failing endeavors.
"Clank! Come on! Stop it! Yer makin' a mess everywhere!"
"Well, you're the one who stole all of the handles fo' the baskets!"
Yup, those were her guildmates for sure. Rolling her eyes, she settled back onto her stool to work on her own pile of acorn baskets.
"Stop makin' me chase after all of them!"
"Stop yelling at me then! You're not very nice when you yell!"
"Yer rockin' the table!"
"You're rocking my brain!"
"Ye don't have a brain!"
"I do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
Yes, that was them all right. Tink grimaced, shooting Fairy Mary an apologetic grimace as the woman stuck her head back around the corner to see what all of the commotion was about. Seeing that it was just them, she simply rolled her eyes and went back to scanning her checklist.
Which reminded Tink that she still had a list of things to finish on her own before they went to the mainland. Perhaps now was a good chance to go through them one more time. "Uh, Fairy Mary?" she called, standing up and waving to the guildhead. "Is it okay if I leave early?"
Mary paused, raising a curious eyebrow. "With your work only half completed?" she remarked disbelievingly. "Tinker Bell, we are already falling behind schedule and-"
"I know," Tink interjected. "I know, and it would only be for a short time, I promise! I just...need to pop in to see Zarina for a tinsy minute and get some more talent-dust. I...think I can feel the water-talent coming back...plus, Bobble's gonna need another dose here soon too or those acorns are never going to get finished!"
"I'm perfectly fine!" came the shout from behind them, followed by the loud exclamation of, "Not again, Clank!" that both females ignored.
Fairy Mary crossed her arms and eyed her pupil. Everything Tink had said was a lie and they both knew it. Tink didn't need Zarina's talent-dust to counter any kind of water-talent. When the bracelets had shattered at Scarab's defeat, so had all traces of Protectors and their magic. No bracelets equaled no extra powers; which also meant Tink was safe from Silvermist's talent and would have no need to see Zarina since she already had a talent of her own.
Now, if she had stuck to her story concerning Bobble, she might have gotten away with it, because, unlike Tink, Bobble had never been given a specific talent at his arrival ceremony. Being the original Protector of the bunch, the destruction of the bracelets had left him in limbo-no flight and no talent. He was seeing Zarina daily to receive portions of tinker-talent dust; the talent he had ultimately (and unsurprisingly) desired to keep.
"Tinker Bell-" Fairy Mary began to reprimand.
At that same moment, however, something big and fast came crashing through the Nook; sending fairies scrambling for cover and something hard, fast, and furry stampeded right into them.