The night before the party, Nina carefully left the purple guest house, careful not to disturb her partners, and sat outside. She looked up at the sky, but all she could see was fog.
Rudolph and Hermey approached her. "Nina?"
"Ambassador. Doctor."
"You don't have to be formal with us." They sat on the ground beside her. "What's going on? You couldn't sleep?"
"Oh, I'm just thinking about different things," Nina replied.
"This is a good time of day to do that," Hermey mentioned. "It's so quiet here that you can hear a pin drop."
"When I fly my plane, I love taking time to just...exist. I used to hate the quiet, but these days, I see its value."
They nodded. Rudolph stated, "It's nice once in awhile, but it can get lonely."
Hermey looked over at Rudolph, concerned. "Are you unhappy here?"
"A little," admitted Rudolph. "It's just...I know there's more out there, and I want to see it. I want to see the world, Hermey."
Hermey paused, then told him, "If that's what you want to do, I'll support you, no matter what."
"Thank you, my friend."
"But King Moonracer wouldn't be happy with you if you left," Hermey mentioned, nervously. "Not even if it was for only a little while."
"I don't want to leave for good; I just want to see what's all out there."
"Why won't he let any of you leave?" Nina asked. "I know you said something about humans, but there aren't any for miles and miles. Any sort of real civilization is even farther than that."
"The king doesn't trust humans at all," Rudolph replied. "He thinks they're dangerous and that we're all safer just staying here, but it can't be like that, can it? Nina, you've traveled a lot. What is it really like?"
"Like I said, it's complicated," Nina said. "No matter where you go, there are people who do less harm and people who do a lot of harm. There are equally wonderful and terrible things, and it all depends on what you happen to see. Sometimes, we see more bad things then good, but the good is worth risking seeing the bad."
"What do you mean?"
"Life is filled with all kinds of wonderful things, like hugs, sunsets, stars in the night sky, animals, friends, family, wonders of nature...You have to remember that even though there's a lot of evil things, there's an equal and even greater amount of amazing things."
"Maybe she has a point," Hermey mused. "Where I came from, nobody liked me, but I found true friends when I made my way here."
"How did you two end up on the island?" Nina asked.
"It was years ago," Hermey began. "I was one of Santa Claus's elves, after I found out I was a boy. I wanted to be a dentist, but the other elves kept telling me I needed to just make toys. I hated it! I wasn't good at making toys. Nobody even gave me a chance, so I left the North Pole."
"And that's when we met!" Rudolph happily exclaimed. "I was all alone out in the wilderness, myself. I didn't fit any with any other reindeer because of my nose." He demonstrated by lightning his red nose up. "But when Hermey came around, we decided to be independent, together!"
"And then King Moonracer found us one day. We told him our stories, and he brought us to the Island of Misfits, and we've been here ever since."
Nina listened to them, carefully. When they were finished, she said, "You two are very brave."
"Why do you say that?" Hermey asked.
"You've both experienced a lot of hardships, yet you came together and got through them. It takes a lot of courage to admit you need others. It took me a long time to stop running from my own problems and let people into my life. You guys did it pretty much instantly."
"I bet it's not easy for everyone," Rudolph said. "The important thing is that we have people we can depend on. You can depend on us, Nina; we want to be your friends."
"Yeah!" Hermey agreed. "Will you be our friend?"
Nina gave them a gentle smile. "Of course, I will. Thank you both."
