Chapter 5: After The Fire

Meanwhile, the Rainbow and Sky Kings, Ecks, Prince Jimbo, the Rainbow Castle Guards, and the Ambientalistan soldiers that had accompanied the prince were deep in the woods searching for clues as to what had caused the fire. They happened to be in the swimming hole area where True, Bartleby, Zee, and Grizelda had their campout. All that remained of the campsite was scorched grass, shrubs, and trees, along with the charred pieces of fabric and blackened tent poles that were formerly True and her friends' tents. The Sky King gazed solemnly at the destruction that lay before him.

"I have seen pictures of what the aftermath of a forest fire looks like." said the Sky King. "But to see it up close is something else entirely. It pains me to see such devastation."

"I share your feelings, brother." said the Rainbow King. "But, at least the worst of it is over now."

"And the sooner we find out what caused the fire, the sooner we can begin to rebuild." added Ecks.

"How right you are." smiled the Rainbow King.

"On my way here, I dispatched a cargo ship loaded with building supplies." continued Prince Jimbo.

"Thank you, Prince Jimbo." said the Rainbow King.

Just then, the walkie-talkie Prince Jimbo was carrying crackled to life.

"Prince Jimbo here." he said.

"Your Serenity, this is Borkson." said the solider on the other end. "We found something."

"What's your twenty?" asked Prince Jimbo.

"We're about thirty miles east of your location." said Borkson. "We put up a flag to mark the spot."

"Roger." said Prince Jimbo. "We're on our way. Prince Jimbo out."

With that, Prince Jimbo ended the call, then beckoned those with him to follow him as they ventured to the spot Borkins had mentioned, where they saw a yellow flag planted in the ground. It turned out to be the gully where Grizelda had lost her crown. Two Rainbow Castle Guards were being helped out of the gully by the rest of their kind and the Ambientalistans. One of the two guards had a small pouch tied to his waist. Once both that guard and his companion were out of the gully, the Rainbow King approached.

"What have you got there?" he asked the guard.

"You're not gonna believe this, Your Majesty." said the guard.

The guard reached into his pouch and pulled out Grizelda's crown, which had black marks on it from where the sun's rays had hit it. When the Rainbow King saw the scorched crown, he was very cross indeed, so were the Sky King, Prince Jimbo, and Ecks.

"Well, I never." he said angrily.

The Rainbow King then looked at Ecks.

"Tell everyone to gather in front of the castle again." he said. "They need to hear this, especially Grizelda."

Ecks saluted in compliance, and soon, everyone was gathered once more outside Rainbow Castle. The Rainbow King, Ecks, Prince Jimbo, and the Sky King stood on the steps flanked by the guards and the Ambientalistans.

"We have concluded our investigation." said the Rainbow King. "And it seems that this is what started the fire."

Ecks held up Grizelda's crown as the Rainbow King said this, and when everyone saw it, they all turned to Grizelda, their faces flushed with rage. Grizelda went pale upon witnessing this.

"Um...would you believe me if I said it was an accident?" she grinned meekly.

In response to that, everyone began to shout furiously at Grizelda, who covered her ears and dropped to her knees in shame.

"This is all your fault, Grizelda!" snapped one citizen.

"Yeah! Because of you, I almost lost my house!" shouted another.

"How can you be so stupid?!" roared a third.

Everyone continued to shout at Grizelda until the Rainbow King quieted the mob down.

"Me, Ecks, the Sky King, and Prince Jimbo will deal with Grizelda." he said. "Everyone else is free to go."

With that, while Grizelda went inside the castle with the Rainbow and Sky Kings, Ecks, and Prince Jimbo, everyone else went their seperate ways, with Zee going back up to the Wishing Tree and True and Bartleby following Tobias and Trinity back to Mushroom Town.

"What do you think they're gonna say to Grizelda?" asked Bartleby.

"I'm not sure, Bee." said True. "But I don't think they're gonna be letting her off easily."

Inside the castle, the Rainbow and Sky Kings, Ecks, and Prince Jimbo were speaking to Grizelda in the throne room. the Rainbow and Sky Kings were seated on the throne.

"Well, Grizelda, what do you have to say for yourself?" asked the Rainbow King crossly.

Grizelda just sighed.

"I'm really sorry, Your Majesty." she said. "I should have been more careful."

"Indeed you should have." said Ecks. "Your carelessness put the entire Rainbow Kingdom and everyone in it at risk."

"You should also be grateful that nobody was hurt." said Prince Jimbo. "Or worse."

"That's right." said the Sky King.

"Well, at least I admitted my fault, right?" asked Grizelda.

"True." nodded the Rainbow King. "But you still must answer for this. I'm sorry, Grizelda, but I can't let you escape punishment this time. However, I am inclined to be lenient since you did own up to your mistake."

Although she was unhappy about having to face the music for causing the fire, Grizelda decided against arguing with the Rainbow King's words.

"I understand, Your Majesty." she said.

It was then decided that Grizelda's punishment would be for her to assist in the reconstruction efforts as a form of community service. After Grizelda's punishment had been decided and bestowed upon her, the Rainbow King had Ecks escort Grizelda to her castle. As they walked along, Ecks brought Grizelda's surroundings to her attention.

"Take a good look around you, Grizelda." said Ecks. "I want you to remember this for a very long time."

Grizelda nodded sadly as she looked around at the burned buildings.

"Believe me, Ecks." she said. "I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life."

The next day, Grizelda joined the other citizens of the Rainbow Kingdom in front of Rainbow Castle. The Ambientalistan cargo ship had arrived, and its cargo had been unloaded. The Rainbow and Sky Kings, Ecks, and Prince Jimbo stood on the steps.

"Thank you all for coming." said the Rainbow King. "I hope you all had a good night's sleep and are ready to work, because we've got a lot to do today. Walls and roofs need to be repaired and repainted, and new plants need to be planted in place of the burned ones. Fortunately, Prince Jimbo already has his men working on the forest, so we can focus our efforts on repairing the city. And, don't worry, we will be having a lunch break later on. So, with that being said, let's get to work!"

With that, everyone grabbed their tools and got to work. While the men and boys worked on repairing the damaged roofs and walls, The women and girls worked on digging up the burned plants and planting new ones in their places.

"True, I can't apologize to you and the others enough for causing the fire." said Grizelda as she helped True and Trinity spread some grass seed. "I should have listened to you and Zee."

"It's okay, Grizelda." said True. "I know you didn't mean it."

"And besides, everything did work out in the end." added Trinity. "The fire is in the past now, and we can now look towards the future."

"You're right, Mom." smiled True.

Days turned into weeks as the work went on, and eventually, Rainbow City was fully restored, and a few days after the work had been completed, True, Bartleby, Zee, and Grizelda were hiking into the woods to have a picnic in the very same spot they had their initial campout. By this point in time, the Rainbow King had declared the Neverending Forest safe. As they hiked along, they observed the scene around them. Since the fire, the Neverending Forest was showing signs of superb improvement. The new trees that had been planted by the Ambientalistans were adjusting to their new home exceptionally well. As a matter of fact, there were so many signs of improvement since the fire that it was hard to tell there was ever a fire at all.

"Man, would you take a look at that?" asked Zee. "The Neverending Forest sure has come a long way down the road to recovery."

"It sure has." agreed Bartleby. "And I'm willing to bet that those new trees will get to grow big and strong just like all the other ones."

"You said it, Bee." smiled True.

They soon arrived at the swimming hole area, which was looking far more beautiful than ever. The water in the swimming hole shimmered in the sunlight brighter than before. A small rainbow had even formed through the waterfall that was feeding the swimming hole. The four friends gazed in astonishment.

"What a way for this place to welcome us back." said True.

Everyone agreed as they set up the picnic basket. Afterwards, True sat on the ground and pulled off her socks and boots, and smiled as she felt the grass under her bare feet.

"The grass feels much softer than it did before." she said.

Just then, Bartleby's stomach growled.

"Hey, anyone else feeling hungry?" he asked.

Everyone laughed, and it wasn't long before they were indulging in their picnic food. As they ate, Zee spoke up.

"I'm not sure if you all heard or not, but when I was having breakfast with Ecks and His Majesty this morning, the Rainbow King said that he's thinking of creating official emergency services for the Rainbow Kingdom in case something like this happens again." he said.

"Now that would be nice." said True. "I think we can all benefit from this. After what happened, I think it's about time the Rainbow Kingdom had such services."

As the afternoon and conversation went on, True and her friends felt very happy about no longer having to deal with the disaster that quickly went down in history as the Great Fire of the Rainbow Kingdom.

The End