Later that night
Another perfect summer day was beginning to draw to a close. The sun was starting to set behind the distant hills, filling the sky with a beautiful array of colours of gold, purple and red. The many birds and squirrels and other animals were heading home to settle for the night and the fairies were mostly doing the same. In the sky to the east, it was already starting to turn dark and the moon was just visible in the approaching night sky.
In the air above the fields, Iridessa and the other light fairies were collecting the last light of day from the sun as it set. Fawn was doing some last minute teaching to a group of frogs sitting in the grass and Rosetta and other garden fairies were just making some flowers near the home tree bloom to catch a bit of light before the night came in.
At the cottage, Lizzy opened her bedroom windows and a small fairy next to her hopped into the air.
"Bye, Tinkerbell," Lizzy said, waving her friend goodbye.
"Bye, Lizzy," Tinkerbell replied, though it was jingling to Lizzy but she got the feeling that Tinkerbell was saying goodbye, and she flew off towards the home tree.
When she touched down in the home tree, she walked through the entrance. Most of the fairies had gone to the dormitories set for boys and girls. A few were still walking about or working but they would soon be settling down for the night.
As Tinkerbell walked towards one of the girl dormitories to her left, a squeak behind her caught her attention and she turned to see a field mouse walk up to her.
"Hiya, Cheese!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, walking up to him and rubbing his head. "Did you enjoy those sugar cubes we gave you earlier on?"
He squeaked and nodded in reply, meaning yes. "Oh, that's good," Tinkerbell said.
"Cheese?" a voice said from outside and the two looked towards the entrance to see Bobble and Clank. "Ah, there he is!" Bobble said. "Hello, Tinkerbell,"
"Hey guys," Tinkerbell replied. "He wondered in here,"
"Well, it's time for you to go to bed now, Cheese," Clank said to him and the field mouse gave a final squeak at Tinkerbell as if to say goodnight and followed Clank and Bobble outside.
"See ya, Cheese. See ya guys," Tinkerbell said as they left.
"Bye, Tinkerbell," Bobble and Clank replied in unison.
More voices came from outside and she heard Clank and Bobble talk again. Then, the entrance leaves to the tree moved again and Silvermist, Fawn, Iridessa and Rosetta came in, chatting happily.
"Hey girls," Tinkerbell greeted.
"Hey, Tinkerbell," they chirruped.
"How was your day with Lizzy?" Silvermist asked.
"Oh, it was amazing!" Tinkerbell replied. "I've got so much to tell you guys, I-I don't know where to begin!"
"Well let's go to the dormitory and you can tell us then," Iridessa said.
The group began to walk towards a small hole in the side of the tree where a large green leaf was blocking the way into the room on the other side when Tinkerbell suddenly stopped.
"Hey guys, where's Vidia?" she asked.
"I think she's still outside," Fawn replied. "I saw her a few minutes ago out there,"
"Has she been alright lately?" Tinkerbell asked them, a hint of concern in her voice. "I mean, she was worried yesterday when I asked her if she wanted to come to see Lizzy with us and she said she would come over with us when we took Cheese over there,"
"Yeah, she's been acting a little whenever we ask her if she wants to see Lizzy and her father," Iridessa said.
"Wonder what's wrong with her?" Rosetta asked.
"Well, I'm gonna go talk to her," Tinkerbell said. "I'll meet you guys back in there in a minute," and she flew off towards the home tree entrance.
"Okay, see you in a minute, Tinkerbell," she heard her friends say.
She pushed the leaf doors out of the way and found herself outside. The dark night sky was much closer now as if it were taking over the sky. The moon was following it as both advanced westwards. The sun had finally set and the last of the fairies outside were heading back to the tree. Tinkerbell flew up a little higher into the air and scanned the surrounding fields and sky for Vidia. A few fairies greeted her as they passed but she was too occupied with looking for her friend.
Then, her eyes rested on a shape moving above the grass below. It was a violet colour and seemed to be creating a light breeze as it went. That was Vidia alright. Tinkerbell flew down after her fiend, who was starting to slow to a halt above the ground.
"Hey, Vidia!" Tinkerbell called and her friend came to a halt and turned to face her.
"Oh, hey, Tink," she replied as Tinkerbell came to a halt in front of her. "You okay?"
"Yeah, um…Vidia, can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Um…well, okay," Vidia said. "What's wrong?"
"Well nothing's wrong, but … well… it's … with you and … the way you've been acting lately," Tinkerbell said nervously.
"What d'you mean?" Vidia asked.
"Well… it's with you and … um … and Lizzy and her father," Tinkerbell answered.
"Oh," Vidia's eyes went a little wide at this point as if she was worried that Tinkerbell had found it out. "W-w-what about me and them?"
"Well, when I asked you if you wanted to come with us and visit them yesterday, you had a worried expression on your face and you then said that you were busy. And then today, you said you would come and join us when we took Cheese over to their house and you didn't turn up,"
"Y-yeah," Vidia said lowly. "I was busy yesterday and today," she said defensively.
"Yeah, but you sounded worried yesterday when you couldn't come with us and today we were expecting you to come with us and yet you didn't turn up," Tinkerbell pointed out. "Now c'mon, Vidia, what's wrong? You can tell me,"
"Nothing's wrong, Tinkerbell," Vidia protested but Tinkerbell gave her a look that told her otherwise. She sighed. "Alright, if you want to know the truth…I don't feel comfortable seeing them," she said.
"What!" Tinkerbell said, shocked. "Oh, come on, Vidia. This-this is about last year, isn't it!"
"Well…yeah, Tinkerbell," Vidia replied. "I mean, I'm not the sort of person who can forget something like that,"
"But, Vidia. Lizzy didn't mean to capture me and her father did apologize to you. And you were okay around them last year,"
"That's because I didn't want to upset you guys or them! You did save me and I thought even though I had probably come really close to being cut up and put in a display case like all those butterflies and such he had in his study, I wanted to put it aside for then,"
"Oh come on, Vidia!" Tinkerbell's voice began to rise a little now. "You're being ignorant and unreasonable! Why can't you just forgive and forget? They did make it up to us!"
"Well you'll have to love with the fact that I can't do anything like that, Tinkerbell!" Vidia's voice also began to rise and, like Tinkerbell at the moment, her face was also staring to go red with anger. "To be honest, I think you're getting to trustworthy of Humans! Maybe you can trust those two, but what if they try and introduce any others to you?! What then?! What if they take you away and try and pin you up in a display case like they did to me?!"
"Well, you're being too accusative!" Tinkerbell half-shouted at her. "You just can't trust anyone who proves their better then you or tries to hurt you but says their sorry! They're both good people and good friends!"
By this point, Vidia, who had felt anger rising through her and threatening to explode like a volcanic eruption, had had enough.
"Then stay here and live with them!" she shouted at Tinkerbell. "If you think they're such good people and such good friends, then stay here and be a part of them!" and with that, she flew off past Tinkerbell towards the home tree. Tinkerbell watched her go, her face a mixture of shock and anger, but she did not try and fly after her and try and say something back. That would only make things worse.
Around her, the last light from behind the hills had faded and now high above her, the stars were coming out. The second star on the right that led to Neverland shined brightly in the night sky.
After a few moments of remaining where she was, Tinkerbell sighed and flew back to the home tree. When she reached the entrance, she flew down through the leaf doors and over to the dormitory where her friends were staying. She pushed through the leaf doors into the room. The dormitory was a circular room with six small beds along the wall opposite the door. A small fire lamp hung from the ceiling. Vidia was in the bed at the left end of the dormitory and was on her side with her back facing the others, who were gathered around the two middle beds which were Fawn's and Silvermist's.
"Hey, Tinkerbell," Fawn said when she saw her enter, but she, along with the others, quickly noticed the slightly sad expression on her face. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm alright," Tinkerbell replied.
"Well, come over here," Silvermist said, moving up the bed a little to give her room. "Come tell us about what you and Lizzy did today,"
"Oh, uh…on second thoughts, I'm pretty tired," Tinkerbell said, her eyes looking over at Vidia and their recent argument played itself over and over in her mind. "I'm gonna get some sleep,"
"Oh, well…alright then," Silvermist said. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tinkerbell insisted and she walked over to her bed. The others gave each other uncertain looks as she sat down on her bed. She looked once more at Vidia as if hoping she would turn over and look back at her, but she just laid there in her bed, still as a statue. Tinkerbell sighed and got under the covers of her bed and rested her head against the pillow, looking over at Vidia for a moment before heaving another sigh and turning over on her side so she was facing the wall.
What Vidia had said to her had shocked her a bit, but she was trying to get her to see the point that all of what had happened last year, Martin and Lizzy were sorry for. She just wanted to show Vidia that they were good people and they were sorry for what had happened.
Finally, Tinkerbell closed her eyes and let herself fall into a deep sleep.
"D'you think she's okay?" Iridessa asked the others.
"I hope so," Rosetta replied. "D'you think her and Vidia…have had an argument?"
"I hope not," Fawn replied. "But they might have, I mean; she didn't say hello or anything to us when she came into the dormitory,"
They all nodded. "I hope they'll feel better in the morning," Silvermist said hopefully.