16Alright, back again with another chapter! Hope you all have been enjoying the story so far. In the last chapter, we had the girls preparing to head to Winter. What will they discover? Well, let's find out!
The girls led Evangeline through a trail in the woods that led right up to the border where Autumn meets Winter. The very same border where Tinkerbell first discovered her wings sparkling and eventually finding her twin. Right before they crossed, they had to make their way to the counter where one of the Healing-talent fairies was stationed, though this time it was a different fairy then the last time with a more pleasant demeanor.
"Good day to you, your majesty" The Healing-talent fairy said as she got out from behind her desk and gave a small bow, then gestured towards the bridge with a smile and said "We've prepared for your arrival and will get you ready to cross."
Evangeline and the others looked towards the bridge and saw a winter fairy and sparrow-man on the other side, giving a wave to the group as they waited for them to cross.
"Get me ready?" Evangeline questioned
"Yes. Unfortunately fairies from the warm side can't cross into the Winter Woods without first frosting their wings." The fairy explained as they got closer to the falling snow
"The frost protects our wings from becoming brittle and breaking. I almost lost mine that way, if not for Peri." Tinkerbell continued as she glanced to her wings in explanation.
"Who's Peri?"
"You'll meet her in a bit. For now, let's get frosty" Rosetta gave an smirk
"First, everyone needs to get their coats on." The Healing-talent fairy reminded them
"I got them" Tinkerbell said
She went behind the Healing-talent fairy's station and pulled out a woven basket filled with coats of different colors and began passing them to each of her friends.
"And here you go Evangeline. I made this one especially for you, sort of a keepsake for your first time in Winter." Tinkerbell smiled as she handed it to Evangeline.
Evangeline took the garment and held it out, revealing it to be a long cloak of light green fern leaves interlaced with one another. There was also clasp made from a small purple stone.
"It's beautiful, thank you." Evangeline smiled as she quickly looped it on, the green leaf cloak creating a nice contrast from her purple outfit
"So who's going in first?" the Healing-talent fairy questioned
"Ooh, I'll go!" Iridessa eagerly raised her hand
"Hold on, why not let Evangeline go first? It is her first time in Winter." Silvermist interjected with a wave of her hand towards the princess
"Actually, I'd rather she go. I want to see what happens." Evangeline admitted as she gestured to Iridessa
"Alright, here I go!"
Iridessa stepped up to where the bridge was divided from Winter and Autumn, while two Winter fairies also approached. She turned around and took a step backwards, letting her wings cross over. With that, the winter sparrow-man used his Frost-talent to created the soft powder that iced her wings, allowing them to still fly freely without fear of breaking. Iridessa then stepped into Winter, giving a small breath of vapor as she adjusted to the cold, then fluttered into the air to show Evangeline she was okay.
"Come on you guys, get on in here!" Iridessa gave cheerful encouragement to the girls to hustle
"I suppose I'll go next then" Vidia gave a shrug and walked over to Autumn's edge.
One by one, following after Vidia, there was Silvermist, Fawn, Rosetta and finally Tinkerbell. When she was inside, she turned and saw Evangeline standing idly by the edge, with the Winter fairy and sparrow-man waiting on the sides.
"It's okay" Tinkerbell encouraged her.
With that, Evangeline held out a hand towards the falling snow. She let snowflakes land on her hand, then gave a small breath of relief and then turned around and backed up so that the Winter fairy and sparrow-man could work their magic. The two of them had to work together to do it since Evangeline's wings were much bigger then the rest of them. However, when they finished frosting her wings, the frost strangely slid off.
"Huh?" The Winter fairy looked to her sparrow-man counterpart with a strange look
"Try it again" The sparrow-man said he gave a somewhat confused nod
The two then used their talent once more to cover her wings with frost, but it was the same result. This made the girls give looks of confusion and concern as they watched this happening.
"Is something wrong?" Evangeline questioned with a glance behind her.
"Well, we're having trouble frosting your wings, your majesty." The Winter sparrow-man confessed
"How come? You did our wings just fine" Tinkerbell questioned
"The frost keeps sliding off. Its almost like when it gets warm out and makes snow slide off of high places." The Winter fairy concluded as she kept trying to use her frost on Evangeline's wings but with no luck.
"What are we going to do? She can't fly in here if her wings aren't protected, and I didn't prepare an animal escort to carry her." Fawn questioned with a worried look
After a moment of silent contemplation, Tinkerbell gave a look of realization as she quickly fluttered over to the bridge and swooped in front of Evangeline, whose back was still turned away from Winter.
"Hang on. Evangeline, you're able to use the talents from all four seasons, right?" She questioned
"Well that remains to be fully seen, but I guess so?"
"Then you don't need your wings frosted!" Tinkerbell excitedly proclaimed
"Tink, what are you talking about? How else is she going to cross?" Rosetta questioned skeptically
"Don't you guys get it? She has the talents of the Winter fairies! She doesn't need the frost because she can use frost! She's both a warm fairy and a Winter fairy!" Tinkerbell explained, gesturing to herself and then the Winter fairy and sparrow-man.
"So she can cross and it won't hurt her?" Vidia questioned with a raised eyebrow
"Exactly! Try it Evangeline!" Tinkerbell eagerly requested
"Hold on! Tink, if you're wrong about this, she'll lose her wings!" Iridessa exclaimed with worry
"Trust me. If she can do the things we can on this side, she'll be able to do it for that side too." Tinkerbell said with certainty, then looked to Evangeline and asked "Ready?"
Evangeline, looking somewhat unsure, turned to face Tink and the others, unclasping the cloak from her shoulders and handing it to Tinkerbell to hold. She glanced back at her wings for a moment, where they began to slowly glow a silver sparkling color with hints of pale blue. She then took a breath before stepping into the Winter Woods. Everyone gave tiny jolts of worry as they watched her with baited breaths, unsure of whether to push her back to the warm side or to see if Tinkerbell was right. She felt the cold air, but didn't begin to shiver like the other warm fairies. She then decided to test her wings and began to flap them as a test. After a few flutter tests, she then began to fly in the crisp air. This made everyone gasp as they watched her fly around with the ease of a regular winter fairy. She held out her hands as she flew, feeling the soft, tiny snowflakes brush against them. She couldn't help but smile as she looked around at the beautiful scenery around her, blanketed in the sheer white snow. When she finally came back down, everyone came up to her in a flurry of excitement.
"That was amazing. You flew in Winter and your wings are just fine!" Silvermist said with fascination
"And you don't feel cold at all?" Fawn questioned
"No, it feels the same as the other seasons." Evangeline admitted
"How's your wings?" Vidia questioned
"Let me check, hold still." Tinkerbell piped up
Tinkerbell stepped behind Evangeline and touched one of them gently after a moment of hesitation, the wings still glittering their silver-light blue tint. She felt along the inside and up the edges, making sure that they were still flexible and not becoming stiff from the cold air.
"They're alright!" Tinkerbell gleefully reported.
"Wow, I can't believe it. Tink was right." Iridessa stated with awe
"Well then I guess we're good to go." Rosetta declared with some relief
At that moment, Tinkerbell's wings began to sparkle with its reflective light properties, making her give a look of happiness. Evangeline looked at them and her eyes widened, pointing to them with confusion in her expression.
"What's happening to your wings?" She asked with emphasis on the 'your'
"It's Peri!" Tinkerbell cheerily proclaimed, looking up to the sky in response
In the distance, they could see several Winter fairies making their way over to them. Leading them was Periwinkle, Tinkerbell's twin sister born of the same laugh. Following her was her friends Gliss, Spike, Sled and Slush, all eager looking to meet their new royal. Periwinkle's wings were sparkling as well, which she glanced at for a moment before looking down and seeing her sister, giving a big smile and wave before they all landed onto the snowy ground nearby.
"Tink!" Periwinkle called out
"Peri!"
The twin sisters raced over to one another and gave each other a huge hug.
"I'm so glad you're here." Peri said with a smile
"So am I." Tink replied with the same enthusiasm
They hugged each other some more before parting and talking to one another, while everyone else from Peri's group went over to greet Tink's group. Sled went up to Rosetta and took one of her hands into his with a smile.
"It's good to see you Rosetta, I've missed you" Sled said with a small smile and low voice
"Oh honey, I'm always happy to see you." Rosetta said with a flirty smile, fanning herself with her hand
With Gliss, Spike, and Slush, they met up with the rest of the group, with Gliss looking much more eager then usual.
"Glad you guys could make it! Since winter's over for a while, we've got time to relax and have some fun!" Gliss said excitedly, then quickly asked "You didn't happen to bring any acorns, did you?"
"Not this time, but I'll be sure to have some brought to you next hibernation." Fawn said with a smirk
"Oh! It's a promise!" Gliss giddily replied
"Seriously, what is with her and the acorns?" Vidia questioned Spike
"I think it's shape she likes." Spike said with a shrug
"Wonder how she would react to a pine cone?" Silvermist questioned.
Evangeline quietly watched everyone talking to one another, not wanting to ruin the good mood for everyone with her presence. However, Tinkerbell stopped chattering and composed herself, then stepped sideways and held out a hand towards Evangeline for Peri to see.
"Peri, I'd like you to meet Princess Evangeline."
Peri gave a small gasp as she saw Evangeline, who smiled to her and gave a nod of the head to her Winter subject. The rest of Peri's friends all looked over with the same awed expressions when they heard Tinkerbell introduce her as 'Princess'
"It is…an honor to meet you, princess. Welcome to Winter" Peri responded in awe as she gave a tiny curtsy by using the sides of her top.
"Hello, it's good to meet you too" She said with a small wave, then looked back and forth Tinkerbell to Periwinkle and said "You two look so much alike. You could practically be twins"
"Well, funny that you say that, cause we are." Tinkerbell stated with a confident nod
"Really? But how's that possible?" Evangeline questioned with a surprised look
"We were born from the same laugh, but got separated on the way here. I was brought to Winter, and Tink ended up at the tree." Periwinkle explained as she stood side by side with Tink.
"That's amazing! Sister fairies!" Evangeline said with awe of her own.
"Almost as amazing as a fairy princess." Spike said with an impressed look
"Wow, I can't believe it! We've always had a Queen, but we've never had a princess before! This is so exciting!" Gliss said with giddy.
Before anyone could say anything else, the snow owl carrying Lord Milori gave a noise to alert them to his presence before landing. Lord Milori made his way past his Winter fairies and came striding over to the girls, giving a polite bow to Evangeline as he greeted her.
"Welcome to the Winter Woods your majesty. I-"
Lord Milori noticed that Evangeline was the only one out of the rest who wasn't dressed warmly and her wings weren't frosted, which made his face change to panic and seriousness.
"Your majesty, we must get your wings frosted as soon as possible! How could you bring her to the Winter Woods like this?!" Lord Milori said as he quickly took off his cloak and swooped it over Evangeline, covering her wings.
"Lord Milori, it's alright! She's not going to freeze because she's just like you guys." Tinkerbell quickly jumped in between them and explained with hands raised in defense
"What do you mean?" He questioned with a confused look.
"Remember what Queen Clarion told us at the tree? Her talents touch across the seasons. Show him"
Evangeline gave a look of consideration for a moment before holding out her hands. She took a breath, then with a swirling motion of one hand, she created a ball of soft frost. This made Periwinkle and her friends give small sounds of surprise while it made Lord Milori gasp for a moment before giving a look of seriousness.
"I was told of what happened at the talent ceremony, but I was not completely convinced. But now…" He said, looking carefully at the frost in her hands before looking back to her and saying "It would seem the founding Queen was correct."
With that, he gave another serious yet polite bow, to which all of the winter fairies followed suit. As they did this, Evangeline glanced down at the frost, silently considering what was said. Then suddenly, without warning, Slush was hit squarely on the top of his head, causing his to fall backwards into the snowy ground. When he glanced up, Evangeline was holding back laughter with her hand. This made Spike smirk at this in response.
"Oh it's so on!"
With that, she summoned another ball of frost and threw it to Evangeline, but she managed to dodge it and it hit Fawn in the face. This caused a chain reaction that ultimately led to a snowball fight. Lord Milori managed to get himself out of the mess and stood on the sidelines with his owl as he watched the fairies play. While the warm fairy side was needing to collect snow from the ground, the Winter fairies were beginning to have the upper hand. However, what they didn't see was Evangeline, who had escaped to the sidelines next to Lord Milori, had created a large ball of snow above the snowball battlefield. She gave a whistle, which made everyone look over to her. She pointed up, which made their eyes follow upwards, and their faces were quickly reflecting horror as they realized their were in trouble. But it was too late, as she let the giant snowball fall down and caused everyone to be buried in it.
As everyone wiggled their way out of the large snow pile, Evangeline and Lord Milori gave a laugh at the sight of them.
"Impressive ice work your majesty."
"Thank you." She said, giving a nod before taking off his cloak and handing it back to him, saying "Here"
When he took his cloak back, before he could swing it around onto his shoulders, his owl jerked back as a bunny covered in white snow came racing by, causing the bird to flap its wings to keep its balance. This made Lord Milori turn to him to calm the owl down, while still holding his cloak in hand. Evangeline, seeing his backside, held a hand to her mouth as saw his wings. Or rather, his one wing and his other broken wing.
Lord Milori finally managed to settle his owl, turning back to see Evangeline still covering her mouth in shock. He couldn't help but grimace a little at her expression, quickly putting his cloak back on.
"I'm sorry your majesty. I didn't want you to see me like that." He apologized quietly
"No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I was just…surprised." Evangeline gave a panicked apology, then composed herself and asked "That's the reason you were so worried about me and my wings, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I never wish for another fairy to lose something this precious to them like I did." He replied solemnly, holding a hand to his shoulder in self-comfort.
"I see…" Evangeline gave a disheartened expression
"Do not trouble yourself with it. I've grown accustomed to this life. And my friend here helps me get to where I need to go." Lord Milori smiled as he patted her shoulder, then looked up to his owl friend who gave a small 'oo' in response
At that moment, everyone managed to get out of the snow pile and came over to them, brushing off the remaining bits of snow off themselves.
"So princess, what would you like to see first?" Peri questioned.
"Oh! Let's take her to ice falls! We can go ice skating!" Gliss suggested
"Does that sound good Evangeline?" Tinkerbell questioned with smile
"It sounds great!"
"Well then, I'll shall leave you all to your tour. And be sure to come by the Library before nightfall."
With that, Lord Milori gave one final bow to Evangeline before climbing onto his owl and flying off.
"Come on, let's go!"
Gliss eagerly took Evangeline by the hand and started to pull her to the falls, with everyone following along in anticipation. Evangeline couldn't help but look up towards where Lord Milori flew off, looking a bit uncertain but then shook it off and joined everyone in their eagerness to go skating.
Alright everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you for the next one soon!