Away with the Fairies

*°•○Part Thirteen○•°*

The following morning, Rosalind woke up quite impatient and equally nervous to try her memory spell.

It was not a spell that either Rose or other Flower Fairies were supposed to know. It belonged exclusively to Forget-Me-Not Fairies, and one of them, a childhood friend of hers, taught it to her a long time ago, Rosalind explained to Celeste, Hans and Louise over breakfast. Back then, they used it for fun, to make their other friends, and Rosalind's Rose Elves forget things momentarily.

Even though it seemed innocent enough, the Rose Fairy said as the four of them walked down the beach, squinting their eyes against the strong sunshine and the cold wind, it was a serious spell and if carried out properly, and in its full extent, dangerous.

Moreover, and that's why she remembered it now, it was supposed to work the other way round as well and make lost memories return. But, Rosalind had never tried it this way, and when they finally entered the main tent, meeting Roza at the entrance, she looked really anxious.

They listened to the Rose Elf, who informed them quickly that Rolo and the birds left the camp at daybreak to explore the beach and the nearby cliffs. Then they all followed Celeste further inside, towards the long rows of beds.

"We have nothing to lose, Rosalind. You said it yourself, even if your magic won't be successful, it won't make anything worse. Just try it. Please. Let's see... the spider over there. He has been well enough to go home for days now, if only he remembered where he lives. Most of them are quite well, Rosalind, the swallow, the ladybird, the squirrel... If you manage to help them remember anything, you'll help them return to their lives, and they might tell us something about Blue as well. Any of them might have met him!" Celeste insisted.

"That's true, Rosalind. If it really is a safe spell that can not harm them, I think you should try it," Louise said.

"I agree with them. We need any information these creatures might provide," Hans added seriously, as he fished his notebook from his pouch.

"Fine. I'll do my best," Rosalind said, squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, then following Celeste to the spider's bed.

The Rose Fairy passed a few moments in intense concentration before she pointed her wand at the sleeping spider's forehead. After waving it around a few times in an intricate evolution and muttering a long stream of incomprehensible words, she stepped back and let Celeste wake the creature up gently.

"Good morning, how are you feeling today?" the Butterfly Fairy asked the spider cheerfully, as she most likely did every morning. She passed her patient a small tray with breakfast, which another butterfly, a girl with wings as large and white as those of angels, brought to her from an adjoining room of the tent. "Are you ready to go home?"

The little spider looked thoughtfully around himself before he said, "I... my name... is Hugh... and I have a wife, she'll be sick with worry! Celeste, I can remember!"

"Then you must thank Princess Rosalind." Celeste beamed at the Rose Fairy.

"Princess Rosalind! I... It's such an honour..."

"Please don't. I'm glad I could help," she said, approaching the spider again and kneeling by his bed to let him embrace her.

While the girls moved to the next bed, Hans was left with the spider, his notebook at the ready, to hear his story and see if the creature would tell them anything useful.

Soon they were joined by Blue's parents and more silent, white Butterfly Fairies, and by lunchtime, Celeste and a few more of those who possessed a magic wand were able to use Rosalind's spell to cure the memories of the ailing patients, while others kept trying to memorise it.