Chapter 3: Adventures In Tinkering

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"Sometimes hammers glow for a reason." ~ Iridessa

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The house Fairy Mary was speaking of was not at all difficult to locate, though he did notice how unusually distant it was from the other workers, and even from the Nook itself, almost as if they were afraid of him. Though, for all of his pondering, he couldn't imagine why.

It was a simple house, made out of part of a tree and filled with an assortment of unusual objects that, at first glance, he had no idea what they were for. Their names, however, came to him, as though by magic. Wrench, corkscrew, square, screwdriver...He counted them off, pausing to hold and weigh them each separately, eventually favoring the feeling of the wrench over the others. Immediately, he knew how each could be used, from the smallest twist on a wagon to the repair of an entire structure.

Cautiously, he felt his way across the room, bumping into a small table and nearly spilling onto the floor. The first thing he would have to create would have to be to make a better way for him to see. Like Fawn had said, surely it could be done. Right?

But first thing first, he needed something to wear other than his snow-white arrival clothes. Tinkers wear green. He didn't know how he knew that, he just did. After a few moments of fumbling around, he found what he supposed was intended to be the closet. Someone had taken the time to make him clothes, as he noticed the varying sizes, but even the smallest was nearly twice as big as him. Once more, he recalled the strange looks he'd received upon arriving.

He's too small.

Exhaling loudly, he pulled the smallest outfit from the rack and tossed all the others aside, locating a pair of scissors and settling down to work at a desk. Even though he could barely see what he was doing, he managed to cut down the leaves until they were more appropriately sized, though the result was a bit jagged from him not knowing where to cut, but for now, it would do. He did the same to the pants, cutting them up to knee-length. He tied a rope around his waist as a substitute for a belt and attempted to tame his unruly flames-for-hair.

He gave up on that endeavor ten minutes later with zero progress.

So, figuring he'd already kept Fairy Mary waiting long enough, he emerged back into the early morning light and flew back the way he'd come.

He was about fifteen feet from his house when he smashed into a tree branch and nearly fell from the sky. Hissing and clutching his arm tightly, he kept flying. Bits of bark had embedded just beneath his skin, and he carefully pulled them out, wincing with every movement. "Splinters," he cursed. Then, he stopped and chuckled, realizing the irony of his statement.

Removing the last of the pesky shards, he fluttered back into the Nook, watching as fairies bustled about, and attempting to sort them out and locate Fairy Mary.

He eventually found her next to a water wheel, talking with a sparrowman with thick brown hair. Their eyes turned toward him as he unsteadily landed and, at Mary's beckoning, walked over to join them.

"Ah! You're back! I trust you found your way all right?"

He hastily moved his hand to cover the scrapes and smiled shyly. "I...s'ppose so." His eyes moved from one fuzzy green blob to a smaller one.

"Oh! Right! Wedge, this is..." Fairy Mary began, only to pause and frown.

"Phineas," he finished promptly, sticking out his hand. He flashed Mary a reassuring smile. He could feel her embarrassment at forgetting his name, but he wasn't troubled. She must have had dozens of fairies to lead. It took time to learn them all.

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