Legends Of Nadir | A Disney Fairy FANFICTION

Chapter 7: From the Ashes

For once, the land was not damp or flooded from early rain squalls, nor was it parched from midseason drought and recalling the direction she had traveled the previous year, Tink didn't think it was going to be such a bad trip to walk after all. She had allowed an eager Silvermist to take the lead of the bunch, lingering behind as the water-talent cheerfully skipped through the foliage. The others followed close behind, Vidia ducking under a rather low-hanging leaf and brushing it aside as though it were nothing at all. 

Behind her trudged Scarab and Shade, listening quietly as Iridessa and Fawn explained every fine detail about the humans' world in exuberant detail. Scarab--who had seen some of this before--nodded along with just about everything, while Shade--who hadn't even come close--stared on with a wonderous expression that was nothing less than would be expected from a tinker. It was a feeling Tink recalled perfectly. 

"Um...there's a cat?" both said together, though Scarab sounded much more excited about that than her counterpart.

"Oh, yeah!" Clank cut in, materializing beside them. Shade jumped. "Mr. Twitches, if I recall. Nice cat, really."

Scarab arched an eyebrow. "There's such a thing?"

"Well, when you have someone like Miss Fawn, it is!" he answered, not missing a beat but totally oblivious to the way Shade was now hiding behind the animal-talent at his overbearing enthusiasm. 

He's still so timid, Tink noticed. It had been...some time since he'd come back to work in the Nook. No one had treated him any differently than the other guildmembers--certainly not the way they had when Bobble had first returned--and Fairy Mary, who knew all about his condition, had done her very best to help him fit in. Tink could tell he appreciated it; even if it was just by means of an anxious smile here and there or the way he calmed whenever he was given a task and held responsible to complete it. He was happy as a tinker. Tink could see that. So, she wondered, not for the first time, why had he have so much trouble fitting in before?

Bobble brought up the rear of the gang, silently trudging after the rest of them. He hadn't had a lot to say for the majority of the trip, but Tink chalked that up to his determination to be their lookout in case a hawk spotted them, or a human inadvertently stumbled across their path. He's taking his role as Protector very seriously, she mused. Well, former Protector now, but it probably wasn't easy to shake a habit so intertwined into who someone was. I'm glad Queen Clarion decided to let him come, she thought. I think he needed this break...we all did.

She caught sight of the way he tugged at his backpack's straps--possibly an alternative relief for his nerves that he usually dealt with by fiddling with his jacket. But it was summer, and the jacket was gone, which Tink was grateful for--even if it did mean everyone could see the jagged tears throughout his wings and the charred edges of what remained. 

It was a firm reminder to him, and to everyone who saw him, of what he had sacrificed that day to save them. Tink remembered vividly the shock of the rest of the Hollow when he'd come limping back into the Nook just hours after the fight.

"Phineas!" Fairy Mary's voice rose above the clamoring of the workshop, and everyone paused what they were doing to stare at the redhead as he hobbled into the Nook, favoring one leg and dropping awkwardly against the rocky alcove to steady himself and catch his breath. 

Tink glanced up from her stack of buckets she was preparing for Silvermist's guild. At first, all she saw was the lingering smoke in the distance as the water-talents extinguished the last of the flames--and then her eyes drifted downwards to him and everything swirled back into focus.