Neverland, Wiser Than Us All

Just One More Night

Peter was having some repercussions from being absent at night these past two months. It meant that he usually took a nap about midday for an hour. Normally the boys were well behaved as far as young boys in the company of other young boys go, but sometimes young boys feel the need to prove themselves.

Trell and Twig had made a game of walking across hot coals and had the younger boys watching so that they could be in awe. They were in awe, and that was the problem. Arold, who was six, had a bit of an age gap between him and all the other boys. He was neither nine, like Gellard, or four like Ralts. For the most part he liked the age gap because it meant he got to be part of everything, big boys and little boys. But walking across those coals was maybe the most fantastic thing Arold had ever seen.

When Arold had said so to Gellard and Onan, they said that he could do it too! They were sure of it! But why stop there? It was one thing to walk across coals, but what about walking through fire. They would of course drench him in water so he wouldn't get burned. It would, without fail, work. With that, they stoked the fire.

Simon, Efrak, and Ordell felt that what was more impressive than walking over flames? Jumping, with makeshift wings over the waterfall to land in the deep water below.

As Peter was putting out literal flames and trying to balance firmly telling them that fire was not a toy and telling them that they would grow up, but they were not quite grown yet, and it was okay to be young. Trell's swearing and yelling cut their talk short. Peter gave one last firm warning to the boys and flew off in the direction of the ruckus.

At the top of the waterfall there was a wrecked set of "wings" on the ground, and Trell was holding Simon barely at bay as he swung wildly trying to land a punch on him. Efrak and Ordell were yelling, all the while a stream of profanities were pouring out of Trell. When Peter landed Trell turned to tell Peter what was going on, distracting him, and Simon landed a solid punch to Trell's stomach. Simon turned from triumphant to pale as the older boy rounded on him. Suddenly they were in a pile. Three against one wrestling, hitting, kicking, throwing, Simon trapped on the bottom.

Peter picked up Efrak who was holding onto Trell, who was holding on to Simon and Ordell, heaving the ball of boys a few feet off the ground. All went quiet.

"Now. What happened?" Asked Peter.

The pile all started talking at once. The Prince of Neverland bounced the pile so that Efrak almost dropped Trell and all was quiet again. Not one for intimidation, Peter landed them softly on the ground and they tumbled away from each other.

It took awhile for the boys to stop shouting their explanations, but soon everyone was calm, if glaring. Peter gave them a very similar talk to the one he had given the young ones. Now it was about being individuals and learning to see more than one side of an argument, and that sometimes people yell because they're concerned, but that's not right.

All was calm once again when Twig came marching up the hill. Solace in one arm, Belfast in the other, Ralts trailing behind. He was red faced and immediately started in on them all about leaving him to do all the work while they were up here. It was his turn to punch someone in the face...etc. Peter pinched above the bridge in his nose and turned to face this next problem when Little Bell came rushing to him.

As soon as Peter heard her he knew that something was wrong. When she reached them she bobbed up and down ringing up a storm. Peter looked to the darkening sky and his heart lurched. Something was wrong with Wendy. He felt it in his bones.

All the boys were at the top of the waterfall now. And they all looked deeply concerned. Nothing like this had ever happened. Peter looked around at his boys. They needed him. Wendy needed him.

Trell took the baby from Twig. "Go on, Boss. We've got this."

Peter hesitated another moment. Twig piped in, "Yeah, it's just one more night. We can manage."

Peter Pan looked around at his boys. "I love you. I'll be back."

"With Wendy?" asked Gellard.

Peter shrugged in true Neverland fashion and took off into the sky. Stopping only to grab his second favorite knife.