Wing Care 101: Winterisation

TheCuriousSeed

Chapter 3 and what awaits us we will see!

~Mae, Daylily, Hickory, the taller Silver Winterjewel and now Acorn were ready for this excursion into the Winter Woods. Acorn had his wings frosted by Silver so he too could travel to the Winter Woods and except Silver, everyone was warmly dressed (Winter Fairies needn't wear warm clothing, but can wear long sleeves and other clothes that cover most of their bodies if they wish). Off the five...

~"Yoo-hoo, wait for us!" called Gloriosa as she and Foxglove joined.

~Off the seven went.

~When the group reached the Winter Woods, the smaller Silver was waiting for them.

~"Thank Neverland you're here," said the smaller Silver. "Winter is almost upon the Mainland in the Southern Hemisphere and we can't find the hibernators."

~"Hibernators?" asked Hickory. "You mean bears, marmots, field mice, chipmunks, ground squirrels and groundhogs?"

~"Among others, but not all are mammals."

~"Some reptiles, insects and the poorwill, a bird, actually hibernate too," said Daylily. "Are there any Wintry Animal Scouts here?"

~"Sadly, none that I know of, but we do have Wintry Animal Talents and Wintry Scouts on the job. Let's get moving on finding those hibernators."

~As the Winter Talents and the six Warm Dwellers went about trying to catch the hibernators, Daylily knew something was greatly amiss: these hibernators weren't born in the Southern Hemisphere, they were from the Northern one. She knew a huge mistake was made, but this was soon fixed with Daylily being a delegate for the animals. She had the Wintry Animal Talents cater to the Northern hibernators so the team could focus on the Southern ones.

~"Wow, that was close," said Mae.

~"I'll say!" said Gloriosa. "Wait, hold on, I can sense something moving slowly nearby."

~Everyone geared to listen in. Ever since Gloriosa learnt to converse with aquatic life, she could also detect certain species of aquatic reptiles too, like turtles. Daylily felt her heartbeat slowing and soon moved towards the source, Gloriosa in hand. However, the slow mover was...

~"A tortoise," whispered Daylily. "What's he doing here awake?"

~"Maybe he lost his way?" suggested Gloriosa.

~"He needs to find a safer place to hibernate and fast."

~Gloriosa wasn't nearly as well versed in Tortoise as Daylily, but she could at least pantomime in a sense what to do in case a tortoise was in trouble. This tortoise needed to find a comfortable place to burrow for the winter, but to keep moving he needed more warmth, ergo...

~"Look, pretty light," Gloriosa tried to say in Tortoise, but it came out as...

~"You just told him we were leading him to a predator," said Daylily after sighing and face-palming.

~"I did?"

~The tortoise began toddling away very slowly.

~"Hang on a sec," said Daylily, flying back to the tortoise. "Hi, Squareback, yeah... sorry about my friend," she began in Tortoise. "She can almost speak Tortoise, but keeps mixing up her predatory sayings and helpful sayings."

~"I'm really sleepy," yawned Squareback. "I need to dig a burrow, but I can't find any suitable soil this year. If I don't find some safe soil to burrow in, I could die from the cold or predation while exposed."

~"We can't let that happen. We'll help."

~"Thank you so much."

~Daylily returned to Gloriosa and explained that Squareback needed safe soil to burrow in and fast. The two agreed to help Squareback, but Foxglove needed to help too since she was a Light Talent as well. Here was hoping Foxglove would cooperate.

~"Ugh, this is taking forever. Can't we just Pixie Dust him?" asked Foxglove.

~"No, because that would be a waste of Pixie Dust and we all get one cup a day apiece," said Gloriosa.

~"Uh-oh," said Daylily, her heart beating dangerously slow for a fairy. "Girls, we need to warm up Squareback here; his heart is beating super slow and if mine goes any slower I could die."

~"Whoops," said Gloriosa as she made a blanket from light. "That better?"

~Squareback agreed and his heart rate was increasing.

~"That's a little better," said Daylily.

~Foxglove added some of her light too, which made Squareback happier and a little livelier. This would be a surmountable mission after all.

~No spot was good enough to hibernate in because no matter where Squareback tried, it was either already taken or in a very dangerous situation, something Daylily's sensitive fingers could read. However, there was one spot that looked absolutely perfect, but...

~"G-ROSS!" exclaimed Foxglove, covering her nose. "This area smells really disgusting!"

~"Uh, Squareback?" asked Daylily in Tortoise. "You don't want to burrow here."

~"Why not?" asked Squareback.

~"P-U, why is this soil so oily and stinky?" asked Hickory as she, Acorn and both Silvers inspected it, Hickory not even wanting to get within touching distance. "I've encountered skunks that didn't smell this bad."

~"How did the soil get so stinky in the first place?" asked the taller Silver.

~"Maybe a skunk?" suggested Acorn.

~"Acorn, this soil can't be the doing of a skunk; it smells more like sulfur."

~"We'll keep looking," said Squareback. "My nose doesn't work as well as it used to anyway."

~"Yeah, while the getting's safe," said Daylily in Tortoise.

~After some more searching, now eliminating anywhere stinky, crowded or dangerous, Daylily, Foxglove and Gloriosa finally found a nice, safe spot for Squareback to hibernate.

~"Happy hibernation," whispered Daylily, kissing Squareback between his nostrils.

~"Thank you," said Squareback as he burrowed into the ground and was now able to hibernate. It was much colder here now that the light was no longer glowing, but at least Squareback was safely hibernating.

~Off the girls flew.

~"Good news," said Daylily. "Squareback is now asleep until the warmth returns."

~"Oh, thank Neverland," said the smaller Silver. "All the others that are supposed to hibernate now are hibernating too."

~"And we figured out why the soil we tested was so yucky on texture and smell," said Hickory. "Someone came to that part of the Winter Woods and polluted said soil with some weird black slime or sludge."

~"Eeeww," said Foxglove.

~"But I think with the help of some Weather ad Water Talents, we can remove the pollution from that soil."

~"Let's try!" said Acorn.

~It took a lot of Water and Weather Scouts to remove the yucky pollutants from the soil, but after finding a way to remove said pollutants from the Winter Woods without polluting anything else, the Winter Woods was looking quite promising again. In the meantime Mae was quite busy using her new Winter Cleanser of all the fairies needing wing cleansing, then it was time to go. The Winter Woods was growing very cold and with Fauna and Snowbelle safely home in the Winter Woods, things were looking peachier than a field full of peach-based desserts.

~Finally, time to relax, thought Mae as she returned home, only to hear...

~CRRRRRKRRRRT!

~A cricket? Mae thought.

"I'd fly backwards!" called Daylily before whistling for the cricket. "Matilda hopped away again during cricket song practise and now she won't do her exercises." Daylily whistled again for the cricket, but the cricket refused to show herself.

~I'm really tired," said Mae. "What a long day."

~As Mae went to sit in a chair, she heard a cricket chirp again.

~"No sudden moves," whispered Daylily as she crept slowly to take Matilda from Mae's chair. "There," Daylily whispered to Matilda. "C'mon, you." After farewells, Daylily left.

~Mae was relieved not to have a cricket in her abode because she preferred a quieter soundtrack at night. She could now rest knowing that her work was done and satisfaction was high. Mae soon fell asleep in her own bed.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!