"Captain Garrett," Rosalind said, curtsying politely even as Louise rushed back to Hans and helped him to his feet.
"I did not expect to see you here today, Princess Roo-sa-lind," the toad, wearing nothing but a large, plumed hat and a sword at its waist, said.
Captain Garrett took his hat off, sweeping the sand with its long, white feather in greeting, then put it back on its bald, shiny head.
"Would yooou... like to join me on a waaalk...?" the toad croaked tentatively, a faint blush spreading over his damp cheeks.
Rosalind sighed. "I'm sorry, Garrett, but I'm here with my friends," she said, pointing her wand at Louise and Hans who stood patiently nearby, stunned into silence by the sight of Captain Garrett.
They had never seen anything like him before-- an enormous talking toad wearing a plumed hat.
"Very well, Princess Roo-sa-lind," the toad croaked, sounding disappointed. "I will see you tomooorrow then."
"Garrett, wait, please!" Rosalind called, reaching out to him.
But he was already gone, only a loud splash! and a few ripples on the lake's surface indicated the place where the water had swallowed him.
As soon as he vanished, Louise approached the fairy and put her arm over her shoulders soothingly. The girl sensed how upset Rosalind was and wanted to cheer her up, help her somehow.
"We used to be the best of friends," Rosalind whispered, pressing the heels of her hands over her eyes.
"What happened to change it?" Hans asked, joining the two girls.
"Garrett asked for my hand in marriage. My father agrees, he thinks I should accept his proposal."
"But you..." Louise spoke quietly.
"Garrett is my dearest friend, but I can not marry him. I love Blue."
"Your Butterfly Fairy boy," Louise concluded.
"Yes," Rosalind said, squaring her shoulders, pulling herself together. "I won't marry either Garret, nor Sir Francis. I'll find Blue..."
"Who is Sir Francis?" Hans asked, his eyebrows knitting in surprise. Wasn't one unwanted suitor more than enough?
"My mother's best friend. An old, wise... mole. I'll tell you later. Hurry up now, you two have no wings. It will take us forever to get home," she said, urging them to move.
Hans shook his head and rolled his eyes as he looked at Louise. Even though he felt sorry for the fairy because of all her troubles, he still thought that she was very annoying.
However, he was beginning to enjoy this adventure. As the girls started to walk away, Hans looked back towards the lake, to the spot where, just before Garrett had appeared, he had seen something, someone unusual, peeking out of the deep blue water. He needed to explore this place.
"Not now, Hans!" Rosalind called impatiently.
Louise ran back to him and pulled at his sleeve as he still stood rooted to the spot, lost in his fantasies. He looked at her, then with the last, longing glance towards the shore, he finally followed the girls.
"Is the piece of mirror we lost very dangerous?" Louise asked Rosalind as they walked by her side, their new shoes slipping on the large, damp pebbles, trying to make her think of something else but toads, moles, and butterflies.
"Not while it stays in that water. We'll see about it later. Let's not worry about the mirror today. There's too much to think about right now."
Louise nodded, understanding that Rosalind needed to be on her own for a while. She took Hans' hand in hers, and they slowed down a little, trailing in Rosalind's wake, leaving the fairy alone with her thoughts.
It took them a good while to walk across the wide beach and reach the meadow separating them from the rose garden.
Here, the stems of grass, swaying and whispering in the soft summer breeze, were as tall as houses, and the flower stalks seemed to touch the sky like church towers. The air moving softly around them carried the scent of thousands of flowers. Bees, ladybirds and other insects flying and buzzing high above their heads, or those bowing deeply to Rosalind when they crossed their path, then scurrying away again into the dark shadows of the thickly grown grass, were all as big as them, if not bigger. However, seeing that Rosalind paid no other attention to them but to return their greetings, Hans and Louise just squeezed their hands tighter and followed the fairy bravely.
"Where are all the butterflies, Rosalind?" Louise asked, noticing their absence.
They were halfway through the meadow now, according to their companion, and they had seen a great amount of insects and other animals, but not even one butterfly.
"They were banished from our kingdom," Rosalind muttered, sighing deeply. "Because of me and Blue."
"Your Highness! Princess Rosalind! Where have you been? Everybody is looking for you!" a small creature with large, green, pointed ears and translucent wings similar to Rosalind's came running towards them from the far end of the path. It skidded to a stop as it reached them, doubling over, trying to catch its breath.
"Is that an elf?" Hans asked the fairy, who stopped in front of them.
"Yes. A Rose Elf," she muttered without turning around.
"And are there... Water Lily, or Poppy Elves, too?" he asked, smiling, as he tried to imagine the tiny winged creature, who was clad in red rose leaves and petals, and wearing a rose hip on its head, dressed as a water lily.
"No," Rosalind replied, finally looking at them. "Rose Elves are the only kind of Flower Elves. There are Tree Elves living in the forest, though."
"Is he your servant?" Louise asked, pitying the elf. Working for someone with Princess Rosalind's temper could not be easy, she thought.
"Will you stop thinking that, Louise? I'm not that bad!" The fairy scowled at the girl, who blushed. "They are our... everything. Guards, knights, maids, cooks... friends. See, we Rose Fairies are royalty, that's why only our flowers grow elves," she explained.
How interesting! Hans searched the empty pockets of his new jacket, wishing he had a piece of paper and a pencil so he could take some notes or draw pictures. The place was amazingly awe-inspiring.
Without looking at him directly, the fairy pointed her wand at his pocket, and a little notebook appeared there immediately.
"You are welcome," she said even before he could collect his wits to say thank you.
"Princess Rosalind, your parents, their majesties..." the short elf, only reaching up to their waists, interrupted.
"I'm here now, Rolo. We are on our way," Rosalind said, smiling at him kindly. "Why don't you call Orangebeak if my parents are so impatient? My friends can not fly."
"Of course, of course," Rolo mumbled, seizing a little wooden whistle secured on a piece of ribbon tied around his neck and bringing it to his lips.
It made no audible sound but in a few heartbeats a large blackbird descended from the sky and settled on the ground in front of them, making their hair and clothes flutter in the sudden gust of wind it caused. It must have heard Rolo's whistle, which looked very similar to Rosalind's magic wand, as Louise just noticed.
The bird twisted and turned its head this way and that then stilled, looking at them curiously with one of its large, black eyes. An eye so big and shiny that Hans and Louise could see themselves reflected in it as well as in a mirror.
"Princess Rosalind," it chirped cheerfully, clearly happy to see the fairy. "And her guests."
The blackbird bowed its fluffy, feathery head to them politely, and so did Hans, while Louise dropped a curtsy.
"Orangebeak, I missed you!" Rosalind exclaimed, throwing her arms around the bird's neck.
Next to the fairy, the blackbird was as big as a very tall horse, Hans realised. He squeezed Louise's hand tighter and made her take a few steps back, just in case.
"Your mother has been ill with worry, Princess. When you did not come home last night, she thought... "
"...that you eloped again," Rolo finished the sentence, shaking his head, as his tiny lips contracted into a thin, disapproving line.
Hans and Louise glanced at each other, thinking...
"Please don't, you don't know anything about me." Rosalind scowled at them. "I don't want to hear what you are thinking about me right now. I'll explain everything to you later, then you can judge me."
"Excuse us, Rosalind. We did not mean to judge you." Louise apologised for both of them.
"I'm old enough to know what I'm doing, Hans!" Rosalind said, staring at him seriously.
It was incredibly inconvenient, how she could read their thoughts, Hans despaired.
"I know. I'll try to ignore what you are thinking but you must give me some time, I'm not used to it."
"Can't you read everybody's thoughts?" Louise asked, intrigued.
"No, I can only read the minds of humans. So this only happens to me when I get to your side of your lake, which is not very often."
"Is that where you have been, Princess? You know your parents don't approve..."
"They don't approve of anything that I do, you know that well, Orangebeak. I'll just never be a good enough daughter for their majesties, and I don't really mind anymore. However, it was them who sent me to search for the pieces of the goblins' mirror with the others. And it wasn't my fault that the shard was swept into the lake by the wind, that the currents carried it to the other side, and that I was trapped in an enormous spider web. If they didn't help me, I would still be out there!" she explained, pointing her wand at Hans and Louise.
"How did the glass get through the bottom of the lake?" the little elf, who was now pacing in a circle around them, mused.
"It was made by the goblins, Rolo. It's got its own magic. I think it was designed to find its way into their world, and I wonder how many pieces we lost there," Rosalind mused.
As she looked from Hans to Louise, sadness lurking in the corners of her eyes, the girl understood that the small piece of mirror was much more dangerous than Rosalind was willing to admit.
"I think that the others, your fairy friends, and Tree Elves managed to find quite a few of the shattered pieces. Right now, they are putting them together in the forest to see how much of the mirror is still missing," Orangebeak informed.
Rosalind nodded. "Maybe I should go to see them after dinner. They might need my help."
"Oh, I don't believe your parents will let you go out again, not before the lunch with your suitors tomorrow. They are not exactly thrilled that you disappeared, as I have already told you," Rolo said, avoiding looking at Rosalind, observing the tips of his pointed shoes instead.
"Then, maybe, I should not go home at all. I could stay with Amarylisa in the forest and send them word that I'm back and well..."
"That's not a good idea, Princess. You are in enough trouble as it is, and their majesties don't know about your guests yet," Orangebeak interrupted her, looking at Louise and Hans with his shiny black eye significantly.
"But I had to make them come with me, don't you see?"
"I do understand why you brought the girl," the bird said, observing Louise, "but the boy?"
"He would not let her come alone. I wanted to show him that Louise would be much better here. No, Hans. I know that you don't understand yet, but I can't explain anything now," the fairy said, looking at him. "We should go. My parents are waiting."
Rosalind spread her wings and flew above them, followed by her elf.
"What are you waiting for? Hop on!" she called as they stood still, watching her translucent wings shimmer in the sunshine.
"What do you mean?" Louise asked, not sure what the fairy wanted them to do.
"The blackbird, Louise, of course. Mount Orangebeak," Rosalind said as if it was the most natural thing to do, even as the bird spread one of its wings to the ground.
She didn't have to say that twice, not to Hans. He stepped on the bird's shiny plumes and sat upon its back, then reached out to Louise. The girl took his hand and let him help her mount too, revelling in the softness and warmth of the blackbird's feathers as she sat behind her friend, her feet on its outstretched wing, and wrapped her arms tightly around Hans' waist.
"Good. Let's go!" the fairy called and flew off immediately, her long black hair streaming loose in the wind.
Orangebeak eased into a flight, chirping merrily, as they followed Rosalind and her elf into the infinite blueness of the summer sky, making Louise squeal with joy and just a tiny bit of fear.