The moment Nightshade was out of sight, I changed back into my human self and hurried to the tree. Eadric was still a frog, and I could see that he was holding the arm that the vole had bitten.
I cried out and fell to my knees beside him. “Are you all right?” I asked, reaching for his arm.
“I will be,” he said. “As soon as you turn me back to my normal self.”
I nodded and made up a spell as I went along:
The frog I see before me now
Is not his real form.
Make him human once again
Not cold-blooded, but warm.
By the time I got out of his way, he was already changing back. When he was human again, he flexed his arm. Smiling, he said, “Much better. It was a big bite when I was a frog, but now it’s almost nothing. I’m not sure about that spell, though. It wasn’t one of your best.”
“I was in a hurry,” I said, and kissed him.
“Emma, Eadric! Come quick!” called Adara. “Something is happening.”
The chrysalis was glowing bright green now, casting its light on the faces of the two mice standing close to it. Eadric and I hurried to join them and got there just as the chrysalis split down the middle and Queen Willow sat up. Before she could climb out, Acorn had turned back into a tiny fairy and was reaching in to help her.
Although she looked like the elderly fairy I remembered from when I went back in time, a change came over her as Acorn took her hands and pulled her from the chrysalis. The wrinkles that had lined her face, neck, and hands vanished, leaving her skin as smooth as my own. Her long hair took on a greenish tinge until it was the color of willow leaves in the spring, and the leaves of her gown now looked fresh and supple. Even her movements changed, becoming easier and more fluid.
“Will you ever forgive me?” Acorn asked as he pulled her close.
“I already have,” she whispered, and went into his arms. “I promised myself that I’d wait for you, but after the decades passed I finally gave up. I need you, too, Acorn! If you truly want the life you spoke of, I don’t think I’ll ever want to fade away.”
“It’s all I want now,” Acorn murmured. “As long as it’s with you.”
Eadric shuffled his feet and looked away as the two fairies kissed. Adara scurried over to me and tugged on my hem. “What about me?” she asked. “I’m still a mouse!”
“This isn’t the time,” I told her, and smiled when Acorn and the queen turned to face us.
“Queen Willow, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine,” said Acorn. “This is Princess Emeralda, the Green Witch, and her soon-to-be-husband, Prince Eadric of Upper Montevista.”
“And I’m Princess Adara of Lower Mucksworthy,” squeaked the mouse. “If you wouldn’t mind, Your Majesty, do you think you could—”
“This isn’t the right time,” Eadric told Adara.
“I’m quite familiar with the Green Witches,” Queen Willow said with a smile. “And I remember you, Emma.”
I curtsied, and it felt odd to bend down to someone no bigger than my thumb. “I wasn’t sure you would,” I said. “I first saw you so long ago.”
“I know,” said the queen. “It was at Hazel’s birthday party. I remember it as if it was just yesterday.”
“Fairies have excellent memories,” Acorn told me.
The queen nodded. “It’s both a curse and a blessing that we rarely forget anything.”
“I want to thank you for all you’ve done for my family,” I told her. “Having the hereditary title of Green Witch in the royal family has made a huge difference to Greater Greensward.”
“It is I who need to thank you,” said the queen. “I may not have looked it, but I was aware of everything that went on around me while I was in the chrysalis. I know what Nightshade tried to do, and I have all of you to thank for stopping him.”
“You did say that the Green Witch has to ensure the safety of Greater Greensward’s inhabitants, ‘whether human- or fairy-kind,’” I reminded her.
“I did, didn’t I?” she said with a laugh. “I guess fairies aren’t the only ones with good memories.”
“We should be getting back to the enchanted forest,” said Acorn. “Who knows what’s been going on there in our absence.”
“Indeed,” said the queen, and glanced at Eadric and me. “Are you able to fly?”
“We came on my magic carpet,” I told her. “It stopped working back in the marsh.”
“Then let me bring it to you,” she said, and waved her hand in the air. There was a whir and a whoosh and my carpet hurtled through the air, slowing as it approached us until it landed gently on the ground behind me.
“How could you do that without your wand?” asked Eadric. “I thought you needed it to do magic.”
Queen Willow laughed. “I haven’t needed a wand since I was a child. Only fairies with weaker magic need wands to focus it. I carried that stick because of its sentimental value. It had no magical power of its own. My one true love gave it to me many years ago, didn’t you?” she said glancing at Acorn.
“I found it and thought you’d like it,” he said.
They were kissing again when Eadric turned to me. “I need to go get Ferdy before we start back, and I think we should go soon. It’s getting dark and it will take us a while to reach your family’s castle.”
“I don’t think we can go to the castle just yet,” I told him. “There’s something I want to do first.”
When I glanced at Acorn and the queen, they were looking our way. “Would you like to join us on the carpet?” I asked them.
“We would love to go with you,” the queen said, smiling. “I’ve never ridden on a magic carpet before.”
“Good!” said Acorn. “That will give me time to tell you about the fairies who thought they could replace you. You won’t believe some of the changes they proposed!”
“Is now a good time?” Adara asked as I picked her up.
“Not yet,” I said, and tucked her in my pocket.
Darkness fell as we flew over Greater Greensward, and the stars made the perfect backdrop for everything we needed to discuss. Acorn and Willow had grown to full size, so we could hear them over the whistling of the wind. When Adara said that she was hungry, Queen Willow waved her hand to produce a loaf of bread and a large block of cheese. We all had our share, but Adara ate until her little belly was rounded and she fell asleep in the Fairy Queen’s lap.
It was just past dawn when we reached the clearing where Oculura and Dyspepsia lived. Smoke drifted from the chimney and I could smell the tempting aroma of something baking. As we landed outside their garden, we saw Oculura scattering feed for her chickens. Eadric and I stepped off the carpet and started toward the cottage while Willow and Acorn stayed behind to talk.
The moment Oculura saw us, she came running. “Emma! Eadric! Is that you? Is everything all right?” she cried.
“We’re fine,” I told her.
“Thank goodness! We were worried that something might have happened to you when you left after that rally. There has been so much fighting the last few days! Fairies fighting fairies, friends fighting friends, neighbors fighting neighbors. It’s been just awful. Why, yesterday two fairies started throwing rabbit pox pellets at each other right over our cottage. We had to chase them off and use the most powerful warding spell we had to keep from getting sick. They didn’t get you, did they? You and Eadric look like you have the pox.”
I reached up to touch my face. Somehow I’d forgotten the bites. They still itched, but not as much as they had at first. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “The bumps are just mosquito bites.”
“I have a cure for that! My special lotion will have them cleared up before you know it. Come inside and I’ll get you some. You and your friends can join us for breakfast, if you’re hungry,” she said, squinting when she glanced back at Willow and Acorn. Apparently she had nearsighted eyes in today. “We were just about to sit down to fried apple cakes.”
“The lotion would be great,” I said.
“And so would the apple cakes!” added Eadric.
“I’m sorry to hear about the fighting,” I told Oculura as we followed her to her cottage. “I might have a solution for that, but I’m going to need your help.”
“Is it a new spell?” asked Oculura. “I’m very good with spell development.”
“It’s not a spell,” I said, and glanced back at Willow and Acorn. “We’d like to call a meeting here at your cottage. All three candidates need to be here as well as any other fairies who would like to come.”
Oculura shook her head. “I already told you that we don’t ever want to help a politician again. The last time was a disaster.”
“You wouldn’t be helping the politicians,” I told her. “But you would be helping fairy-kind. After this meeting, things should go back to normal.”
“That would be wonderful! Now you have to tell me what you have in mind. Are you going to turn into a dragon and frighten them all into behaving themselves? That worked so well at your birthday tournament.”
“Not at all. It will be something much better,” I told her. Although I will if I have to, I added silently.
We had reached the cottage door and were just going inside when Dyspepsia looked up and saw us. She smiled when she noticed Eadric and me, but when her eyes traveled to the fairies who had finally caught up with us, she stumbled, almost dropping the platter of fried apple cakes she was carrying. Eadric noticed and ran to rescue them, helping himself to the cake on top as he set them on the table.
“Your Majesty!” Dyspepsia cried, curtsying.
“What are you doing, Dyspepsia?” asked her sister. “I know Emma is a princess, but we’ve never been formal with her before.”
“Change your eyes, Oculura! Can’t you see that Queen Willow just walked into our crumby little cottage?” Dyspepsia hurried to take the jar of eyeballs off a shelf.
Oculura looked puzzled. “And you say I’m the crazy one! You’re imagining things again. Queen Willow has faded away. Everyone knows that! Oh, all right,” she said, taking the jar when her sister shoved it at her. “These eyes are too nearsighted to be much good anyway. I put them in only so I could read the recipe for the apple cakes. These new recipe spells are tricky. You have to get them just right or you can have a terrible mess on your hands.”
Oculura kept talking even as she fished around in the jar for two new eyes. “Not these. They don’t fit quite right. And these see things only in a negative way. I want happy eyes today. Here, these will do. They’re such a pretty blue, aren’t they?” After taking out the old eyes and popping in the new, she turned and looked at Eadric and me. “My, those mosquito bites are terrible! And who is it you have with you …”
Oculura’s jaw dropped when she finally saw her other guests. “You look like Queen Willow, only young. Is that what happens when you fade? Dyspepsia, maybe we should give fading a try.”
“Be serious!” Dyspepsia told her. “That really is the queen. Welcome to our humble cottage, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, right,” Oculura said as she dropped into a curtsey. “Welcome, Your Majesty. May I ask what you’re doing here? Or how you’re young again? Or why you’re carrying a mouse?”
“Sorry,” I said, reaching for Adara. “I forgot you still had her.”
“Is now the time?” asked Adara.
“Not yet,” I told her. “Oculura, I can explain. Queen Willow is back with us because Acorn has been her true love for many years and—”
“It was true love’s kiss, wasn’t it?” cried Oculura. “I’ve heard that it’s terribly powerful magic, but I’ve never experienced it for myself. Although I think I came close when Fred, the miller’s son, took me behind the mill and—”
“Oculura!” said Dyspepsia. “The queen of the fairies doesn’t want to hear about that. Although you can tell me the rest of the story later. I’ve never heard it before.”
“I came back because Acorn is my true love and he needs me, as does everyone else, apparently,” the queen said with a smile. “I’m sorry that there was so much chaos in my absence, but I believe Emma has a plan if you’d care to listen.”
“Of course we’ll listen!” exclaimed Dyspepsia. “At least I will. My sister never knows when to stop talking.”
“Does anyone mind if I help myself to those fried apple cakes?” asked Eadric. “They’re really very good.”
“I want one, too!” Adara said, peeking out of my pocket. “Although I’d prefer a good piece of cheese.”
“Let’s all sit down and eat,” said Oculura. “Your Majesty, you can sit at the head of the table and Acorn can sit next to you, if that’s all right with you.”
“That sounds wonderful,” said the queen, leading the way to the table.
We were all hungry and the cakes were very good, so it took me a while to get around to telling the witches my plan. “It’s simple, really,” I said as I helped myself to another cake. “We want the candidates and as many other fairies as we can get to come to a meeting here in your garden. When they’re all together, Queen Willow will appear to show them that she’s back. They’ll spread the word that she’s here and that the fairies don’t have to find a new ruler. One thing I learned from all this is how many fairies love you. They’ll be thrilled that you’re back and in charge, Your Majesty.”
“And then our lives can return to normal!” declared Oculura. “I’ll call everyone to the meeting right away! I can’t wait to see their faces when they see you, Your Majesty!”
“Then you’d better make sure you still have the right eyes in,” said Dyspepsia. “It would be a real shame to miss this!”
The two witch sisters sent word of the meeting by singing bird, chirping cricket, croaking frog, and every other creature they thought could get the message out. While we waited for the fairies to arrive, Oculura slathered her lotion on Eadric, Acorn, and me. The itching from the mosquito bites stopped instantly and the swellings faded almost as quickly.
Fairies began to arrive a short time later, congregating in the garden under the watchful eyes of Oculura and Dyspepsia. Eadric and I were there as well, doing our best to keep any fights from starting.
Soon the garden was as crowded as it had been for the rally. Most of the fairies I met knew who I was and were well-mannered when they saw me. Only a feisty fairy named Firethorn and an ill-tempered fairy named Thistle didn’t seem to care that I was there. Firethorn had been declaring that he thought Chervil was the right candidate when Thistle told him, “Be quiet! No one wants to hear your opinion. Everyone knows that only dunderheads would vote for Chervil.”
“Don’t tell me to be quiet, you nincompoop!” shouted Firethorn. “My opinion is as good as anyone’s, and certainly better than yours! Who are you going to vote for, that fool Poppy?”
“Poppy happens to be the best of all three!” Thistle shouted in Firethorn’s face. “Close your mouth or I’ll make you close it!”
“Oh, yeah! You and what army of ants?” Firethorn screamed back.
I started toward them when Thistle raised his wand and pointed it at Firethorn. “Maybe a spell to glue your mouth shut would give us all a little peace and quiet!”
“And maybe you should put that wand down before you do something you’ll regret,” I said, walking up to him. “This is supposed to be a peaceful meeting. No spell battles are allowed here.”
Thistle turned and glared at me. “Oh, yeah? And how are you going to stop us? You’re just a witch. Your magic won’t work on fairies.”
“I’m not just a witch,” I said. “The rumors are true; I can be something else when I want to be. You really don’t want to make me angry.”
I decided that a show of strength might be a good idea, not only to stop the two fairies, but to deter any others who might be watching. Sometimes, frightening people can be the best option. I started to turn myself into a dragon. As I reached full size, the fairies started to back up, bumping into one another as they tried to get away from me.
“I won’t hurt anyone who isn’t here for a fight,” I announced, and breathed a tongue of flame. “If you want to fight, leave now, and don’t come back.”
I swung my head around, meeting the eyes of one fairy after another. None of them spoke up, but none of them left, either.
The three candidates were the last to arrive. By then, the crowd was getting impatient and fidgety.
“Why are we here?” Chervil asked as soon as he landed and turned full-sized. “Is anyone in charge?”
“I am,” I said, stepping forward. “In case anyone here doesn’t know me, I’m the Green Witch and one of my duties is to watch out for the welfare of fairy-kind. I saw how you handled the queen’s absence and I was very disappointed. None of the candidates running for your new ruler is good enough for you, so I decided to find one who is.”
“What do you mean, not good enough?” demanded Chervil. “You won’t find anyone better than me!”
“Or me!” shouted Poppy.
“Or me!” cried Sumac.
“Ah, but I did,” I said, and turned to nod at Eadric. He hurried off and a moment later was back, ushering fairies out of the way as the queen swept through the garden with Acorn at her side.
A wave of sound broke over us as one fairy after another saw her. Although she was much younger than she’d been the last time she held court, it was obvious that she was the same fairy.
“Queen Willow is back!” they cried.
“Never fade, Queen Willow!”
None of the candidates spoke, but when a cheer went up, all three turned tiny and fled the garden. Queen Willow was indeed back, and everyone knew that she was in charge once again.
Eadric had come to join me. I changed back to my human form while cheers reverberated through the garden, the clearing, and even into the forest as the news spread.
“Now we can go home,” I told Eadric over the noise.
“I can’t hear you,” he shouted back. “If you want to leave now, just nod.”
I grinned and nodded. We ran to my magic carpet, the cheering of the fairies still ringing in our ears. Glancing back as we took off, I saw Queen Willow and Acorn, standing hand in hand in front of her adoring crowd. Instead of facing the crowd, however, they were turned toward each other, sharing a look of true and undying love.