Page 101 of Wings of Reverie

Found in the Snow Globe Mountain Workshop:

Addendum to “Stella and the Magic Drum,” Found inStories of Never Land and the Mainland

Stored on Stella’s bookshelf.

Not yet read by Weaver and Periwinkle.

But one year Morpheus did not come home from the Mainland, and the winter fairies who had traveled with him did not know where he had gone. Stella and Orion waited for months, but at last, they knew their friend was lost to them, and they mourned him greatly.

And the Snow Globe Mountain workshop was never the same again.

It was never the same again. But it was not a place of sadness forever.

Morpheus was lost on the Mainland for two years, far away to the north, when one winter he became separated by too great a distance from the other winter fairies to find them again. Out of pixie dust and entirely lost, he wandered for many months, lonely for his friends but comforted by the companionship of the animals who never left him.

And one month, he came to the sea.

The vastness of the view from the frosty rocks on the coast awed and terrified Morpheus. But about the time he’d come, a number of great birds—large, elegant creatures, with snowy feathers and little caps of black on theirheads—began to hatch their babies. When one hatchling, fearful and more restive than the others, would not eat or sleep, Morpheus helped the chick to find calm with his music and his unfailing kindness.

After the good turn he had done them, the birds—the chick’s mother, in particular—were eager to help Morpheus in whatever manner they could. So when Morpheus explained to them how lost he’d become, so far from home and without the means to fly, the birds offered to help. They couldn’t cross the Never Sea, of course, but autumn was drawing to a close, and they were due to fly south soon for the winter. As luck would have it, their path was to carry them past the point where the winter fairies first reached the Mainland every season.

So the birds bore Morpheus south, graceful and so strong they hardly minded his weight. They left him in the garden to meet the fairies who would bring winter to the Mainland—so that they, in turn, might take him home.

And though Morpheus knew he had made friends for life in the great northern birds, he was glad to go home and see his old friends.

i know stella was excited to see me back, but i was really surprised she broke her loom when she jumped up like that. i’ll have to help her carve a new one. —morpheus

I am so very, very glad to have you back, my friend. —Stella

p.s. my drum finally broke. maybe i’ll try the lute again. —morpheus

I’ll find earplugs for Stella. Welcome home, Morpheus. —Orion

glad to be back. p.p.s. dreamed 72 more spiders on the mainland. i will bring them to the new workshop in woolgathering glade. orion, remind me where it is? —morpheus

Count the sheep! —Orion

i don’t know what that means. —morpheus

Again, Orion, I suggest clearer directions. —Stella

Epilogue

Springtime on the Mainland

The fairies of Pixie Hollow had not dreamed for time out of mind. They had, once, when Stella and Orion and Morpheus had flown their skies amid the dreams of human children, but the talent had been lost. And in a world made of magic, you might ask, what need would there be?

Perhaps, though, the question was not one of need. Perhaps it was one of curiosity, of a love for beauty, of the magic possible when welcoming the unknown.

Perhaps the truth was merely this: Nothing is lost that cannot be found.

That day, all of the Winter Woods was finding its way to the Pixie Dust Well. New fairies, they had been told, would be arriving soon. Periwinkle and her friends finished their brunch at Blizz’s and flew away from Chilly Falls through a gently falling snow.

“Are you excited?” Gliss clutched her hands together, twirling with glee.

“Of course she is. Periwinkle, I still can’t believe you went and had a whole adventure while we were away.” Spike bumped her shoulder. “Andgot a boyfriend without telling us anything!”

“Guess things weren’t so inevitable after all,” Periwinkle said teasingly, narrowing her eyes at Spike.