What Became of Green

A/N. As Morrigana rightfully pointed out, I'd forgotten to wrap up Green's story. So an epilogue is called for with Green receiving a special acknowledgement from her boss' bosses. The tone here is different–once I got a hold of the idea that none of the good folk would know what the dagger was, I fell irretrievably into humor. So if you prefer consistency in tone, you can skip the epilogue: just rest assured, Green came out fine.

Green was in no rush to return to Fairy Glen. She justified prolonging her stay with the correct assumption that Blue couldn't possibly get any madder than she was right now, so why rush back? And it was just so sweet watching the spinner and his son fall all over themselves to take care of Princess Belle, who in turn had her entourage falling all over themselves to do nice things for the little nameless village, beginning with running the duke out of the county.

And it was so much fun watching King Maurice scratch his head in puzzlement when his guards, after confiscating everything in the duke's possession (because now they had the time-consuming job of returning to its rightful owner everything the duke had stolen in his long career), brought to court a pile of things they couldn't identify. Among those objects was a knife with the word "Zoso" emblazoned on the blade in ornate letters. None of Maurice's advisors had any idea who, what or where a "Zoso" was, perhaps just a flatware maker who'd gone out of business, and when tested, the knife proved nearly useless for carving meat or slicing bread. Maurice puzzled over the knife for several long minutes; it wasn't even good for mumblety-peg. Finally he shrugged, declared that the dull knife wasn't worth the effort it would take to figure out the meaning of "Zoso," and offered it to Belle for her hope chest (for Maurice could see which way the wind blew, and he figured he'd better start preparing for his daughter's wedding). Belle thought the tacky knife clashed awfully with the modern, minimalist look she was going for with her decor, so she offered it to Rumple, to scrape sheephide with; Rumple, finding the knife insufficient for his work, made a present of it to Bae, who, after finding it worthless for whittling, dropped it into a drawer and forgot about it.

A year later, while packing their household for the move into a lovely modern split-level Maurice had given them as a wedding gift, Rumple, Belle and Bae rediscovered the knife and with a shrug, tossed the useless thing into the garbage pit, along with rotting apple cores and potato peels and cookfire ashes, and covered it all with a mound of dirt.

After the duke was run out of the county, the Dark One was observed just sort of hanging around his ex-master's former estate for several weeks; later, he was spotted slinking around farm-to-market trails, begging for coins; and much later, it was reported he'd signed on as the cook for the Jolly Roger. The last he was heard of, the crew of that dark ship had tossed him overboard (for his cooking had sent the entire crew into a fit of dysentary) and he wound up a swamper at the Spy Glass Saloon in the faraway land of Bristol.

So with all that entertainment to enjoy, Green took her time going home; in fact, nearly four years passed before she finally decided to face the music. Blue hadn't calmed down any in those intervening years: she'd simply had more time to lengthen her list of grievances against Green. When Green did present herself for judgment, the harangue lasted six days, for Green had broken almost every rule in the Book of Proper Fairy Conduct (ninth ed.). At last, Blue's voice gave out, and, wearied, she waved her wand, Green's wings vanished, the Trap Door of Rejection opened and Green landed unceremoniously on her fanny. From their airy perches, her sisters waved a sad farewell, for she was well liked despite her rebellious nature.

But her sisters' tears quickly changed to gasps, for, as they looked on, the Fates themselves appeared at ground level, picked Green up, dusted her off, gave her a set of not two wings, as she'd had before; not four wings, like Blue; but six rainbow-shimmery gossamer wings. "Oooh," the fairies crooned, "ahhh," and Blue turned red in the face, for the Fates were her bosses and clearly, they weren't happy with her now. And if Blue was a master of haranguing, well! Just see what happens when Morta's on a tear, because Morta always gets in the last word. It's said that Atlas shuddered when Morta called Blue onto the carpet.

With Green, however, the Fates, who normally didn't rub elbows with mortals, kept it short. "It is true, you violated the rules set forth by your supervisor," said Nona, "and for that we thank you."

"For we sent a messenger to the fairies, and none but you would hear her," said Decima, glaring up at redfaced Blue. "And so we've decided it's time to start a second training camp for magical beings, a proper school, and we want you to head it up."

"We've already chosen the location: the most enchanting land in all the realms, a territory called Scotland," Nona added. "And the school will be called Hogwarts. Will you accept this task, Green?"

"I shall, with thanks!" Green kissed the cheeks of Nona and Decima, but when she reached out to Morta, that worthy wagged a warning finger. "You don't want my kiss, dearie, not for many years to come, but instead I give you this, a new name: Tinkerbell, which in the ancient tongue means 'maker of beautiful things.'"

Then the eavesdropping fairies gasped and gaped, for never had a fairy been given a unique name: even fairy queens had been named after a color, and those names were not unique: when a Blue died, the next fairy born was given the name Blue. But there would ever be just one Tinkerbell.

As headmistress of the new school, Tinkerbell was far too busy to visit the Enchanted Forest often, but she always set aside time to attend the name day of a descendant of Princess (later, Queen) Belle and the Royal Spinner, for on their wedding day, she had appeared before them and offered as her gift her patronage to all their progeny for ten generations to come. It was a most remarkable gift, but Tinkerbell figured she owed her success to them, for, if Belle and Rumple hadn't decided to fall in love, Tinkerbell would most likely be swamping out a seaside saloon somewhere.

And she'd still be Green.