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Chapter One: A New Arrival in Pixie Hollow

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In a far distant land, somewhere called "Canada", where it wasn't always cold and snowy (like most Americans thought), and where people did not live in igloos (again, just a myth), a baby was lying down in her cradle, watching her mother prepare her morning outfit. This was Rachel. And, little Rachel was about to laugh her very first laugh, when she watched as her family's dog sat up and tickled her through the bars of cribs.

Now, when she laughed, her laugh burbled out of her and erupted, flying out of her open window, floating down through her backyard, picking up a blue lily petal, and flying on it through the rest of its trip.

It was on its way to Never Land.

Meanwhile, in Never Land, the fairies were preparing for summer. The Minister of Summer was watching as all the fairies collected all the necessary things, when a laugh cried out through the Hollow, and all the fairies were startled.

Tinker Bell, at her workbench fixing something for Fawn as she watched, stopped. "What's that?" she asked.

Fawn was all excited. "It's a new fairy!" she explained. She grabbed Tink's hand, and dragged her out. "Come on! Let's go see!"

At the Well of Fairy Dust, all the fairies and sparrow men separated into their respective talents, and watched as the Fast Flying fairies led the little lily petal to its place. Terence, the Dust Keeper, came, holding his huge cup of dust and poured it on the petal. Tinker Bell watched, entranced, as out of the lily petal came a beautiful fairy with long silky blonde hair and deep blue eyes arrived. She had pale skin, and when she stood, her blue lily petal became a dress with sleeves. She was barefoot.

Queen Clarion arrived, and Terence moved back a bit. When the Queen spoke, the new fairy turned to her immediately. "Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here. Welcome to Pixie Hollow. I trust you found your way alright?"

Tinker Bell smiled, remembering those words.

The new fairy seemed unsure, but nodded.

The Queen approached, and touched the new fairy's wings. "Now, let's see about those wings." She spread dust all over the wings, and the new fairy's imprint arrived, resembling ripples in water. She flapped her wings, rose a little, and as she started flying, the Queen helped her get it right. When she circled once, she stopped, and fluttered down.

"Thank you," the new fairy said. It was the first thing she ever said, and Queen Clarion was never going to forget it.

The Queen then summoned the toadstools, and the new fairy watched as one fairy from every talent arrived, leaving their talent symbols.

Qana from the Snow left a snowflake. She smiled a small smile as she looked at the new fairy, and then flew away.

Rosetta left a flower. She smiled at the new fairy, waving a little and then went back to her seat.

Fawn left an egg. She grinned and then flew away.

Silvermist left a ball of water. She waved sweetly at the new fairy before returning to her spot.

Tinker Bell left a hammer. She smiled at the fairy and waved casually, knowing how awkward she must feel.

Iradessa left a beam of light. She smiled and then flew away.

Vidia left a tornado of dust. She didn't even bother.

Terence left a ladle. As soon as he did, he went back to where he was before, waving at both Tink and the new fairy.

Dulcie of the Bakers left a pot.

Rune of the Storytellers left a book.

Dewberry of the Fruit left a berry.

Blair of the Painters left a paintbrush.

Magnolia of the Leafs left a leaf.

Baden of the Scouts left a bow and arrow.

... And so on.

The new fairy looked around, in curiosity. "What's all this?"

The Queen smiled her nicest smile. "This will help you find your talent, little one. You'll know when you find it."

The new fairy nodded, and then looked around. She first approached Terence's ladle, and looked up at him, seeing him all alone. She frowned when the ladle didn't do anything special, so she went to the next toadstool. On the next one, was Baden's bow and arrow. It, too, didn't do anything interesting, so she went to the next one. Blair's paintbrush seemed too dull, and Rune's book was way too big for her liking. Dulcie's pot was an ugly colour, and Tinker Bell's hammer was interesting (like Terence's ladle), but it didn't do anything special. Just to be sure, the new fairy looked up to see Tink and her two friends, Bobble and Clank, and Chipper and Fairy Mary. Again, the hammer didn't do anything, so she headed to the next one.

On the next toadstool, was Vidia's little mini tornado. It went 'POOF!' as soon as the new fairy approached it. She guessed that wasn't it, so went to the next one, and noticed Rosetta's flower. It died. She went to the egg, and didn't like the smell, so she went to Silvermist's ball of water.

That's where she saw what she was waiting for. The ball of water approached her, and it glowed very brightly. The new fairy liked the feeling of the water in her hands, and giggled a little. The Queen approached her, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Water talent fairies; come greet your new fairy, River."

Silvermist left her spot with Cera, Zazie, and Rani. River, as she was just named, smiled as the four girls approached her.

"Hello, raindrop, my name is Silvermist, and this is Cera, Rani and Zazie," Silvermist greeted. "Come with us as we show you the Babbling Brook and your new home!"

River paused for a second, as she stared at the strangest of the four. While Silvermist, Cera and Rani looked pretty much normal, Zazie was the most eccentric looking.

She had a dull look on her face, looking slightly uniformed and outright impassive. Her clothing was designed from the pink flowers of lily pad, blue tulips and blue calla lilies, with the pink being the collar, and the bottom of her dress, the blue calla lily being the sleeves (going to her wrists), and the tulip being the main part of the dress. Her hair – being a really dark black – was done very short with really long bangs parted from the middle to the sides of her face. Her eyes were two different colours; her left blue and her right a light sea-green. Her shoes were blue boots.

Silvermist noticed this, and shook her head. "Don't worry about Zazie; you'll barely even realize she's there half the time, so come on!"

Rani stayed behind. "I think I'll stay here and help the Baking talents!"

"Alright!" called back Cera, confirming it.

Thus, Silvermist, Cera and Zazie took River to Havendish Stream, near the Babbling Brook and Springtime Square. River took in everything that she could, amazed by all the colours and the friendly fairies waving hello as they flew above them. Others smiled and continued on with their work.

Suddenly, a hand gripping onto her hand snapped her back to reality when Silvermist grabbed it and pointed in a direction – that direction leading River to Summer Glade. "That's where we live, River! Somewhere along there is Havendish Stream – where your house is! Somewhere."

Zazie shook her head in disappointment, and flew off, motioning the other three to follow her.

"Okay, Zazie!" Silvermist called.

Zazie took them to the small town near the Stream, and led them to a short distance away from it, to a nice home build from a shell topped and decorated with water lilies, sitting on a large, moss covered rock. There was a porch, and small flight of stairs. River looked upon it with astonishment.

"House," Zazie deadpanned. "It's yours."

River smiled at the beauty that only a Water fairy – and a friend of a water fairy – would see. "It's... beautiful!"

"Isn't it?" Silvermist added, with a doe-eyed look. "It's all yours!"

"Go on," Cera motioned for River to enter it first. "Go in! We'll show you around!"

River went in, Cera followed, and then Silvermist. She looked at Zazie and motioned for her to follow as she flew in. "Come on, Zazie!"

Zazie, once more, shook her head in dismay, but followed nonetheless. This was obviously not what she wanted to be doing right now.

Inside was possibly more beautiful than the outside. There was a loft, where the bed sat, built specifically by the Tinker fairies, and the furnishings were decorated with water drops, sea shells, and blue light beads. There was a vase at the table filled with blue lilies. River enjoyed looking at all the things, and then went to the closet, where she found beautiful dresses. They looked either too big or too small.

"We didn't know your size," Cera explained. "But I'm sure you can adjust to any way you want."

River looked confused.

"Cut it," Zazie explained, coming out of nowhere, with a pair of fairy scissors.

River took them and looked them over, nodding in understanding now.

The three other fairies flew to the door. They were obviously going back to work.

"We'll be by the Stream, alright, Raindrop? We'll wait for you!" Silvermist explained, and the three left.

Once she was alone, River looked around her home once more. Smiling, she went to the dresser, and looked at the nice dresses. She saw a tulip dress with the calla lily leaves – this calla lily in green. The tulip was blue. River frowned. This dress reminded her of Zazie, who had kind of scared her with the passive attitude.

Nonetheless, she tried it on. The sleeves went further down her arms and right by her hands. The tulip went to her ankles. River looked around and saw the fairy scissors that Zazie had given her before. She grabbed them, and started trimming.

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Silvermist, Cera and Zazie stayed by the stream, making dewdrops, water fountains, and creating ripples in the water. Rani walked by them, and smiled.

"Where's River?" she asked.

"Oh!" Silvermist exclaimed, startled, "She's at her new –"

"Home," Rani finished, smiling at the black haired beauty. "I see. She seemed more disturbed by Zazie than by my lack of wings."

Cera frowned. "I don't even think she noticed."

"No," Zazie put in.

Silvermist smiled at the girls. "Why would she be so disturbed by Zazie, anyways? She's still a water fairy!"

Cera now had a scowl on her face. "I don't know. Maybe because of Zazie's dress? Her passive attitude?"

Rani sniffled. "Don't be so rude about Zazie! Despite all that, she is still a nice fairy!"

Zazie's eyes widened all of a sudden. "Alert. Vidia."

"What?!" All three of the girls that were arguing turned to see Vidia flying above them. She circled around them three times before settling on the lily pad by Zazie.

"Hey, sweeties. I hear the new fairy is yours. Congratulations. Let's hope this one doesn't ruin the preparations for summer," Vidia teased.

Silvermist was the most insulted out of the four girls. "Hey! That was also your fault!"

Vidia shrugged. She didn't care. She flew off into the distance. None of the four water fairies noticed River in the background.

"Um... is everything alright?" River voiced. Rani and Zazie were the ones to turn around. Zazie inspected the dress that River had made from the large one.

River had trimmed the dress to a rough, laced look on the ends. The bottom of the dress, although trimmed with no experience, still happened to look nice. The sleeves had been trimmed to only a few fairy inches long. The shoes that she wore looked a size too big, but they were nice jade green boots that looked like they would stay on her feet for a while.

Rani smiled. "You look even cuter!"

Although a little self-conscious about her chosen clothing, River smiled. "Thank you."

Zazie didn't know what to say.

Silvermist came over and grabbed River's hand. "Come on, raindrop, let us show you some tricks to do to get you started!"

River smiled. "Alright!"

While they showed River the tricks, Zazie stayed back, sitting on a single lily pad and watching them. That was when Sayo, a snowflake fairy, showed up, in her ice coloured white rose dress with frilly sleeves that went to her elbows, and her white snowflake shoes and sat down next to her, her long, white hair tied back.

Sayo inspected the scene, not recognizing River. "New fairy yours?"

"Weren't you there?" Zazie asked in return of Sayo's.

"No," Sayo explained simply. "Name?"

"River." Zazie's look didn't change one bit.

Sayo frowned at the "watery" name. "That's so water-talent."

"It is, isn't it?"

Sayo calmed down and looked at Zazie, a look of sorrow on her face. "I'm probably not going to be able to go again this year. I can never seem to make a snowflake. I think Qana is right. I think I am incomplete. If I really can't make a snowflake, then something is wrong with me. So what if the little snowflake glowed really brightly when I arrived? What can I do? I've never even been to the mainland."

Zazie stayed quiet, used to this monologue.

"We have practice tonight, don't we?"

"We do."

"I Knew it."

Zazie raised a single eye brow. "You don't want to do it?"

"Not really."

"Then we don't have to."

Sayo nodded, and sniffled a little. Zazie's expression was priceless to Sayo. The beautiful face was covered in sorrow, sympathy, and hatred towards Qana and the Minister of Winter. Ever since Sayo arrived in Pixie Hollow, just a few days apart from Zazie (Sayo was older by three days, actually), it was clear that she either incomplete, or the bright, shiny glowing snowflake was wrong. A lot of Sayo's fellow snowflake fairies didn't like her – especially Qana, the "poor soul" charged with teaching Sayo. The Minister of Winter especially was not that proud to be known to have the seriously useless fairy a part of the Winter fairies...

And poor Sayo was always ignored... and that was starting from Day one.

Day Three of her life brought some good. A green calla lily brought a laugh from Hawaii, and that laugh was born into Zazie, a water talent fairy. And the person Zazie laid eyes on was Sayo. After a rather long lesson from Wata, a fellow water fairy, she went searching for the snowflake fairy.

The first thing Zazie said to her was "Why are you crying?"

And Sayo's... "Why do you care?"

And somewhere along that conversation, they began their friendship. Zazie made it her life's work to help Sayo learn how to make snowflakes... figuring it was as easy as making dewdrops. Somehow.

The two turned back to River when Silvermist cheered. The newcomer had managed to fill the entire spider web with dewdrops. Sayo smiled as Zazie was amazed.

"It seems that you are not the one to teach her. Pity."

"I can live with that," Zazie commented, as she began to fly towards the small group. "Try this." She spoke to River, as she had noticed River's drops were rather spread out.

Zazie started simply. She took a dewdrop of water, and flew up to the spider web next to River's, and simply flew beside the spider web, her hands moving like water, moving the dewdrop beautifully across the spider web. River was amazed! It almost looked like art.

"That's amazing!" the newcomer voiced, excited. "I can't wait until I am able to do that!"

Zazie only looked at the newcomer oddly as she attempted a back flip and fell right into the water.