“Oh, my,” Rani said as she looked around.
Everywhere she turned, golden pearls like the one cradled in her arm lined the walls of the cave. The pearls reached right up to the ceiling.
“I’m the only fairy who has ever seen this,” Rani said to herself.
Rani and the sea horse swam around, admiring the beautiful pearls. Finally, the sea horse looked over his shoulder at Rani.
“I hate to leave,” Rani told him as they swam back through the tunnel. “It’s just so beautiful here.”
Rani thought he would take her back to the Mermaid Palace, or to the patch of seaweed where she had found him. Instead, he headed for the coral forest. “Why are we going here?” Rani wondered out loud.
The sea horse swam on. Soon, he stopped at a large cluster of seaweed. The seaweed parted and five tiny sea horses swam out, followed by another, larger sea horse. The tiny sea horses chased each other around Rani and her sea horse.
“Is this your family?” Rani asked as a tiny sea horse nibbled at her hair, then darted away. “They’re so adorable!”
Rani slid off the sea horse’s back and smiled at the sea horse family. They seemed so happy together. With a pang, Rani suddenly realized how much she missed her own family—the fairies.
“I wish I could go back,” Rani said. “I wish I wasn’t useless.”
The sea horse nudged her hand.
“Thank you for showing me the lagoon,” Rani told him.
Rani gave the sea horse a kiss on the snout. She waved and swam away. One of the tiny sea horses followed her for a while. But then he gave up and went back to his family.
Rani drifted, floating with the current.
She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to go back to the mermaids. And she felt she couldn’t go back to the Home Tree. Rani sighed.
Just then, something floated down from the top of the lagoon. It was silver, and for a moment Rani thought it might be Peter Pan’s mirror. But once it got closer, Rani knew what it was. It was a bubble message, like the one she had sent Tink.
A small flitterfish swam over to it. He prodded the bubble with his nose. But the bubble wouldn’t burst for anyone but the person to whom it had been sent. Rani touched the bubble, and Tink’s voice tumbled out.
“Oh, Rani—wherever you are—please come back!” Tink begged. “Brother Dove has been looking high and low for you. Nothing seems right without you here. We need you. Please come back. Please.”
Tink must have asked another water-talent fairy to help her make the bubble message.
She must really miss me! Rani thought. And poor Brother Dove! He’s been searching all over for me. She felt terrible that she had made her friends so unhappy.
The flitterfish swam right past Rani. “I’m glad I came to the Mermaid Lagoon,” Rani said out loud. “But I think it’s time for me to go home now.”
“RANI!” FIRA CRIED as she flew over to her friend and wrapped her in a huge hug. “You’re—”
“—back! I know, isn’t it wonderful?” Rani asked happily.
She looked around the fairy circle, where fairies were setting up for a party. And it’s going to be in my honor! Rani thought dizzily. The fairies were so happy that she was back that Queen Clarion had declared a holiday. All the talents were busy preparing.
There was even a water fountain. Everyone in the water talent had worked on it, including Rani. Six large spiders wove a thick curtain around the fountain so the water-talent fairies could work in secret. Pixie Hollow was buzzing with the news that Rani’s party fountain was extraspecial.
I never knew that everyone cared so much, Rani thought. She stroked the soft feathers at Brother Dove’s neck. He had hardly left her side since she had returned.
“Rani’s back, and she’s had an adventure,” Tink put in.
“I know—the whole Home Tree is buzzing with the story,” Fira said. “No one can wait for the big party tonight. Everyone wants to hear Rani talk about the mermaids and her trip down Havendish Stream. Did you really battle a—”
“—water snake?” Rani grinned. “I sure did.”
Fira’s eyes widened. “Wow. I always knew you were brave, but…” She shook her head.
“Well, I was kind of frightened,” Rani admitted.
“You were frightened?” Tink exclaimed. “Think about how frightened we were when we couldn’t find you!”
Rani frowned. “I wish I hadn’t worried you. I’d fly backward if I could.”
Tink grabbed her friend’s hand. “I’m just glad you’re home.”
“I don’t think any fairy has ever seen what you have, Rani,” Fira said.
It was true. And while some of her adventure hadn’t been much fun—like the water snake, the trip down Starfish Gap, and the mermaids, who had barely seemed to care when Rani went back to say goodbye to them—other parts, like meeting the sea horse, had been wonderful.
“Rani is special,” Tink said. “There’s no other fairy like her.”
Just then, Vidia flew up to them. “Oh, Rani, darling, I’m so glad you’re back,” she said with a tight little smile. “Pet, everyone was worried sick about—”
“—me?” Rani said. “Don’t tell me you were worried, Vidia.”
The corners of Vidia’s mouth twitched up into an almost-smile. “Sweet child, I see we’re having a little party in your honor,” she said. She batted her long, dark eyelashes. “Are you going to ‘help’ with the fountain again?”
Tink’s face turned red with anger. Rani spoke up. “Actually, Vidia, I did help with the fountain. Would you like to take a look?”
Without another word, Rani hopped onto Brother Dove’s back. She buried her hands deep in his soft feathers and held on tightly as he took off. A moment later, she was flying through the air. The wind was cool against her face.
“Everyone, come quick!” Tink shouted. “Rani is going to unveil the fountain!” Brother Dove wheeled above the fairy circle as fairies poured into the clearing. They came from all directions. Even Queen Clarion came flying from the Home Tree. Everyone wanted to see the fountain.
Rani let Brother Dove turn twice more before she gave him the signal. With a sudden plunge, the bird dove toward the spider threads that held up the curtain. Rani pulled a small rose thorn from her hip pocket. As Brother Dove passed the threads, she cut them one by one.
Rani broke the last thread. The curtain fluttered gently to the ground.
The fairies gasped. For a moment they were silent. Then, suddenly, they burst into applause.
The fountain was lit from the inside with a glowing golden light. The water seemed to sparkle with gold dust as it showered down the sides of the fountain. It was beautiful.
Rani and Brother Dove had spent the whole morning flying back and forth between the Mermaid Lagoon and Pixie Hollow. With the help of her sea horse friend, Rani had collected six of the magical golden Never pearls from the cave at the bottom of the lagoon and brought them back to use in the fountain. The pearls glowed just as prettily in freshwater as they did in the lagoon.
Below Rani, the fairies’ applause went on and on.
Tink put her fingers into her mouth and let out a loud whistle. Showers of sparks rained from Fira’s hands as she clapped. Rani blushed, but she couldn’t help giggling. There was only one fairy who wasn’t clapping. Vidia looked positively green.
Brother Dove fluttered his wings and landed beside Tink. Rani was instantly surrounded by fairies. Terence thumped her on the back. Tink caught Rani in a tight hug. The light-talent fairies had a million questions. Everyone was smiling and congratulating Rani at once.
Once the hubbub died down, Vidia recovered her smile. “Well, Rani. I see that you managed to do what the light-talent fairies couldn’t,” she said. She gave Fira a sideways look. “How did you—”
“—light up the fountain?” Rani finished for her. “Oh, it’s easy, if you know how.” She grinned at Tink, who winked.
“Maybe I can’t put the top jet
on the fountain,” Rani added, “but it looks as though I’m talented after all.”
Vidia stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t know if I’d say that, darling,” she replied. And with a toss of her head, she flew off.
“She sure is a pain,” Fira said as she watched Vidia fly away.
Tink waved her hand. “Don’t worry about her,” she said. “We have a party to go to.”
Rani smiled. “That’s right,” she agreed, thinking how happy she was to be back in Pixie Hollow, where she belonged.
“Besides, we’ve just found another of your talents, Rani,” Tink said. “A really useful one.”
“What’s that?” Rani asked. She was pleased to have yet another talent.
Tink grinned. “You light up Pixie Hollow!”
Rani smiled. “With the magical pearls,” she said.
Tink shook her head. “No, Rani,” she told her friend. “You light it up all by yourself.”
Lisa Papademetriou, Disney Fairies: Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon
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