Louise and Hans did not notice at all that while they walked deep down within the shadows of the meadow, the sun had nearly completed its daily journey towards the western horizon.

Now, looking in front of them from Orangebeak's back, they could finally see the long fingers of sunshine tinged in orange, pink, and purple hues. The rays caressed the beautiful Terra Sonalis spreading far and wide beneath them, growing weaker and fainter as the sun dropped slowly behind the snow-capped mountains towering in the distance.

Noticing how late it was, Hans remembered that he hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and the thought made his stomach growl.

"Are we nearly there yet?" he called into the blackbird's ear. It was difficult to speak, but even more difficult to hear anything over the air whooshing loudly around their ears as they flew through it quickly.

"We're quite close, Master Hans," the bird chirped in response as it soared in a wide circle above a large rose garden, before it started its slow and careful descent, mindful of its passengers.

Louise wasn't scared, not exactly. However, she tightened her hold around Hans' waist and buried her face in his jacket anyway, as he wrapped his arms around the bird's neck.

They touched the ground softly, at the same moment when the last trace of daylight vanished, and the first stars pierced the darkened sky. Rosalind was waiting for them at the beginning of a long lane winding its way under many rose bushes. A lane lined with... Two rows of fireflies, nearly as tall as themselves. They stood erect and perfectly still, holding long spears in their hands, their lights illuminating the path brightly.

"Night Guards," Rosalind said, responding to Hans' enquiring look.

"Thank you, Orangebeak, it was amazing," Louise, who had to force herself to tear her gaze off the multitude of enormous insects, curtsied to the blackbird. The girl never quite liked any sort of creepy-crawlies; the sight of the large fireflies made her shiver, and she laced her arm through Hans'.

Orangebeak was already shaking out his wings and ruffling his feathers before his next flight. Rosalind embraced him as a dear friend, and the bird wrapped one of his wings around the fairy.

"I won't be far, only in the forest. I want to see how your friends are doing with the looking glass. Call me whenever you need me, Princess."

The fairy nodded, and the bird, chirping loudly, flew towards the distant trees, leaving them alone.

"Where's Rolo?" Louise and Hans asked at the same time, noticing that the little elf was missing.

"He went to inform my parents that I'm back," Rosalind said, frowning. "Come on, you two must be hungry," she added, making Hans' stomach growl again.

"We are," Louise said, smiling at him.

With that, they started walking up the gravel path, between the silent, motionless rows of black fireflies. They couldn't see much beyond the Guards' bright, flickering lights, but both Hans and Louise noticed how the rose bushes grew closer together, higher up the path they went. Their blooms, swaying in the gentle wind, were bigger, and they smelled sweeter, too.

They must be in all possible colours, Louise mused, observing the roses which now, in the dark, seemed to be all blue-grey.

"Rosalind, why do your Guards need the spears, and your friend Garrett carries a sword?" Hans asked, scattering Louise's thoughts concerning the roses. She had noticed that too, but did not think it was very important.

"For protection, of course," the fairy replied matter-of-factly. "Like every kingdom, even our one has enemies. And thus we need an army."

"Who are your enemies?" Hans enquired, his curiosity growing by the minute. "The goblins?"

"Yes, them and the Snow Q..."

"Rosalind Thorne, where have you been?! Your father and I have been sick with worry!" a plump lady clad in a long, crimson ruffle dress, wearing a golden crown on top of her dark, high-piled hair, interrupted the fairy mid-sentence.

She rushed out of the trunk of the biggest rose bush, which grew in the centre of the garden, a bush as big as a tree, the moment they approached it.

"Mother, I..." Rosalind started, but she was interrupted by the angry queen again.

"Go into your room. Now. The castle is full of guests, and I can't listen to your stories now. We'll talk tomorrow morning."

"Mother, these are my friends, Louise and Hans," Rosalind said while the two bowed and curtsied to the Queen Fairy. "They are hungry...."

"I couldn't believe it when Rolo told me that you brought humans with you, young lady," her mother whisper-shouted, shaking her head, then continued in her normal voice. "I'll send you one of the elves with some food. The girl can share your room, and the young man can have the one next to yours. You must take them back home tomorrow..."

"Queen Rosamunde, His Majesty is looking for you," A Rose Elf similar to Rolo walked out of the rose bush quickly, bowing deeply first to the queen, then, with a smile, to Rosalind.

Queen Rosamunde nodded, and lifting her wide skirts a little, dashed back towards the door. Before disappearing inside, she called over her shoulder, "Your room, as I said. Now, Rosalind!"

Rosalind sighed, looking longingly in the direction they had come from. The poor fairy wished to be anywhere else, but at home, Louise thought, and as the fairy headed towards the rose bush, the girl approached her and laced her arm around Rosalind's. Then, the two of them preceded Hans inside.

Surprisingly, the Rose Castle wasn't dark. Its spiral staircases and long, narrow corridors carved in the rose bush's wood were bathed in soft, ethereal light.

"Is that Goblin's Gold?" Louise indicated the luminescent moss growing thickly under their feet. It was as soft as a carpet.

"It is. And Foxfire, too," Rosalind said, pointing her wand at tiny, bluish mushrooms glowing on the ceiling.

"Louise knows everything about plants and flowers," Hans said proudly, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

She hasn't coughed once since they came into this place, he thought happily as he pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, observing her.

Louise smiled at him, then let go of his hand as they reached yet another spiral staircase, so narrow that they could not walk side by side.

"This is the last one," Rosalind promised. "My flower is on the very top of the rose bush."

"Your flower?" Hans asked.

"My room, if you prefer. Each bloom is a chamber," Rosalind explained as they entered another corridor.

This one was different from the previous ones-- it grew narrower and lower gradually, until they were forced to walk one behind the other again, their heads bowed. Then, finally, Rosalind, who walked in front of them, opened a round door they could not see until they walked through it, and they stepped into her chamber, a large rosebloom.

Louise and Hans walked inside cautiously. The flower looked precious and fragile and smelled heavenly. Many circles of red petals grew around a large, circular, and flat stem, forming thick but a little translucent walls. The light of the moon filtered by the floral leaves, together with the glow of Foxfire growing in small pots placed around the room, made it look otherworldly.

The bloom swayed gently in the breeze, and they could hear crickets and other nocturnal inhabitants of the rose garden singing beyond the delicate, rose petal walls.

There was a low round table laid with food in the middle of the chamber and a large canopy bed complete with scarlet curtains placed to one side, close to the wall. Like the majority of things he had seen in Rosalind's castle so far, even the bed was round, Hans noticed.

"Come, eat something," Rosalind called, smiling at them.

While they stood by the door, turning around in wonder, the fairy sat on the floor next to the table, waiting for them to join her.

"That looks delicious," Hans muttered as he and Louise sat down next to her. He had never seen such a variety of food to choose from.

Louise, curious as she was, filled her... leaf, serving as a plate, with tiny portions of most things she saw in front of her. Hans smiled, and following her example, he did the same.

Soon, they were full of all sorts of fruits and vegetables served both raw and cooked, breads and cakes made with different flours, rice puddings with nuts and honey, and even cheeses made from plants...

The fairy folk used everything they could glean from nature in their cuisine, Rosalind explained, as they sipped warm herbal tea before retiring to bed.

Yawning, Hans looked above his head, noticing that the rose bloom they were in was closed for the night, wondering if it would re-open again with the first sunlight in the morning, wondering...

"Rosalind, where do you live in winter?" He asked, looking at the fairy who was talking to Louise.

The girls were so engrossed in their conversation about Garrett, Sir Francis, and Blue that Hans had to repeat his question before they realised he had spoken at all.

"In winter, when all the flowers die..."

"There's never winter here, Hans," Rosalind told him.

"Never?" Louise asked, her eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Not as long as we manage to protect our kingdom from...

"The goblins?" Hans interrupted the fairy.

She nodded. "Yes, them and their Snow Queen."

Hans had so many questions to ask... He opened his mouth and closed it again several times, unable to decide what to ask first.

"I see," Rosalind said, smiling at him. She pointed her wand towards her bed, and a large book floated towards Hans. "This is a brief history of Terra Sonalis. It should answer most of your questions. You can keep it if you want."

Her last words reached Hans muted as he tuned the girls out again as soon as he started leafing through the book. Its pages were made of dry leaves and looked a lot like the ancient scrolls he had once seen in a museum. And the purplish ink they used to write it must be some kind of a fruit juice... He just reached the part describing the Terra Sonalis' army, composed mainly of brave frogs and toads, when Louise interrupted his reading.

"What do you think, Hans?"

"About what?" he asked, confused.

"I said that Rosalind should talk to both Sir Francis and Garrett tomorrow and tell them openly how she feels about them."

"Have you not spoken to your toad about his reasons for this proposal?" Hans asked, surprised. "Has he ever told you that he... he feels for you anything more than friendship, before he proposed?"

"No," Rosalind said, taken aback. "After I ran away with Blue, and they found us, and soon after, the goblins broke the mirror... My father wanted to secure Garrett's loyalty..."

"... because he is your Army General's son," Hans concluded, indicating the line of the book he had just read. "No offence, Rosalind, but don't you think that he might be forced into this marriage by his parents as much as you? And if you both refuse, then..."

"... no one will be able to force us. And I'll have my friend back."

"And as soon as we understand Sir Francis' intentions, too..." Louise added.

"We can leave this place and find my Blue..."

"Exactly..."

"Excuse me, Rosalind, but what sort of a name is that?" Hans asked, yawning again, scattering the girls' daydream.

The fairy sighed impatiently as his question brought her back to reality. "That's a nickname, actually. His full name is Pipevine Swallowtail III, and he's got the most magnificent pair of blue wings."

"But that's the name of a butterfly!" Hans called, recalling his father's collection of small glass cases filled with pinned butterflies and moths. He was sure that there was a large, blue one among them, with such a name.

"Of course it is. A butterfly in your world. A Butterfly Fairy in ours," Rosalind said, looking from Hans to Louise and then back, as if she was waiting for at least one of them to grab the meaning behind her words.

"Does it mean that all butterflies are...are... really fairies, like you?" Louise stammered finally.