Soufflé lived till the end of October when the rust leaves lay thick on the ground. True to his nature, he refused to be brought into the chalet for his last days, insisting that even the thought of being indoors made him itch all over.

In the summer, after the night at the fountain, the Bounet Rodzos helped Soufflé build a new nest of branches, twigs, ivy, and the remnants of his broken life just outside Cocot's garden. They put a stool on either side of the fence so Cocot could step over it instead of walking the extra half minute through the front gate and around the side where the trees began.

Through summer and fall, Cocot went out every day to visit him, and to put flowers of the graves of her mother and down the hill on Hector's. Every day, she grew a little more accustomed to Hector not greeting her in the garden and not hearing her mother's voice.

Soufflé's next to last words were, "Thank you, child." He patted her fingers and nodded weakly at her from his fluff bed.

His very last words were, "Don't let the field fairies get into the linens."

"I'll be careful with them, I promise," Cocot replied.

The field fairies had begun to return the day after Cocot returned to the chalet. At first there were only a dozen or so, flitting slowly above the ground where the other field fairies had fallen and died. They even found a few survivors to pull from the dust. That evening and the following evenings, Cocot watched them; their wings glowing softly as they circled endlessly about the garden, path and grassy area.

They moved into the oak tree where the black squirrel had lived, but she never saw the animal again.

The hall under the hill was empty when the guards and the court magician went back to it. They lay the fallen fairies in a row before the throne before going out to find the survivors. Fortunately, only a handful of fairies had been killed, including the king. Many had been injured, however, and many more were still changed.

Captain Thraidox spread the word to the other halls in the neighboring mountains what had happened and all of the changed fairies were tracked down and put in cells deep in the ground. He also had his guards keep watch over the witch, who was taken into a human institution and cared for.

Daniel had not wanted to leave Cocot alone in the chalet and start school. He stood at her doorway after a visit, the light of summer evening golden.

"You should come with me," he said. "I'm old enough to work, and so are you. There is an elderly lady who lets her spare rooms to girls, right next to the chocolate factory in Broc.

Invisible to Daniel, Captain Thraidox grumbled dangerously. "My lady Coquelicot Drufellen will not live in an old woman's spare room or work in a chocolate factory."

Témara nodded in agreement, also unseen by Daniel.

Cocot sighed. "This is my home, Daniel. I live here."

"Then I'll move into the workshop and work on the farms nearby. You can't winter here alone. It's madness."

"Témara," Captain Thraidox said, "It is time the boy saw us. I have words for him."

Daniel needed several minutes to recover from his surprise at two great fairies appearing from thin air in the chalet. Captain Thraidox backed him into a corner, and stood over him.

"Under no circumstances will this fairy maiden go to live in a human town, and I don't care how noble your intentions, you will never live with her in this chalet. Is that clear?"

Daniel swallowed. "Yes, sir. But how—"

"It's none of your concern!"

"Thraidox," interrupted the magician. "I will move into the old workshop to be with her. I'm not needed in the hall anymore. Agreed?"

Both Daniel and the captain muttered under their breath about snow in the winter.

"I will hire dwarves to come and dig a passageway through the mountain to the hall."

Cocot clapped her hands. "Then you can go to school, Daniel. That's perfect. You won't have to work."

Half a dozen dwarves stomped to her chalet with shovels, pick axes and dusty beards. Cocot made them vin-cuit pie and brewed coffee. The next day, all her knives had been sharpened and her pots and pans replaced by dwarven ware.

She made them cookies. They refitted her windows with new glass and repaired the roof. She sent them home with cake. They tried to carry off Sarina, promising that they had much better ovens in the mountains, but she put her foot down at that. Sarina stayed.

Témara was given a porcelain oven to heat her half of the chalet.

But when Daniel tried to start school that fall, the school master refused, saying that he had done a farming apprenticeship and that the system was not designed for him to return to world of academics. He wasn't ready for the university, yet, but the public schools didn't want him.

Captain Thraidox, once again, forcibly took matters into his own hands. Témara disguised him and herself with a powerful glamour spell so they could go and speak to the school master.

"You can't take your sword," Témara said.

"How will I negotiate with this mule-headed human without my sword?" he snapped.

Cocot shook her head. "You can't take the sword."

"We'll discuss by using words this time," Témara said.

He handed Cocot his massive sword and stormed through the gate. "If this doesn't work, I'll discuss by using my sword."

Whatever they said to the man must have convinced him, because from then on, Daniel lodged in Bulle during week, attending classes, and came home to the great fairy hall on weekends and for vacations.

While he was still feeling well, Souffé went to check on the boy a few times to reassure Cocot that he was getting along with the other young people and that no fairy creatures were tormenting him.

Témara took control of Cocot's education. She only had rudimentary skills in math, science and writing. Plus, she had to start over with the fairy language. And magic.

Her magic was like nothing Témara had ever seen. Not fairy, not witchcraft, not wizardry, not enchantress, not anything. For simple spells (not involving calling up evil) she was almost helpless. Yet, she could easily achieve some of the most advanced arts using plants.

Cocot offered to make Hector's tincture to cure the changed fairies who were being held prisoner.

"Are you sure this is what you made for the horse?" Témara asked, frowning at Fanchon's cookbook with Cocot's handwritten notes in the sides. "This is the recipe, and then you just threw in a bunch of other herbs?"

"Yes, and poppy seeds," Cocot answered, preparing the brew.

"But what about magic? What magic did you add?"

"I just spoke the words my mother wrote at the bottom of the page. Soufflé said words guide the magic."

"Yes. Well, sort of. But, are you sure?"

"I'm sure." And sure enough, two weeks later she cured the changed fairies who hissed and snarled in the darkness of their cells.

At the beginning of fall, the new queen of the great fairies of the Intyamon and D'en-Haut hills brought her royal procession past the chalet on her way through the valley.

She paused at the gate and looked down upon Cocot for nearly a minute in silence, summing her up. Cocot was reminded of the time she thought Hector was evaluating her size so he could trample her all the quicker. At her side, Témara and Captain Thraidox held their heads low, but Cocot could sense their tensed muscles like electricity.

Finally, the queen nodded once. "The fairy creature may remain in my domain, so long as she never forgets her place as my subject." She swept past the garden.

Captain Thraidox glared at the queen's captain and line of guards, and muttered, "She would have a fight on her hands, if she tried to make you leave. You've more friends than she suspects for clearing the fountain of evil."

On her shoulder, Soufflé humphed in agreement with the captain. Cocot simply bowed her head and lifted a plate of chocolate chip and rose petal cookies for the great fairy entourage as they passed. Several fairies skipped out of line and came back for seconds.

Soufflé waited until they had all disappeared to return to his nest.

The grouchy hand fairy died one afternoon while Cocot was reading him the story about Achilles, which he particularly enjoyed because everyone has a weak spot. When he failed to chuckle as usual, Cocot knew he had left her. She closed the book and sat in the cold late into the evening. Daniel found her there when he came to visit after his week at school. He set the stools side by side and let her cry against his shoulder.

After Soufflé passed on and winter began to harden the ground, Cocot finally had the courage to ask Témara about her mother.

"Why didn't you see my mother after she transformed herself?" Cocot asked the magician one evening as the wind howled outside, but Sarina burned hot indoors. "She walked right past the door on the path to Lessoc hundreds of times, but no one ever noticed her. Didn't you look for her when she went missing?"

"If you are looking for a swan, you don't recognize her in a deer. Her magic, what was left of it before you came, was deeply hidden, as well, not like with you. Her human body tricked us. The magic she gave you shines through you, it must be the field flower part of you that lets it out. The witch saw your mother make her wish to be human; that is how she knew. That is the only reason. She confided as much to Soufflé," Témara replied.

"She said she wrote everything down—all her memories—when I was a baby, but I can't find her letters."

"We will look together. Perhaps, she meant to write everything down, but couldn't. Perhaps what she wrote and what she thought she was writing were not one and the same. We will figure it out together."

Cocot liked that word—together. It bound her to the earth and set her free for the heavens at the same time.

Then, little by little, bit by bit, Cocot began to mourn for her mother. She said farewell every night to the mother she had known. She also began to mourn for the mother she never had: a mother who had not been robbed of her memories, a mother who had not grown ill before Cocot was able to grow up, a mother who would have stayed with her a little bit longer and taught her a little bit more.

She would keep on saying goodbye every day until all that was left was a small emptiness in her heart surrounded by happiness.

*** The End. ***