Wings

Mariposa's jaw dropped at the sight before her. Someone had re-decorated her room to resemble Flutterfield better. Or, well, to actually resemble Flutterfield in the slightest. All the dangerous-looking plants had been removed and replaced with glowing flowers like the ones she had in her own home. There were also some regular colorful flowers dotted around as well.

As Mariposa was looking around, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Confused, she turned and saw Catania coming out from where she was hiding behind a plant with Anu.

"Did I get it right?" She asked, looking at Mariposa hopefully.

Mariposa blushed lightly. "You did this?" She asked, walking towards Catania.

Catania nodded. "You worked so hard to learn about us; the least we could do is return the favor."

Mariposa looked around the room again, a smile beginning to form on her face.

"Is it anything like home?" Catania asked again, drawing Mariposa's attention towards her.

"It's perfect!" Mariposa replied she was already feeling more relaxed than she had been the entire time she was there.

"I've actually been reading up on Flutterflied when I heard you were coming!" Catania said, starting to walk towards a part of the wall that was covered.

Mariposa followed her. "You have?"

"I love to read. Sometimes I feel like I never want to leave the palace." She turned to face Mariposa. "I'm perfectly happy spending whole days lost in books."

The butterflies came back again. "Me too!" Mariposa said.

Catania laughed. "I've noticed."

She noticed Mariposa's love of books? Does that mean that Catania was paying attention to her?

"Its why I think you'll like this." Catania pulled a rope at the other end of the covered part of the wall, revealing a massive bookcase behind it.

Mariposa looked awed. "Catania, you did this?" She asked, a broad grin on her face.

Now it was Catania's turn to blush. "Well, I had some help." She replied, looking over at Anu. Who, if he weren't covered in fur, would also be blushing bashfully.

Mariposa flew up to look at all the books. "This is- incredible!"

Catania watched Mariposa with an amused smile on her face.

"Oh! I can't believe it! Have you read this? Flight of Fancy? It's one of my all-time favorites!" Mariposa gushed, turning to look at Catania again.

Catania gasped, laughing again. "Mine too!" She paused, then perked up suddenly. "Grab it! I want to show you something." Catania walked to a window. And Mariposa grabbed the book, then followed her.

Once both of them got to the window, Catania whistled, and Sophie flew over to them. Sophie seemed a bit nervous around Mariposa, and Catania put a hand on her muzzle to soothe her. "Its okay Sophie, we can trust Mariposa." She said, getting on after Sophie was calm.

Mariposa was blushing again. She just knew it. She just hoped that Catania didn't notice it.

"Follow us!" Catania said, taking off and heading towards the second tallest tower. They didn't talk on the way up, but they flew in comfortable silence. Once they got to the top of the tower, Catania started to speak again. "This is my favorite spot to read."

Mariposa looked around. There were many plants placed around, with crystallites of different colors woven into them. "Wow... It's beautiful."

Catania looked at Mariposa with a warm look in her eyes, then giggled and took off again. "Come on up!" They flew towards the tallest tower, which housed a large crystallite.

"Isn't that a crystallite?" Mariposa asked, hesitating, she didn't want to make the King angry again.

Catania had a playful smirk on her face. "Only the most important one in all the land." She said in a "royal" voice. Then she laughed. "Come on." Mariposa hesitated for a moment longer, before following her up.

Mariposa looked up at the giant crystallite before her. "This is the heartstone, isn't it?" 

Catania nodded. "It's the most powerful crystallite we have. I feel safe when I'm near it." She took a deep breath. "Like nothing can harm me."

That got Mariposa's attention, and she threw Catania a concerned look. "Harm you? Who would want to harm you?"

Catania didn't reply for a second, then seemed to realize what she had said, and quickly steered the topic away from her. "Um, It-it must be hard being away from Flutterfield, do you miss it?"

Mariposa noticed the topic change but didn't push her. She didn't want to make Catania uncomfortable. "A little. But I'm really enjoying getting to explore Shimmervale." She said, turning to the edge of the tower, Catania following with her. "I can't wait to see glow waterfalls again." 

Catania bit her lip nervously. "I... I haven't been there in years." 

Mariposa looked at her in surprise. "You're kidding... Years?"

"Since I was eight."

"Why not?"

"I don't know.." Catania shrugged, looking away from Mariposa.

Mariposa was silent for a moment, then perked up, grabbing Catania's arm gently. "Let's go now!"

Catania's eyes widened, and she tensed up but didn't move away from her touch. "Now?"

Mariposa nodded. "You just said you hadn't been there in years. Don't you miss it?" 

"... A lot." Catania admitted, then shook her head. "But the crystal ball is this afternoon! We need time to get ready." 

Mariposa was not going to let it down that easily. "We'll be quick! We'll be back in two wing flaps!" 

Anu said some words to try and convince her, but it was Mariposa's hopeful smile that finally broke Catania. "Okay. Just for a little bit."

Sophie whinnied nervously, obviously against going to the falls. Catania walked over and started to calm her down. 

"I understand, Sophie," Catania said, petting her muzzle again. "But she'll be right there with me."

Hearing Catania has that much faith in her warmed Mariposa's heart. She didn't know why going to the falls was such a big deal, but she knew better than to pry.

Catania climbed onto Sophie, and they flew off to the falls. 

Catania looked a bit nervous doing down there, but she immediately lit up once they landed and turned to face the falls.

Mariposa walked to the edge, and Catania got off of Sophie to join her.

"Wow..." Mariposa said, staring at the falls in amazement.

An idea struck Catania, and she grasped Mariposa's hand. "You think this is amazing? Come with me." She said, walking off towards a group of vines, and dragging Mariposa with her. Sophie and the two puffballs followed them.

Mariposa let herself get dragged, a blush taking over her face. All she could think about was Catania's hand in her own. They were holding hands. They were holding hands. What was she supposed to think about that?

They walked to the edge of a lake, where Catania let go of Mariposa's hand. Mariposa was disappointed but quickly forgot about it once she saw her surroundings.

"I didn't think getting closer could possibly make it any more amazing, but it did!" She said, looking around the cave.

There were crystallites of all different shapes and sizes everywhere, lighting up the cave in a rainbow-kind of light.

Catania glanced at Mariposa, then bent down and picked up a few rocks. "Have you ever skipped rainbow rocks?"

"Hah! How could I have ever skipped rainbow rocks?" Mariposa asked, walking over to Catania.

Catania smiled, then threw one of the rocks. It skipped four times across the lake, each skip making a different colored ripple effect, and making a different musical tone.

Mariposa watched intently, her smile growing.

Catania handed her some rainbow rocks. "Here, you try."

Taking the rainbow rocks, Mariposa got into position. She slung the stone, and it skipped four times as well. "Wahoo!" She cheered.

"You're a natural!" Catania commented. They both got into position again and threw their rocks at the same time. The rocks skipped five times, making the same colors and sounds. The girls threw their last rocks, and it skipped five times again, but this time the stones harmonized with each other. 

"That was so cool!" Mariposa exclaimed, turning to Catania, now fully grinning.

Catania was looking at Mariposa with a strange expression, almost love-struck. But she quickly snapped out of it. Her attention switched to their books that they had set down nearby. 

"Oh! This is another good spot to read. Maybe we should actually read these instead of just hauling them around." Catania said, walking over and picking up the book that she had brought.

"That's a great idea." Mariposa picked up Flight of Fancy and sat down with it, beginning to read it.

Cataniadat down next to Mariposa then moved to that they were touching shoulder-to-shoulder. "Is... This okay?"

Mariposa nodded quickly, a bright blush on her face. "Yes! This is completely fine." 

Catania smiled at her, then began to read the book that she brought, Mariposa doing the same.

They stayed like that for a while, reading silently. Until Catania looked up from her book, sighing. "I've missed this place."

"Why has it been so long?" Mariposa looked at Catania, more so her wings. "Does it have anything to do with why you don't fly?"

Sophie neighed and walked over to them. Catania got up and began to pet her, this time calming herself more so than Sophie.

Mariposa quickly backpedaled, she didn't want to upset Catania at all. "It's okay! You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." 

Turning towards Mariposa with a  determined look on her face, Catania began to speak. "No. I want to.

"I was eight years old. My father and I were having a picnic. When we saw something down below, it was an old woman. She wasn't from Shimmervale, but she was poking around for crystallites. My father confronted her. She asked for a crystallite. I knew what my father would say. He told me all the time: "Our responsibility is to the crystal fairies. If we let other creatures have crystallites, we could end up without enough for our subjects." Catania began to pace around.

Mariposa was already connecting the dots. "So, your father said no." 

"Mm-hmm." Catania looked at the ground.

"What did the old woman do?" Mariposa asked, setting a hand on Catania's shoulder comfortingly.

Catania relaxed at the contact. "Well, she started saying something like, "You dare deny the Gwyllion?" And she started casting magic, paralyzing my father and his guards."

The paralyzation sounded familiar to Mariposa, but she didn't want to interrupt with questions.

"She was saying that we had our chance and that we owed her all the crystallites now." Catania shivered, placing her hand on top of Mariposa's. "I just charged in; I wanted to protect my father. He told me to go back, but I didn't listen. She said something else to my father, but I couldn't hear it. The next thing I knew, I was paralyzed and being taken away by the Gwyllion. My father was able to break free and rescue me by breaking the Gwyllion's staff, but she dropped me, and my father couldn't reach me in time, and I hit a rock...

"Both my wings were broken." Mariposa tensed up at those words. Catania continued. "They healed, but I haven't flown since."

Mariposa wanted to ask about her wings but felt like it wasn't the time. "What happened to the Gwyllion?" She asked, instead.

"She never came back." Catania looked directly at Mariposa now.

"Are you worried she will?"

"My father worries about it a lot. It's the real reason he allowed you to come." 

Mariposa's eyes widened in realization. "He wants advice on fighting the Gwyllion! But he could have just asked Queen Marabella," Even though if he had, she probably would have never met Catania. "I'm sure she would have-"

Catania cut her off. "No. He doesn't trust butterfly fairies enough for that."

Mariposa took her hand off of Catania's shoulder. "Do.. you?" She asked. Trying not to let too much hope spill into her voice.

Catania stepped forward, stopping about a foot away from Mariposa. "Yes." She grabbed something from her pocket. "I want you to have this." She held out a necklace with a crystallite pendant on it. 

"Catania... I... I can't. With our history, no butterfly fairy should ever take a crystallite from Shimmervale." Mariposa said, fidgeting with a stray lock of hair nervously.

Catania only smiled. "You're not taking it. It's a gift." She clasped the necklace around Mariposa's neck before she could argue.

"Thank you." Mariposa reached into her bag. "I have something for you too!" She said, pulling out her flutter flower and handing it to Catania.

"Oh! It's so pretty!" Catania exclaimed, taking it from Mariposa. 

"It's a flutter flower. I thought I needed it to remind me of home. Maybe after I leave, it will remind you of me." Mariposa tried to hide the fact that she might not want to leave.

Catania seemed disappointed at her words but quickly recovered. "Thank you."

Both the flutter flower and the crystallite necklace started to glow, with both fairies watching in amazement, and it dies down a second later.

"What was that?" Mariposa asked, looking up at Catania.

"I have no idea," Catania replied, looking back at Mariposa.

They stared at each other for a moment before Mariposa cleared her throat. "I wanted to ask you and forgive me if I'm overstepping, but when you broke your wings... That was eight years ago? When you were eight?"

Catania nodded, placing the flutter flower in her pocket. "Yeah, around then. Why?"

Mariposa didn't dare hope for it. If she were wrong, she would be devastated. So she tried to keep her expectations low. "Okay, this might sound crazy, but..." She trailed off, not knowing how to put it into words.

"You want to know if we're soulmates or not?" Catania supplied, a small smile on her face.

Mariposa blushed but nodded in reply.

"Okay. Tell me if you feel this." 

Mariposa waited a moment, then felt a little pain on her arm. "Are you pinching your arm?" She asked.

Catania's face lit up. "Yes!" She ran forward and hugged Mariposa tightly. "I had guessed after you fell with my dad, and told me that you had cut yourself by accident, but I wanted to make sure."

Mariposa hugged her back briefly, then held Catania at arm's length. "I only realized when you said that you broke your wings when you were eight, but I was hoping... Wait, Is that what you wanted to tell me before?"

"Yes, it was," Catania replied, looking into Mariposa's eyes.

They stared at each other for a while, just taking each other in. 

Mariposa couldn't tell who started leaning in first.