It was a very long fall.

Hans held Louise as close to himself as he could, while their water lily leaf fell down the roaring cascade. Luckily, they were not in the mainstream, submerged by the rushing waters, but rather gliding down fast, alongside it. They were getting wetter and wetter as they precipitated, but at least they could breathe...

"Now!" Skylar, peeking over the border of the leaf, called as she took flight a few moments before it hit the dark surface of the churning pool, and Hans and Louise were thrown off board by the impact.

Hans, having expected that this would happen, managed to take a deep breath, hoping that Louise did, too. What he didn't manage was to hold on to Louise when they hit, then broke the water's surface-- she was snatched from his arms by the force of the waterfall now falling on top of them. The boy, feeling short of breath, swam quickly upwards after he turned around frantically a few times but could not see his friend anywhere.

There, he found Rosalind and the two elves swimming towards the shore, but Louise was not with them.

"Come, you must help me!" Hans urged the fairy desperately, and she followed him back under the water.

As soon as the fairy mumbled some inaudible words, the tip of her wand started to glow brightly and they saw Louise struggling to reach them through the thick curtain of bubbles dancing crazily around them, the air held prisoner by the constantly falling water. Rosalind pointed her wand at her, and the girl started to float towards them with ease. Hans took her by her hand as soon as she was within his reach and dragged her towards the surface.

"Just what do you think you are doing?!" Hans turned at Rosalind angrily as he helped Louise out of the pool. This was the second time in a little more than as many days that the girl nearly drowned because of her.

"I'm sorry, Hans, but Rolo overheard the Tree Elves' conversation," Rosalind said, looking so crestfallen that his anger dissipated instantly. "Apparently, they noticed us and were about to send someone to see who we were. And what's worse..." she trailed off, pointing her wand first at Louise's, who was trembling with cold, then to Hans' wet clothes.

"One of them just got back from a journey and knew about Princess Rosalind's disappearance..." Rolo continued.

"Which bodes ill. Their Majesties know that we are gone. All Terra Sonalis knows. Anyone whom we meet from now on might recognise the Princess. We must hurry," Orangebeak, who joined them by the pool, concluded.

"We found a place for you to hide until sunrise, follow me," the blackbird added, starting to hop along the bank, farther down the river, away from the cascade.

Hans took his glasses from his pouch, where he kept them at nights and put them on, then laced his arm around Louise's waist to help her walk. She was still very unsure on her legs.

"But won't they help us? Those who might recognise you?" Louise asked Rosalind, thinking of all those helpful, friendly creatures they met so far.

The fairy shook her head sadly as she helped Hans wrap a new blanket, which she just conjured up with one swift movement of her magic wand, over Louise's shoulders. They had left behind most of their belongings, blankets included, when they ran from their camp.

"As I've told you before, they are not all as helpful. And those who are, are loyal to the king, rather than the princess," Rosalind said as they followed Orangebeak. "Last time, when I ran away with Blue, we were found by a group of my parents' friends who took us back to the Rose Castle... My father then let Blue go unpunished, but only on condition that none of his butterfly kin would ever come near our castle again."

Having reached a spot where the roar of the waterfall wasn't so unbearably loud, they could finally lower their voices and speak normally. Here, a large hole, a sort of a cave, had been dug into the steep, damp river bank by some animal. Apparently, it was empty now-- a perfect shelter for them for the rest of the night.

Carefully, Hans led Louise along a narrow, muddy ledge full of small puddles shining in the moonlight, situated high above the rushing river. They walked towards the dark entrance, preceding Rosalind. As they entered, finding Roza and Rolo already waiting for them inside, they heard Orangebeak telling the fairy to rest, promising that he and the other two birds would keep watch from the closest tree, and warn them if there was any danger.

Louise, exhausted by their latest adventure, laid down close to a little fire produced by Roza, and Hans laid down next to her. Seeing that despite the blanket wrapped around her from head to toe she was still shaking with cold, or maybe fear, he drew her closer to himself, hoping to help her to warm up faster that way.

The girl, reassured by his closeness, started to drift off immediately, but Hans could not sleep. He watched Rosalind talking in whispers to her elves for a long while before the two headed back towards the entrance, and she finally laid down, too, across the little fire from Hans and Louise.

When she noticed him looking at her, she whispered, not wanting to wake up the sleeping girl, "We lost everything, apart from what we carry in our pouches. And Rolo broke his wand. So from now on, it's only me and Roza who can do magic... It won't be easy."

"Can't you repair it for him?" Hans whispered back, remembering Rosalind telling them how overusing their magic was tiring. Having one magic wand less did not sound good.

The fairy closed her eyes and shook her head before she replied, her words slurred by sleep, "It's impossible to repair. He needs a new one, but they can only be made from our native flowers or trees. Unless he goes back to the Rose Castle..."

Hans wanted to know more, but seeing how exhausted the fairy was, he let her sleep. Tightening his hold around Louise who finally stopped trembling, he watched the shadows of the dancing flames of the fire move around the damp walls of their shelter, trying not to think of anything, until he finally fell asleep as well.

Only in the morning, when they walked out of the little cave, did they really notice how very slippery and narrow the muddy ledge leading to it was. It had looked much safer in the weak moonlight of the previous night than now, flooded by the bright sunshine of the new day, Hans thought as he led Louise back to the bank situated above the cave's entrance, a lot higher than he remembered.

"Thank you, Hans," Louise said once they reached the safe, drier ground. "For everything."

Hans, looking in her large, sky blue eyes as they stood there, still holding hands, shook his head and opened his mouth to reply when Rosalind disturbed them.

"Come on, we must hurry! We'll fly now until we reach the closest meadow. Then we'll walk to let our friends rest."

Seeing that Rosalind was already seated on Brownie and the Rose Elves were about to mount Skylar, Hans and Louise settled among Orangebeak's soft feathers, and the three birds took off immediately.

As they soared high above the river, Hans, turning around, saw the large, tranquil lake they had crossed, spreading behind them, above the rushing waterfall. But the meadow encompassing Rosalind's garden and the Rose Castle itself were too far to be seen from here. When he looked in front of them, he spotted a new large meadow spanning far and wide beyond a nearby forest, all the way towards the distant horizon where he could see another glittering expanse of water, much larger than the lake.

"Is that the sea?" the boy asked Orangebeak.

"It is, Master Hans. If everything goes well, we will reach the shore in a few days," the blackbird replied.

Then they flew in silence until lunchtime, judging by the position of the sun and Hans' growling stomach, when the birds became too tired to carry their passengers any longer.

As they descended above the meadow, Louise noticed that the flowers here were different from those growing between the lake and the rose garden. There, the grass had been interspersed with lavender, poppies, and even sunflowers, here she could see daffodils, violets, primroses, and even a few snowdrops... As if...

"Yes, Louise, it's not as warm here," Rosalind replied to her thoughts as they dismounted the birds. "The closer we get to the sea and the Snow Queen's realm lying beyond, the colder it becomes."

"We need to rest for a few hours before we can carry you again. We will be right there," Orangebeak informed them, pointing to several birch trees growing among the flowers close by. "It looks safe enough for you here, but should you need anything, let Rolo call us immediately, Princess."

"Thank you, Orangebeak," Rosalind said, letting her friend wrap her in an embrace with one of his black wings. "If we decide to walk on a little farther while you rest, we'll let you know where to find us."

They waved to Skylar and Brownie, then watched the birds fly towards the birches before they followed Roza and Rolo and sat down to eat their lunch under a large brown mushroom.

While they ate, Hans kept looking around, among the long stems of grass, flower stalks and more mushrooms, feeling watched. He was about to tell Rosalind about it when they were surprised by a couple of large, shiny, black ants.

Despite their serious looks and too many limbs to Louise's liking, they were very friendly. When the ants admitted that they recognised Rosalind, despite her new, azure gown, as their Princess, she did not deny anything, and seeing their honest excitement agreed to meet their friends, other inhabitants of the meadow.

One of the ants scurried away into the grass, then returned with three fluffy bees, a beautiful ladybird, an enormous snail, and a charming dragonfly, all extremely happy to meet their Princess. While Rosalind conversed in Bee Tongue, composed mainly of moving one's limbs and wings in all directions and producing differently pitched buzzing sounds, making Louise giggle, they were joined by more creatures living in this part of Terra Sonalis.

Soon they were surrounded by a group of very loud, cheerful and genuinely friendly Flower Fairies, talking animals, Tree and even a couple of Mushroom Elves, looking very much like, well, their native mushrooms.

To Rosalind's enormous joy, two yellow Butterfly Fairies walked out from behind one of the flowers some time later, approaching them shyly.

"We know we shouldn't really be here, Princess," the Butterfly Fairy boy said, bowing to Rosalind while his companion, a beautiful butterfly girl, curtsied silently.

They were gorgeous, Hans and Louise thought, observing their magnificent yellow and black wings, so different from those transparent ones all the other fairies and elves of this kingdom had.

"I'm so happy that you are here," Rosalind breathed, coming closer to them and embracing first the girl and then even the boy, as if they were her best friends.

When they exchanged a perplexed look, confused by her behaviour, she continued, "You are Yellow Swallowtails, you must know my Blue, have you seen him? Please tell me you have!"

"We're looking for him as well, Princess. No one has seen him in weeks. His parents and a few more of us are on the seashore..."

"We're on our way to them," Rosalind said, looking sad as her excitement and hope dissipated quickly.

Louise walked over to her and took the fairy's hand in hers. "We will find him," she said firmly.

"You might need to cross the sea to find him," the Butterfly Fairy girl informed them, shaking her head as if it was impossible.

"Then we will," Hans said, coming to stand next to the girls. "Where exactly are the other butterflies? We need to talk to them."

"Just follow the river, you will find them near the estuary," the Butterfly Fairy boy told him.

"Thank you," Rosalind said, looking at the Yellow Swallowtails gratefully.

"It's not only him, Princess." One of the Flower Fairies joined their conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"Quite a few of our friends and relatives have disappeared lately," a dragonfly said.

"They all follow the river to the seashore..." one of the ants added.

"... and there we lose their trace," a Mushroom Elf, a tiny creature even shorter than the Rose Elves, all dressed in white and complete with a wide mushroom cap on top of his head, finished the sentence.

"We don't know how they cross the sea, whether... they survive the journey... But if they do, then they are with the Snow Queen," the Butterfly Fairy girl said. "My brother is missing, too."

Rosalind, seeing her eyes flood with tears, drew her into another embrace. "We'll find him as well then," she promised.

"I thank you all!" the fairy continued, looking at the colourful group of the friendly but suddenly very serious inhabitants of the meadow. "We will reach the Snow Queen's realm and bring back as many of your friends as we can."

"Let us not waste anymore time, Princess. It's getting late," Rolo reminded them, starting to walk towards the river, which they could hear running nearby.

"Wait, Princess," a Flower Fairy, dressed in a long, yellow gown resembling a dandelion, called to Rosalind. "We know that your bird friends need to rest, but you can't walk, it's too far. You'll be faster if... Follow me," she pleaded, leading them to a dandelion plant growing close to the river bank.

Most of its yellow blooms were gone, and globes of huge, feathery, silvery-white seeds grew in their places.

"That's a great idea," Rosalind smiled at her as she understood what the Dandelion Fairy meant.

"The wind is favourable. You'll just need a little push..." one of the two butterflies suggested.

"Wait. I can help you," a big brown spider appearing from beneath the dandelion leaves interrupted them.

It climbed up the flower's stalk swiftly, and it took next to no time for its eight nimble limbs to weave four soft but safe looking baskets, then attach them to the seeds.

As soon as everything was done, the altered dandelion seeds lying on the ground, Rosalind, Hans, and Louise climbed each in one of the baskets, while Roza and Rolo entered the last one together.

"Here," the spider said, throwing a ball of thick yarn to Hans. "If you tie the baskets together, you won't get separated."

Hans nodded, tying the end of the yarn to his basket, then throwing the slightly sticky ball to Rosalind, who attached it to both sides of hers, then passed the yarn to Louise, who did the same. When even Rolo tied the Rose Elves' dandelion seed to Louise's, they were ready to leave.

"Off you go then. Good luck, and come back soon!" the Yellow Swallowtails called, flapping their large wings, and thus sending the seeds into motion.

For a moment both Hans and Louise feared that they would precipitate into the stream skipping swiftly over the stones deep underneath them, but as the butterflies had said, the gentle wind was favourable and soon it lifted the four joined dandelion seeds higher and higher, making them sail through the air towards the remote sea.