Although she did not admit it, Petal was more than a little relieved she had a travelling companion on her trip across the storm barriers. There were three sets of them to negotiate between Frangea and Greenvale, each a little bumpier than the last.

Danique Ferale was exactly what she said, fearless. She marched up and down the aisle of the passenger flitter as it roared over the hills of Frangea's eastern districts directly at a wall of roiling cloud that marked the boundary of this Winkel and watched in wide-eyed fascination through the nearest portal.

"I love these storms," she said happily. "I wish I could be a storm rider when I'm older. Imagine just you and a windsail and the elements battling together on the edge of life and death. Shame it's all so high up in the sky," she added regretfully, as if there was any comparable risk on the ground.

"I'm glad they're up there and we, usually, are down below well out of the way," a white-faced Petal confessed. "What was that!" she gasped when a strange clunking noise sounded through the hull of the flying vessel.

"Probably a bird in the wrong place," Danique replied, settling into her seat.

"Oh, poor thing," and Petal's fears were washed away by the thought of a harmless creature coming to harm.

Much of the journey was like this with Petal having panics and Danique soothing her by the casual way she dismissed one crisis after another, including a period when their luggage might have gone to the wrong Winkel during a stop over.

"Hey, we're girls with super credit," the Evernight girl reminded her friend. "Lost clothes means buying a whole new wardrobe."

"True," Petal admitted with a slight flash of interest, yet there was always a cloud that seemed to dim her silver lining. "But I've a book on fairies in my luggage that has pressed flowers in it that can't be replaced," she stated, fluttering her hands in despair. The fairy book, Danique's trunk and Petal's bundles all appeared at the right place eventually and were only delayed by an hour when the great trans-Winkel flitter finally touched down at a sky port in the south corner of Greenvale.

Of course the Mara clan were there to greet the home coming girl in the lobby as passengers were processed, a whole crowd of them surging to where the two new arrivals stood, uncertain what to do next without their luggage.

"Piggypants!" came a shrill cry and a plump little boy threw herself upon Petal with a whoop of delight that made Danique laugh. More sedately others gathered round Petal and Danique and patted the former's hair, shook her hand and embraced her more gently with words of greeting.

"And who's this?" a small, soft-eyed lady asked, undoubtedly Petal's mother, as she took in the tall form, mass of cloudy black hair and chalk white skin of the Evernight girl.

"Oh, that's my friend Danique Ferale," Petal introduced her to the various family members one by one. Her little brother, known to one and all as Joshie, gazed up at the black-eyed girl and seemed fascinated by the mass of dark hair that formed a shadowy halo around her pale face.

"Furrypants!" he suddenly barked.

"Hush," came a gentle admonishment from his father. "I'm sorry," he added, looking at the girl with a regretful smile. "He's so young and exuberant. That's his way of claiming you as one of the family. He means no harm by it."

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"That's okay, Yokemaster Mara," this was his official title in Greenvale, "I understand you have lovely cliffs in this land. If I find a particularly beautiful one, I'll push him off it," and Danique smiled with equal regret at such an unfortunate event.

"Well, ahem," the man said and blushed, so that Danique laughed uproariously. This reassured everyone she was only joking so they laughed noisily as well, except for Joshie, who yelped. No one had noticed the Evernight girl giving the lad a surreptitious pinch and a look that said she would not tolerate such a family name for herself as Furrypants.

It took several large vehicles to transport the Mara clan from the southern sky port, around a great central land mass that soared in splendid pinnacles up among the clouds and down into lush river valleys that gave the land its name.

"That's the greenest green I've ever seen," Danique admitted, gazing out at the velvetty sward that coated hill after hill, broken here and there by the darker greens of copses and woodlands that climbed the central hills and filled narrow ravines to choking point.

"We'll stop at Pretty Falls for a meal," Petal said. "You'll like it there. Waterfalls that thunder, trees that sort of sing and murmur, and we might even see a fairy."

Danique snorted.

"Only in books Petal, and yours is a hundred miles away I should think."

"No, really. You'll see," and Petal sat back in her seat next to a silent and shy boy cousin who glanced now and again at the Evernight girl as if he thought her a giant fairy. Whenever she returned his scrutiny he always found the view from the window more fascinating.

Pretty Falls of course, being in Greenvale, lived up to its name. A great sprawling travellers' inn sat upon a hillock that overlooked a narrow valley. The opposite side stepped away into the distance in limestone terraces notched and worn by the constant flow of water from some source high up in the blue mountains. Every time the sun broke through clouds a great rainbow would arc across the valley like a fairy bridge.

The family sat upon the rocky plateau fenced by wooden railings and partook of their meal in sight of this miraculous scene. They munched sedately upon their viands, except for Petal who wolfed down three cream buns with hungry relish. She made such funny noises of gratitude Danique laughed again at her antics.

"This is a happy place," she sighed and leaned over the railing to watch the foam frothing below from the thundering waterfall opposite. Then something tugged on her hair and she made to swat it away, thinking an insect had tangled there, but a messy scream from Petal made her pause.

"Don't move!" she warned, and wiping a mass of cream from her mouth and hands, the brown-haired girl slowly approached where Danique gripped the railings, unable to identify the tugging sensation behind her head. Others of the Mara clan stood and watched with amazement etched on their faces also, as Petal smiled nervously by the girl's side.

"What's tangled in my hair?" she said, annoyed. Little irritated chirping noises could be heard and she thought it a bird. This made her relax a little as it explained Petal's gentle concern.

"Stay still and I'll coax her out," Petal said in breathless excitement. She pulled from her pocket a piece of shiny foil used to wrap sweets, many of which she had scoffed during the journey, to help her nerves, she insisted. She rustled the crimson sparkly stuff near Danique's head, making cooing noises as she did so. The effect was immediate for Danique distinctly felt the sensation of something crawling around the side of her head and the chirping got louder when the thing gripped her earlobe briefly with a warm, sharp touch. Then it pounced on Petal's offering and was gone.

All Danique saw were little golden wings dotted with emerald green and turquoise blue, and what appeared to be a flurry of tiny legs. The foil was clutched in minuscule hands and a resounding chirp of triumph cut the air before the creature dived over the cliff edge and disappeared in the dark blue shadows below.

"She liked your hair," Petal explained happily, as if this were a fortunate thing. "I think she would have settled in it forever if she could. Fairies use human hair for their nests."

"Fairies?" Danique muttered. "Have I died and woken in a storybook?"

"Yes," Petal agreed. "Welcome to Greenvale."