Tinkerbell was on autopilot while she reminisced about her night with Peter Pan, so she didn't realize that she had already reached the palace. She almost collided with a moss covered column before she came back to her senses. Rumors state that Queen Esmintu was a plant fairy before she became an elder, so the vine covered palace was not a shock to Tinkerbell.

This was the young fairy's first trip to the palace. It is not a building that is usually entered by the public. Other than being the home of Queen Esmintu, the palace's only function was as a meeting place for the elders. It is not forbidden for normal fairies to enter the palace, but because fairies are so work oriented, they never have the time or inclination to do so. Tinkerbell landed ten feet away from the palace and just stared at it, taking in its glory.

The palace was large, by far the largest building in Neverland. Because of the foliage covering the entire structure, the palace seemed abandoned and forgotten. The building was so settled into the ground it sat on that Tinkerbell felt she needed to tiptoe in order to not disturb its resting place. As she gently maneuvered toward the large double doors of the palace, she caught sight of Watcherlyn sitting on the palace steps in a side saddle position.

"Tinkerbell." said Watcherlyn as she stood to greet the younger fairy.

"Hello Watcherlyn." said Tinkerbell in a somber tone. Her exuberance had died down greatly after she reached the palace. The realization that Peter Pan would be leaving soon had become all too solid in her mind.

"Are you prepared to enter?" asked Watcherlyn with a nod towards the front doors of the palace.

"Why must I prepare? I enter buildings all the time without preparing." said Tinkerbell obstinately. She was letting the fear of losing Peter Pan get to her.

"This is no ordinary building Tinkerbell! If you're not careful it will dazzle you in such a way that you will never leave. There is a reason the outside of the building seems so listless and rundown. It is in order deter the entrance by weaker fairies who may be lost forever!" answered Watcherlyn with a sense of urgency.

"Fine then, I'm prepared." said Tinkerbell still expressing her fear as contempt.

Watcherlyn gave Tinkerbell a concerned look but said nothing more. She turned toward the palace and Tinkerbell followed. As she reached the large wooden doors of the palace, Watcherlyn paused for a second. She took a deep breath as she put her hand on the door and Tinkerbell unknowingly copied her. Once the deep inhaling was finished, Watcherlyn threw open the double doors with so much force that it seemed to Tinkerbell like she was being overly dramatic. But she wasn't being dramatic; Tinkerbell realized this after the doors had opened. The doors flew open with a cacophony of rattles and bangs worthy of the force that Watcherlyn had given them.

She was right, Watcherlyn. The palace was no place for feeble minded fairies. A warm wind wafted from inside the palace and surrounded the two fairies. It drew them into the palace as time seemed to simultaneously slow down and speed up. Tinkerbell gazed upon the inside of the palace in awe. They were in a library, but not an ordinary library. It infinitely extended in all directions. When she looked up, Tinkerbell couldn't even begin to imagine what the ceiling looked like.

The books went on forever. Shelf after shelf, balcony after balcony rose above Tinkerbell's head without end. All around her were elder fairies. They were all reading at tables, on the floor, balancing on ladders; everywhere. It was a bewildering sight to see. Some of the elders were moving so fast that Tinkerbell would miss them if she blinked. Others moved so slowly that they seemed frozen mid page turn. Tinkerbell wondered how they were doing it. They seemed perfectly content to be sped up or slowed down arbitrarily. She stopped in her tracks in order to watch events unfold around her.

"Stay close." Watcherlyn said from fifty feet ahead of Tinkerbell, or was it only two feet? The older fairy was screaming and whispering at the same time. Her words seemed indistinctly rapid yet unbearably slow all at once. Watcherlyn held her hand out toward Tinkerbell and her arm looked as if it were stretching the entire fifty feet between them. Tinkerbell grabbed Watcherlyn's hand and was immediately thrust into a realm of rapid time. She was suddenly right behind Watcherlyn as they flew incredibly fast through the seemingly endless library.

Tinkerbell thought that the expansive library would encompass the entire palace but that was far from the truth. The quick pace with which the girls were moving had them speeding through different rooms at what Tinkerbell considered to be an impossible rate. Each room was bigger than the one before yet the two fairies spent at most five seconds maneuvering through them. Finally, there was an endlessly long corridor with doors lining each side. Watcherlyn chose an extravagantly decorated purple door and the girls whisked through it. On the other side of the door was a grand meeting room with a table that stretched the length of the room. At the far end of the table was a tall, thin chair with purple cushions. Tinkerbell imagined that this was the chair the queen sat in during the meetings of the elders. The back wall of the room was completely covered by a plush cashmere curtain. Watcherlyn walked to the center of the curtain covered wall and lifted the curtain. The wall was solid marble, or so it seemed. The older fairy knocked on the wall three times. It slid open just enough for the two fairies the slip through. If Tinkerbell hadn't known better, she would have thought that they were back outside. This current room was more like a clearing in a forest than the inside of a building. The ground was overrun with the roots of the trees that lined the room and the ceiling was completely obstructed by the canopy. Even the furniture in the room seemed to be growing up from the ground. In the center of the room was the queen. Tinkerbell was startled by her presence. there were so many beautifully carved pieces of furniture in the room yet the queen was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her eyes were closed and she was sitting completely still with her head lifted so that she was directly facing the two fairies. There was a smirk on her face as if she was remembering something enjoyable, or keeping a juicy secret.

"Hello Watcherlyn, Hello Tinkerbell." Said Queen Esmintu, moving nothing but her lips.