After getting her food Tinkerbell, followed by Tinkerelias, sat at a section of the dining table where three fairies were already enjoying their food.

"Hi I'm Tinkerbell and this is Tinkerelias." Said Tinkerbell to the three fairies.

"We already know Tinkerelias. We have had plenty of time with him while waiting for you to bloom my dear. And, although this is our first time meeting you Tinkerbell, the three of us know of you very well." Said the fairy sitting directly across the table from Tinkerbell. It seemed a shame, thought Tinkerbell,that this woman was a home fairy. Her brown dress did nothing to accentuate the features of her dark brown skin, and her jet black hair seemed unfairly restrained in the tight bun it was tied up in. In her mind, Tinkerbell believed that this fairy would look so much better in the light colored clothing that the weather fairies wore.

"These are the fairies that were in charge of taking care of your un-bloomed tulip." Said Tinkerelias.

"Yes, and you caused us all much grief." Said the dark skinned fairy

"This is Watcherlyn." Said Tinkerelias about the dark skinned fairy. She smiled warmly at Tinkerbell.

"You're a watcher! First one I've met. What do you do? How does your job work?" Tinkerbell had leaned over the table almost into Watcherlyn's soup as she spoke.

"I was in charge of watching you every hour, day and night, until you bloomed. My duty was to report on any changes in your condition to the Queen. Until the day you burst forth from the flower, there was absolutely nothing to report on. I didn't get a wink of sleep for nine months because of you." Said Watcherlyn.

"I'm sorry." Tinkerbell said as she leaned back into her seat.

"This guy to my left is Growerkel." Watcherlyn stated. Tinkerbell looked to the left of Watcherlyn at the squat, square faced Growerkel. Unlike Watcherlyn, he fit the image of a plain home fairy perfectly.

"Grower. Is that a fun job?" Tinkerbell asked curiously, but this time she stayed firmly in her seat.

"I bloomed in the cycle right before yours. You were my first assignment as a grower. I watered you every day of the nine months you were in that tulip. It took so long for you to bloom that you had me believing I had messed up on my first assignment. So no, not all that fun." Said Growerkel. Tinkerbell wanted to shrink down into her seat and disappear.

"And to my right is Changerpenny" stated Watcherlyn. Changerpenny looked up at Tinkerbell with a coy smile. Unlike the rest of the women who wore their hair up in buns, Changerpenny had her reddish blonde hair cut short to frame her face.

"A changer....." Tinkerbell let her sentence trail off. There was so much she wanted to ask but her questioning was not going well so far.

"I have been working as a changer for a long time." Said Changerpenny. "In all my years I have never had to make sure a fairy didn't age too slowly like I did with you. I'm not even sure I know how to do my job correctly anymore."

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Said Tinkerbell. Although the fairies were saying all of their grievances in a joking tone, Tinkerbell knew that they were actually annoyed with her. She wanted to invent something to impress them so they wouldn't feel that all of their work with her was for naught.

These three fairies had run themselves ragged taking care of her for nine months and she wanted to show them how great a tinker she could be. Quickly, she took some string and tied the un-useful ends of her spoon and fork together. Then, in order to demonstrate the usefulness of her new tool, she scooped up some soup with the spoon end and then stabbed at her salad with the fork end.

While trying to skewer a tomato with the fork, she accidentally flung the soup out of the spoon end of her new invention. Watcherlyn let out a loud gasp as the lukewarm soup landed in the middle of her forehead and started to drip down her face. She quickly stood from the table.

"Oh My!" Watcherlyn exclaimed as she wiped her face with her hands.

"Let us help you." Changerpenny stated as she and Growerkel stood up on either side of Watcherlyn.

"Napkins, napkins, napkins!" Growerkel mumbled as he grabbed every spare scrap of cloth within reaching distance. One scrap, however, wasn't so spare. Growerkel grabbed a napkin that was securely stuck under Tinkerbell's salad. When he pulled out the napkin, her salad bowl flipped off the table, landing in her lap. Tinkerbell held in a gasp as cold salad dressing soaked her legs.

"Are you ok?" Tinkerelias asked as he removed the bowl from her lap and knocked off a few spare vegetables. Tinkerbell didn't hear him. She was too engrossed in the three fairies across from her. These three fairies had practically raised her and they seemed severely unimpressed with how she turned out.

"I think some soup got in your hair." Growerkel said, concerned.

"What!?" Watcherlyn exclaimed, running her hands over her hair. Her eyes stiffened into a glare as she was no longer able to hide her annoyance with Tinkerbell. Her hands finally found the wet spot in her hair and she let out an audible "uuuugh" before flying off. Growerkel and Changerpenny quickly followed her, just as annoyed, with napkins in their hands.

"They hate me." Said Tinkerbell with her head hung low. With her face down, all she could see was her wet lap. She didn't bother cleaning it up. It felt right to be stewing in her own mess right now.

"They just don't know you." Replied Tinkerelias with a reassuring smile. He grabbed all the remaining napkins from the table and piled them in Tinkerbell's lap.

"Let's go home. You need to change or you'll get sick." Tinkerelias said, collecting their bowls and returning them to the serving area. Tinkerbell did feel cold, partly from the salad dressing in her lap and partly from the sadness in her heart.

At home, Tinkerbell didn't want to take off her dress. In her closet, the only other items were brown dresses. She didn't want to change into one of those outfits unless it was absolutely necessary. Standing in her closet, she just stared at her completely brown wardrobe without moving an inch.

"Take off your dress." Tinkerelias said from outside the closet. Tinkerbell instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, holding tighter to her dress.

"I'll go to the river and wash it. Then you can put it right back on." Tinkerelias explained as he reached only his arm around the corner and into the closet. Tinkerbell got what he was saying. He knew how she felt about the brown Home Fairy outfits. He didn't want her to put one on if she didn't absolutely have to.

"Thank you." Tinkerbell replied as she slipped off her dress and handed it to Tinkerelias.

"Back in a bee-wink." Tinkerelias stated as he sprinted from the house. He wasn't lying. Tinkerbell had only started to catch a chill when Tinkerelias returned. The little green dress was warm as she pulled it over her body. As cozy as it felt, Tinkerbell knew she would have no trouble sleeping tonight.