The hand from the mirror grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. Tinkerbell struggled, but it was no use. The mirror hand was strong. She was sure it was the hand of death. She had never seen a fairy die before and for all she knew, this was par for the course.

"I'll meet you on the other side." Tinkerbell said to Peter Pan's still body. Then she went limp. Crossing over was surprisingly painless. As she crashed into the mirror, it wasn't hard. The glass molded around her like a thick gel. She held her breath and prepared herself to never breathe again.

"Breathe! Bell, breathe!" Said a rough yet familiar voice. A few claps erupted in front of her face and her eyes popped open. Tinkerbell sat up quickly and surveyed the scene. If this was the afterlife, it was eerily familiar. It was dark, but Tinkerbell could vaguely make out her surroundings. In front of her was a large body of water with the moon shining directly on it. Far off Tinkerbell could just make out a ship.

It reminded Tinkerbell of the time she went to Coney Island with the Pan family. They had spent most of the day watching the ferries come in. This scene also made her think of Neverland. Suddenly, the realization hit her in the head as if it had been there all along. This was Neverland.

Tinkerbell had to be sure. She had spent so many nights dreaming of being back here that she had to make sure it was real. At the top of the trees she hovered, looking around. Behind her was the Tree of Life, with one third of its leaves lost to the fire started by Peter Pan. In front of her were thousands of lanterns signifying the start fairy villages. There was no doubt in Tinkerbell's mind that this was Neverland.

How was this possible? Tinkerbell had been banished to the Kingdom. Not to mention, she had no idea how to travel from the Kingdom to Neverland. She had only done it once with Peter Pan.

"Get down!" Said a rough voice, the same one from the mirror. Again, the hand grabbed her and she was pulled toward the ground. Although unable to see who was pulling her, Tinkerbell felt safe in his grasp. Even as they plummeted toward the ground, Tinkerbell didn't flinch. They pulled up just before colliding with the dirt, as Tinkerbell expected.

"We must not be seen." The voice growled. Tree trunks whisked past as they sped over the ground. Tinkerbell couldn't quite tell where they were headed. Soon, the solid trunks gave way to lush grass and then to widely spaced cobblestones.

"We're here." The voice spoke softly. Tinkerbell looked up at an impossibly high wall and immediately knew where she was.

"The Palace." Tinkerbell breathed out in a soft whisper. In front of her, the stranger pushed on a specific brick in the wall. The brick lit up briefly and a door appeared in its place. The stranger walked through the door without hesitation. Tinkerbell wanted to hold back. She was extremely apprehensive, but the stranger had his hand tight around her wrist and he pulled her through.

On the other side of the door, Tinkerbell was in a place she had been only once before. It was Queen Esmintu's throne room. There were two figures standing in the center of the dimly lit room. Tinkerbell started sprinting toward them before she could even see them clearly.

"Watcherlyn!" Tinkerbell exclaimed as she sank into the older fairies arms. Although, as she looked at her wrinkly skin compared to Watcherlyn's, Tinkerbell realized that she was now the elder.

"Tinkerbell, is it you?" Watcherlyn asked, apprehensively. She was scanning Tinkerbell's face closely.

"You knew she would be older." Queen Esmintu reminded Watcherlyn.

"Of course." Watchelyn stated. She then grabbed Tinkerbell up into another hug.

"I can't believe it, I missed you so much! It's been so long but you look exactly the same! How is everyone doing? How much time has passed here? I lost count such a long time ago. Are you still close with Changerpenny and Growerkel? How is the production at the tinker factory? And Tinkerelias.....Oh Tinkerelias! I never got to say goodbye to Tinkerelias. Would he even recognize me now? I'm so ol..."

"Tinkerbell." Queen Esmintu said, interrupting her rant. She gestured that Tinkerbell should turn around. Tinkerbell did as she was told. Behind her was the strange guide who had brought her here.

This was the first time Tinkerbell got a good look at him. He was a fairy, but an old one, maybe only slightly younger than her. It was obvious that he was an elder with his wise eyes and all-knowing smile. He held out a fist to her and when he opened his hand, Tinkerbell couldn't believe what she saw. In his palm, as if it were sleeping comfortably, lay the one eared bunny.

"Elias?" Tinkerbell asked with tears in her eyes. She looked up at the stranger's face and realized that it wasn't so strange at all.

"It's me." He said softly. How had this happened? Tinkerelias should barely be older than the last time Tinkerbell saw him. Now, however, he stood before her as an old man.

"How?" Tinkerbell asked, confused.

"I followed you to The Kingdom." Tinkerelias replied with a warm smile.

"Why?" Thinkerbell just couldn't wrap her head around this situation.

"To watch over you, because it is what I was always destined to do." Tinkerelias was still smiling. There was only one fairy who spoke of destiny that way, a fairy who could sense destinies from birth.

Tinkerbell walked over to Queen Esmintu, kneeled, and covered her eyes with her arm. Her sense of respect was not dulled after being in The Kingdom for so long. She stayed in that position for a while, thinking of exactly what to say and how to say it.

"Did you know?" Tinkerbell asked, not daring to look up.

"Rise Tinkerbell, and speak your mind." Queen Esmintu replied.

"When I was born, did you know that I would end up this way or that Tinkerelias would end up that way? Could you see this far ahead?" Tinkerbell spoke quickly before she got too scared to say all of the words.

"I knew that you would be unhappy here in Neverland no matter what. I could never have forseen that a human would grace our shores again or that you would live a lifetime in The Kingdom, but I knew you were destined for greatness. Also, I knew that you would always need Tinkerelias by your side." Queen Esmintu was always so regal when she spoke.

There were so many questions running through Tinkerbell's mind that she couldn't keep up. Even in her old age, Tinkerbell was as unsure of herself as ever. Maybe coming back to Neverland, a place where time hardly ever moved, had reverted her back to her childhood days. Suddenly, the most important question pushed its way to the front of her mind.

"Have you forgiven me for the way I acted when we last saw each other?" Tinkerbell looked up at Tinkerelias with hopeful eyes as she asked this.

"We were both far too rash back then. Look at us now. We're too old now to worry about such trivial fights." Tinkerelias said in a warm tone. Tinkerbell looked at his aged face and saw traces of the friend from her youth. Although his hair was now gray, it had grown out from the crew cut he had as a young tinker. Again, it was the floppy crop of hair that Tinkerbell always loved on him.

"I love you." Tinkerbell blurted out. It was something she had always felt but never said. Her sense of duty and protective affection for Peter Pan had always overshadowed her feelings for Tinkerelias. She felt the emotions now and she wondered how she had lived so long in the Kingdom without seeing his face. Tinkerelias grabbed Tinkerbell's hand and put it to his cheek.

"I know Bell. I've always known." Tinkerelias smiled brightly and hugged her tightly. Of course he knew. Tinkerelias had always been there, watching her make crazy mistakes, but never judging her for it. He followed her to the Kingdom after exile and watched her without interfering in her life. He even found a way to get them back to Neverland before she met an untimely end. Tinkerbell knew all of these things. She looked down at her aged hands and wished she could have spent more time with Tinkerelias when they were younger. 

"It's time for the ceremony." Elder Parch'u said, barging into the room and holding open the large double doors to the main hall.

What ceremony?" Tinkerbell was swirling in confusion.

"This is the ending. You spent a lifetime living with humans which means that you and Tinkerelias know more about humanity than the rest of us could ever hope to know. There are many ways to become an elder, but you two are the first to do it by spending a lifetime in the Kingdom. Accept your reward with pride." Queen Esmintu said with a smile on her face.

"We aren't in trouble?" Tinkerelias asked apprehensively.

"What about the Solvers?" Tinkerbell ducked slightly as she spoke of the feared fairies.

"The Solvers may be law enforcers but I, as Queen, make the law. I say you are forgiven. I say you deserve honor. Do you disagree?" Queen Esmintu asked with a large smile on her face. 

 Tinkerbell was unsure of all of this. Tinkerelias, on the other hand, walked straight ahead through the doors without a second thought. Of course, Tinkerbell had no choice but to follow him. 

The room that Tinkerbell walked into was amazing with fireflies twinkling in the air and the scent of fresh flowers circulating overhead. In the center of a sea of smiling fairies was a large, round stage. It had vines growing all over it that coalesced in the center and formed into a podium. With the vines covering the stage so completely, it seemed as if it had always been there yet Tinkerbell had never seen it before. Wrinkled skin on her hand reminded her that she had spent a lifetime away. Things were bound to have changed.

Queen Esmintu took to the stage and cleared her voice loudly. Everyone in attendance quieted down at her cue. Tinkerbell, too, settled down to listen to the queen.

"We are gathered today to honor two of our best. To become an elder fairy, one must prove themselves as one of the wisest fairies among us. They have dedicated their lives to learning about humanity and survival in the Kingdom. Please join me in welcoming Tinkerbell and Tinkerelias to the stage!" Queen Esmintu spoke grandly and applause erupted at the end of her speech. Tinkerbell walked up to the stage in a daze. In the crowd she saw all of her friends basically unchanged from the last time she saw them. It was shocking to be here now. She had been exiled from Neverland and quite dramatically so. To see the same people who had previously looked at her with such disappointed expressions now clapping furiously for her, was hard to comprehend.

Up on stage, Tinkerbell and Tinkerelias stood awkwardly next to Queen Esmintu. Unsure how to act, and feeling like a timetraveler who was thrust back into her own past, Tinkerbell searched for familiar faces in the crowd. The first face she zeroed in on was that of Watcherlyn. This fairy, who had been a motherly presence in Tinkerbell's life, was now younger than Tinkerbell. Although the newly formed age gap was vast, Tinkerbell still felt a strong sense of care and comfort when looking at Watcherlyn.

"Becoming a elder fairy signifies that a fairy has fulfilled the destiny that I predicted for them at their birth. From now on, their futures are their own to decide. As such, like all elders before them, Tinkerbell and Tinkerelias will now shed the names given to them at their blooming and choose new names that are important to them. They will also announce to what cause they will dedicate the rest of their lives." Queen Esmintu spoke and, again, applause erupted after she finished speaking.

Tinkerbell wasn't ready. She was still in shock that this ceremony was happening at all. She didn't feel wise or that she deserved this honor. Before this second, she didn't even know how elders became elders. Just yesterday she was in the Kingdom living with Peter Pan and now she was becoming an elder fairy. It was all happening so fast, too fast. When Queen Esmintu gestured that Tinkerbell should walk up to the podium, she couldn't find the strength to move. A squeeze came at Tinkerbell's shoulder, breaking her from her trance. He walked past her and up to the podium.

"O'er land doth thou travel, O'er land I shall follow. This is the first thing I heard when I travelled to the Kingdom. It was a song by a man sitting on the streets of Scotland. After following Tinkerbell through a portal to who-knows-where, the lyric was oddly fitting. I truly would follow her anywhere and I will continue to dedicate my life to helping her achieve the greatness that she will undoubtedly create. As for a name, I choose the song lyric that haunted my mind while I searched for Tinkerbell during my early time in the Kingdom. I am Orlandothu." Tinkerelias spoke like a wise man and Tinkerbell was shocked. The name Orlandothu was fitting. It felt aged and rare. The name rattled around in Tinkerbell's heart and kicked out Tinkerelias without haste.  Hearing Orlandothu speak so surely, Tinkerbell finally knew what her elder life would consist of. Confidently, she took her place next to Orlandothu at the podium.

"We bloom from flowers, we are assigned names and jobs, and the next day we start work. It is a travesty." There was a gasp from the crowd but no one spoke. Tinkerbell was an elder now and no one dared interrupt her before she was finished.

"It has been years for me, but for all of you it has only been weeks at most. Your memories are better than mine. When I was exiled Solverfin called me a naïve fairy who knew nothing of her history. He was right. But do any of us truly know our history? The only place to learn it is here in the great library, yet the fluid time constraints and intimidating presence of elders prevents young fairies from entering these halls. Our rich heritage is tucked away in these dusty books where wondering minds will never find it! Perhaps it was necessary that I be so uneducated in order to end up here now. It is my mission to make sure that no young fairy ever struggles again to learn of Neverland and fairy history. Orlandothu and I will keep detailed records of Neverland history and also teach it to newly bloomed fairies. From now on, I am Polantadi!" Tinkerbell's speech was also followed by raucous applause. 

She didn't explain the origin of her name out of fear of hurting Orlandothu's feelings. Her name was a combination of the names of the four children she had seen grow in the the kingdom; Porter, Landow, Tanya, and Dina. They were the living records of Peter Pan's existence and Tinkerbell wanted to keep them with her in some way. As Polantadi, she would spend the rest of her days with Orlandothu. He didn't need to know that she was keeping Peter Pan with her as well.

Polantadi and Orlandothu stepped down from the stage, arms entwined. They received praises and congratulations from every fairy they passed. Solverfin sent Tinkerbell a swift nod before putting on his cloak and flying off with the other solvers.

"What should we do now?" Orlandothu asked as the crowd thinned out.

"Let's go home. I've missed just being there with you." Polantadi replied as she snuggled her forehead affectionately into his shoulder. And that is exactly what we did.