By the time lunch rolled around, Tinkerbell had barely gotten any work done on her plow. In fact, it looked more like a child's wagon than a farming tool. When Tinkerslay finally dismissed everyone for their meal, Tinkerbell rushed past him and right out the door. She made it home in record time and headed straight for her closet. She located the bunny with no problems and headed back out of the house.

On her way back to the warehouse, she flew over a grain field where some plant growers were planting wheat for feeding the fairies. Caringly she watched over them, thinking about how easy their jobs would become once they started using her new plow. She continued to fly over flower fields and trickling streams until she finally reached the open spaced eating area where all of the home fairies had their lunches and dinners.

The tinkers normally sat at the end of the long table nearest to the edge of the clearing. Tinkerbell decided that she would jump out from behind a tree and scare some of her coworkers. As she flew down towards her hiding spot, she heard a couple of the other tinkers talking.

"Where has Tinkerbell run off to?" asked Tinkerjoy.

"I don't care where she went. I'm just glad she's not here." Tinkerbell recognized this voice as that of Tinkerdaniel, a fairy that she had never really gotten along with.

"I agree." Said Tinkerben.

"You boys are being cruel." Stated Tinkerjoy in a reprimanding, husky tone.

"It's not cruel. Her lack of skills is a liability in the warehouse." Said Tinkerdaniel. Tinkerben nodded in agreement.

"But you must recognize that she has improved greatly over the past few months." Pleaded Tinkerjoy.

"You really don't know?" asked Tinkerben.

"Tinkerbell hasn't improved at all." Stated Tinkerdaniel. "Every day she works so happily to create useless contraptions and then forces Tinkerelias to clean up her mess."

"What do you mean?" asked Tinkerjoy.

"Remember back to the first day of work this season." Said Tinkerben. "She had so much trouble trying to build her workbench that Tinkerelias had to stop his work to give her advice. Even with his help she still couldn't build an adequate table. But, magically the next day, a perfect table showed up in place of the monstrosity she had constructed. At the time no one thought twice about it, but in reality, Tinkerelias skipped the banquet to rebuild the workbench for her."

"Yeah and he's been doing the same thing with all of her inventions ever since. He skips lunch and works late just to correct Tinkerbell's shoddy craftsmanship." Yelled Tinkerdaniel in a rage. Tinkerjoy quickly hushed him but it was too late. The other tinkers heard his outburst and started to murmur angrily under their breath. Apparently, Tinkerjoy and Tinkerbell were the only ones unaware of Tinkerelias's actions.

Tinkerbell could feel the tears welling up as she raced away from the eating area. She thought that she had been improving as a tinker, but she was wrong. Tinkerelias had been doing all of her work behind her back and now the other tinkers resented her for it. On the way back to her home, Tinkerbell again flew past the grain fields. It was blatantly obvious now how prideful she had been before. Earlier, she had pitied the plant growers for having to work without her fabulous new plow when in reality; it was she who deserved pity.

By the time she reached her front door, the tears were falling like rain. She walked into the kitchen and it suddenly seemed like a harshly offending place. The kitchen table that had always been a place of serenity and interesting conversation was now shrouded in a veil of insecurity and doubt. She began to recall all of the meals that she had enjoyed at the table in a different light.

Every intelligent sentence that Tinkerelias had ever spoken across that table now seemed like a patronizing statement. Every argument that the two of them had solved amicably was now tainted by the foul undertones of this egregious lie. She looked up to the window covered by her homemade curtains and it made her angry. The way they gently waved in the breeze of the open window felt like they were taunting her. When Tinkerelias initially asked her to sew the curtains, she had been ecstatic to do something she was good at. Now, however, she felt that he had only been patronizing her.

Her anger got the best of her as she ripped the curtains away from the window. The curtain rod hit the floor with a hollow clank. The sound seemed to echo the feeling in the pit of Tinkerbell's stomach. She sat on the edge of her bed holding the shredded curtains in her hands. Her cheeks felt cold as her tears settled and dried on them. For hours she just sat there starring at the destroyed pieces of the only thing that she had ever created on her own. It felt like her heart had been ripped into as many pieces as the curtains.

The sun had already set by the time Tinkerelias returned home. Tinkerbell just stared at the front door as it opened slowly. She wasn't sure what to say to Tinkerelias. It hurt her to know that he didn't think enough of her to tell the truth about her inferior craftsmanship. His face appeared in the doorway and Tinkerbell felt a jarring stab in her chest. Earlier she believed that she would be able to forgive him, but not now. The sight of his face brought up such a strong feeling of hurt that she couldn't imagine ever forgiving him. He saw the pained expression on her face and knelt beside her.

"What happened?" He asked. "Why are the curtains messed up?"

"Because of you. It's all because of you!" She screamed as she stood in a rage. Her voice was almost hoarse from sobbing so her screams weren't as loud as she had hoped. Tinkerelias gave her a confused look and tried to grab her hand. She snatched her hand away and threw the ripped curtains in his face. At this point, her voice regained its lost strength.

With her hands clenched into fists, she spewed out every hurtful thing she could think to say. She berated him for lying to her for so many months and for causing the rest of the tinkers to resent her. He tried multiple times to apologize and explain, but she would not allow it. Again and again she screamed at him, reprimanding him for treating her like a child that needed protection. When she finally ran out of things to say, she left. She didn't know where she was going so she just picked a direction and flew.