A Royal Wedding

by Helen Perelman

  “Of course she’s here,” Cocoa said. “This is Princess Lolli’s wedding! She is going to make sure all the dresses are perfect.”

  “Lickin’ lollipops,” Berry said. She flopped down on the couch. She stared at the closed door to the design studio. “Oh, I can’t wait!”

  Raina looked up from the fashion book. “Again, no patience,” she mumbled.

  Cocoa and Melli looked from Raina to Berry.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Berry asked. “I have lots of patience!”

  “Not lately,” Raina replied.

  Dash sprang up. “What is it with you two?” she asked. “We’re tired of hearing you snap at each other.”

  Melli wrapped her fingers around a strand of hair. “What is going on?”

  Blowing her long bangs off her forehead, Raina sighed. She was trying not to be angry, but Berry was making her mad! “Berry is being a know-it-all,” she said.

  “Me?” Berry cried. “You are the one being bossy and quoting the Fairy Code Book!”

  “She always quotes the Fairy Code Book,” Dash said innocently.

  “I know!” Berry shouted. “And it is getting annoying. The rainbow-swirled lollipops are going to be beautiful,” she said to Raina. “With or without your help.”

  “You are supposed to be working together,” Melli said softly. “The lollipops are ‘something sweet’ and ‘something swirled.’ ”

  “You used to love working together,” Cocoa said.

  “Not so much anymore,” Berry mumbled.

  Cocoa looked to the door. “You’d better pull yourselves together,” she warned. “Don’t forget where we are.” She gave her friends each a stern look.

  “And why we’re here,” Dash added.

  “Raina, you don’t know everything!” Berry shouted.

  “I do know something about rainbow swirling!” Raina yelled.

  At that moment the door to the dressing room opened. Princess Lolli walked into the waiting room with her sister, Princess Sprinkle!

  The Candy Fairies were speechless.

  “I thought you two would enjoy making the lollipop bouquet,” Princess Lolli said. Her voice was dripping with disappointment. “But it seems to have caused you some trouble.”

  Raina and Berry hung their heads.

  “Maybe I should . . .” Princess Lolli stopped when she saw Berry stepping forward.

  “Please, Princess Lolli,” Berry said. “We can make the sweetest bouquet. I know we can. We’ve been arguing, but we’ll stop. Making your bouquet is too important.”

  “I’m sorry,” Raina added. She looked at Berry.

  “Me too,” Berry said.

  “Sometimes weddings make people act nutty,” Princess Lolli told them. “I understand the pressure.” She sighed. “Especially since we only have a couple of months before the wedding. But you should not be fighting.” She smiled over her shoulder at her sister. “Ask Princess Sprinkle. We just had an argument this morning.”

  “But we’re over it now,” Princess Sprinkle said with a grin. “We had a misunderstanding. Clearing up a little misunderstanding is important before things get really messy.”

  “Fighting and being mad is very bitter,” Princess Lolli said. “And can ruin events.”

  A fairy with a measuring tape around her neck poked her head through the doorway. “Madame Crème de la Crème will see the gumdrops now.”

  “Go, gumdrops,” Princess Lolli said with a gentle smile. She reached out for Raina’s and Berry’s hands. “Talk to each other.”

  “We will not let you down,” Raina said.

  “We’ll make you the sweetest bouquet,” Berry promised.

  Cocoa looked back at her friends. She wasn’t sure Berry and Raina had truly forgiven each other . . . or if a simple talk would solve their argument. Melli and Dash had the same concerned look on their faces. Cocoa had a worried feeling in her stomach as she followed the dress fairy into the dressing room.

  Showers of Sweetness

  Even though it seemed as if Princess Lolli’s wedding was the only thing happening in Sugar Valley, there was still plenty of work keeping the Candy Fairies busy. It was harvest season, and many of the Candy Fairies were collecting candies and packaging sweet treats. Cocoa and Melli were together at the edge of Chocolate Woods taking a break from their harvest duties. They were sitting in a chocolate oak branch.

  “How is the candy corn crop?” Cocoa asked.

  Melli shrugged. “Better than I thought it would be,” she said. “I was afraid the chill of the last couple of months would hurt the corn, but they are supersweet.”

  “You must be glad,” Cocoa said. “What would Caramel Moon be without the candy corn harvest?”

  Melli sighed. “Do you really think we’ll have the Caramel Moon Festival?”

  This year it seemed the royal wedding would overshadow the festival. Melli knew that the candy corn crops would have to be picked. She was sad that the harvest wouldn’t be a big celebration.

  “Prince Scoop was all for the festival,” Cocoa said. “I heard him at the engagement party.”

  “He didn’t actually say there would be a festival,” Melli said. “I haven’t heard any mention of the Caramel Moon Festival. I think everyone is too focused on the wedding.” She looked up and saw two sugar flies hovering nearby. “For us?” she said to the small flies.

  Two envelopes fell down, one for each of the fairies.

  Cocoa gasped. “Oh, it’s an invitation!” she cried. “We’re to meet at Gummy Grove today at noon. That’s right now!”

  “Did you get it?” Dash shouted from above. She sped over to the branch Melli and Cocoa were sitting on. “There must be hundreds of sugar flies out delivering these messages. What could this be about?”

  “It has to be about the wedding, right?” Cocoa said.

  “I can’t wait to find out,” Dash said. “Let’s head over now.”

  The three Candy Fairies flew to Gummy Grove. They found Raina already there. She was sitting on a rock, reading the Fairy Code Book.

  “Raina, what do you think is going on?” Cocoa asked.

  “Is there anything in the Fairy Code Book about this?” Dash asked.

  “There are many stories about weddings and traditions,” Raina said, “but this has got me stumped.”

  Just then a herd of royal unicorns appeared in the sky. The royal families along with many other fairies landed in the grove.

  “Whoa,” Dash said.

  Berry hurried over to where her friends were standing. She made her way through the crowd. “This is quite the royal gathering,” she said. “There are fairies from all the kingdoms here.”

  “And only the ladies,” Cocoa observed.

  “Isn’t this like a wedding shower?” Berry asked.

  “But not very traditional,” Raina said, inching forward. “Wait, Princess Lolli is going to speak!”

  Princess Lolli stood in the center of the grove. A horn blew, and everyone was quiet as the bride-to-be addressed the crowd. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice today,” she said. “I would like to thank my mother, Queen Sweetie, and my sister, Princess Sprinkle, for helping me make this event happen. I so appreciate you all being here. Especially Queen Swirl and her family from Ice Cream Isles. They have made quite a journey today.”

  “Queen Swirl doesn’t look so happy to be here,” Raina whispered to Cocoa. The queen was not used to being in the fields. She was still in her fancy clothes and looked a little out of place.

  “Many of you know that Gummy Grove had a hard summer, with a draught destroying the crops,” Princess Lolli went on. “Since this is such a happy time for Scoop and me, we wanted to give back to the kingdom. We thought we could all work together this afternoon to clear the grove and ready the ground for gummy tulip bulbs.”

  The fairies cheered.

  “This should be a new wedding tradition,” Lemona, a Sour Orchard Fairy called out. “It’s a wedding shower party that will rea
lly cause something to grow!”

  “I am definitely writing this up for the Fairy Code Book,” Raina boasted.

  “This grove will bloom with gummy flowers in the spring,” Princess Lolli told the crowd. “And all of you will be a part of that gift to the kingdom.”

  The castle guards lined up to hand out hoes and shovels to all the fairies.

  The soil was full of hard sugar lumps. Many old vines were tangled, making the cleanup difficult. The fairies all worked hard. They wanted to make the grove bloom again for the princess and prince.

  “This will be beautiful in the spring,” Raina commented.

  “If we can get all this out of here,” Dash said, pulling on an old root stuck in the ground.

  As the fairies worked, Melli saw something across Gummy Lake. She drew her breath in sharply and grabbed Cocoa’s hand. She couldn’t even speak. She just pointed.

  “Oh no,” Cocoa said.

  Dash, Berry, and Raina all looked up. They saw what had caught their friends’ attention.

  “Mogu!” Dash exclaimed. “Not again!”

  “He just can’t stay away,” Berry sighed.

  “Looks like we need to create another distraction for that troll,” Melli said. She looked around. “I hope no one else saw him lurking by the lake.”

  “Let’s go quickly,” Raina told her friends. “Follow me. We’ll go a secret way through the forest.”

  The friends followed Raina and arrived at the lake. Once again they served up a candy feast for the greedy troll. They carefully placed the candy in a trail that led behind three large gummy oaks.

  “For sure he won’t move past this,” Dash said, eyeing all the candy. “And he should have a good slumber after finishing this off.”

  “And it will keep him out of sight from all the other fairies,” Melli said.

  They hid behind a gummy tree while Mogu lumbered over to the trail of candy.

  “Whew,” Melli said as Mogu trotted along their trail. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing him for a couple of hours.”

  “Good work,” Cocoa said. “Now let’s go back to the grove. We have to finish our area.”

  As they flew back to join the other fairies, Cocoa was happy that Berry and Raina were not bickering. They weren’t exactly speaking to each other . . . but at least there were no bitter words.

  “It was so nice of Princess Lolli to plan this,” Raina said. “Instead of thinking of what the fairies will do for her, she is thinking of what to do for the kingdom.”

  “That is why she is the sweetest ruler,” Cocoa said. “But we still need to think of a proper wedding gift for her.”

  “It has to be something unique,” Berry said.

  “She’ll be getting so many things,” Raina told her friends. “We’ll have to be creative.”

  “Look at all those Cake Kingdom treats!” Dash exclaimed as they flew closer to Gummy Grove. From the air Dash had spotted an elaborate table set full of cakes. “I am heading over there!”

  Dash’s friends laughed as their Mint Fairy friend dove toward the food.

  The other four landed in the field and continued with their clearing. Melli enjoyed the work—especially working with her friends. She hoped they’d be working together at harvesting the candy corn as well. . . . It was hard to imagine not picking the crops under the Caramel Moon.

  At the sweets table Dash saw Queen Sweetie talking to a fancy fairy from Ice Cream Isles. Dash was amazed at the queen’s jewels.

  “Oh, there are still more things to get done before the wedding,” Queen Sweetie said to her friend. “I do need to get Lolli to think about the wedding canopy.”

  “Oh yes,” her friend said. “Especially since the wedding is going to be outside. They will need to have some sort of covering. What happens if it rains? Or if the sun is glaring in their eyes at Sun Dip?”

  “Princess Lolli has her ideas,” Queen Sweetie said. She piled up her plate with cakes and returned to her seat. “But the wedding is not too far off. We have less than a month until the wedding date!”

  Dash snapped her fingers. At that moment she knew exactly what she and her friends should get for the royal couple. But not before she sampled the treats from Cake Kingdom.

  The Sweetest Secret

  What is the big secret?” Raina asked Dash. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into her Mint Fairy friend. “You’ve been saying you have the sweetest secret ever since we left Gummy Grove.”

  “Yes, tell us already!” Berry pleaded.

  Dash stood on the shore of Red Licorice Lake and looked at her four friends standing around her. “I couldn’t tell you at the grove. There were too many fairies around,” she said. “I had to wait till we got here.”

  “Please don’t tell us that we have to wait for Sun Dip,” Cocoa begged. “The suspense is eating at me!”

  “Come on, Dash,” Cocoa said. “Dish the news!”

  “I finally have the perfect wedding gift idea for Princess Lolli and Prince Scoop,” she whispered. “I had to keep the idea a secret while we were at the grove. I didn’t want any other fairy to hear.”

  Berry stood up from her blanket. “There are no other fairies around here, so tell us!”

  Dash smiled. “I heard Queen Sweetie say the royal couple needs a wedding canopy for the ceremony,” she said. “I told the queen that the gumdrops would create a sugar-tastic canopy.”

  Raina clapped her hands. “Sweet-tacular!” she yelled. “That is a delicious idea! We should make the canopy sugary colored and very fancy.”

  “Princess Lolli loves lollipops, and that is the theme of her wedding,” Berry said. “We should make a lollipop canopy.”

  “And as the lollipop expert, you can tell us all how to do that?” Raina said, rolling her eyes.

  “I am a lollipop expert,” Berry boasted.

  Cocoa, Melli, and Dash all looked at one another.

  Melli bit her lip. How was this gift going to get made with her friends fighting?

  Dash flew over and stood between Berry and Raina. “This is supposed to be fun,” she said. “I thought you two vowed to get along.”

  Berry and Raina glared at each other. “It’s not me,” they both said at the same time.

  Cocoa started to giggle. Berry and Raina each seemed so sure that she was not the cause of the fight, but Cocoa knew that a fight between friends usually involved two fairies—not just one. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to stop laughing. “You both seem sure you are not at fault, and it strikes me as funny.”

  “Well, it’s not funny.” Berry pouted. Fighting with Raina was definitely syrup on her wings.

  Cocoa’s laughter was contagious, and soon all the fairies were giggling—even Berry. She couldn’t resist the urge to giggle along with her friends. It had been so long since she was able to laugh.

  “Can you two just make up and get this fight over with?” Cocoa asked.

  “Maybe you should talk things out,” Melli said. “If you hear what the other thinks, maybe you can move on.”

  Dash took Raina’s hand and Berry’s hand. She brought the hands together. “Please try,” she said.

  Raina and Berry looked down at their clasped hands. At the same time they both smiled. “I’m sorry,” they said together.

  “Choc-o-rific!” Cocoa shouted.

  “Princess Lolli picked you two to create her bouquet for a reason,” Dash told them. “Using both of your talents is a brilliant idea.”

  “I think we forgot that,” Raina admitted. “Berry, I just got mad when you started taking off the field tent without me. I do know about rainbow swirling.”

  “I know,” Berry said. “I am sorry. It’s just that these lollipops need to be double special. And your quoting the Fairy Code Book was making me mad.” She smiled at Raina. “I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else on this bouquet. If we work together, this bouquet will be the most beautiful anyone has ever seen!”

  Dash cheered and flew up in the air for a quick somersault.
“Now let’s get to work on a wedding present!”

  “I have an idea,” Melli said. “We can wrap licorice around four lollipop sticks to hold up the canopy. It can be ‘something twirled’!”

  Dash leaped up. “I love that idea!” she exclaimed. “We’ll send a sugar fly message to the queen. She’ll be so happy!”

  Berry and Raina flew to Lollipop Landing to get lollipops for the canopy. Dash, Melli, and Cocoa gathered long pieces of licorice and straightened them out to wrap around the lollipop sticks.

  “Princess Lolli is going to love this,” Dash said. “I can’t wait to see her face!”

  When Berry and Raina returned with lollipops, the fairies worked quickly to decorate the sticks.

  “The poles look fantastic,” Melli said, admiring their work. “But what about the canopy?”

  “I wish we had time to go to Meringue Island,” Berry said. “There are so many fabrics there that would be sugar-tastic for a wedding canopy.”

  “Lots of fairies just use fabric,” Dash told her friends. “I’d like to do something different.”

  Cocoa flew closer to Dash. “Hmm. Maybe we could dip some fabric into some different-colored flavors.”

  “We could make a rainbow swirl,” Raina offered.

  “What about a painting?” Cocoa asked. “I could paint a scene in Sugar Valley.”

  “We can’t forget Prince Scoop,” Dash added. “We have to have some ice cream for him.” She snapped her fingers. Once again Dash had an idea. She grinned. “I have a sweet solution to our problem,” she said. “What if we each make one square of a quilt? We can create our own squares and then sew them together. It will be a Sugar Valley wedding canopy quilt.”

  Berry hugged Dash. “That is a brilliant idea,” she said.

  “We should each do one square separately and then all do one together,” Dash said. “If we have six squares, we’ll make a perfect rectangle canopy for the bride and groom.”

  “I will be happy to sew the squares together,” Berry said.

  “Choc-o-rific!” Cocoa exclaimed.

  The fairies looked up at the darkening sky. They decided to rest as they watched the sun dip lower behind the Frosted Mountains.