Welcome to Gaia! ::

A little more than a month had passed since the arrival of three fairies and a clam into her life (a clam that had recently revealed a lovely young pup). She had spent most of that time trying to ignore the small squabbles the three sisters inevitably found themselves in--to be fair it was mostly Flora versus Merryweather as mediated by Fauna--and ignore the wonder of a certain friend that liked to fill her head. She had found a chest of new clothes to wear--curteosy of her aunts--if she wished, though thus far she had only bothered to pull out the blue cloak and purple shawl. In truth, it appeared--besides the gray peasant dress--that Flora had gone on a dress creating spree to sway the princess into loving pink.

As it was, she'd wrapped her blue cloak around herself in hopes of venturing out to speak to someone. She was at odds with who she wanted to speak with first--she wanted to speak with Jack but she thought speaking with Elizabeth might clear her mind a bit--and as soon as her paw touched the door to the back entrance she found herself cringing. Three voices rang out neatly one after the other. ("Rose!" "Rose!" "Rose?") She sighed, fixing a smile on her face and turning to face them.

"Yes?"

"Where are you going?" Flora asked with a slightly stern look that was still off-putting. It didn't seem to matter how old she was or how long she had been successfully living on her own, the squirrel was determined to look out for her. The entrustment of a new child to care for seemed to have sent her over-protective good intent into overdrive. And it was only Fauna's paw on the elder squirrel's arm that prompted an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to imply that you aren't capable to care for yourself or allowed to do as you wish--"

"Aunt Flora," Aurora stopped the fairy from continuing, a more geniuine smile on her face, "I know." She let out a sigh, this was all much harder than she had hoped and yet she had known that it would be difficult. Try as she might, they still saw her as a child growing up in a forest oblivious to who she really was. She didn't have the heart to correct them. It must have been so hard to have raised a child and then lost it when she was returned to her parents, to a betrothed.

"Where were you going, dear?" Merryweather interjected after a moment.

"To speak with a friend," came the mildly evasive answer. "Rose is taking a nap, there's no harm in leaving for a little while."

"But Rose," Fauna started then stopped as Flora cut in abruptly.

"We really must stop this."

The three turned to stare at her: one horrorfied Fauna, one confused Merryweather, and one hopeful Aurora.

"Stop what?"

"Rose this, Rose that. It's a wonder we aren't all confused, a wonder that poor dear child isn't confused--" she paused, "either of you." When no one chimed in with any opinion, the squirrel began to clarify. "We call Princess Aurora Rose and we call Rose Red Rose and that isn't fair."

"It's habit, Flora. After all, you called me that for a very long time," Aurora spoke.

"She's right. We have."

"Then we give Rose Red a new nickname," Merryweather stated with a nod.

"But what?"

The four became quiet, thinking to themselves. Flora began to pace with Fauna easily followed her. The green dressed fairy pressed her fingers against her bottom lip. Merryweather sat down, face contorted with intense thought. And Aurora watched them all briefly before turning her blue eyes to the room where Rose Red slept soundly.

She instantly thought of the chaos of the morning. The delightful little girl had eagerly accompanied the princess out of the den and promptly attempted to climb a tree--Aurora had smiled widely and directed her to a smaller tree. Rose Red had looked perfectly at home when she'd climbed that tree (though she'd ended up needing some help from the usually forgotten wings of a certain angelic). She'd smiled widely down at her surrogate mother/sister and had almost fallen out of it in her excitement. Of course it had sent Aurora into a bit of a tizzy, she'd fawned over the somewhat startled pup showering kisses upon the crown of sunset scarlet hair and giving gentle hugs. She wasn't quite a rose to be honest.

"Rosebud," Aurora whispered causing three pairs of eyes to stare at her. "She isn't quite a rose yet--"

"Yes! Oh, yes! Rosebud!" Flora chorused in delight.

"It's a lovely name," Fauna agreed in her blissfully wistful romantic at heart way. She even sighed, already so fond of the nickname.

"Well, it's still a rose..." Merryweather mumbled. She sometimes thought Flora and her obsession with flowers went too far. If either of these dears had children--Aurora and Rose Red--the eldest fairy was sure to want to name them after types of roses. She gave her head a shake. Rosebud was a perfectly lovely name and Aurora was entirely right. She smiled her agreement and decided to ignore that it seemed to have derailed the princess's plans. For she removed the cloak she'd worn that fateful day and allowed Flora and Fauna to drag her into something. The youngest fairy was sure, in the future, they would have to let go of Rose.

As for Rosebud, a rose by any other name was still just as sweet.