Chapter 16: Helping One Another

Shortly after Aramir left with the rest of the rangers for their realm to consult with their Queen and King, the rangers have inspected every area of the valley thoroughly.
Caspian and his companions are just staying around for the possibility of the townspeople's arrival any time soon.
True enough, some of the people from the town arrive with food, some blankets, jugs of water, first aid kits and all sorts of things needed for disasters and calamities.
The rangers are able to foresee this so they are prepared with their glamour. They expect people to come and look around but what they do not expect is for these people to bring so many supplies like food, water and all sorts of other things for them. 
Popsie Reed, along with some the people from Sally's Diner, rush to help the settlers in the valley with the assumption that something bad really happened after such a loud explosion.
The new arrivals are dumbfounded upon seeing the farmers working on the fields just as naturally as any day in the valley. There is no sign of any disturbance or disaster.
Caspian, and the other five rangers left by Aramir, approach Popsie Reed and his companions immediately but a bit warily.
"Popsie Reed, thank you for coming. Apparently, the explosion we heard was caused by one of the heaters in the storage greenhouses. Luckily, it was attended to immediately by the other farmers and did not cause any damage except for the storage house. We have a spare heater standing by so everything is back to normal even before I got back here." Caspian explains convincingly.
Caspian is quick enough to formulate a plausible story so the townspeople will not be suspicious of anything else. He hates inventing stories and lying most especially to Popsie Reed but he has no other choice. Not having a convincing explanation will make the humans wonder. After all, such a loud explosion can be really worrisome if it really caused damages in the valley.
"We came as soon as we were able to put together some supplies that we thought you might need. Thank goodness it was handled quickly. It would have been disastrous if a fire broke." exclaims Harry, the Diner owner. He is unloading two crates of sandwiches at the backseat of his pick-up, as well as two jugs of water.
"My twin Larry cannot leave the Diner but he prepared these sandwiches. We hope we can make more but we thought we need to get here quickly to do what we can to help." Harry adds.
"Wow, nice sandwiches, sir! I'm Cleo by the way." the petite ranger says as she help Harry carry the crates of sandwiches.
Harry cannot help but be amaze how a tiny young lady can carry those crates quite so easily. Cleo careful puts down the crates on the nearby work bench. Afterwards, she lifts the other jug of water carried by Harry effortlessly.
"Please help yourselves with the sandwiches. They are freshly prepared by my dad." utters the blonde boy coming out of the same pick up with boxes of blankets.
"My name is Roger." he continues, as he also stares in wonder at Jeera too.
"I remember you." Caspian interrupts, trying so hard to keep a friendly smile on his face. "You're Anna's friend at the Diner." he confirms meaningfully.
"Thank you for all these things you have brought for our people." says the tall ranger named Alcon.
"But we feel this is too much of us to ask from you." Alcon finishes.
"No, no, don't worry about it. We are neighbours still, however the distance. Honestly, we all feel that helping one another is the best action." Popsie responds reassuringly.
"We feel sort of guilty we were not able to respond to that the tragic fire a long time ago here in the valley is something we are also regretful about. It happened so fast in the night. We were all asleep and we were not able to help at all."
"We presume your people were also caught off guard too then. So this is our way of making amends for that." Popsie Reed admits sadly.
"Please do not feel obligated about the fire here in the valley. It happened a long time ago and it was our own negligence that led to that tragedy. I am Jeera." inserts the ranger with the silver hair but glamour herself into a brunette. Her silver hair will be too conspicuous for a farmer.
"Well, at least today it turned out differently. We are more than happy to see the valley returning to its abundant state." Popsie Reed comments cheerfully.
"We have always looked forward to the market fair every year. The Valley grows a variety of rare plants and produce that we cannot ignore what happened in the past." Popsie Reed admits.
"The lessons of the past make our people more wary to repeat the same mistakes." Jeera says more meaningfully than what she has said.
The rest of the townspeople pile all the assortment of supplies they have all brought with them. Then afterwards, they start to bid their farewells.
"Caspian, please do not hesitate to come to me for anything else we might be able to help everyone here with, okay?"
Popsie Reed reminds him, as he gives Caspian a pat on the back.
"Thank you so much for all your help." Caspian answers with sincerity.
He walks with Popsie Reed to his pick up truck and stands back with the other rangers and the farmers to watch the vehicles leave.
Caspian continues to stare with a dark expression on his face, at the direction from where their visitors have disappeared from.
"Hey, Caspian, why do you have the dark look? Is anything wrong?" Bran inquires to his friend with a concerned tone.
"Are you thinking about something in connection to the explosion this morning? Is it the Dark fairy?" he further interrogates, since Caspian has not offered any explanation yet.
"It's much worse than that. It's that blonde boy a while ago. He's a friend of Anna from school. I feel he likes Anna." Caspian finally replies with a sour face.
"The blonde boy is good-looking!" Cleo interjects playfully.
"His sandwiches are delicious too!" 
The other rangers start to laugh out loud, making Caspian frown even more.
"Come on man, he's no match for you!"
Bran tells him reassuringly.
"Popsie likes you a lot!" he teases.
Caspian laughs with the other rangers.
"It is nice to know that the people in town are willing to help us out, for now. But what if they discover that someone among us can bring harm to their kind?"
Jeera states a valid point calmly but all of them feel the weight of this heavy burden on the fairy folks.
"That is why we must be more relentless in finding the Dark Fairy more than ever. We have to find him before he starts revealing our kind to the humans for all his wicked actions, like the explosion this morning." Orin says.
"I think our patrolling here is done for now. Let us return to our realm and find out what our Queen and King decide as a plan of action." Caspian concludes.
The six rangers add a few more enchantments in the valley for the security of the farming fairies.
Each one of them hopes that this time, the Dark fairy and his schemes will be ended soon.
They head for the enchanted mist towards the bridge.