Friendship Dance by Titania Woods

leave Chauncey-Oberon’s face. Twink gasped. Oh, how could she have said such a thing? There was no excuse for it, no matter how angry she was.
    â€˜I’m – I’m sorry,’ she said, her cheeks flaming. ‘But we’re not here to impress Queen Mab. We’re here to help .’
    Chauncey-Oberon’s jaw was tight. Finally he gave a stiff nod. ‘All right,’ he muttered. ‘Well – let’s just get on with it, then.’
    â€˜But that’s the problem, I don’t know how!’ burst out Twink. She glanced over her shoulder at Stripe, who was patting the Queen’s arm soothingly.
    â€˜Chauncey-Oberon, what am I going to do?’ she whispered. ‘Stripe thinks I can help because I once healed a broken wing for him, but . . .’ Twink trailed off helplessly. Whatever was wrong with the Queen, it was much worse than a broken wing.
    Chauncey-Oberon gazed at the Queen and frowned. ‘I wonder –’ he started, and then broke off, his cheeks reddening. ‘No, it’s probably stupid.’
    â€˜What?’ asked Twink.
    He looked embarrassed. ‘Well . . . when I was little, I had a pet ladybird. She was called, um . . . Dotty.’
    His expression dared her to laugh, but Twink had never felt less like it in her life. ‘Go on,’ she urged.
    Chauncey-Oberon hunched a purple wing. ‘Well, Dotty got really ill once. My – my nurse said it was because she was worried about her children. She had heard that rhyme somewhere, about them all being in a fire.’
    Twink nodded. They had learned all about that in Creature Kindness class, and how to cheer the poor ladybirds up if it happened. But when she said this to Chauncey-Oberon, he shook his head.
    â€˜No, you see Dotty didn’t get cheered up, and so it got worse and worse. My nurse said she was heartsore – that her heart was actually making her ill from worry. And . . . it’s probably stupid, but I think the wasp Queen looks sort of the same.’
    Twink stared at him, her pulse pounding. Suddenly it came to her who the wasp Queen reminded her of: Queen Mab, when Twink had seen her from the courtyard. The same unhappy expression rested on both monarchs’ faces – and suddenly Twink was certain she knew why.
    She spun towards the bed. ‘Stripe, when did your Queen start to feel poorly? Was it after the meeting with Queen Mab?’
    Flitting over to them, Stripe indicated that this was the case. At first their Queen had merely been unhappy that the meeting had gone badly, but a few days ago she had become seriously ill – and nothing their doctors could do had helped.
    Twink knelt beside the wasp Queen’s bed. ‘Your Majesty, you feel just as awful as Queen Mab does, don’t you?’ she said. ‘Because she does feel bad about what happened, I’m sure of it! She looked so sad the other day.’
    The wasp Queen gazed up at her with disbelieving eyes. Heaving a sigh, she turned her head away. Twink swallowed. It was as if the Queen longed to believe her, but just couldn’t bring herself to.
    â€˜Here, give me that fairy dust,’ whispered Chauncey-Oberon. ‘I’m going to try what my nurse did for Dotty.’

    Taking a pinch of the pink and gold dust, Chauncey-Oberon held it in his hand. ‘ Sore heart mend, find a friend,’ he murmured. Then, as Twink had done, he gently scattered the dust over the wasp Queen.
    Twink leaned forward as the ill monarch stirred on her cushions. Was her colour slightly better? Twink thought it might be, but she couldn’t tell.
    â€˜Here, let’s both try it,’ she said, reaching for more fairy dust.
    Chauncey-Oberon blinked. ‘ Both of us? But –’
    â€˜Of course!’ cried Twink. ‘Your nurse was an adult; her magic was stronger than ours. But maybe together, we can do it.’ She poured a bit of the fairy dust in his hand, and then held her