Eagle had carried Miranda a few miles away from Cliffcastle, where they would be safe from pursuit, although none seemed to be happening. He laid her down on the grass by a small stream. She seemed to be sleeping, but her skin was cold, and her lips were beginning to turn blue. Eagle took out the flower from under his wing and looked at it: it was wilted and had been stomped flat in a few places.
"Hmm," Eagle pondered, and threw the remains into the stream. The flower drifted a bit further and got caught up among some reeds. The weak current moved it about, but it stayed there. Eagle was thinking of how long it would take him to get home. The nearest town where he could get a cab was still about two thousand miles away. "That's a lot of flying for one Eagle," he said to himself, and stretched his wings. Just then, he heard a silly song rise up among the reeds. He stared at the reeds, but could not see anyone or anything there.
"Ok," he said to himself, and looked down at his own reflection. "I'm losing my mind," he concluded, but the silly song rose up again. It was followed by a few watery splashes, as if little fish were at play. Eagle looked at the stream more closely, for he was very hungry and would have liked to eat a fish, but instead of a fish he saw the Stella Mars. It was swimming about happily in the stream, using its pink and red roots to propel itself. Eagle's lower beak dropped. The flower saw him as well and stopped frolicking in the water. It sat down on the bank, leaving its roots to soak in the stream.
They sat like this for a while, Eagle and Stella Mars, looking at each other from across the little brook. Eagle checked his watch: it was time to fly back. He got up and looked around: Miranda was gone! The grass was still bearing her impression, but Miranda was nowhere to be seen. Eagle was about to scratch his head with his talon again, when the flower spoke up: "Eagle," the flower called him, and Eagle looked at it with his bright yellow eyes. "Thank you for what you did," said the Stella Mars.
"I didn't do anything," he said, confused. "Where's Miranda?"
"I am Miranda!" said the flower. "And now, let’s go home."


The End