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Being told that they had helped so very many fairies, helping with finding the fairies' important items and rescuing the magical animals, that they were allowed to keep their wings, was amazing to Rachel and Kirsty. But it was a little intimidating to have wings that stayed and which they would need to look after!
The wings were of a size to fit their human selves, and were invisible to ordinary people. But Rachel could see Kirsty's wings, and the other way about, a beautiful doubled shimmer in the air behind each girl's back.
"Of course you can take care of your wings," Penelope said, fluttering around to admire them from all angles—fairies could always see fairy wings. She dipped to perch on Rachel's shoulder, tickling Rachel's neck with two soft breaths at the end of her words, like a horse's friendly, nearly silent greeting. "I'll show you how to keep them groomed, and you can help each other."
"Do we need to wear our oldest clothes and rubber boots?" Rachel asked, thinking of previous visits to Greenfields Farm, and what had been expected for washing the animals.
Kirsty looked thoughtful. "Will we need water?" she asked, which Rachel thought a very sensible question. So many farm chores involved buckets. Or even if they didn't need boots and clothes that could get mucky, maybe some other accessory, like Penelope the Foal Fairy's flowery scarf. Imagine if Rachel was washing her wings and her hair got into her eyes so she couldn't see and washed them wrong somehow!
Penelope said, "No, all you need is yourselves, and to concentrate, so it would be good to be somewhere peaceful where you won't be disturbed."
*
In one of the further fields, Rachel stretched out on her front on the soft grass. Kirsty was sitting, touching the grass beside her, and put one blade of grass between her thumbs to make a bleating whistle. That wasn't the most peaceful noise, but it reminded Rachel of the lambs—once they had returned the magical lamb Fluffy to Elodie, and the lambs had stopped meowing like cats!
Penelope landed lightly beside them, and as she watched that Kirsty whispered, "I think we'll want flying lessons too."
The fairy waved her wand, sending a cloud of fairy dust to settle on the girls' new wings. Rachel turned her head awkwardly to look back and up at hers, which were more visible now, sparkling, but also looked dusty. Kirsty's were similar, but with a pink tint while Rachel's were green.
"Since you don't have wands," Penelope explained, "You'll need to concentrate to call fairy dust to you, I'll help you with that another time, and until you get the hang of it you can ask any fairy to put on a new coat." Today, she explained, she would show them how to get the coating of fairy dust evenly across the surface of their wings.
Kirsty said, "Like ducks oiling their feathers."
Penelope nodded. "Very like, as Debbie could tell you. Our wings aren't feathered, but they do need to be smooth."
Since Penelope was, of course, fairy-sized, while Kirsty and Rachel stayed human, they had to watch carefully how Penelope moved her hands, demonstrating how to use the lightest of touches for delicate wings.
*
Rachel found that the concentration to learn was tiring, and after they'd finished she felt pleasantly, dreamily tired, almost ready to doze there in the sunshine, beside Kirsty.
Penelope stamped one booted foot like a hoof to get Kirsty and Rachel's attention. "You did very well," she told them warmly. "As for those flying lessons..."
Reaching for Kirsty's hand, Rachel squeezed to say without words how wonderful this all was. Kirsty fluttered her gleaming fairy-wings in silent answer.