The second star gleamed like a beacon of hope that never seemed to get any closer.
Time stretched oddly, minutes bled into hours, or maybe longer, he couldn't tell.
The sky didn't change. The ocean didn't end.
Just the vast, open expanse and those unwavering, impossible stars ahead.
'How long have I been floating?' Henry wondered listlessly.
Then finally, something changed.
The dandelion lurched suddenly, and for a moment, the stars vanished behind a veil of mist as the world beneath him came into focus.
Something new appeared on the horizon. A smudge of land, barely more than a shadow at first, grew clearer with every gust of wind that pushed him closer.
The wind tugged the dandelion downward, spiraling toward the landmass below.
Henry's consciousness tightened with anticipation. 'Wow, it's all so beautiful', He thought, stunned.
The land sprawled beneath him, covered with impossibly green forests, flowing rivers and waterfalls cascading from peaks that glowed faintly under the moonlight.
At this point, Henry was almost certain of where he was headed.
The land below him wasn't just any island. It was the mystical island of Neverland.
He'd read about it, seen the movies, and now he was here, cradled in a glowing dandelion seed, drifting toward the heart of something extremely magical.
'I really am being reborn, and as a Never Fairy no less!', Henry thought, delighted.
The dandelion drifted past the shoreline toward a dense cluster of trees. The wind currents weaved the glowing vessel through the narrow gaps in the canopy.
Not long after, a large clearing opened before him, and at its centre stood a huge, magical tree.
Henry caught glimpses of tiny figures darting around through the air.
'As I thought,' Henry marveled, 'fairies. Actual fairies!'
The glowing seed dipped lower, carried by an invisible current into the clearing where the dozens of tiny, winged creatures fluttered about.
The closer he got, the more of their details he could make out; iridescent wings, delicate features and outfits woven from flower petals and leaves.
"Look!" a fairy cried, "There's another arrival!" The fairies below tilted their heads up, their wings humming as they shot skyward, heading toward the Pixie Dust Tree.
A fast-flying sparrowman darted forward, his hands outstretched.
"Easy now," he murmured, manipulating the air currents to gently guide the dandelion seed.
"Wow," he said, his voice filled with wonder, "I've never seen a new arrival glowing like this one."
The sparrowman's fingers danced through the air, coaxing the wind currents to cradle the glowing dandelion.
Henry's luminous vessel bobbed gently as it was steered toward the towering Pixie Dust Tree.
The fairies gathered around within the tree, sitting on the branches and leaves.
They whispered excitedly, watching in fascination at the dandelion's descent.
"Tinkerbell had just arrived this morning," whispered a water-talent fairy, leaning toward her companions.
"And now this one? Two arrivals in one day, I've never seen that happen before."
"Yeah, me neither," one of her friends responded, also surprised.
The whispers erupted into a collective gasp as the glowing dandelion seed touched down upon the arrival platform.
Unlike Tinkerbell's arrival in the morning, there was a blue radiance surrounding this one, pulsing outward in waves.
The light illuminated the faces of the gathered talent guilds with an otherworldly glow.
The dust-keepers exchanged glances, none had ever seen an arrival like this before. They were unsure of what to do next.
"Oh my, what a beautiful glow!" Rosetta's eyes sparkled.
She'd seen plenty of arrivals before, each one special in its own way, but none had ever pulsed with such an eerie, shifting luminescence.
She gently smoothed her rose-petal skirt, her gaze fixed on the dazzling dandelion seed.
"Well," she murmured under her breath, "someone's certainly making an entrance."
Henry, who was the center of attention, was also amazed at everything he saw around him.
'This is it', he thought, ready to embrace the beginning of his new life.