It was a cold February afternoon. The sky was all gray, like a mouse-colored blanket, and outside the window a fine drizzle was falling, making a tick-tick sound on the glass.

Ellie, Alex, Violet, and Laurie were at Ellie's house. They were playing at being cooks. They had lots of colorful plastic pots, wooden spoons, and little plates with leaves collected from the garden on top. They pretended they were magic ingredients for a special soup.

"I'm putting in the red leaves!" said Alex, hopping while he stirred with a spoon.

"No! I wanted those!" said Violet, her blue eyes becoming a bit angry. Violet had a strong character and when she wanted something, she really wanted it.

"But I took them first!" replied Alex.

Ellie watched her friends arguing. She was calm, she didn't like arguments. She felt a bit sad seeing them angry.

"Stop it!" said Laurie, who was always quick even at talking. "We can all use the leaves together, can't we?"

But Violet and Alex were still looking at each other with pouty faces. Neither of them wanted to make peace first.

At that moment, Andrew, Ellie's dad, entered the room. He was very tall and had to lower his head to pass through the door.

"Uh-oh, I see some stormy faces in here!" said Andrew with a funny little voice. "And to think there's already a storm outside!"

Ellie smiled a little. Her dad always made jokes.

Elisa, Ellie's mom, also arrived with a tray of cookies. She was always kind to everyone.

"What wonderful cooks!" said Elisa, giving compliments. "But the best cooks cook together, you know?"

But before Violet and Alex could make peace, they heard a strange sound coming from the garden.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

It was a sound that all the children knew well. It was the sound of Toby the Magic Train!

They all ran to the window. The rain had stopped suddenly, and in the garden, among the wet grass, there was a tiny little train that sparkled with a thousand colors. But as they watched, the train began to grow, and grow, until it became big enough for them to climb aboard.

"Hello children, what a joy to see you today!" said Toby the Magic Train with his cheerful voice.
"Today the journey will be magic all the way,
where light shines bright in the night, hooray!"

Toby the Magic Train always spoke like that, with words that sounded the same at the end. They're called rhymes, and he loved using them.

"Can we go, Mom?" asked Ellie with her calm voice.

Elisa and Andrew looked at each other and smiled. They knew that Toby the Magic Train always took children to safe and wonderful places.

"Go, little explorers!" said Andrew. "And remember, stay together and help each other!"

The four children climbed onto the train. Violet and Alex climbed on too, but they sat far apart because they were still a bit angry about the red leaves.

Toby the Magic Train departed quickly. They passed through green fields, then very tall mountains covered in snow. The wind was fresh but not cold, and it carried a sweet scent, like flowers and vanilla mixed together.

After a while, the train stopped.

The children got off and stood with their mouths open.

They had arrived at the Luminous Pond.

It was the most beautiful place they had ever seen. There was a large pond, with water as still as a mirror. All around grew very tall plants, and each of these plants glowed! Yes, they really glowed, like the little lights on a Christmas tree. There were green, blue, yellow, and purple lights.

But the even more beautiful thing was that everything was covered in fresh snow. White, soft snow that crunched under the children's little feet.

"How beautiful!" whispered Ellie. Her eyes were wide with wonder.

A light steam also rose from the pond, like smoke from a magic potion. The steam made strange shapes in the air, like gentle little ghosts dancing.

The children began to walk on the snow, leaving their footprints. Alex wanted to run and jump like he always did, but something stopped him.

They heard a small cry.

"What is it?" asked Laurie, looking around quickly.

The crying came from behind a large leaf of a glowing plant. Ellie, who was the calmest, approached slowly.

Behind the leaf was a moth. A moth is like a butterfly, but it flies at night instead of during the day, and it loves light very much. This moth was small, as big as Ellie's hand, and had gray wings with little dots that sparkled like tiny stars.

But the moth was crying.

"Hello," said Ellie with a sweet voice. "Why are you crying?"

The moth raised her big black eyes. She was scared, you could tell, but she was also sweet.

"My name is Luna," said the moth with a trembling little voice. "And I'm so sad because... because..." Luna hid behind the leaf again.

Ellie waited. She was good at waiting.

"I had a fight with my sister," said Luna, coming out a little. "Her name is Stella, and she's bigger than me. We fought over something stupid. She wanted the most beautiful light in the pond, and so did I. We said mean things to each other. And now..."

Luna pointed with her wing upward.

The children looked. At the top of the tallest plant in the pond, the one that glowed the most, there was another moth. It was Stella, Luna's sister. But something was wrong. Stella was still, she wasn't moving, and her wings seemed trapped in something sticky.

"My sister is stuck in the resin!" cried Luna. Resin is that sticky stuff that comes out of trees, she explained to the children who didn't understand. "She went up there because she was angry with me, and now she can't fly away anymore. But I... I'm too small to reach her. I tried to fly up there, but my wings are still weak. And I'm so scared!"

Violet looked at Alex. Alex looked at Violet. They remembered that they too had fought just before, over the red leaves.

"We have to help her!" said Ellie.

But there was a problem. The plant was very tall. None of the children could climb all the way up there.

"I'm fast, I can try to run up the trunk!" said Laurie.

She tried, but the trunk was slippery from the snow and steam. Laurie slid down three times.

"It's not working," said Laurie, a bit defeated.

Luna began to cry harder. "It's my fault! If I hadn't fought with Stella, she wouldn't have gone up there! And now I've hesitated too long and..."

"What does hesitated mean?" asked Violet, curious.

Luna looked at her. "It means I waited too long because I was scared, instead of doing something right away."

"Oh," said Violet. "Like when you don't want to say sorry because you're embarrassed?"

Luna nodded slowly.

Ellie thought hard. She was a calm child, but when she thought, she came up with good ideas.

"Luna," said Ellie, "you're small and you're scared. But we can help you. But you have to be brave. You can't run away from the problem."

Luna was trembling. "But I'm so scared!"

Alex, who had been angry with Violet before, came close to her. "Listen," he said, "Violet and I fought today. Over something stupid. But now I understand that loving each other is more important than red leaves."

Violet smiled. "It's true. I'm sorry, Alex."

"Me too," said Alex.

The two children hugged. Luna watched them with her big eyes.

"See?" said Ellie to Luna. "In a family, you love each other even when you fight. You and Stella are sisters. You love each other. And now we have to save Stella together."

"But how?" asked Luna.

Ellie looked at the tall plant. She looked at her friends. She looked at the snow.

"I have an idea!" she said.

Ellie asked everyone to gather lots of snow. The snow was soft and packed well. Together, the four children built a mound of snow at the base of the plant. A tall mound, taller and taller.

"More!" said Ellie. "Higher!"

They worked hard. Their little hands became cold and red, but no one complained. Luna watched them, and slowly she stopped trembling.

When the mound was high enough, Ellie climbed to the top.

"Luna," said Ellie, stretching out her arms, "now fly toward me. I'll catch you and lift you even higher. You can reach Stella!"

Luna was scared. Her wings were trembling.

"I can't!" said Luna.

"Yes you can!" said Violet from below. "You have to face the problem, not run away!"

"You're brave!" shouted Laurie.

"Come on, Luna!" yelled Alex.

Luna closed her eyes. She thought about her sister Stella, up there, alone, trapped. She thought about how much she loved her, even though they had fought.

And she flew.

Her little wings flapped hard. She reached Ellie's arms, who lifted her even higher. Luna kept flying, higher and higher.

Finally she reached Stella!

"Luna!" cried Stella. "You came!"

"Of course I came," said Luna. "You're my sister. I love you even when we fight."

With her little legs, Luna helped Stella unstick herself from the sticky resin. It was difficult, but Luna didn't give up. Slowly, Stella was free.

The two moths flew down together, holding onto each other's wings.

When they landed in front of the children, everyone cheered.

"Thank you!" said Stella. "Thank you all!"

"Thank you especially," said Luna looking at Ellie. "You taught me that I shouldn't run away from problems. And that loving each other is the most important thing."

Ellie smiled, a bit tired. When she was tired, she always got sleepy. But she was happy.

At that moment they heard that familiar sound again.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

Toby the Magic Train had returned.

"Well done children, what a beautiful lesson!" said Toby the Magic Train.
"In family there's always love from the heart,
even after a quarrel, love won't depart!"

The children waved goodbye to Luna and Stella, who were flying happily together among the lights of the pond.

They climbed onto Toby the Magic Train and departed toward home.

When they arrived, the rain had stopped and there was a rainbow in the sky. Ellie ran into her dad Andrew's arms and fell asleep almost immediately, as she always did when she was tired.

The other children went back to their homes, but first they all hugged.

That evening, no one fought over the red leaves anymore. And Alex and Violet played together, happy.

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**The moral of this story is:** In a family, you love each other even when you fight. Fighting happens to everyone, even brothers, sisters, and friends. But the important thing is to make peace and remember how much you love each other. Running away from problems never helps, but facing them together makes everything easier.

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