The wind blew gently through the bedroom curtains, carrying in a sweet smell of wet grass. Outside, the sky was all gray and puffy, like a big blanket of clouds. Every now and then, very far away, there was a rumbling sound. It wasn't a bear, and it wasn't a lion either. It was a thunderstorm grumbling in the distance, like a tummy that's hungry after a long walk.

But the four friends didn't care one bit about the thunderstorm, because they were too busy building the most wonderful thing in the world: a pillow castle.

"This one goes here!" shouted Ziggy, throwing a pillow as big as himself on top of the pile. Ziggy was four years old, skinny and lively, and when he was happy he jumped like a grasshopper.

"No, Ziggy, it's going to fall down!" said Dash, trying to fix the pillow. Dash was super fast, and his hands worked like little whisks.

Skye, sitting cross-legged on the floor, was arranging the small pillows with great care. She was tall and thin, very calm, and did everything with a peacefulness that seemed like magic.

And then there was Lily. Lily was almost four years old, with eyes as blue as the summer sea and a character as strong as a rock. She didn't talk much, but when she did, everyone listened. Right now she was looking at the castle with her head tilted a little, as if she was thinking about something important.

"We're missing the roof," said Lily, with her calm voice.

But before anyone could answer, from outside came a sound they knew very well.
The curtains puffed out. The rumbling of the thunder seemed to move away all at once. And in the garden, between the puddles that sparkled, appeared Toby the Magic Train, with his colorful smoke coming out of the chimney in curls.

The four friends ran outside. Toby whistled happily and said: "Hello children, what a castle you've been making!
Today I'll take you where magic bubbles are waking.
A garden is waiting with flowers all around,
where wishes fly up from the ground!"

"Magic bubbles?" repeated Ziggy, his eyes shining bright.

"A garden of colors?" asked Skye, already curious.

"I'm coming!" said Dash, jumping onto the first wagon. Lily didn't say anything. She smiled and climbed on last, pressing her hands on her knees.

Toby set off with a big puff of purple and blue smoke. The world around them started to change: the houses disappeared, the trees grew taller and taller, and the sky opened up all at once, as if someone had pulled away the blanket of clouds. In its place appeared a huge rainbow, so big it seemed to touch the ground on both sides. And right at the foot of that rainbow, Toby stopped. In front of them was the Garden of Seven Colors.

It was the most beautiful place they had ever seen. There were seven flower beds, each one full of flowers of just one color: one all red like strawberries, one orange like oranges, one yellow like the sun, one green like new leaves, one light blue like Lily's eyes, one blue like the night sky. And then there was the last flower bed, the purple one.

But something was wrong.

The purple flower bed was dim. The flowers were still there, but the color was fading, like a drawing left out in the rain.

"Look!" said Ziggy, pointing at the ground.

On the ground there were bubbles. But they weren't flying. They were just sitting there, heavy, resting on the grass like transparent stones. Inside each one, you could see a color that was trembling.

"Why aren't they flying?" asked Skye, bending down to look at one.

"And what are they?" asked Dash.

"They are wishes," said a tiny, squeaky voice.

The children turned around. In front of them, hovering in mid-air as if it were the most normal thing in the world, was a hummingbird. He was tiny, with feathers that changed color with every beat of his wings, and he carried a teeny-tiny bag made of rose petals. Around him there was a sweet smell of freshly picked strawberries.

"My name is Zippi," said the hummingbird, doing a pirouette. "And you are late!"

Then, fast as lightning, he flew toward Dash and snatched a sock right off his foot. "Hey!" shouted Dash. "My sock!"

Zippi laughed with a high-pitched trill, flew in zigzags like a crazy bee, and disappeared among the trees. The children chased after him, running between the colorful flower beds, jumping over the heavy bubbles that rolled away with a soft sound. Zippi led them farther and farther, all the way to the center of the garden. And there, the children stopped with their mouths wide open.

There was a tree. But not a normal tree. It was completely transparent, as if it were made of glass or thin ice. You could see through the branches, through the trunk, through the leaves. And among the branches, hundreds of colorful bubbles were stuck still, frozen, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

"This is the Wishing Tree," said Zippi, dropping Dash's sock. "This is where I bring children's wishes and turn them into bubbles that fly all the way to the stars. But now..." Zippi lowered his voice. "Now no wish can fly."

"Why?" asked Lily.

Zippi pointed upward with one wing. At the very top of the tree, on the highest branch, there was a little ball of feathers. Two enormous, round eyes full of tears were watching them from up there. "That's Tubby," whispered Zippi. "He's a baby owl. He climbed all the way up there to make a wish, but he got stuck. He's too scared to say it, and he's too scared to come down. And as long as his wish stays locked inside him, all the other wishes stay stuck too."

The children looked up. Tubby was so small, so high up, and he was trembling like a leaf.

"Tubby!" shouted Ziggy, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Come down, we'll catch you!"

But Tubby curled up even more, hiding his beak under his wings. Skye walked up to the trunk and started singing a lullaby, soft and slow, hoping to calm him down. But Tubby heard the lullaby and started crying harder, because it reminded him how much he wanted to be safe in his nest.

"I'll handle it!" said Dash, and he tried to climb the tree. But the transparent trunk was smooth as glass. His hands slipped, his feet couldn't find a hold. After three tries, Dash slid down and sat on the grass, out of breath. A shiver of cold wind swept through the garden. The faraway thunderstorm wasn't so far away anymore. The rainbow above them trembled, and the purple band became even paler, almost invisible.

"If the purple color goes out completely," said Zippi, and for the first time his voice wasn't happy at all, "the rainbow will break. And all the wishes will be lost forever."

The children looked at each other. Ziggy's heart was beating fast. Skye was biting her lip. Dash was rubbing his hands on his pants. And Lily...

Lily stood still.

She looked at Tubby up there at the top, that little puff of feathers that was trembling. She looked at the heavy bubbles on the ground, the wishes that no one could dream anymore. She looked at her friends who had tried everything they knew how to do.

And then she looked inside herself.

Inside herself, Lily found something. It wasn't loud courage, the kind that shouts and jumps. It was a small, quiet courage, like a candle in a dark room.

Lily took a step forward. Then another. She stood right beneath the Wishing Tree, looked up at Tubby, and said out loud, with her calm voice:

"I wish to be brave, even when I'm scared."

For a moment, everything was silence.

Then, from Lily's heart, something luminous came out. A bubble. A bright purple bubble, trembling and pulsing like a tiny heart. It rose slowly, swaying in the air, passing between the transparent branches. It was in no hurry. It just kept rising.

Zippi watched it. His feathers lit up in a deep purple, but this time he didn't pretend nothing had happened. He stayed still, in silence, watching that bubble rise.
Tubby opened one eye. Then the other. He saw that purple bubble rising toward him, calm and luminous. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"But you..." whispered Tubby in a voice as thin as a thread, "you said you're scared?"

"Yes," said Lily, simply. "I'm scared of lots of things. But I said it out loud, and now I feel a little lighter."

Tubby looked at her for a long time. Those big round eyes weren't crying anymore. They were shining.

"And can I say it too?" asked Tubby.

"Of course you can," said Lily. "Try."

Tubby took a deep breath. His little wings trembled. Then, with all the voice he had, he said:

"I wish to not be scared of flying anymore!"

From Tubby's chest came a golden bubble, warm as the morning sun. The bubble rose fast, spinning around the branches. And in that moment, Tubby felt something strange. His wings didn't feel heavy anymore. They were light as leaves in the wind.

Tubby spread his wings. They were small, soft, a little clumsy. But they worked.

He glided down slowly, turning like an autumn leaf, and landed right between Lily's hands. She gently held him to her chest.

In that moment, everything happened at once.
The bubbles on the ground started to tremble. One by one, they lifted off the grass and rose up. Red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, purple. Hundreds of wishes flying toward the sky, like lanterns on a festival night. The Wishing Tree glowed with a warm light and all the branches tinkled like little bells. The purple flower bed burst back to life. The flowers straightened up, the leaves opened, and a sweet scent of violets mixed with Zippi's strawberry smell.

The rainbow filled up again. The purple band came back strong and bright, and it seemed even more beautiful than before. Zippi did three pirouettes, four somersaults, and a trill so high-pitched it made everyone laugh. His feathers lit up in all the colors at once, and this time he didn't even try to hide it.

"Well..." said Zippi, all colorful, "maybe someone said something kind."

"Everyone said something kind!" laughed Ziggy.

The thunderstorm had gone away who knows where. In its place, the sky painted itself orange, pink, and purple, like a picture made with fingers. The most beautiful sunset in the world.

Tubby looked at Lily with his huge round eyes. "Thank you," he said. "Now I know something important."

"What?" asked Lily.

"That saying 'I'm scared' isn't for scaredy-cats. It's for the brave ones."

Lily smiled. And even though she didn't say anything, that smile spoke very loudly.

Toby the Magic Train arrived between the blooming flower beds, all shiny under the sunset light. The children ran to climb aboard, and Tubby waved goodbye with one wing from the lowest branch of the tree, where he now felt safe. Toby puffed out a cloud of golden smoke and said: "What a grand adventure, dear friends of mine!
You helped the wishes fly and shine.
Those brave enough to say just what they feel,
have the biggest hearts — and that is real!"

The children snuggled into the wagons as Toby carried them home. The sky above them was full of colorful bubbles flying toward the stars.

Lily looked up and whispered, so softly that only the wind could hear:

"I wish to come back here."

And somewhere, in the Garden of Seven Colors, a purple bubble rose into the sky.
You know, children, sometimes we think that being brave means never being scared. But that's not true. Being brave means being scared and still taking that little step forward. Like Lily, who said her fear out loud. Like Tubby, who spread his wings even though they were trembling. Because if you believe you can do it, you're already halfway there. And the other half? You take it one step at a time, and you don't have to do it alone.