Sprite

‘What do you do here?’ Norah swam lazily in circles around the lake where many of the other sprites flitted through the bright water or reclined on shore, basking in the muted sunlight.

‘Do?’ Lara paused underwater, flicking her wrists lightly to keep in place.

Neistah swam around them both, crowding out Breyan who had insisted on accompanying them to the big lake. Neistah understood Norah’s question better than Lara could. It was why he yet wore his mother’s weave. ‘Eat, drink, laugh, play, love.’ He edged Breyan away again. ‘Some of us think of nothing else.’

‘What else is there?’ Breyan laughed silently and slipped past Neistah to wrap his arms around Norah’s waist. Norah, always a fast learner, twisted out of his embrace with a sinuous kick.

‘Let her be. She’s a child,’ scolded Lara, moving in between her brother and her young charge while Neistah shot murderous glares at his friend.

Norah didn’t think she was such a child. In the month that she had been under Neistah and Lara’s guidance, she had shed her last, misplaced inhibitions along with the vestiges of her human clothing. She saw the way sprites cavorted with one another in and out of the bright water. She knew what they were doing. Norah was secretly flattered at Breyan’s constant attention, although she fought hard to keep it from her surface thoughts. These sprites were respectful of such boundaries, although it was a mortal insult to lock them out altogether, she was finding out.

Neistah, for some reason, did not like Breyan to touch her, and for all his teasing and innuendos, Neistah didn’t touch her, either. Norah got the impression that Neistah belonged to Lara, even though he did not wear her honey-brown weave. Breyan did, which made Norah wonder what had happened to their own mother. From what she had gathered, Neistah, Breyan and Lara had been raised together by the Lady Anais. They were among the youngest of the sprites.

Until Norah. She still didn’t understand it, but somehow she was one of them, or at least partly one of them. Neistah and Lara guided her, with Breyan a close third. Norah had to admit she loved the silent green world of Anais’ pool, but she herself had broached the subject of venturing out into the great lake Breyan so often spoke of.

The lake was magnificent, its inhabitants even more so. They quickly took to Norah, embracing her with cool arms and warm thoughts. All the boys desired her—she felt it flicker through their minds as they swam near. It made her heady with wonder tinged with disbelief at first. At home, she had always felt awkward—too tall, too thin, too much a child. Here, she was a young woman—a desirable young woman. Of course, no one here was old. They all looked as young as she, and beautiful, the boys as well as the girls.

Neistah treated her like a child. He darted at the other boy sprites, even Breyan, whenever they approached too closely. Norah flung her head back, and swam quickly away. Neistah would follow, but for a moment she was in the lead as she sheared off towards the open center of the lake.

She sensed annoyance, tempered by amusement. Lara’s influence.

Breyan shot after her as the other two hung back, Neistah with obvious reluctance. Who did he think he was? Norah thought indignantly, to Lara’s tickling sensation of laughter, quickly suppressed.

X X X X X X X X

‘Let her go.’ Lara touched Neistah gently. ‘Breyan will guard her. He cares for her.’

‘That’s what worries me,’ Neistah sent, troubled. He had never expected to fall into this role of guardian, despite Anais’ command. Who was Norah to him but an earth-child with some of Valin’s blood to allow her to pass unscathed through their land?

‘She’s more than that,’ Lara chided. Neistah shot her a startled glance, not realizing his thoughts had been so transparent. ’She’s one of us. See how she swims. She is more at home in the water than on land. She belongs here with us.’

Yet she wanted to know what it is we do, Neistah thought, careful to hide it from Lara. Will she be content to remain with us like this forever? Neistah could ask this, because he asked himself the same question time after time. He grabbed Lara’s waist and twisted until they were both wrapped up in her billowing hair. ‘Distract me,’ he urged, nipping behind her ear.

Lara let them sink down to the sandy lake bottom, spiraling ever so slightly until the curtain of her hair released them both. They didn’t need the water to survive, but they loved it. For a time, they distracted each other, and Neistah forgot all about Norah and Breyan and things to do other than eat and drink and play and love. For a time, those things were enough.

X X X X X X X X

‘Breyan—ouch!’ Norah giggled, sending a stream of tiny bubbles to the surface. ‘Stop that!’

Breyan, who had been circling round her faster and faster, creating a whirlpool which tangled her hair, suddenly stopped and hung motionless in front of Norah. ‘Do you really want me to stop?’ he asked, putting webbed fingers on either side of her face.

Norah’s heart thudded. ‘No,’ she sent back uncertainly. Breyan’s eyes bored into hers, and for once they were not mischievous or teasing.

‘Come,’ Breyan said, taking her by the hand. ‘I want to show you something.’

They swam side by side to a small grotto where a white, sandy beach pushed up out of the water. Breyan helped Norah to sit. The cave walls glowed with some unseen light source and the gentle lapping of waves against the beach was the only sound.

“I come here sometimes to think.” Breyan’s unexpected voice echoed around the tiny grotto, making Norah jump. Breyan chuckled, and put his arm around her, pulling her close.

A month ago, even a week ago, Norah would have died of embarrassment. She wore nothing but her own red hair, as did all the sprite women. Now, Norah leaned comfortably against Breyan, completely natural in her own skin. Her hair had grown longer in the month she’d been here, and it covered her like a silken shawl.

“It’s beautiful,” Norah murmured, unused to the sound of her own voice after so many weeks of speaking mind to mind. The grotto was beautiful, radiant yet not dazzling, peaceful. Quiet. It occurred to Norah that they were the only ones here. Usually there were sprites all around them, or at least Neistah. Suddenly aware of Breyan’s close proximity, Norah’s heart began to stammer. She stiffened, and Breyan immediately removed his arm, the teasing light back in his eyes.

“Relax, I’m not after your virtue—yet.”

His final word sent shivers down Norah’s spine.

‘You’ll have your time to chase and choose a partner,’ he told her, lapsing back into mind speech. ’You’ll choose me eventually,’ he added with confidence, grinning in the ambient light. ‘I’ll wait.’

With that, Breyan shot to his feet, pulling Norah up with him. ‘There’s one more thing I want to show you.’ He dove head-first into the water, keeping hold of Norah’s hand so she had to dive with him or be dragged underwater. They didn’t go far. On a ledge that ran along the top of the rock that formed their cave rested heaps of small stones set in concentric piles. They covered the entire ledge in a swirling pattern of colors and alternately glowed or sparkled, depending on the stone. Each grouping was a different color. ’Choose,’ Breyan directed her, and Norah swam above the ledge, peering carefully at sky-blue stones, leaf-green ones, sun-yellows. She finally put out her hand and chose a blood-red stone to match her hair.

Breyan nodded, and took it from her, secreting it in his pouch where he kept his hunting knives.

‘What’s it for?’ Norah asked, as she streaked after him, angling through bright water towards the surface above.

‘You’ll see,’ Breyan answered mysteriously. ‘Those are my treasures. I’ve been gathering them ever since I was a child.’

Norah cast him a startled look. Breyan looked hardly older than she, and she knew he, with Neistah and Lara, were the youngest of the sprites before her. How had he managed to collect so many?

When they surfaced, Neistah arrowed straight to them, glancing suspiciously at Breyan. ‘Valin wants to see you,’ he said without preamble to Norah. He didn’t appear too happy about that, either.

X X X X X X X X

Valin paid too much attention to Norah. Neistah sat in the crook of a tree with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Norah and Valin had their heads together, fire and burnt embers, poring over a crude sketch of a map Valin had drawn in the dirt.

“I don’t know,” Norah said. Datro was there, and Earl’s camp was there, according to Valin’s quick stabs, but she had no idea where her family was from. “It’s a few days away from Datro, but I’m not sure exactly where in the forest it is.” She raised her head, and her eyes were bleak. “I can’t get home.”

Neistah huffed. Not only did Valin insist on speaking out loud to the girl, he continued to ask her about the human world. If the point was to convince Norah to remain among them, why did Valin keep reminding her of what she’d left behind? And Valin insisted on meeting with Norah on land. Norah was a water creature, as was Valin himself. Was he trying to convince her that she was different?

Neistah jumped down. “Are you through?” he asked impatiently. “I want to swim.”

“Then go.” Valin waved his hand in dismissal. “I’ll escort Norah back when we are through.”

“No,” Neistah said through gritted teeth. He deliberately sat down between the two, scanning the map Valin had drawn. He hadn’t known Norah was from the forest. It made sense, however, if she carried Valin’s blood. He looked at his father. “Where was your village, when you lived with your mortal family?”

Norah’s soft intake of breath made him realize she hadn’t known about that. He smiled crookedly. Too late now. The danger of vocal speech was that one’s thoughts did not become apparent until they were spoken out loud. Valin had chosen to speak this way. He would have to live with the consequences.

Valin sighed. “It was a long time ago,” he murmured. “I thought they had all died, or gone away. Norah makes me think otherwise. The village I knew is gone.” He laughed bitterly. “Most of the earth is gone. Forest turned to city turned to forest again. It’s somewhere here.” He pointed to his map, which encompassed Datro and all the surrounding forest representing hundreds of miles. “The rivers have changed very little, but the land is scarred underneath the new growth, and I can’t tell where it used to be.”

“What about the gate?” Neistah remembered Valin had escaped his pursuers and drawn them into faerie where they perished, while he remained behind, welcomed with open arms by the woman he had left behind, if not by the son he had abandoned.

“Their mortal blood destroyed the land. Any link with the mortal world was destroyed as well.”

“You’re trying to figure out where I came from, why I’m like you,” Norah reasoned. “Valin, you had human children? A human wife?” She glanced at Neistah. “Besides Anais?”

“There were reasons,” Valin began, as Neistah snorted derisively. “Reasons I had thought lost to time and foolishness long past. But you are correct. I am trying to figure out where you came from, to see if there are any others.” He patted her hand, eliciting a warning glare from Neistah. “You give us all hope.”

“I don’t see how,” Norah replied slowly. “What can I do? I’m just a girl.”

Valin grinned, and Neistah frowned at him. “Yes, you are,” he said happily. “Your blood does not sicken the land, yet you can touch iron. Your mother, she has had other children?”

“Well, yes,” Norah said, puzzled by the turn in the conversation. Talking with Valin was always like this, however. Neistah, for all that he seemed like he didn’t care about her, was easier to understand.

“Then you should be able to bear easily as well,” Valin said.

“Oh.” Norah blinked her eyes. She suddenly wanted to go home. “I think I’d like to swim now, too,” she said. “Neistah, will you take me back to the pond?”

Neistah flowed to his feet. “Anais’ pond?” he asked in surprise. “Not the lake?”

“Not now,” she replied, forcing a small smile. She didn’t think she could face Breyan after what she had just heard.