by Nicole Field
Very nervous. Xyr powers always made things so difficult. Giang couldn't risk affecting others by deliberately projecting an aura; both professional and personally that was inappropriate. Xyr family had told xem so many times that xe was influencing everyone around xem, even when Giang was certain xe wasn't.
Giang couldn't take the risk. So xe would have to face the pack's house with nothing more than xyr snub nose, motley hair and the proposal xe had been sent out to work on. And xe certainly wasn't going to portray xemself as either male or female given that dryads had no determinate gender whatsoever.
It was huge, one of the big old Victorian houses that'd survived the Opening. Mostly. Xe could see that the entire back half of the house had been replaced with more modern building materials but the front half maintained the old clapboard and graceful trim. Big tower with a bunch of windows and a porch that looked like it was halfway through being torn out and rebuilt.
The pack house sat at the very end of the cul-de-sac. While the old Victorian had survived the fire, transformation and death of the Opening, the other houses on the cul-de-sac clearly hadn't. To the left were two rebuilt ramblers. The first had been built with sculpted stone. The second with cob and straw bale, topped with a living roof that had sprouted vivid yellow flowers that were starting to fade. On the right were three Baba Yaga Huts, quietly scratching at the ground as they huddled together in the clearing they'd created since moving there.
A quiet neighborhood. Giang almost wished xe could live here but there was no way for xyr to do that, not with the werewolf pack controlling the majority of the open land in this area. Xe didn't earn enough to afford even a tiny parcel of land and there was no way xe'd ever live in a Baba Yaga hut. Xe certainly couldn't wait long enough for one of their eggs to hatch and grow big enough for habitation, even if that was the best way to get a Baba Yaga hut that got along well with you.
Giang's boss had warned xem ahead of time that the werewolves controlled the hundred acres of land that sat right behind that house. It was fenced, owned and patrolled; the sort of place that you couldn't just walk in and start hunting on. Not even when all you were looking for was hard-to-find plants.
Gorgeous, too, full of big old pine trees mixed with broadleaf maple and mature cottonwood reaching up for the sky. Xe could see some poplar trees near the fence and a couple of surprising hemlock trees on the front yard. Those looked utterly unhealthy, which was no surprise. That much sunshine for a young seedling that usually grows under the canopy of thick cedar bows had to be half killing the poor things. They probably wouldn't survive out there long term unless the pack grew some shrubs around them.
Xe might just suggest it while xe was here. No reason for the poor seedlings to suffer when Giang could make a difference. Of course, Giang was the one sent here today because xe was the sort to care about the random seedlings, bits of moss and sword ferns that had to fill the pack's property. And without the pack's permission, there was no way that they would get what they needed for the Harmony.
Xe wasn't at all sure that xe was ready to meet an entire pack of werewolves by xemself. The sheer number of children inside was sure to be overwhelming and who knew if the alpha, Deidre MacClellen, would even have time to talk to Giang. Alphas were always so busy with the kids.
But sitting in xyr car wasn't going to get xem any closer to having permission to tromp through the pack's woods. Giang got out and gathered the promotional materials for the Harmony. Xe should've brought the little gift bag that xyr boss had pushed at xem but Giang thought that was so tacky. And poorly made. Giang couldn't give something that cheap to an Alpha. Xe'd just have to juggle brochures.
Or shove them in xyr back pocket. That worked, too.
Xe slowed as xe approached the front steps. Or what would have been front steps. The elaborately carved posts that supported the front overhang were still there but the porch itself had been torn out. Bits of rotted wood that had once been steps coated the soil underneath, mixed with huge amounts of pixie dust and webbing from a variety of spiders.
"They let pixies live under their deck?" Giang murmured as xe peered into the hole where the stairs should have been. "Well, that wasn't wise. I hope the foundation wasn't damaged."
"Nah, not damaged at all. The porch was totaled but they didn't get at the concrete. Actually, they were pretty careful to dig their burrows away from the foundation so yeah, house is fine."
Giang jumped and whirled, staring up and up at the very tall, very beautiful woman who stood grinning down at xem. At six foot at least, maybe more, Deidre MacClellan had sandy brown hair, a nose that had been broken and set poorly at some point and a gap between her front teeth that whistled as she laughed quietly at Giang's expense.
Deidre also had a dragon runt on her right arm, a canvas bag full of groceries in her other hand and a pair of werewolf pups sitting at her feet. They looked to be the age where four legs were faster and easier than two, leading to more time in pup form than might be common later in life. The pups both stared at Giang, tails wagging in that slow, speculative way that automatically made Giang's heart-rate pick up.
"Ah, Deidre MacClellan?" Giang asked because what else could xe say?
"That's me," Deidre said. Her nose wrinkled as she grinned at xem. "You from the city government? They left some half-assed message about requiring access to the pack lands for something."
"Yes, that's me," Giang said with a little sigh of annoyance. "Though I'd hoped that they would give you more information than that. We're not requiring anything. It's… well. Um. Perhaps we could discuss it inside?"
Xe fumbled for a business card and then shook xyr head. Deidre didn't have any hands free. How was she going to take it? Giang pulled the card and then offered xyr arms for the dragon runt who sniffed at xem and looked up to Deidre. She sniffed too and then nodded approval as she gave the dragon runt to Giang and took xyr card.
Giang grunted at the weight of the runt. Not so small anymore. His—because yes, this was a male dragon—his horns were just starting to poke through above his temples. At least the runt was growing well, though Giang had no idea what to do as his tail wrapped around xyr waist and he stared at her, ears cycling as he listened to xyr heart, Deidre, the pups and who knew what else?
"Pleased to meet you?"
"Nice!" the runt exclaimed before wrapping his arms around xyr shoulders and putting his head on xyr shoulder. His voice reverberated through Giang, his meaning carried as much by his innate draconic magic as by the sounds he made with his mouth. Dragon tongues were among the most mobile in the world so they didn't have to use too much magic to be heard.
"That's Mori," Deidre said with an approving nod. "Twins here are Mimi and Cece. Roger's getting more groceries with my oldest, Janie. My husband, Tyson, should be inside making dinner. We're using the back door until the porch is fixed."
"Ah, well, lead on?" Giang suggested. "What in the world happened with the porch?"
"Pixies," Deidre said as she led the way to the fence alongside the house. She'd tucked the card into the bag of groceries so she could open the door easily. "Let them live under the porch on the agreement that they'd protect us from vermin and not impact the foundations at all. Turns out that they eat the wood so yeah, porch fell apart."
"I went boom," Mori said, huffing a plume of steam through his nostrils. Not yet flaming. That was reassuring at least. Xyr hair wouldn't be burned off.
"And they bit him, so we've recently relocated them to the back yard," Deidre said, pointing towards a very nice, new pixie nest made of a huge pile of logs. The pixies whirled around it, humming in their multipart symphony of voices. "You know they can't breed if they don't have new nests? I can't believe that people deny pixies the right to have offspring. It's ridiculous!"
"Yes," Giang said. Xe stared up at Deidre, amazed that she was so offended over that. "It's… well, most people don't want pixies around at all. They are messy. And rather destructive."
Deidre grumbled some
thing under her breath that xe couldn't understand. Probably something uncomplimentary. She was an Alpha, so Giang didn't question it. But if Deidre was this impressive, and beautiful, she must have a truly imposing mate. Most Alpha males were… fierce. Terrifyingly fierce as far as Giang was concerned. All teeth and claws and dominance rituals that Giang had never, ever been able to perform properly. Xe had too much dryad blood for that. Dryads simply didn't understand dominance in the right ways for Alpha males.
Deidre's scowl was so intimidating that Giang's stomach did flips as they climbed the back stairs, cubs scrambling up the stairs and yapping excitedly around their legs as they ran inside the instant the door was open. Xyr mother scowled like that every time Giang came home. Not that xe wanted to remember that right now. Xe had work to do. Crying xyr heart out and begging for forgiveness wasn't appropriate at all.
"Tyson, we got that guest from the city government," Deidre called as she kicked her shoes off.
"Yeah?" Tyson called back.
He sounded… mild. Giang blinked and then outright stared as Tyson came in to take the groceries. Where Deidre was tall and powerful, Tyson was short; barely half a head taller than Giang. Balding, fire-red hair and a kind smile that calmed Giang so quickly that it took xem a moment to realize there was magic behind it.
"You're a fire mage," Giang said and then blushed.
"Yep," Deidre said with a huge grin as Tyson blushed as red as his hair. "Nicest thing in the world to cuddle up against at night, you know?"
"I suppose so," Giang said. Xe looked at Mori who blinked back and then squirmed to be let down. Finally. "I've not dated much. People tend to… make assumptions about me because I have dryad blood."
That got scowls from both Deidre and Tyson so hopefully Giang wouldn't have to deal with any inept and highly annoying attempts from them trying to hit on xem. Xe stepped aside as a young man with an enveloping hoodie printed with the Fly High Angels logo came in carrying two bags of groceries. That must be Roger. He nodded to Giang, kicked off his shoes and then headed into the kitchen. The teenage girl that followed was clearly Deidre's child, big and strong. She was also clearly Tyson's daughter because she radiated that same warmth he did. So that would be Janie, the last member of the pack Deidre had named.
"We got the groceries," Janie said to her parents. "Go ahead and see what's up with the government rep. Though it better not be getting rid of either the pixies or the fairy dragon on the back forty. They're pack now and none of us are gonna care what the city government says about that."
"… You have a fairy dragon?" Giang asked, staring up at Janie. "Goodness, what kind? They're so rare in this area."
Janie blinked and then grinned as if Giang had passed a test of some sort. "Water. She's a cute little thing. We built a bridge over the entrance to her lair so she'd be safe but I'm sure you'll meet her if you head out that way. She likes meeting people."
Janie marched off into the kitchen, leaving Giang with the twin urges to follow her to ask more questions or to run straight out into the forest so that she could meet the fairy dragon. A real fairy dragon, so close. Goodness, that was… so tempting.
"Come on," Deidre said. "Let's go out on the back porch. You look like you'd rather be outside anyway."
"You do have lovely trees," Giang said. Xe waited impatiently for Deidre and Tyson to pull their shoes back on. "Though I'm terribly worried about the hemlocks on the front lawn. They need much more shade than they're getting."
"Really?" Tyson asked. "The kids picked them to plant there because they were pretty and had soft needles."
"Oh, they do," Giang said, more than happy to talk about trees. "But they usually grow up in the shade of cedar trees. Some nice, quick-growing lilac would help them. Or spells to give them a bit more shade during the heat of the sun."
The back yard was a marvel of kids' toys, comfortable fire pit seating and barely growing grass. Too many feet trampling the grass. And paws. There were quite a few spots where the cubs had been digging; little holes scrabbled out of the dirt for playtime.
Tyson tossed a well-seasoned log of cedar into the firepit. It lit before it hit the ground, snapping and sparking cheerily.
"Not gonna bother you?" Deidre asked.
"Hmm?" Giang asked, and then started when xe realized that both Deidre and Tyson were staring at xem. "Oh, no. I don't mind fires like this at all. I've enough magic that I could put out a house fire if I wanted to. Thankfully I haven't had to. This is lovely. And not at all why I'm here. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't waste your time."
The logs were old, old enough that Giang felt no sense of the life they used to live. They were just food for the forest now, mulch in the making. It was such a comforting feeling that xe sighed and enjoyed it a moment before pulling out the brochures.
"We're working on the spells for the Harmony for the High Elves in Belleview," Giang explained. "And my department has been tasked with gathering the spell components. Sadly, a great many of them are terribly hard to find. The least bit of iron ruins some. And there are so few areas where we have untrammeled natural forest to gather the rest. My boss is working on the iron sensitive ones. He's got messages out all across the continent and is traveling a ridiculous amount at the moment."
"And so you came to us for our forest," Deidre said, sitting up and frowning at the threat of intrusion.
"Yes," Giang said. "I'd be personally gathering the plants because of my dryad blood. I can go and not harm the forest at all. Frankly, I'm quite hopeful that I'll find everything I need here. You have pixies tending to the woods and your pack and a baby dragon and goodness, a fairy dragon, too. I can't believe that. My boss will be so happy. He thought he'd have to travel down to the Amazon to find a fairy dragon."
"What do you need from us?" Tyson asked, interrupting xyr glee and excitement.
"Um, access?" Giang said, a little nervous about the way the two of them stared at xem. "To bring a bucket and trowel and, oh, some clippers. I anticipate it will take a good three months to gather everything. If it's all here. Some of it has to be harvested at particular times of the year. We've started months and months in advance so that we'd be sure to get everything in time."
"So it's not a one-time thing," Tyson said more cheerfully.
"Um, no?" Giang said. She turned to Deidre, who was laughing quietly and shaking her head at Tyson for some reason. "I'd probably need to visit at least once a week for the next few months. If that's all right."
"It's fine," Deidre said. "Come on. Let's take a quick tour so you know the lay of the land. All I ask is that you call ahead and then have one of us—one of the two of us, not the kids—escort you."
Giang beamed as xe jumped to xyr feet. "I can do that! Thank you so much!"
Really, that was far easier than xe'd expected. Giang couldn't wait to tell xyr boss.
Well. Xe could wait. Until after xe'd gotten xyr tour and heard all about the land from Deidre and Tyson.
Maple
Tyson leaned against the big maple closest to the creek as Rudenth the Adorable, their resident fairy dragon, shook water droplets from her delicate little wings. The last few weeks had been very interesting as he and Deidre escorted Giang around the property, making sure she had everything she needed for the Harmony.
Somehow, though, they'd not gotten out to Rudenth's stream before now. Her name really was appropriate. She was so small that her whole body was about the size of Tyson's head. Tiny blue, purple and sea green scales covered her body. Her little belly was swollen with the eggs that she'd be laying in the fall.
At first, he hadn't been too pleased with the addition of Rudenth to the property. Janie falling into Rudenth's lair had been terrifying and frankly, Rudenth's magic was the exact opposite of Tyson's. Where he was all fire and heat, she was water and cold. Tyson tended to keep his distance when they visited Rudenth's portion of the property, getting only close enough so as to make sure that none of the kids would fall in.
Not a problem
this time because the only person with him was Giang Nunes, dryad and civil servant who was driving him slowly mad. Deidre was just as stuck on Giang as he was but Giang didn't seem to realize either of them were interested. And, given what xe'd said about assumptions other people had made, all he knew was that he didn't want to push xyr in the wrong way and lose completely any chance they had to have xyr around and get to know xyr better.
"Oh," Giang breathed, xyr hands clutched to xyr chest, her entire attention on the fairy dragon. "You're adorable!"
Where most dragons, either Oriental or Occidental, were human to house-sized lizard-types, Rudenth was the size of a kitten. Her scales glittered like gems and her tiny wings looked as delicate as iridescent soap bubbles stretched out over delicate translucent bones. But it was her magic that drew Giang most strongly. Most dragons felt of heat and fire. The Oriental types generally had a windy feel to them, especially as they slithered through the air.
Rudenth's magic felt like water, like rain dappling spring leaves. She clearly drew Giang in much the way a spring drew the roots of a tree. Giang looked like xe so wanted to pick her up and cuddle her, rub xyr face against Rudenth's little head and croon over her.
"Yes," Rudenth said with an assertive little nod. Her magic trilled the words into sounds they could all hear though, from the way Giang reacted, Tyson wondered if xe could have heard Rudenth even without the magic amplification. "Rudenth the Adorable. This is me. You are?"
"Goodness, I'm so sorry," Giang said as xyr cheeks blushed green with the faintest hints of red at the center. Xe held out one of xyr business cards, the laminated version that was green and leaf-shaped. "I'm Giang Nunes from the city government. My department is working on gathering the necessary items for the Harmony coming up in Belleview. I was hoping I could ask you for a bit of help."
Tyson tuned out as Giang launched into xyr lecture on what the Harmony was and how important it was to get pristine samples of the plants xe needed. He'd heard it six times now. The most recent had been when he took xem to meet Youneda and Felix on the theory that they might have ideas on where to look for the more elusive items.