“How much longer did lifespans become?” Rose asked.
“I am over four hundred years old.” He waited, clearing wanting that to sink in before continuing. “Alda is three hundred years my senior, though age has yet to slow her down.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “How long will I live?”
“I do not know, but if you are accepted by the magic, you could see a millennium.” Waterfall shrugged.
“You said if the magic accepts me. Silverlight and I were talking about that, because Rebecca doesn’t seem entirely happy.”
“I know Silverlight has told you that the magic can reject you and send you home.” He sighed. “But it is important to remember that it is not a common occurrence. And you shouldn’t worry for your friend. Rebecca may yet adapt and thrive here. Should your own feelings for your family cause conflict, however, know that the blood contract remains intact. You have vowed to give up your previous life for this one, and you cannot choose to go home. From this point forward, only the magic can accept or reject you. And in this way, the magic cannot be manipulated.”
“Why doesn’t the magic make that decision right away?” Rose asked.
“It can’t,” Silverlight said.
“But why not? I don’t understand.”
“Rose,” Waterfall said, “who you are as a person is not static. You are, in many ways, the sum of your experiences and reactions. No one is sure how you will react to a change like the one we ask of you when you come to live here. The magic waits so it can see who you will become and then makes its choice.”
She tried to think of it another way. “So instead of looking at a smart child and deciding that child will do something amazing, it waits to see what the child will do when it grows up and then makes a decision?”
“Exactly,” Waterfall said.
“How long does it take the magic to decide?” Rose asked, hoping it would give Rebecca time to adjust to her new reality.
“As long as it needs. Usually some number of months, though it can take more or less time depending on the individual.” Waterfall leaned forward and patted her knee. “As I said, you need not worry. There is time.”
Well he was right that there was time, but time had a way of passing too quickly. And while Rose was bonding with Alda and Silverlight, Rebecca was still focused on what she had left behind.
Waterfall sat in his chair studying the small dragon. Cobalt had followed him home and, for the past hour, had been focused on Waterfall.
“Will they make it? Will they get the long happy life they deserve?” He sighed. “You’ve never answered a question before, so I doubt you’ll answer these.”
He dropped his gaze. The elemental fey had never offered advice. This time would hardly be any different. No matter how many times he asked, silence was the only reply that was given.
In the past it hadn’t bothered him. He knew how things were between the fey and elementals. However, given the path Rebecca seemed to be following, it would do his heart good to know that Rose would successfully adapt to the fey life. He didn’t want his son to experience the heartbreak that would come if Rose could not be the fey hearted they saw in her.
Cobalt cocked his head to the side. A moment later he flapped across the room to land on the arm of Waterfall’s chair. He rubbed his cheek against Waterfall’s shoulder. As Waterfall watched, Cobalt curled up against his arm and rumbled softly. Waterfall’s chest constricted. Cobalt was seldom cuddly with him. In fact, the last time Cobalt had done this was shortly after Beatrice had died. If Cobalt thought Waterfall needed comfort, then that didn’t bode well for the children’s future.
Silverlight watched Rose and Rebecca laugh and smile as they dug up onions. “They seem to be helping each other adapt.”
Everblue looked up from his own onion. “Rebecca has seemed happier these past three weeks, but I still worry.”
“Why?”
“It’s what she doesn’t say,” Everblue explained. “There was a time when she asked why we didn’t help humans, and she would tell me how much we could do for them. Now when those topics come up, she doesn’t say anything.”
“Perhaps she finally understands that there would be a cost to that help. The humans would want more than we could give, and we have little power in their world.” Silverlight patted Everblue on the shoulder and started on another onion.
“She’s also stopped talking about her family. If you had heard her speak of them…” Everblue pulled off a glove and rubbed his head. “I’m sure you’re right and I’m worried over nothing.”
“Let me know if I can help.”
Everblue nodded and went back to his work.
Silverlight tried not to show that he was worried about his friend, and about the girls. If there was something wrong with Rebecca, he didn’t want her to drag Rose down, too. Since arriving, Rose had said very little about her family. It could be that the topic was too painful, but after his mother’s death, Silverlight’s had found that talking had helped. Rose’s family was out of reach in a way that was akin to death, and she might find conversation therapeutic.
He kept an eye on the girls the rest of the time they were in the garden, but they never stopped smiling. When it was time for them to leave, Rebecca even gave Rose a hug. Silverlight hoped that indicated the end of Rebecca’s problems.
As he and Rose walked home, Silverlight tried to find the right words, but when they wouldn’t come he went with the direct approach. “Do you miss your family?”
Rose stopped and turned to look at him. “Yes. I think about them most days—what they’re doing, what they would like about this place… It’s hard. They wanted me to be happy, and in many ways, I failed them. Not my grandmother, though. She would love it here. She probably would have chosen to stay if she’d been selected by the fey.”
“What’s her name?”
“Iris,” Rose said softly. “She’s full of mischief and was always telling stories about elves and fairies. A lot of things here remind me of her stories. I mean, they definitely weren’t about this place, but there’s so much that’s the same.”
“It’s hard to lose someone you love,” Silverlight said softly.
“I miss her the most.” Rose bit her lip. “She’s my one regret.”
“What do you mean?”
“Grandpa died a few years ago. It was a rough time, but one day she told me how much she regretted being out of the room when he passed. It wasn’t her fault, of course; she had to go to the bathroom and there was no way to know it would happen in those few minutes. He’d been on the cusp for hours.” Rose’s eyes were teary. “She told me she was afraid the same thing would happen to her. I promised her I would be there when she died. I won’t be able to keep that promise now. I won’t even know when she dies.”
“I’m sorry.” Silverlight pulled her in for a hug and gently rubbed her back. “It’s not the same, but I lost my mother.”
“How did—” Rose stopped before she finished.
“How did she die? It’s all right. I can talk about it. Mom—Beatrice—was never the healthiest person, which was why they waited about four hundred years to have me, but what really did her in were the wilds. About six years ago a small group of them attacked Veles, and she was injured. Moonbeam did everything to save her. Mom recovered from the wounds, but she never got her strength back. She died the following spring.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.” Silverlight pulled back. “I have some sense of what you’re going through, though, as a result. You can talk to me if you ever want to.”
Rose nodded and rubbed her eyes. “Then I have a story for you. Have you ever eaten pumpkin pie?”
Silverlight tilted his head. “Yes. Why?”
“Well, for the past few years Grandmother has been coming up with strange pumpkin pie variations for us to try.”
They walked the rest of the way to the dwelling laughing about her grandmother’s cooking creations. As they chatted
about spicy pies, Silverlight tried to figure out how he could give her another glimpse of her family.
Lying in bed, Rose thought about her earlier conversation with Silverlight. She had known his mother was dead, but the circumstances had been a mystery until today. He was right that it wasn’t the same, but it was close enough that she felt more of a kinship with him. Silverlight understood loss, and that was enough to bring her comfort.
It also explained his focus on weapons work. He wanted to be prepared next time something like that happened, ready to protect his friends and family. Rose couldn’t blame him. That type of an experience made it real. There were no more illusions. It could happen to him, and it could happen to her.
Sleep stole any remaining thoughts from her but brought her vivid dreams, instead. Veles was being attacked by the wilds, and she watched as Silverlight and Alda were killed. She was trying to find Everblue and Rebecca, but it was too late. They were taken into the forest by fey with pale skin, red eyes, and talons at the tips of their fingers.
When Rose woke in the morning, she was alone in her bed and not nearly as refreshed as she would have liked. She tried to shake off the dream, but she was feeling very alone when she heard a soft hoot outside. Pearl might be absent, but Esmeralda was keeping watch.
As soon as Rose was out of bed, she padded out of her room and over to Silverlight’s. She gently knocked on the wall. “Good morning, are you up?”
“Up and awake, but not clothed.”
“Could we do breakfast at the Commons today? I’m really hungry.”
“If we hurry. We still have to fit in our magic lesson.”
“Deal,” Rose shouted as she raced back to her room.
A few minutes later they walked to the Commons in the predawn light. They enjoyed a more filling meal than they typically had at the house, and with that, their routine was set. Rose would stretch first thing, and then the two of them would go to the Commons before magic lessons. She quickly discovered that they weren’t always in the garden for the second half of the morning but the afternoons always consisted of the healing house, weapons work, and history or crafts.
As time went by, she adjusted to the schedule. Her body got stronger, her attention span increased, and what had seemed like an impossible workload became normal. Magic lessons were progressing slowly, though.
One day, as she was working in the garden, she realized three weeks had passed, and this place had somehow become her home. That thought made her smile, and even the memories of her family couldn’t dampen her joy.
Chapter 13
Silverlight thumped on the wall. “Are you ready? We don’t want to be late for solstice.”
“Give me a minute,” Rose yelled back. “Girls take time, you know.”
“You’ve had two hours.”
“You try putting on a new style of clothes for the first time. It’s not as easy as it sounds. No one wears stuff like this in my part of the human world.”
Sighing, Silverlight remembered what his father had told him earlier today. He needed to be patient. Rushing a girl who was getting dressed would only make her take longer. Well, he was used to the practical girl, the one who could shower and dress as fast as he could most mornings. Though, in retrospect, since Waterfall had given her the clothing, he might have known what was to come.
Even without his father’s voice ringing in his ears, Silverlight knew that this wasn’t most mornings. Today she was getting ready for her first holiday here and an evening of celebration.
Rose walked out of her room, tugging at a sleeve. The robes may have been strange to her, but she’d gotten everything right. From the braids adorned with beads intermingling with the rest of her hair, to the deep burgundy of the shirt and the matching pants tucked into her boots, she was perfection. The outer layer, which she was rapidly buttoning, was made of hunter-green wool that hugged her body down to the hips, where it flared out before ending at the top of her boots. The slit in the front was wide enough to show off her legs and allow for a full stride.
“You look beautiful.”
She lifted her brow. “Do you think so? I wasn’t sure about the colors.”
“They’re perfect. Are you ready?”
She grabbed a pair of gloves out of the closet. “Yes.”
Silverlight nodded and guided her outside. He kept an eye on her as they walked, noticing how she kept tugging at her clothes and fussing with her hair. It wasn’t like her to be nervous, but this was her first party in the fey world and surely a reminder of the human holidays that she wouldn’t be spending with her family.
There wasn’t much he could do about that, in part because the fey didn’t celebrate Christmas, but he would try to make the next couple of days so busy that she hardly noticed the time passing.
There was one thing he could think to do that would help her nerves. “Remember, this is a big party. No one will be paying special attention you. Not to mention you’ve met most of the people who will be there tonight, and the rest of them will be happy to introduce themselves.”
Rose nodded and stopped picking at the edge of her sleeve.
“As I told you before, winter solstice is a simple celebration. It’s the longest night of the year, and we mark it because the days get longer after tonight. There will be food inside the Common and the music will be on the knoll above. Other types of entertainment will be scattered around the base of the knoll. Some of the elemental fey usually put on a show, too.”
“They do? Will there be dragons, or unicorns, or griffins?” Rose bounced on her toes for a few steps.
“I don’t know. It’s up to them.” He wished he knew, but the elemental fey were notoriously secretive about their performance. “There’s something else I should mention.”
Rose gave him a curious look.
“You haven’t seen any kin fey, but there will be some at the celebration. Remember, it’s considered rude to ask them things you wouldn’t ask an elemental like Pearl.”
“I will be on my best behavior,” Rose promised.
As they approached the back of the Commons, Silverlight pointed out the various spaces set aside for singers, dancers, poetry enthusiasts, and artists enjoying the winter night.
“Where are the elemental fey?” Rose whispered.
“They will claim most of the east side of the knoll, but they don’t arrive until after dark.”
Rose skipped along the rest of the path. Pulling open the door to the Commons, she waved him in. Feeling satisfied that he’d distracted her from her nerves, Silverlight stepped inside, and Rose followed him. He scanned the room, trying to find Everblue. Catching sight of him, Silverlight waved. Everblue motioned for him to come over, but Silverlight pointed to the buffet. When Everblue nodded, Silverlight turned to Rose, who was looking around with big eyes. “Do you want to get some food and visit with Everblue and Rebecca?”
“Yes.” Rose spotted the pair and waved. “Do you think we’ll see Alda?”
“I would bet on it. She loves parties like this.”
Silverlight loaded up his plate and guided Rose over to Everblue and Rebecca.
“Rose, Silverlight, it’s good to see you,” Everblue said.
“It’s nice to see both of you.” Rose focused on Rebecca. “How have you been?”
“Fine.” Rebecca gave a halfhearted smile.
Rose looked at her for a moment before redirecting her attention to Everblue. “When are we going to get together and paint?”
“Ask Silverlight. He’s the one who keeps saying you’re too busy.”
The fey in question shrugged and gave the expected answer, even though Everblue was lying. Silverlight could ask him about that later. “She’s only been here a few weeks. There’s a lot to learn, but I think we could take a break from history lessons and do some fun things, too.”
Rose smiled at him. Everblue returned the smile before popping the last of his bread in his mouth. “All work and no play is bad for the soul.”
“Tell me about it. He has me in lessons all day every day. He keeps saying things will slow down, but so far that hasn’t happened.” Rose rolled her eyes.
Silverlight turned to Everblue. “Sure, she complains now, but yesterday she wouldn’t stop asking me about the gardens and how we have so much out-of-season food.”
“He just doesn’t understand good food,” Rose said. “But you do, don’t you, Everblue?”
The fey laughed. “Don’t look at me. I’m not getting in the middle of this one.”
Silverlight smiled. It was good to see his friends getting along. A couple of nights of crafting would do everyone good. Besides, Everblue had a point. Too much work was unhealthy, and Rose could use a break. He promised himself that he’d do better balancing her schedule.
The three of them continued chatting while they finished their food. From time to time one of them would try to bring Rebecca into the conversation, but she would just give a short answer before going back to looking unhappy.
“Do you want to go listen to the music?” Everblue asked.
“Yes, please. Silverlight told me it’s fantastic,” Rose said.
“We won’t be able to stay long if you want to see the elemental fey,” Silverlight reminded her.
Rebecca frowned and tapped Everblue on the shoulder. “I don’t want to listen to music.”
“Would you rather go to the poetry reading? There’s also an a cappella group at the back of the Commons. Or we could look for some of the artists.”
Pursing her lips, she considered. “I’d really rather go back to your house.”
“Are you feeling all right? Maybe one of us should go with you,” Rose said.
Rebecca frowned again. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to be here.”
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