“Yes.” They were no more than light purple buds, but they were impossible to mistake.
“Watch.” Donella nodded at Jagan. Jagan raised his own wand, a long red-brown piece, and briefly closed his eyes. He slowly began to turn his wrist so the wand moved in a gentle rhythm. At first, Katy was confused. But when the trees began to rustle, she realized that he was using the breeze. One by one, the trees swayed back and forth, along with the grasses and flowers in the field below. Finally, the wind picked up a slight yellow color before rushing down upon the purple buds.
One by one, the buds began to open. And out of each folded flower came a little glowing being that flew up and then away as fast as it could go.
“Those are wisps,” Nikki leaned over and whispered. “They’re born inside those flowers.”
“What did he just do with the wind?” she asked, for she was rather sure that the wind hadn’t blown the flowers open. It hadn’t been that strong.
“Pollination is essential for food to be produced. This means fairies who can manipulate wind, even if they’re not solely wind fairies, are some of the most valuable when it comes to helping the isles with droughts.”
“I just pollinated the flowers faster so they didn’t have to wait for the wind,” Jagan said. “This means they were ready to bloom faster than usual.”
“In order to do this,” Donella spoke again, “you’ll need to use your wand to locate power in three different sources. First, you’ll need to locate the wind. Then find the two plants you wish to share pollen between.”
Katy stared at the flowers blankly. “Most plants don’t have power.”
“No, but we’re making this easier on you for the first time. Wisps do have a limited amount of power, so it should be easier for you to use your gift to locate them in the flowers after you find the wind.” She waved her hand at the entire valley before them. “We’re on the King’s Isle. The other isles are more difficult, and will be saved for when you’ve trained more. But the High King’s magic is still the strongest here, so it rests on everything and makes it easier to find.”
“So…” Katy looked at the wand she’d picked. “I need to use this to affect weather to affect plants?”
“On the outer isles, where you’ll be helping others the most, the weather either helps or hinders land from preparing the crops to produce a harvest,” Donella answered, folding her hands and looking down at the valley with its fields of wheat and fruit trees spreading out below them. “Autumn fairy or not, you should be able to direct the wind at will.”
Katy looked down at the wand doubtfully, but she took a deep breath and pointed it in the direction Donella had gestured.
“What do you want me to do with it now?”
Donella pointed at a tree in the meadow below. “Close your eyes and let the magic within you drain into the wand. It will tell you where to turn.”
Katy did as she was instructed. She tried to quiet her mind as she searched for strands of magic that waved out at her from their origins. But instead of her finding the wind or even the flowering fruit trees around her, she felt her power immediately being pulled in a dozen directions.
“How can I tell which one is the right one?” she asked.
“You’ll know. You just have to feel around until you recognize the characteristics of what you’re looking for. Then, when you find it, use the wand to help you attach to the source and manipulate it.”
Katy imagined her magic flowing out from her like one of the bedsheets the servants placed on her bed at home. She imagined shaking it out from a rumpled ball into a flat plane that billowed out and touched the corners of the valley below. But as she searched for the flowers Donella had told her to find, she found her strength being pulled toward power sources of a different kind. They all had a different flavor, but they were near, and there were many.
Katy fought to reign her power back in to start her search again, but the pulsing heat that sucked her power in pulled even harder. Katy began to struggle, but the more she pulled, the more her own power grew. Her hand began to quiver. And the longer she fought, the more her hands and then arms began to hurt.
Finally, she could hold it back no longer. She let out a cry as her power was yanked from her body and poured into the wand. It shook violently, harder and harder until a loud crack ripped through the air. Several people shrieked as more cracks sounded.
Katy opened her eyes just in time to see Nikki, Jagan, and several of the other fairies who had been standing or floating a little way off all holding the broken remains of what had been their wands. Their mouths were open, and after staring at the remainders of their wands, they looked at Katy.
Katy looked down to find her own wand shattered. For a long moment, no one said anything. Finally, Jagan took a deep breath and blew it slowly out. Then he looked up and grinned.
“Well, I guess you’re going to need a harder wood.”
15
I’m Glad
Peter paced the garden until he was sure he’d worn down the path between the blue roses and the white roses. His stomach grumbled in protest of the fact that he’d missed lunch in order to wait for her here. But he’d been waiting for two hours now, and there was still no sign of the fairies. Hopefully, Malachi would be less restless after several hours on the road. The boy had been less than thrilled to go with Firin Reaghan to check on Tomas and the ship, but Peter hadn’t trusted the chancels enough to leave him alone. And Peter needed this time alone.
His heart beat unevenly as he thought again of all the things she might have learned while she was gone. She had promised, after all, that she wouldn’t’ let them change her, and only five days had passed since she’d made that promise, he reminded himself. But he had learned so much by simply sitting and reading in the annals in every spare second he could find, and he felt as though he’d already lived several lifetimes over as he read. How much more could she have seen and learned as she traveled all around the ancient isle over the past five days?
Just as he was about to pick a new row to pace, through the hedge, he heard the sounds of many voices and a single carriage approaching. He took a deep breath and went to stand at the edge of the garden, hoping to see what he’d waited for all day.
Sure enough, Katy hopped out of the carriage before it was completely stopped. She looked around eagerly, then beamed when she saw him. His joy at seeing her was briefly overcome with surprise as he took in what she was wearing. He tried not to stare at her smooth shoulders or shapely legs as she ran toward him, but he failed miserably. He hadn’t seen so much of her since she was eight.
She started toward him then stopped and looked down at herself. “Peter!” she called. “Give me a few minutes to change!” Then, without waiting for his response, she dashed into the palace, giggling with Nikki and a red-haired male fairy as she did.
If Peter had thought waiting was hard before, it was nothing compared to what he felt now.
She reappeared at the palace doors twenty minutes later, dressed once again in one of her alluring human dresses. This one was lilac, and its skirts were cut like giant flower petals to completely cover her legs. He normally would have been thrilled to see her in such a lovely gown, but after glimpsing what she’d worn before, he had to admit to himself that he was a more than a little disappointed. She started toward him again.
“Katy!” called an unfamiliar voice.
She stopped and looked up into the sky. Peter looked up as well to see the male fairy with red hair land beside her. Peter’s stomach tightened as she broke into an easy grin and turned to address him. They spoke for a moment before he smiled, nodded, and flew off, and she finally made her way over to Peter.
“I was beginning to think I’d have to make a request of the chancels to speak with you again,” he said as she drew near.
Katy threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I missed you, too.”
“You think I’m teasing.” He kissed the top of her head and inhaled deeply
the scent of her hair.
Her arms tightened around his waist. “I’m sorry.” Then she pulled back to look at him. “I have so much to tell you. I don’t even know where to begin.” Her blue eyes sparkled, and Peter couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked so happy.
So why did that make him feel unhappy? He led her over to a carved stone bench he’d discovered during his first hour of pacing and they sat on it.
“You didn’t have to change, you know,” he said, taking a lock of her hair in his fingers and playing with it.
“What?” She looked down. “Oh, I didn’t want to run around the palace in my fae clothes. They’re a bit revealing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You seemed perfectly ease in front of that red-haired fellow back there.”
“Oh, that’s Jagan.” For the first time, her smile faltered, and she looked down at the ground. “It’s not the same with fairies. Everyone wears those clothes.” She shrugged, still looking down. “They see it all the time, so it’s nothing new to them.”
“I wouldn’t have minded seeing you in it.” The red-haired fairy surely hadn’t. She could claim the male fae were blind to her all she wanted, but he knew an appreciative look when he saw one.
She blushed and folded her arms. “You are the one who needs to see it least.”
Peter frowned. “And why would that be?”
Her eyes softened. “Because I care what you think the most.”
He tried to remain annoyed, but that was impossible while she looked up at him with those big sky-blue eyes. “Very well,” he sighed and gave her a rueful laugh. “What did you want to tell me?”
The light returned to her eyes, and she practically glowed. “So, did you know that there’s a kind of horse called a moon spirit?” She grabbed his arm and leaned closer, the way she had when she was a child. Peter couldn’t help his grin as her enthusiasm spilled over.
“It only appears when the moon is full, but it can run faster than ten horses put together! They usually stay in Summer and Spring, but sometimes, they appear in Winter, and it’s hard to tell them apart from the snow!”
And on she prattled about all of her new discoveries. How wind made music if you listened hard enough. How each fairy’s wand was individual and distinct, and how the summer fairies had been able to create a fruit that was half apple and half peach. The longer she spoke, however, the more he realized what was missing from her tales.
“But what about you?” He tilted his head to study her better. “How is your training going?”
Her smile fell, and she bit her bottom lip.
“Katy?”
She sighed. “About as well as my magic has ever done, I suppose.”
Peter lifted her face upward so he could see it better. “What does that mean?” he asked softly.
She bit her lip again before speaking. “Well, we now know that my marks change temporarily when I use my gift.”
“Does anyone know why?”
She shook her head. “I have also managed to break every wand I’ve tried to use. And everyone else’s. The wandmaker doesn’t even know what to do about that. Every challenge they give me, I either ruin or fail.” For the first time, he could hear tears in her voice as it wavered. “I’m failing, Peter. I’m trying so hard to do my best for you, and I haven’t completed a single challenge right.”
Peter pulled her into his chest and rocked her back and forth as she cried. He’d waited all week to tell her of what he’d learned and seen in the village, but now he wondered if that was the best topic of conversation. Did she really need to be burdened with yet another struggle to rehash the way he knew she would do?
She finally looked up and wiped her face on her sleeves. “Here I am making a fuss,” she said with tearful laughs, “and you’ve hardly spoken a single word. What have you done this week?”
Peter forced a smile. “Not anything as interesting as you have, I’m afraid.” When she gave him a look, he shrugged. “I’ve been into the village a few times. But they keep me so busy with the chancel meetings that I hardly have time to eat.” It was far easier to eat whatever Malachi could poach for him from the dining hall as he walked toward the annals between sessions. “I did,” he added slowly, “find the Chronicles of Atharo.”
Katy froze. “You mean, you’ve been reading them?”
“Along with Firin Reaghan. But don’t tell anyone that,” he added quickly. “Apparently, only the rhins and Higher Chanel members are allowed to glimpse it.” He wriggled his brows. “Legally.”
Her brows creased. “No one else?”
“Apparently not. We have to sneak Firin Reaghan and Malachi in every time.”
“Why don’t you just give Malachi the time to rest?”
Peter hesitated. He had waited all week to share what he’d seen. The injustices he’d uncovered had been even more heinous than he’d first expected. The more he read of the Chronicles, the more he realized they’d departed from the very way of life they were promising to protect. But the anxiety in her eyes was the exact look he’d hoped to avoid here on the King’s Isle. Surely his burdens could wait. Who knew? Maybe his work would be more productive if he went about it on his own for now. So instead, he gave her the best smile he could manage.
“Malachi is eager to learn. I’ve never seen someone so hungry for knowledge.” He shrugged. “I don’t see any harm in bending a few rules.”
Katy surprised him by leaning forward and kissing him.
“What was that for?” Not that he minded at all.
She smiled. “You’re going to be such a good father one day.”
He put his hand on the nape of her neck and drew her closer to him again. “You know,” he growled as he nuzzled her ear, “you’ll have to marry me to see if that proves true.”
“No, I don’t. I know it already.” She kissed him softly once more. “But I can’t wait to see for myself.”
Peter’s lips were on hers again, but before he could kiss her with the passion he wanted, a woman’s voice came from the edge of the garden.
“Peter. Katy.”
With a huff, Peter leaned back and saw Donella standing at the gate.
“Supper will begin soon in the dining hall.” Her smile was pleasant enough, but there was no way she could have been ignorant of what she’d just interrupted.
Katy hid a smile and blush behind her hand, and Peter had the fleeting temptation to abandon all calls to supper and keep Katy all to himself. But the last thing Katy needed was another disastrous skipped meal. So he sighed and gave Katy a tired smile. Thank you, she mouthed, and they stood and rose to join Donella.
Peter cast a brief glance back at the stone bench. I’m trying to be what she needs, Atharo, he thought ruefully. But this is hard.
16
More than a Mark
“Hang it!” A female fairy slammed the stone table with her first. “You rhins are worthless!” She pointed a finger at William. “You in particular! You have vast stores of wealth in your mountains, and you can’t spare a dime for those who are shedding blood on your own isle!”
Peter fidgeted in his chair, as did a number of the Lower Chancel members. Though they were once again up on the lovely stone meeting place on the roof, the one that overlooked the sea, the air had grown uncomfortably stuffy.
“Cal,” Ethemu said in a warning voice, but William held up a hand.
“I’ve told you before,” William said as he leaned forward in his chair. “I sympathize. I really do. But I warned your clan that if you moved to the rock heights, I would not be able to station troops there permanently.
“You just don’t want to part with the diamonds it would cost,” the fairy spat.
“I would happily spend the money,” William said. “It’s men. I simply don’t have enough to assign every clan a traveling guard of their own. I don’t even do that for the villages. They’re responsible for their own safety unless an unusual situation arises. Temporarily, at that.”
Sebastian
nodded, his eyes even more serious than usual.
The look she gave William was one of pure venom. Then she looked at all the other rhins in turn. “None of you will heed our call?”
“If what you asked was merely an issue of sparing a guard or two, we would have granted your request by now.” Ethemu huffed. “But it’s not that simple.”
William leaned forward. “As I’ve said before, the clans that stay closer to the valleys seem to fair much better with the humans. The human villages are easier to communicate with and easier to correct if they stray onto your lands. The mountain men…” He shook his head. “They’re difficult to find. Not even my grandfather, who tried to purge the isle of dissenters, was able to scrub it free of them.”
The fairy ignored him and turned her eyes on Peter. But he raised his hands helplessly. “I wish I could. But we’re only just recovering from a war of our own.”
She said something that sounded much like an insult in another language, but Peter decided to ignore it. Instead, he chose to count the knots in the wood above them. Eventually either the fairy would run out of demands or someone would ring the lunch bell.
Very soon after that, Peter was quite relieved to hear the bell. He was one of the first people back into the hall, where he nearly ran over Malachi, who was waiting for him just outside the door. Within “screaming distance,” as Malachi liked to call it.
“That sounded uncomfortable,” Malachi said as they strode down the hall.
Peter nodded. “To say the least. Now, where is Firin Reaghan?”
“He said to head to the annals today without him.”
Peter began walking, but as he did, he realized just how stiff his legs had become during the session. He grinned down at the boy. “How about we do something else for a change?”
The Autumn Fairy of Ages (The Autumn Fairy Trilogy Book 2) Page 15
