September 19th excerpt:
Younger sprites, many of them restless after being kept inside so much in recent days, hoisted themselves up on the window sills. Any kid that spotted Sam on Dean’s shoulder sent him excited waves. More than one nestling dropped back to the floor in their home with quiet thumps in their excitement to see the sprite-sized human, especially when he waved back with a grin.
catpixels: sorry, completely unrelated but quick question, at what age the nestlings’ wings uncurl and what’s the average wingspan, compared to their bodies? And at what age they start to achieve flight?
Neon: the nestlings wings unfurl at around 4 years of age I think, and at that point the wings aren’t even as wide as their body length, and very fluttery and sensitive. They start to grow more after that and they get stable enough to hop around at around 7 or 8
( Another one from @neonthesprite )
If we’re just talking about baby wood sprites (which are endearingly called sprouts), they nurse from their mothers or maybe a wet nurse, if needed. When they are a little more developed, they can have soft fruits if they’re mashed/chewed a bit for them first, much like a human infant. The important part is making sure they eat enough. Their little wings remain curled up in their little leaf bud shapes while they’re young, so they don’t get very much from the sun. Wood sprite mamas fuss about their babies getting enough energy most of the time.
May 4th excerpt:
Playing along with the tiny kids, Dean moved his hand so it was directly against where his heart was hidden away in his chest. “How’s it sound from here?” He’d be lying if he wasn’t fascinated in the answer.
“Now I can really hear it!” the nestling confirmed. Now that they were closer, the young sprites shifted towards the huge wall that was Dean’s chest, tilting their heads towards it. They were fascinated by the sound, something they had never heard at such a scale before.
The little girl leaned her head against Dean briefly, her eyes widening at how much that amplified the sound of his heart beating away. The whole thing was bigger than the sprites there, possibly all of them together. The girl leaned back to stare straight up at him with a fascinated grin. “I can even feel it! Your heart is so big!”
May 3rd excerpt:
Vel giggled along with the other kids, and then looked at his own hand. After a pause, he curled his fingers towards his palm and stuck out his thumb, which he then displayed for the humans to see. “Okay!” he said proudly.
Jacob chuckled. “Did Sam teach you about thumbs-up?” he asked, noting the way the little nestling held the gesture a little oddly.
Vel nodded. “Yeah! He told me it means ‘good.’ So, good!” He held up his other thumb before letting his hands drop to his lap again.
April 28th excerpt:
“Judging by yesterday, I’m betting you’ll make up for a lot by babysitting some nestlings,” Jacob quipped. The feeling of the tiniest little shoes walking on his hand or his shoulders would never lose its novelty, he was certain. Those kids hadn’t even had a chance to play with Sam’s “big big brother.”
A strange, almost alien happiness came over Dean at that. “Ya think?” he asked, a bit of awe in his eyes. He’d seen Jacob with the nestlings, but most of his time in the village had been spent either with Sam at his home or planning with Scar.
The children that visited with Jacob were so small. Especially the tiny nestling that had gotten a piggyback ride on Sam’s shoulders. While they were both standing on Jacob’s knee. Within reach of not one human, but two after Dean came over to join them.
April 4th excerpt:
Jacob offered a warm smile to the closest of the nestlings, still a few feet away from him. They perked up in surprise, as if they didn’t expect him to be able to see them wandering closer to him. Tiny wings, some of them still slightly curled at the edges, fluttered at their backs.
“Hi,” he greeted them, and the nestlings stumbled forward even more. Some that were on the opposite side of the stream set to work carefully hopping from stone to stone, avoiding the water. “Be careful over there,” Jacob warned them. He got a few sheepish grins in return and some approving nods from the parents who hung back to continue the washing.
“We’re always careful,” someone answered, and Jacob looked down to find that a nestling had reached him. He tensed up slightly, staring at the absolutely tiny child standing in the grass, well within reach of the arms he rested on his knees. “If someone fell in the stream, their wings would get so heavy!”
Brothers Apart 