Oh the fate of a sprite who can be summoned. Nixie rues this word some days.
The summons was clear, and Nixie paused in her morning ablutions to cock her head to the side.
Aretha glanced over at her sister, her wings glistening in the morning air. “You will answer?” she asked, her tone as patronizing as it ever was. She gave her wings a flick to get the precipitation from the morning rain in the rainforest off, ready for flight.
Nixie ignored the tone of voice, as she always did. Alone of her sisters, she would never miss a summons. “It is who we are,” she reminded Aretha gently. “We must stop ignoring the calls.”
Before Aretha could respond, Nixie twisted the air and water around herself, vanishing and following the summons as only a sprite of aeternum could. It was the only time they could travel to the human world without using the portal itself to travel, and it brought her right to her destination.
The human world was always a shock, more because of how it changed each time she was summoned than anything. The size she was prepared for; no sprite stood over four inches in height, the fire sprites were the closest to that. Nixie’s wings vibrated once, and she alighted on the edge of the book used for the summons, the glow of the summoning magic fading away from her.
Brown eyes full of tears stared back at her, wide at the sight of the small sprite the summons had brought forth. Nixie waited patiently as the young girl, no more than twenty in her estimation, recovered from the realization that the summoning had worked.
“I am Nixie,” she introduced herself, as she always did. “Why have you summoned me?”
Hundreds of summonings in the past left her prepared for anything that might happen. Many times, she was brought forth to heal the dying or restore the poisoned waters of war. It was her reason for creation, along with guarding the flower of gold.
The girl’s face was framed by dark hair, and it bobbed as she shook her head in surprise. “B-but you… you’re real? Really real?”
Nixie did not deign to answer, merely watching the area around her with a curious eye and taking in the objects used to summon her. The circle could use some work, but the symbol in the center was well-drawn.
“Okay,” the girl pulled herself together and straightened. “I want you to make me the prettiest girl in school. That way they stop making fun of me! I’m not a geek!”
Nixie sighed at that. “Child, do you not know who you have summoned?” she asked gently. “I am a sprite. Wishes I do not grant. What you want is beyond my power.”
“B-but…”
“You should ignore what others say,” Nixie said firmly, thinking of Aretha and her constant dislike of what Nixie persisted in doing. “All that matters is who we are to ourselves. Letting their words bother you gives them power over you.”
She let her wings vibrate again, and lifted off from the book, whipping the pages and the girl’s hair into a mess. The girl opened her mouth. “No, wait!”
With a twinkling, Nixie severed the summoning and vanished back into aethernum.
“Immortality is not as perfect as it may sound, sister.”
The matriarch, the younger of the two between them, sighed deeply. “She was young and misguided. Perhaps, in another life, these mistakes will be avoided.”
Nixie dipped her head, returning her attention to the ceremony. “Yes.”
As the chanting song reached a crescendo of power, Nixie stepped forth. A tear slipped forth from her eye as she remembered young Ilyana, born of Ilia before her just two years past. How had one so young fallen so far, so fast?
“In another life.”
As the ritual ended, Nixie tossed the flower into the volcano. It hit the magma with a hiss.
A spark of power burst forth as it was consumed in flame.
Ilyana continued to grind in her point with relentless determination. “Nixie, you cannot hold. Submit now, before you are destroyed as well. I do not wish to harm a sister, but I am bound to this task and will not be stopped. Give yourself over, now! ” Her last words were angry and impatient.
“Ah!” Nixie cried out. Each of Ilyana’s words sliced through her to her very core. Even though she did not act against her sister directly, she was interfering, and her very nature sought to punish her.
Ilyana continued relentlessly on, repeating her commands and reinforcing her controlling power. “Release your magic, sister. Give yourself over to us, now.” Her power was increasing as the intensity of the firestorm grew and was beginning to take hold of Nixie’s very thoughts. The seed had been planted and it could only grow.
Nixie’s eyes darted from sprite to sprite, searching for the one in charge.
Dean drew Sam close to his chest, green eyes wide at the sight of the blue, protective barrier that wrapped around them in an orb and separated them both from the fiery blaze. Glimmering blue droplets hit the brothers with light splashes, helping to soothe the burns they’d acquired in the time they’d been under assault. Nixie did what she could, but none of the water was from a fresh spring, cutting down her ability to heal to almost nothing.
Before she could discover which fire sprite was controlling the rest, one separated from the swift whirlwind of sprites. Red eyes glittering, the sultry young sprite glared at she who was interfering. “Nixie. This is interference. You must stop.” She drifted over to the barrier, brushing her fingers against it. “You are bound as we all are to not interfere with other sprites. You must submit to me. My purpose is primary.”
“Ilyana!” Nixie said, her voice full of natural command as she beheld her youngest sister. “You must cease this attack. These humans are the ones that stopped our dark brother at their own peril. They have earned our thanks, not our anger.” She drew herself up in the air, hanging motionless with her wings spread. With the amount of magic she was channeling she had no need to flap her wings to remain suspended in midair.
She gave Ilyana her most confident stare. “I do not attack, and I do not submit. I stand in your way, sister.”
“Ah,” he muttered quietly, moving to hold up a placating hand. Jacob, in his curiosity, had all but trapped the tiny sprite by the rocks. She couldn’t risk slipping into the deeper waters without putting herself closer to him.
He remembered how terrified Bowman was of him when they first met. And, ruefully, he remembered how often Bowman scolded him for the simple crime of being tall. He tried to crouch down farther, but knew there was no hope for it.
“Please don’t be scared of me,” he said quietly, earnestly. His brown eyes remained fixed on the tiny aquatic woman’s shivering form. “I’m not dangerous. I’m just big.”
The shimmery little girl put her hands over her face. Jacob’s worried frown deepened. He never wanted his size to scare someone so much. With sprites, it was difficult. They were extra tiny in a world full of obstacles. Clearly, water sprites were just as skittish as wood sprites.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he muttered, in a voice barely more than a whisper. She didn’t move. “It happens sometimes. My wood sprite friends tell me I stomp around too much. Not much I can do, I tell them. There’s a whole lotta me to carry around.”
That drew more of a reaction from her. Tiny hands, as silvery as the rest of her, slowly dropped until her widened eyes peeked up at him from behind her bangs. Jacob smiled softly and shrugged. The action caused her back fins to flinch, but she didn’t try to hide her face again.
A tiny voice mumbled at him. The girl kept her hands over her mouth, masking the words and leaving Jacob unsure of whether they were fearful, pleading, or just plain curious.
“I’m … sorry, miss,” he answerred, still muttering. “I can’t hear you very well.”
She blinked up at him before hesitantly lowering her hands. “You have wood sprite friends?”
He nodded. “Yep. My best friend is a wood sprite. His name is Bowman. The wood sprites I know all live in a different forest.”
She was still pressed against the rock, but something in her bearing relaxed. “Oh, I see,” she answered. “How … you’re so big …”
Jacob chuckled. “That’s true. Bowman tells me so, too. It was all kinda tough at first. He was really nervous and I wasn’t as calm about finding him, either,” he admitted.
“But now he’s your best friend,” she echoed, and Jacob nodded. “And you won’t … you won’t hurt me or try to catch me?”
“Miss, I will never do that,” Jacob intoned seriously. “I promise. I know sprites are people just like I am, even though they’re smaller.” Her eyes were wide and she simply stared at him. Jacob smiled again. “If I were to guess, I’d say you must be a water sprite?”
She nodded and finally stopped pressing herself into the rock behind her. Her fins rippled and she stepped forward with the water lapping around her legs and the fins growing from them.
“Y-yes, sir,” she replied. Her fins fanned a lot like the butterfly wings they seemed to mimic. “My name is Kadmianika Greyfin, sir.”
Jacob smiled in greeting, inwardly amazed by her appearance. She was so like the wood sprites and yet so different. “You don’t have to call me ‘sir’,” he told her. “I’m Jacob, and it’s really nice to meet you, Kad… Kad-mi-anika.” He had to say it slowly, but he managed to say her name correctly. She seemed pleased.
#12: “Please don’t be afraid of me. I’m not dangerous, I’m just big.” with Jacob Andris of Fairy Tales: Bowman of Wellwood.
Yep, that sounds like Jacob after he became friends with Bowman. He became very aware of how big and scary he could be, especially to the sprites.
This story is the first thing that came to me with that line. So, allow me to introduce the first glimpse of my water sprites!
A Chance Encounter (½)
Jacob almost had a crick in his neck from turning it this way and that as he walked. Usually, walking among nature relaxed him. However, the scenery around him drew his eyes in every direction, and it was due in large part to the slopes that angled around him. He was Midwestern, through and through, and the mountainous region of Colorado might never cease to amaze him.
Nature hikes through relatively flat forests were one thing. Adding mountains gave him an extra challenge and took his breath away in more ways than one. The views, when he could glimpse beyond the trees, were beautiful and unlike anything he’d seen before.
He couldn’t help but think that Bowman would love it.
A stream caught his attention, and Jacob wandered nearer to watch it fall over the rocks. It burbled down a miniature waterfall before angling sharply towards a thicker copse of trees, and Jacob followed it absently.
Not long after pushing aside low branches heavy with leaves, Jacob found a shallow pool only five or six feet across. Ferns and small wildflowers lined the edges of the water, with some tall grasses braving the shallowest parts.
A shimmer of motion among some rocks piled high against one side of the pool caught his eye. It was the barest twitch, and yet he zeroed in on it immediately. Normally, he’d never have noticed it at all. But Jacob’s best friend was a wood sprite, whose leafy wings allowed him to blend in among the trees with ease. Jacob was used to paying closer attention.
He hopped down a slight drop to approach the pool, and fell to a squat next to the rocks. Most of them were no bigger than a grapefruit, but a few reached the size of basketballs.
A tiny girl was pressed against one of the bigger ones, failing to hide in the shadow of the other stones.
Jacob’s jaw dropped and he stared openly. She was like nothing he’d ever seen.
Her skin was light grey, almost blue, and it shimmered in the light from the water that lapped around her legs. Long black hair hung down her back in damp locks, while her bangs stuck to her forehead. At first, Jacob thought she was caught in a net, but he realized that she was wearing it as a shawl shirt, with a short skirt tied close around her hips.
The girl had fins. The sides of her thin little legs sported what looked like tail fins; if she held her legs together, they would take on the appearance of a mermaid. From her back sprouted four silvery fins with dark blue markings that looked remarkably like butterfly wings. With the way she pressed her back against the rocks, the fins were spread wide and displayed for Jacob to see. A water sprite! That’s gotta be…
She stared up at him, her murky eyes wide and filled with terror.
Brothers Apart 