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Pearls of water splashed in every direction as Naireow shook his wings
vigorously. The green-skinned sprite inspected the tiny scales on his arms with
pleasure, turning them this way and that so they shone green and gold in the
sunlight. He took his long, knotted hair in both hands and twisted, as a housewife
might wring a fresh-laundered shirt. He flung the hair back over his shoulder and
examined the nearest trees for a length of ivy to bind his hair away from his wings.
Finding a satisfactory piece, he knotted his hair further and tied the ivy around it.
"Naireow!" a voice called. "I wish you would stop splashing in my fish pool.
My students are supposed to be trying to catch fish, but they can't if you frighten
them away." A young, gaunt-looking elf stood in a close-by doorway. "Would you
refrain from frolicking for a few days? And stop taking my ivy, I have no privacy
anymore."
The sprite flew over to the doorway and mock-bowed. "Yes, my Lord Lyaor.
I shall refrain from frolicking forever more! Your wish-ith shall be-ith my command-ith."
Naireow made a face and flew into the building.
Lyaor's house was modestly furnished, though as a result of his and his
students' experiments much of the furniture had been transformed into ice sculptures.
One of the aforementioned students, Daniromi, was replacing a melting chair leg.
"Dani! Where's Damonisu?"
"Huh? Who- Oh, how are you, Naireow?"
"I'm doing well, in spite of your master’s icy cruelty."
"Denied your bath again? That's what, the fourth time this month?"
"Fifth, if you count the freezing-of-the-pond incident. I don't think I'll ever
recover..."
Daniromi blushed guiltily. He had frozen the pond to catch fish for his and
Damonisu's supper a few weeks ago, not knowing that Naireow was under the
surface. When he had been melted, he–-needless to say–-was not a happy sprite.
"Sorry..."
"It's quite all right. Though my wings haven't been like they were before..."
"Now, now, Naireow, stop giving the boy a hard time. We all know it was an
accident." Voices carried well in the ice-house, even soft-spoken Lyaor's.
Naireow bit off his reply to Daniromi and asked of Damonisu's whereabouts
once more. "Honestly, if you don’t want to tell me, don’t stand there dodging my
questions! Say something!"
Daniromi shrugged. "Beats me. Try the lake."
"Okay. See you bores later." Naireow flew out of an open window. A few
seconds later, he came back in calling, "Which lake?"
"The one with the waterfall," Dani replied.
The sprite zipped back out of the window, leaving Lyaor's house in the state
of silence that was never in the same place as Naireow was.
Daniromi had finished replacing the chair leg and looked at his master expectantly for another task.
Lyaor saw the look he was given and laughed. “Go after Naireow and find Damonisu. I’ll do the rest of the
repairs.”
Dani grinned in thanks and ran out of the door. Lyaor looked after him as he ran happily downa path to Damonisu’s
most frequented hideout. Dani and ‘Amoni he considered to be his children, despite the fact he had found them almost
sixteen years ago. They also thought of Lyaor as their father, though they would not outlive his elven blood.
Lyaor shook his head to clear it of such musings and turned to his rapidly melting ice furniture. The only thing that
would keep him from depleting his magic too much would be to transform the various ice sculptures back into wood, fabric,
and iron.
A soft white light encircled each piece of furniture, then scrap was transformed back into its natural substance. He collapsed
in a chair and almost instantly fell asleep, as he had not slept well in many days.
His dreams were memories of times past, a little while before he had found Daniromi and Damonisu. He saw his now-deceased
wife, Lanam, fighting side by side with him to keep Zheran free of Lan-Sharhan’s invaders. He saw her fall, head hanging
askew on her neck. Then the queen, Aliena, firing arrow after arrow from her crossbow. The king, Leichim, was hollering like
a madman, taking down eight creatures for every wound he was dealt. It was madmen like him, though, who pushed Lan-Sharhan’s
forces back across the border of the forest.
That battle... It was almost forty years ago and he still dreamt of it. Aliena and Leichim were so young then! They were
barely in their twenties and fighting wars against ages-old evil. Luckily they survived, with more than a few scars to remind
them of their exploits.
He mumbled in his sleep and turned over. All was still then, and Lyaor drifted into more peaceful dreams.
~ ~ ~ ~
“C’mon, ‘Nisu, jump in!” Naireow splashed Damonisu with water. “It’s not like the
baths in the bath houses, but it’s still fairly warm!”
“You have a new nickname for me every day, don’t you? First it’s Amoni, then it’s Damo, now it’s
Nisu. What’s next, Monisu?”
“That’s a good one, I hadn’t thought of that yet!”
“That’s a good one, I hadn’t thought of that yet!”
Soon the three friends were laying happily exhausted on the pool’s shore. The waterfall tumbled and crashed: the
only thing breaking the silence. Even Naireow was quiet for once.
“Hey, ‘Amoni, why do you like it here so much?” Dani asked.
Damonisu shrugged. “I don’t know. It gives me a place to think, I guess. It’s very peaceful.”
“Oh. To think. I think that’s just to make you sound more intelligent. You do know Lyaor’s
not here, right?” Naireow commented. After receiving a glare from Damonisu, he held up his hands in mock surrender.
“All right, all right, I take it back!”
“And you weren’t being especially bright, were you, Naireow?” A pale-skinned sprite with angular features
similar to Naireow’s boxed his ears.
“Mashiin... I was only kidding!” He rubbed his ears with an injured look on his face.
“Stop being such a child. Now, be polite and introduce me to your friends.”
Naireow glared at the reddish-gold haired sprite. “This as Damonisu and this is Daniromi.”
“And...?”
“And this is Mashiinika. She’s a fire sprite like I’m an earth sprite.”
“Thank you. I cannot believe I’ve never seen you two before! Nairewo spends all day with you...”
Dani glanced quizzically at Mashiinika. “Are you his wife?”
“Good gods, no! We could never stay tied down in one place. I suppose we’re more...friends. Yes, friends.”
Naireow regarded Mashiinika with a stare that plainly said, Do not say anything to mess that up!
“Honestly, you can only tell that you’re lovers! Just say so and we’ll respect you all the more for
it.” Just as suddenly as he had come out of his reverie, Damonisu dropped back into it again.
“But we aren’t, are we, Mashiin?”
Mashiinika sighed. “We are and you--”
“Shh! We are not.”
“Don’t tell me to be quiet! We are.”
“Aren’t.”
“Are.”
“Aren’t.”
“Honestly! We--”
“We’ll talk it over later. Now, what was I going to do? Oh, yes. I was going to...explore. Yes. Explore.”
Naireow retreated rather huffily from the waterfall. Mashiinika looked after him, then watched as the leaves that were knocked
from the trees floated to the ground after Naireow’s hasty departure.
“It’s so hard sometimes to keep his temper in check. I don’t know why he says things sometimes, but
it can’t be helped. I suppose it would be useful someday, as he always knows what he wants. He just erupts sometimes
like a fire-mountain. By rights he should’ve been a fire sprite...” Mashiinika flew farther and farther away from
Damonisu and Daniromi as she babbled. Soon she was far enough away that her words no longer reached their ears.
“That was strange...” Damonisu commented.
“Mashiinika seems nice. But do you really think--”
“Sure, why not? Naireow was acting like it. He’s not a very good liar, either.”
“And you are? Everything you feel shows on your face. Even now there’s something amiss, but you’re
not telling me.” Daniromi edged closer to his friend. “What’s the matter, Amoni?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing wrong.” Damonisu bowed his head so that his long auburn hair veiled his face
and turned away from Dani for good measure.
“You’re acting so strange, though. You never--”
“I’m fine, just fine. Now leave me alone!”
“I was just asking, but I’ll go...” Dani arose and walked down an unmarked path to Lyaor’s hut.
“I was worried about you.”
Damonisu leapt into the still pool with a splash and swam close to the waterfall. The roar of the falling water quieted
his mind. “I want to make a difference!” he hollered above the rush. “I need to make a difference!”
“I can show you,” a voice whispered into his mind. “If you will help me, I will show you. The world
will thank us a million times over if you will help me with but one thing.”
“What would that be?”
“You and I can be a pair,” the voice continued, “companions, anything you would like. I just ask a small
favor. Lend me your power, your mnd, your body, your voice, and we will be unstoppable!”
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