Chapter 5 #2
Sian entered, and Briar immediately noticed the slight sheen of moisture on her skin, the way her hair looked damp despite the afternoon warmth. The water fae's usual composure seemed frayed at the edges.
"I need your help," Sian said without preamble. "I know you're processing everything, but I have a situation and frankly, you're the only one available who won't make it worse."
Briar blinked at the unexpected directness. "What kind of situation?"
"The water sprites need to migrate to the winter pools before the upper fountains freeze, and they're being absolutely impossible this year.
" Sian pushed a strand of wet hair from her face.
"Usually Halian helps me, but he's reinforcing the wards.
Arion offered, but his light magic makes them skittish—they think he's trying to evaporate them. "
Despite everything, Briar felt her lips twitch. "Water sprites?"
"Small water elementals. They inhabit the fountains and pools throughout the gardens.
Every autumn, I have to coax them from the upper fountains down through the channels to the deeper pools that stay warm through winter.
" Sian moved to the door, clearly expecting Briar to follow.
"It's tedious work. They're about as cooperative as cats, if cats were made of water and had opinions about everything. "
The prospect of doing something useful, something that had nothing to do with hunts or courts or impossible choices, pulled at Briar. She found herself following Sian into the corridor.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Manage the sluice gates while I guide the water temperature.
Help spot the ones hiding. Talk to the nervous ones, they respond better to voices sometimes.
" Sian led her through a side door into the afternoon sun.
"And if we're very unlucky, help me chase down the ones that decide to make a run for it. "
"They run?"
"Bounce, really. Like bubbles with attitude." Sian's expression suggested this was more annoying than amusing. "Last year, one made it all the way to the throne room before I caught it. Left puddles everywhere."
They emerged onto a terrace Briar hadn't seen before, where a series of fountains cascaded down the hillside in tiers. The water sparkled in the afternoon light, but as Briar looked closer, she saw them—tiny forms within the water, some barely visible, others catching the light like living prisms.
"There," Sian pointed to the topmost fountain. "See the ones near the lotus blooms?"
Briar leaned closer, and her breath caught.
They were beautiful, translucent beings that seemed to shift between water and light, some no bigger than her thumb, others the size of her palm.
One near the edge had what looked like flowing fins or fronds extending from its head, like an aquatic flower blooming in constant motion.
"They're incredible," she said softly.
"They're troublemakers," Sian corrected, but there was affection in her tone. "Watch." She held her hand over the water, and Briar felt the temperature shift, the warm surface water beginning to sink while cooler water rose from below.
Several sprites immediately darted deeper, following the warm current. But others scattered, some hiding beneath lily pads, one actually leaping out of the fountain entirely to plop into a decorative urn nearby.
"See what I mean?" Sian sighed. "This is going to take all afternoon."
Briar found herself genuinely smiling for the first time since waking. "Where do we start?"
"The first rule," Sian said, kneeling beside the topmost fountain, "is patience. Watch which direction they naturally want to go, then encourage that."
She demonstrated by creating a gentle current with her fingers, barely disturbing the surface.
Several sprites followed it, their translucent bodies catching the light as they spiraled down toward the next tier.
But one—a particularly small one with frond-like appendages that reminded Briar of feathered gills—kept darting behind a cluster of water lilies.
"That one's new," Sian observed. "Born this summer, probably. They're always the most skittish about their first migration."
Briar found herself drawn to the tiny sprite. It was smaller than the others, its body shifting between pale blue and crystal clear as it moved. When it peeked out from behind the lily pad, she could see large, dark spots that looked almost like eyes.
"Can I try?" she asked.
Sian gestured for her to go ahead. Briar dipped her fingers into the water slowly, careful not to create ripples. The temperature was pleasant, sun-warmed on top with cooler depths below. The hiding sprite darted deeper behind its lily pad.
"Hello, small one," Briar said softly. She kept her hand still, letting the water settle. "The others are going somewhere warm for the winter. Don't you want to go too?"
The sprite edged out slightly, those eye-like spots seeming to focus on her fingers. Its gill-fronds waved gently in the water, creating tiny currents of their own.
"There's a gate here," Sian said, moving to a bronze mechanism built into the fountain's edge. "When I open it, the water level will lower and create a current down to the next pool. Can you keep our shy friend from panicking?"
Briar kept her attention on the small sprite, watching as it ventured a bit further from its hiding spot. When Sian turned the gate mechanism, water began flowing through with a soft gurgling sound. Most of the sprites rode the current down cheerfully, some even seeming to play in the new flow.
But the small one immediately retreated, pressing itself against the fountain's wall.
"It's alright," Briar murmured, cupping her hands in the water to create a small, calm pocket. "See? Just water moving. Nothing frightening."
The sprite investigated the still water between her palms, and she carefully began moving her hands toward the flow.
The sprite followed, more curious than afraid now.
When they reached the current, it hesitated, then suddenly darted through her hands and down the channel, its fronds streaming behind it like tiny banners.
"One down," Sian said with satisfaction, already moving to the next fountain. "Only about sixty more to go."
They worked their way down the terraces, each fountain presenting its own challenges.
One held a cluster of sprites that had apparently decided they liked the temperature exactly as it was and refused to budge until Sian created a gradual warming gradient they couldn't resist following.
Another fountain's sprites kept playing in the ornamental waterfall, riding it up and down instead of moving to the winter pools.
"How long have you been doing this?" Briar asked, helping corner a particularly evasive sprite that kept jumping between fountains.
"Since I came to the Star Court. About forty years now." Sian guided the water temperature with practiced ease, creating invisible paths the sprites instinctively followed. "They reproduce slowly, thank the gods. I know most of them by now."
Briar watched a medium-sized sprite with what looked like a crown of flowing tendrils investigate her shadow on the water. "They all look different."
"They adapt to their fountains. The ones from the rose garden pools have a pinkish tint.
The ones near the meditation pools are almost perfectly clear.
" Sian paused at a large central fountain where three channels converged.
"This is where it gets tricky. They have to choose which warm pool to winter in, and they're very particular. "
The sprites began gathering at the convergence, swirling in little eddies of confusion. Some darted toward one channel, then changed their minds and tried another. The small one with the feathered gills that Briar had coaxed earlier seemed especially lost, spinning in circles.
Without thinking, Briar reached for it, and to her surprise, it swam into her cupped hands. Its body felt like cool silk against her palms, barely there but definitely present.
"The eastern pool is warmest," she told it, as if it could understand. She walked to that channel and lowered her hands into the water. The sprite hesitated, then brushed against her fingers—almost like a goodbye—before flowing away down the channel.
"You're natural at this," Sian said, but her attention was on a group of sprites that had decided to go upstream instead.
They worked until the sun began slanting low, turning the fountains to gold. By the time they reached the last terrace, Briar's sleeves were soaked to the elbows and she'd forgotten, for a while, about the choice waiting for her at dawn.
"Last one," Sian announced, approaching a small fountain tucked into an alcove. "Usually the easiest since—" She stopped, frowning. "It's empty."
Briar looked into the clear water. No sprites at all, though the fountain was otherwise pristine.
"They must have migrated early," Sian said, though she sounded puzzled. "Strange. The ones here are usually the last to go." She walked around the fountain, examining it from different angles. "Well, that's all of them then. The winter pools should be properly populated now."
She created a small whirlpool in the fountain, just to be certain, but nothing emerged from hiding.
"Thank you," Sian said, wringing water from her sleeves. "This usually takes twice as long with just me, and results in significantly more flooding."
"It was..." Briar paused, realizing she meant it, "actually enjoyable. They're beautiful creatures."
"They're just water given form and thought," Sian said, but fondly. "Simple beings with simple needs. Sometimes I envy them that." She glanced at Briar. "The sun's getting low. We should return inside. You'll want to eat something before…"
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to. Before the hunt ended. Before Briar had to choose.