Sir Arthur Merryweather believed that family was very important. Which is why, when his great-aunt Serafina wrote to him asking him to come for a visit, he wrote back immediately saying that he would arrive in two weeks time.
But as he rode in his fancy city carriage through the winding, bumpy roads of the countryside, never in his eighteen years had he regretted a decision more. They seemed to be going deeper and deeper into the country with each passing hour, and civilization seemed a long ways away in this rural area with its farms and meadows. More than once they had to stop for herds of cattle crossing the rough dirt road.
Shortly after a particular cow crossing where a few of the cattle seemed to be deliberately stopping right in front of the carriage, Arthur was staring vaguely out the window at a passing meadow, when something caught his attention.
The meadow had a small pond close to the road, with a few stumps sticking out of the water to the left. On the stump farthest out in the pond was a girl, who looked to be about his age, twirling slowly with her arms raised and palms turned to the sky. She had light brown, curly hair that was billowing wildly in the wind, and was wearing a dress that might have once been a fine gown. Her feet were bare and Arthur glimpsed large sea boots on the shore.
The girl saw the carriage and stopped twirling so suddenly, that she fell off her perch into the water with a splash that was audible even inside the carriage.
Arthur yelled to his driver to stop as he lost sight of the girl beneath the dark waters. He opened the door even before the carriage had halted and took off running toward the pond.
By the time he reached it, the girl was out of the water. She took one terrified look at him and grabbed her sea boots, running away as fast as her shivering body could take her.
What is she thinking? I only want to help her! Arthur thought.
He ran after her, but she had disappeared into a forest, leaving no trace except a small trail of water that Arthur could not see.
Sir Merryweather's coachman came puffing up. "Sir? Whatever is the matter?"
"Did you see that girl who fell in the water?"
Mr. Briggs, the coachman, blinked. He knew his eyesight was failing, but he was sure he had seen no girl, and he told his master so.
Arthur told him to go back to the carriage, they would resume their journey shortly. He stood there wondering if he had really seen the girl. She had seemed so real, so…. beautiful, in a wild, fae-like way. And then he wondered if she had been a fae. He didn't believe in such things, but maybe he did now.
Yes, she might be fae, beautiful, but untouchable.