"What in the world was that?" a tiny voice calls. A fairy followed by a trail of pink effervescence hurtles through the night toward the cove. "Kurt! Kurt! Where are you? Are you okay?"
Kurt rolls his eyes as his younger sister lands on the branch beside him. She had just learned that sparkle trick, and now she was overdoing it. She'll have every hawk and owl in the forest chasing after her, looking to make a meal of her, and he'd have the misfortune of having to save her butt.
"Yes," Kurt answers in a pacifying, singsong voice, "I'm fine. But aren't you supposed to be asleep? You have lessons in the morning."
"I was watching you from the palace window," Rachel replies, shaking her head at her silly brother, "you know that."
"Yeah," Kurt says with a heavy sigh, "I know that."
"Besides," Rachel continues, not noticing her brother's exasperation, "the way the Eternal Flame flashed white like that, I'm amazed that a whole regiment of the queen's army isn't down here to see that you haven't screwed up."
Kurt balls his hands into fists and squeezes tight, counting down from ten in his head in order to stay calm. He doesn't want to snap at his sister. She's not trying to be insulting - it just happens to be a talent of hers - but in reality this is the way she shows that she cares.
Still, Kurt sometimes wishes that his sister could care a little less.
"Yes, well, thank heavens I haven't messed up too badly yet," Kurt says, his hint of sarcasm flying completely over her head. "Don't you think you should be heading back now, Rachel? It's not good for you to be out at this hour of the night. Mother will worry if she finds you out of bed."
"Pfft!" Rachel blows a breath between pursed lips. "I'm fourteen years old. I'm not a child anymore…" (Kurt bites his tongue hard to keep from saying all the things crossing through his mind while his sister rants on.) "And besides, I am a princess, and will become keeper of the flame during the night when you are crowned king. That's in five days!"
"Yeah," Kurt says, dropping down to sit on the branch beside the flame that is his charge - that has been his responsibility for the last fourteen years. Ever since his wings could carry him, he had been given the task of watching the Eternal Flame. His mother, the Queen of the Fire Fairies, watches the flame by day. It is a necessary duty that only a member of the royal family can perform.
Kurt, heir to the throne when he turns seventeen, will become king and take over for his mother, leaving Rachel to guard the flame by night.
An eternity of this, only during the day instead of at night.
Kurt could hardly wait.
"Though, I don't see how I can," Rachel continues, sounding distinctly downhearted, sitting beside her brother. "I don't know how to tend the fire the way you and Mother can. I'm going to be a failure as a princess…even more so than you."
Kurt scoffs and Rachel sighs, her wings drooping, her body deflating with sorrow. Kurt eyes his sister, ready to send the wicked menace on her way, but he can't help his small smile.
"Come on, you little pest," Kurt says, fluttering his wings and rising up to stand. He hooks a hand beneath Rachel's arm and lifts her up to join him. "I'll show you how it's done."
The rays of the morning sun start as pinpricks on the horizon, but in no time they bathe the cove in golden light. Kurt yawns, twirling on his toes and scowling at Rachel, who fell asleep in the grass hours ago. He yawns again and smiles when, in her sleep, she yawns back. He can't stay mad at her. He could never truly be angry with his sister. The closest to his age of all their sisters, she was the only person he had in his life that he could call a friend, even if she was an annoying, obnoxious beast.
The sunlight races across the water to greet him and he knows at any moment she will appear. A shadow sweeps by over their heads, circling once before lighting on the branch beside him.
"Good morning, Mother," he says, bowing low to the fairy whose body shrinks before his eyes. His mother, Queen Elizabeth, is a fairy of exceptional, flowing beauty - bright blue eyes the color of cornflowers, long brown hair that hangs down past her waist, and pale alabaster skin - one of her greatest gifts to her son.
"Good morning, my son," his mother says, resting a hand on the crown of Kurt's head. "I see you've had an eventful night."
Kurt's eyes pop open, staring up at his mother, the color draining from his cheeks.
She knows, he thinks. She knows about the intruders – the boys from under the sea. The boy with the glowing green eyes…
"Uh, eventful, Mother?" Kurt stumbles, not sure how his mother would react to knowing there were sprites in the cove – and that he had let them go with their lives. At least, he hoped so.
He hoped that beautiful sprite who stared at him was alright.
Kurt swallows hard as he waits for his mother's answer. She is a fair and kind queen – most of the time. But being a fairy, even one imbued with tremendous magic that allows her to change size and shape at will, she can only express one emotion at a time.
When his mother becomes wrathful, the whole of the earth trembles in fear.
Queen Elizabeth smiles sweetly at her son.
"Your sister," she says, gesturing toward the fairy sleeping in the dappled sunlight. "She came down to bother you again, I see."
"Rachel?" he asks, ready to faint in shock. "Oh, yes. She's nervous about learning to command the flame. I taught her a few steps, but then she fell asleep."
"Well, if she would stop bothering you at night, maybe she could stay awake for her lessons during the day," his mother says with a lighthearted chuckle.
"Yes," Kurt agrees, nervously nodding his head, "but it was alright. Her visit broke up the…monotony."
Kurt feels his heart race and he knows that his mother - with all of her immense power - can sense it. She can sniff out a lie for miles and Kurt has never been good at keeping secrets, especially from his mother. She tilts her head as she looks at him, her brow furrowing.
"Shall I take her back to the palace for you?" Kurt asks, hoping to sidetrack his mother.
Queen Elizabeth narrows her eyes and stares at him, a frown curling the edges of her delicate pink mouth.
"No," she says, smiling again as she begins her dance around the flame. "I'll let her rest here. When she wakes up, she'll start her lessons. Why don't you return to the palace and get some rest, my son?"
Kurt bows again, sighing in relief softly in hopes that his mother won't hear.
"Thank you, Mother."
Kurt turns his back to the fire, feeling its heat escape him as he starts to fly away. He spins once he's in the air, looking down at the cove, and his mother and sister, and the pool of water where the two uninvited sprites had snuck up on him the night before. What were they doing there? What did they have planned for him? He had always been told tales of water sprites who lured unwitting fire fairies to the water's edge and then drowned them. But the sprites he saw didn't look like they meant him any harm. One even seemed afraid and the other…the other was captivating…
Kurt only knows what he's heard and now, what he's seen, but it's still so confusing. He's not sure what to believe. What if they come back? What should he do then?
He knows what he's been told to do, but he doesn't think he can kill them.
He flutters back down to the log and sits. He watches his mother dance, envious of her beauty and her grace. So many times he has felt awkward tending the flame. His feet don't know the steps as well as hers do, even after so many years of practice. His arms do not bend as smoothly – she can curve hers like a petal, while his are all angles like a thorn.
But he'll have a lifetime to perfect his technique.
Longer than a lifetime.
"Mother?" Kurt asks, swinging his legs back and forth, careful not to touch the water. "May I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Elizabeth says, not halting her steps or her song.
"Tell me again, please, why we do not interact with those who live beneath the sea?"
Elizabeth's dance ceases.
Not a favorable sign.
Kurt holds his breath.
"We just don't, my son," Elizabeth answers, starting again, shrugging the question off.
"I know," Kurt says, venturing forward boldly with his questions while his brain screams for him stop, "but…why don't we?"
Elizabeth stops again and Kurt prepares to retract his question, apologize profusely, and fly as fast as he can back home.
"Why are you asking me this?" she asks, stepping up to him. "Have you seen one?"
He leaps up, standing to face her.
"No, my queen," Kurt says as respectfully as he can, trying to sound earnest. She says nothing, her eyes boring into him, trying to unearth the truth. He presses his knees together to keep his body from shaking. "I swear," Kurt lies. "I have seen nothing. I'm simply curious."
Kurt can't contain his trembling – a combination of excitement, exhaustion, and fear – and Elizabeth takes pity on her son.
"My poor child," she says, reaching out a hand and petting his cheek, "look at your eyes. You are so tired."
Kurt feels his body relax. His mother is evading his question, but that's fine. There are other ways to find out the answers.
"Yes, Mother," he says. "I am tired." He yawns for good measure.
"I thought so." She continues her dancing, dismissing him. "Go back to the palace and get straight into bed."
"I will," Kurt says. He catches his mother long enough to kiss her on the cheek, and then takes to the air, climbing high until the cove is out of sight and he can see the expanse of the ocean stretching out from the land. Somewhere beneath all that water live colonies of creatures and animals he has never seen, things he couldn't possibly imagine.
Somewhere beneath all that water is the sprite with the green eyes.
Kurt thinks of his face - his open, awed expression, his eyes with their soft light glowing from within, chestnut hair framing his tanned skin. The boy didn't seem dangerous, and yet, Kurt tried to burn him. His heart freezes with the shame of it – a wash of regret that weighs him down and almost drops him from the sky. Kurt can only hope that he didn't kill the boy…and that he will find a way to return.
Kurt needs to see him again.