A little glimpse into Roy's misspent youth: fantasy-style! Takes quite the turn...

He stole through the night, bare feet whispering over cool grass. It was the summer solstice, and the air was thick with magic. The breeze carried the scent of newly-turned earth. Crickets chirped a nighttime symphony, only quieting as he passed. In the valley below he could see the soundless, ebbing light of fireflies. They dotted the grassy plain like so many stars.

Something irresistibly secret called him to this place. It woke him in the night: a deep and ancient voice that called him outside. He felt drawn - compelled - as though an invisible string pulled him from a place just behind his navel. His feet moved without a thought, his mind too sleepy and magic-drugged to know where or why. Before he realized, he'd slipped into the forest near the house - a thick, wild wood, rumored to be present since the long-ago Age of Dragons.

Being a rather daring and irreverent boy, Roy had been in the forest many times. It was an untamed place, with low-hanging branches that pulled at one's clothes. Tangled underbrush caught and tripped those that traveled too deep. Yet tonight Roy walked between the trunks with ease. The trees seemed to part before them, as though they pulled up their roots and moved aside to let him pass. Roy could feel the eyes of nighttime creatures watch him from between the branches, bright and old as time.

He stopped at the edge of a glen. How strange... he thought he knew these woods well, but he'd never seen this place before. The clearing was a complete circle: not one branch or root marred its perfect roundness. Moonlight flooded the space, making every blade of grass stand out - black on moonlit white. Something stood at its very center.

"Riza?" Roy whispered. Sure enough, she stood with her back to him, in the same tartan dress she'd worn earlier that day. Though he'd known her for years now, Master's daughter still a mystery to him. She often kept to herself, though she'd occasionally flash a warm smile or sidelong glance at Roy when she thought he wasn't looking. Riza was a quiet girl, not one to go traipsing off into the woods alone. It was unusual for her to be out so late. Something wasn't right.

Roy glanced up to see the Carnal Star, furious, amber, and burning right overhead. He didn't like this. It reeked of magic. Perhaps Riza couldn't sense it. Master did say she had no talent for the arcane. Roy had to warn her. He started toward Riza with every intention of bringing her back to the house, but he stopped when something blinked into life at the other end of the clearing.

The thing glowed a briliant cerulean. It flickered at the treeline and bobbed up and down slowly for a moment before it began to drift toward Riza. It came to float just in front of her, hovering at the level of her waist. After a time, Roy could make out tiny, fluttering wings.

"Fairy," Roy murmured, crouching low behind a bush. "Damn."

Fairies were notoriously troublesome creatures. They were best known for pulling little pranks: Loosing a horse's girth just as the rider was about to mount, replacing ale with goat piss, sketching on camper's faces while they slept. Normally, what they did was harmless at best and annoying at worst. But blue faries... blue fairies were a completely different breed. They were well-known for enchanting their victims.

"Riza!" Roy whispered as loud as he dared. "Riza!"

Riza didn't seem to hear. Instead she lifted her hands, outstretched and cupped before her. The fairy landed on them. It danced over her palms, twig-thin legs flashing unnaturally blue. Roy couldn't make out its face, but he knew it was smiling a wicked, elfin smile. The little creature reached into the pouch that hung off its tiny hip. It let out a squeaking laugh before it threw a handful of iridescent dust in Riza's face. The girl sneezed delicately.

"Shit," Roy said. Pixie dust. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse. Master would never forgive him if Roy let her fall under an enchantment. Worse, the stuff took weeks to wear off.

The fairy laughed again. It flashed - blue! blue! - and took flight once more, disappearing into the trees, leaving a bright trail in its wake. Riza's hands dropped to her sides, but she did not move from where she stood at the center of the clearing.

Roy ran his eyes over the edge of the woods before he dared step out of the concealing darkness. "Riza?" he called. He was not sure what kind of spell the fairly laid on his master's daughter, but he decided to air on the side of caution. "Riza...?"

She turned to face him. Roy took an involuntary step back. Riza was smiling, but it didn't seem to fit her face. It was something wild and fearless - a fae smile that was not her own. She looked at Roy from beneath her lashes, coy and suddenly very, very beautiful.

Roy could not deny he'd noticed a change in her over the past few months. Gone was the sprightly girl with the whip-thin legs, perfect for a quick dash after a few filched carrots from the Tanner farm. Now she was softer, more rounded. He hadn't noticed it until one morning when he came down for breakfast. Riza was standing at the sink, working at the dishes, and Roy found his eyes drawn to Riza's feet. They were bare - the soles thick and tough after another long season without shoes. But it was what was above them that drew Roy's attention.

He'd never noticed ankles before, but it struck him at that moment that Riza's were rather pretty. They were surprisingly delicate. And now that he'd noticed that detail, Roy couldn't help but see other things that were rather pretty about her. The curve of her hip as she swayed from foot to foot. Her slim waistline. How her voice seemed richer as she hummed at her work. She was transforming and he hadn't even noticed.

And now here they stood, alone in a clearing bathed with moonlight. One hardly daring to breathe, the other sloe-eyed and full of magic. Roy stood, wordless, as Riza slinked toward him like a cat nearing its prey. Her mouth curved into a coy grin.

"Riza," Roy sputtered. "Listen to me. You've been enchanted..."

She didn't seem to hear. Instead she reached up and with infinitesimal slowness, began to undo the back of her tartan dress.

"Wha -?" Roy gasped. "Stop!" Master was going to kill him.

Riza reached the last, topmost button. It came undone with a soft pop. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, she shed the garment, and it fell in a pool at her feet. Riza's smile widened, wild and eager.

"Ah!" Roy gasped and sat up. It took him a moment to recognize where he was: in his tiny bedroom at the end of the hall. Sunlight streamed through an open window and birds chirped outside. "A dream," he moaned, dropping his head into his hands.

It was then that he noticed an increasingly familiar tug just above his thighs. The bed sheets had a telling peak where there was none before.

"Oh man," Roy grunted. "Not again." He glared at the offending appendage. "Why do you keep doing this?"

He nearly squealed when Riza's voice trailed from downstairs. "Breakfast!"

"I- In a minute!" Roy called back.

Damn those fairy dreams.

Tee.