A/N: The following takes place when Terra is 8 and Douglas is 4 (but an old 4 at that).

It was the night before Douglas's first day of school. The little boy was bouncing off the walls in excitement, ready to face the following day with his brand-new backpack and sneakers, irritating his sister to no end.

"It's just school, you know," she frowned. She was reading in the sitting room while her brother was nearly rolling around on the rug. With their parents in the kitchen doing some last-minute work before school started in the morning, it was just the siblings in the room.

"I know it's just school, but it's exciting!" Douglas exclaimed. "I get to see the other kids from the island my age all day, and I can see you and Mum whenever I want, and…"

"You can't walk out of your class and into Mum's whenever you feel like it," Terra said. "It's against the rules."

"What if I don't feel good, or I get so excited I… you know…" He crept over to her side and brought his voice down low. "…pee my pants."

"Then you go to the school secretary and call Dad," she shrugged. "It's not difficult."

"Oh no!" the boy gasped. "What if Sjeh Mither comes while we're at school! We'll miss her!"

"…then we miss her. She comes back." This was beginning to wear on Terra's nerves; all she wanted to do was read in her favorite spot on the couch with her mug of cocoa and she couldn't get any peace and quiet. Then the girl had an idea. "It's probably better we miss Sjeh Mither anyhow… you know…"

"…know what?"

"You know… so that she doesn't stay too long and Uaine Duine finds her."

Douglas's face went sheet-white. "Who…?"

"Uaine Duine, the Green Man, the natural enemy of Sjeh Mither. Grass beats water, after all."

"That's in Pokémon!" the boy protested.

"Where do you think they got the idea?"

Now that made him think. So that meant water fae were preyed upon by grass fae? Fire fae preyed upon grass and water on fire? Did that mean that fae in general were strong against dragons? Were there even any dragons left? The thought of a dragon, all flame and malice, on their little island made him shiver and a sort of weight dropped in his stomach. He crept up the stairs and climbed into his bed, grabbing his stuffed sheep and holding it close while he worried over Sjeh Mither's fate should the Green Man find her.

It took a while, but eventually his father came into the bedroom, looking for his boy. "Ah, there you are—Mam and I were wondering where you went." He sat down on the edge of the boat-shaped bed that used to be Terra's and stared at Douglas. "What's the problem? You usually don't hug Shirley that tight unless you're scared of something."

"Terra said that Sjeh Mither's natural enemy is the Green Man, like in Pokémon, and that he'll catch her if she stays on land too long!" the boy sniffled. "Then the nuckelavee won't ever be tame and we'll be stuck here and Granddad and Uncle Rigsy and Auntie Jen and Lucy and Chris won't ever be able to come and visit ever again!"

"Wait, what…?" Ian asked, completely baffled. "When did your sister tell you this?"

"Earlier when I was downstairs and she was too while she was reading but I was too excited to read and…"

"Okay, hold up; I think I know what the problem is," Ian said, stopping his son. "Terra lied to you so that you would leave her alone. There is no Green Man… not here, anyhow."

"…there isn't…?"

"Nope; besides, even if there was one, he would not harm Sjeh Mither. She's the summer spirit, and Green Men can only survive in places that have some sort of summer. He would need her to survive. It's Teran, the winter spirit, that doesn't like her."

"Oh…" Douglas mused. "Well, then how about dragons?"

"Dragons? What about them?"

"Can faeries defeat dragons easily? You study them, so you know, right? Do they?"

"Um… not exactly," Ian replied. His children still didn't know about his true origins, meaning that he had to keep up the old scholar's ruse for a while yet. He shrugged though, figuring the truth was alright for this one. "They're not exactly bad, dragons are. I've met one that runs a rather nice antique shop in Soho,.. though you can't make her cross, or she'll pull out something to hit you with out of nowhere..."

"Dad, I'm being serious!"

"As am I." He stroked his son's fluffy curls and exhaled heavily. "You know that Terra's simply upset because school used to be the thing she shared with Mam, and now you're encroaching on that. Don't let her make you feel bad, because it's normal… or so I'm told."

"It's normal for Terra to be mean?"

"No; it's normal for Terra to want you to… okay, so she is being mean, but it's not because she wants to be so. Let her cool off and she'll be her old self again soon enough."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He kissed his son's forehead, transferring some protective magic to him, and patted him on the shoulder. "Come on downstairs. Mam's got some ice cream for your last night before school."

"Awesome!" Douglas gasped. He tossed aside his sheep and bolted down the stairs, leaving his father to catch up at his own pace. Ian hoped that the kids would be able to get on while attending school together or else there would be plenty of problems that he would have rather not dealt with.