There it was. I had proof. Water wanted David. The kelpie recognized it. I was positive I had seen the elementals twice now. My Water was jumping around in excitement as if cheering.
He turned to face me. He had an expression of absolute delight and wonder. I could not blame him. Kelpies were gorgeous creatures when they were not trying to disembowel you. A flicker of confusion flashed on his face when he looked at me, but it did nothing to dampen his joy. If anything, it magnified it. I glanced down at myself, wondering why he was confused. I found nothing.
“You know how to smile,” he said.
Wha — Oh. I was smiling. I had not smiled this widely since the pictures I drew were reality. I was surprised my face was capable of it. Air danced around us. I was happy. This was the oddest feeling. I wanted to keep it.
He chuckled and his arm brushed me when he passed. “Come on, let’s head back.”
We walked side by side, never more than a couple of feet apart. It took him a few minutes to ask, “So what happened back there?”
“Those blue lights, you saw them?”
“Yeah, was that something you did?”
“No. Those were water elementals.” His eyebrows rose. “Free ones, unattached to a fairy. They like you, so they were watching out for you.”
He looked pleased. “What did I do to make them like me?”
I told him half of the truth. “Usually the elementals will like people who have a particular aptitude for them. If they like them enough, they will attach themselves to the person. That is how the first fae were made.”
He was silent for a while. He was probably trying to think of a time when he had shown any interest in water. I could tell him many, but I was not ready for that yet. “So is that how you got your elementals?”
I paused. “Not Water,” I said, “but Air took a similar liking to me. I used to climb trees, rocks, anything as high as I could, so I could feel the wind. It made me feel like I was flying.” I smiled as I recalled. Air had been my friend since my earliest memories. “It always made me feel better to be up high and feel like the wind would carry me away.”
“Can you fly?”
I laughed at the excitement the idea triggered in him. “No, not really. I can do this though.” David waited with an eager smile as I climbed to the very top of a large tree. The wind blew around me in greeting. Air danced inside me, happy to be showing off when Water had been getting so much attention lately.
I lept. The air formed a miniature current around me that I could glide on. I was not immune to gravity, but the air wanted to keep me for itself; it did not let me go back to earth easily. I landed gently next to David. His eyes were wide with wonder.
“That is so cool,” he said.
When it came time to turn into the forest to get back to the bog, he stopped to take one more look at the river. “This doesn’t look that different from the river I was fishing in a few days ago.” I let him process everything. When he turned back to me, he said, “I caught one with my bare hands that day.” He grinned and told me the story of how the fish had put up a brave fight but had been no match for him. I laughed at that. I could imagine it perfectly because I had seen it before.