Laurel looked to Tamani and he smiled and nodded. She turned and the tall faerie fixed the bauble securely in her hair, then led her to a large mirror on the opposite side of the kiosk. Laurel smiled at her reflection. The silvery strand hung just to the side of where she parted her hair, down past her shoulders. It sparkled in the sun, bringing out the shine of the natural highlights in her blond hair. “It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.
“Would you like to wear it, or shall I wrap it in a box?”
“Oh, I couldn’t—”
“You should,” Tamani said quietly. “It looks lovely.”
“But I…” She stepped around the tall shopkeeper and stood close to Tamani. “I have nothing to pay for it, and I’m certainly not going to let you pay for it.”
Tamani laughed quietly. “You don’t pay for goods here, Laurel. That’s a very…human thing. Take it. He’ll be complimented that you like his work.”
Laurel glanced at the shopkeeper hovering just out of earshot. “Really?”
“Yes. Tell him it pleases you and that you’ll wear it to the Academy; that’s all the payment he wants.”
It was all so unbelievable. Laurel felt nervous, momentarily unable to overcome her certainty that, any second now, a security faerie was going to pop out and arrest her. But Tamani wouldn’t pull a trick like that on her…would he?
She took one more look in the mirror, then smiled at the tall faerie, hoping it didn’t look too forced. “It’s really, really beautiful,” she said. “I’d like to wear it back to the Academy, if I may.” The faerie beamed at her and made a slight bow. Laurel hesitantly began to walk away.
No one stopped her.
It was a few minutes before Laurel got over the feeling she’d just stolen something. She started paying attention to the other browsers and many of them also removed items from the displays and kiosks without giving anything in return but compliments and gratitude. After several minutes of observing other “shoppers,” she forced herself to calm down.
“We should get something for you,” she said, turning to Tamani.
“Oh, no. Not me. I don’t shop here. My market square is down the hill a little farther.”
“Then what’s this?”
“This is Summer Square.”
“Oh,” Laurel said, panicking again. “But I’m a Fall. I shouldn’t have gotten this.”
Tamani laughed. “No, no, Winter and Fall faeries shop where they like. There are too few of them to have their own square.”
“Oh.” She thought for a minute. “So could I shop in your square too?”
“I guess you could, but I don’t know why you’d want to.”
“Why not?”
Tamani shrugged. “It’s not pretty like the Summer Square. I mean, the square’s pretty; everything in Avalon is beautiful. But we don’t need trinkets and decor. We need clothing, food, and the tools of our many trades. I get my weapons there as well as the elixirs and potions I need for my sentry kits—those things are sent down from the Academy. The Summer faeries need the flashy things; it’s part of their trade. Those in theatre, especially. But if you look closer, particularly in some of the inside shops, you’ll find the more technical supplies. Paints and equipment for scenery, musical instruments, jewelry-making tools—that kind of thing.” He grinned. “The kiosks have all the sparkles and such in them so they catch the sun and draw more shoppers.”
They both laughed and Laurel reached up to touch the new hair comb. She wondered briefly what it would be worth back in California, and then dismissed the thought. It was nothing she’d ever sell, so it didn’t matter.
The crowd was thinning as they walked farther from marketplace. The broad earthen road was lined with houses now, and Laurel glanced from side to side in wonder. Each dwelling was made entirely of the same kind of sugar glass that formed the picture window in Laurel’s own room. The larger translucent orbs that opened out into the street were obviously living rooms; the slightly smaller pastel-tinged bubbles clustered on the sides and back Laurel suspected were bedrooms. Enormous curtains of pastel-colored silk were tucked behind each dwelling, allowing the sun to shine more brightly into the remarkable buildings, but Laurel saw how they could be draped over the glass for privacy at night. Each house sparkled in the sun, and many were decorated with strings of crystals and prisms catching the light and making it dance, just like the prisms Laurel had in her room back home. The whole neighborhood shimmered so brightly it was almost hard to look at, and Laurel realized that these were the “balloons” she’d seen from farther up the hill when she’d first arrived with Jamison. “They’re so pretty,” she mused.
“Indeed. I love to walk up through the Summer neighborhoods.”
The sparkling dwellings began to space out, and soon Laurel and Tamani were walking downhill again. The wide road cut through a meadow of clover with patches of flowers here and there; Laurel had only seen such meadows in movies. And even though she’d gotten used to the air in Avalon—always fragrant with the scent of fresh earth and blooming flowers—it was stronger out here, where the wind could freely carry each scent as it caressed her face. Laurel breathed in deeply, enjoying the invigorating breeze.
She paused when she realized Tamani wasn’t beside her anymore. She glanced back. He was crouched by the side of the path, wiping his hands on the cushy clover. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Tamani sprang to his feet, looking sheepish. “I—um, forgot my gloves,” he said quietly.
Laurel was confused for a second, then noticed that the clover looked a little sparkly. “You wear gloves to cover the pollen?” she guessed.
“It’s polite,” he said, clearing his throat.
Laurel thought back and realized that all the men in Summer Square had been wearing gloves. It made sense now. She hurried to change the subject to rescue Tamani from his obvious discomfort. “So what next?” she asked, her hand at her forehead, blocking the sun so she could see what lay farther down the road.
“I’m taking you to my favorite place in all of Avalon.”
“Really?” Laurel asked, excitement causing her to forget, momentarily, that she’d asked to be surprised. “Where?”
He smiled softly. “My home. I want you to meet my mother.”
FOUR
A CHILL RIPPLED UP LAUREL’S BACK AS NERVOUSNESS and confusion battled for control. “Your mother?”
“Is…that all right?”
“You told me faeries didn’t have mothers.”
Tamani opened his mouth and then closed it again, his brow furrowing—the look he always got when he was caught in a half-truth. “I never actually said faeries don’t have mothers,” he said slowly. “I said things are different here. And they are.”
“But you—I…I just assumed that since, you know, faeries come from seeds—you said you take care of yourselves!” she demanded, a little angry now.
“We do,” Tamani said, trying to appease her. “I mean, mostly. Mothering is not quite the same here as it is in the human world.”
“But you have a mother?”
He nodded, and she could tell he knew what was coming next.
“Do I have a mother? A faerie one, I mean?”
He was silent for a moment, and Laurel could see he didn’t want to say it. Finally he shrugged, a tiny, almost invisible shrug, and shook his head.
Shock and disappointment surged through her. It didn’t help that, despite the tension at home, she missed her mom acutely and was feeling more than a little homesick. Tears threatened, but Laurel refused to let them come. She spun on her heel and continued walking down the hill, glad there wasn’t anyone close by. “Why not?” she asked peevishly.
“You just don’t.”
“But you do. Why do you have one?” She knew she sounded childish and petulant, but she didn’t care.
“Because I’m not a Fall or Winter faerie.”
Laurel stopped and turned back to Tamani. “So? Are we born differently?”
Tamani shook his head.
“The seed I was born in, it was made by two faeries, right?”
Tamani hesitated, then nodded.
“Then where are they? Maybe I could—”
“I don’t know,” Tamani said, cutting her off. “No one knows. The records of it are destroyed,” he finished quietly.
“Why?”
“Fall and Winter faeries don’t stay with their parents. They are children of Avalon; children of the crown. It’s not like in the human world,” he added. “Relationships are not the same.”
“So the relationship you have with your mother isn’t like the relationship I have with mine back home?” Laurel asked. She knew referring to someplace besides Avalon as home would bother Tamani, but she was too angry to feel bad about it.
“That’s not what I meant. When you make a seed, it’s just a seed. It is very, very precious because it is the potential for new life, but the relationship does not begin with the seed. It begins when the sprout blooms and the seedling goes home to live with its parents—but only Spring and Summer faeries live with their parents. Your…seed makers—”
“Parents,” Laurel interrupted.
“Fine. Your parents might have been disappointed when they found out you wouldn’t be their seedling, that you would never come home with them, but they would mostly celebrate their contribution to society. As far as they were concerned, you weren’t a person yet. They wouldn’t have missed you, because they didn’t know you.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Yes, it is.” His hand came to her shoulder, pulling her to a stop before she could turn onto the broad central road. “Because I know how unselfish you are. Would you rather you were able to experience the reunion with a long-lost set of parents who had been suffering for years missing and loving you, or would you rather they weren’t hurting while you were raised by human parents who adore you?”
Laurel swallowed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Tamani smiled softly and lifted a hand to her face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and letting his thumb rest on her cheek. “Trust me, it’s no picnic missing you. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
Without meaning to, Laurel leaned into Tamani’s hand. He shifted forward until his forehead rested on hers, hands cupping the sides of her face, then trailing slowly down her neck. Only when the tip of his nose brushed hers—ever so softly—did she realize he was about to kiss her. And that she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to stop him.
“Tam,” she whispered. His lips were just a breath away from hers.
His fingers tightened ever so softly against her neck, but he stopped and pulled back. “Sorry,” he said. He moved his face, letting his lips fall instead on her forehead before pulling away and pointing back down the wide road that cut through the meadow. “Let’s keep going. I should probably get you back to the Academy in another hour or so.”
Laurel nodded, not sure which emotion was strongest. Relief. Disappointment. Loneliness. Regret.
“How…how did they know I would be a Fall faerie?” Laurel asked, trying to find a more neutral subject.
“Your sprout opened in the Fall,” Tamani said simply. “All faeries emerge from their sprout in the season of their powers.”
“Sprout?”
“The flower you were born from.”
“Oh.”
Laurel had nothing else to ask without bringing the subject back to faerie parentage, so she was silent—trying to absorb this new development—and Tamani followed her lead. They walked a little farther until the pedestrian traffic thickened and more houses began to dot the road. These were different from the ones she’d seen around the Summer Square. They had the same climbing vines that decorated much of the Academy—the ones with flowers that opened when the moon came up. But rather than the transparent walls she was used to, these buildings were made of wood and bark—sturdy lean-tos, small houses, a few cottages with loosely thatched roofs. They were charming and quaint and every other fairy-tale word she’d ever heard used to describe small homes. But a sense of difference permeated the air.
“Why aren’t these houses transparent?” Laurel asked.
“These are Spring faerie homes,” Tamani replied, still hovering at her left shoulder.
“And…?”
“And what?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Summer faeries need to photosynthesize enormous amounts of sunlight in order to create their illusions and the light needed for fireworks. They need to be exposed to every hour of sunlight possible. Plus,” he added after a brief pause, “these houses are easier to build and keep up. There are a lot of us, after all.”
“How many Spring faeries are there?”
Tamani shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. Somewhere around eighty percent of the population.”
“Eighty? Really? How many Summer faeries?”
“Oh, I’d guess fifteen percent. Probably a smidge more.”
“Oh.” She didn’t ask about Fall faeries. She could do the math. Tamani had told her that Winter faeries were the rarest of all, with maybe one born in a generation, but Fall faeries were apparently rare enough. Laurel supposed that subconsciously she’d also realized there were fewer Fall faeries, but she hadn’t understood just how limited their numbers were. No wonder they didn’t have their own square.
The housing was growing dense, and other faeries were teeming around them now. Some were gloved and carried gardening implements, several quite alien to Laurel despite her mother’s passion for plant life. Others busied themselves outside their homes washing clothing too delicate to be their own. Laurel noticed several carts laden with food, from raw fruits and vegetables to fully prepared meals wrapped in grape leaves or the petals of some enormous flower that smelled vaguely like gardenias.
One Spring faerie who hurried by was carrying a staff like a shepherd’s crook, with a small pot dangling from the curved top. At least a dozen vials of liquid were strapped across his chest. Laurel cast a questioning glance over her shoulder, but Tamani just pointed one finger forward with a smile.
Laurel turned and realized that the low murmur of the crowd was rising in pitch and timbre. But only when a cloud of buzzing insects materialized, seemingly from nowhere, did Laurel understand why. She bit off a shriek as she found herself enveloped in a cloud of extremely active honeybees.
As quickly as they had come, they were gone. Laurel turned to watch the swarm disappear into the crowd, following the Spring faerie with the shepherd’s crook. Laurel recalled from her reading several ways animals and insects “and other lower life-forms” could be influenced and even controlled by scent. She momentarily pondered the usefulness of tame bees to a society of plants, but her musing was derailed by Tamani’s laughter.
“Sorry,” he said with a chuckle. A smile still ticked at the side of his mouth. “But you should have seen your face.”
Laurel’s instinct was to be mad, but she suspected her face had looked pretty funny. “Am I going the right way?” she asked, as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.
“Yes, I’ll let you know when it’s time to turn.”
“We’re in Spring now, right? Why does it matter if you walk behind me? It makes me feel lost.”
“I apologize,” Tamani said, his voice tense. “But this is the way things are around here. You walk behind a faerie who is more than one rank above you.”
She paused and Tamani almost bumped into her. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” She turned to Tamani. “And I won’t do it.”
Tamani sighed. “Look, you’re privileged enough to have standards like that; I’m not.” He glanced at the crowd flowing around them and finally said, quietly, “If I don’t do it, it’s not you who gets in trouble, it’s me.”
Laurel didn’t want to let it go, but she didn’t want Tamani to be punished for her ideals, either. With one more glance at his downcast eyes, Laurel turne
d and continued walking. She was increasingly aware of how much she stood out; much more so than in Summer Square. Aside from their various trade implements, everyone around her looked…well…like Tamani. They were dressed in simple, canvas-like material, mostly cut into breeches or calf-length skirts. But as with all faeries, they were attractive and neat. Rather than looking like a stereotypical working class—with worn faces or shabby clothes—they looked more like actors pretending to be working class.
Much less charming was the way everyone who caught her eye stopped their conversation, smiled, and did the same slight-bend-at-the-waist thing Tamani had done when he’d met her at the Academy. As she and Tamani passed, their chatter would begin again. Several greeted Tamani and tried to say something. He waved them away, but one word in particular kept floating to Laurel’s ears.
“What’s a Mixer?” she asked once there was a break in the crowd.
Tamani hesitated. “It’s a little weird to explain.”
“Oh, well, never mind then, because explaining weird things to me has definitely never been part of this relationship.”
Her sarcasm brought a sheepish smile to Tamani’s face. “It’s kind of a Spring faerie thing,” he said elusively.
“Oh, come on,” she said. Then added teasingly, “Tell me or I’ll walk beside you.”
When he didn’t respond, she slowed down and then quickly spun away from his hand and repositioned herself right by his side.
“Fine,” he said in a whisper, pushing her gently back up in front of him. “A Mixer is a Fall faerie. It’s not a bad name or anything,” he continued in a rush. “It’s just a…nickname. But it’s something we would never call a Fall to their face.”
“Mixer?” Laurel said experimentally, liking the feel of it on her tongue. “Because we make things,” she said, laughing. “It’s fitting.”
Tamani shrugged.