She frowned in concentration and lifted her hand. Come on… just a simple comb. A small one. You can do this.
The threads shimmered in the air around her—so close, so familiar—and yet, just as she began to shape them, they slipped through her mental grasp like fog. She exhaled in frustration, letting her hands fall into the water.
“Stupid energy,” she muttered, splashing her face one last time. She ran her damp hands through her hair in an attempt to tame the worst of the tangles. It helped. A little.
When she returned to Elder Oak, she glanced up at the massive limbs swaying gently in the breeze. “Good morning,” she called in greeting. “Thanks for letting me stay.”
There was no reply.
Inside, Geoff looked up from where he crouched over the fire. The scent of sizzling fish filled the air, mingling with the earthy aroma of tree bark and fruit.
“Elder’s still asleep,” he said, gesturing for her to sit beside him on the blanket. “He’s very old. It takes him a while to wake up.”
“Oh,” Alice replied, lowering herself beside him. “I thought maybe I’d said something wrong.”
“Nope.” He passed her one of the fruits and a leaf folded into a makeshift plate with a piece of the fish and the roasted nut. “Elder likes you. He said you were interesting.”
She gave a small, self-conscious smile. “Well, I guess it’s not every day a girl falls from the sky and ends up in a talking tree.”
Geoff snorted softly and bit into a piece of fish. “Nope. That’s new.”
They ate in companionable silence for a moment before Geoff glanced sideways at her. “How are you feeling?”
Alice hesitated, then shrugged. “Better. I mean, I’m still confused, still can’t reach the energy the way I used to, but I don’t feel quite so…” She trailed off, searching for the word.
“Alone?” he offered.
She nodded. “Yeah. That.”
He nodded too, then poked at the fire. “So, you’re from another world. What’s it like—your home?”
Alice leaned back, balancing the fruit in her hand. “The Curizan home world is called Ceran Pax. It’s… beautiful. The sky’s a deeper blue than here, almost violet at times. The cities shimmer with light and music and movement. Energy pulses through everything, and we’ve learned how to channel it. We live in harmony with it. I’m—well, I’m the daughter of the ruling family. A princess.”
Geoff blinked. “A real one?”
She grinned. “Crown, ceremonies, responsibilities, diplomatic missions—the whole thing. Okay, the crown thing may be pushing it. It’s mostly the responsibilities.”
He gave her a long, slow look. “Huh. You don’t seem like what I thought an alien princess would be.”
“Let me guess,” she said dryly. “You expected someone snooty and useless?”
He smirked. “More or less.”
“Well,” she said with mock haughtiness, flipping her damp braid over her shoulder, “we do have etiquette classes, but I skipped the ones on being snooty. If I could figure out how to control, I mean, talk, to the energy here, I’d show you that I’m anything but helpless.”
Geoff laughed, a warm sound that made her smile despite herself.
“I look forward to seeing you prove that,” he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Until you do, you’re going to need me. The Isles are… different. Magic here isn’t just energy—it’s woven into the land. It listens. It has moods. Rules.”
Alice grew thoughtful. “Maybe that’s the problem. I keep trying to bend it. But what if I just… ask?”
Geoff’s eyes lit up with approval. “Now you’re thinking like a witch.”
“I thought I was thinking more like a diplomat.”
“Same thing sometimes. Magic doesn’t always listen.”
They smiled at each other, and for a long moment, the quiet between them was less like silence—and more like understanding.
