Page 45 of Bewitched

“Yes, that is a fae quality. Partially, anyway. I think it is a combination of the two sides,” said Alaina with a yawn. “If nobody minds, I am going to go to bed. The fae have been generous enough to give us two of their cottages during our stay here. One is for the girls and the other for the boys.”

“Oh,” said Medea, being disappointed to hear this. She had hoped to spend the night in Rhys’ arms.

“Show us the way,” said Zann, flirting with several of the faeries. They giggled in their normal fae way, and escorted the men as well as the women to the proper cottages.

“Are you coming, Medea?” asked Rapunzel, looking back to her.

“Go on, Sister. I’ll be there soon.”

“Rhys, we’ll leave a spot on the floor for you,” said Darium.

“Thanks,” he answered, but did nothing to get up to follow them.

“Look at the moon and all the stars, Rhys.” Medea leaned back, resting against his chest. His arms closed around her. “I wish the skies looked like this back home. In England, it rains a lot, and the skies are never this clear. I’ve never seen so many bright stars in my life. Mura is such a magical, happy place. I have never experienced anything like it.”

“Not all of Mura is that way,” he told her, his low voice rumbling in his chest. “Remember, south of the Picajord Mountains is a whole different story. That is not a happy place at all.”

“Still, you are lucky to be here on Mura.”

“What is it like where you come from?” he asked, gently stroking her arm with his fingers. Everyone had left now, and they sat there alone at the fire.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she answered. “Some things are the same as here, but nothing seems as alive and vibrant as it does on Mura. The flowers are more colorful and much bigger on Mura. The fruit is prettier and tastes more flavorful than that back home. Everyone here on Mura seems so friendly. It’s not like that back home at all.”

He chuckled.

“What is so funny?”

“How soon you forget about the three kings of Mura, or the gods and their sea serpents.”

“Oh. I suppose you’re right. Not everyone here is that friendly after all.”

“I think people tend to only see what they want to see. So, sometimes it looks bad, but to others it looks very good.”

“Do you really think so?” she asked, looking back at him.

“Aye, I do.”

“It is such a beautiful night, that I’d like to go for a stroll. Will you come with me, Rhys?”

“Well, put it this way. I am not letting you go anywhere alone again. Especially not at night.”

They both got up and walked hand in hand back to the bridge that crossed the bubbling brook.

“I hear frogs croaking,” she told him, looking over the edge of the bridge.

“Well, we are standing over the water,” he answered. “It is their home.”

“Oh, Rhys, look at that.” She pointed from atop the bridge at a moonlit field of tall flowers nearby. “It looks like a whole field of flowers lit up by the light of the moon. It seems so magical and inviting. I want to go there and explore it.” Her intense curiosity drew her to it.

“That is a field of lippenbur lilies,” he told her. “All right, we’ll go,” he said, walking too slowly for her. She broke away at the run, traipsing through the flowers that were up to her shoulders. “Medea, wait up.”

“Hurry up, slowpoke,” she said, spinning in circles with her arms out. “This scent is so strong and intoxicating that it is making me dizzy!” She fell to the ground, giggling.

“I think all that spinning made you dizzy. You’re starting to sound like one of the fae now with all that giggling. Medea? I can’t see you,” said Rhys. “Where are you?”

She was lying on the ground in the shoulder-high field of flowers, staring up at the moon and stars. Playfully, she kept silent.

“Medea? I know you’re here somewhere. Now, answer me.” When he got closer, she reached up, surprising him, pulling him to the ground, laughing.