With their load of berries, mushrooms, and nuts, Lylan and Jaden flitted their way back to the campsite they’d set up between home and the pond. Jaden’s stomach let out a low growl. Lylan chuckled to himself.

 

“I’m starved, Lylan. Let’s eat before I pass out.”

 

“You’re always going to faint from hunger, Jaden. All you think about is your stomach.”

 

“Well, unlike you, Lylan, well into your two-thousand, seven-hundred seventy-seventh year, I’ve not quite become of age yet, only being one-thousand, eight hundred ninety-two years old. I still have a hundred and eight years to go to get to two-thousand. I’m still a growing faeryman.” Jaden grinned at his brother.

 

“Yeah. You’ll grow sideways if you don’t learn to curb your appetite. What will you do then? Just how much weight do you imagine those wings will carry?” Lylan let out a hearty laugh and lowered the makeshift leaf sack to a rock next to the campfire ring. “Okay, let’s eat and make our way home. Athair said we shouldn’t be out past twilight tonight, which draws near.”

 

Athair hadn’t worried like this about them staying out late for many years now. What was Athair afraid of this night? Lylan munched on his food. Could it have something to do with the old stranger who’d shown up on their doorstep this day a century ago? The poor faeryman looked like he’d been beaten and left in the bushes to die. Over the years, he’d never recalled what happened to him. He didn’t even remember who he was or where he’d come from.

 

Lylan clamped his lips together between his teeth. He’d have to ask his athair what he knew about the fair-haired stranger they’d decided to call Fyan. Had he ever mentioned this strange village with the purple glow? Maybe Athair anticipated another raid on the village like the one a hundred years ago.

 

As twilight began to fall and the young faerymen finished their meal, the dense trees rustled behind them. Lylan grabbed his brother, placed a hand over Jaden’s mouth, and dragged him back into a clump of brush. “Hush. We’ve tarried too long. It’s almost dark, and you know what Athair said.”

 

Jaden nodded.

 

The bushes parted, and a beautiful faerylet fell out the way Jaden had that afternoon. Her lovely sparkling, white gown appeared to have gone through quite the journey, torn almost to shreds. Her glowing hair, white with a trace of golden hue, flew around her head as if she’d been in a whirlwind. Lylan’s eyes narrowed. Who was she? And why was she out so late by herself… with no shoes? She wasn’t from Glistineare.

 

He let loose of his brother, allowing him to fall into the leaves, and stepped out of the shrubs.