Lunaria Dewpetal's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Lunaria Dewpetal wanted a crown no fairy had ever worn. She wanted to end the wars between the courts and rule them all from one throne. Tonight she stood at the edge of a moonlit clearing with a map spread on a flat stone, and she did not know where to begin. Five courts. Five jealous rulers. Court the wrong one first, and the other four would name her their enemy before dawn. A silver creature pressed against her ankle. Its fur glowed with faint runes, and its tail curled like smoke. She had raised it from a pup. "You're no help," she whispered. It only blinked its star-flecked eyes and nudged the map. Footsteps crunched behind her. Lunaria spun, knife half-drawn. "Put that away. You'll cut off your own wing." The elf stepped into the light without fear. Aelindra Silverleaf, the ranger who mapped every border in Barkroot. She had guided Lunaria's mother through these woods once, and she owed the family nothing. Her silver hair caught the moon. She crouched by the stone and tapped the map. "You're planning to court a court." "I need to know which one holds the most sway," Lunaria said. "Choose wrong, and I'm finished." Aelindra laughed, short and dry. "You think power sits in a throne. It sits in the ground." She pointed past the trees, to a cluster of round-capped mushrooms glowing at the clearing's rim. Red, orange, and pale pink swelled from a single root. "Every court fights over that patch. It feeds their spellwork. Whoever the mushrooms answer to leads the rest." Lunaria stared at the cluster. "And who do they answer to?" "No one. Yet." Aelindra stood and folded her arms. "They root where the strongest magic pulls them. Bring your creature closer." Lunaria lifted the runed pup and carried it to the mushrooms. As it neared, the runes on its fur brightened. The caps turned, slow as sunflowers, and leaned toward the creature. Toward her. Aelindra's smile faded. "Well. That answers it." "What does it mean?" Lunaria asked. "It means you don't court any court first." Aelindra's voice dropped. "The mushrooms chose you. Every ruler saw that glow tonight—there are always watchers in these woods. By morning they'll know a nameless fairy claimed the root they've bled over for a hundred years." Lunaria's stomach dropped. She had wanted a path. She had made a target of herself instead. "You can't hide it now," Aelindra said. "So decide. Do you kneel to them, or do you make them come to you?" Lunaria looked at the glowing patch, then at the dark trees where unseen eyes watched. She had no army, no allies, and one strange creature at her feet. But the root had chosen her. "Let them come," she said.