Sprunch's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Sprunch wanted a mate more than she wanted breath, but she had never let a single soul see her face. She was a forest fairy no taller than a thumb, and she hid inside the tallest flowers of her grove. There a ring of towering blooms circled a still watering hole. She had watched three travelers pass through her forest that year. Each time she rose to speak. Each time her wings locked, her throat closed, and she sank back into the petals. By the time she found her courage, the traveler was gone. Today a fourth stranger stumbled into the grove. He was mortal, tall, dressed in a torn red vest studded with brass gears. Salt crusted his dark hair. He limped, and one boot left a wet print with each step. A pirate, shipwrecked, far from any sea. He dropped to his knees at the watering hole and drank like a man half dead. Sprunch pressed against a pink petal and watched him. Her heart pounded. This is the one, she thought. Speak. But her wings folded tight, and her voice died in her chest, the same as always. The man would drink, rest, and leave. She would lose him too. Then her guardian bird landed hard on a flower stem beside her. The bird was fierce and loyal, always scanning the horizon for a mate of her own. She fixed one bright eye on Sprunch. She saw the fairy frozen, silent, shrinking again. The bird made a sharp choice. She dove. She snatched Sprunch in her beak, gentle but firm, and swooped low over the water. The man looked up, startled. The bird opened her beak and dropped Sprunch straight toward him. Sprunch tumbled through the air, wings flaring too late, and landed on the back of his rough hand. He froze. She froze. There was nowhere left to hide. For the first time, a mortal looked right at her. His dark eyes went wide. "You're real," he said, voice cracked from salt water. "A little person. With wings." Sprunch's whole body shook. Every plan to hide was gone. She had no petal, no shadow, no way back. So she did the only thing left. She stood on his knuckle, lifted her chin, and spoke. "My name is Sprunch," she said. "This is my forest. You are hurt." The man stared a moment longer. Then, slowly, he smiled. "Constilation," he said. "And you might be the only good thing I've found on land." Above them, the guardian bird settled on a stem and watched, satisfied. Sprunch's secret was broken forever. She could never again vanish into the flowers from this man. Now she had to face what she had always wanted, standing in the open on a stranger's hand, with no idea what he would do next.