Thistledown Shimmerwisp's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Thistledown Shimmerwisp counted the coins in Lysander's pack again while Lysander slept. Four copper bits. Not enough for a night at an inn, and Lysander had given the last silver to the ferryman who carried them across the reed river. Thistledown closed the pack. His wings twitched against his silver shirt, useless as always. He was the reason the silver was gone. He was the reason Lysander walked when he should be home weaving. He had promised himself, the third night lost in the bracken with his shoes filling up with blood, that if anyone found him he would repay them. Fairy law said a hidden treasure waited for whoever saved a lost child. Thistledown meant to lead Lysander to it. There was only one problem. He did not know where it was. Lysander stirred by the fire. "You're awake." "I couldn't sleep." Lysander sat up and rubbed his jaw. "Two more days of walking. Then I take you to the elders and ask which grove is yours." Two days. Thistledown swallowed. "Lysander. The treasure. The one for saving a child. I want you to have it." Lysander looked at him a long moment. "I didn't save you for pay." "I know. But it's owed." Lysander poked the fire. "Then tell me where it is." "I don't know." "Then it isn't owed yet." He lay back down. One quiet detail followed. "My mother said a debt you can't pay is still a debt. Sleep." Thistledown did not sleep. Before dawn he walked to the crooked willow at the edge of the clearing, where an old scholar had made camp the night before. The scholar wore a robe of gossamer and silver thread. Thistledown had watched him pass their fire and had marked where he stopped. Aldric Silverweave knew things other fairies did not. Everyone said so. Aldric was already awake, boiling water in a tin cup. "Sir. Please. The treasure promised to a child's rescuer. Where is it hidden?" Aldric did not look up. "You are the lost one." "Yes, sir." "Silver shirt. Silver breeches. Purple hair." Aldric set the cup down. "There is no map. The child leads the rescuer to it. The path opens under the child's feet when the child walks toward home." Thistledown's stomach dropped. "Toward home." "Yes." "What if the child doesn't want to go home?" Aldric finally looked at him. His brown eyes held for a long count. "Then the path stays shut. And the rescuer walks for nothing." He picked up the cup again. "That is all I will tell you. Go back to your fire, groundbound." Thistledown walked back through the wet grass. Lysander was still asleep, one arm across the empty pack. Four copper bits. Two days to the elders. A treasure that would only open if Thistledown walked toward the place he had been trying not to name. He sat down and watched Lysander breathe, and did not wake him.