Chapter 1: Page 4

Oben found the Tree Nymph in the middle of the Grove hugging the Great Oak. He changed back into a man and slowly approached. The Great Oak was a cantankerous old tree and it was always best to error on the side of caution around it.

“I’m sorry,” Neak whispered. “I promise, I didn’t abandon you. I would never do that.”

“Are you certain you want to hug that tree?” Oben stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his cargo pants. He had one of JoJo’s wooden spoons tucked in the side pocket. She had a fondness for whacking him with it. He had one of Glynn’s stashed in there too.

“Why wouldn’t I hug him? The Great Oak is a fine tree.”

“He was one of the hardest to tame.”

“Oaks are to be revered, not tamed.”

“He kept trying to eat the Gnomes.”

Neak sighed. “Eating Gnomes is bad, but Pixies and Fairies are fair game.”

“Hey!” a tiny voice yelled. There was a fluttering of wings and down flew a male Dew Drop Fairy. His black hair was gelled into tiny spikes and his ice blue eyes were irate. He crossed his arms over his chest and held himself to his full twelve inches—Dew Drop Fairies were taller than Flower Fairies, the males usually more masculine and muscular. “Where do you get off saying Oakie can eat Fairies?”

“Who are you?”

“Name’s Romie Mistychime. Hubby and I hang out around this tree and you’re telling Oakie he can eat us?”

“Looks like you’ve done it now, Neak.” Oben tapped the toe of his boot on the ground behind him. “Romie and Milmar are lethal when it comes to tossing acorns. Pegged me once on the head and left a good size lump for days.”

Romie offered an arrogant smile to the Lobo before once more glaring at the Tree Nymph. “You heard the Lobo, we’re deadly with acorns and we also swing a mighty sword.”

“I never meant…” Neak ran her hands through her cropped green hair. What had she gotten herself into? “I do apologize, Romie. Please allow me to clarify my remark. The Great Oak is welcome to eat Flower Fairies, especially one named Neek Sliverplume, but not Dew Drop Fairies.”

“That’s okay then. Never liked Flower Fairies.”

In fact, Dew Drop Fairies and Flower Fairies had a long-standing feud going on and there didn’t look to ever be peace between the two groups. They seemed to enjoy antagonizing each other too much.

“That’s good to know.”

“What about Forest Fairies? There are a couple of them that live ‘round here.”

“Oakie knows better than to eat the Forest Fairies; all the trees do.” Neak felt a little better knowing that some Forest Fairies had moved into the area; they helped keep trees in full leaf. She had asked for some to move in before the whole jury duty fiasco—the last couple had moved to the desert after her father’s last visit—but the request had never been fulfilled.

“What about the Woodland Fairies on the other side of the river?”

“They’re still here?”

“Yup. Can Oakie eat them?”

“No, but I doubt that they venture this way much with Forest Fairies on this side of the river.”

“Romie!” Another Dew Drop Fairy flew up, his shoulder length ruby hair ruffling in the wind. He grabbed Romie and kissed him on the lips. “Hey, we gonna play with Oakie?”

“Oh yeah. He dropped a ton of acorns for us.”

“You play with the Great Oak?” Neak blinked, confused.

Milmar looked at the Tree Nymph and grinned, his aqua eyes bright. “Heck yeah. He’s great fun.”

“The three of them chuck acorns at each other.” Oben nodded at Milmar. “How’s it going, Mil?”

“Good, good. We kicked that damned Imp’s ass this morning. He should be leaving Sabelle alone from now on. Told him to go back to the Pit, he better listen.”

“Appreciate it. Dewi promised that if you two weren’t able to take care of it before the next New Moon, we would eat that Imp.”

“Imp’s nasty, you don’t wanna eat Imp. Give you gas.”

“True.” Oben laughed. He then motioned to the Tree Nymph. “Neak, this is Romie’s hubby, Milmar Whispersong. Milmar, Romie, this is Neak Silverplum. This used to be her Grove before she left five years ago.”

“It still is my Grove!”

“Why’d you leave?” Milmar scanned the acorns on the ground looking for the best ones.

“They confused me with a Flower Fairy!” Neak kicked at one of the acorns on the ground. “I had to set the record straight.”

The Dew Drop screwed up his face. “What idiot did that?”

“A Secretarial Pixie in the Office of Justice.”

“No wonder you said Oakie could eat them.” Romie pointed at the Great Oak with a jerk of his thumb.

“You said Oakie could eat Pixies?” Milmar liked the sound of that.

Neak took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Ooooooh, I like her, Romie.” He dove at the ground and picked up two acorns, tossing one to his hubby.

“Anyone who allows Oakie to eat Pixies and Flower Fairies is okay with me.” Romie caught the acorn in a daring triple loop-dee-loop.

“She said he could eat Flower Fairies too?”

“Yep.”

Milmar flew over to the Tree Nymph and held out his little fist. He laughed when she touched her fist to his. He then flew off to start their game with the Great Oak.

“We may want to move out of the way.” Oben took Neak’s arm and urged her away from the tree and Dew Drop Fairies. “The Great Oak has a mean throw.”

“I know. I watched him once throw several hundred acorns at an old beau of mine after I broke up with him. I’d never seen a Djinn move so fast before. He attempted to return fire at the Great Oak, throwing some spell or other, but it backfired since Oaks are magick proof. Turned him pink with long, frilly, yellow curls.”

“You dated a Djinn?”

Neak blushed. “One of my more youthful mistakes.”

“We all make them, and some not so youthful.”

“So,” she looked up at the large Lobo and into his watchful green eyes, “why’d you come looking for me?”

“Dewi and I discussed it and, well, we have a spare room above the pub if you’d like it.”

Neak narrowed her eyes. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch…really. We thought we would offer you a job if you’d like. We could always use the help, we just lost our barmaid two days ago—the silly Goose ran off to become a stunt pilot—and…”

“And?”

“You could manage the trees too. Then Dewi wouldn’t have to hire that Freelance Nymph to tend them. He hates doing it—her fees are exorbitant. Not to mention she keeps trying to get into bed without his invite.”

“Must be a Wood Nymph, they give the rest of us Nymphs a bad name.” She straightened her jacket, brushed her hands on her jeans. “My price may not run any cheaper to maintain the Groves.”

“But you wouldn’t have to maintain them for the Divinities with their ridiculous regulations, so cheaper in the long run.”

“There is that. I could let the trees be free like they wish, just keep them from eating anyone.” She looked to the spots where the runaway trees at lived. She pointed to them. “Were those spots empty when you and Dewi bought this place?”

Oben looked, his head tilted to the side. “It’s possible, but that was two years ago, and I don’t recall the Freelancer saying any trees left or died since.”

“Oh well, they were whiners anyway, never liking the way I tended them.” She tugged at her jacket again. “I’ve never worked in a pub before.”

“Dewi and I’ve been making it up as we go along.” He tucked his tongue into his cheek, a habit of his when he teased.

She snorted, finding that funny. “And you’re sure you have the room?”

“If not, the Tree will expand if we need it.”

“What!?” Her head snapped up. “It…it expands for you? No, no, don’t answer that. You wouldn’t have mentioned it, if it didn’t do it. Dammit, the Tree never expanded for me the entire time I lived there.”

“You are only one Nymph,” Oben pointed out.

Neak grumbled, kicked at the ground. “Still…”

He laughed. “Come on,” he flung his arm around her shoulders, “let’s get your things and settle you in.”

“You just want to get out of kitchen duty.”

“Always.”

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