AS THE MASSIVE FIRE Raptor sneezed, a hurricane of fire blasted by her so narrowly that it set her right sleeve smouldering. Allory smacked the flame out immediately. “Excuse you!”

The Fire Raptor’s three sets of eyelids blinked separately, apparently an expression of surprise not unlike her own. “Whass isss yousss?”

“Scintillant Faerie. Name’s Allory.”

“Noss Dragonsss?”

“No, but I’m with one,” she said, more than relieved to divert the monster’s attention. “This is Yaarah.”

Well, nice work on throwing her companion neck-deep into the nectar soup there …

The Golden Purrmaine peered uncertainly out of the cave mouth as if his sense of well-founded fear had developed to a degree that utterly astounded him. Immediately, the Raptor repeated the inhalation experiment, forcing the Felidragon to brace himself with all four paws in order to avoid being sucked up like a furry dust particle. Once the gorgeous fur stopped waving about in the breeze, the Fire Raptor gave another rather dissatisfied snort and admitted in his thick accent that he had mistaken the little one for an egg stealer – but since he was also furry, he must of course know all about the problem!

“Of course not!” Yaarah huffed. “We are not all alike, mrrr-pssst, you know.”

“Iss furriiesss!”

“I am not – whatever you said! I’ve no interest in Raptor eggs and never have had any, so there!”

“Iss MORE furriiesss!” roared the other.

“Look, I don’t like being called a furry, and frankly, I’ll have you know that’s rather insulting in my culture –”

Allory groaned, “Yaarah! Not now.”

Wham! The Raptor slammed him against the rock face with a monstrous paw-swipe.

Skiss! Yaarah gave him the electrical shock treatment, strong enough that the larger Dragon’s paw spasmed and he lost his grip.

Everyone dived in different directions – Allory to avoid another muscular blow from the Raptor, Yaarah apparently to rescue her, and the Fire Raptor spun in pursuit of the Felidragon, terrifyingly quick for a creature of his dimensions. A spike smacked into her right flank so hard that speckles of light burst into her vision, but Allory found herself spinning slowly past a cavernous maw full of fangs fit to furnish a jail for dozens of Ripper Baboons at a time, when suddenly, her world came alight.

I didn’t break anything. I’m … lightning?

What the living sparkles had gone awry with her magic this time?

The Felidragon’s muzzle tilted slowly to follow her blazing flight. So did the Fire Raptor’s head. The pair of them collided with one another … Yaarah fell hard, stunned. A black paw trapped him in an instant, so huge that it engulfed the golden neck and shoulders. Allory shot around several spikes with a butterfly’s lightness of manoeuvring, seeing her friend’s eyes starting to bulge as the Raptor brought down all of his massive tonnage upon his neck …

“Stop!” she howled. “Let him go!”

To everyone’s everlasting surprise, the monstrous black and crimson Raptor arrested his disastrous downward pressure as if time had handily taken a brief break from forcing him to do anything rash.

Yaarah squirmed free, touching his jaw as if not quite convinced it was still attached to the rest of his body. He should have been dead, crushed by the behemoth. Instead, he watched as the Scintillant flew unsteadily up toward the Fire Raptor, deliberately staying in his line of sight.

Living nightmare? No problem.

Clearly, she was far too foolish to act upon the reality of her terror.

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Softly, she said, “I will not pretend to understand, friend Fire Raptor, but I will tell you that my entire family was abducted only several weeks ago. I share the pain of your loss. Now, how may we serve you?”

* * * *

Not her finest moment. Allory bit her lip. Hard. “Suggids! Sorry. So sorry for the insult.”

The Golden Purrmaine produced a hissing, spitting caterwaul of disgruntlement. Turning his back upon her, he muttered that he would be getting some sleep and was not to be disturbed.

No. Comparing him to the Fire Raptor had not been kind. Perhaps this growing freedom she sensed had introduced itself to her tongue in the worst possible way – but neither had Yaarah been in a less than peppery mood after the Raptor had departed, very late, having spent a further hour talking with Allory alone while the Golden Purrmaine refused to have anything more to do with the evil beast. Nice strop, Yaarah. Nice wagging with the waspish tongue, Allory.

No furry blanket for her this night.

After briefly debating the merits of a sandy patch with a pebble for a pillow – a far cry from the comforts of a home cocoon and the luxury of soft, silky azure Faesilk bedding in a hammock slung from the ceiling – the Scintillant settled inside her new travel tube and closed the top over herself. One-snap safety.

Snap?

Snap … remember?

She dropped without warning into a lucid memory.

A strong hand twisted her wrist painfully. “Shut your sap! Shut it!”

“Dadfae, I – you’re hurting me.”

“I don’t care. I’ve had enough. Heard enough,” he slurred. “Where is it, you wretched titch? Where? What are you keeping from me?”

“Dadfae!”

“Jahruzan –”

“Get off me, wifae! Get off, I’m warning you.”

In the near-full darkness of the cocoon, Allory could just make out her parents’ faces. Her Dadfae leaned over her hammock, his thick fingers intwined in her little ones. So much stronger than her. His sweat had a strange tang of acid to it, like the chanubi-vine sap used for cleaning weapons.

“You’re hurting Allory. Please stop.”

“Hurting her? Hurting? You want to see hurting?” His grip tightened agonisingly. “I am your father. How dare you disobey me? I know you have it –”

“Please, Jahruzan,” her Momfae begged.

Squeaky with fright, Allory begged, “Please, please don’t fight again – I’ll be good, I promise. I’ll try harder.”

When a blue hand touched her Dadfae’s arm, his fist swung in a short arc. Zhilmory cried out, clutching her lip as she fell aside.

A strange, dark light entered her Dadfae’s eyes as he gazed first at his wifae and then at his whimpering daughter. Snarling in a dreadful fury, he brought his other hand over. Allory did not understand what he was doing, not until agonising pain shot through her fingers. Snap! The second digit hung at an unnatural angle.

“That’ll give you something real to snivel about, you pathetic wretch,” he growled, before smiling an eerie, twisted smile down at her. “Can’t believe I fathered a grub like you. Let this be a lesson.”

Allory clutched the broken finger, unable even to cry. The pain was so intense that her body somehow seemed to shut the nerves down.

Her Dadfae stumbled out, moving as if his head did not quite know where his feet were. After a moment, she heard the night watch-Fae greeting him with concern, but he snarled something and continued out of the colony into the surrounding jungles. Dangerous, in his state. She worried for him so much. Pitied him. Hate-loved him.

Why did he have to be my Dadfae?

Zhilmory knelt beside her. “I’m so sorry, little blossom. I’m sorry … sorry for so many things. We’re broken. Just a drop of bad sap in the family, that’s all. Let me … let me tuck you in.”

As her well-loved hands tucked the Faesilk blankets around that frail little body, Allory put both her hands around her Momfae’s back, despite the pain, and hugged her gently. “It’s alright. I love you, Momfae.”

Tears streamed down Zhilmory’s cheeks. Huge, fat, lucent tears. Allory had never seen her Momfae cry like this before, like all the rivers of all the jungle cenotes rose within her at once. It frightened her more even than her Dadfae’s actions.

“He’s … impossible,” her Momfae gasped. “He’s always been a bit … a bit darksap and edgy, but lately, I don’t know that manfae anymore, I swear. He’s cruel, so uncaring. He keeps drinking that – you don’t need to worry about him, my babyfae. What you need to know is that your Momfae loves you to Middlesun and back, and that I will protect you. It’s not your fault, Allory, do you know that?”

She shook her tiny antennae.

“It’s not your fault you were born the way you are. None of this is your fault. Xertiona says that the weak things of the world are born to teach the strong the true nature of empathy and love, and that you will do great and marvellous deeds … she says you’re special. Are you special, Allory?”

“No, Momfae. I’m just … just little me, Allory Fae.”

Zhilmory clasped her close. “I know you are. Let me splint that finger for you. This might hurt, my precious babyfae …”

If I could, I’d wish a flower of forgiveness into her heart. She needs it so much more than – oh!

A Faeling’s eyes flew wide in wonder. For the briefest of instants, between her hands which clasped her mother’s back beneath her wing clusters, azure radiance bloomed. From each of her fingertips, tiny flowers shaped like tubular bells, which played notes so high-pitched that Allory could barely hear them, budded and then slipped away into her mother’s body.

What?

Her mother stretched lithely and giggled with shocking freedom. “There, doesn’t a hug make everyone’s sap that much fizzier?”

Double-what?

When she splinted the finger, it hardly hurt at all. Make that treble-what with a dollop of sparkly nectar on top!

For the first time since she could remember, Allory fell asleep smiling.