Their opening didn't come that night or the next. Thalia accompanied them too closely to make any meaningful escape, though, in her nervousness, Elodie couldn't tell if it was because of a raised suspicion or pure coincidence. Elodie played her part to the best of her ability, going out to the forest and blathering stories laced with fear into her would-be instrument. She had nightmares of Oberon's cold sleep, that she would have a resting place prepared next to his. She heard gently ringing bells like a dirge welcoming her to an endless night. Blue butterflies flitted through the darkness and came to rest on a frozen Elodie in her dreams, and she found it hard to focus in the day from sleeplessness.

The dream always ended with clawed hands reaching through the darkness, yanking her body out of bliss and into a cold sweat.

One question lingered heavily in Elodie's anxiety-riddled mind: Why?

Why did Thalia mean to keep her trapped in the forest? If it was murder or some other violent delight, there had been ample time to make a move when she had been blissfully ignorant. Why hadn't something happened if Thalia was as ruthless as Fen claimed when extirpating outsiders in their forest?

The question would go unanswered, lost in the silent night air whistling past her as she rode on Fen's back out of the densest parts of the forest. On the third night since learning of Oberon and her tenth day since coming to the woods, Fen's paws pounded the dirt and roots as they absconded into a clear, starless night. Elodie clenched lavender and mint between her teeth and gripped the fur between his rippling shoulder blades so tightly her knuckles were white. He had chosen a lithe, canine form, sleek and slender for speed.

Even with their wards, roots, and ferns rose from the ground in lazy protest of their disturbance. They were no match for Fen, who had walked the forest for nearly as long as Thalia had and darted gracefully between leaves and vines.

While the newer sprites and pixies ignored them, the older spirits that moved through the ripples in the rivers and the trunks of the tallest trees began to heave themselves from their slumber. The boughs of the trees swayed overhead, leaning closer to see the commotion, passing the confusion from one tree to the next.

Finally, the forest opened up, and Elodie could see the boundary. She could see the great prairie expanses she had arrived, golden grasses dyed blue in the moonlight. Hope swelled in her chest as she saw several little motes of torchlight in the distance, beacons in an open blue sky. She clasped Fen tighter as she felt his pace increase, his paws thundering soundlessly across the ground.

There was a sudden motion in her periphery, and she felt a considerable weight slam her sideways. Fen yelped a bark as a hulking mass barreled over him and Elodie at a tremendous speed. They were separated and skidded into the dirt and leaves. Elodie spat the herbs out of her mouth, and when she finally pushed herself onto an arm, shapes began to form in the blur.

An elk with innumerable antler tines stomped holes into hyacinths to defend Thalia. Thalia paced to Fen with careful, selective steps and a disappointed look on their face. Although the gelert's form was enormous, they picked him up by the scruff as though he weighed no more than a puppy.

"It's very late," Thalia callously remarked. Fen snarled and snapped, but Thalia's grip was firm, and they kept him away at arm's length.

Behind the twosome, Elodie could see creatures of the forest gathering. Some looked on curious, but others had their heads lowered horns and teeth exposed.

The look on Thalia's face melted into placid pleasantness as they looked at Elodie, "I do love a hilarious late-night gab, though. I can't wait to hear what this is all about, Elodie, dear. Please, help me understand."

Elodie scrambled to her feet and ran, putting distance between her and the fairy queen.

Thalia sighed, and the forest opening closed. Tree limbs and rocks formed a blockade between her and the edge of the woods. Hope ebbed from Elodie as the forest border expanded out. The prairie was swallowed. Roots, bushes, and trees swelled like a lung, compressing and breathing.

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Thick blackberry vines restrained Elodie's legs. Her palms hit the dirt with stinging pain, and the wind knocked out of her chest from the sudden force.

"Come now," Thalia admonished, "Let's have a conversation, as orators ought to. Use your words."

Elodie felt an uncomfortable prickling sensation in her throat and realized magic was squeezing around her windpipe. "I know about Titania," Elodie blurted out. "And Oberon ... and .... and all of it!"

Thalia side-eyed Fen, who continued to choke, limbs flailing for any purchase on Thalia's person.

What they said next surprised Elodie. "You were bound to find out sooner or later." They placed Fen down carefully, and he collapsed, heaving as he inhaled gulps of air. Thalia clapped their hands together and offered an apologetic wink. "So I'm sorry for hoodwinking you. They call me a trickster, you know. It's a hurtful name, but I can't say it's inaccurate."

Frustration burned within Elodie as Thalia flippantly brushed the affair to the side. What she had once found charming in Thalia's playful behavior now twisted into a ruthless relentlessness.

Thalia is no match for my ice, her muse reminded her somberly.

"What do you need me for so badly?" Elodie spat through her frustration. Fen weakly lumbered to Elodie and began snapping the blackberry vines, freeing her legs.

"I've been lonely and need you to restore Oberon," Thalia moaned with a hollow tone. Then they filled with vim and vigor and chirped, "It's fun caging a little bird." More maniacally, they spat, "I need you to preserve the forest! The castle is hatching an evil plot only we can stop!" They put a hand over their face, only one eye visible between their fingers. "What reason will make you stay? What reason is good enough for companionship everlasting?"

"You can't do this, Thalia."

"Can't I?" Thalia stepped forward, their hands limp at their sides. "We orators have no limits."

Elodie scrambled back again, missing the calm swipe of Thalia's claws. Fen took the blow instead, and Elodie cried, "No!"

Having missed their attempt to grapple Elodie, Thalia frowned with further disapproval. "Stay still."

"I won't," Elodie declared, unsure where her bravery came from. "I'm sorry about Oberon, and I'm sorry about Titania too. But I'm not them, and keeping me here won't change that. I have people that are waiting for me. People that need me."

Fen, weak as he was, shielded Elodie with his body.

Thalia's face twisted in disgust, and the butterfly wings around them turned violent red, purple, and orange shades. "What out there can I not provide you, Elodie? Friendship, warmth?" Their body began to scintillate with small, powdery scales like that of an insect's wing. "Answers? Do you want to know where the other orators are? Who your muse is? Do you want the secrets to immortality? What is it, Elodie? What is enough for you?"

Elodie felt the tips of her fingers sparking with tiny, cold icicles, and she pushed the feeling deep down and out of sight. Not yet, she instructed her muse.

"I want to talk to Titania!" she called out.

The night air stilled.

"Titania is a memory," Thalia uttered, and for the first time, Elodie sensed trepidation in their voice. "Titania gave themself over to me."

"I don't think that's true." There was a fierce beam of light in Elodie's eyes like moonlight. It frightened Thalia. "Or you wouldn't have hidden this from me."

"They're gone!" Thalia roared like a cornered animal.

"They're trapped. Just like you're trying to trap me."

Thalia receded into the shadows of the trees until Elodie could only see the whites of their eyes and the vibrant, flapping wings on their head. Their voice rang out from the darkness, echoing and sad, "Is it so bad being here? You would choose a castle where they view you as a tool over a life of freedom with me?"

Elodie shook her head. "Thalia, I don't dislike you. You're my friend- in fact, I would wish to visit you very often if you'd let me. But this isn't my home. I told you when I came here- I have someone I need to help."

"So if I help this person, you'll stay?"

Elodie's hesitant silence and the slight shake of her head answered for her. It wasn't so simple as payment and exchange, and Elodie thought maybe that was why fairies had trouble being understood.

A look of hurt crossed their face, just a twitch of their eyebrows. Then, Thalia seemed to push the feeling aside, locking it deep away in the shadows as they darkly foretold, "In time, you'll come to love me too, little bird." Extending out of the shadows came lankier limbs, and fur sprouted from around their clavicle like an impenetrable shawl. They grew in size until they hunched over the bears at their side and growled, "Until then, I will hunt you to the ends of this world. I will find you wherever you stray, and I will bring you back to me."

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Fen grabbed Elodie and pulled her back in time as Thalia bared newly monstrous fangs, charging on all fours.