She could hear it already. The angry queries. Panicked demands.

It’s the water. What is wrong with it? How did every well in town turn foul? How would we make meals? Launder or wash? What will we drink?!

Alyce shuddered, pinching the moonstone tightly between her fingers.

A singular wrong well was not so strange, but this was like an act of —

Sorcery.

Though it was all unconsciously done, her magic was at fault.

Dropping the crystal back into the safety of her pocket, Alyce wrapped her hands around folded arms as she trudged toward the manor well.

The people will want her sent away. They will fret over her unpredictability, her lack of control. And even once she studied and learned, they will look at her as a mage. Like every Chapel mage that had ever visited Neburh. An individual desiring payment for sharing their abilities.

“What a charming garden you have here.”

Hollis had stopped to crouch by the lavender garden, her wandering fingers grazing the purple flower stalks. Then she drew in a deep breath, her chestnut face glowing in delight.

“Even a whiff of these eases the mind. Soothes whatever rumination one might have.” She turned her head to look at Alyce and flashed a disarming smile. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

The maid blushed, dropping her hands to her sides. “How did you know?”

The woman chuckled, waving for Alyce to join her. “I have taught other students besides Kytes and after a while, you begin to recognize the signs when young people are bothered. Is this your garden?”

Carefully arranging her skirts to avoid wrinkling the fabrics, Alyce knelt down. “Baroness Síle’s. She adored lavender very much and grew them to use in the manor. For oils, soaps, sachets for the dressers — .” Without realizing, a reminiscent smile touched her lips. “By our pillows.”

Hollis brought her nose to the flowers again. “Ah, for good dreams?”

Seeing a stray stalk bending lower than its companions, Alyce lifted a supporting finger under it. “Yes, Haddie told me that I had a lot of nightmares as a child and the smell of lavender helped me sleep longer.”

“Quite the rustic witch, your baroness. Most people would have looked for a runic talisman to aid with poor sleep. Using herbs is slower, although equally effective with time and patience.” Propping her chin atop entwined fingers, she called out. “Little nymph, your garden is flourishing quite well.”

In the silence that followed, Alyce realized too late that the praise wasn’t for her, but something her eyes couldn’t perceive. She snatched her hand away from the shrub. “There’s a what?”

“Well, don’t do that, you might hurt her feelings.” Hollis scolded, though she wore an amused expression. “To everything natural, plant, water, breeze, there is always a nymph watching over it. She might be small and budding or powerful and ancient, her happiness revealed by the health of her natural surroundings.” She tapped on the silver drop on her earlobe. “Although, there is one other way to check if a nymph resides here…”

From the direction of the kitchen, a door squealed open and footsteps trampled down the wooden steps.

Grinning, Hollis proclaimed loudly. “Perhaps you might try sensing the nymph’s state for us, Kytes?”

Footfalls grinding to a halt, Kytes warily looked between the two women. “What are you planning?”

“The water’s changed, which I’m sure you are equally aware of.” Hollis scanned her student’s presentation up and down. “Heavens Kytes, the morning’s quite cold, where is your coat?”

There was a wavering in Kytes’ eyes before he raised his shoulders in an indifferent shrug. He had chosen to remain in the same black linen shirt and trousers he wore the night before.“I’m perfectly fine without it.”

“Hmph, he says that,” Hollis told Alyce pointedly. “Because he possesses a core made of fire, which we’ll need for what we’re about to do.” She groaned, rising to her feet. “I’m thinking we need a circle around the well there, Kytes. And Colleen, please ask the flower nymph for a clipping of lavender.”

“Ask?” Baffled, Alyce looked from Hollis’ retreating back to the garden. Flowering violet flowers adorning long green stems, the floral mounds were still and unmoving. “How do I ask?”

A folded pocket knife slipped into her peripheral. “Like how you normally would when you need a favor,” Kytes said. “It’s a bit like talking to yourself, except something might be listening.”

Alyce’s unmistakable grimace invited a chuckle from him.

“Well, if I put it that way, that does sound a bit frightening,” he admitted. “It’s courtesy really, since we’re taking something.”

“But I’ve taken flowers, berries, apples, all sorts of things before, all without asking!” Alyce divulged in fierce whispers. “How many nymphs have I offended by not asking beforehand when I had to prune or use things for decorations…”

Kytes grinned at Alyce’s frantic dismay. “Most nymphs really don’t care about what’s taken, as long as you don’t kill the plant itself.”

“And if I had accidentally killed plants?”

“Then they will find other plants to foster with their sisters until new ones are planted,” he assured her. “Nymphs are actually very forgiving. Mankind would be in greater trouble if they lamented over accidents. Although…”

Alyce noticed his face darken, his smile faltering before he shrugged it aside. “A lavender clipping,” he reminded her casually, presenting the knife again. “If you wish, share with her what you intend to do with it.”

Taking the offered knife, she admitted. “I feel a bit silly doing this.”

“Then we can be silly together.” Kytes crouched down to the shrub’s level and raised a fist an inch from his forehead. “We’ll be taking a few sprigs to share with Neburh’s well nymphs.”

Following his example, Alyce lowered her head and closed her eyes. “Please, it’s because I transformed the water into something awful by accident and I need their help to change it back.”

A delicate floral aroma, reassuring and soft, teased at her nose, reminding her of the lavender sachet. She screwed her eyelids tighter before easing them open.

”That was rather heartfelt.” Kytes remarked, watching her with a fascinated gaze. “Most people, mages included, would have said their part and taken what they needed already.”

“You said to share my intention.”

“I did. I also said ‘most people’.” His eyes crinkled. “You are curious, Colleen. And I do mean that as a compliment.”

Unsure how to accept the compliment, she shook her head and ventured into the lavender shrubs. Having learned proper care for the plants, she made sure her cuts were a few inches above the wooden stalks so new growth could begin at the shortened greens. After retrieving a handful of flowering stems, she returned the knife to Kytes and they returned to the well where Hollis waited.

Leaning comfortably against the stone wellhead, Hollis had been watching the interaction between student and maid, her sharp eyes flitting back and forth with thoughtful intrigue. Upon seeing their turn and approach, she smiled and raised a listless hand toward her left.

“East would be that way, Kytes.”

Whatever that meant, clearly the mage boy understood. He opened the pouch at his belt and began rummaging through it while walking toward the mentioned ‘east’. After reaching his appointed destination, Kytes raised an enclosed hand to his chest in what looked to be a prayer before dropping something in the grass. Then he took several large strides to his right and proceeded with the same ritual at a different spot.

“He’s creating a circle for us.” Hollis explained, noting Alyce’s studying her student. “As mages go, runic fire mages create the best circles.”

Tilting her head, Alyce asked. “What is a circle?”

Hollis traced the air with her pointed finger. “A safe space that keeps our magic doings in and unwanted elements out. For experienced mages, we use them before casting powerful spells. But for novices, every spell acts like great magic, wild and unpredictable. With a circle, we can guide you safely, preventing mishaps from leaking out and affecting things it shouldn’t.” She spread her arms wide.” I don’t suppose you see a nymph here?”

Alyce’s blue gray eyes darted to and fro as she tried to perceive anything out of the ordinary. “I don’t understand. I saw the nymph as clearly as I see you now. Shouldn’t I be able to see other water nymphs?”

Hollis raised another singular finger in front of her. “It’s to do with your focus. I don’t suppose the cistern was a comfortable place for you?”

Alyce shook her head fervently. “Absolutely not.”

“Indeed. Damp and lonely, with haunted tales of its own. As to all uncomfortable environments, people become more aware of their surroundings, every sense more keen. The same is true with the magic we harbor. When we’re afraid or alert, our awareness of the affinity we’re born with heightens.” She tucked a hand at Alyce’s elbow and beckoned her to follow. “But when the perceived danger passes, our innate wariness laxes and our senses return to the norm.”

Alyce was led to where Kytes first began his walkaround. Underneath a cluster of puffy dandelions laid a hailstone, its slate blue center radiating grey then brimming the edges a frosty white. Perplexed at the sight of ice before winter’s arrival, she peered closer.

“It’s a crystal,” she whispered in awe, noticing the lack of moisture around the stone.

“A celestite, a crystal well associated with the element of air.” Hollis pointed in three other directions, perfectly angled apart. “ And to each cardinal point, Kytes will place a different crystal, as acknowledgment to the four quarters and the four elements that are Thyis’ daughters.”

A few steps from the celestite, Alyce found a crystal with jagged edges, its color reminding her of the amber liquid spirits the baron kept hidden away in his office. The next stone was a polished moss green with spiralling fern-like white streaks underneath its surface. The last crystal was still in Kytes’ possession, but when he opened his hand, she recognized its opalescent sheen, a crystal identical to the moonstone in her pocket.

Kytes tucked it carefully on a tuft of grass before exchanging a worried look with his teacher. “I’ll raise the walls now. You should turn away, Colleen.”

Alyce swallowed, flashes of inflamed skin vivid in her mind. “You’re doing the thing.”

Hurt glazed his eyes before Kytes nodded.

“I — I didn’t mean to —.”

“Yes, runic things.” Hollis murmured, promptly spinning Alyce away. “Let us pay a greeting to the well nymph, hm?”

It was only when they arrived at the well did Alyce whisper to the woman. “Doesn’t it hurt him?”

The corners of Hollis’ thin lips twitched before she answered. “It is how it is, a runic mage invokes spells by writing on their mortal bodies because their power lives from within. That is one of the ways to draw it out.”

Lowering her head, Alyce set the lavender on top of the wellhead. “So it does hurt.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

A hand laid itself on top of Alyce’s. “Kytes values what his powers can do to help others above what it does to him.” Albeit sadly, Hollis smiled. “That mindset is why he is considered powerful at his age and he is very proud of it. That student of mine — loves magic.”

Azure blue danced at the corners of Alyce’s vision and she looked up in time to see a veil of shimmering light streak clockwise around them in the order of each crystal set. Where the crystals laid was the extent of the glittering wall, the illumination shining and climbing above their heads, shielding them within a dome. Alyce glanced back at Kytes. Surrounded by his own creation, he had become a dark silhouette against a sea of brilliant blue, his one singular hand holding the tell tale occult glow.

As the first quarter of light reached the top, the light pulsed once from azure to snowy-white then twinkled away from view. The second burst was a citrine orange, melting away into noon’s sunlight.

It’s the same color as those crystals, Alyce realized, watching verdant green light dissipate into a glimmering mist.

The final quarter flourished high above and struck the pinnacle of the circle’s dome. Instead of shifting the blue radiance into a singular color, the light rained into a myriad of soft purples, pink, greens, and blues. Mystified, enchanted, Alyce couldn’t stop a gasp from escaping, her eyes bright with wonder as she watched the colorful constellations flicker from view.

Turning in time with the light’s fading, Alyce backed into the wellhead and her hands touched the well’s side stones. As if entering the cold water below, a tingling sensation raced up her fingers and she lurched out of her wonderment, whirling about and unintentionally shrieked.

Embracing Alyce by the shoulders, Hollis comforted the girl. “I forgot to mention that senses also become more keen inside a circle as well. Did you see something?”

Alyce forced herself to look at the well. “No, but I felt something touch my hand. It’s — .” She abruptly paused, shocked by her own realization. “It’s happened before. Many times. Whenever I visit the wells, I mean.”

Hollis chuckled, patting Alyce’s back.. “We’re in luck then. The nymphs here like you very much, Colleen. Although, perhaps try not to scream when you do see them.” She dragged the girl’s hands back on the wellhead.

Alyce resumed shivering, uneasy at the constant chilling flow fizzling up her arms. A shoulder lightly bumped into hers and Kytes laid his unmarked hand on the well, his other with the arcane sigil tucked away from view.

“A happiness not my own,” he murmured thoughtfully, peering over the well’s edge before explaining to Alyce. “It’s rare to feel a nymph’s delight, I’m usually experiencing the opposite side of that.”

“You can sense other nymphs?” Alyce asked shakily.

“Only when they have strong emotions, like anger, grief, and in this case, genuine happiness. She’s bubbling with so much of it, I feel — well, I know it's not my own feelings.” He let out an embarrassed laugh. “But she has a lot to share.”

“It’s not common but some mages have the luxury of sensing nymphs from different affinities. Has to do with their familial traits, a cross of elements.” Hollis winked at Kytes. “It’s not as magnificent as it sounds, more inconvenient than anything. So much self discipline is required to separate a person’s own feelings and a nymph’s. Without it, they would act upon the nymph’s like a possession. Remember, Kytes?”

“Years ago, leave off,” he growled through gritted teeth.

“It was, he was at a turbulent age then,” Hollis continued agreeably, spying Alyce’s shoulders easing. “Close your eyes, Colleen. We’ll need all your senses to be at peace before we start.”

Alyce obediently complied, then her forehead wrinkled as she clamped her eyes shut harder. Though her vision darkened, she could still perceive the afternoon’s warm yellow through the inside of her lids.

A firm finger pressed against her forehead. “Relax. Your brows included.” Hollis’ command held a smile. “Let’s focus your attention on breaths and I shall guide you when to inhale, hold, and release.”

The first five counts were the easiest. Alyce allowed her chest to slowly swell with air. It was refreshing, her nose catching the delicate waft of lavender, reminding her that it had been placed on the wellhead.

The second few counts she was told to hold her breath. At first it was a simple task before she felt the air beginning to compress against the walls of her throat, striking a desire in her to cough.

The third count to exhale was music to her ears and it took all of Alyce’s willpower to not spit the breath out and clutch for fresh air. Unbeknownst to her, her fingers began to slack against the wellhead.

The count began again and she gratefully drew in her next breath, slower now to match the pace and knowing what the instructions would be like. Hollis’ voice was soothing, hypnotic, beckoning Alyce to think of nothing else but obey the steady drone. The maid complied, happily settling into the rhythm. In. Hold. Out. She grew unaware that after a short while, Hollis ceased speaking.

Then she felt the enclosed walls but Alyce barely startled at the obstruction. She acknowledged that it was there, feeling herself trail against the invisible barrier.

“Alyce.”

She welcomed Hollis’ return.

“Do you remember what we were here to do?”

Alyce giggled, knocking against the wall again before ebbing away. “No.”

With an amused hum, the melodic voice reminded her. “We need the well nymph to change the water back.”

“I need to speak to a nymph.” She recalled her request like a distant memory.

“Good, you remember. The nymph is in the circle with us. When you next exhale, imagine yourself sending a wave out.”

Her current breath was patiently brewing in her lungs. Alyce released it, feeling each ripple skate across what felt like a calmed pool. Like the lake in my dreams, she mused before subsequently forgetting the recollection when her waves struck farther invisible walls and blue glimmers streaked across her closed vision. Then some of the ripples broke around a hindrance with a quiet slosh, encircling and feeling its shape. Before Alyce could wonder about the form, there was a splashing noise and her waves were sent back, as if being playfully pushed away.

“I found something.”

Warmth touched the space between her eyes. “Come back then.” Kytes’ voice ordered from what seemed like her left. “You did well to find your inner peace, now you need to open your eyes.”

His voice held less sway than Hollis’ but before she could retract, the heat grew a notch warmer.

“Alyce.”

“But it’s nice here,” she protested.

“You can come back here at a different time,” he assured her. “I’ll help you again.”

In her lax state, Alyce’s words slipped out with little consideration. “Why not stay here with me?”

The warmth traveled to the side of her face, much hotter than before. “Because we need you to come back to the present.”

The realization of a hand being pressed against her cheek wrenched Alyce out of the trance, her eyes fluttering open. Her head had been turned up and she became keenly aware of Kytes’ proximity. Then he sighed in relief and released her.

“She attunes to her powers well,” he told Hollis, who was standing behind her student. “Too well.”

“But her mortal soul likes fire’s light, at least enough that she followed it back. Hello Colleen.” She smiled at the blushing girl. “Shall we take a look at the well now?”

A cool touch caressed the back of her hand and Alyce froze, her flushing cheeks paling. The two Sanctus mages were visibly before her yet the gentle sensation continued, tapping for her attention. Reminding herself not to scream, she peeked to her right.

She blinked, her eyes drinking in the cloudless cerulean sky sparkling only a few inches away from her nose. Bewildered, Alyce pulled back a fraction. The being was of a feminine shape, her skin an earthy tan with a thin coat of graphite speckling across her hands and feet. She melded so seamlessly with the wellhead that Alyce would have believed the figure was carved of the same material. Pressed against the nymph’s lithe body was a translucent dress-like semblance, which offered little coverage, though it was her wavy mahogany locks that provided the most decency.

“You’re —.” Alyce latched her gaping mouth closed, before whispering. “You’re beautiful.”

A smile lit on the nymph’s perfect lips, clearly pleased with the compliment.

“I take it that you see her?” Hollis asked, resting a hand on Alyce’s shoulder. “Beautiful, you say?”

“Well, she’s completely…naked.” Her cheeks warmed again upon admitting the crude observation.

“Yes, they tend to be.”

The nymph sidled closer and Alyce lifted a hand to touch the spirit then recoiled a fraction, worried her action would be found rude. The nymph’s face brightened and she quickly claimed the extended hand, sending a shocking surge up Alyce’s arm. It was refreshing, waking every nerve in the maid’s body. An experience she would have every morning when she visited this particular manor’s well.

“It’s you,” Alyce exclaimed, her eyes beginning to water.

Pressing Alyce’s hand against her chest, the nymph began to sway to and fro. Despite her initial unease with the spirit’s nudity, Alyce could not bring herself to pull away. Instead, she began to feel a hum at the base of her fingertips where it touched the nymph’s smooth skin. The whir reverberated like a song, with vibrations rising and falling. The nymph closed her crystal clear eyes, smiling, humming, happily chattering though no audible note could be heard.

A rogue tear trickled down Alyce’s face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. There seemed to be so much the nymph was saying yet she couldn’t understand a single word.

The nymph’s eyes opened and Alyce felt a pulse against a singular little finger.

“She’s worried about you,” Kytes’ voice murmured near her ear.

The same crystal blue abruptly flicked to regard the boy behind Alyce. Recalling the near identical reaction the cistern nymph portrayed, Alyce grabbed Kytes’ arm.

“He’s my friend.” The nymph returned her attention to the maid. “They both are. They’re helping me because I – I did something to you.”

The nymph’s eyes softened and another trill tickled her palm, prompting Alyce to continue

“I had a horrible bout of emotions yesterday. I was afraid, confused – angry too – and now I’m back to frightened. You see, I’ve turned the water bitter.” She looked toward the well’s depths. “I don’t know how I did it but every well here and in the castle town, it’s all gone wrong. Because of me…”

The nymph patiently listened, her facial features so serene that Alyce feared the spirit didn’t understand.

“I — I don’t know if you can turn the water back,” she admitted hopelessly. “Undo my mistake. Water is important to us, for our livelihoods, and I don’t want the people to suffer the quality of it any longer because of me.”

There was a light squeeze at her hand and the nymph leaned forward, placing her own mottled hand against Alyce’s chest where her heart laid.

‘And you?’

Alyce startled. It wasn’t a hum or pulse, she heard a sound in her head. Words that formed ripples against the edge of a pool.

“I’m fine now. I have –.” She looked up at Kytes then noticed the small audience that had gathered at the circle’s edges. Bea had warned Alyce that the baron needed to be informed of the waters and it was clear Haddie had already delivered their findings to Connall. Seeing her two sister maids, her lord and young son, Alyce wavered. “I have —.”

“They care alot about you.” Kytes said softly. He had followed Alyce’s drifting attention. “No matter what has happened, they only wish the best for you. You are very beloved, Alyce.”

Heat blossomed at her cheeks and she nodded. “Friends. And family. They will help me.” She showed the nymph the gifted moonstone. “Have been helping me. And I will be more careful as to not hurt you, or any of the other nymphs, in the future.”

The nymph’s eyes wandered to look at Kytes, Hollis, then the spectators before she nodded, slipping from her seat at the wellhead’s edge. With an elegant flourish, she beckoned the girl to follow, tracing the outer stones as she walked around the well. Suppressing her uncertainty, Alyce echoed the nymph’s pathing, her own fingers grazing against the well’s rough texture. Thin pattering rose quietly into a gradual storm from deep within the well, like raindrops from a brief summer rain, but only within the well’s inner brick casing. It was then that the nymph began to hum again, her voice a quiet melodic rumble, audibly babbling out from the deep chamber she touched.

Twirling once, the nymph grabbed for Alyce’s hand, entangling their fingers together and luring the maid into a skip, another twirl, and a hop. Having forgotten the audience still present, the girl eagerly followed suit, enjoying how light each step felt, the cooling rush in her veins as she danced. She delighted in the sun’s beams skimming heat across her hair, skin, dress. The beautiful spirit looked back once then her low song sweetly waned. Halting to a stop, Alyce saw the nymph smile before she was enticed into another spin and upon completing the whirl, the maid saw the nymph no more.

“She’s gone!” Alyce gasped, reality settling back.

“The nymphs do that sometimes, escaping out of our ability to perceive them. But I do believe she’s gone to do what you asked.” Hollis patted the girl on the back. “How was it? Dancing with a nymph?”

Alyce blushed. “That was silly of me, wasn’t it?”

“You weren’t given a choice, Colleen,” Hollis said wryly, fun twinkling behind her spectacles. “And you haven’t the training to refuse, but at least she was kind enough to return you to us. Shall we check to see if the water’s changed back?”

Alyce eagerly complied, drawing up a fresh pail of water. Pouring a small amount into her hand, she tasted it. Sweet and crisp, a burst of energy greeted her tongue.

“It’s normal,” she whispered happily.

Hollis tried the water and nodded. “Wonderful. It might even be better than before. One more breath in, Colleen, and a slow exhale.”

As she inhaled, the edges of her vision blurred, then she felt something flow out and beyond her reach, her waves no longer hindered in their pathing. Kytes had gone to collect his crystals and upon retrieving the celestite, he was immediately intercepted by Bea and Haddie.

A weight slammed into Alyce and she looked down to find Ryles clutching at her skirts.

“You were dancing and there were stars all around!” the child said, pointing excitedly at where the circle once was.

Alyce blinked. “There were?”

Ryles nodded vigorously and sighed. “It was beautiful.”

“You momentarily drew water from the air and earth, a result of the casting,” Hollis explained before bowing courteously at Connall. “My lord, I know we said to talk about magic and Alyce tomorrow but –.”

“I asked for the Esphyrs’ help.” Alyce rushed to defend Hollis. “I found out about the water and I simply couldn’t wait. It’s as you said. I need to be taught.”

“And you are alright?” The baron only looked at the maid, worry evident in his stance.

Connall’s voice echoed the well nymph’s earlier inquiry, drawing tears to Alyce’s eyes.

You are very beloved, Alyce.

“Yes,” she answered. “And it was wonderful.”