Free The Steward by Christopher Shields Page A

possibly think we would expect you, or your ancestors, to act as Steward without a Fae guide, can you?”
    “No, that wouldn’t make much sense.” Honestly, I had no idea what would make sense at that point.
    His face changed, becoming more solid and less cartoonish. “You do not fully understand or appreciate the Weald Fae yet. And that is not your fault, as you only just arrived. After you experience all four seasons, you will understand the Weald and that it is a gift in and of itself.”
    Like the sound of harp strings being plucked, I heard a laugh from behind me. As I turned, I saw her standing at the entrance.
    “Good morning, Sara,” Devin said.
    “Good morning. I see our young Maggie has completed the Earth trial.” Sara turned to me. “Most impressive. May will be delighted to know she has such a worthy successor. I imagine your mind is filled with a sundry of questions?”
    “Yes, ma’am. I have several, but I’m not sure where to start.”
    Sara smiled at Devin. “I think she is ready to see now.”
    Devin nodded, and turned his pleasant, glowing face toward me.
    “See what?” I asked after looking at both of them.
    “This!” Sara said.
    In an instant she turned into a glowing orb, about a foot in diameter and so bright the entire room lit up for a moment. The brightness dissipated, but the colors became more vibrant. It looked like a spotlight shining through a kaleidoscope filled with every imaginable color. The beauty of it overwhelmed me. I had never seen anything so spectacular. Devin, too, changed into an orb equally as beautiful. I noted a difference, though: while Devin emitted what looked like every color possible, he was more green and orange, while Sara was more blue and lavender than anything else.
    All around me, the walls of the cave changed. In just moments, everything radiated light. Even my body, my watch and my clothes emitted a faint light. Nothing appeared solid or fixed. Everything had an almost malleable quality—one layer shimmering below another, but all connected.
    “This is your realm?”
    “Yes and no,” Sara’s voice rang through my ears. “This is not our realm , as you call it, but this is as close to our natural existence as you can currently get. In the past, we taught humans to travel into our world, but the technique has largely been forgotten.”
    “Will I learn to do this on my own—to visit your world?”
    “That we do not know.”
    “Devin is correct, Maggie. The journey is before you but it contains many different paths, options if you will, that lead to different destinations. The direction you take and the places you visit are largely up to you. You may learn to visit us.”
    “So, is this your natural form?”
    “You are seeing a facsimile of our natural form—a projection designed for your senses so that you can understand how we experience the world in our natural state,” Devin said.
    “It’s simply stunning.” I felt a bit awkward, honestly. Visually it captivated me, but I didn’t have the words to describe it. An awkward silence slipped over me, because I feared that anything I said would sound idiotic. For a moment I considered just how wrong Hollywood had it, and wondered if its portrayal of fairies was insulting. “Does it bother you … well … you know … Tinkerbell?” I asked.
    Sara answered, “Tinkerbell is as much our fault as anyone’s, I’m afraid.”
    “Your fault?” It caught me off guard and I laughed.
    Sara transformed in front of me. What had been an orb, just moments before, quickly took the form of a body—a small body no bigger than a doll. Sara, her face unmistakable, changed into the classic image of a fairy that I’d always attributed to Peter Pan . She had tiny gossamer wings on her back just like I knew there should be.
    “This is what Devin said—you’re getting the image from my thoughts.”
    “Yes.” Her voice seemed too big for the sylph body. “This is now what most people associate with