Free The Great Tree of Avalon by T. A. Barron

help me learn the ways of the Order, you mean.”
    “Exactly, my child.” Coerria’s eyes suddenly brightened. “Which is why I’ve chosen the best possible person to teach you—and, I dare say, to learn from you.”
    Lleu bowed his head. “I’d be honored.”
    But Coerria shook her head. “Not you, my son. The person I choose for Elliryanna’s mentor is . . .” She spun to face the wax-splattered priestess. “You, Llynia.”

5 • Green with Envy
    Out of my sight, you worthless wretch!”
    Llynia shoved Elli through the wooden gate in the fence surrounding the Baths, three natural hot-spring pools whose waters had been restored by orders of the Elders. Just for today. And just for Llynia.
    She took a kick at Elli’s backside for good measure. And though her kick missed its target, her words did not: “Think you had it rough before, do you? Just wait until I’m done. Ha! Then you’ll really know what it’s like to be a slave.”
    Elli bit her tongue as she walked across the Baths, the harp on her back jangling roughly. She strode right past the three steaming pools, the rising clouds of lavender-scented mist, the fragrant candles burning everywhere, the lush ferns and flowering vines. But she didn’t notice any of it, nor even the glittering stars above—all the brighter now that starset had happened. Only when she neared the waterfall at the far end did she stop to take in her surroundings.
    For at the very top of the waterfall, seated in a cloud of spray, was Nuic. He looked almost like a cloud of spray himself, but for the deep purple eyes that were watching her.
    “Hmmmpff. Took you long enough to get here.”
    Elli scowled, but not at his typical gruffness. “She made me fold all her clothes—piles and piles of them, the ones she’ll be taking on her big journey. Then she came over, dumped everything on the ground, and made me do it all over again.”
    Her fists clenched. “It’s been just two days since she became my so-called mentor, and it feels more like two years. By the elbows of the Elders, Nuic! I can’t take this much longer.” She swung at a lavender-tinted curl of mist that was floating by. “Why did Coerria ever do this to me? I thought she liked me.”
    “Hmmmpff.” Nuic’s colors shifted through his vaporous form, leaving unchanged only his purple eyes and the tuft of green hair common to all pinnacle sprites. “Maybe she has her reasons.”
    “And maybe I’ll turn into a pink-eyed giant!” she yelled in exasperation.
    “Hush, you wretch!” rang Llynia’s command. “Stay back there by the waterfall. And stay silent. I’ll call you when I need you for my facial.”
    Elli just nodded. But her hazel green eyes narrowed, as if she’d just made up her mind about something. Nuic noticed her expression . . . but decided not to ask what it meant.
    Meanwhile, a large cloud of steam billowed up from the first pool. Llynia had just climbed into the hot, steaming water—and for her, right now, Stoneroot’s months-long drought seemed just a misty memory.
    “Ahhhhh,” she sighed, as she sank down into the hot water. This was the first bath she’d taken since before last summer—and the first triple-pool herbal bath she’d taken in her life. First would come the cleansing pool, where she was now; then the water-massage pool; then, finally, the relaxation pool. And all this was thanks to what had happened yesterday at the Council of the Elders. In all her scheming and plotting in advance of the meeting, she’d never dreamed that things would have worked out so well.
    But now . . . time to enjoy the bath. She’d felt better right away, as soon as she had removed her greenish brown robe— far too simple a garb for the Chosen One, but just another one of Coerria’s insults that Llynia was forced to endure.
    For a while, at least. Her time of triumph was swiftly approaching.
    “Open those spigots! All of them!” she commanded the pair of winged faeries at the edge of the