Free REALM'S END (BOOK OF FEY 1) by Jules Hancock

possible. It would not do to allow this innocent to be noticed by the ones who would use her life as an opportunity to destroy more of the Feys’ timeline.
                                                                              

Conspiracy
     
     
    Lindel sat in the outer chamber of the Great Rowan, happily drinking tea and writing up his notes from yesterday’s discussion with the Rowan. He came early every day, just to keep company with the great tree while her caregivers bustled about seeing to her health, busily caring for every bit of her bark, branch and root. He had long ago worn a smooth place in the roots the Rowan had bent into a table top so that he had somewhere to write up his notes. After her caregivers were finished seeing to her needs and had left for the day, he would see what the Rowan wanted to discuss, though he secretly hoped it would be more about the unwritten history of the realm. He wanted to capture that information so that it would be available to study by future generations of Fey scholars.
                     Briok landed on the flat white stone at the entrance into the great Rowan. The door, invisible to the naked eye, slid quietly open and he flew inside. Before him lay the great chamber, here, at the front of the chamber, Briok often stopped to admire the Rowan’s handiwork, for this room changed, just like the other rooms, as the Rowan’s whims changed. The chamber was so large, it was said one needed a guide in order to traverse the life and length of the Rowan if there was to be any hope of returning alive. He had never tried to travel those dark hallways, even looking on it as he did every morning sent quite a shiver up his spine. Today, however, he wasted no time looking at the freestyle expression the tree was capable of creating, instead he turned away from the silent filled chamber. Briok flew left for no more than one hundred yards, and stopped at the door that opened onto the study chamber. This door slid, silently open too. He flew in. Briok breathed a sigh of relieve. He loved nothing more than to be within the inner chambers of the Rowan. The tree exuded a very real sense of well-being and peace to all that entered, and the study chamber was no exception. The study room, though simple in its design, always left him with a sense of homecoming. While there were no outward manifestations of the Rowan’s creativity here, the close walls with their self-created light and the places to sit and write that formed themselves as needed from the tree’s inner cambium layer seemed to exude a relaxing sense of comfort, as well as function. Briok felt safe here.
         Lindel looked up as the door opened. “Ah son, I see you’re running late. Hand me the water, I want to be ready, when the Rowan is ready for me.”
         The excitement fell suddenly from Briok’s features. He had given the girl the water. His only job was to visit the sacred well each day and return with the healing water, so that while they worked together, the Rowan and his people communication could flow more easily. Momentarily hesitating he reached down to his waist; and pulled the corked bottle loose from the sling that held the bottle in place. Briok pulled the cork, and closing one eye, peered inside. He could make out a small shimmer of light. There was a small amount of water in the bottom of the flask. “Father I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I have only a small drink here.”
         Lindel looked up sharply. He wasn’t used to Briok making mistakes, so he was taken aback by this one, but it would not do to let himself become angry in front of the Rowan. She would not stand for that. “Bring it here and let’s see if there’s enough,” he said trying to tamp down his impatience.
         In the background tingling of laughter could be heard as Briok’s mistake went like wildfire through the ranks of