“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
Cordelia walked to the patch of swaying flowers, noting how a breeze turned them one way and then another in a path toward a tree. If she didn’t live here, Cordelia would assume that it was in fact the wind, but it was the path of pixies running to safety so that they were not stepped upon. Then she bent down and picked up the blue ribbon she recognized from leaving it on the path only a few days earlier. She did not know why they left it here. Had they rejected her offering or was it left behind for another reason?
“Because of this.” She held the ribbon for Ianthe to see.
“A ribbon?” The child frowned. Did she not know about pixies?
“There is no reason for a ribbon to be here if not left by a pixie,” Cordelia assured her. “Come stand here, for if this area is preferred by pixies, it is special.” Cordelia didn’t know that for certain, but she also knew that if Ianthe believed it to be true, it might serve to help calm her.
With a heavy sigh, Ianthe pulled herself up from the ground and walked forward, shoulders slumped and her steps heavy.
“Edward says you have never seen a pixie.”
“That is true,” Cordelia admitted. “Maybe I never will. Maybe they are only for special people to see. Like you.” She shrugged. “But I did get to see you and your grandmother part the bramble and shall be happy with being able to have witnessed that bit of magic.”
“Why would that make you happy?”
“Because you can hear something your entire life, but how much can you believe if you have never witnessed such yourself? I did finally see magic when you arrived.”
Ianthe sniffed.
“Here.” Cordelia retrieved a handkerchief and handed it to Ianthe.
Ianthe started to reach for it, then suddenly moved her hands away from Cordelia. “Could you place it on the ground please?”
“Of course.”
Then she very carefully picked it up, turned her back on Cordelia and wiped her face, eyes and then nose, before she placed it on the ground again. “Thank you.”
“Keep it,” Cordelia offered with a comforting smile. “Why did you want me to put it on the ground?”
“I did not want to accidentally point at you. Bad things happen when I point.”
“Only bad things?”
“No.” Ianthe sighed. “I did fill my chamber with butterflies. That was before I knew why or how.”
“Butterflies would be delightful.”
“I thought so. Then it was fun. It is not anymore.”
“I used to be scared too. I couldn’t sleep and worried all the time.”
“Why?”
For a moment, Cordelia thought to confess her deepest fears but decided not to. Ianthe was a child. She didn’t want to provide her with another possible fear, nor did she want a twelve-year-old laughing at her. Cordelia already had Edward who liked to make fun of her, and she didn’t need another child doing the same. “It’s not important why I was scared.”
“But you aren’t anymore, are you?”
“No.” Except she was. Not that she’d tell Ianthe such. “My governess taught me how to calm my mind and my fears. Or, not to let them take control of me.”
Ianthe blinked up at her and frowned. “She did?”
“Yes, and I would be happy to show you too.”
“Do you think it might work?”
