“It’s lovely,” she said honestly, and the sprite seemed to perk up a little, drawing herself upright once more.
“Of course it is lovely!” she declared. “It is my object, after all!”
Diana laughed. She was starting to get the hang of how this sprite operated – flattery would get her just about anywhere.
“Would you like an occasional visitor?” she asked impulsively, even as she asked herself what the hell she was doing. Calvin’s eyes widened, and clearly it was only politeness that kept him from asking the same thing.
Steeling her resolve, she went on, “If you promised not to curse me, I’d be happy to drop in every so often to say hello. I could even clean your object for you, if you liked.”
The sprite stared at her with unnerving, unblinking eyes. Diana wasn’t sure if it was deliberately trying to intimidate her or if that was just its way of thinking things over, but she stood her ground.
“Would you promise to solve a riddle on each occasion?” she asked, and Diana tried to cover her wince.
“If I could, I would,” she said slowly. “I’m terrible at riddles.But, I do know someone who loves them. I could pass them between the two of you, if you would both like that?”
There was no way she was going to introduce Ash to the sprite face-to-face at this point! But if it meant that he had someone to burn off his riddle energy with, and the sprite had someone to share her riddles with, then she was happy to suggest a kind of riddle pen-pal scenario to Ash and see what he thought. And she would be happy to come out here to this lovely glade and spend some time with the sprite – provided that she behaved herself.
The sprite appeared to think her proposition over, before nodding. “I should like that.” Her voice softened. “I should like that very much indeed.”
Gesturing imperiously, her voice taking on the haughty tone once more, she added, “I suppose that your friend here may visit as well.”
Diana smiled. “Thank you…”
She trailed off.
Not knowing her name is getting really awkward!
“Do you have a name?”
The sprite frowned. “Not one that you could pronounce.” She looked over at the birch tree in its pot for a moment before turning back. “But you may call me Betula, if you like.”
“Betula,” Diana said. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Diana, and this is Calvin.”
Calvin gave a little wave. “Hi.”
Betula turned her nose up. “Indeed.”
Diana couldn’t help but laugh. Betula probably wasn’t the kind of person – or being, anyway – that she would want to spend a ton of time around, but shewasinteresting, and Diana thought that a lot of her attitude was just for show. Presumably being worshipped for centuries had warped her a little! But the thought of coming out here again was just too appealing.
Perhaps one day, she could even offer to bring Sieval’s object here so that the two of them could meet… but perhaps not. She wasn’t sure how either of them would feel about that. Maybe she could ask Sieval at some point down the line, and see how it felt.
Diana shook her head. She was getting way too ahead of herself.
“In any case,” Betula said, breaking into her thoughts, “I tire of you both. You roused me earlier than I wished to be awake, and now my day cannot go to plan. Begone.”
Diana exchanged a look with Calvin, both of them trying not to laugh. Betula certainly didn’t have any problems making her opinions known!
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Calvin said, bowing his head. “I really appreciate that you lifted the curse.”
“It was lovely to meet you,” Diana added.
Betula merely jerked her head at them, making a shooing motion, and Diana and Calvin duly left the glade and started trotting down the path.
Diana chanced one quick glance over her shoulder – and saw Betula moving closer to the potted birch, examining its leaves with great intensity.
All’s well that ends well,she thought, as she and Calvin emerged from the overgrown path and stepped out onto the main trail.
Before she could even think any further, she leaped forward and wrapped her arms tight around Calvin’s neck, bringing their lips together in a searing kiss. He spun her around, his hands firm on her waist, and Diana had never felt so happy in her life.
