10 Fae Marriages (1/2)

Ruby went on about plants for way, way too long but Ash never called her out on it. He asked insightful questions about her garden plan and kept the conversation flowing. By the time Wendy, Breeze, and the rest of their team came outside she realized she had been going on about plants for hours.

She hadn't realized she even knew that much about plants since it wasn't her specialty. She supposed that was what she got for living with a bunch of fairies with plant-based powers her whole life.

Her parents used to own the same nursery Flint and Lily were now in charge of. Ruby grew up among the plants and did her best to act like she was an ordinary earth fairy.

When her powers manifested, her father very seriously told her that she could never reveal her true power to others because they would take advantage of her. Her natural affinity with all things related to the earth as an earth fairy would have to compensate for her lack of plant powers working in the nursery.

Her parents died several decades later but she always took that directive to heart. Flora had discovered her powers entirely by accident and she thought it would be okay because they were close and she knew her cousin loved her.

As it turned out, her father had been right. Ruby couldn't even trust her own family not to get greedy.

She did her best to pretend she was an average earth fairy but genuinely fell in love with plants along the way. There was so much diversity among them!

Earth fairies were generally considered the jacks-of-all-trades among fairies because their powers varied so widely due to the nature of their element. Water fairies held second place because water was needed to sustain life.

Fire fairies had the least diverse powers. They could pretty much only heat things up without visible flames, produce fire, or manipulate it into different shapes and sizes.

Ruby didn't know any personally but had heard they tended to go into the culinary field because they always managed to get the perfect cooking temperature or join circus acts manipulating their fire. Apparently there was a small clan of them living in Las Vegas that participated in a lot of their cirque shows.

Once she got out of here it might be kind of cool to visit there. Maybe she could introduce herself to her distant kin.

There were a lot of other opportunities for making money there too. She could pawn jewels for cash and use cash to get more cash in the casinos. Maybe she could even buy a casino and watch the money come in for decades.

Ruby had heard there were elves that hoarded wealth for generations by opening long-standing businesses like that. Since they lived such long lives the money didn't do anything but stack up over the years. Elves were very practical creatures.

She snapped herself out of her thoughts. Wendy was talking to her; she needed to focus.

”We were only able to get a few rooms done today. With a castle this size I estimate it will take us about four days to finish up if we work dawn to dusk. Are you able to pay for all of that? Ballparking it, the cost will be a minimum of $6,000 including labor and cleaning supplies,” Wendy said matter-of-factly.

Ruby smiled. Her earrings today cost less than that! ”Not a problem at all. Thank you for your hard work. Either I or my companion will let you in at dawn tomorrow.”

The group of fairies left chatting among themselves and Ash turned to her questioningly. ”Companion?”