75 A Sense of Guil (1/2)

It was the day after our victory over the Magesong army that I found myself staring up at a large red brick house with a well-kept front yard that wouldn't lose to the flower gardens I'd seen in the Fayne.

A honeyed scent floated up to my nose while I stood at the edge of the garden's threshold and I assumed they'd come from the yellow tulips blooming beautifully atop healthy green flower bushes.

Yet even this pleasant fragrance couldn't make me feel any less anxious.

A delicate hand grasped my right hand. Our fingers intertwined momentarily. Then came the warmth that usually arrived whenever Aura wanted to encourage me. It was like a very pleasant shot of adrenaline.

”You didn't have to come, you know,” I said.

”We're partners, Dean… your burdens are my burdens,” Aura insisted.

I turned away from her and did my best to hide the redness rising up my cheeks.

All too soon, Aura let go of my hand. Only the warmth she'd sent me remained.

”Are you going to be okay though, Aura?” Ty asked.

He was standing on my right and looking worriedly at Aura's hooded face.

Aura sent him a dazzling smile that made Ty blink in a way similar to when he accidentally looks up at the sun.

”I'll be fine, Ty. Thanks for the concern,” she said.

”Here I thought fairies could only come out at night,” Arah commented.

She was standing on Aura's other side and was also staring into Aura's hooded face.

Aura turned to Arah and answered the unasked question on her face, ”Although it's true that some types of fairies can't stand the sun—”

”—like trolls and drow, you mean?” Arah interrupted.

Aura nodded. ”Drows are physically weakened by the sun's energies while some trolls have such a high sensitivity to the sun's rays that they turn themselves into stone as a defensive measure.”

”Wait…” Ty raised his hand like a student in class looking for clarification. ”Trolls can turn themselves into stone?”

”Cave trolls can, and only in the worst types of scenarios. As you can imagine, becoming stone for a full day can make one vulnerable to other outside influences,” Aura explained. ”In fact, I once heard a story of a human tricking a troll to turn itself into stone only so the human could shatter it into pieces afterward.”

”Humans feature a lot in fairy folk tales?” Arah asked, her eyebrow rising as she did.

Aura nodded. ”Mostly bad ones where humans trick fairies… you guys are the villains in our stories.”

My friends gave each other dubious looks, and then all three of them laughed.

”You guys sound like you're having fun,” I interrupted.