The Sprite

Part 17

            Neena panted heavily and flattened herself into the shadows against an old log. She cursed Turlock for his stupidity in letting her go out. Why didn't he just make me stay home?, she thought angrily.

            Admittedly, it was not the Highlander's job to keep track of her comings and goings...in fact, if he were truly able to do that, she would've left his voluntary employ immediately. The fact was that he DIDN'T make her stay at all, which was why she stayed in the first place. Currently, though, she couldn't think of any reason that a sprite would want to stay around a human for any length of time.

            Adrian was just another name added to that list.

            I hate him. I never liked him. I hope I never see him again, she thought darkly.

            Setting her mind to chanting this mantra, she flew straight home, not stopping until she hovered just outside the McBaene's window. She peered in and saw just what she expected to see....Naomi snuggled into Turlock's side as they sat and watched the fire, every once in a while glancing at one another, lost in each other's loving eyes. Eyes, she thought again, shaking her head scornfully at Turlock and his wife. What is it about human eyes that makes people act so stupid? She frowned in disdain at the two lovebirds, then swallowed hard.

 

            Adrian's were hazel.

 

            That thought alone threw her off for 5 minutes, making it ever harder to regain the composure she'd managed to scrape together. By the time she entered the house, Turlock was in the kitchen wringing the necks and chopping the heads off the chickens unfortunate enough to be tonight's dinner. She almost kept going, but was fascinated by his movements. This was the same guy snuggling with Naomi?, she thought.

            Suddenly, more than anything, she wanted to talk. She wanted him to ask what was wrong. She wanted to spill her soul out on the table and get the whole wad of emotion off her chest. She hopped onto the table to sit and watch a moment longer, then without really thinking, asked, "Whadaya doin'?"

            Turlock looked up at her, scanned her face for something, then whacked another chicken neck "Killing things...what's it look like, lassy?"

            "Yeah, killing....nice...very nice. Got a sec? I have to...(here she gave a little nervous cough) ask you something." She looked around the room, trying to avoid his eyes as he looked back at her again.

            He waited, then seeing that she didn't want eye contact, went back to his work. "Aye, what's on yer mind?

            Neena paused...how to begin? "You, uh...you...am I..." She sighed, shuffling a bit uneasily. This was not something she normally did.

            "C'mon, Neena...speak your mind," said Turlock, not unkindly.

            She tried again. "When you look at me, do...do I...seem, er..." She turned and muttered at the last moment, still feeling stupid.

            "Say that last bit again?" he prodded.

            "Am I...y'know....pretty?" Her face burned. She began picking at dried mud on her vest, waiting for the answer with a feeling of dread.

            For a moment, Turlock stared blankly at her. "Are you...." Suddenly, and to her great dismay, he burst out laughing heartily. "Why, Neena! Saints be praised! Since when have you become concerned with that!?"

            Great, she thought, grimacing angrily. Now Turlock's making fun of me! "Okay, forget I even ASKED...!" she said, jumping off the table and storming to the door.

            Turlock laughed a little more, but grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "No...no wait, lass. It's just that that's something I'd never dreamed of you ever asking."

            Neena paused, still not looking up, but not leaving, either. This seemed to be on the level. After all, until Adrian, she'd never taken this sort of thing seriously. If Turlock had turned to her and started asking her about dolls and jump ropes or something, she would have been equally amused. Plus, he never deliberately hurt anyone's feelings if he could help it. She finally mumbled, "Well, I asked...so there, then. You can just SAY I look like shi...I mean, CRAP, ya know. I don't have to be babied."

            "Well," he bagan, turning her to face him, "first word of advice...being pretty is not only how you're face looks. It's also how you act. An' having a potty mouth heads in the opposite direction of pretty. Wait til ya have kids of yer own, missy. You learn to cut out the trash talk real quick."

            Neena groaned. Lectures were NOT what she wanted right now. "Okay, so I have an ugly attitude and that makes me ugly...I gotcha." She began to pull away again, thinking, Potty mouth...who talks like that anymore...!

            "Now," Turlock continued, pulling her back again, "as for you being pretty..."

             "I HEARD already...I'm NOT!"

            "Actually, the answer is yes. I've always thought you were a physically attractive young lass. Naomi's said as much herself."

            Neena froze, completely stunned. She had expected honesty, but she hadn't expected something...positive. "Reall...I mean, yeah?"

            "Aye, you're pretty," he replied "But why are you asking me of all people?"

            Neena tried to think of something that would turn this into a less serious conversation, making it look as if she could care less, but her mind was worn. How long have I been up?, she thought. Her mind felt foggy, too foggy to deal with the formality of playing things off anymore. "Because you don't lie," she finally blurted out. "Unlike some people who lie to themselves..." She trailed off, looking away again.

             Whether he understood that things had taken a bad turn, Neena couldn't be sure, but Turlock's voice took on a gentler tone, it seemed to her. "Well...you best get some rest, lassy. Your eyes are tellin' me ya need it."

            She started a little, suddenly realizing she probably looked awful. "Yeah, well...yeah. I've been, um...sick. I got this cold...an' stuff..." She tried to sound stuffy now, but knew it was too late for that.

            Still, if Turlock realized anything, he was letting it go. He turned back to his work, saying, "Aye, an' there's no reason to get yerself sicker. Off ya go."

            She stood still a moment, hands deep in her pockets and shoulders hunched up, as if her body was refusing her need to still talk. Sharing was a lot harder than some women made it out to be, she realized. She sighed, deciding to salvage what little pride she had. "Okay, well....I gotta go...and just so you know, the guy his history. I got sick of him mooning after me, so I just told him to take off and he's leaving. And all that crap about love...? I was just kidding. I hate that stuff. I really do. So...so, yeah." Turlock looked up with a chuckle. "What?"

            "You're a little old to be putting up the adolescent facade of boys being yucky and having cooties aren't ya, lass?"

            It was really too much. It was really too much. Neena whirled around with a yell and zapped him as hard as she could. He winced a bit, but otherwise remained impassive, which was even more maddening. "SHUT UP!" she bellowed. She turned, but the room spun on her and she staggered. She felt him catch her and heard his voice as if underwater for a moment.

            "Emotional outbursts aren't the smartest things to do with one's magic after a tough day, now, are they?"

            Too spent to do anymore, she let the tears roll down her cheeks. "DAMMIT! Why do you have to say STUPID STUFF????" she sobbed at him.

            Turlock's face and voice slowly came back into focus. "Must be a human thing," he smiled. He started to carry her down the hall to her room and she fought him, all the emotion of the past few days still trying to explode from her. "I hate him! I hate everyone! I hate..." She stopped, so choked up for a moment that it was all she could do to hang on to him.

            "Oh, ye don't mean that, lass. 'Tis all nonsense...let yourself love and be loved for a change....you might be surprised."

            "C-C-Can't," she replied, still choking on sobs a little. "N-N-never works."

            "Because you've never let it...trust me," he said, as they reached her bed. "Oh, you've spent time in male companionship, I know, but you and I know that's not the same. You never let them get close to you. I'll wager you haven't let ANYone get close to you since your father's been gone. You have to let your past disappointments go and make new experiences to put in your heart."

            Neena stiffened as soon as Turlock mentioned her father. Her father had been put to death by the fairy queen because Neena had joked about the queen's looks when she was still just a child. "This has nothing to do with that," she said softly.

            "Maybe not outright, but it affects things, Neena." replied Turlock, just as softly. "Tis a hard thing for a young lass to lose her father so early. And ye mustn't continue to blame yourself..."

            She rolled over on the bed, and buried her face in her pillow, blocking out this line of thought entirely. "You don't understand...you and Naomi...you ALWAYS love each other...you don't...never mind.."

            "What...are you incapable of falling in love forever?" he asked.

            She thought about this for a moment. "Well, I...it's just...people don't love me." she said, her voice as small as she felt for a moment. Not since I was little, she thought. And somebody fixed THAT for me, too! She grew angry again, remembering what had happened to her father. "Anyway, it has nothing to do with whether or not I choose to be a part of their silly love games. Just...just forget I said anything, okay?" She rolled back over and tried to reassume her cool again. If sharing meant feeling all ripped apart like this, she was totally not for it.

            Turlock continued to talk, but didn't turn her back around. "You have to allow yourself to be loved, lass. It just isn't going to happen if you keep up walls all the time."

            "It doesn't happen to me, I'm telling you," she fumed. "It happens to cute people. I'm a thief! I'm a ratty little sprite with stubby wings and a nasty attitude! I've bought and sold and stolen most everything!"

            "Well, that shouldn't keep the young man I saw from liking you," Turlock said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "He's obviously not got a star studded past himself. Plus he's already attached to you. Seems to have a little crush."

            Neena rolled over to look at Turlock. "He told me to leave. He said I ruined his life."

            Turlock didn't look surprised. "I'm sure he did. None of us like to be wrong. And he's got a lot of thinking to do." Neena knew what more she wanted to say, and so did he. "He'll be back. If I know anything about stubborn people, it's that they never stop until they get what they want. I can guarantee you, he never meant a word of whatever terrible things he said."

            "That's too bad then," she replied, her pride stung afresh, but her mind shutting down for sleep. She yawned. "He's never going to get the chance to tell me that. I'm never going near him again." In the back of her mind, she thought she heard Turlock mutter something about "famous last words" but she was too tired to care...

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