Ashton wandered down the street, head tilted back and drinking in all the sights in amazement. A car honked nearby, and he flinched, feeling disoriented from all the lights and signs and humans around him.

The final goodbye with his family had been... easier than he expected. Once he had turned human, everyone seemed rather anxious to see him off. Keelie and Raine had wanted to play with him one last time, so after letting them explore the new size of his hands, he had bid them all farewell and just... left.

From what he could tell, it had been less than a week since he had changed and stumbled out of the woods. Humans were still terrifying, so he avoided interacting with them as much as possible. Even though he was the same size as them now, he couldn't shake the instinctual need to stay away.

It didn't help that humans had the weirdest rules. He wasn't allowed to go swimming, for starters. That was frustrating, especially when there were so many nice, big ponds around. A human police officer yelled at him after he came out of a pond in a park one day, waving at a sign that Ashton couldn't read. Ashton just bolted, and the police officer gave up trying to chase him when it was apparent that Ashton was too fast for him.

There were some nice humans, though. When he first came out of the woods, wearing just the pants he had worn as a woodlands, a human had taken one look at Ashton's bare chest and handed him their jacket. Ashton had tried to refuse, but they were so insistent that Ashton had just taken it. It helped hide the scars on his back, which he quickly realized led to too many shocked and curious stares. And he already got a lot of those.

And then, some people would just hand food to him. Ashton had no trouble getting food on his own when he stuck by wooded areas or ponds, but these people were so concerned that he couldn't refuse. Several asked if he had somewhere to sleep or if he was going somewhere. He always tried to ask if they knew Niles, but nobody seemed to know what he was talking about.

Getting out of the street, he wandered back to his current home base: a large park tucked well out of the way of the main roads. He liked it a lot, as it was quiet and off the beaten path. And it had a large, deep pond, too, so he could sleep there without any trouble.

***

Ashton was sitting quietly in the small, open building by the pond, trying to figure out his next move, when a girl came to sit on the bench opposite him.

That wasn't too unusual, as the building had seen a few visitors since Ashton's arrival. But there generally wasn't a lot of foot traffic in this park, so Ashton eyed her warily.

He thought he was getting away with it, too, as she was busy staring at her phone. But without even lifting her eyes from the screen, she suddenly spoke.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, and Ashton started.

"Umm, you," he answered truthfully, and the girl snorted.

"Like what you see?" she challenged.

Ashton was at a loss. "I... haven't been forming an opinion either way," he said. "I was just trying to figure out why you're here."

The girl looked up at that, eyeing Ashton with newfound interest.

"Why I'm here?" she echoed. "I'm here on my lunch break. I like to come to this park sometimes to clear my head. It's quiet."

Ashton nodded in agreement, but she wasn't done yet.

"And why are you here? What's your name?" she demanded. "I've never seen you before."

"My name's Ashton, and I'm... trying to find someone," Ashton explained. "A friend."

"A friend? Here, at the park? Are they supposed to meet you?"

Ashton shook his head. "No, umm, he doesn't know where I am. And I... don't know where he is, either?"

The girl stared at him, an odd look on her face.

"You're not some kind of stalker, are you?" she asked suddenly, and Ashton shook his head, horrified.

"No!" he exclaimed. "I... I've just been living... in the woods for a while, and I lost contact with him." He looked down. "I haven't seen him in almost four years. I'm trying to reconnect with him."

"The woods?" the girl repeated, sounding more and more incredulous. "Were you doing some kind of extreme hermit-style camping retreat thing?"

Ashton had no idea what she was saying. "I guess?"

She chewed on her lip as she considered that piece of information.

"Well, what's your friend's name?" she asked suddenly. "Maybe I can help you find him." She waved her phone. "You know, look him up online."

Ashton sat up straighter at the offer. "Niles," he said. "He's a faerie doctor. I was his patient for a while, almost four years ago."

The girl tilted her head to the side, looking confused. "Why would a faerie doctor take care of you?" she wanted to know.

"Oh... umm..." Ashton didn't know what to say. Even though he obviously looked quite different from other humans, nobody seemed to suspect anything. Someone had asked why he had filed his teeth into points, and another person had complimented the tattoos on his neck, but nobody asked if he wasn't human. Ashton figured that most people either had no idea what water sprites looked like, or they never expected a faerie to become human. Probably a bit of both.

"He... uh... just did?" Ashton hazarded. "I... didn't have a home back then, so he let me stay with him for a while."

She raised her eyebrows at him, and he felt the need to defend himself.

"It's true!" he insisted. "We really are friends. I really did stay with him."

"Then why haven't you called him?" she countered. "Why are you trying to find him? If you're such good friends, why doesn't he know where you are?"

Ashton rubbed his head at her bombardment of questions, retracting his previous thought that she might be useful and instead wishing she had never set foot in his little corner of the park.

"I don't have a phone," he said quietly. "No way to contact him."

She eyed him for a while, and Ashton shifted uncomfortably.

I don't think I'll ever get used to humans, he thought, even if this one is significantly smaller and younger than me.

"You said he was a faerie doctor?" the human girl finally asked, and Ashton nodded. "Niles?" Ashton nodded again.

She thought for a moment before her face suddenly brightened. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I know exactly who you're talking about." She tapped something on her phone and held it out to him. "This guy, right?"

Ashton stared, a lump rising in his throat as he looked at the picture of Niles on her phone. "Yeah, that's him," he managed to get out.

It wasn't like the picture Niles had shown him of him with his family. It looked more formal, and Niles was standing beside Dr. Jones. He couldn't read the text under the image, but he stared at the picture, drinking in Niles' familiar, gentle face, his black hair, the observant look in his dark eyes.

Ashton didn't even realize that tears were welling up until he blinked, and the tears spilled down his face. Startled, he brushed them away and cleared his throat. The girl was staring at him.

"You must miss him," she commented finally, and Ashton nodded. "Well, do you have his number or something?" she asked. "If you don't have a phone, maybe you could call him on mine."

Ashton shook his head. "No... I... I haven't seen him in almost four years," he repeated. "I don't know how to get ahold of him."

The girl typed some more on her phone. "Well, I have a number for his clinic right here," she said. "Wanna try giving it a call?"

Ashton nodded, and the girl pressed a button and put her phone on speaker.

"Hello, thank you for calling Stratford's Faerie Wellness and Research Clinic, how may I help you?" came a woman's voice.

Ashton cocked his head to the side, confused, but the human girl answered for him.

"Hello, yes, I'm trying to get ahold of Dr. Niles Howton. Is he in right now?"

Ashton bit his knuckle nervously as he waited for the reply.

"No, I'm sorry. He's not working this weekend, and Monday is a holiday, so he won't be in the clinic until next Wednesday," came the disappointing answer. "Is this an emergency, or may I take a message for him?"

"I'll leave a message for him," the girl said. She looked over at Ashton, who shrugged.

"Can you please tell him that a former patient of his is trying to contact him?" the girl asked. "His name is Ashton."

"Alright. What type of faerie is Ashton?"

The girl looked at Ashton, confused once again. "Umm, he's a human?"

"I'm a halfling," Ashton hurried to correct her. "Half sprite, half woodlands."

"Oh, are you there with Ashton now?" the receptionist asked. 

"Yes," the human girl confirmed, still staring at Ashton oddly.

"OK, then Ashton, when did Dr. Howton treat you?"

"Umm, a little over three and a half years ago," Ashton replied. He paused. "He treated me for a wing amputation, if that helps."

"Alright, I'll put that down. And is this a good callback number for you?"

The girl answered this time. "Sure, I guess. Though it would be better to write down that Ashton is at Brinton Park. That's where he's staying for the time being."

"Brinton... Park..." the woman on the line repeated. There was a faint scratching sound on the other end of the line, and Ashton assumed she was writing down his information. "Ok, is there anything else you need in this message?"

"Can you tell him to come get me when he has a chance?" Ashton asked. His voice broke a little, and he cleared his throat. "Please?"

"Sure. Ashton, are you sure you're alright? Do you require immediate assistance? We can send someone to come get you, if you need it."

Ashton bit his lip. The humans at the clinic had all been nice to him back then. But he didn't recognize the voice of this receptionist. And he was afraid that their helpful attitude would change when they saw he was human sized... what if they locked him away without letting him see Niles?

"No," Ashton decided. "I'll wait for Niles."

"Alright," the receptionist said. "I've just written everything down. Dr. Howton will see it first thing Wednesday morning, ok?"

"Ok," Ashton whispered around the lump in his throat. So close and yet so far.

The girl hung up, and Ashton put his head in his hands. "I can't believe the message won't even get to him until next week," he said glumly. "I've already waited this long."

The girl tapped her chin, thinking. Suddenly, she clapped her hands together, and Ashton flinched.

"I know!" she exclaimed, oblivious to his reaction. She tapped on her phone again and held it out to Ashton. He squinted at the words, but the squiggles didn't magically become clear

"Umm... I can't read," he admitted, and she looked shocked.

"Oh, then I'll just explain it to you," she said quickly. "It's an online platform where people can ask questions about faeries or get resources. Niles has an account, and we can contact him in there."

Ashtons heart lifted. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yup. I can post a video of you and tag him in it. Hopefully, he'll see it, or someone will send it to him. I'll try to DM him, too."

Ashton had no idea what she was talking about. "But he'll see it?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe? Hopefully. I think it's your best bet, though."

Ashton nodded quickly. "Let's do that, then," he hurried to agree.

The sooner he saw Niles, the better.

________________________________________________________

A/N: And then Ashton goes on to become a famous YouTuber. The end. 

Thanks for reading! What would Ashton run his YouTube channel on? My money's on reactions to ocean documentaries. 

Also... a certain human doctor will finally make an appearance in the next chapter!