Once Ashton recovered from his cold, Niles took a moment to assess the little faerie's overall health and recovery. It had been two months since Ashton had come to stay with him, and Niles was quite impressed with the faerie's progress.

Ashton could now almost finish an entire plate of food at every meal, and he had started putting on weight, no longer looking like the skeleton he had been. He definitely preferred woodlands food to sprite food, so Niles found himself stocking up on ingredients like crickets, mushrooms, and berries. 

One day, he spent a whole morning processing acorns to turn them into flour— shelling the acorns, boiling them in water to steep out the bitterness, and grinding them up with a mortar and pestle before letting the pulp dry out into a powdery flour. 

The things I do for this little sprite, he had thought as he laid out the acorn flour on a sheet to dry. But it was worth it if it got Ashton to eat.

He always tried to introduce simple foods that Ashton never would have tried before, whether because of environment differences or because they were traditionally human foods. He very quickly realized that Ashton hated most human foods, but he liked new fruits and most of the vegetables and seeds that Niles gave him. He especially liked mangoes, which he never would have had access to as a deep woods faerie. His dead-eyed stare even lit up for a brief moment, and Niles had been mesmerized by the bright little glimmer that appeared in the faerie's usually solemn face.

Otherwise, Ashton was fine with pretty much any protein source that Niles offered him, even ones he never would have eaten before, like beef or chicken. He also liked rice, and he seemed familiar with it. Niles suspected that Ashton might have lived near a pond or stream, somewhere with wild rice growing naturally. He took a mental note of it. Maybe it could be a clue as to where Ashton's clan was located.

As for Ashton's amputation site, the scarring on his back was healing well, and he stopped needing to wear bandages soon after getting his stitches out. He would still suffer from bouts of phantom pain that would make him freeze and tense up, and Niles hated the helpless look on Ashton's face every time it happened. 

But Ashton wouldn't let Niles hold or even touch him when he was in pain, so Niles would just sit with him and wait it out. Niles wished there was a way to permanently stop the pain for Ashton, but he figured only time or magic could do that, and Ashton wasn't a magical match with anyone except his family.

Daily massaging of the scar tissue and remaining flight muscles seemed to help desensitize the area a bit, and Ashton was doing surprisingly well with it. Niles would have him sit backwards in a chair, and the faerie would hug the back of the chair tightly while Niles gently kneaded the knotted tissue in his back.

At first, Ashton would hunch over and cover his head with his arms or bite down on his knuckles during each massage session. Lucy would usually come by and try to distract him with conversation, but he'd still tense up the entire time. Nothing seemed to help until Niles placed his phone on the desk in front of him, and Lucy chose a nature video for him to watch. 

They quickly figured out that Ashton was a big fan of animal documentaries. He was especially fascinated by the ocean and probably would have stared at the screen for hours if Niles let him. He would tear his eyes away every so often to turn to Niles and point out the strange creatures he was seeing, and Niles would always act shocked, like he had never seen them before, either.

Aside from the obvious physical differences, the biggest changes that Niles noticed came from Ashton's demeanor. Having another faerie in the house proved to be a major turning point for Ashton, as his recovery started to pick up once Lucy arrived. Even though he had only known Lucy for a month, Ashton really seemed to connect with and respond to her goading, mischievous personality. Lucy's presence also seemed to make Ashton feel safer and acted as a natural buffer between Ashton and Niles. Niles noticed that Ashton was carefully observing each interaction between him and Lucy, and he hoped that seeing Lucy's ease around him was enough to help Ashton realize that he wasn't a threat.

Now, after a month of spending time with Lucy, Ashton had finally started talking to Niles. He didn't say much, but he could do more than nod or shake his head. And, while Ashton still couldn't seem to gather the courage to willingly walk into Niles' hands whenever he needed to be picked up or handled for the back massages, he had stopped crying. Now, he steeled himself by squeezing his eyes closed and clenching his fists, which Niles felt bad about, but also found somewhat endearing.

The faerie was also awake more during the day, and was starting to show an interest in things, like spending time in the garden, watching movies, and, oddly enough, Niles' work. If Niles was making faerie clothes or furniture for the faerie houses outside, Ashton would sit up and watch from his hammock. If Niles pulled his laptop out to write reports or check emails, Ashton would slip off his perch by the window and gradually sneak closer to Niles until he was right beside him, staring at the computer screen.

Niles was never quite sure what Ashton was staring at so intently. He doubted that Ashton could read any human languages, though he could speak them fluently. Niles knew that all faeries could speak and understand any human language, thanks to a complex spell that their ancestors had cast thousands of years ago. Water sprites were immune to spells cast by winged faeries, but even they had no trouble with human languages. It had something to do with "the water knowing all things," as one water sprite had cryptically explained to Niles. The spell didn't extend to reading, however, so faeries had to learn this skill separately.

Niles mostly ignored Ashton whenever the faerie came to investigate his work. He did this to avoid spooking him, but sometimes he would stop and explain what he was doing, like drafting a progress update on Ashton's condition, or writing a letter to a research group regarding the integration and treatment of faeries who chose to interact with humans.

Sometimes Ashton would sit there silently and listen, but once in a while, he would say something, like the time he corrected a book chapter Niles was preparing on the ecological interplay between woodlands clans and their environment. Or when he excitedly explained a woodlands game that sounded a lot like a combination of football and basketball if they were played in the air. Niles got the feeling that it was a sport that Ashton used to play, and his heart sank looking at Ashton's wingless back and knowing that those days were over for him now that his wings were gone.

Niles was proud of Ashton and his progress, but he was worried about two things: his nightmares and his unwillingness to talk about home. Niles was well aware of the fact that Ashton woke up frequently during his naps throughout the day. The faerie looked perpetually exhausted, and his sleep seemed to be getting even worse. Niles finally asked him about it, but all Ashton would say was that he had bad dreams. He didn't expound on that, and Niles didn't push.

As for talking about home, Niles figured that Ashton would eventually open up to either him or Lucy about where they could take him, but he remained close-lipped. Niles brought it up to him once, telling Ashton that he was more than happy to take him home, but Ashton had only stared at him and refused to say anything.

Niles was stumped by his reluctance. Clearly, Ashton had a home to go back to, and based on the crest's placement on his body, he obviously held his family close. Niles couldn't understand why Ashton wouldn't say anything about home. After everything that had happened, shouldn't he be desperate to go back?

Unless... something happened to his family? Maybe they had been hurt, or worse, when that human had kidnapped him. But if that was the case, why didn't Ashton just say so? Niles' imagination was left to run wild, and he had to tell himself to just focus on the present and keep Ashton safe with him for now. 

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A/N: A slow little interlude chapter. What do you think about Ashton's progress so far? Is it believable? I didn't want to rush it too much, since Ashton has only been with Niles for two months. Also, we're going to get some new characters soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and see you in the next part!