The rest of Svernin's relatives arrived a few days later. Ashton hadn't seen so many sprites in ages, and he felt a sharp pain of longing at the sight of them. He was never as close to his father's family as he was with his mother's clan, but the familiar blues, greens, and grays of Svernin's family made him desperately miss his own.

Niles had his hands full meeting all the sprites and guiding them around the pond and garden. He showed them where they could easily collect needed materials and gathered supplies that they requested of him.

They were quite wary of the human and interacted with him as little as possible, mainly sending Svernin out as their spokesperson. But Ashton was surprised that the sprites had come at all. What on earth had Alexo and Svernin said to convince them?

It took Ashton a couple of days to muster up the courage to meet them, but they weren't wholly unpleasant to him. Mainly confused and curious about what he was and what he was doing with a human.

They were out by the pond one day, Svernin and his sister Zara taking a break from winter preparations on the shore while other family members busied themselves with underwater tasks. Of all the sprites, Zara was the friendliest.

"You're a water sprite, aren't you?" she asked Ashton as she and Svernin sat beside him on the blanket Niles had laid out for him. 

Ashton didn't know how to answer that, so he hugged his arms around himself and looked helplessly at Niles, who was busy planting a specific type of water grass that one of the sprites had requested.

Niles nodded at him encouragingly, and Ashton turned back to the water sprites. "Half," he whispered. "I'm a halfling."

"Oh." She blinked. "I thought you were a full blood but with weird coloring."

"No, feel his skin," Svernin interrupted. "He's too warm. And his skin's the wrong texture. He doesn't dry out even if he hasn't been in the water."

Zara reached a taloned hand out, and Ashton flinched away. "Ah, sorry," she amended.

She shot a quick glance at Niles before looking at Ashton. Ashton stared back at her uncomfortably. He knew what the other sprites said about him. They had been shocked to see Ashton come in and out of the house with Niles instead of staying in the garden with the other faeries. House faerie, they whispered to each other. Human pet.

Just remembering it made him upset, but what could he do? It's not like they were completely off in their assessment. Even Ashton flushed in embarrassment at how far he had fallen, how reliant he was on the human. Not like a proper faerie at all.

Zara lowered her voice, like she didn't want Niles overhearing. "Why don't you come hibernate with us?"

Ashton immediately shook his head. A terrible idea. He didn't know how to hibernate.

Zara dropped her voice even lower. "What, the human won't let you?"

Ashton shook his head again, harder this time. That wasn't it at all, and he felt a twinge of displeasure that the sprites thought Niles capable of such a thing.

"Soooo.... what, you don't know how to use your gills?" she pressed. "Are they half formed or something?"

"No... I can... I just... haven't in years," Ashton replied. He was frustrated at his timidity, annoyed with himself for feeling so uncomfortable and unsure around the water sprites. He knew how to act with other faeries. He knew how to hold proper conversations. Or at least, he used to. 

"What kind of sprite hasn't gone swimming in years?" Zara asked, confused.

"One that has wings," Svernin cut in, and Ashton looked at him in surprise. The sprite was staring at him steadily, and Ashton couldn't understand how Svernin would have known that he used to have wings. The scars on his back were gruesome, but they could have been from anything. He still had slight wing stumps remaining, but you had to touch his back to feel them. And only Niles ever touched his back.

Niles couldn't have told him, Ashton thought. I've always been with Niles when he's around Svernin. He looked across the pond at Alexo, who was helping Svernin's mother make waterproof pouches from frog skin. Maybe Alexo said something? Alexo knew that Ashton used to have wings. And he and Svernin oddly spent a lot of time together, despite the fact that they were constantly bickering.

Zara looked even more confused. "Ashton doesn't have wings," she pointed out.

"Yeah, not anymore, Svernin said exasperatedly. "Look at the scars on his back. He was in an accident or something." He paused and turned to Ashton. "Right? I don't remember you ever saying what happened to your wings."

"I didn't," Ashton said faintly.

He was starting to get overwhelmed, not liking how the two sprite siblings were looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain. How was he supposed to casually talk about what had happened to him? He didn't want to relive any of it, especially not to satisfy someone else's curiosity.

Niles's soft voice cut in unexpectantly, and all three faeries whipped their heads up to stare at him. It seemed like even the vigilant sprites had forgotten about the quiet human.

"Excuse me," Niles said, interjecting himself into the conversation smoothly and reaching for Ashton. "But I need to take Ashton inside to rest."

The two sprites immediately hopped out of the way of Niles' hands and eyed him suspiciously.

Ashton didn't say anything as Niles wrapped his hands around him and scooped him up, but he felt oddly relieved and grateful to the Niles human. It wasn't time to go in, and he knew it. Niles must have noticed him getting uncomfortable. 

How unexpected, he mused to himself. That a human needed to rescue me from other faeries.

***

The more Niles watched Ashton with the water sprite family, the more he realized that Ashton was unlike any sprite he had ever met. Like Svernin, most sprites were highly distrustful of humans, and they could get ferocious if they felt threatened. Niles still had scars on the index finger of his left hand from the talons of the first sprite he had ever met.

But Ashton... it was like he had no fight left in him. Whenever Niles reached for him, he either stiffened up or went completely limp. But he never tried to wiggle free. And he definitely never tried to fight Niles off. Even though he had the claws, teeth, and strength of a water sprite, he never tried to use them.

Niles might have attributed this to him also being part woodlands, but even woodlands were highly skilled hunters and warriors. They were quite capable of defending themselves if needed, and they often did, as the reserved and dignified woodlands disliked being manhandled by humans. With their swift agility and mobility, they could easily outmaneuver or try to ward off any hands that got too curious. Only pixies liked to be held and played with, but even they would bite when they got tired of being around humans.

The bottom line was, faeries certainly weren't pushovers, and they wouldn't sit still to let any human have their way with them. Except for poor Ashton, who would just freeze and let Niles pick him up, even though the faerie clearly hated it. Now that Ashton's leg was healed and his bandages gone, Niles no longer had to bully him into treatment, but that didn't seem to make anything better. 

Despite having a choice in the matter now, Ashton always gave Niles permission to touch or pick him up whenever Niles asked. Niles began to wonder if Ashton realized that he could say no. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that of course Ashton wouldn't know that. After all, Niles had ignored his pleas in the beginning of his stay with him. Niles had done so with good reason, as Ashton would've gotten sick or worse without his intervention. But Niles still regretted it. And those early days definitely seemed to affect how Ashton saw him. 

Even now, though Ashton seemed relieved that Niles had taken him inside, the faerie still stumbled away from him as soon as Niles placed him on the desk, heading immediately into his cat carrier. Niles could only watch him go, wondering if there was anything he could do to help Ashton trust him more. 

___________________________________________________________________________

A/N: All I can see is Niles being a real estate agent giving an open house tour of the pond to a bunch of crabby water sprites. 

See you in the next chapter!