With Ashton's improving health and newfound ease around Niles, their schedule changed yet again.

Every morning, Ashton would take a swim in the fish tank until Niles woke up and got him breakfast. They would go outside afterwards, where Ashton would help Niles with gardening. It was still chilly for spring, but he liked to help plant seeds and add compost. He was also making friends with the pixies in the garden, though he missed Lucy, who was still wintering with Mara.

Ashton would usually take a short nap in his hammock after lunch before seeing what Niles was up to. Now that Ashton was more comfortable with Niles, the human had started engaging him in more activities and conversations. Ashton realized that Niles' past preoccupation with work had partly been a ruse to allow Ashton to get used to his presence, and he was grateful that Niles had given him space like that. If he had constantly had Niles' eagle-eyed attention on him in the early days... he probably would've taken much longer to warm up to the human. He was impressed that Niles had accounted for that and acted accordingly.

Sometimes Niles would read to him, or Ashton would help him construct faerie houses or furniture. Other times, they would call Niles' parents, or he would sit in Niles' pocket for a walk around the neighborhood. Niles would always take him out to show him around and let him stretch his legs. Ashton noticed that Niles was very good at taking routes that didn't have other humans on them, and he was touched by the doctor's thoughtfulness. Niles was so careful that not even accidental harm came to him. With Niles, Ashton was just always... safe.

Ashton's days were suddenly very full, and he found that he liked them very much, especially being close to Niles. Now that he knew Niles as a friend rather than a threat, he became very interested in the human. What did he like, what did he do? Ashton liked it when Niles talked to him about his life, and he wished he could tell him about his own. But even though he trusted Niles with his life, it wasn't fair to his clan to make that decision for them. They would need to remain secret to be safe.

***

A few days before the faerie new year, a tap at the window startled Niles and woke Ashton up from his hammock. They glanced out the window to find Alexo grinning and waving at them through the glass.

"Lex!" Niles exclaimed with a smile as he hurried to open the window. The woodlands bustled right in and clung to Niles' shirt in a hug. Niles wrapped his hand around him in return.

"Hey, bud," Niles greeted him. "It's good to see you. How was your winter?"

Alexo peeled away from Niles to settle on the desk. After saying hello to Ashton, he turned back to Niles.

"It was good," he said. "The Fen clan says hi."

"Why are you back already?" Niles questioned, moving his hand to gently rub Alexo's brown and gray wings. Alexo moved his wings back contentedly at Niles' touch. "I thought you'd celebrate the new year with the Fen clan."

"I thought about it," Alexo said. "But I wanted to check on the sprites."

"Oh. That's right, they should be waking up soon since it's the beginning of spring."

Alexo nodded, and Ashton noticed an excited gleam in the other faerie's dark eyes.

Huh, Ashton thought. Did Alexo actually... miss the sprites? As grumpy and antagonistic as Svernin was, Ashton couldn't imagine anyone missing him. But no one could mistake the longing in Alexo's eyes as he looked out at the pond.

As the days warmed up, the three of them began watching the pond for any sign of activity from the sprite family. Alexo liked to hover around the water in the afternoon when it was warm, but nothing ever happened. Each evening found the woodlands trekking back to the house, looking dejected.

The faerie new year, Solaheim, came and went. Alexo led all the garden pixies in the new year celebration, and Niles and Ashton joined them. It had been so long since Ashton had been involved in any type of woodlands festivities, and though it was small and far from home, he was grateful nonetheless. And as he watched Niles laughing with Alexo and one of the pixies who had snuck into his shirt pocket, he felt even more grateful to be spending it with someone like the human doctor.

***

A few days later, Ashton was helping Alexo plant some geraniums in the garden when the back of his neck prickled. He whipped his head around but saw no one. Beside him, Alexo sniffed at the air, and Ashton noticed that the scent of pondwater was thicker than it should be.

"Oh, can you finally sense me now?" came a voice to his left. He whirled around and saw Svernin leaning against the base of a rosebush. The sprite looked Ashton up and down lazily. "You look better," he commented.

Ashton didn't even get a chance to respond when Alexo popped into the conversation.

"Why are you up so late?" he chided the sprite, hands on his hips. Ashton was beginning to realize that he always held that stance when scolding the sprite. "Solaheim is already over. You slept right through it!"

Svernin shrugged, long muscles rolling. "That's a woodlands and pixie holiday," he explained. "Why should we care about that? It wasn't warm enough to wake up then."

The sprite took a moment to study Alexo as well. Niles had given the woodlands little white flowers from the garden earlier, and Alexo had woven them into his long, dark hair. Ashton noticed that Svernin's liquid black eyes lingered a little too long.

Svernin suddenly stiffened, and Ashton felt it just as quickly— the ground beneath them carried the soft vibrations of a human's footsteps. He blinked, distracted, and when he looked back, the sprite was already gone.

"Niles!" Alexo yelled, waving at the approaching human. "The sprites are up!"

"Oh really?" Niles asked as he got closer. He knelt in the grass beside them, pulling his work gloves on to go back to gardening. The breeze played in his dark hair, tugging on the loose strands around his face. "How was their winter?"

"No idea," Alexo answered. He turned back to gardening, too. "Svernin vanished as soon as you came back outside."

Niles laughed, and Ashton stared up at him. The human had pulled his hair back, but it was already coming loose, as it always did. He didn't even realize he was staring until Niles turned to him with a smile and a gentle poke to the ribs.

Ashton flinched back in surprise before frowning up at the human.

"You done gardening?" was all Niles asked, and Ashton shook his head, feeling his cheeks flush as he bowed his head to get back to work.

What was that about? he wondered to himself. Why did that distract me? As he continued to work, he found his mind drifting back to Niles' dimpled smile, and he couldn't focus on anything else for the rest of the afternoon.

***

Svernin finally showed himself to Niles a couple days later. Ashton, Alexo, and the human were by the pond's edge, and Ashton could tell that Niles had chosen to work there in the hopes of meeting with one of the sprites. He didn't have to wait long, as Svernin silently appeared by the human's hands as he was working in the water grass nearby.

"Well, human?" he began, by way of greeting. He crossed his arms over his chest. The scars from his injuries last winter remained, though they had healed to the point that they looked years old. "You said you'd find a new waterway for us. Do you have anything to show for yourself?"

Niles smiled, though Ashton was still miffed at Svernin's blatant rudeness. Alexo immediately perked up from where he sat on Niles' shoulder.

"Yes," he responded. "I do." He pulled out his phone and opened a map. Alexo slipped down from Niles' shoulder to stand beside Svernin, and Ashton also crept up for a closer look.

"Here," Niles said, pointing. "This pond is about forty-five miles north of us." He moved his finger to point higher up the map. "And just northeast is a stream that feeds into it. It extends for about ten miles."

Svernin was silent, studying the map. "It's in a low populated area. The nearest human town is about thirty miles away. Humans do hike in the area, but the paths only get close to the stream in some places."

Niles zoomed in to the map. "I recommend settling either here, here, or here," he suggested. "The water pools and doesn't flow as fast, plus it's far off the hiking trails. I'm not sure if other sprites are living here, but the stream is big enough that you could avoid them by settling farther along the stream."

Svernin finally nodded at that, and Niles zoomed out to find another spot. "This pond is eighty miles south of us," he said. "It's remote and fed by an underground spring. The only issue with this location is that it might already have sprites living in it, and it doesn't connect to any other waterways, so you can't move up or downstream if the pond is occupied."

He zoomed out again. "Finally, here's a spot sixty miles east of us. It's a stream that empties into a river, so you'll have a long stretch of water to settle in. But the river sees a lot of human traffic, so this isn't my top pick for you guys. I'm worried about curious humans leaving the river to travel upstream."

If Svernin was impressed by all the options given to him, he didn't show it. At his silence, Alexo nudged him impatiently.

"Well?" he demanded as the sprite turned to him with a scowl. "What do you think?"

Svernin seemed to think for a minute. "How did you find all these places?" he finally asked. 

Ashton wondered about that, too. The only time Niles hadn't been with him was when he went to the court case. And he had come right back. The human certainly wouldn't have had time to check out all those locations.

"My friend Will," Niles explained, and Ashton was surprised to hear the other human's name again. "He likes to hike and camp. He's familiar with these areas, and he sent me photos."

Svernin sighed, and Ashton saw a hint of exhaustion crack through his normally stoic mask. "Will they really be ok?" he asked, and Ashton was taken aback by the uncertainty in his voice.

Niles didn't call attention to Svernin's unexpected display of vulnerability. "Yes," he said. "You'll be safe in these locations. I would never take you to a place where you'd be hurt."

The sprite stared at Niles for a long time, characteristic glare nowhere in sight. Finally, he nodded. "Alright," he said. "We'll check them out, and if any of the places you've suggested look promising, we'll go there."

Niles nodded back. "Sure," he said. "Because these places are so spread out, we'll check out a new location each weekend. Sound good?"

Svernin nodded, something like relief flashing in his black eyes. And then he disappeared back into the pond with hardly a splash.

***

The rest of the sprites were soon up and busy working in and out of the pond. Even though the pond was a temporary living place, they would be there for another month as Niles helped them scout out new locations and prepare to move. Like woodlands, sprites were highly industrious, and their days were spent catching and preparing food as well as constructing tools, baskets, pouches, and clothing.

Alexo got swept up into the work as well, though he didn't seem to mind it at all. Ashton noticed that the smaller woodlands was always within arm's length of Svernin. As for the grumpy water sprite, he was oddly unbothered by the woodlands' constant company.

Niles was highly entertained by their dynamic, and he made no move to hide it. 

"Alexo sure seems to like him," Niles commented to Ashton one morning. The two of them silently watched as the woodlands faerie yelled at Svernin to get out of the water. Apparently, the water sprite had borrowed Alexo's knife and had yet to return it. What a sprite with talons would need with a knife, Ashton had no idea.

Svernin did get out, only to turn around and push the smaller faerie into the water. Alexo sputtered and coughed, his wings immediately collapsing against his back. He tackled Svernin around the waist, and they both went under.

"Huh," Niles wondered aloud. "Never seen Alexo so worked up before."

Ashton eyed them, equal parts curious and concerned. "You should get Alexo," he suggested. "I don't think he's stored up on magic recently, and magicless wings tear easily when they're wet."

"Ah, you're right." Niles pushed himself to his feet. "Be right back."

Ashton watched as Niles knelt by the water's edge and plunged his hands in, cupping his hands together and scooping up the struggling faeries. Svernin dived out of his hands immediately, but Alexo sat there, coughing and pushing his waterlogged hair out of his eyes.

Niles turned his face away from Alexo to look down at Svernin, who was yelling at him from the water. He seemed mad that Niles was taking Alexo away.

Ashton watched Niles sigh and lower his hands back down to the water level. Svernin clambered up into his hands and sat next to Alexo, pounding him on the back so he'd cough up more water. Ashton caught Niles rolling his eyes at the pair before he stood up and walked back over to Ashton.

"There," he said, gently placing the dripping faeries on the grass beside Ashton. "Now, stop fighting, you two. Svernin, you can't push Alexo into the water like that. He could have been really hurt."

Svernin snarled up at Niles, all pointed teeth, as he grabbed Alexo's shoulder and pushed him down onto his stomach.

"Hey!" Alexo protested, but Svernin was stronger, and he kept Alexo pinned down.

"Shut up," he said fiercely. "You need to let the sun dry your wings." Alexo lay still at his comment, and Svernin moved his hand away.

***

They were still in the grass over an hour later, Svernin sitting cross-legged with Alexo stretched out beside him. When Niles and Ashton got back from gardening in a different section, they could see that Alexo had fallen asleep with his head in Svernin's lap. 

Niles shook his head in disbelief and reached for the woodlands, but the water sprite scowled and slapped his fingers away. "Leave him alone, can't you see that he's sleeping?" he snapped.

"Yes, that's why I was going to move him somewhere more comfortable," Niles explained with admirable patience.

"He's plenty comfortable," Svernin shot back, placing a taloned hand on the woodlands' head protectively. Niles held his hands up and retreated.

"Alright, alright, if you say so."

He moved away before turning to Ashton and raising his eyebrows. "They are both really into each other," he whispered, and Ashton glanced around Niles to catch a peek of Svernin playing with a strand of Alexo's long, dark hair.

Niles continued. "I can't tell if they're going to become hoklas or murder each other, but it's nice to see Alexo so happy."

Happy? Ashton didn't know if he would call Alexo's interactions with the water sprite happy, but Niles knew him better than he did.

Niles had shown Ashton a pair of magnets once, and that's exactly what Alexo and Svernin reminded him of— a pair of polar opposites that were irresistibly pulled towards each other. Where Alexo was friendly and bright, Svernin was standoffish and gloomy. The only trait that they had in common was their intensity and combativeness, as neither faerie seemed to know how to back down. 

They were constantly bickering, sometimes even full-on fighting. But even though they seemed angry, they both looked like they were wildly enjoying themselves. It wasn't a relationship that Ashton would have had the energy for, but it sure seemed to suit the fiery summer faerie and aggressive winter sprite just fine.

________________________________________________________________

A/N: Ah, spring and young love. Svernin and Alexo are such a disaster together, but at least they're each other's disaster. This was not a ship I was expecting to write, but I'm so glad it worked out this way. 

Thanks for reading! See you in the next part!