The blanket Niles had packed quickly stopped smelling like him, and Ashton cried when he realized it. Lucy, Mara, and Erden just stared at him, frozen as they paused in making up their own bedding for the night.

Finally, Mara approached him and wrapped him in a hug. She didn't seem to understand what was wrong, but Lucy did. She took the blanket from Ashton's limp fingers and sniffed at it, giving Ashton a sympathetic look when she realized what had happened.

"It doesn't smell like Niles anymore," Lucy explained to Mara and Erden as Mara stroked Ashton's hair. Ashton lay his head on Mara's shoulder and breathed quietly, staring at nothing.

"Oh, Ashton," Mara said. She held him for a few more minutes until he pulled back, wiping his eyes.

"I'm ok," he said shakily. "I guess... I just didn't realize how much leaving Niles would affect me."

Mara laid a hand on his arm. "Don't worry about it," she said. "At some point, we all realize we're just massive simps for Niles."

Ashton sniffled. "Simps?"

"We all like Niles," Lucy clarified. "A lot."

Ashton gave a bleak little laugh and shook his head. Liking Niles didn't even begin to describe how he felt about him.

Erden watched the whole scene unfold silently, and Ashton knew that she had figured out what Lucy and Mara seemed oblivious to. She stuck by him closely after that, her gray eyes sweeping over him from time to time, searching for... something.

Ashton could feel her worried glances, and he ignored them every time. What could he even say to assuage her fears? Nothing. It's not like her concerns were unfounded. He was, after all, completely head over heels for Niles. For a human.

Weeks passed. The terrain gradually began to look more familiar, and Ashton's heart began to lighten. Finally, he thought, starting to feel excited. He did a double take at an old, felled oak tree. "Hey, I know where we are!" he exclaimed, turning to Lucy.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "I should hope so," she responded. "This is your part of the woods after all."

"Yeah, it's just... it's different seeing everything from the ground," Ashton said softly, some of his enthusiasm seeping away. A sharp longing for Niles welled up, and he pushed it aside quickly.

He could see the mother tree in the distance, and his heartbeat quickened. Soon, they were at the boundary line of the magical barrier, and he placed his hand over his clan crest, which was starting to grow warm in recognition. He started to reach for Mara and Lucy's arms, as they needed some sort of connection to a clan member to pass through, when he caught sight of the braids in their hair.

Oh, he thought, letting his hands fall back to his sides. That's right. They can get through on their own.

He stepped through the barrier, feeling the familiar warmth part gently around him. And then he was through, the other three faeries right behind him.

A woodlands faerie who had been on guard duty dropped down from out of nowhere, freezing when she saw who it was.

"Ashton?" she breathed, hazel eyes wide in shock. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Which, Ashton supposed, was probably what seeing him felt like.

Ashton grinned at his cousin. "Hi, Rosette," he greeted her.

She whipped her head around to look up at the bush she had been stationed in. "Lucas!" she yelled. "Go get Miranda! And find someone to go get Tarrick and the other sprites!"

She turned back to them and wiped her eyes. "I would hug you," she said apologetically. "But I really think we should let your mother be the first to do that."

***

Ashton had never seen his father cry before. Yet as soon as the stoic sprite saw him, he froze in his tracks and stood there, tears streaming down his usually taciturn face.

His mother immediately let out a heart-wrenching sob and charged towards him, sweeping him up into as big of a hug as she could, given her much smaller frame. His father was next, younger brother Gale right behind him.

Stuffed in the middle of their embrace, Ashton found himself shaking like a leaf. Everyone smelled the same, felt the same, was the same... yet they all felt so foreign to him. He never expected to see them ever again.

Two little sprites poked their heads out from behind Ashton's father, and he caught his breath. Raine and Keelie. His littlest brother and sister had been three and two when he last saw them, and they had grown a lot even in the last year and a half.

Ashton quickly dried his tears and tried to give them an encouraging smile. "Hey, you little water bugs," he said lightly. "Do you remember me?"

Raine nodded shyly, but Keelie started to smile.

"Ashton!" she exclaimed, pushing through the older faeries to squeeze up to him. He laughed and scooped her up, pressing his forehead against hers in a typical water sprite greeting. She threw her tiny arms around his neck in a tight hug, and he hugged her back, cupping his hand around the back of her long green hair. Raine finally edged up to them and hugged Ashton's leg.

After a while, Ashton's mother pulled Lucy, Mara, and Erden into the hug, and Ashton stood there, utterly squashed between everyone.

When they finally pulled away, with Keelie in his arms and his mother's arm around his waist, he saw that quite a crowd had gathered at the base of the mother tree. It looked like Rosette and Lucas had been busy spreading the news of his arrival.

Ashton was speechless. From the looks of it, his whole clan was there. Even his father's elusive side of the family had ventured out of the water to see what all the commotion was about.

He stood there uncertainly as his clan stared back. They looked like they wanted to approach him, but something was holding them back. He frowned, trying to figure out what was wrong, when Gale murmured beside him, "It's your scent. You smell like a human."

Understanding dawned. He himself was nose blind to it, but he must still smell like Niles, even after three weeks of trekking through the woods.

He looked down at his younger brother. Gale was glowering at their clan, dark curls falling into his hazel eyes. He seemed to be silently reprimanding them for their hesitancy.

Ashton balanced Keelie on one hip to place a hand on Gale's shoulder. "It's ok," he murmured. "I'm sure it's alarming for everyone."

A few relatives finally broke from the whispering crowd to approach him and offer him tearful hugs. Ashton returned the endless embraces, starting to feel overwhelmed by the sympathetic murmurs and countless hands on his wingless back. 

Lucy, Mara, and Erden stood back to allow his clan easier access to him, and he found his eyes drawn to them repeatedly, already missing their quiet days together in the woods. Lucy made grotesque faces at him to try to... cheer him up? Mara smiled encouragingly, and Erden looked worried. None of them made any moves to answer his glances for help, though.

The crowd eventually parted as a pair of familiar light green wings made their way through, and suddenly, the clan's matriarch, the grandmother of Ashton's great-grandmother, was there.

The old faerie was wrinkled with age, long white hair unbound, yet she still had an authoritative air about her. From the way she stood to the clan crest between her brows, everyone couldn't help but defer to her.

She stopped in front of Ashton, and he and the rest of the clan members dropped their heads in a show of respect.

"Welcome home, child," she said, laying one hand against his cheek.

"Thank you, grandmother," Ashton breathed, keeping his head bowed. "And thank you for letting me return home." Though she was quite warm and devoted to her descendants, his grandmother was still the matriarch. Formality in large clan settings was imperative.

The matriarch waved one wrinkled hand in dismissal. "It would have been beyond cruel to not allow you home, given what you have suffered," she said. "Even though you had to rely on... unconventional help to get back, I am grateful you are here safe and sound."

Ashton nodded, and she continued.

"Now, though I hate to break up this happy reunion, we must hold a council meeting to discuss your experiences and what we should do moving forward."

She turned to Ashton's mother. "Miranda," she said, and Ashton's mother looked up. "You and your brood should help Ashton get cleaned up and rest. We'll meet in the council chamber in two hours."

Ashton's mother nodded, her light brown curls, so similar to Ashton's own, drifting lightly in the breeze.

The matriarch turned her pale green eyes towards Erden, Lucy, and Mara next.

"Lucy and Mara, correct?" she asked, and Lucy swelled with pride at the idea of being formally recognized by a matriarch. Ashton had to swallow back a laugh at the little pixie's bustling sense of importance.

"Thank you for returning our clan member home to us," she said. "We will, of course, provide you with food, shelter, and anything else that you need before you head back home."

Lucy opened her little mouth to respond, and Ashton saw Mara give her hand an almost imperceptible squeeze.

"Thank you, Matriarch," Mara cut in smoothly. "We appreciate the hospitality and will not overstay your generous welcome."

Lucy pouted a bit at not being allowed to speak, and Mara ran her thumb over the back of her hand to mollify her.

That was probably for the best, Ashton thought. Lucy's not the most diplomatic one here.

"Erden of the Pine Bough clan?" the matriarch finally called, and Erden snapped to attention. "Yes, ma'am," she answered, and Ashton's grandmother nodded.

"I trust you will take care of our guests while I take Ashton and his family back for a briefing?" she said, and Erden swallowed hard before nodding.

"Yes, ma'am," she repeated, ushering Lucy and Mara away.

Ashton caught sight of Lucy looking back at him, her bright red eyes trying to take in everything going on around them before she was pulled away. And despite the familiar feeling of his family and clan around him, Ashton felt helpless and adrift watching his three friends leave him behind.

***

His grandmother permitted him a couple of hours to bathe, dress, and eat before the council meeting, and Ashton spent that whole time worrying about how Mara and Lucy were doing. Erden was a familiar face to his clan, so he knew she could take care of them just fine. But he still felt anxious about being away from them.

His parents and siblings crowded around him in their family quarters. His father watched the littlest sprites, quietly stepping in when their antics and giggles got too loud. His mother and Gale hovered around him, getting Ashton whatever he needed.

For his part, Ashton mostly sat there silently and watched Keelie and Raine chase each other around the room and roll around on the beds. He caught glimpses of the worried looks his parents and brother shot each other, but he stoically ignored those. 

He knew he was behaving oddly. After all, he never used to be so quiet. In the past, he had been full of life, the first to lead a conversation, the first to put everyone at ease with his bright smile and quick responses. But Ashton didn't remember how to be that person anymore, so he just sat there and let everyone worry.

Leading up to this moment, he had thought he would have so much to say to his family, so much to catch up on. In fact, one of the things he had longed for the most was the chance to see them again, to just talk to them and hear their voices.

Now, however, he found that he didn't have anything to say at all.

***

The time of the meeting arrived all too soon. Standing in the middle of the circular council room that lay in the heart of the mother tree, Ashton kept his eyes glued to the rings on the floor as he recounted his tale. The eyes of the nine council members all rested on him, and he shifted uncomfortably under the once-familiar gazes of his grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, and uncles. 

He intentionally left out the details of his five moons in captivity, keeping things short and brief to spare his mother the horrible goriness of it all. Besides, it's not like he needed to share everything that happened to him. The scars on his body were evidence enough.

Instead, he focused on telling them about Niles' extraordinary kindness, on the way the human doctor had treated him respectfully and matched the pace of his treatment with Ashton's own comfort level. He was hoping that by sharing Niles' goodness, his grandmother might allow some leeway in future contact with his human.

But as the matriarch's face never changed throughout his long tale, he began to lose hope. 

At the conclusion of his story, she nodded once.

"I see, my child," she said. "I am sorry you went through such a dreadful situation, though I am proud of the remarkable bravery and loyalty you displayed when you saved your friend and refrained from revealing the location of the mother tree. You are truly a living embodiment of what it means to be a member of the Ash Leaf clan."

Ashton's mother touched his arm and smiled at him, but Ashton couldn't smile back.

"It sounds like the human justice system has already dealt with the one who did this to you," his grandmother continued. "So, all that remains is the matter of the human who cared for you." 

Ashton snapped back to attention at the mention of Niles.

"From your explanation, and the little pixie's memories, it appears as though this human is not a threat to our clan."

Ashton listened intently, heart swelling with a little bit of hope.

"Seeing as he was so good as to care for you and return you to us, we will only erase his recollection on what human town we live near, so that he cannot return to find us."

The little bit of hope that had been rising in his chest was immediately snuffed out, leaving Ashton feeling sick and hollow.

"Grandmother," Ashton risked saying. "Must we... really... erase Niles' memory?"

The matriarch nodded. "It is better to be safe than sorry," she said, repeating the words that Lucy had told him.

He bit his lip but nodded. He didn't like it, but he had expected as much

"Then... can Lucy and Mara still come visit?" he asked hopefully. If he couldn't see Niles again, then he should at least be able to see the other faeries... right? And maybe, just maybe, he could still communicate with Niles that way. Niles could write in woodlands, after all. They could still write and talk. Right?

The elders all eyed each other. "We've already discussed this," one great grandmother said. "We don't think it's wise to have any sort of connection to this human, as kind as he may be."

Ashton opened his mouth to protest, but the matriarch raised her hand to stop him. 

"I'm sorry, Ashton," she said. "But it's too risky to have any ties to the human world. Humans are curious and unpredictable. Any sort of interaction tends to lead to faeries being hurt. You would know better than all of us how dangerous and vicious humans can be."

Ashton caught his breath and took a step back, her words like a slap to the face. How dare she throw his nightmarish experience back at him to try to get him to agree with her claim?

Unlike most summer faeries, Ashton didn't have a bad temper, but he couldn't stop the surge of anger that flared up at his grandmother's casual remark. 

"Niles is nothing like him," he snarled. He was baring his sprite teeth, and he knew it. "Don't ever compare the two of them again."

The elders all stared at him, and Ashton glared back, his whole body shaking. No woodlands ever dared to snap at their matriarch. It was hugely disrespectful, and Ashton, as a firstborn, had never slipped up in that regard before.

His mother laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned to the elders. "Please forgive my firstborn," she apologized on his behalf. "As you already know, he is not quite himself."

The elders all murmured in agreement and nodded, leaving Ashton to drop his gaze and stare at the floor, counting his breaths.

I need to get out of here, he thought desperately. I need to be outside. I need to breathe. I need... I need Niles.

The rest of the meeting passed by in a blur. Ashton finally slumped out of the meeting room, his mother and Gale right behind him. His father met them with the youngest two in the hall. Keelie ran up to him and hugged his legs, giggling, and he absentmindedly patted her head.

"I... I have to talk to Mara and Lucy," he finally got out in response to his family's questioning gazes.

"They'll be staying with us for a few days before heading back to the human," his mother reminded him. "It's been a long day. Why don't we turn in early?"

Ashton immediately shook his head. "I have to talk to them," he insisted.

His mother searched his face and finally nodded, though she looked sad.

Sad about what, though? Ashton wondered. Sad that I was hurt, sad that it took so long to see me again? Or sad that I'm so different?

***

Lucy was not surprised by the matriarch's ruling.

She and Mara had been given a room within the mother tree and were currently lounging around, having already bathed and eaten.

"I figured as much," the pixie said with a sigh. "Total bummer, though." She eyed him carefully. "I guess these next few days are the last we'll see of each other, too."

Ashton looked down and nodded. A small, secret part of him had hoped that he'd at least be able to see Lucy and Mara, to hold on to a piece of Niles that way. But now all of his hopes were dashed, the last option burned.

The request to go back with them was on the tip of his tongue, his whole being stretched thin, pulling him towards Niles. But as he looked at their expectant faces, the faces of his family members appeared in his mind instead, and the words fizzled out before they even left his lips.

No, he realized, defeated. This is the way it must be.

_________________________________________________________________

A/N: Ahh so sad. What would you do in Ashton's shoes? Stay in a place you once called home? Or go back to your new safe place? 

And Ashton is happy about seeing his family and clan again. His feelings are just mixed up and complicated after everything's he's experienced, so that's why his return home feels so somber and confusing. But being back with his clan is not a bad thing!

Thanks for reading! We're almost at the end!