Andrew watched the little wood-sprite, still kneeling next to the little flower pot his seed pod had been planted it.  He’s so tiny.  He thought.  Maybe six inches tall at most - maybe not even that.   The little plant warrior looked muscular, if you compared his tiny physique to a humans of comparable size, and tiny roots made up what looked like black hair.   Being a plant, it wasn’t wearing clothes - and wasn’t anatomically correct.  And thank god... I mean goddess... for that.  Andrew smirked. 

 

Stephanie watched the little sprite with amazement as well - you could see the wonder in her eyes.  “Your name is Thorn?   How do you speak English?”

 

Thorn remained kneeling, awaiting orders.  He did however reply.   “Yes Ma’am, my name is Thorn, and I am Captain of my masters Wood Sprites.  We number five in strength and are at your service, Milord.   As to English, Ma’am, it is required that we be able to understand our Master, so until he can learn a civilized tongue, such as Gaelic, Welsh, or Elvish, we choose to speak in this tongue.”

 

Andrew smirked at the jest.  “So my tongue is uncivilized, is it?  Heheh.”   He noticed the sprite was still kneeling, and realized he needed to tell the little guy to relax.   “Thorn, feel free to stand up - you don’t have to treat me like royalty.”

 

Thorn stood up, and looked more at ease.   “Actually, master I do.  Your mother is the High Lady of the Fae Courts, owed fealty by both the Summer and Winter queens of Faerie.  As her son, you technically outrank both those highly esteemed Faerie nobles.  It would be a disgrace to address you as less than you are, unless you so order it, milord.  As your personal guards, we are utterly loyal to you and you alone.  Ask us, and if it can be done, we will see it done.”  Thorns voice was strong and sure - he carried himself with bravery, and it seemed, with honor.

 

Higher ranked than the Queens of Faerie? Andrew wondered. What the hell?  Andrew remembered some of the antics and powers tossed about by the Fae in the Dresden books by Jim Butcher, and was more than a little frightened.  Messing with the fae both in that series of books, and in ancient mythology was pure insanity - it never ended well for the mortals.   “Where are the other wood sprites, Thorn?”

 

“They are still within the Pouch of Many Seeds, master - you have but to plant their seed’s, and they will join us.  When you wish for us to return to the pouch, command us and we will become seeds again, to wait till we are planted once more to serve you.  We can exist for as long as needed outside the pouch - but other mortals tend to get upset when they see us, so I understand we will have to remain hidden quite often.”

 

“Does the pouch do anything else?”  Andrew wondered, fondling the soft leather pouch.  “It feels special - like a bit tingly.”

 

“At the moment, Milord, it does not - but it will, if you can earn the honor your mother wishes to bestow upon you.  Whether you succeed or not, I and the rest of your sprites will be with you until you die, or you send us away.  We are bonded.  Using that bond, you can use the pouch to resurrect us if we die in battle - but that is not the power I think you were asking about.  That will have to wait till later.”

 

Stephanie smiled, and turned to Andrew.  “You should summon and meet the rest of them!”

 

Andrew nodded and quickly planted the rest of the seeds.  One by one they quickly grew into small pods, and split open to reveal new tree-sprites, all of which looking quite different from each other...   There was a slender female appearing one with a head of hair that reminded of a thistle, while another was tall and broad, and apparently male, with little foliage save some tiny leaves near the top of his head.   The last two were also feminine in appearance; one had pinkish petals for hair and was quite pretty and smelled sweetly of flowers, and the other had a head of thorns and tiny rosebuds that bloomed constantly.  

 

Thorn smiled - these wood-sprites were obviously his friends - and introduced them.  “Milord, these are your wood-sprites.  Thistle, Stump, Petal and Rose.”  The other wood sprites nodded in introduction, and knelt in Andrews presence.

 

Andrew looked at his small army...  They all had little sashes with wooden swords, and although they were tiny, he had no illusions they would attempt to wield them in his defence if he asked - or perhaps even if he didn’t.   “Please rise, you guys.  Don’t be so formal in my presence, unless you have to be.  It makes me uneasy – I’m not used to this royalty stuff.”

 

The sprites visibly relaxed.  “Okay!” they chorused, and then the broad male one spoke - Stump was his name.  “It’s nice to meet you master.  What should we call you?  Your mother didn’t tell us your name.”   His voice was much deeper than Thorns - almost as deep as a full sized human male.  

 

“Oh my god... If he was human sized, he’d sound like Tony Todd or James Earl Jones.”  Stephanie said.  “I love your voice Stump.”

 

Stump noticed Stephanie, and acted a bit bashful - and blushed a deep forest green.  “Thank you ma’am.”

 

Andrew grinned; he liked Stumps voice too.  “My name is Andrew.  Call me Andrew or master I guess for now, and leave the royalty stuff until I get better used to this okay?”

 

The sprites nodded in agreement.  Then another spoke up - the one with thorns and rosebuds for hair - Rose.  “It’s nice to finally meet you, master.  We all hoped to be selected for your retinue - we had to fight hard to be here.  The trials were very difficult.”

 

“You... you fought to become my servants?”  Andrew asked, surprised.  “Why?”

 

This time a different sprite spoke up - Petal, the one with the sweet flower smell and petals for hair.  Her voice was high-pitched and soft, not squeaky - she sounded breathy like a movie star in some ways.   “It is a great honor to be chosen as servants of a young Scion, master.  As you rise in power and responsibility, it will be our job to train you in our culture, in your blooming powers, and your responsibilities as scion of the Goddess Danu.   And, as you rise in power, we too will rise in power, being able to better serve your needs.”

 

“Um... Wow.”  Andrew said.   It was all a bit much to take in.  “I have powers?”

 

“Not yet, master.” said Thorn.  “If you survive the trial set before you by your mother, I believe she intends to bestow many powers, and many gifts upon you as a reward.  Until then, you have whatever she gave you, the Pouch of Many Seeds, and us at your service.   We are your guides, and your followers master - and we will serve you honourably for all of your days.”  The other sprites nodded, saying “Aye!”  

 

By now one of the other sprites - Thistle, the one who hadn’t spoke much, was playing with Stephanie’s hair.  Stephanie looked like she was amused, and enraptured by the small creature - no - small person, and had let her hair fall where she could play with it.   “You’re Thistle, right?”  Stephanie asked.

 

“Yes ma’am.”  The little sprites voice sounded breathy and soft - and almost like a small child’s although she was obviously the same age and size of the other sprites.   She too blushed deep green.   “Should I stop?”

 

“No, it’s okay.”  Stephanie said.  “Do you like hair?”

 

“Uh-huh.”  Thistle said, blushing again. 

 

Rose spoke up.  “Please forgive Thistle; she’s really shy and doesn’t talk a lot.”

 

“Oh... Okay.  No worries, Thistle.  Thanks Rose.  I know what it’s like to be shy too.”   Stephanie said, remembering her years growing up as a wallflower.   Always ignored; always the last chosen for anything.   She knew being shy - she also knew being alone.   “Let’s be friends, okay?”  Steph put out her hand, so Thistle and the others could shake it if they wanted.

 

“O..Okay.”  Thistle said, shaking a finger.  “If it’s alright with you master?”

 

The last question was obviously directed at Andrew and it caught him a little off guard.  “Oh!  Of course it’s okay.  You guys can all be friends with Stephanie if you want to.  She’s my girlfriend, and the most important person in the world to me.  Unless it goes against something I said to do, please treat whatever she says as if it comes from me.”

 

Thorn nodded.  “As you wish, master.  I sense you are bit taken aback by all of this.  Would it be alright if we left you be, so we can explore this apartment?”   The other sprites eyes gleamed with the idea of all this new space to explore and play in...  It was obvious they wanted to be set loose.

 

“Sure, I guess.  Stephanie and I need to talk a bit anyway.”

 

The sprites laughed with glee and flew off on their tiny iridescent wings, scattering to the four corners of the apartment.   Steph laughed at their eagerness.  “They’re like little kids, Roo – they’ll be impossible to find come morning.”

 

Andrew smiled at the little pet name Steph used.  She’d been using it more and more since they started dating a year ago. It was a long road to get to this point, he thought. Friends for over 14 years, and now dating.   Where has all the time gone? He broke himself from his reverie, and laughed.  “I suppose, but let them have their fun.  As long as they don’t burn the building down, I think it won’t matter in the long run.”

 

“I suppose it won’t, love.”  Steph answered.   “Let’s see what my key will do!”

 

“Sure.”  Replied Andrew.   “I have to admit I’m curious more than a little too.”

 

Steph took the Key to All Doors, and tried it on every lock she could find - the front door, the security door on her building, the lock on the small safe her dad had bought her for important documents - it opened them all, with ease.   All she had to do was either touch it to the lock, or push the key into the slot - and somehow, it would fit perfectly and unlock anything. “I wonder if this thing will work on cars and stuff?  It would be a car-thief’s wet dream if it does!”  Like Andrews bag of seeds, it tingled in her hands - but when she passed it to Andrew, not only did it not tingle, he couldn’t make it work more than one third of the time.  The rest of the time it just sat there and did nothing.

 

“I wonder why I can’t make it work?”  Andrew said.  “I’m doing everything you did.”

 

“I dunno.”  Steph said.  “I guess ask your followers in the morning?”

 

“Yeah.   You know, we need to make some plans, if we’re going to do this - if we’re going to drop everything and leave home and go across half the damn world and maybe die in a cave somewhere.   We need to figure out what to do if we don’t come back - or what do with do with our stuff if we DO come back...  We need to put stuff in storage, at least some of it.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right love.  We should probably get that will kit I picked up last year and use it - make wills in case the worse happens.  I hope it doesn’t - duh! - but it is the responsible thing to do.   My mom and dad will freak when they hear we’ve run off.  They’re expecting us for Thanksgiving in a week or so.”

 

Andrew scowled a bit.  “You know, you let them rule over you way too much, hon.  You deserve better.”

 

Stephanie frowned.   “I know Roo.  It’s just... it’s just I can’t ditch them.  Not yet.  I know they made my life a little piece of hell, but they’re still my parents.”

 

Andrew frowned a bit too, knowing this talk wasn’t going to go anywhere – they’d had it many times and it always ended up with ‘I’ll deal with it later.’  I sometimes wonder if later will ever come, Andrew thought.  They really screwed her up – I’ll never forgive them for that.  Instead he just gave Stephanie a firm hug.  “Why don’t we head to bed and talk about plans for a while before we crash?”

 

“I’m gonna try this key on the rusty lock on my dad’s trunk, first.”  The trunk she was talking about was a leftover from when her father moved from the Central Ontario region down to Arizona - the dry air was better for his lungs.  Steph loved seeing what was in old stuff - so asked for the trunk when he moved.  He claimed he couldn’t remember what was inside it.   She’d never been able to get it open before now.

 

“Leave it till morning, love.”  Andrew said, stalking her with arms upraised.  “...or else the tickle monster will feast well tonight!”   It wasn’t a mock threat - Stephanie was so ridiculously ticklish he could reduce her to almost catatonic states with relatively small amounts of tickling.  On the plus side, she was incredibly sensitive in bed.

 

“Aaagh!”  Stephanie laughed and screamed in mock terror as she ran from Andrew.   “Nooo!  Not the tickle monster!”  She laughed again and ran off to the bedroom, trying to hide from the fearsome tickle-beast beneath a large downy comforter.  

 

“Andrew followed, and they talked for some time quietly in bed.  Eventually they both retired for the night.  The light turned off, leaving the five wood-sprites loose in the darkened apartment.  The lack of light didn’t both them - they could see as well as a cat could.   Thorn motioned to the other sprites.  “Stump, Petal – you’re on first watch - and Rose and I will take second watch.  Thistle, you’re on third till they wake up.”

 

The others nodded, and took up their positions.  They knew, even if their charge did not that even as Scions hunted monsters, so too did monsters hunt Scions.   From this point onward, his life was in danger - as was Stephanie’s, whether they wanted to admit it or not.  Danger and glory were a Scions fate - and most did not live to tell the tale.  Thorn smiled sadly at his sleeping master, and his girlfriend.   “I hope you beat the odds, Master Andrew.  Sleep well, master. “