“Hello, Father,” Bracken said.
“I’m glad you’ve returned,” his father said, walking toward them with humble dignity. “Thank you for retrieving him, Kendra. This realm has never been so indebted to a single mortal.”
“I am happy to help,” Kendra said.
“May I have a word with you two before Kendra departs?” the Fairy King asked.
“Of course,” Bracken said.
“I need you to reason with your mother,” the Fairy King said.
“About what?” Bracken asked.
“About me,” his father said, reaching them and stopping to lean on his staff. “I have wrestled with this matter since I came here, and though the reality pains me deeply, I feel certain that I don’t belong here anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Bracken asked.
He gazed upon his son with sad, loving eyes. “Your mother refuses to see the truth of the matter. She is the monarch here, and few beings are wiser, but I’m afraid I represent a blind spot in which emotion is clouding her judgment.”
“She knows you’re still healing,” Bracken said.
His father nodded. “But she ignores the peril I represent. Bracken, I was chained to the Demon King for eons. I cannot begin to convey the horrors that uninterrupted exposure to the Demon King in his very prison entailed. He dragged me around on a chain for millennia, together with other dead and dying trophies.”
Kendra winced at the thought.
“I would rather not imagine,” Bracken said.
“The damage to me, body and soul, was real,” the Fairy King said. “I survived, but in a diminished state. A fallen condition. Once, long ago, my virtue was unblemished. That perfection is irretrievably lost. I am wounded, tainted, and scarred to the core. No amount of waiting or patience will return me to my former state. The Fairy Realm will never be pure while I dwell here, and I will never feel peace as a resident, let alone as a ruler.”
“Getting trapped there was not your fault,” Bracken said. “You were an innocent victim. How could that make you impure?”
“Not so innocent as you may imagine,” the Fairy King said. “I made my share of mistakes to end up there, and my personal defenses broke down amid the torment. I sustained real harm, and I am now vulnerable in ways that do not belong here.”
“Father, there must be a way to help you heal,” Bracken said.
“It would be my wish,” his father said. “I did not intend to fall, but the damage is done. For better and worse, I am not the being of yesteryear. Whatever healing is available will not happen here. The Fairy Realm is meant to be endless and unchanging. If I want transformation, I must go among the mortals.”
“Surely you do not intend to go now,” Bracken said. “War is raging and will only worsen, and you lack most of your former powers.”
“Which is further evidence that I am damaged,” the Fairy King said. “Your mother does not see it. Bracken, you will never drive those demons out while I dwell here. I am a barrier to purity, an obstacle to the Source. While I dwell here, this cannot truly be the Fairy Realm. My presence desecrates it.”
“Can’t Mother heal you?” Bracken asked.
“She has tried, and I have tried,” the Fairy King said. “My form is whole. My inner self is beyond her reach, or mine.”
“What can I do?” Bracken asked.
“Help your mother see,” the Fairy King said. “Help her understand. I have tried to leave against her wishes, but she is too powerful here. Even without her crown. You must convince her to let me go.”
Bracken had tears in his eyes. “Who is going to convince me?”
“Have compassion, Son,” his father said. “I love you and your mother. I adore this realm. I protected it for ages. Don’t let me be the means of its undoing. I can conceive of no worse punishment. Give me a chance to heal.”
“It’s not my decision to make,” Bracken said.
“But you could help me persuade her,” the Fairy King said.
Bracken gave a pensive nod. “Perhaps, if I fail against the demons, and if the situation becomes sufficiently grim. Are you sure you’re right?”
“Have I ever been a fool?” the Fairy King asked.
“No, but you might imagine that sacrificing yourself would be preferable to feeling like a burden,” Bracken said.
“I’m trying to heal,” his father said. “I have tried. I will try. I hope restoration will happen. I trust it can happen. But I am certain it will not happen here, and that my presence compromises our defenses.”
“I need to escort Kendra back to Timbuli,” Bracken said.
“Of course,” his father said. “I wanted to speak with you before you became immersed in your new duties. Kendra, I am forever indebted to you and your brother for freeing me from Gorgrog. I thought the darkness would have no end. It didn’t . . . and then it did. Thanks to you mortals.”
“It was my pleasure,” Kendra said.
The Fairy King laughed. “A response more fitting for if I had thanked you for passing the cream. I’m sorry about your brother, Kendra. I want him restored. I will not rest until we succeed.”
Kendra felt tears spring to her eyes. It was encouraging to hear that somebody so important cared about her brother. “I won’t rest either.”
“Was it your idea?” Bracken asked. “The crown?”
The Fairy King offered a cryptic smile. “You don’t imagine your mother would have come up with that?”
“It was,” Bracken said. “You want to talk about destroying the Fairy Realm? Losing the crown would have done the job.”
“Yes, it might have,” his father said. “Did we lose it?”
Bracken shook his head.
The Fairy King gave a little bow and walked away.
The cask bobbed in the shallow water several yards from the small boat where Seth crouched, turning a potato in
