13. The Faery Ring

Dindi (Midmorning in the Corn Hills)

“Hurrah! She will dance with us!” squealed the purple pixie.

What harm could one little dance do? These were her friends. And who knew when Initiation would come? Maybe she would never have another chance. She wanted one last taste of wild faerie magic.

She slipped off her basket and let Puddlepaws down in the grass. Dindi let the fae lead her into their circle.

The pixies flew in circles over the fallen corn stalks. The corn-sized sprites whose stalks had been knocked over joined them next. Willawisps came to see the fun. All of them began to spin, hop, skip, and jump around in a big ring. Dindi danced with them.

As they danced, the corn stalks lifted again. The dance changed. They began to weave in and out between the tall green stalks. Wild colors swirled in the air behind the fae dancers. It was strange and beautiful.

Dindi laughed with joy, letting her body move freely. The corn now stood tall again. In fact, it looked greener and smelled sweeter than before.

She began to slow down, hoping the fae would slow too. But they didn’t. They kept spinning and dancing.

She danced with them, but she knew it was their magic at work. If she didn’t stop them soon, they might do more harm than good. She had seen them call storms, pull up trees, and even make water burst from rocks. That’s why she usually danced with them far away from the fields. Mama had warned her never to let other people see her play with the fae.

The group of spinning fae moved up the mountain without missing a beat. Dindi followed easily, matching their wild moves—skips, turns, jumps, and leaps.

Soon they reached a flat patch of heath with a wide view of the valley below. The sky above felt larger, like it made space for them.

She stretched out her arms and took a deep breath of fresh air. Then she closed her eyes and imagined the glowing dance patterns the Tavaedis made on Barter Day. In her mind, she saw each dancer’s part.

She danced one by one through the steps of each person. First, the human roles. Then, saving the best for last, she danced the parts of the Aelfae. But when it came to the final part, where the last Aelfae was supposed to fall and die, she made a new ending.

She jumped high, spread her pretend wings, and flipped in the air with a full twisting double back leap.

The fae clapped and laughed. They liked her new ending better than the one the Tavaedis used. Now that she had gone through all the steps from the dance yesterday, Dindi stopped following any pattern. She danced freely.

The fae loved that even more.

The soft hum of faerie voices, the shining wings of the pixies, and the beat of her own heart pulled her into a trance. She felt something inside her wanting to move.

A pixie curled a tiny hand around her ear and whispered, “You don’t have to go back, Dindi. Stay and dance with us forever…”

Their voices buzzed like a lullaby, drawing her forward, step by step. Light and music shimmered all around her. The fae joined hands to close a circle. A chain of pixies floated in the air. The sprites linked up too.

Then, to fill the last gap, a heron-winged kinnara flew down to complete the ring.

“Come dance with us, Dindi. Come dance with us forever…”

“Nice try, but I’m not yours yet!” she said with a laugh. There was some sadness in her voice, but she was sure of her choice. She always knew when the fae tried this trick.

Dindi flipped through the air with a leap and rolled out of the ring onto the soft moss.

“You can’t trap me in a faery ring that easy,” she teased.

The fae shrieked in delight.

“Again, again!” they begged.

“My family needs me. Oh no!” She clapped her hands to her cheeks. “Soaproot! Blueberries! I forgot all about them!”

Boast waved his little red arms wide. “Fear not, friend Dindi! We already did all that silly human stuff for you!”

Oh.

Oh, no.

“How, um… exactly?” Dindi asked.

“How else? We juiced the blueberries and bubbled the soaproot!”

“Here it is now,” said Kippy.

A goat-legged satyr with golden fur and an orange glow skipped up to her. He held a basket in one hand—the soap—and a jug in the other—the blueberry juice. The fae had glued the broken pieces back together.

Kippy placed the basket and jug on the grass and gave a proud bow, then skipped away.

“We did it just like humans do,” said Giggles.

Dindi had her doubts. But at that moment, she heard Hadi’s voice shouting.

He came around a bend in the path and glared at her, annoyed.

“There you are! An important guest has come for middle-meal, and Great Aunt Sullana will chop off your toes if you’re late. And I’m starving. If you make me miss middle-meal, I’ll tell her you were dancing with the fae again.”

An important guest?

“I have to go,” Dindi told the fae. She pulled another pixie out of Puddlepaws’ mouth, picked up her basket (Miskymew was no help at all), and followed Hadi back down the hill.