The wizard raised his eyebrows. "I had given no thought to the matter," he replied. He paused for a long moment, regarding the girl who lowered her eyes self-consciously. With a shrug, the wizard said, "Try her on greens, I suppose. Anything but meat."

With a shrug, Mullen made up a plate of greens and placed it before the girl. She watched the others eat for a moment before regarding her own plate. With her fingers, she picked up a water chestnut experimentally and placed it in her mouth. Without thinking, Pip poured her a flagon of wine as he did for the others. Again, after watching the others for a moment, she picked up the flagon Pip had given her, awkwardly, with both hands, and smelled its contents suspiciously.

Frowning, she took a small sip. Then another. The wizard and his apprentice were deep in conversation when she extended the empty flagon to Anest.

With a wry chuckle, Belloc said, "Fairie creatures and wine! Now there's a kinship worth a tale or two. Make sure she eats what's on her plate before you give her any more of that."

That night, as Anest finished his studies, he turned from the book he had been reading to regard the sylph as she lay asleep in an enormous armchair before the fireplace. He rose from his chair and went to stand before her, uncertainly. After some time he knelt before her like a penitent. "What am I to do with you," he said softly, and brushed a strand of hair from her face, feeling both tender and fearful. Though her need was irrefuseable, he felt he hadn't the right to touch her.




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