Page 20 of Ceridor

"Right here?" Effie asked, holding her hand out and slowly patting the girl's hair.

I nodded and took in Dunu. Only two years into daily magical practice, and I was very impressed that I could see her, because she was likely etheric in nature. She certainly wasn't physical, since no one else noticed her. I couldn't wait to tell Ceridor.

"Oh, I feel her!" Effie exclaimed, so pleased. "Why is your hair always so damp, honey?"

"It's because she's some kind of nymph from the river," I explained. "Her hair looks like kelp. She's looking at you now." Dunu wasn't very expressive, but she watched Effie pet her.

Effie cooed, delighted.

She must be made of ether—life force—because the few times Dunu had touched me, it had felt just as if she were fully physical.

Dunu chewed at the corner of the counter, where indeed she'd left teeth marks over the past two months, and Effie perked up and sent me a happy look. "I can hear the scraping of the wood!"

"Well done," I praised, willing to be late to the group workout for this. My sister was always so delighted with Dunu's visits, and her joy helped encourage me, too.

Out of nowhere, Dunu slung a fish onto the counter, aRotfischor Danubian salmon large enough she must have gotten it from the mighty river rather than the nearby creek. Effie snatched it up and put it in the ice box for later. At first we'd been a bit perturbed about eating food such a puzzling creature had brought us, but we'd tentatively tried prior fish and they'd all been genuine.

In return, Effie brought out some dinner rolls from yesterday that she'd baked, and with no regard that it was day-old bread, Dunu took each roll offered her and scarfed it down voraciously.

But all the while, Dunu only had eyes for the candles we kept lit for her. The second or third visit to our inn, she'd brought a small ruby-red metal contraption that resembled a necklace or rosary. It was a holder for seven candles. She'd slung it onto the counter, looked straight at me, and rasped "Feuer," demanding fire.

So we lit little candles in them, much to Dunu's delight. A few weeks ago, she'd taken away the red candle holder and brought a blue one, again rasping at me and expecting us to light candles. Dunu wasn't one for effusive explanations, so we didn't know why she wanted us to keep doing this. But Effie loved spoiling her and Dunu was even barking "Dank!" in thanks after each dinner roll, which rewarded my sister even further.

"Will you two be all right?" I asked. "I want to head over to Magnus's workout."

"We'll be just fine, won't we?" Effie cooed, continuing to pet the little creek nymph's hair.

I kissed my sister's cheek and headed out.

Chapter Fourteen

Johann

Magnus's workouts entailed jogging through the city as one big group, then calisthenics in the fields by the regent's home. After that, we did combat drills, and then we grabbed wooden swords and hammered away at each other.

It was great.

Every time I attended these workouts, I came out of them feeling more in control of my life and situation. Something about physical exertion purged me of my worries and angst, as if they were toxins flushed away by my sweat.

I gave Magnus a pat on the shoulder and returned to the inn. Magnus promised he'd be over later to sayhalloto Effie. I'd told him about little Dunu visiting, and he'd shaken his head in disbelief, swearing he wanted Ceridor to verify the unseen sprite before he worried about us going crazy.

As soon as Ceridor got home, I would talk to him, about a lot of things.

Back at the inn, Dunu had gone, leaving just the candles going in a waxy puddle at the edge of the counter and her little teeth marks scraped against the wood.

"She's so good about helping with the leftovers!" Effie exclaimed cheerfully from the kitchen.

I shook my head and grinned at her, knowing those were no leftovers: my sister purposely set aside rolls for when Dunu might come by.

I took my shoes off and stood in the entryway for a minute. Something felt strange.

"Alles okay?" my sister tossed over.

What was this feeling? The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. It was like my instinct was shouting at me to perk up and notice something, but I didn't know what.

"Anything unusual happen while I was gone?" I asked.

"Nein," she called back from the stove. "The two overnight families checked out. Dunu left, then an old man came through asking to use our bathroom, though he's been in there a while. Maybe go check on him?"

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