Spring was beginning to break over the city.
Over the hedges, the long-defunct power lines had been knocked down in a storm, and one of the enormous towers had partially crushed the roof of a nearby house.
This area still glittered with faerie magic, first turned by the dragon that had come there just after the veil first opened, and fed on the power coursing overhead. Hatchlings still came there to make their cocoons, bathing in the power.
They did not mature so quickly now.
At the end of the hedgerow, which was slowly turning wild, was a lone cedar sapling. It had grown quickly over the past four months, as if it still balanced on the knife-edge between mortality and faerie, and could still cheat time like the dragons had, months ago.
"Are you coming to the Naming?" Taylor asked, craning her neck to catch the passing breeze.
Kelly nodded. She'd worked hard at friendly relations with the High Elves, and an invitation to a Naming was both a rare event and a tremendous honor. "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she said. "I just need a minute."
Taylor nodded and started to turn away, then brightened in surprise and wonder and touched her stomach. "Oh my God," she whispered. "I think it just kicked."
Kelly smiled and looked over at her. "I wouldn't have wished that on you," she said softly. "I'm so glad you're happy."
Taylor bit her lip and twirled on the tip of one foot. "I am," she said. "I don't think much of the father, but... I am happy." She watched Kelly's hair blow in the breeze, and before she could think better of it, added, "I'm happy for you, too."
Kelly bit her lip and nodded, her eyes bright.
"I'll just go now," Taylor said.
As the girl's feet crunched off through last fall's leaves, Kelly took a deep breath and stood in the tree's small shadow. "I miss you, you know," she whispered. "I wish you could be here to see Taylor grow up. And to see our child."
She swallowed the lump in her throat, and watched the tracings of the tree's sparse new branches against the sky. They had grown, she noted, since the day before, and the day before that.
Finally she turned and walked away, ready once again to take her part in the world.
As she walked, the wind sighing through the tree's branches seemed to call out to her, and she closed her eyes, breathed deeply of the spring air, and continued into the world he had given her.
Even after she had left, the wind still sighed through the branches.
It seemed to whisper, You're safe.
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