Led by Ethne the Wee riding Nolan, they formed a sloppy, crooked line and took to the heavens in a cacophonous flight. The sky filled with what seemed to be millions of fae. Unconcerned with any semblance of order, their brilliant colors filled a cornflower-blue sky and their delicate wings shimmered in the late afternoon sun.
Though he was terrified and held on to the horse’s mane for dear life, Merry couldn’t ignore the beauty around him. Where all the fae came from, he didn’t know, and he didn’t care. They laughed, sang, and spun on the air leaving glitter to trail in the wake of their revelry. Their mirth filled Merry’s veins with a happiness so pure it made him feel giddy, and he giggled. Like a girl. He quickly stifled his laugh with a small groan and glanced at Quinn.
Quinn paid no mind to his horse, their fanciful flight, or the rade as he watched Merry with nothing but adoration in his eyes. Merry’s face heated and he turned away. Man, I must be the lamest guy who ever existed. Of course, other than Quinn, he didn’t really know any other guys, so he had no one to compare himself to, but giggling like a girl and blushing all the time? Those were symptoms of, like, a really, totally, very, exceptionally, extremely awkward and definitely uncool kind of guy.
The sun was warm on Merry’s skin and felt good, and he tried to remember when he last enjoyed it. He searched the sky for the sun and, as Quinn had warned, pain seared his eyes when he found it.
“Bí cúramach, Merry,” Quinn cautioned.
Merry rubbed his eyes. “I forgot about the eye thing.” When he opened them again, the world looked different than it did before. Colors were fuzzy but sparkly in some places. He rubbed his eyes and opened them again. Still fuzzy and sparkly in places. Now his vision was all screwed up. Typical. He couldn’t do anything right.
“Close ye eye. Let ‘em rest a nonce.”
Merry closed his eyes. Colors stained the backs of his lids and ebbed, as if a miniature breeze floated the splotches across the horizons of his eyes. “What’s a nonce?”
“Ye call it a moment.”
After a few minutes, he opened his eyes again and looked at Quinn. Now his vision was very clear, and everything was sparkly around the edges.
“Ye sight be precious. Ye not look at ye sun again,” Quinn said sternly.
“Yeah.” Merry blinked a few times trying to rid his vision of the sparkles. It didn’t help. He rubbed his eyes, opened them again and, to his utter astonishment, the palms of his hands glistened as if they were coated in diamond dust. He turned his hands beneath the sun and the backs of them looked as if they were coated in diamond dust too. His gaze traveled quickly up his arm and down his legs. He glistened all over! “Quinn?”
“Aye?” “What’s wrong with my skin?”
“Naught be wrong. Why ye ask such a thing?”
“You don’t see it?”
“What?”
“I-it, um, sparkles.”
“Aye. Ye skin be beautiful.”
Merry flushed a light rose again. “Thanks, but, um, it sparkles. Like, for real.”
“Aye.”
“You’re acting like it’s normal that I’m all... shiny.”
Quinn smiled. “Be ye fae side, Merry. It happen when ye be athas.”
“When I’m what?”
“Happy. Ye be happy and ye glamour show.”
“As in I turn all glitzy when I’m happy now?”
“In a manner of speakin’, be ye charm worn on ye sleeve.”
Charm? He was the least charming person he knew. “I don’t have any charm,” he blurted.
Quinn chuckled. “If ye say so.”
“I can’t go around with my skin all... all... like this every time I’m happy! How do I make it go away?”
Quinn’s brows shot to the heavens. “Why ye wish it away?”
“How do I explain it? Chill, everybody. No, really, it’s no big deal. It happens all the time!” he mock explained. Then again, he was never happy, so there was nothing to worry about.
Quinn chuckled again. “Hold ye whist, Merry. Ye human eye not see it.”
Oh. Well, that made it all okay then. Maybe, sorta. He looked down again. His skin glistened beneath the sun, the tiny refractions dancing as he moved making him look as if he were covered in tiny diamonds. It was better than okay. It was freakin’ cool! “Wow,” he said softly.
“Aye. Ye be fair as we moon.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Beautiful.”
Merry’s cheeks flushed again and he turned away. Man, I need to manage this!
“Why ye always be hard on yeself?”
Quinn’s question frustrated him, and he accidentally dug his heels into the horse. Its massive wings whumped the air and it took off at a full gallop across the sky leaving the rade in the dust—so to speak—and Merry screamed. Like a girl.
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